Egyptian photo editor quits CNN after anti-Semitic tweets surface
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Egyptian photo editor quits CNN after anti-Semitic tweets surface

In 2011, Mohammed Elshamy praised the killing of ‘Jewish pigs’ in Palestinian terror attack, along with a series of more racist posts

By Cnaan Liphshiz 26 July 2019, 1:41 pm 5 Edit
A anti-Semitic tweet by Mohammed Elshamy, an Egyptian photojournalist who was hired by CNN. (Twitter)
A anti-Semitic tweet by Mohammed Elshamy, an Egyptian photojournalist who was hired by CNN. (Twitter)

JTA — A photo editor who began working at CNN in January has resigned after anti-Semitic tweets he made in 2011 were discovered.

Mohammed Elshamy, a 25-year-old former photojournalist with the Anadolu news agency, quit Thursday night after an employee of Israel’s Government Press Office flagged on Twitter some of the anti-Semitic statement by Elshamy, who recently graduated from Cairo University.

“More than 4 jewish pigs killed in #Jerusalem today by the Palestinian bomb explode. #Israel #Gaza,” one of his tweets, following a terrorist attack, read.

The bombing killed a Christian woman who was studying in Israel and severely injured a 14-year-old Israeli girl who died of her injuries six years later.

“Despite everything happening now in Egypt, I’m proud of the army generation that liberated us from the zionist pigs @ 6 october 1973 #israel,” Elshamy, who worked at CNN’s Atlanta headquarters, wrote in another tweet from 2011, referencing the last war between Egypt and Israel.

“The network has accepted the resignation of a photo editor, who joined CNN earlier this year, after anti-Semitic statements he’d made in 2011 came to light,” the US network’s spokesman Matt Dornic said in a statement to several media outlets. “CNN is committed to maintaining a workplace in which every employee feels safe, secure and free from discrimination regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.”

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