These are the tweets that got Jim Clancy to leave CNN

by Chinwe Okafor

CNN anchor Jim Clancy has left the network one week after a bizarre exchange with pro-Israel activists on Twitter about the terrorist outrages in Paris in which he derided his opponents as the “hasbara team” and used a derogatory term for disabled people.

His Twitter account got deactivated days after the veteran journalist had an extended debate via Twitter over the Charlie Hebdo cartoons and this sparked his exit from the network he has served for over three decades.

The exchange that caused the entire ruckus began with Clancy issuing a bizarre defense of the cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed published by a Danish newspaper in 2005 and by Charlie Hebdo in 2011, which led to violent protests in both western capitals and throughout the Islamic world.

According to Clancy, “The cartoons NEVER mocked the Prophet. They mocked how the COWARDS tried to distort his word. Pay attention.”

When Oren Kessler of the Washington, DC-based Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) responded that Clancy’s claim was “absolutely untrue,” because Charlie Hebdo had been previously targeted for publishing an issue in which the Prophet Muhammed was listed as a “guest editor,” Clancy, whose obsession with Israeli settlement policy is well-known among CNN viewers, responded with the word, “Hasbara?”  (“Hasbara,” the Hebrew word for “explaining,” is often invoked by Israel’s opponents to dismiss views with which they disagree, even when, as in this case, the matter at hand has nothing to do with Israel.)

Twitter got heated up as users joined the fray and Clancy went on to accuse both the pro-Israel blog Elder of Ziyon and the openly anti-Semitic “Jews Making News” Twitter feed of being part of an anti-Muslim and pro-Israel PR campaign.

This sparked provocative questions by Honest Reporting asking, “what does it say about Clancy’s state of mind that he cannot distinguish between a genuine pro-Israel blog site and another that expressly promotes anti-Semitic conspiracy theories?”

When another Twitter user told Clancy that no pro-Israel voices had articulated the positions he was erroneously  ascribing to them, the anchor launched into a tirade. “Get a grip, junior. It’s my Friday night,” he replied. “You and the Hasbara team need to pick on some cripple on the edge of the herd.”

While it is unclear what Clancy’s last sentence was intended to mean, his use of the word “cripple” in insulting fashion didn’t escape the notice of disability rights advocates. Jay Ruderman, the head of the Ruderman Family Foundation, an organization closely involved with disability issues, tweeted: “Cripple is derogatory term @clancycnn: ‘You and the Hasbara team need to pick on some cripple on the edge of the herd.’”

CNN, however, made no mention of the scandal as it paid tribute to Clancy’s 34 years of service with the channel.

The spokesperson for the network came out to say, “Jim Clancy is no longer with CNN. We thank him for more than three decades of distinguished service, and wish him nothing but the best.”

In a short statement, Clancy said: “After nearly 34 years with Cable News Network, the time has come to say Farewell! It has been my honor to work alongside all of you for all of these years. This is one of the greatest news organizations in the world. It has truly revolutionized information delivery while driving technological advances in how we gather the news. Through it all, CNN has been a family to my own family. That means something. As I reflect on all of the great adventures and achievements of the past, I wish you great success in the future.”

His Wikipedia page has also been changed following his departure.

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