A CNN guest was excluded from a roundtable discussion Monday night for suggesting that a Muslim co-panellist was a member of the terrorist group Hezbollah, after simply saying he supported the Palestinians.

Ryan Girdusky said to Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo News, “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off” during a discussion about the war between Israel and Hamas – a reference to Israel’s shocking attack last month. The country’s armed forces detonated thousands of explosives that they had placed in Hezbollah pagers in Lebanon.

This comment was preceded by Hasan, who is Muslim, saying he was a “supporter of the Palestinians” and was therefore used to being called an anti-Semite.

Girdusky’s remark was immediately criticized by Hasan, former Biden-Harris campaign staffer Ashley Allison and others News Night Host Abby Phillip.

“Did you just say I should die?” Hasan asked questioningly.

Girdusky, the founder of the 1776 Project PAC, which supports conservative school board candidates, denied this. After asking for clarification about who Hasan was supporting, Girdusky claimed he “misunderstood” him.

“Then I apologize,” he said repeatedly, saying he believed Hasan was expressing support for Hamas.

The notoriously combative cable news personality immediately rejected the idea.

“Yes,” said Hasan. “‘I went on CNN and said I support Hamas.’ What kind of idiots do you think we are? What a ridiculous statement.”

Phillip told him that what he said was “completely out of his own pocket.”

Girdusky, she later added, had “crossed the line.” And that was enough to get him removed from the panel during a subsequent commercial break.

Upon his return, Phillip apologized to Hasan and her viewers.

“A line was crossed that is not acceptable to me. This is unacceptable to us in this network,” she said. “We want discussion. We want people who have different opinions to talk to each other. But if you cross the line into a complete lack of civility, that’s not going to happen here on this show.”

“It’s a heated time,” Phillip continued. “We are in the middle of a political season. We are still eight days away from a presidential election, but we can have conversations about what is happening in this country without resorting to the lowest discourse.”

Hasan was clearly absent even after the discussion resumed.