Israel demands public apology from CNN, Amanpour over Holocaust comment

Israel is demanding a public apology from CNN and its journalist Christiane Amanpour over a comment she made during a broadcast.

During her show Amanpour compared US President Donald Trump’s term in office to Kristallnacht, the deadly night at the start of the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

Amanpour said Kristallnacht “was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilisation that led to genocide against a whole identity and, in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history, and proof.”

“After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to normal.”

Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevich told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday that CNN “should be a partner in the global effort to fight anti-Semitism and not fuel the fire.”

“Using the memory of the Holocaust for cheap headlines or a political agenda is concerning and distorts the historical and moral truth,” Yankelevich said.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany also commented on the issue.

She called Amanpour’s comments “despicable,” and said the CNN anchor “must apologise for trivialising the Holocaust & the tragic genocide of millions of Jews. They must also apologise for slandering the most pro-Israel President in history.”

CNN nor Amanpour have commented on the matter.

Kristallnacht

According to Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, Kristallnacht or the “Night of Broken Glass,” is when Nazis terrorised Jews throughout Germany and Austria on November 9 and 10, 1938. 

The memorial records show Nazis had killed at least 91 people, vandalised 7,500 Jewish businesses, and burned more than 1,400 synagogues.