Israel has urged CNN International anchor Christiane Amanpour to apologize for comparing the Trump administration to Kristallnacht, the 1938 pogrom that occurred in Germany and Austria and became a precursor for the Holocaust.
On Sunday, Israeli Consul General Anat Sultan-Dadon wrote a letter to CNN Executive Vice President Rick Davis requesting that Amanpour and the network apologize, according to the Jerusalem Post, which obtained a copy of the letter.
This is @camanpour on @CNN comparing Trump’s tenure to Nazi Germany. How the hell is this sort of prejudice tolerated on mainstream media?
Third rate rubbish. pic.twitter.com/EG9eB9vQWo
— Ben Habib (@benhabib6) November 12, 2020
“This week, 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened. It was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization 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,” Amanpour said on-air last week before comparing the “Night of Broken Glass” to the last four years of the Trump administration.
She continued while showing images on the screen of the two-day massacre in which nearly 100 Jews were murdered, more than 30,000 were arrested and sent to concentration camps, and more than 1,400 synagogues were burned down.
“After four years of a modern-day assault on those same values by Donald Trump, the Biden-Harris team pledges a return to normal,” Amanpour said.
Sultan-Dadon expressed outrage in the letter and said the comparison tarnished the legacy of those who died. Her sentiment was shared by Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich.
CNN “should be a partner in the global effort to fight antisemitism and not fuel the fire,” Yankelevich said. “Using the memory of the Holocaust for cheap headlines or a political agenda is concerning and distorts the historical and moral truth.”
CNN did not immediately return a request for comment.
