CNN anchorwoman Christiane Amanpour issued an apology during her show on Monday following outrage from Israel after she compared US President Donald Trump's presidency to the Nazi Kristallnacht pogrom.
“I observed the 82nd anniversary of Kristallnacht, as I often do. It is the event that began the horrors of the Holocaust. I also noted President Trump’s attacks on history, facts, knowledge and truth,” Amanpour said, recalling her comparison.
“I should not have juxtaposed the two thoughts. Hitler and his evils stand alone, of course, in history,” she continued. “I regret any pain my statement may have caused.”
In the opening segment of her daily global affairs program on Thursday, Amanpour began by recalling that “this week, 82 years ago, Kristallnacht happened," explaining that "it was the Nazis’ warning shot across the bow of our human civilization that led to genocide against a whole identity.”
Amanpour continued, “and, in that tower of burning books, it led to an attack on fact, knowledge, history and truth.”
Israeli officials on Sunday denounced the comparison of the Trump-era to Kristallnacht as an affront to the memory of the Holocaust, adding that Amanpour must apologize.
Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch said that the US news network “should be a partner in the global effort to fight antisemitism 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,” Yankelevitch said.