For much of President Trump’s (R) presidency, he has been engaged in conflict with the mainstream media, calling them fake news and criticizing them for biased reporting. The fight now continues with CNN, but this time the comments aimed at the news network are not coming from the President.
Over the weekend, CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour likened President Trump’s term to Kristallnacht, which is the 1938 Nazi pogrom against the Jewish people. The Floridian was the first media outlet to report on Amanpour's statement.
This comment angered Israel’s Foreign Ministry along with its Diaspora Affairs Ministry, who in turn requested that CNN denounce the comments made by Amanpour.
In a letter sent to CNN President Jeffrey Zucker by Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich, Amanpour was asked to issue an “immediate and public apology,” adding that her comments were an “unacceptable comparison.”
The letter detailed that “we find hereby the false equivalence made between the actions of a sitting US president and the atrocities of the Kristallnacht pogroms which were carried out by the Nazis eighty-two years ago belittling of the immense tragedy of the Holocaust.”
Explaining that Kristallnacht is noted as the “central starting point of the Holocaust,” Yenkelevich expressed that “distortion and minimization of the Holocaust are deplorable lies that only encourage the evil voices of anti-Semitism.” Moreover, “employing the memory of the Holocause for cheap shock value and to further a political agenda is a deeply troubling and offensive spin of historic and moral truths with dangerous implications.”
She called for CNN to be “partners in the global effort to combat this dangerous illness, not to fan its flames.”
Throughout President Trump’s term, Israel has praised the United States and the President for being strong allies. It concluded with the United States recognizing Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel, and the United States also moved its embassy to Jerusalem.
