Anchor Belle Donati compared Israeli ambassador’s call to relocate Gazans during war to the Holocaust, leading Sky News to issue an on-air apology.
By World Israel News Staff
British news channel Sky News has fired a television anchor who accused an Israeli lawmaker of promoting ethnic cleansing and invoked the Holocaust in comments regarding the current war in the Gaza Strip.
Presenter Belle Donati had been suspended since her January 26th interview with then-Knesset Member and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon (Likud).
Danon, who has since returned to his position as Ambassador to the UN, defended his November, 2023 opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal in which he proposed foreign countries take in Gazan refugees during the war against Hamas in Gaza.
Donati sharply criticized Danon’s proposal, telling him during the interview that it constituted ethnic cleansing.
“You suggested the ethnic cleansing of some of Gaza’s population to Western countries that would accept the refugees,” Donati said.
Danon rejected Donati’s argument, responding: “Ethnic cleansing, that’s a word you used. If you read my article, I spoke about voluntary immigration.”
The Sky News anchor then compared Danon’s proposal to the Holocaust, drawing an outraged retort from Danon.
“The sort of voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust, I imagine,” Donati said.
Following her comments during the interview, Donati was suspended by Sky News and did not appear on air again.
The outlet also declined to renew her contract, and issued an on-air apology, though Donati herself never issued an apology for her comments.
“Sky News recognized the complete inappropriateness of this comparison and the offensive nature of those comments,” presenter Jonathan Samuels said on behalf of the channel.
“Sky News would like to apologize unreservedly for the comparison and to Mr. Danon personally for making the comparison.”
Two days after the interview, Danon penned a letter to Sky News‘ parent company, demanding “the immediate termination of anchor Belle Donati.”
Donati is now no longer employed by the company, Deadline reported Tuesday. Neither Donati nor Sky News have responded to the report.