By MailOnline Reporter Published: 08:07 EDT, 11 September 2024 | Updated: 09:33 EDT, 11 September 2024
Sky News has ended its contract with presenter Belle Donati just months after she controversially compared Israel’s campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust.It comes after the broadcaster was earlier forced to apologise after Donati made the comparison during an interview with Danny Danon, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party.She had likened his comments about the war on Gaza with the way Jewish people were treated in the Holocaust.The channel broadcast an apology which addressed the ‘complete inappropriateness’ of the comparison and ‘offensive nature’ of the comments.In the latest development, it has emerged that the presenter has now been axed by the broadcaster. Belle Donati (left) had referred to the ‘voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust’. Her guest, Danny Danon (right), a member of Benjamin Netanyahu ‘s Likud party, described the words as ‘shameful’ and said her remarks had been ‘pure anti-Semitism’Mr Danon was appearing on the programme after Israel was told by the UN’s top court to do all it can to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza. But it did not tell Israel to stop the war.The death toll in Gaza has surpassed 41,000 as of this week, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.At the time of the interview, in January this year, Oxfam said that Israel’s military was killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day – a figure it claims is higher than any other major 21st century conflict.During the interview, Donati claimed he had suggested the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of some of Gaza’s population to Western countries, in an article he had co-authored.Mr Danon said he had not spoken about ‘ethnic cleansing’ but about ‘voluntary immigration’ and said that anyone in the world who voluntarily wanted to move country should be eligible to do that. It has now emerged that Sky News as ended Donati’s contract, just months after the incident The broadcaster was also forced to apologise following the interview, calling Donati’s comments ‘offensive’ and ‘inappropriate’The Sky News presenter then commented: ‘The sort of voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust, I imagine.’It is not voluntary relocation.’The Israeli politician said ‘shame on’ you for the comparison and accused her of ‘antisemitism’ saying she should apologise for what she had said, asking ‘how can you even compare that’.The apology later aired by Sky News read: ‘In an interview earlier today with Israeli politician Danny Danon, a Sky News presenter made a comparison between Mr Danon’s comments on Israel’s war with Hamas and the treatment of Jewish people in the Holocaust.’Sky News recognised the complete inappropriateness of this comparison and the offensive nature of those comments.’Sky News would like to apologise unreservedly for the comparison and to Mr Danon personally for making the comparison.’
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Sky News presenter Belle Donati is axed by broadcaster after she compared Israel’s campaign in Gaza to the Holocaust