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‘Crossed The Line’: MK Calls for Sky News Anchor Resignation After She Compares Hamas War to Holocaust
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, with Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein standing next to him, speaks to the media outside the General Assembly at the UN headquarters in New York, June 26, 2019. Photo: Reuters / Shannon Stapleton.
Likud chairman and MK Danny Danon called for the resignation of Belle Donati, an anchor on the British broadcaster Sky News, after comments she made in an interview with Danon last Friday which were widely panned as antisemitic.
In the interview, Donati pushed back on Danon’s calls for voluntary emigration of Gazans to Arab or Western states, calling the proposal “ethnic cleansing” and sought to compare the move to the Holocaust, calling the Jews transfer to concentration camps “voluntary relocation.”
Danon told The Algemeiner in an interview “I’m used to some of the anchors being hostile, but what happened on Friday crossed the line… She started with line of ethnic cleaning, and then the comparison to the Holocaust.”
Danon said he is normally calm, but this caused him “to lose it. I told her she needs to apologize.”
In a letter he addressed separately to the executive chairman of Sky News, David Rhodes, Danon wrote “I found it particularly distressing when [Donati] audaciously likened the present situation in Gaza to the Holocaust, the largest premeditated mass murder of Jews in history.”
Sky News issued an apology later in the day of the interview, denouncing the “comparison between Mr. Danon’s comments on Israel’s war with Hamas and the treatment of Jewish people in the Holocaust. Sky News recognizes the complete inappropriateness of this comparison and the offensive nature of those comments. Sky News would like to apologize unreservedly for the comparison and to Mr. Danon personally for making the comparison.”
Danon acknowledged the apology, but wrote “My disappointment lies in the absence of a personal and sincere apology from Ms. Belle Donati herself… Furthermore, my concern deepens as I observe her Twitter feed, which exhibits a discernible bias and a clear anti-Israel stance.”
He then called for the media group “To facilitate the immediate resignation of Ms. Donati from her current position.”
The former UN ambassador said there has yet to be a response from the group, but “I won’t be quiet until she is removed from the position.” He added that he has “received a lot of comments from people all over the world who were shocked by what happened last Friday.”
Danon has emerged since the war as a moderate voice on what he views as a humanitarian solution to the situation of Gazans – voluntary emigration. In his Wall Street Journal op-ed published with opposition MK Ram Ben-Barak, they wrote “One idea is for countries around the world to accept limited numbers of Gazan families who have expressed a desire to relocate.” He drew comparisons to other conflicts around the world, pointing out that emigration is a natural outcome of war.
“Looking to these examples, countries around the world should offer a haven for Gaza residents who seek relocation. Countries can accomplish this by creating well-structured and internationally coordinated relocation programs. Members of the international community can collaborate to provide one-time financial-support packages to Gazans interested in moving to help with relocation costs and to ease refugees’ acclimation to their new communities,” the pair wrote.
Stressing the importance, they added “The international community has a moral imperative—and an opportunity—to demonstrate compassion, help the people of Gaza move toward a more prosperous future and work together to achieve greater peace and stability in the Middle East.”
He added on this front that voluntary emigration is “a very legitimate discussion. Allowing those seeking to leave to facilitate that.”
Asked why he takes on combative interviews like Friday’s, he said “It’s important to have zero tolerance for antisemitism.” More so, “I hope it can be an example for advocates for Israel.”
The post ‘Crossed The Line’: MK Calls for Sky News Anchor Resignation After She Compares Hamas War to Holocaust first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.