The Times of Israel is liveblogging Saturday’s events as they happen.
Sky News sorry after presenter compares idea of ‘voluntary relocation’ of Gazans to Holocaust
Sky News issues an apology following an earlier interview with Likud lawmaker Danny Danon in which a presenter compared his comments on voluntary “relocation” of Gazans amid the war, to how Jewish people were treated during the Holocaust.
The presenter, Belle Donati, “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 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,” says another presented reading the Sky News statement.
A statement from Sky News pic.twitter.com/XTQZnTcp31
— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 26, 2024
During the interview Danon was discussing an idea he outlined in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece he co-wrote in November urging “countries around the world to accept limited numbers of Gazan families who have expressed a desire to relocate.”
In her questioning, Donati falsely claimed Danon “suggested the ethnic cleansing of some of Gaza’s population,” to which he objected and said he was speaking about “voluntary immigration.”
This insolent interviewer from @SkyNews disgracefully drew comparisons between the situation in Gaza and the Holocaust. Shame on her pic.twitter.com/GyhkL2W1co
— Danny Danon ???????? דני דנון (@dannydanon) January 26, 2024
“I think anyone in the world who voluntary [sic] wants to move to another country should be eligible to do that,” he says while Donati appears impatient, looking offscreen.
“Yes, the sort of voluntary relocation of many Jewish people during the Holocaust,” she opines, trying to move on quickly to another question.
“How can you compare that, shame on you for that comparison,” Danon says. “That is a shameful and antisemitic equation…This is pure antisemitism.”
In a post later on X, Danon called Donati an “insolent interviewer.”
After US, Canada moves to immediately suspend UNRWA funding
Canada announces it is immediately suspending funding for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) amid an investigation into allegations 12 employees may have been involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel.
Canada’s Minister of International Development Ahmed Hussen says in a post on X that Ottawa “unequivocally condemns the October 7th attack on Israel” and that he is “deeply troubled by the allegations relating to some UNRWA employees.”
“I have instructed Global Affairs Canada to pause all additional funding to UNRWA pending the outcome of the investigation,” he writes.
Hussen also posts a statement that welcomes the UN investigation and indicates funds will be sent via “other partners.”
“As UNRWA undertakes this investigation, Canada will not reduce its support to the people of Gaza. Canada will continue to work with other partners to provide life-saving assistance to civilians in Gaza,” reads the letter.
Last June, Canada announced a donation of $100 million to UNRWA over four years to deliver “core programs that support basic education, health, social services and livelihood opportunities and protect the rights of Palestinian refugees,” according to a National Post report.
Canada’s announcement came hours after Washington said it would pause critical funding to the organization as the agency said it sacked “several” employees accused by Israel of involvement in the unprecedented shock attack.
Israel has reportedly provided UNRWA with information that pointed to the active participation of staffers along with the use of the agency’s vehicles and facilities in the October 7 terror onslaught. “This was strong and corroborated intelligence,” an Israeli official told Axios, adding that “a lot of the intelligence” was collected from terrorists who were captured during the October 7 attack.
Germany’s Olaf Scholz says dark neo-Nazi networks are on the rise
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz voices concern over the rise of the extreme-right in the country, 79 years after the Auschwitz extermination camp was liberated.
“New reports are emerging all the time: about neo-Nazis and their dark networks,” the Social Democrat says in a recorded video speech commemorating the January 27, 1945 liberation of Auschwitz by Soviet troops, and marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“At the same time, right-wing populists are gaining ground, fueling fear and sowing hatred,” Scholz says, adding that this should not be accepted.
Indeed, protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party have been gaining momentum in the wake of a report that two senior party members joined a meeting to discuss plans for the mass deportation of citizens of foreign origin, with countrywide demonstrations heading into their third week.
The protesters are looking to curb support for the AfD, which is polling in second place nationally and first in the three eastern German states holding elections this year.
“It is the cohesion of democrats that makes our democracy strong,” Scholz says
“Showing it confidently in public – as is happening now – feels good,” he adds.
The chancellor also welcomed a landmark ruling to cut funding to the radical right-wing party Die Heimat, which sparked a debate on whether a similar step could be taken against the nationalist AfD party, referring to the decision as “very good.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.