CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour issued an apology Monday after sparking outrage for suggesting that Israeli hostages held by Hamas were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan.”
The comment, made during a live broadcast following the release of 20 Israeli hostages by Hamas, was widely condemned online. Amanpour had attempted to explain the difference in treatment between hostages and Gaza residents, stating, “It’s been a terrible, terrible two years for them, because not only are they there - you know, they’re probably being treated better than the average Gazan, because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had.”
The remark quickly went viral and circulated on social media, prompting fierce backlash of the veteran host. Critics accused Amanpour of siding with Hamas and downplaying the suffering of hostages.
Richard Grenell, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy and head of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, wrote on X, “She’s literally pro-Hamas,” and accused her of being a “Republican hating activist.”
Omri Ceren, senior adviser to Senator Ted Cruz, said Amanpour is “on the side of genocidal Hamas terrorists”.
Antisemitism activist Eyal Yakoby called the comment “absolutely unacceptable from CNN,” citing the case of hostage Evyatar David, who was “quite literally forced to dig his own grave.”
In a subsequent statement on her show and on X, Amanpour said, “Earlier live on air, I spoke about what a day of real joy this is, for Israeli families whose loved ones are finally being returned from two years of horrific Hamas captivity, and for civilians in Gaza, who have finally had a reprieve from two years of brutal, deadly war.”
She continued, “I noted that for the hostages who are finally home, it will take a long time for them to recover mentally and physically. But I regret also saying that they may have been treated better than many Gazans because Hamas used these hostages as pawns and bargaining chips. It was insensitive and wrong.”
Amanpour emphasized her prior conversations with hostage families, saying she had been “horrified at what Hamas has subjected them to over two long years.” She added: “They've told me their stories of barely being able to breathe in the tunnels, not being allowed to cry, being starved and made to dig their own graves - and of course today, some of the hostages are coming back in body bags.”
This is not the first time that Amanpour has made controversial remarks related to Israel.
Two years ago, Amanpour caused an uproar after saying on her program that terror victims Lucy Dee, and her daughters Rina and Maia were “killed in a shootout” rather than stating they were murdered in a terrorist attack. She later apologized to the family’s father, Rabbi Leo Dee.
In 2013, during an interview with then-Economy Minister Naftali Bennett, she insisted on referring to Judea and Samaria as the “occupied West Bank”, claiming that the term was “an international term”.
Bennett stressed in his response, “One cannot occupy his own home.”
A similar incident occurred in 2022 when Bennett, this time as Prime Minister, gave an interview to Amanpour, during which she asserted that “the West Bank has been occupied since 1967”.
Two years earlier, Amanpour caused an uproar when she called the Trump presidency an “assault” on human civilization comparable to that carried out by Nazi Germany during the Kristallnacht pogroms in 1938.
The Israeli government demanded an apology from CNN over the comparison. Amanpour ultimately apologized for the comparison, saying, “Hitler and his evils stand alone, of course, in history. I regret any pain my statement may have caused. My point was to say how democracy can potentially slip away, and how we must always zealously guard our democratic values.”
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