British TV Station Uses Gaza Backdrop in Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis Interview on Holocaust
The British broadcaster Sky News apologized for showing images of the Gaza conflict during an interview about the Holocaust with British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis.
The apology over the Jan. 27 broadcast came in a letter sent by Peter Lowe, Sky News’ managing editor, to a viewer who sent Sky News a letter of complaint about the interview conducted by presenter Adam Boulton, The Jewish Chronicle of London reported Thursday.
Lowe said showing images of Gaza while the chief rabbi talked about the Israel-Palestinian conflict was logical, but that with hindsight he would not have combined the two, calling it “an indelicate clash”.
He added: “I’m sorry if you or anyone was upset by the interview Adam did with the chief rabbi. I agree that the particular circumstances of the use of the pictures from Gaza was unfortunate.”
The complaint by viewer Jacqui Rudolph also concerned Boulton’s questioning on Jan. 27, International Holocaust Memorial Day, whether Israel provokes anti-Semitism. She called it “an ancient anti-Semitic device,” but Lowe rejected this assertion.
“I don’t think it is something we should edit out from the comparatively rare opportunity to interview the Chief Rabbi in front of a general audience in order to give him the opportunity to confront these ideas and perhaps lay them to rest,” he wrote.
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