CNN Star Forced To Apologize for False Reporting

(UnitedVoice.com) – Tensions between Israel and Palestine remain high amid multiple outbreaks of violence. In 2023, the conflict persisted and left many innocent civilians on both sides dead, including children. In April, a spate of violence left a woman and her daughters dead. A high-profile CNN anchor was forced to apologize for reportedly downplaying the way they were killed.

An Apology

On May 22, Christiane Amanpour issued an apology on air for a previous report. She said that on April 10, she was speaking about the murders of three Israelis when she “misspoke.” At the time, she said Lucy, Rina, and Maia Dee died in a “shootout.”

In actuality, she revealed the mother and her daughters were murdered in a terrorist shooting. She said she wrote to the grieving husband and father to “apologize and make sure that he knows” she’s sorry for “any further pain” she might have caused him.

Amanpour’s remarks were made during an interview with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh. Honest Reporting, a group that monitors the media for bias against Israel, called the CNN International reporter out for her remarks, explaining that “A shootout is two sides firing at each other” and demanding an apology.

According to @CNN's Christiane Amanpour, three members of the Dee family "were killed in a shootout."

A shootout is two sides firing at each other.

A mother & her two daughters were shot at close range by Palestinian terrorists.@amanpour, you owe a grieving family an apology. pic.twitter.com/PQUPTfHx5R

— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) May 11, 2023

Lucy, Rina, and Maia were traveling in a car when they were shot by Palestinian gunmen. The daughters died at the scene, but the 48-year-old lived for three days before she, too, passed away. Thousands of mourners gathered the day before Lucy died to say goodbye to 20-year-old Maia and 15-year-old Rina. The women were all Israeli-British nationals who lived just south of Jerusalem after moving there in 2014.

No, Thanks

Rabbi Leo Dee responded to Amanpour’s apology in an interview. He said that he did not accept it, and it was “[t]oo little, too late.” He’d previously threatened to sue CNN over the reporter’s mischaracterization of the deaths of his wife and children. He’d been in a separate car traveling along with his family when the terrorists opened fire, and had turned around after the vehicle his wife and daughters were in was fired upon. He stood by as medics tried to save them.

Dee accused CNN of making “moral equivalencies between [Israelis] and between terrorists.” What’s more, he said they continue to do it and don’t believe they intend to stop.

The Palestinians who allegedly killed Dee’s wife and daughters were killed by Israeli troops during a raid in early May. The military found three assault weapons in the home during the search. It’s unclear if they were used in the shooting.