As Israeli hostages returned home after two years in Hamas captivity this week, CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour minimized their suffering and later had to apologize on air — thanks to HonestReporting’s exposure of her appalling commentary.
Amanpour sparked backlash on Monday (October 13) after we exposed her comment that Israeli hostages were “probably being treated better than the average Gazan because they are the pawns and the chips that Hamas had.” She later apologized, calling her comments “insensitive and wrong,” and acknowledged that hostages told her they were barely able to breathe in tunnels, were starved, forbidden to cry, and even forced to dig their own graves.
✅ SUCCESS: Thanks to our exposure of her appalling commentary & your help sharing it online, @amanpour has issued an apology 👇
This isn’t the first time she’s had to apologize for her anti-Israel bias. Shame on her for this latest atrocious example.https://t.co/fdJkS8RsGN
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) October 13, 2025
Our online exposure, which has garnered some 1.5 million views so far, sparked widespread outrage. It led to international coverage — with credit to HonestReporting in, among others, The New York Post and The Washington Times. It also led to an official condemnation by the Israeli foreign ministry. And HonestReporting followers on social media helped amplify the criticism.
.@amanpour what on earth are you talking about??
The hostages were starved, tortured, and subjected to sexual violence.
Your words are Hamas propaganda on steroids. pic.twitter.com/hGQepIZNot— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 13, 2025
Subsequently, it did not take long before CNN and Amanpour had to retract. Mere hours after the emotional hostage handover was completed, she acknowledged her mistake in a live broadcast:
That was insensitive, and it was wrong. From speaking to many former hostages and their families, like everyone, I’ve been horrified at what Hamas has subjected them to over two long years.
This is not the first time Amanpour has been forced to apologize as a result of HonestReporting exposing her biased comments. In May 2023, she issued a public apology for describing the terrorist murders of an Israeli mother and her daughters as a “shootout,” following a ten-day campaign by HonestReporting that made waves around the world.
At the time, she said — in a similar vein:
On April 10, I referred to the murders of an Israeli family: Lucy, Maia, and Rina Dee, the wife and daughters of Rabbi Leo Dee,” Amanpour said. “I misspoke and said they were killed in a ‘shootout’ instead of a shooting. I have written to Rabbi Leo Dee to apologize and make sure he knows that we apologize for any further pain that may have caused him.
Related Reading: SUCCESS: Amanpour Apologizes for ‘Shootout’ Comment After HonestReporting Campaign
HonestReporting also prompted an on-air apology in November 2020 when Amanpour made comments comparing US President Donald Trump’s tenure in office to the Kristallnacht pogroms in Nazi Germany.
Yet more insensitive and ill-thought-out comments, this time seemingly attempting to invoke Nazi atrocities to further a contemporary political agenda, and cheapening history by engaging in such an over-the-top analogy.
Twice is careless. Three times? It looks like a pattern.
So what can we glean from Amanpour’s three apologies?
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She blurts out offensive and baseless throwaway comments that reveal both amateurish journalism and a clear pro-Palestinian tilt.
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She fails to learn from past mistakes that embarrass both her and her network — mistakes that, in any other industry, would cost her her job.
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Social media and HonestReporting’s ability to expose Amanpour’s appalling comments to a critical mass of people, including influential figures online, played a crucial role in holding her to account.
It is alarming that on a major news day demanding the highest journalistic professionalism — a day on which 20 Israeli hostages who have undergone brutal abuse deserved fair and balanced coverage of their return — one of the most prominent anchors of one of America’s most respected networks broadcast such insensitive and downright offensive comments.
Unfortunately, Christiane Amanpour is still held in high esteem by CNN and a global audience. But at least she should know that HonestReporting will continue to hold her accountable anytime and every time she lets the mask slip when it comes to her commentary on Israel.
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