Sky presenter Kay Burley has been accused of asking a “disgusting” question about whether Israel believes Palestinian lives are less valuable in an interview with an Israeli spokesman.
Speaking to Eylon Levy about Israel's decision to hand over 150 Palestinian prisoners – convicted of attempted stabbings, shootings or associating with terror groups – in exchange for 50 innocent Israeli children and babies, Burley said she had spoken “to a hostage negotiator” about the discrepancy in the numbers.
“He made the comparison between the 50 hostages that Hamas has promised to release as opposed to the 150 prisoners that are Palestinians and Israel has said that it will release,” she said.
“Does Israel not think that Palestinian lives are valued as highly as Israeli lives?
Levy, shocked by the question, replied: “That is an astonishing accusation. If we could released on prisoner for one hostage we would obviously do that.
“We are not choosing to release these prisoners who have blood on their hands. We are talking about people who have been convicted of stabbing and shooting attacks.
Israel: we want those taken hostage by Hamas back & will do whatever it takes, including releasing a higher number of Palestinian convicted attempted murderers
— Daniel Sugarman (@Daniel_Sugarman) November 23, 2023
Media: doesn’t this prove you don’t value Palestinian lives as highly? We are very intelligentpic.twitter.com/CWtoHABW71
“Notice the question of proportionality doesn’t interest Palestinian supporters when they are able to get more of their prisoners out.
“But really it is outrageous to say that the fact we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offences – more than we are getting our own innocent children back - suggests that we somehow don’t care about Palestinian lives? Really, that’s a disgusting accusation.”
In the 2011 deal done by Israel to free a single Hamas hostage, Gilad Shalit, Israel released more than 1,000 prisoners, some convicted of murder, including Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip and one of those responsible for the October 7 assault on Israel.
