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Sky News Presenter’s Question To Israeli Spox About Hostage Trade Leaves Him Momentarily ‘Speechless’

[Screenshot/Twitter/EylonALevy]

[Screenshot/Twitter/EylonALevy]

Ilan Hulkower Contributor
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An exchange between an Israeli government spokesman and a Sky News reporter on Thursday went viral after the British anchor’s question left the spokesman briefly “speechless.”

Sky News presenter Kay Burley asked spokesman Eylon Levy whether a hostage negotiator that she talked to was correct when he said that the fact Israel was getting 50 hostages released by Hamas in exchange for releasing 150 Palestinian prisoners displayed Israeli racism.

“He made the comparison between the numbers and the fact that, ‘Does Israel not think that Palestinian lives are not valued as highly as Israeli lives?'” she asked Levy. (RELATED: Israeli Cabinet Approves Deal To Release Hostages, Pause Fighting In Gaza)

“That is an astonishing accusation. If we could release one prisoner for every one hostage, we would obviously do that.”

“We’re operating in horrific circumstances. We’re 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,” he responded.

The spokesman then pointed out that the “question of proportionality” was not mentioned in this context.

“It is outrageous to suggest that the fact that we are willing to release prisoners who are convicted of terrorism offenses — more of them than we are getting our own innocent children back — somehow suggests that we don’t care about Palestinian lives. Really? That’s a disgusting accusation.”

“The first question that left me speechless (but only for a second),” Levy admitted in his tweet.

Levy later made light of the exchange on Twitter.