Melbourne – The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has questioned Channel 9 why a TV host referred to a replica of Zyklon B canister marketed as gift gas being “cool”.
The segment on Channel’s “Today” was reporting on a story broken by Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper revealing that the replica cans of Zyklon B, the gas used by the Nazis to murders hundreds and thousands of Jews in the Holocaust, were being sold at the Melbourne Arms and Militaria Fair.
A father told the Herald Sun he left the fair with his son. “Seeing replica canisters of Zyklon B for sale was one of the most confronting, traumatizing and shocking sights that I have ever seen,” he told the Herald Sun.
The organizers of the fair that they would take steps in their future to disallow product like this being shown and the supplier offered apologies for causing any offence.
Peter Wertheim, the joint CEO of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry told J-Wire: “Karl Stefanovic on Channel 9 TV show TODAY this morning covered the story about replica canisters of Zyklon B gas which were being sold at a gun fair.
Zyklon B was the gas used by the Nazis to mass murder Jews in the extermination camps during the Holocaust. When it was pointed out that the replica canisters were being marketed as “Gas Gifts”, which is a play on the German “Giftgas”, meaning “poison gas”, Karl Stefanovic responded: “That’s cool”. This seems like an odd response in that context. Perhaps Mr Stefanovic can provide viewers with an explanation of what he meant by that response.
