Briahna Joy Gray, a political commentator and Bernie Sander's former press secretary during his 2020 presidential campaign was slammed online this week for her treatment of an Israeli hostage family member during an interview with The Hill on Tuesday.
Late on Thursday night, Gray, announced she had been fired from The Hill in a post to X.
It finally happened. The Hill has fired me.There should be no doubt that @RisingTheHill has a clear pattern of suppressing speech -- particularly when it's critical of the state of Israel. This is why they fired @kthalps, & it was only a matter of time before they fired me.… pic.twitter.com/lLqgWjgOIV
— Briahna Joy Gray (@briebriejoy) June 6, 2024
Yarden Gonen, the sister of Romi Gonen, who was abducted by Hamas on October 7, told The Hill in an exclusive published on Tuesday that her sister had made a final call to their mother before being abducted from the Nova Festival.
While Yarden was attempting to garner attention for her captive sister, Joy, also part of the broadcast, garnered the attention of social media users after she rolled her eyes. At the same time, Yarden pleaded with her that she believed women who were made victims of sexual violence by Hamas on October 7.
A final call from Romi
In the call, Romi told her mother that she had been shot and was sitting in a car. The car Romi was sitting in had later been discovered empty.
The last time the family heard from Romi, they received a 10-minute phone call, which cut off at 10:58 a.m. Yarden said all they heard was shooting, bombing, and the sound of terrorists talking among themselves.
Days after the attack, Romi’s family had the call translated, Yarden said. The terrorists had been debating whether to take Romi to Gaza before eventually deciding in favor of the abduction.
Yarden told The Hill how difficult the “uncertainty” and “unknowing” was.
“They [Hamas] just want to cause her and us harm,” she said, addressing questions on whether she had received any communication from her sister since October 7.
She said the last sign of life they had received about her sister was during the November ceasefire deal, where released hostages recounted some “horrifying things” that had happened.
Yarden said that a released hostage told them that on October 7, Romi was dragged by a terrorist by her curly hair and her wounded arm. She was later knocked unconscious by one of the terrorists, who reportedly hit her with his weapon.
“This is how you treat people? This is how you treat people?” said Yarden, physically distraught. “And this is only the things that happened to my little sister on October 7, and from then, we don’t know what else.”
Hostage's relative: None of us really know what's going on
Asked about her thoughts on Netanyahu’s decisions on hostages and the ceasefire proposal, Yarden answered, "none of us [hostage families] really know what's going on” as they were not in the government’s discussions. “All I can say is none of us are doing enough to release them,” she added.
Yarden also stated she believed that the international community was not doing enough to secure the release of hostages. “We didnt hear almost anything from the women’s organizations that will condemn what Hamas did and what they’re still doing… it is not hard.”
Referencing the most recent ceasefire deal proposed by Israel, Yarden said that the agreement was an opportunity for Hamas “to show the world and their own citizens that they really care for them.”
“The entire free world is at risk,” Yarden warned if Hamas did not accept the deal.
Hamas are “not good people, not for us, not for their own civilians and not for the entire world.”
Speaking of her sister, Yarden stressed that Romi “loved her life,” dancing and her job working with autistic children.
Yarden said she was in favor of a "permanent ceasefire” because it would mean the return of all the hostages, but stressed the importance of not just allowing Hamas to “get what they want.” She encouraged Joy to reflect on how the US would react if it was attacked in the same way Israel was and if they would allow a terror threat to continue to pose a threat to them. Joy retorted that she didn’t think the US government would try to wipe out an entire civilian population, a reference to accusations of genocide faced by Israel.
Joy then prompted that other hostage families had protested Netanyahu’s government in an attempt to push through a deal. Yarden responded by pointing out that it was Hamas rejecting the deals, not Israel, and the pressure should be applied there.
Yarden asserted that she only represented herself and her sister, not Netanyahu’s government.
“It's not my job to perform; my job is to take care of my sister and to show the world what is really going on right now, what is really going on…and what really happened on October 7th.”
After an emotional commentary, based on the testimonies of released hostages, of how her sister was likely being denied food and being forced to drink sea water, Joy diverted the topic to accusations that Israel has been blockading aid from reaching Gaza.
Joy asserted that blocking aid hurt both Palestinians and hostages, ending her statement with “right?” to format the statement as a question.
Humanitarian aid has significantly increased in the Strip throughout the duration of the war, with multiple experts assuring that sufficient resources were being sent. However, as Yarden stressed, Hamas has been stealing significant amounts of humanitarian aid, and Egypt also initiated its own assistance blockade in protest of Israel’s Rafah operation.
Yarden continued by stating that while the world was focused on Palestinian civilians, little was being done to ensure the hostages were being cared for. She pointed to the fact that the Red Cross had failed to ensure that medication reached the hostages, including her sister, who suffers from multiple chronic health conditions.
The interviewer asked Yarden if she felt Netanyahu was prioritizing his political goal above the return of hostages, to which Yarden responded that she didn’t wish to discuss politics, only her sister.
“This is not my profession,” asserted Yarden. “I’m saying that right now, we have an Israeli deal on the table, and we’re waiting for Hamas to say yes.”
“Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case,” Joy said, interrupting her guest. “I wish that it were, but unfortunately, that does not seem to be the case. Would you like to say anything else?”
Yarden reaffirmed that the Israeli-proposed deal and Hamas’s pause in response were confirmed by the governments of the US, Egypt, Qatar, and Israel.
Yarden stated that both she and Joy were getting their information from the media, and neither was part of the negotiation team.
“I am here to talk about my sister; please, help me spread her story. Help me make people understand what she is going through as a woman in 2024, we are not 200 years ago. This is not okay that we have terror organizations that are controlling the free world and people and the West are letting it happen. Saying on the street, ‘Kill the hostages now’ or ‘Israelis must die.’ What did I do wrong? What did my sister do wrong? Nothing, we did nothing wrong…
“If the world doesn’t help us, we will see September 11 a second time in the US again. We can already see in the United States, in Michigan, rallies that call ‘death to America’ ... It reflects on your country as well.”
Joy rejected claims that there were terror threats emanating from Michigan despite footage confirming that “death to America” was being chanted at rallies. Joy further claimed that one of the motivations behind the September 11 attacks was America’s support for Israel and “Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine.”
Joy concluded by stating that she hoped that Netanyahu would agree to the Israel-proposed deal to see the hostages returned.
Criticisms of the interview
Footage of the interview circulated online, with many X users taking issue with Joy’s treatment of Yarden.
Hen Mazzig, the founder of the Tel Aviv Insitute, wrote on X, “The Hill’s @briebriejoy rolling her eyes and sighing after Yarden Gonen, sister of a hostage in Gaza, asking her to believe rape victims.
“No low this person won’t sink to, truly disgusting.”
The Hill’s @briebriejoy rolling her eyes and sighing after Yarden Gonen, sister of a hostage in Gaza, asking her to believe rape victims. No low this person won’t sink to, truly disgusting. pic.twitter.com/d3A5mW0lsK
— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) June 5, 2024
Other X users described Joy as “evil,” referencing her behavior during the interview.
The EVIL Brie Joy Gray responding to the sister of an Israeli hostage. https://t.co/UgP543SvwY
— Karen Nyere️ (@KarenNyere) June 5, 2024