WATCH: Leftist Host Scorns Israeli Hostage’s Sister, Pushes Hamas Talking Points in ‘Disturbing’ Interview

Leftist political commentator Briahna Joy Gray, former national press secretary to Bernie Sanders, is being described as a callous “monster” after repeatedly demeaning an Israeli hostage’s sister and dismissing her pleas while pushing pro-Hamas talking points, including Israel’s culpability for the stall in hostage talks, denial of October 7 atrocities, and even the suggestion that support for Israel led to the 9/11 terror attacks, in a “disturbing” interview.

During an interview on the Hill TV’s Rising on Tuesday, co-host Briahna Joy Gray spoke with Yarden Gonen, the sister of Romi Gonen, who is currently being held hostage in Gaza. 

The 23-year-old Romi, a choreographer who Yarden described as someone who loves to paint and work with autistic children, was among those kidnapped from the Nova music festival on October 7. After hiding for hours, Romi was ambushed by terrorists, resulting in her being shot and taken.

“Mommy, I’m afraid. I don’t know what to do. I don’t know where to go,” were the last words she spoke to her mother on the phone amidst the chaos.

Yarden, who is a nurse, described how terrorists, some as young as 18 years old, had dragged her sister by the hair, debated whether to kill her, and pistol whipped her head until she blacked out while kidnapping her to Gaza.

While Yarden Gonen insisted that the “entire free world is at risk” because of Hamas, Gray persistently attempted to put the blame for the hostages’ fate on Israel rather than on Hamas.

Addressing the complexity of securing the return of the hostages through a ceasefire while also ensuring the elimination of the existential threat to Israel posed by Hamas, Gonen offered an analogy of a terror organization in Mexico attacking Americans and posing a threat to the United States.

Gray responded, “I don’t think we would endeavor to eliminate all Mexicans if that were to happen.”

Gonen responded by saying she didn’t say anything about eliminating all Palestinians before attempting to pivot back to her sister.

Gray also dismissed photographs taken by ZAKA, an Israeli voluntary emergency response organization, claiming that the group’s reporting “has been roundly discredited by both Israeli and American media sources.”

ZAKA’s reports from October 7 have offered extensive details of the aftermath of the massacre.

When Gonen highlighted the minimal food her sister was likely receiving as a hostage, Gray accused Israel of blocking aid to Gaza. However, Gonen noted that most aid trucks make their way to Gaza and that Hamas has repeatedly blocked aid from reaching their own civilians.

Gray, who has nearly 400,000 followers on X, continued to push Gonen in an attempt to blame Netanyahu for the current hostage situation, with the hostage’s sister finally firing back: “I see you really want to discuss political [matters] and that is not my profession,” noting that an Israeli deal is currently “on the table” and “we’re waiting for Hamas to say yes.”

“I’m here to talk about my sister, please help me spread her story [and] make people understand what she’s going through as a woman in 2024,” she pleaded.

“We are not [living] 200 years ago; it is not ok that we have a terror organization that’s controlling the free world and people in the west are letting it happen. … What did I do wrong? Or my sister? We did nothing wrong,” she added.

After Gonen warned that cowering to terrorism could lead to another 9/11-like attack, citing recent Michigan rallies where residents chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel,” Gray pushed back, saying there was no threat of terrorism posed by the radicalization of Arab and Muslim communities in the Wolverine State, even going so far as to say that “one of the rationales that was presented for 9/11 was discussed with America’s support of Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine.”

Gonen concluded by telling Gray that “I really hope that you, specifically, will believe women when they say that they got hurt–” but was cut off by the irritated host, who rolled her eyes, sighed and stopped her mid-sentence, stating, “All right, thanks for joining…”

In response, many expressed outrage on social media over Gray’s callousness.

“The family member of an Israeli hostage pleads with Briahna Joy Gray to believe Jewish women who have been abducted, tortured, and raped by Hamas. Instead of projecting empathy, as a normal person would, Gray rolls her eyes, her mouth dripping with contempt,” wrote Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY).

“Gray has a hatred for the Jewish State so visceral and fanatical that it renders her cruelly indifferent to the value of Jewish life,” he added.

“This woman, Briahna, is so filled with antisemitic contempt it’s almost unbelievable. I’ve never seen an interviewer display such a disgusting unprofessional and disrespectful attitude towards their own guest,” wrote journalist Emily Schrader.

“Is it really that hard to stand against sexual assault — as a woman no less?!” she added. “I think we should send Briahna to Gaza.”

“When I labeled Zionophobia a neural pathology, colleagues said: No, it’s just a political opinion. Now, watch the rolling eyes of Briahna Joy Gray as she refuses [to] accept reality; are these the eyes of a mentally heathy political commentator?” asked Judea Pearl, a Chancellor’s Professor at UCLA and the president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, named after his son, murdered terror victim Daniel Pearl.

“No low this person won’t sink to, truly disgusting,” wrote activist and writer Hen Mazzig, senior fellow at The Tel Aviv Institute.

“Monsters exist,” wrote one influencer. “Some of them host TV ‘news’ and ‘commentary’ shows.”

“This is one of the most disturbing interviews I have ever seen. Both interviewers treated Yarden Gonen, the sister of Israeli hostage Romi Gonen, with such disrespect and disgust… persistently discredited the atrocities committed on 10/7 and then had the audacity to roll her eyes at Yarden, when she asked her to believe all women,” wrote one X user.

Gray has faced severe criticism for promoting antisemitic tropes, denying Hamas’s sexual violence on October 7, and defending those advocating for Israel’s destruction.

In December, Gray came under fire for appearing to deny the expulsion of more than 850,000 Jews from Arab countries after Israel’s establishment in 1948.

She also declared that “there’s not a group on earth that’s killed more people and enacted more global terror than white Christians.”

Last month, Gray was mocked after suggesting that Hamas, a U.S.-designated Islamic terror group whose charter calls for relentless jihad, seeks to build a peaceful democratic state.

The Jewish State is currently at war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip following the October 7 massacre, whereby the terrorist group perpetrated the deadliest attack against Jewish people since the Nazi Holocaust. The massacre saw the torture, rape, execution, immolation, and abduction of hundreds of Israeli civilians, as well as widespread Palestinian support for it.

The Iranian proxy Islamist terrorist organization targeted attendees at a music festival and civilians in southern Israeli towns, all while thousands of rockets rained down on Israeli civilian centers.

The massacre resulted in terrorists killing approximately 1,200 people and wounding more than 4,800, with at least 242 hostages taken — more than half of whom remain in Gaza. The vast majority of the victims are civilians and include dozens of American citizens.

Concerns about Hamas’s treatment of hostages continue to be raised, as Israeli authorities investigate substantial allegations of rape and sexual assault related to the October 7 massacre, having collected over 1,500 testimonies — including of gang rape and post-mortem mutilation.

IDF International Spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht stated that the Israeli army is “absolutely” concerned about such violence against hostages. His comments came amid firsthand accounts of freed captives at a meeting with Israeli officials, after several shared testimonies of various abuses during their captivity in Gaza.

Over a dozen young Israeli women remain hostage in Gaza.