Gayle King got away with taking the father of one hostage, despite CBS bosses condemning her Jewish co-host for challenging an anti-Israel author.
A resurfaced clip of King, 69, interviewing Thomas Hand in November 2023 about the Oct. 7 kidnapping of his eight-year-old daughter Emily by Hamas has sparked accusations of a double standard at CBS.
In the clip, King asked Hand, “This all seems to be about politics. What do you say to that? You know, you have innocent children and Palestinians dying, innocent Israeli children dying. And no one seems to be able to say, ‘Enough, stop it.’
Hand laughed nervously and replied, “I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back.”
Thomas Hand, left, appeared on CBS Mornings with Gayle King, right, and Tony Dokoupil in November 2023 after his daughter Emily was kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attacks
Emily was safely returned to her family a few weeks later, 50 days after she was kidnapped in the massacre that killed 1,200 people and sparked the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.
But King’s tough line of questioning — which was backed by her bosses at CBS Mornings — led to accusations of hypocrisy after colleague Tony Dokoupil last week challenged anti-Israel author Ta-Neshi Coates on his views.
Jewish journalist Lahav Harkov said of King’s conversation with Hand: “It’s against CBS standards for Tony Dokoupil to ask Ta-Nehisi Coates tough questions about his anti-Israel screed, but apparently it was fine for Gayle King to make accusations to the father of a hostage – who, by the way, said nothing derogatory about the Palestinians.’
Scott Oliphant responded, “They are immoral. Who has the guts to say this to a hostage’s father?
And a tweeter named PythonFive agreed that there was a double standard, writing, “If they didn’t have a double standard, they wouldn’t have a standard at all.”
Meanwhile, Coates claims King told him backstage what she planned to ask him during last week’s interview, leading to accusations of journalistic malfeasance.
Recalling the meeting with Trevor Noah, Coates said, “Gayle came backstage before we went on and she had gone through the book, and I’m not saying she agreed with the book.
“(Yet) she said, ‘I’m going to ask you about this. I’m going to ask you about that.'” If King had highlighted specific questions, she would have violated her own network’s journalistic standards, The free press reported.
Pictured: Emily Hand, 9, spent her ninth birthday in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza
Social media users were quick to condemn CBS Mornings’ apparent double standard
It subsequently emerged that the Dokoupil-Coates interview had broken rules by the network’s DEI-focused Race and Culture Unit during a meeting leaked to The Free Press.
But Shari Redstone – majority shareholder of CBS parent company Paramount – supports Dokoupil and condemns CBS’s handling of the fiasco.
The question came after Hand explained what Israel got for withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005 were the terrorist attacks on October 7 that killed approximately 1,200 people.
‘[Israel is] It’s a difficult place to live, we’re constantly bombarded by rockets – thousands and thousands and thousands of rockets over the last 20 years,” said Hand, who is originally from Ireland but has lived in Israel for 30 years.
“The biggest move toward peace that Israel ever made was our withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has never taken such a big step towards peace. And it got us nothing. They have not even taken a small step back towards peace.”
In response, King asked Hand to talk about the politics of the war between Hamas and Israel.
‘I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back. Whatever it takes to get her back,” Hand told King
Hand was reunited with his daughter on November 26 after she and other hostages were released by Hamas
Emily, a dual Irish-Israeli citizen, was released by Hamas on November 26 and had a moving reunion with her father.
The clip of this tense back-and-forth comes after Dokoupil was reportedly criticized by CBS News executives for his harsh questioning of Coates about his apparent antipathy toward Israel.
Coates was on the show to promote his book The Message, which Dokoupil said “wouldn’t look out of place in an extremist’s backpack.”
He then questioned Coates about his opinion, but their conversation was professional and polite.
Dokoupil was praised by many for his robust questioning, although others criticized him for failing to state that his ex-wife and children live in Israel.
CBS News reportedly condemned Dokoupil for not living up to his “standards.”
Coates defended Dokoupil, who is Jewish, but later said King told him backstage what she was going to ask him.
If she had indeed asked Coates specific questions, King would have violated the network’s journalistic standards, a former CBS reporter said. The free press.
A morning show segment between Tony Dokoupil (right) and author Ta-Nehisi Coates (left) sparked outrage last week over the host’s aggressive questioning
In the midst of it all, oneaccording to a report The free pressMark Memmott, the senior director of standards and practices at CBS News, told all CBS News employees not to say that Jerusalem is in Israel.
He is said to have written in a note to thousands of CBS journalists: ‘Yes, the American embassy is there and the Trump administration has recognized it as the capital of Israel. But its status is disputed. The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
DailyMail.com reached out to CBS News for comment.