The story of Thomas Hand and his 8-year-old daughter, Emily, is one no parent ever wants to be in the position to have to tell.
A few days after the Hamas-instigated war with Israel began, Hand was informed that Emily was killed by Hamas during a terrorist attack on an Israeli kibbutz where over 100 people were murdered. Though her body was not found nor were there blood remnants, authorities told Hand they were “95 percent” sure she was dead.
In an interview Hand did after he was given that news, he stated through tears that he felt her death was an “absolute blessing” compared to the alternative of being held captive by Hamas, because “if you know anything about what they do to people in Gaza, that is worse than death.”
A month later, however, Hand was told by the Israeli military that it was likely his daughter, whose 9th birthday will be on Friday, November 17th, was still alive and being held hostage by Hamas in an underground tunnel.
The Hand family is Irish, and Ireland’s government is now working furiously behind the scenes to find out more and hopefully be able to safely reunite the father and daughter, who were both living in Israel.
In the meantime, Hand continues to tell their story to raise awareness, and sat down recently for an interview with CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King.
Things went way off kilter, however, when King proceeded to inject politics into the discussion by what-abouting the war:
King: “But now, this seems to be all about politics. What do you say about that? You know, you have innocent children, Palestinians who are dying, innocent Israeli children who are dying, and no one seems to be able to say enough, stop that.”
Hand: “I’m not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back, whatever that takes to get her back.”
Watch:
WATCH: CBS's Gayle King LECTURES the father of a eight-year-old Israeli girl being held hostage by Hamas that "innocent children in Pales –Palestinians…are dying" too just as "innocent Israeli children" and, b/c of "politics," "no one seems to be able to say enough, stop" pic.twitter.com/5qkg2QUMNn
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) November 15, 2023
Honestly, had he gotten up and walked off the set right then and there I wouldn’t have blamed him. I mean if King wants to be an anti-Israel critic, an apologist for Hamas, she should do that on her own time, not put the onus on an Israeli citizen who aches for his daughter to be returned safely to him.
Reaction on social media was most certainly not in King’s favor, as many including independent journalist Megyn Kelly called her “disgusting” and “classless” for her insensitivity.
Conservative commentator Mary Katherine Ham, who lost her husband Jake Brewer in a bike-riding accident in September 2015, had this to say after watching the clip:
Apologies for being self-referential for a sec for this comparison, but just thinking about speaking in public in immediate wake of personal tragedy… trying to imagine an intw about Jake’s death in which someone asked about bike lane policy & implied I needed to be more concerned about people who are hurt by my insufficient support of a particular bike lane policy (which, of course, had nothing to do with the death, but that wouldn’t matter to the obscenely politicized interviewer). It’s so deeply wrong and not hard to figure that out. But as long as it’s in service of moving right along from the suffering of this captive Jewish child and her father, King does it reflexively.
The media has simply got to stop the “both sides” spin on this war, especially if they’re not going to mention a) it is the Israelis who are having to defend themselves here after being attacked and b) Hamas uses civilians including Gaza children as human shields – and that goes double when you’re interviewing family members of the over 200 hostages that Hamas took.
There’s a reason why media trust is at an all-time low, and King just gave people another reason to despise them with the despicable way she treated Thomas Hand. Shame on you, Gayle King – if you even have any.
