The Hill Fires Commentator Briahna Joy Gray Amid Backlash Over Israel Remarks

The Hill has terminated controversial commentator Briahna Joy Gray, a former Bernie Sanders staffer, following her dismissive behavior during an interview with a family member of an Israeli terror attack victim. Gray claimed her firing was an attempt to suppress her anti-Israel speech.

“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,” Gray posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, adding that “it was only a matter of time before they fired me.”

On Wednesday, Gray faced criticism for her conduct during an interview with Yarden Gonen, whose family member was a victim of the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel. Gray appeared dismissive of the horror described and rolled her eyes when Gonen said, “I really hope that you specifically will believe woman when they say they got hurt.”

After her termination, Gray retweeted a post calling Gonen a “genocidal Zionist propagandist freak,” sparking further outrage on social media.

Commentary editor Abe Greenwald tweeted, “Imagine how ignorant and anti-Semitic you have to be to get fired from a position that rewards ignorance and anti-Semitism. She was simply overqualified.”

Gray, who served as national press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential campaign, had previously posted a controversial statement on June 1, characterizing Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip as “sometimes you have to kill some Arab kids to maintain a Jewish demographic majority.”