As CBS Mornings host Rei Gayle fights allegations she fed questions to author Ta-Nehisi Coates before Tony Dokoupil grilled him about his pro-Palestine stance, an interview she gave with the father of an Israeli hostage calls into question whether there is a pattern double on the network.
King, alongside co-host Dokoupil, interviewed Thomas Hand in November 2023, after his daughter Emily, then 8, was kidnapped from a sleepover by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.
He told the CBS hosts that when he was initially told she was dead, he was “relieved that it was over for her.” Then, on October 31, the Israeli army told him that Emily was kidnapped alive, as no blood was found near or inside the kibbutz where she was staying.
King and Dokoupil began by talking about Emily's upcoming ninth birthday, which she would eventually spend in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza. King also asked Hand 'how do you spend the days, the hours, what keeps you going?'
The interview took a turn when King asked the distraught father what he thought about the “innocent Palestinians who are dying” and the “innocent Israeli children who are dying.”
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
Pictured: Emily Hand, 9, spent her ninth birthday in the Hamas tunnels in Gaza
The question arose after Hand explained that all Israel received for its withdrawal from Gaza in September 2005 were the October 7 terrorist attacks that killed around 1,200 people.
'[Israel is] a difficult place to live, we are 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 towards peace that Israel has ever made was our withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has never taken such a big step towards peace. And it brought us nothing. They haven't even taken a small step back towards peace.'
In response, King asked Hand to speak about the politics of the war between Hamas and Israel.
'Now this seems to be all about politics, what do you say to that? We have innocent Palestinians who are dying, innocent Israeli children who are dying, and no one seems to be able to say, “Enough, stop it.”
Hand, who at the time of this interview did not know whether her daughter was dead or alive, let out an audible sigh and a nervous laugh before answering King's question.
'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 in response
Hand was reunited with her daughter on November 26 after she and other hostages were released by Hamas
'I'm not interested in politics at all. My only concern is getting Emily back. Whatever it takes to get her back,” he said.
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 resurgence 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 promoting his book The Message, which Dokoupil said “wouldn’t look out of place in an extremist’s backpack.”
CBS News reportedly condemned Dokoupil for not meeting its 'standards'.
Coates defended Dokoupil, who is Jewish, but later said King allegedly told him backstage what she was going to ask him.
If she did, in fact, feed into specific lines of questioning of Coates, King would have violated the network's journalistic standards, a former CBS reporter said. The free press.
Now, some point out that while Dokoupil was criticized for her conduct, King faced no consequences for what she said to the father of a girl who spent 50 days in brutal Hamas captivity.
A morning show segment between Tony Dokoupil (right) and author Ta-Nehisi Coates (left) sparked outrage over the anchor's aggressive questioning last week
Lahav Harkov, senior political correspondent for Jewish Insider, criticized CBS for its alleged double standard.
'It is a violation of CBS standards for Tony Dokoupil to ask tough questions of Ta-Nehisi Coates about his anti-Israel speech, but apparently it was completely acceptable for Gayle King to level accusations at a hostage's father – who said nothing derogatory about Palestinians , by the way,' she wrote on X.
Her post received more than 100 responses, some of which accused King of being an anti-Semite.
'They are immoral. Who has the audacity to say that to a hostage's father?' one person wrote.
“She is a disgrace and should be fired,” wrote another.
“If they didn’t have double standards, they wouldn’t have any standards,” said a third.
In the midst of all this, oneaccording to a report in The free pressMark Memmott, senior director of standards and practices at CBS News, told all CBS News employees not to say that Jerusalem is in Israel.
He reportedly wrote in a note to thousands of CBS journalists: “Yes, the US embassy is there and the Trump administration has recognized it as the capital of Israel. But its status is contested. The status of Jerusalem goes to the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.'
DailyMail.com approached CBS News for comment.
