An Israeli mother, whose two sons were taken hostage by Hamas, strongly expressed her frustration and anger during an interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell when she asked about her feelings regarding Israel's counterstrikes in Gaza. Renana Gomeh, whose 12 and 16-year-old sons were kidnapped by Hamas, became visibly irritated with Mitchell's question.
Mitchell, who is associated with a left-leaning network that has faced severe criticism for its stance on refusing to refer to Hamas attackers as terrorists, continued to press the Gomeh about her emotions concerning Israel's actions in Gaza. The mother initially tried to remain calm but soon vented out her frustration at Mitchell for such an insensitive question.
Feelings of a Distressed Mother
In the stunning on-air interview, Gomeh directly accused Mitchell of attempting to draw a false equivalency between the Hamas attacks and Israel's defensive counterstrikes.
"I can't be sympathetic to animal human beings — well, they're not really human beings — who came into my house, broke everything, stole everything, took my children from their bedrooms and took them to the Gaza Strip," Gomeh said.
"Israel never done that, and it will never do. So there is no symmetry! I'm sorry."
"If you were dealing with a war who is between two countries, countries don't take children hostages. I'm sorry. It's against the laws of war. It's against humanity. It's against anything that we all believe in," Gomeh added.
"Every time we had missiles shot at us, I used to say to my children that they should be sympathetic towards the children of Gaza because they suffer a lot more than they do."
The mother emphatically demanded that the Israeli government make the repatriation of the hostages in Gaza its "first priority."
"I think any mother in the world should try and imagine her children under that situation and then think again," the woman said.
"That's all I want."
Wrong Timing
Gomeh's children were inside their safe room when Hamas forcibly entered their home and abducted them. "I was on the phone with my youngest, I wasn't at home at the time and all I could hear was him begging for them not to take him because he is too young," the mother said in a video.
"They were taken out of their beds by terrorists who broke into my house. They broke the door and took them."
The Comcast-owned channel, MSNBC, has faced criticism for its commentary and coverage of the events in Israel and Gaza. Dan Abrams of NewsNation criticized MSNBC for "victim blaming," and Jonathan Greenblatt, the Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League, questioned if Hamas was influencing the news channel's narrative.
Since the beginning of the conflict on Saturday, a reported 1,900 people have died. This includes 1,000 deaths in Israel and 900 in Gaza.
Additionally, there have been reports of hundreds of Israelis being taken hostage by Hamas, further exacerbating the dire situation.
Reports have indicated horrific acts committed by Hamas members, including beheading babies and children during their violent rampage through towns on the Gaza frontier.
Additionally, Hamas terrorists took numerous soldiers and civilians, including elderly women and children hostages.
In response, the Israeli military initiated an aerial bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Health officials in Gaza have reported the Palestinian death toll to be more than 700 people as of Tuesday, illustrating the devastating toll this conflict has taken on human lives.
