It also doesn't surprise me that most leftists seem to be agree with that assessment.
Honestly, my first reaction was that of relief for Robby Soave. I don't think The Hill could have paid me enough to keep my cool every day.
That said, despite making my stance on the conflict pretty freaking clear, I haven't wavered in my defense of the right of people to say whatever bullshit they wanna say. I will, however, point to the hypocrisy of the leftists who have been saying, "Free speech doesn't mean freedom from consequences." for years who suddenly call foul when they think that somebody on their side got canceled.
Just like everyone else, I can make educated guesses as to what brought about Joy Gray's firing. Just in the last week prior to her firing, she had a couple of unhinged, factually incorrect rants about Hamas and Israel. We also all know the guest on The Hill, the sister of one of the hostages that was taken by Hamas eight months ago, and Joy Gray's callous response.
The reality is that shows like Rising keep the viewership up, and the profits coming in, through conflict. They want the hosts to butt heads. It's boring to have two talking heads agree with each other. Even if The Hill were shown to be bankrolled by a bunch of passionate zionists, the bottom line for such a program could only be harmed by removing opposing opinions.
The reality is that Joy Gray has been guilty of two things on a regular basis -- both of which in her last week of employment with The Hill -- that are fireable offenses for journalists and most other jobs.
One of those offenses is letting your politics override your judgment to the point that you're not just providing your own interpretation of the facts, but you're getting the facts wrong. Saying, "Israel deserved what happened." (which, to be clear, I don't think Joy Gray said herself) is a disgusting opinions; but, it's not a manipulation of the facts. When Joy Gray said that Hamas's goal isn't to kill Jews, but to create a democracy with equal rights, as she did recently, that's simply saying something that everybody with half a brain knows not to be true. She was laughed at during that rant, and she deserved worse.
As for how Joy Gray ended that interview, it really wasn't a speech issue. It was a lack of professionalism. You're supposed to have a poker face in those interviews. It's not like they invited Benjamin Netanyahu on for a debate and she pressed him on some details or numbers that she didn't believe. In order to believe that Yarden Gonen deserved that sort of growling response when she asked that we believe Jewish women is to believe that her sister wasn't really kidnapped by a bunch of savages who jubilantly recorded their crimes against women, and chalk it up to a false flag. It's to believe that we should believe all women, unless they're Jewish. Still, even if Joy Gray is the new brand of Holocaust denier, which I think she very well may be, the professionalism is still a problem.
If they had had the mother of a slain Gazan child on The Hill, and Robby Soave had responded to her with the same eye roll and scoff, I'm sure Robby would have at least been reprimanded.