TALKTV is facing calls to fire one of its more controversial hosts after a “condescending” and “thuggish” interview with a Palestinian politician.
Dr Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, was appearing on Julia Hartley-Brewer’s show in the wake of the assassination of the deputy leader of Hamas, Saleh al-Arouri.
Al-Arouri was killed in a suspected Israeli attack on the Lebanese capital of Beirut earlier in the week.
In a clip shared by TalkTV to social media, Hartley-Brewer grows visibly frustrated with Barghouti as he begins to talk about the democratic basis for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule.
“Do you think Israel is a democratic country?” Barghouti said. “Netanyahu has destroyed democracy. This man now has three, four courts against him, court cases of corruption.
“This man knows if the war stops he will go to jail.”
Journalism is committing suicide after this interview pic.twitter.com/fYYF1TUoUx
— Dima Khatib (@Dima_Khatib) January 5, 2024
As he is talking, Hartley-Brewer begins to shout over him, eventually saying: “You talked about how you don’t want Israel, you’re saying Israel, October 7 happened, you’re placing that in a historical context, I understand that, please don’t say that again. We don’t have time for it. You’ve made that point five times already.”
Barghouti then said: “I don’t know what you have time for.”
Hartley-Brewer then shouts: “For the love of god let me finish the sentence man. Maybe you’re not used to women talking, I don’t know, but I would like to finish the sentence sir. Anyway …”
Barghouti then says she is “misleading the public”, leading Hartley-Brewer to again shout over him as he speaks.
Finally she gives him “10 seconds” to outline what an acceptable reaction to the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel would have been.
“End occupation and allow peace to prevail for both people,” Barghouti said.
Hartley-Brewer then sniped that the response was “brilliant”, adding: “Sorry to have been a woman speaking.”
The clip of the exchange was first shared by TalkTV on Wednesday, but gathered momentum after being highlighted by some prominent accounts on Twitter.
Commenting on social media, Barghouti said: "The arrogance of a racist and unprofessional journalist."
Ramy Abdu, the Gaza-born founder and chair of the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, hit out at TalkTV.
“The racism, the violence, the condescending tone, the thuggish performance, the insinuations, the viciousness, these are norms with which Palestinians interlocutors have had to deal with for decades on Western media,” he wrote.
“[Hartley-Brewer] is just the ugliest face of that violent discourse that constantly dehumanizes and targets Palestinian voices. Would @Talktv seek to uphold any sort of journalistic decency, it should fire this woman who is misleading the public.”
Award-winning British-Lebanese journalist and author Hala Jaber said Hartley-Brewer’s performance was a “disgrace”.
Rude, bigoted, narrow minded arrogant & absolutely unprofessional @JuliaHB1. To even suggest & play the woman card was as a new mow even for you. I can assure you he knows how to speak to women more than you know how to speak to men or people in general. Your performance was a… https://t.co/RmzJIXKAk1
— Hala Jaber (@HalaJaber) January 5, 2024
Jaber wrote: “Rude, bigoted, narrow minded arrogant and absolutely unprofessional @JuliaHB1. To even suggest and play the woman card was as a new [low] even for you.
“I can assure you he knows how to speak to women more than you know how to speak to men or people in general. Your performance was a disgrace to your profession.”
Dima Khatib, the managing director of Al Jazeera’s AJ+ digital news service, shared the clip online, writing: “Journalism is committing suicide after this interview.”
Human rights activist and Bahraini opposition politician Nabeel Rajab commented: “I have never seen a presenter this bad. I admire this man and his patience with her impoliteness.” Khatib responded: “True.”
Other users called the exchange “racist”, a “disgrace”, and called on TalkTV to take action against Hartley-Brewer.
The channel has been approached for comment.
