GMB fans slam Richard Madeley for having 'sensitivity of a brick' during interview with son of Hamas kidnapping victim | The Sun
GOOD Morning Britain fans have slammed Richard Madeley for having the "sensitivity of a brick" during an interview with the son of a Hamas kidnapping victim.
GMB host Madeley was criticised for his questioning this morning of Noam Sagi, whose 75-year-old mum Ada Sagi remains held in captivity by Hamas.
Noam is appealing to the government for help releasing her after she was among the Israeli hostages captured by terrorists earlier this month.
He spoke to ITV's GMB this morning but viewers were unimpressed by Madeley's approach.
The breakfast show host highlighted footage of another hostage, 85-year-old Yocheved Lifshitz, after her release.
She was seen shaking hands with her captors and wishing a Hamas militant "peace" – though her husband remains a hostage.
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Madeley asked Mr Sagi whether he felt "comforted" by hearing hostages were receiving some food and water.
And he suggested the captives were being received "relatively reasonable treatment" despite Yocheved telling of being "beaten".
Richard opened the interview by asking Noam: “Were you comforted by what appears to be the relatively reasonable treatment the hostages are getting?
"According to her account they are being fed, they’re eating the same food as their captors, they’ve been given water.
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"Apart from I think she said she was beaten when she was being taken the tunnels where she was kept, after that it seems like the treatment was not unreasonable – were you comforted by that, thinking of your mother?”
Noam paused before replying: “Richard, we wouldn’t have the conversation if it would be good guys on the other side.
“That wouldn’t be the case, you wouldn’t talk to me right now."
He added that "every little helps" but was then asked by co-presenter Kate Garraway to expand more on his feelings about the conditions.
He responded: "Who comes to someone’s house – 80, 70, 90 years old, nine months old, three years old, shoot them in the limbs and take them out of their beds into captivity?
"And then we’re talking about conditions.
“I don’t want to have a conversation about the conditions, I want my mum back.
“I’m a son – you as parents just think about what that means if someone needs to fight for your life and you don’t know for 19 days now.
“So the conversation should go back to why we’re talking to begin with and that is my message."
Richard then told him: "I think that’s a perfectly reasonable point of view and totally understandable."
Ben O'Hare wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Richard Madeley, yet another display of interviewing with the sensitivity of a brick."
Andy Rees posted: "Richard Madeley is at it again.
"Interviewing the son of an Israeli hostage and actually asked, 'Are you comforted by a released hostages' account that they are receiving some food and water?'
"Quite something."
Geoff Walker addressed GMB's X account, asking: "Why are you allowing Richard Madeley to conduct an interview when he clearly isn’t listening to the guest?
"His questions are appalling."
Another poster, Laura, urged GMB to "gag Richard Madeley".
She added: "You do not ask the son of a hostage 'apart from your mother being beaten when they took her, are you happy with her treatment?'
"I'm stunned he's still on air frankly."
And Lee Partridge wrote: "Richard Madeley doesn’t have a presenting filter.
"Sometimes he just blurts things out without thinking what he’s about to say."
Richard was previously criticised and later apologised after asking the Liberal Democrats' British-Palestinian MP Layla Moran whether her family in Gaza knew of the terror attack in advance.
He has been involved in a series of controversies since starting work as a relief presenter on GMB in 2017.
The Sun Online has approached ITV for comment.
Mr Sagi, 53, told of his fears for his retired headteacher mum after she was taken when Hamas terrorists stormed the Nir Oz Kibbutznear the Gazan border on October 7.
Family spoke to her on the phone that morning, hearing of her distress at the Hamas raid, before the call went silent.
He later saw footage once the Israeli army had retaken the kibbutz, showing his mother's home empty and blood-stained.
He told GMB today: "That's when my heart really dropped.
"I hoped for good news but I had a really bad feeling."
Mr Sagi grew up on the kibbutz before moving 22 years ago to Britain, where he works as a physiotherapist in Hampstead, north London.
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Meanwhile, a top Hamas commander behind a sickening massacre that left more than 100 people dead at the Be’eri Kibbutz on October 7 has been killed.
Abed Alrahman, deputy commander of the Nuseirat Battalion, was hit by an airstrike yesterday, the Israeli Defence Force said.
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