CNN’s Abby Phillip got more than she bargained for when she brought on Brooke Goldstein to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. What was clearly meant to be another opportunity to hammer Israel quickly turned into a reality check, and Phillip didn’t seem too pleased about it. In fact, the more Goldstein exposed the facts, the more Phillip flailed, ultimately revealing she wasn’t interested in facts at all, just pro-Hamas talking points.
Phillip kicked off the topic with a loaded accusation: “It seems incredibly damaging to the credibility of Netanyahu and the state of Israel for him to deny what people can see with their own eyes.” That kind of framing tells you everything about where she was headed.
But Goldstein, a human rights lawyer and founder of the Lawfare Project, wasn’t about to let the narrative go unchallenged. She acknowledged the suffering in Gaza but made it clear where the real blame lies: “What’s happening in Gaza is terrible, and emotions are running very high. There’s a lot of misinformation out there, and it’s important for us to get to the facts of the issue.”
She pointed out that the problems didn’t start last year or even in 2023.
“There’s been reports since 2007 of starvation in Gaza. Because what happened in 2007? Hamas took over Gaza. There were no reports of starvation prior to that, when Israel was in control.”
She continued, “Right now we have over 600 food trucks and thousands of crates in Northern Gaza that the United Nations is refusing to distribute.” Goldstein explained the standoff: “Israel is not allowing UNRWA into Gaza as long as UNRWA refuses to say it will not work directly with Hamas.”
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Phillip, clearly agitated, jumped in: “So let me just pause you there.” Then, as if catching Goldstein in a contradiction, she insisted, “You just said two things that seem actually pretty contradictory. You said the UN is refusing to distribute aid in Gaza, but you also said that Israel is refusing to allow the UN to distribute in Gaza. So which one is it?”
Goldstein calmly clarified, “As long as the United Nations refuses to guarantee that it will not work with Hamas in the distribution of aid — because we know Hamas uses food as a weapon — Israel won’t allow UNRWA in.”
Instead of absorbing the point, Phillip continued to press a narrative about starvation numbers and truck volume, saying, “Even in 2007, imagine the circumstances right now, back when there was aid coming into Gaza at the clip of 600 trucks per day. There was still a need. Now, the clip is more like 30 trucks per day.”
By that point, it couldn’t have been more obvious: Phillip had no interest in exploring the complexities of the situation. Goldstein attempted to draw a clear distinction between Northern and Southern Gaza, highlighting how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has successfully distributed aid in the south, but Phillip wasn’t having it. She repeatedly interrupted, dismissing Goldstein’s points.
“There’s been reports since ’07 of starvation in Gaza, because what happened in 2007? Hamas took over. There were no reports of starvation prior. Now, the facts are we have over 600 food trucks and thousands of crates in northern Gaza that the UN is refusing to distribute.” pic.twitter.com/IRnAEvuUIt
— Thomas Hern (@ThomasMHern) July 30, 2025
And that was the tell: Phillip wasn’t there to engage with inconvenient facts; she was there to smother them. The reality is simple: This crisis is the direct result of Hamas. They launched a war they couldn’t win, deliberately placing civilians in harm’s way, then they sat back and banked on global outrage to shield them from the consequences. And yet, the legacy media falls for it, bending over backwards to distort the truth.
Phillip didn’t sound like a journalist seeking clarity. She sounded like a full-time apologist for Hamas.
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