Hayley Nagelberg Is A Slice Of Awesome…

Seventeen-year old Hayley Nagelberg had a little run-in with CNN executive Richard Davis at the United Synagogue Youth’s 64th annual international convention last Sunday.  And it was epic, to say the least.  Not because of the fact that Hayley learned something from an elder, mind you, but because Dick was schooled by a 17-year old.  

In a post in the Times of Israel, the student claimed Davis, CNN EVP of news standards and practices, became argumentative when he was asked about CNN’s significant mistake in calling an Israeli synagogue a “mosque” following the deadly Har Nof terrorist attackcarried out by two Palestinian men. Four people were killed, including three Americans.

He brushed off the mistake, because, you know – CNN.

And then this is how Hayley said the run-in went down:

I questioned him on the Har Nof headlines again. I first had to prove to him that I had in fact even seen the headlines I was questioning. When I managed to satisfy his questions, I wanted to know why CNN, when releasing the headlines at issue, couldn’t call it a terrorist attack. Davis explained that they would never jump to a conclusion that anything is a terrorist attack. “Okay”, I said, fully understanding the weight that the word “terrorist” carries. “But by the time it was known that it was four Israelis and two Palestinians, it was known that there were meat cleavers and stabbings involved. Why couldn’t you call it an ‘attack’?” I continued. His response? “You’ve got to be kidding me? One word? Are you brain dead?”

She questioned him, y'all.  Because she's awesome like htat.  And then, when Dick asked her if she was "brain-dead," she wrote an entire rebuttal post at the Times of Israel that is absolutely brilliant, the last three paragraphs of which I'm including here in their entirety:

Richard Davis – to answer your question, “Yes, I am serious. Yes, it’s one word. It makes a difference. No, I am not brain dead. I am a seventeen-year old girl from New Jersey who is appalled by the biased media coverage of Israel here in America. I am disgusted by the false headlines. I am pained by the ignorance of so many people, yourself included. And, most importantly, I am saddened and ashamed that there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight.

How many Israelis must be killed for the facts to be correct? How many innocent Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, or the West Bank, or within the land of Israel, must be caught up in this web of lies before their stories can be freely shared? How many mornings must I wake up in fear as I reach for my phone to scroll through countless stories, from countless news organizations, trying to get a complete picture of what happened in my homeland while I slept?   How many hashtag campaigns, angry teenagers, nasty emails must you see before you understand that your news is not balanced, is not fair, and is not accurate?

I cannot sit back any longer and watch people like you continue to misreport the truth. In my fantasies, the answer to all of these questions is zero. The time for change is now, and if you are not prepared to be a part of the change, I ask you, ‘Are you serious?… Are you brain dead?’

Love me some Hayley beyond words. LOVE.