As tensions in the Middle East edged their way toward a ceasefire, conflict on Fox News climbed to new heights on Wednesday night, as Dan Bongino and Geraldo Rivera engaged in an all-out fracas on “Hannity.”
Geraldo Rivera, the more liberal of the pair, argued that Israel’s response had been disproportionate and said it was “abhorrent” that Palestinians “are being killed at the rate of 15 or 20 times the death toll among the Israelis.”
He drew attention to Palestinian children killed by Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Hamas, which is known for using civilians as human shields.
“There are dozens of Palestinian children dead with the ammunition provided to Israel by the United States,” he said.
“I demand my president to demand a ceasefire,” because of “all these children” dying in the Gaza Strip, Rivera concluded during the regularly scheduled debate segment.
Dan Bongino, the host of “The Dan Bongino Show” and proprietor of The Bongino Report, attacked Geraldo Rivera’s integrity as a reporter.
“Geraldo, you do this every time. This is such garbage, and I’m really getting sick of it,” Bongino began.
“You play this emotional game with the audience and use your position of responsibility to put out misinformation and B.S.,” he said.
“Stop attacking me, punk!” Geraldo exploded. “Address the issue!”
“I’m sick of you, Bongino. I’m sick of you!” he said, crumpling up a piece of paper and throwing it at the camera.
“You’re a punk!” Geraldo said. “You’re a punk!”
Bongino called his debate partner “an out-of-control lunatic.”
“I’m a 10-time Emmy winner with deep experience in the Middle East. Have you ever even been there?” Geraldo responded.
Rivera briefly turned his back to the camera as Bongino pointed out, “Hamas doesn’t believe in Israel’s right to exist. Hamas wants the Jews dead.”
This @DBongino and @GeraldoRivera segment was completely off the rails 🔥😳 pic.twitter.com/I6AQnGCNtC
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) May 20, 2021
The verbal altercation came just over a month after the two exploded during a discussion of police violence.
Bongino accused Rivera of injecting race into every discussion of police-involved shootings of black Americans, because “that’s all you’ve got.”
“Reporters deal with facts, and you brought the race card into it the other night when we had this debate, despite having no facts to back that up,” he said.
“All you want to do is see the country burn,” Bongino said. “You’re making a race war out of it.”
“I want to see the country burn? You son of a bitch!” Rivera said. “You’re nothing but a punk! You’re a punk, Bongino! You’re a punk!”
“Yeah?” Bongino replied. “You wouldn’t tell me that to my face.”
Bongino: "You just want to see the country burn"
Geraldo: "I want to see the country burn! You son of a bitch! I want to see the country burn! You punk! You're nothing but a punk! You're a punk, Bongino!"
Hannity: "We'll leave it there." pic.twitter.com/iS6YBmaXQw
— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) April 15, 2021
Rivera has been criticized throughout his career of relying on highly emotional coverage that borders on the “exploitative,” particularly his reporting of the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.
Rivera admitted to New Orleans’ Times-Picayune that he stands outside “mainstream, objective journalism — conveying the data from point A to point B.”
“I’ve always been in the alternative tradition” of “activist journalism,” Rivera said.
Fox News host Sean Hannity tried to engage Rivera on a more substantive discussion of provocation versus retaliation before Geraldo and Bongino attacked one another again.
Hannity took the latest argument in stride. “Alright, alright, alright, enough,” he said, verbally breaking up their argument at the commercial break. “Mediaite has their headline.”