What is Joy Behar’s religion? The View co-host discusses antisemitism as Rep. Rashida Tlaib posts controversial tweets about Gaza hospital explosion

Joy Behar called out Rashida Tlaib for blaming Israel for the October 17 hospital bombing. Congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib received major backlash for a controversial tweet, where she accused Israel of the bombing of the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. She doubled down on her comments on October 23, 2023, by releasing a statement in which she advocated for an independent investigation.

Tlaib's statements come after Israel and the United States declared that the bombing of the hospital was caused by a misfired Islamic Jihad rocket. On Tuesday's episode of The View, co-host Joy Behar slammed Tlaib for her controversial tweet and condemned her for allegedly spreading lies. In the episode Behar, believed to be a Catholic-born agnostic, and her co-hosts went on to discuss antisemitism.

Rashida Tlaib agreed with the United Nations and called for an independent investigation into the attack at the hospital, in the statement put out on Monday. She discussed both the United States and the Israeli government's alleged history of misleading the public about wars and war crimes. Rashida then went on to mention Shireen Abu Akleh's assassination and the Iraq war as examples.

"I cannot uncritically accept Israel’s denials of responsibility as fact, especially in light of confirmation from the World Health Organization that Israel has bombed numerous medical facilities in Gaza and reports from the Palestinian Red Crescent Society of ongoing threats from the Israeli military to evacuate hospitals," the representative's statement read.

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Joy Behar is an agnostic who doesn't really believe in an afterlife

Joy Behar's views towards religion remain floating in a territory between firm and unclear, somewhat ambiguous. She was born Josephine Victoria Occhiuto in a Roman Catholic family of Italian descent but later in life, chose to distance herself from faith.

In a 2011 interview with Father Edward Beck on ABC's Focus on Faith, Father Beck asked Behar if she thought that she was an agnostic.

"Well, I would go to that. I wouldn't call myself an atheist. Because that's a commitment to something," Behar replied.

She went on to add:

"I'm a-theist. And I'm not atheist. Cause I feel very modest in this conversation in the sense that I don't know. I don't know what it is."

The video of the conversation was transcripted by celebatheists.com but is no longer available online. According to the transcript, Joy Behar denied praying to any entity out there.

When asked by Father Beck, if she still had a way to have a connection with something bigger than her beliefs that sustained her, she replied:

"I'm sustained by my family, my brain, my life. But I don't believe there is an afterlife, I don't believe it."

Joy Behar explained her views by stating that she had never seen proof to the contrary. Behar also revealed that she never gave her daughter any religion because she thought that she was "brainwashed". She reiterated that she does not believe in the existence of a higher power as there were "too many galaxies out there" and "too many questions to answer".

When asked about religious co-hosts on The View, Joy Behar stated that she was happy about that and only had a problem when people were being irrational about religious positions. She used Darwin's theory of evolution as an example to explain her point.

"I'm perfectly fine around religious people, I'm happy that they believe. I can't listen to the Earth was created in seven days when there is too much information around that tells you the opposite," Joy said.

Joy Behar had to publicly apologize in 2018 for slandering Mike Pence's religious beliefs. She had reportedly said that it was "mental illness" if the then-Vice President believed that Jesus was talking to him. According to AP, during her apology Behar mentioned that she was a Christian who helped the church by giving money.

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"She goes out there and lies like Trump,": Joy Behar on Rashida Tlaib

On Tuesday's episode of The View, Joy Behar took shots at Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib for tweeting that Israel was behind the bombing of Gaza's Al-Ahli Arab Hospital. The bombing left around 500 Palestinians dead and many more injured.

According to reports by the White House and the Israeli government, the hospital bombing was the result of an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire, from the Palestinian side of the border. Investigations based on video footage conducted by AP, CNN, and The Wall Street Journal also support the claim.

Co-hosts, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Alyssa Farah Griffin, Sara Haines, and Sunny Hostin were talking about the Israel-Palestine situation. They were also discussing Islamophobia and the rise in antisemitism in the United States. Joy Behar asked:

"When they say that you can be anti-Zionist or anti-Israeli policy, well that doesn't make you antisemitic right? Then why do people become antisemitic based on what's going on in Israel?"

Behar pointed out that there was a 54% increase in antisemitic incidents from October 7 to 18, as compared to the same period last year. She talked about how the Jewish children had to worry about the "heartbreaking" situation that they were in. Behar stated that people had to speak out against antisemitism and bigotry.

"We cannot remain silent. There's a lot of silence right now," Behar claimed.

This was countered by Whoopi Golberg who did not think that there was a lot of silence. Goldberg said that people were trying to find out "what to say and how to say it" without being misunderstood as it was a situation they were not used to. Sunny Hostin agreed with Goldberg and believed that people were only now learning the "historical context".

"People have always been very afraid to talk about the conflict and be labeled an antisemite," Hostin said.

She went on to cut off Behar, reiterating the statistics of the increase in antisemitism claiming that people have been antisemitic "since the beginning of time" in the US. Hostin said that the situation was now a humanitarian crisis.

Alyssa Farah Griffin chimed in and added that the situation was also a "terrorist crisis". She condemned the Harvard graduate students and the NYU Student Bar Association president for claiming that Israel bore full responsibility for the violent conflict.

Farah Griffin used these instances to point out that Jews were one of the only groups on earth whose right to exist was being constantly questioned and that they had to defend it.

"It’s right, left, center. I’ve called it out when it’s on the right, so I’m going to call it out when it’s on the left. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, they have dabbled in dangerous antisemitism," Griffin noted.

Joy Behar condemned Tlaib for not admitting that the attack on the hospital was, according to Behar, from Hamas. She stated:

"They have videos showing it but she goes out there and lies like Trump,"

Sarah Haines added to the discussion by admitting that people felt that Israel had questionable policies. However, she asked the question of where the "rage" was when people talk about Palestinians living in an open-air policy, where the governing body intercepts aid.

"Whereas Israel built bomb shelters, Hamas built tunnels to further attack its neighbors. This is what it comes down to, you are either pro-co-existence which means Israel has a right to exist, and Palestine," Haines stated.

Haines quoted a speech from Barack Obama where he mentioned that previous Israeli governments had taken "meaningful efforts" to resolve the conflict and move towards a "two-state solution", which was repeatedly rebuffed by "the other side". Sunny Hostin reminded people that Hamas had not had a free democratic election since 2005, a subject that Haines said deserved "rage".