‘You With Hamas?’ Lesley Stahl’s Stunning 60 Minutes Segment On Israeli Settlers Sparks Debate

‘You With Hamas?’ Lesley Stahl’s Stunning 60 Minutes Segment On Israeli Settlers Sparks Debate Veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl joined a Palestinian family trying to reach their home in the West Bank for a segment on the latest episode of CBS’ flagship news magazine program. The clips, which first aired on Sunday night and were posted to social media soon after, quickly sparked a fierce debate as the program showed violent Israeli settler youth physically attacking the Palestinians Stahl traveled with. “Mohammed’s brother, also named Hassan, tried to take us to the family’s house. But within seconds, the hilltop youth in their black hoodies came running down the hill, one after the other,” Stahl narrated, adding: Soon, the teens were blocking Hassan from reaching the house in the distance. Some were very young. As they shoved and rammed, Hassan kept his hands behind his back so they couldn’t accuse him of hitting them. “That means I’m not fighting with you.” A group of Jewish activists called Sons of Abraham were there as well. What they do is try to protect Palestinians under siege. They stepped between Hassan and the teens like human shields, the idea being that settlers would be more hesitant to attack other Jews. During another part of the segment, Stahl speaks to one of the young Israeli settlers after narrating, “One of the older boys was particularly belligerent: so much for Jews not attacking Jews.” Bnaya: What are you? Lesley Stahl: Oh I’m an American Journalist. Television. Bnaya: And you in with Hamas? Lesley Stahl: No. He really got into it with Hassan, headbutting him in the face. Lesley Stahl: Oh. They’re really hurting people now. The segment kicked off a flood of condemnation of the Israeli settlers, while several prominent pro-Israel activists accused 60 Minutes of bias. Other notable reactions registered surprise that CBS News, now under Bari Weiss’s leadership, ran the segment at all – given the widespread, and highly contentious, accusation that she has pushed a pro-Israel, pro-MAGA agenda. NY State Sen. Erik Bottcher (D) shared the clip and added, “This is so absolutely outrageous and unacceptable.” “Supposedly avidly pro-Israel ‘60 Minutes’ and CBS News under Bari Weiss joined in on media stories on Israelis in the West Bank and went after the Israeli government in the process with veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl,” added NewsBuster’s analyst Nicholas Spinnato. Former U.S. ambassador to Israel under Trump, David Freidman, accused the segment of omitting key facts. In a lengthy post, he concluded “the Palestinians play the media like a fiddle, knowing exactly when and how to film the conflict to portray it in a biased and one-sided matter. 60 Minutes knowingly took the bait.” Below are some more reactions: __ New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters" Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!