Screenshot via 60 Minutes
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.
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. pic.twitter.com/rocaYksM7K
— Nick (@nspin310) October 12, 2026
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.”
Following on its illustrious record of false reporting, from the fake Benghazi report to the doctored Kamala Harris interview to the more recent piece on El Salvador to countless other biased reports, 60 minutes now tackles the issue of “settler violence” in Judea and Samaria.… https://t.co/S8dFRDkOPx
— David M Friedman (@DavidM_Friedman) October 12, 2026
Below are some more reactions:
Lesley Stahl, an 84-year-old American journalist for CBS’s 60 Minutes, goes to the West Bank to better understand the extremist “Hill Top Youth” settler movement, which was preventing a local Palestinian from reaching his home.
Violent kid: “What are you? You with Hamas?”🤦♂️🫠 pic.twitter.com/rgfUpSSnuu
— Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (@afalkhatib) October 12, 2026
Glad they’re covering this. Beyond angry that this has been going on for decades and has led to the calamity now under way and the media is ONLY now covering it. https://t.co/ouY9hea0am
— Karin Ryan (@KarinDianeRyan) October 12, 2026
Yes, storied 60 Minutes journalist Lesley Stahl is definitely with…. Hamas. These people are violent thugs and it’s such a disgrace that they’re not just tolerated but supported in their terrorizing. They should be in jail. https://t.co/r0LOcXOYRV
— Jill Filipovic (@JillFilipovic) October 12, 2026
Lesley Stahl, famously part of Hamas as an 84-year-old American journalist.
That this hasn’t been stopped is a moral failure. If they’re attacking Stahl, imagine what they’re doing to Palestinians. https://t.co/V2oKcnxzaw
— 𝔼𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕠𝕥 𝕄𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕟 (@ElliotMalin) October 12, 2026
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