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CBS Slanders Israel in Digusting Piece on ’60 Minutes’

Funeral of Youssef Ziadna, who was killed in Hamas captivity in Gaza, in Rahat, Israel on Jan. 9, 2025. Photo: Taken by author

On January 12, 2025, CBS News’ investigative program 60 Minutes aired a 13-minute segment on three former US State Department officials who resigned from their posts in response to American support for Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7, 2023, atrocities.

While the departure of State Department employees in protest of American foreign policy is newsworthy, this segment presents its audience with an imbalanced report by omitting certain salient facts about its interviewees, obscuring important information about Israel’s conduct during the war, and injecting subtle notes of bias throughout the presentation.

Josh Paul & Hala Rharrit: Anti-Israel Voices Within the State Department

The bulk of the report is based on interviews with three State Department officials who resigned over American support for Israel’s war against Hamas: Josh Paul, Hala Rharrit, and Andrew Miller.

While their resignations were portrayed as the result of moral outrage at Israel’s war conduct, 60 Minutes withheld that two of these interviewees have a history of anti-Israel activism and associations with anti-Israel organizations.

Josh Paul, who served as a director in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, was the first State Department official to resign post-October 7, a mere 10 days after the Hamas atrocities and before Israel undertook a full ground operation in the Gaza Strip.

In his resignation letter, Paul condemned both Hamas’ attack and Israel’s response, criticized America’s “one-sided” support for Israel, compared the Hamas kidnapping of Israeli children from kibbutzim with Israel’s detainment of Palestinians involved in violence, and implicitly accused Israel of “ethnic cleansing” and “apartheid.”

Since leaving the State Department, Paul has joined DAWN (Democracy for the Arab World Now), an advocacy organization that promotes boycotts of Israel, opposes the Abraham Accords, and supports international sanctions against the Jewish state.

DAWN’s executive director is Sarah Leah Whitson, an anti-Israel activist who dabbles in anti-Israel stereotypes and conspiracy theories and who was credited with cultivating Human Rights Watch’s shift to an anti-Israel paradigm. Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and who has openly voiced support for Hamas, serves on DAWN’s board of directors.

It is also interesting to note that while in his position, Paul was responsible for facilitating the transfer of arms to Saudi Arabia during its bloody fight against the Houthis in Yemen. Even though he opposed this action, and spoke against it in official memos, he did not resign his role in the State Department. It was only Israel’s response to the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust that caused Paul to leave his position.

Another interviewee whose animus towards the Jewish state was obscured by 60 Minutes is Hala Rharrit, a former Arabic spokesperson who resigned in April 2024.

Since leaving the State Department, Rharrit has served as a speaker at several CAIR events, including as the guest speaker at a fundraising gala for CAIR Connecticut.

While presenting as a civil rights organization, CAIR has a history of its leaders supporting Hamas, spreading antisemitic rhetoric, and denouncing Jewish communal organizations.

In the wake of the October 7 attack, several CAIR leaders justified it as “legitimate” resistance, with executive director Nihad Awad even saying that he was “happy” on the day of the invasion of southern Israel.

When not speaking on behalf of CAIR, Rharrit has also publicly accused Israel of ” attempted ethnic cleansing” and an “unfolding genocide”; has disregarded the role that Hamas’ use of civilian infrastructure plays in Palestinian deaths in Gaza; and has extended support towards those who have been arrested for their anti-Israel activism.

By failing to disclose this information, 60 Minutes has falsely portrayed Josh Paul and Hala Rharrit as impartial observers instead of the anti-Israel activists that they truly are.

2,000-Pound Bombs & Other Context-Free Allegations

The 60 Minutes segment highlights one specific Israeli attack on a Hamas tunnel in Gaza City near the beginning of the war, which it claims likely used 2,000-pound bombs (based on sources who spoke to the program) and which killed 81 women and children (based on information by the British organization Airwars).

According to Dr. Brian Cox (an American law professor who formerly served in the Israeli military), 60 Minutes is only presenting half the story to its viewers, showing the damage from the possible use of 2,000-pound bombs without explaining any practices undertaken by the IDF to mitigate civilian harm (such as the likely use of delayed fuses) and what strategic calculations were undertaken prior to the alleged deployment of such munitions.

In effect, 60 Minutes is using the 2,000-pound bombs as a bogeyman to sway American public perception and influence future transfers of offensive weapons from the United States to Israel.

Along with this context-free discussion of 2,000-pound bombs, 60 Minutes also leaves out several salient facts about Airwars’ casualty figures.

Aside from the organization’s past use of questionable methodology, in this specific case, 60 Minutes fails to inform its viewers that Airwars concedes there were likely secondary explosions (a signal that Hamas weapons were targeted) at the site of the bombing, that Airwars largely bases its reports on social media posts and not official statistics, and that the report features a caveat that the organization “has quantified the youngest generation of each family as children based on available images due to the lack of ages found for the victims.”

Without this information, viewers are left with the false impression that Airwars’ statistics are based on official numbers, and that all killed were victims of Israel recklessly using disproportionately sized bombs in an urban environment.

60 Minutes’ Subtle Biases

Aside from the above issues, this 60 Minutes segment is also replete with instances of subtle bias that, when joined together, work to skew the viewer’s impression of Israel’s war against Hamas and Israeli-American relations.

Some instances of this bias include:

  • Citing a controversial Lancet study that claims that there are 70,000 Palestinian casualties in Gaza (20,000 more than the official casualty numbers provided by Hamas). As HonestReporting has previously noted, this study is marred by its questionable methodology, reliance on faulty figures, and a lack of impartiality on the part of the study’s authors.
  • Insinuating that American taxpayers are funding a potential genocide in Gaza with billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. No mention is made of the fact that most of this money is used in American industry and not directly sent to the Jewish State. On the contrary, 60 Minutes gives an impression that American taxpayers are practically throwing free weapons at Israel.
  • Erroneously asserting that Israel has “continually blocked aid to the people of Gaza.”
  • The unsubstantiated claim by Hala Rharrit that Israel’s actions are counter to American interests and have placed a “target” on America’s back. This assertion disregards the threats that the United States has faced from Islamist terror organizations prior to October 7 and places the blame on Israel for terrorism rather than on the terrorists themselves.
  • The claim that there is “widespread dissent” in the State Department due to American support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. According to 60 Minutes, a “record number” of officials have sent cables to the secretary of state concerning this support. However, in a recent interview with the New York Times, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that he has received only “20 or so” such cables about Gaza.

Since October 7, there have been numerous instances of CBS News exhibiting anti-Israel bias in its coverage of the war.

This bias includes the network’s employment of producer Marwan Al-Ghoul, who has close ties to the PFLP terrorist organization, the official directive not to refer to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the reprimanding of anchor Tony Dokoupil over his questioning of author Ta-Nehisi Coate’s latest screed against the Jewish State, and disregarding certain facts in order to discredit Israeli actions.

This latest piece by 60 Minutes can, sadly, be added to CBS News’ repertoire of institutional bias and misinformation.

The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.

The post CBS Slanders Israel in Digusting Piece on ’60 Minutes’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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French Authorities Replant Memorial Olive Tree and Launch Seventh Ilan Halimi Award

A crowd gathers at the Jardin Ilan Halimi in Paris on Feb. 14, 2021, to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Halimi’s kidnapping and murder. Photo: Reuters/Xose Bouzas/Hans Lucas

French authorities planted a new olive tree on Wednesday to honor Ilan Halimi, nearly a decade after the young French Jewish man was tortured to death and two weeks after a previous commemorative tree was cut down.

Hervé Chevreau, mayor of the norther Paris suburb Épinay, announced that several olive trees will be replanted in Halimi’s memory, praising “a remarkable outpouring of solidarity” reflected in the donations.

With a commemorative ceremony on Wednesday, the first olive tree will be planted in Saint-Ouen, a northern suburb of Paris in the Île-de-France region.

“In the context of rising antisemitic acts, the community aims to reaffirm its steadfast commitment against hatred, forgetfulness, and indifference,” Chevreau said in a statement. “This gesture of reflection and resilience responds to the serious act of vandalism in Épinay-sur-Seine, where the commemorative tree was deliberately cut down.”

Halimi was abducted, held captive, and tortured in January 2006 by a gang of about 20 people in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburb of Bagneux.

Three weeks later, he was found in Essonne, south of Paris, naked, gagged, and handcuffed, with clear signs of torture and burns. The 23-year-old died on the way to the hospital.

In 2011, an olive tree was planted in Halimi’s memory. Earlier this month, the memorial was found felled — probably with a chainsaw — in Epinay-sur-Seine.

Halimi’s memory has faced attacks before, with two other trees planted in his honor vandalized in 2019 in Essonne.

During Wednesday’s ceremony, numerous prominent figures attended, including France’s Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia, Yonathan Arfi, President of the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France (CRIF), Labor Minister Astrid Panosyan-Bouvet, and Minister for Gender Equality and the Fight Against Discrimination Aurore Bergé.

At the event, Bergé announced the launch of the seventh edition of the Ilan Halimi Award, marking 20 years since his disappearance.

Established in 2018, the award seeks to fight racism and antisemitism by inspiring young people to take action.

Since then, French authorities have annually recognized projects led by young people aged 13 to 25 from schools, universities, associations, and civic or integration programs.

“The launch of the 2026 edition of the Ilan Halimi Award in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois is more than an act of remembrance — it is a pledge to the future,” Bergé said during the ceremony.

Last week, two 19-year-old Tunisian twin brothers, undocumented and with prior convictions for theft and violence, were arrested in France for allegedly vandalizing and cutting down Halimi’s memorial.

Both brothers appeared in criminal court and were remanded in custody pending their trial, scheduled for Oct. 22.

They will face trial on charges of “aggravated destruction of property” and “desecration of a monument dedicated to the memory of the dead on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, or religion,” offenses that, according to prosecutors, carry a sentence of up to two years in prison.

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After Deadly Firebombing, Boulder Jews Forced to Hide Weekly Hostage March Due to Escalating Harassment

Boulder attack suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman poses for a jail booking photograph after his arrest in Boulder, Colorado, US, June 2, 2025. Photo: Boulder Police Department/Handout via REUTERS

A group of Jewish activists advocating for the Israeli hostages still held captive by Hamas terrorists in Gaza has announced plans to cease publicizing planned demonstrations and increase security in response to continued community intimidation in the months following a June 1 Molotov cocktail attack that left one person dead and 13 injured.

The group Run for Their Lives includes more than 230 chapters globally, and the one based in Boulder will now take extra measures to protect participants since the attack, for which authorities have charged alleged assailant Mohamed Sabry Soliman, which has in turn provoked further opposition.

Videos reviewed by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) show anti-Israel demonstrators calling event attendees “Nazi,” “racist,” and “genocidal c**t.”

A local politician running for city council has also demonized the hostage supporters.

CBS Colorado reported that Aaron Stone allegedly called Rachel Amaru, the chapter’s Jewish founder, a “Nazi,” a slur he defended as “a very strong word to use.” He further said that in looking at Amaru he was “not seeing a Jewish person” but rather “someone who is walking down the street talking about 20 hostages and ignoring the two million Palestinian hostages that are being kept in Gaza.”

Brandon Rattiner, senior director of the local Jewish Community Relations Council, said in a statement that “participants are facing a level of harassment that makes it impossible to continue safely in public view.”

Stefanie Clarke, who serves as co-executive director of Stop Antisemitism Colorado, added in a statement that “it is unacceptable that less than three months after a deadly antisemitic attack, Jews in Boulder are once again being forced into hiding.”

Clarke stated that “we will not be intimidated, and we will not be driven out of public spaces where we should feel safe. The fact that someone seeking a seat on City Council is at the center of this harassment should be cause for alarm. Boulder cannot claim to be a city of inclusion and justice while giving a platform to Jew hate.”

The mountain states regional branch of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released its own statement in support of the pro-Israel activists.

“We stand in firm solidarity with the Boulder chapter of Run for Their Lives following their difficult decision to no longer publicly disclose the location of their events,” the organization said. “It is deeply unfortunate that after enduring the horrific June 1 firebomb attack that resulted in the death of a community member, participants now face such persistent harassment that they must keep their gatherings secret to simply stay safe.”

On July 15, Soliman, who pleaded not guilty, waved his right to a preliminary hearing in a case where the 150 state charges and 12 federal charges include murder and attempted murder. He will see a judge on Tuesday for a scheduled arraignment and faces life imprisonment if convicted.

Prosecutors say that Soliman, an Egyptian who came to the United States on a B-2 Tourist Visa in August 2022, told police that “he wanted to kill all Zionist people” and that he sought to murder 20 of the demonstrators. A note found in his car read “Zionism is our enemies untill [sic] Jerusalem is liberated and they are expelled from our land.”

Soliman also reportedly said that he had planned the attack for a year and planned it for after his daughter’s graduation. Federal officials sought to deport Soliman’s family; however, a judge blocked that effort.

“This is a proper end to an absurd legal effort on the plaintiff’s part. Just like her terrorist husband, she and her children are here illegally and are rightfully in ICE [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement] custody for removal as a result,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement. “This terrorist will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We are investigating to what extent his family knew about this heinous attack, if they had knowledge of it, or if they provided support to it.”

In August, the ADL released a report ranking Colorado — which contains approximately 110,400 Jewish residents, accounting for 1.9 percent of the population — as eighth in the country for combating antisemitism.

“I am thrilled that the Anti-Defamation League has recognized Colorado as a national leader in fighting antisemitism, but there is much more to do,” the state’s governor Jared Polis said at the time. “Such hate and violence have no place in our Colorado for All, and that is why Colorado is leading the way to combat these trends and protect Coloradans’ right to worship how you want, making Colorado safer.”

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Lead Writer of Upcoming DC Comics Series Celebrated Oct. 7 Massacre in Resurfaced Social Media Posts

Gretchen Felker-Martin joins a virtual discussion from home

Gretchen Felker-Martin joins a virtual discussion from home. Photo: Screenshot

Gretchen Felker-Martin, an author and film critic who was recently announced as lead writer of the upcoming DC Comics series “Red Hood,” has an extensive history of endorsing terrorist acts and defending the murder of Jews and Israelis, according to a review of the writer’s social media posts. 

In the posts — screenshots of which circulated on X/Twitter and other platforms this week — Felker-Martin appeared to praise Osama bin Laden for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US and expressed support for Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, invasion of and massacre across southern Israel.

During the Oct. 7 onslaught, as Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages in the deadliest single-day slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, Felker-Martin argued that Israeli civilians are “settlers” and an “occupying force whose daily lives serve to grind out the hope, culture, and memory of those they oppress.” She also seemingly defended Hamas’s murdering of Israeli babies, saying that Israel is an “imperialist nightmare” and that Hamas is trying to “survive their rule by any means necessary.”

Hamas is designated by several countries as a terrorist organization.

“You cannot subject human beings to brutal conditions under which no hope for a meaningful future exists and then blame them for violent action taken to correct this state. Free Palestine,” she wrote on Oct. 7. 

Later that month, Felker-Martin wrote that “Zionism is full-fledged Nazism and has accrued mainstream support throughout the west because of that, not in spite of it.”

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As the ensuing war in Gaza continued in the months ahead, Felker-Martin sharpened her criticisms of Israel, condemning Zionists as “crazy” and comparing them to “slime.” The writer also lambasted Neil Druckmann, the Israeli creator of the popular “The Last of Us” video game series, for being a “Zionist.” She encouraged fellow progressives not to support then-US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, condemning Harris for not “moving an inch on the genocide.” She also falsely accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza and repudiated actress Hailee Steinfeld as a “Zionist piece of s**t.” Steinfeld has seemingly not made public statements about Israel but came under fire from leftists after she visited the Jewish state with family in 2019 for a party. 

Felker-Martin separately defended Osama bin Laden’s role in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, writing that “blowing up the World Trade Center is probably the most principled and defensible thing he ever did.”

Jewish organizations and antisemitism watchdog groups quickly condemned the remarks. StandWithUs, a nonpartisan pro-Israel organization, urged DC Comics to reconsider hiring Felker-Martin, citing her inflammatory and offensive commentary.

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