‘60 Minutes’ host ripped for asking ex-hostage if Hamas starved him because they didn’t have enough food
Several prominent pro-Israel social media accounts have accused "60 Minutes" host Lesley Stahl of being sympathetic to Hamas terrorists following a Sunday night interview she conducted with a hostage recently released by the militant group.
Stahl asked Hamas hostage Keith Siegel whether his captors starved him on purpose or whether they didn’t have enough food to give him.
During the CBS News program, she spoke to several hostages who had recently been freed from the terror group's clutches and returned to their families. Stahl spoke to Siegel, along with Tal Shalom, and Yarden Bibas — the man whose wife and two young children were murdered while in captivity — learning details about their horrific experiences living in Hamas-controlled tunnels in Gaza.
While Siegel discussed how his captors treated him, he stated that after his wife, Aviva, was released from captivity, Hamas became "very mean and very cruel and violent."
"They were beating me and starving me," Siegel said. Stahl followed by asking, "Do you think they starved you because or they just didn’t have food?"
Siegel denied that his torturers didn’t have enough food, recounting, "No, I think they starved me, and they would often eat in front of me and not offer me food."
The former hostage and his wife were kidnapped from their kibbutz during Hamas’ terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Siegel spent 484 days in "unimaginable conditions" in Hamas captivity.
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The ex-hostage also recounted how he was only allowed to bathe once a month by pouring a cup of water over his head into a bucket, and described witnessing Hamas members sexually assaulting female hostages.
Stahl’s question prompted backlash on social media platform X.
Jewish journalist Ari Hoffman savaged Stahl over the question, stating, "She should ask the Nazis if they meant to starve the Jews in the Holocaust or didn't have enough aid."
Pro-Israel account "Jews Fight Back" posted, "Lesley Stahl looked a Jewish hostage in the face—after being starved, tortured, beaten, and dragged through hell—and asked if maybe Hamas didn’t mean to starve him. Maybe they just didn’t have food. Are you f--- kidding me? Shame on 60 Minutes. Shame on CBS. And shame on every apologist who still can’t admit that Hamas is pure evil."
The U.S. organization "StopAntisemitism" wrote, "Ridiculous moment on @60Minutes: Lesley Stahl asks hostage Keith Siegel if Hamas starved him because they had no food. He shuts her down. Hamas not only starved him, they ate in front of him, mocked him, sexually humiliated him, and forced him to watch female hostages being tortured."
It added, "Meanwhile, @CBS pushes Hamas casualty numbers and falsely claims Israel ended the ceasefire. Hamas ended it."
A Jewish activist account, "Vivid," declared, "I can't believe my eyes. Lesley Stahl had the audacity to ask a Jewish hostage, who was tortured and starved by Hamas, if Hamas really meant to starve him or if they just didn't have enough food. Is this a joke? How the hell can she even ask him that?"
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Representatives for CBS News did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.