Israel to Bari Weiss: 'Thank You' for whitewashing our war crimes

Screenshot via YouTube/@60minutes

Bari Weiss is single-handedly ensuring that CBS will be the American home for Israeli war crime whitewashing.

By Justin Baragona, reposted from Zeteo, May 13, 2026

“Thank you, Bari Weiss.”

That was the message delivered by Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, following CBS News’s mostly deferential interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Oren was positively thrilled that the network, which is led by the self-avowed “Zionist fanatic” Weiss, appropriated Israeli talking points throughout the interview.

Meanwhile, we have since learned that Major Garrett – the veteran reporter who was tapped to conduct the exclusive sitdown – was Netanyahu’s preferred choice, and drew the assignment after a “negotiation” between Weiss and the prime minister.

As for Garrett, this was the second time in the past couple of months that the CBS News editor-in-chief chose him to handle a high-profile interview that would air on ‘60 Minutes,’ even though Garrett isn’t a correspondent for the iconic newsmagazine.

The decision to fly Garrett, the network’s chief Washington correspondent, to Israel late last week to sit down with Netanyahu is not sitting well with the staff of the Sunday night program.

For the past few months, legendary correspondent Lesley Stahl had unsuccessfully tried to score her own Netanyahu interview, only for Weiss to book it herself and hand it to a non-‘60 Minutes’ reporter.

“The move sparked hostility and amplified the already strained relationship between Weiss and the reporting team at the iconic newsmagazine,” Status’s Oliver Darcy reported this week. “The feeling inside the program was that Netanyahu had effectively gone around Stahl and the ‘60 Minutes’ team—and that Weiss had assisted him in doing so by finding an interviewer who was, for whatever reason, more agreeable to him.”

According to the New York Post, Weiss gave Netanyahu a say in the matter to secure the interview – the Israeli leader’s first American broadcast one-on-one since the start of the Iran war – and “Bibi’s office picked Major over Stahl.”

This comes just two months after Weiss personally booked an interview with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth right after the start of the Iran war, which she also handed off to Garrett and demanded it air on ‘60 Minutes.’

As for the Netanyahu interview that aired on Sunday, some at the network appeared to agree with Mehdi – who took Garrett to task for failing to ask the prime minister about the ICC war crimes warrant and spending relatively little time on Gaza – that it left much to be desired.

CBS 60 Minutes, under self-proclaimed “Zionist fanatic” @bariweiss, interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu again.

Interviewer @MajorCBS didn’t ask a single question about the ICC arrest warrant for Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He didn’t ask a single question…

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) May 11, 2026

“It was purely a platform for Netanyahu that was clearly provided by the top editorial management,” one network reporter told me. “It was just, you know, embarrassing. Another embarrassment, another black eye.”

“It’s the editor in chief’s job to make decisions about bookings and interviews. Major is a world-class journalist and did a tough, fair, and newsmaking interview,” a CBS News spokesperson said in a statement.

Meanwhile, with the season ending for ‘60 Minutes’ next week, I’m told by CBS News sources to expect massive changes at the venerable institution. Not only has Weiss made it clear she wants to tinker with the editorial and journalistic traditions that have made the 58-year-old show a ratings juggernaut, but she’s also looking to shake up the program’s roster.

“Bari is breaking down the silos,” a CBS News insider told me. “I mean, the silos deserve to be shaken, no doubt. But not torn down for IDF propaganda.”

Sharyn Alfonsi, the award-winning correspondent who butted heads with Weiss over the now-infamous “CECOT” story, is “all but gone,” two sources told me. Page Six Hollywood reported last week that Alfonsi has lawyered up in anticipation of her contract – which expires at the end of this month – not being renewed. During this whole time, Weiss has not communicated with Alfonsi at all about her job status.

Weiss will also need to replace Anderson Cooper, who, as I previously reported, ditched the show after a 20-year run rather than deal with the anti-woke former NY Times columnist. In the wake of tensions over the Netanyahu interview, the 84-year-old Stahl – who is on a year-to-year deal – may also decide to hang it up. There are also rumblings that longtime correspondents Scott Pelley and Bill Whitaker may also leave.

“Don’t be shocked if Norah O’Donnell becomes a full-time ‘60’ correspondent, and so does Major,” one CBS News senior staffer said, noting that O’Donnell – a contributing correspondent for the show – has “kissed enough Bari ass to be moved over.”

Another possible name that’s been bandied about, according to sources, is Matt Gutman – the Los Angeles-based national correspondent whom Weiss poached from ABC News late last year. When Gutman was hired, the network announced that he’d be “contributing to future seasons of 60 MINUTES.”

Tony Dokoupil, the ‘CBS Evening News’ anchor closely tied to Weiss’s editorial vision at the network, is also rumored to make occasional ‘60 Minutes’ appearances down the line.

Rather than dismantle and remake one of CBS News’s most storied institutions, perhaps Weiss and her team should first concentrate on getting a handle on the day-to-day operations of running a massive news network. Unlike his ABC and NBC rivals, who are anchoring from Beijing for Trump’s high-stakes China summit, Dokoupil will be broadcasting from Taiwan – because he reportedly couldn’t get a Chinese visa in time.

Justin Baragona is Zeteo’s media columnist. He is a former senior media reporter for The Daily Beast & a correspondent for Mediaite.

RELATED: