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Did they mean to starve you? Leslie Stahl asks Hamas hostage survivor a question that will go down in history

April 1, 2025 | | Print Article

The 60 Minutes interview between Lesley Stahl and a man held hostage by Hamas contains “one of the worst media moments since Oct 7” according to Scott Jennings.

While the mainstream media doesn’t exactly have a stellar track record with condemning terrorist organizations, Stahl asked a question that many view as being beyond the pale. While interviewing a survivor of Hamas’s torture tactics Keith Siegel, she actually had the gall to ask if he believed the terrorists meant to starve him, or if “they just didn’t have food.”

Watch:

“The terrorists became very mean and very cruel and violent,” the clip starts.

“More so?” Stahl asked.

“More so,” Siegel confirmed. “They were beating me and starving me.”

“Do you think they starved you, or they just didn’t have food?” the journalist probed.

“No I think they starved me and they would often eat in front of me and not offer me food,” the man responded, revealing the depth of the cruelty he suffered at the hands of his captors.

CNN commentator Scott Jennings was appalled that Stahl would ask such an awful question.

“One of the worst media moments since Oct 7. And there’s been a bunch of them. Woof,” he wrote.

He addressed the moment during his appearance on CNN later:

During a segment in which he was asked what item is “due for an upgrade,” Jennings plainly said that it was Stahl’s time to retire.

“An everyday item that needs an upgrade, is Lesley Stahl at 60 Minutes,” he declared. “After I saw Lesley ask hostage Keith Siegel this weekend, when he said he’d been starved in captivity, oh well maybe they just didn’t have enough food to give you, and he had to set her straight. She’s been there since 1991. I’m sorry Lesley, it’s time for an upgrade. That was a terrible question.”

X users agreed with Jennings:

Sierra Marlee
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