(José Niño, Headline USA) Former Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren publicly thanked CBS News editor in chief Bari Weiss after the network’s 60 Minutes interview with Benjamin Netanyahu adopted language aligned with Israeli government messaging.
Oren tweeted “Just watched Netanyahu’s interview on 60 Minutes and noted how CBS uncharacteristically stated that Hamas’s casualty figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians and, for the first time, referred to ‘Hezbollah terrorists’ and not Hezbollah militants. Thank you, Bari Weiss.”
Just watched Netanyahu’s interview on 60 Minutes and noted how CBS uncharacteristically stated that Hamas’s casualty figures do not distinguish between combatants and civilians and, for the first time, referred to “Hezbollah terrorists” and not Hezbollah militants. Thank you,…
— Michael Oren (@DrMichaelOren) May 11, 2026
Glenn Greenwald seized on the statement as evidence that CBS has been reshaped to reflect Israeli government positions under its new ownership.
Greenwald tweeted “Long-time Israeli official thanking Bari Weiss for forcing Israeli propaganda onto every line of CBS News reports on the Middle East, even when they’re ‘interviewing’ Netanyahu. Larry ‘Friends of the IDF’ Ellison also deserves credit for buying CBS for this, but so does Bari.”
Long-time Israeli official thanking Bari Weiss for forcing Israeli propaganda onto every line of CBS News reports on the Middle East, even when they're "interviewing" Netanyahu.
Larry "Friends of the IDF" Ellison also deserves credit for buying CBS for this, but so does Bari:🇮🇱 https://t.co/HFYN7OGhJZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 11, 2026
The Sunday interview marked Netanyahu’s first major American broadcast television appearance since the Israel-Iran war began. During the sit down with CBS Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett, Netanyahu declared the war “not over” and controversially stated he wants to reduce U.S. military aid to Israel to “$0 over the next decade.”
Oren served as Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013 and later sat in the Knesset. He has a documented history of pressuring CBS over its Middle East coverage. In 2012, he called the head of CBS News before a 60 Minutes segment on Palestinian Christians had even aired, labeling it a “hatchet job,” per a report by Mondoweiss.
Weiss became editor in chief of CBS News in October 2025 after David Ellison, CEO of Paramount and Skydance, acquired the network. David’s father Larry Ellison, the Oracle billionaire, is described as the largest private funder of the Israel Defense Forces in the United States and counts Netanyahu among his closest personal friends, per a report by Mint Press News. As part of the acquisition, Paramount purchased Weiss’s pro Israel digital outlet The Free Press for $150 million.
According to a New York Post report, Weiss personally booked Netanyahu for the 60 Minutes interview and bypassed veteran correspondent Lesley Stahl, who had spent months pursuing the sit-down interview. She assigned the interview to Major Garrett instead. The Independent reported that some staffers believed Netanyahu preferred Garrett as a more agreeable interviewer.
Greenwald has written extensively on this theme. His April 2026 Substack piece was titled “Bari Weiss’ Latest CBS Moves Show the Ellisons’ Drive to Create Israeli State TV.” The piece detailed how Weiss fired the CBS London bureau chief for pushing back on her Middle East coverage approach and replaced her with an editor known for relying heavily on Israeli sources.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
