Veteran journalist Mike Wallace, who appeared on the CBS news program “60 Minutes” from its first airing, died April 7 at a care facility in New Haven, Conn. He was 93.

Known for his probing interviews, Wallace retired from the highly rated program in 2006 after 38 seasons, but he continued to contribute to “60 Minutes” and other CBS news shows.

Wallace, who was Jewish, was accused by the watchdog group CAMERA of having an Israel problem.

During a 1989 interview with Yasser Arafat, Wallace allowed the PLO leader to spout his anti-Israel views without questioning them. When he asked Arafat if he had renounced “military operations” inside Israel, Arafat responded, “Any people who are facing occupation or oppression have the right to use all methods.” Wallace did not probe this with a follow-up question, CAMERA pointed out in a 2006 report called “Mike Wallace’s Middle East Problem.”

But in another interview with Arafat in 2007, Wallace accused the Palestinian leader of inciting violence and confronted him over anti-Semitic rhetoric on official Palestinian television.

Wallace also grilled Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, telling him, “You don’t trust the media; you’ve said so. You don’t trust whites; you’ve said so. You don’t trust Jews; you’ve said so. Well, here I am.”

Wallace was awarded 21 Emmy Awards, five DuPont-Columbia journalism awards and five Peabody Awards during his career.

Born Myron Leon Wallace in Brookline, Mass. to Russian Jewish parents who shortened their family name from Wallechinsky, he graduated from the University of Michigan, where he worked for the daily student newspaper and was a member of the Jewish fraternity Zeta Beta Tau.

His son Chris is the host of Fox News Sunday for the Fox News network. — jta