VOICES

Matti Friedman

Journalist

Author and journalist Matti Friedman, a op-ed contributor at the New York Times, has used his platform to hold the publication accountable for its coverage of Israel. Earlier this year, he wrote a piece critical of the Times’ reporting that West Bank settlers are to blame for Israel’s problem. Friedman earlier made headlines by writing a scathing criticism in an extended Facebook post of the report from NGO Breaking the Silence on the conduct of Israeli soldiers during the 2014 Gaza war. A former reporter for the Associated Press, Friedman also has drawn attention for an extensive critique, published by Tablet magazine, of the agency’s coverage of Israel. His latest book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, chronicles the story of four Arabic-speaking Jews who operated an Israeli, pre-independence Zionist intelligence unit. It won the 2018 Natan Book Award. (Photo: Arielinson / CC BY-SA 4.0)