IsraelCast Episode 210

An author and reporter who was in the Jerusalem bureau of the Associated Press, Matti Friedman has a firsthand look at how often many news agencies distort the facts when it comes to Israel. Both American and international organizations consistently appear to have a bias against the Jewish State, while social media has become a cesspool of antisemitism. Host Steven Shalowitz sits down with Matti Friedman once again to discuss what the media gets wrong about the Middle East conflict, the issue with people turning to social media for news, and the United Nation’s role in legitimizing anti-Israel sentiments.
Matti Friedman is an award-winning journalist and author. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Tablet, Smithsonian, and elsewhere. Friedman’s most recent book, Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai, was published in 2022 and chosen by Vanity Fair as one of the best books of the year. His previous book, Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel, won the 2019 Natan Prize and the Canadian Jewish Book Award. Another of his books, Pumpkinflowers: A Soldier’s Story of a Forgotten War, was chosen in 2016 as a New York Times Notable Book and one of Amazon’s ten best books of the year.