Zvi Yehezkeli
Zvi Yehezkeli (Hebrew: צבי יחזקאלי, born August 17, 1970) is an Israeli journalist. He is an Arab affairs correspondent and head of the Arab desk at Israeli News 10, the news division of Israel 10.
Biography
Zvi Yehezkeli was born to a family with Iraqi and Kurdish origins. His father's family immigrated from Iraq when he was a year old and his mother was born en route from Kurdistan to Israel. In the Israel Defense Force, Yehezkeli served in an infantry unit. After his discharge he traveled abroad for six years and worked as a security guard at embassies.[1] When he returned to Israel at the age of 25, he attended the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, majoring in Media and Middle East History, and studying Arabic.
Media career
Yehezkeli joined Israel's Army Radio as the Gaza and West Bank reporter and occasionally contributed to the Israeli Channel 1's "Yoman" with various reports. During this time, he also completed his Master's majoring in Middle East History, as well as graduating in Media and Journalism at the Koteret school of journalism. In 2002, he joined News 10 as the head of Desk for Arab Affairs.
In 2010, he announced that President Mahmoud Abbas had a standing invitation to appear on Channel 10 to respond to allegations that several of his senior aides have embezzled international aid transferred to the Palestinian Authority.[2]
In September 2012, Allah Islam, a documentary series Yehezkeli created with David Deri, debuted on Channel 10.[3]
At an international forum at Bar Ilan University in June 2013, Yehezkeli spoke about his interviews with Yasser Arafat: "In 2002 I sat with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, whose government compound was under siege in Ramallah. I asked him how he interprets Western rationale, and he replied that he is not a partner to this rationale." Yehezkeli said he also asked Arafat about Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offer to accede to 99% of his demands. Arafat replied that Barak's offer was closer to 0% than to 100% because Barak refused to give in to all of his demands.[4]