Nahum Barnea

Nahum Barnea

Nahum Barnea (Hebrew: נחום ברנע‎) (born 1944) is an Israeli journalist. Barnea writes for Yedioth Ahronoth. He won the Israel Prize in 2007.

Biography

Nahum Borstein (later Barnea) was born in Petah Tikva. He served in the IDF in Nahal Mutznah. He earned a B.A. in history and political science from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.[1]

Barnea is married and has three children. His son Yonatan was killed in February 1996 by Hamas in a terrorist attack on Bus 18 in Jerusalem.[2]

Journalism career

Barnea began his journalism career at university, writing for the student newspaper Pi Ha'Aton. In 1967–1982, he worked for the newspaper Davar, becoming the paper's correspondent in Washington, D.C. Later he founded and edited a weekly paper Koteret Rashit. Since 1989, Barnea has been a staff writer for Yedioth Ahronoth. He wrote for Ha'Ayin HaShevi'it from 1996 to 2008.

Honors and awards

Barnea was awarded the Sokolov Prize for journalism in 1981. In a survey in 1998, he was voted one of most influential journalists in Israel. In 2007, he won the Israel Prize in the sphere of communications.[3][4]The judges who awarded the prize said: "Nahum Barnea is a journalist who almost every young writer aspires to emulate." They added, "Barnea always insists on 'being there,' close to events, even in places of social tension, even in wars and on days of terror attacks, even when his presence places his life in danger."[5]On 29 March 2007, he accepted an award from the president of Tel Aviv University for "his achievements and his unique contribution to the profession of journalism in Israel.

Views and opinions

According to Barnea, Israeli journalists who fail to criticize Arab terrorism fail the—what Barnea coined—Lynch Test.[6][7][8][9] According to Kenneth Levin, this is a "rare instance of Israeli media self-scrutiny".[10] This term was first used after the 2000 Ramallah lynching, in which an Arab mob beat to death two Israeli reservists who had mistakenly entered Ramallah.[6][7][11]

Controversy

In 2007, Barnea was criticized for defending former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert while he was being investigated on suspicions of corruption. Independent journalist Yoav Yitzhak claimed that Barnea did not shy away from publishing statements he knew were untrue.[12][13]

Yaron Zalika, the Comptroller General in 2003–2007, said that Barnea insulted him in his column without allowing him the opportunity to respond.[14]

In January 2011, MK Shelly Yachimovich objected to Barnea's insinuation that women might be responsible for turning themselves into sex objects by wearing provocative clothing, effectively inviting rape. When Barnea drew attention to a photograph of Yachimovich jogging on the beach in shorts, Yachimovich denied that her outfit was provocative and said that anything less than a hijab apparently stimulated Barnea's fantasies. Yachimovich also criticized Barnea for his "tender" interview with former President Moshe Katzav, after his conviction for rape, and for suggesting that the victims were to blame.[15] Barnea subsequently apologized for his remarks.

Published works

Barnea has published two collections of his articles, יורים ובוכים ("They shoot and cry") and ימי נתניהו ("Days of Netanyahu"). In 2006, he published Backchannel: Bush, Sharon and the Uses of Unilateralism.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Barnea, Nahum (1944–)". http://encyclopedia.jrank.org''. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  2. ↑ "ברנע, יונתן (יוני)" [Barnea, Jonathan (Yoni)] (in Hebrew). IDF. 2010. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 מקבלי פרס ישראל בשנת תשס"ז-נחום ברנע [Israel Prize recipients in 5767 (2007)-Nuhum Barnea] (in Hebrew). State of Israel. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "מקבלי פרס ישראל בשנת תשס"ז >> מר נחום ברנע >> נימוקי השופטים" [Recipients of the Israel Prize in 5767 (2007) >> Nahum Barnea >> Judges' Rationale]. State of Israel. 15 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  5. ↑ Max Yudilovitch (12 March 2007). פרס ישראל לתקשורת יוענק לנחום ברנע [Israel Prize for Journalism awarded Nahum Barnea] (in Hebrew). Ynet. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Eldar, Akiva (26 May 2008). "On Not Passing Israel's 'Lynch Test'". The Nation. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Zilber, Uzi (1 January 2009). "The Jew Flu: The strange illness of Jewish anti-Semitism". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  8. ↑ Leibler, Isi (6 November 2007). "Shame on 'Haaretz'". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  9. ↑ Seliktar, Ofira (2009). Doomed to Failure?: The Politics and Intelligence of the Oslo Peace Process. ABC-CLIO. p. 95. ISBN 978-0-313-36617-8.
  10. ↑ Levin, Kenneth (2005). The Oslo syndrome: delusions of a people under siege. Smith and Kraus. p. 445. ISBN 978-1-57525-417-3.
  11. ↑ Martin Asser (2000-10-13). "Lynch mob's brutal attack". BBC News. Retrieved 2014-08-28.
  12. ↑ Yoav Yitzhak (29 September 2006). אולמרט - עבריין או פראייר [Olmert: Offender or patsy] (in Hebrew). News1. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  13. ↑ Yoav Yitzhak (1 September 2007). חתן פרס אולמרט מספסר במוות [Laureate Olmert speculating on death] (in Hebrew). News1. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  14. ↑ Uri Blau (8 August 2007). בשירות הוד ממשלתו [In service of Hod in his government]. Haaretz (in Hebrew). Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  15. ↑ Yachimovich, Shelly (9 January 2011). הפנטזיות הסודיות של נחום ברנע [Nahum Barnea's secret fantasies] (in Hebrew). News1. Retrieved 20 February 2011.


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