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Matti Friedman

Matti Friedman is a Jerusalem-based columnist for The Free Press. He’s the author of four nonfiction books, of which the most recent is Who by Fire: Leonard Cohen in the Sinai.

MattiFriedman
The Life and Death of the Oldest Hostage in Gaza
Shlomo Mantzur fled Iraq as a child. He tried to never look back. Then came October 7, 2023.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: The Family that Never Came Home
The deaths of Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas were too unbearable to believe. Israelis couldn’t accept it until we had no other choice.
Matti Friedman
Hamas Murdered Their Son. What Do They Think of the Ceasefire?
Parents of slain Israeli American hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin talk about the hostage deal, Israel, and the future of the Middle East.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Israel’s Prisoner’s Dilemma
To free its people, Israel negotiates with terrorists and releases murderers. Is that a strength or a weakness?
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: As America Votes, Israel’s Crisis Deepens
Bibi’s ouster of his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, sent Israelis pouring into the streets in protest. The opposition leader called the move an “act of…
Matti Friedman
Sinwar’s Death Will Hasten the End of the War
The Hamas leader started this fight. Now Israel can finish it.
Matti Friedman
Can Israel Win Back What October 7 Took?
The choice to clear out an entire part of the country will be remembered as one of the most fateful decisions of this war. Matti Friedman reports from…
Matti Friedman
Is This Mysterious Text the Most Ancient Hebrew Book Ever Discovered?
Found in a cave in Afghanistan, the parchment dates to between 660 and 780 CE. Soon, it will be on display at the Museum of the Bible.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: When We Started to Lie
I watched as the goal of mainstream journalism shifted from describing reality to ushering readers to the correct political conclusion.
Matti Friedman
Among the Mourners of Zion and Jerusalem
Here in Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s neighborhood, the bewildering events of the past year were reduced to one human face. Matti Friedman writes from…
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Whiplash in Israel
Is Israel a shambolic society torn by internal dissent—or a superpower capable of stupendous military feats? This week it’s both.
Matti Friedman
Twelve Murdered Children—and a Middle East on the Brink
By doing everything possible to avoid conflict with Iran, the White House has emboldened the Iranian proxy system now attacking Israel from all…
Matti Friedman
We Misunderstood the Nazis
Learning about the Holocaust was supposed to prevent any of this from happening—or at least help us understand it when it did. Why didn’t it work?
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Bibi-Trapped
After October 7, the Israeli leader’s memoir offers insights he might not want you to read.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Northern Israel Is on Fire
While all eyes are on Gaza, Hezbollah is redrawing Israel’s border with Lebanon.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: The Real War in the Middle East Comes into Focus
Like a flash going off in a dark room, Iran’s attack on Israel has finally given the world something valuable: a glimpse into Tehran’s true intentions.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Why I Got a Gun
My Glock is an ugly little monument to the historic threat facing my family, my neighbors, and all of Israel.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: The Song of the Israel-Hamas War
In a deserted border town, I listened to the reigning genius of Israeli pop blast his songs toward Gaza.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: What If the Real War in Israel Hasn’t Even Started?
Take the current war with Hamas and multiply it by ten. That’s what war with Hezbollah would look like. And Israelis are not asking if it will begin…
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: The Wisdom of Hamas
They understand the war they’re fighting. Many in the West still don’t.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: My Phone Says 2023. It Feels Like 1948.
When the Hamas men stormed the border, they removed any pretense about the issue at stake. Not a state alongside Israel. Not even the existence of…
Matti Friedman
I Took Up Arms to Defend Israel. Now I March Against Its Government.
Anyone who loves the Jewish state should be speaking out against its proposed judicial reform. Matti Friedman writes.
Matti Friedman
The Israeli War That Made Leonard Cohen
Five decades later, on Spotify and in synagogue, you can still hear the echo of the Yom Kippur War. What happened in the Sinai desert in October 1973?
Matti Friedman
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