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Matti Friedman
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara attend a Moroccan Jewish Mimuna celebration in Or Akiva on April 21, 2014. (Avishag Shaar Yashuv/POOL/FLASH90)
July 29, 2019, 6:25 am
Nobody hijacked Israel. It’s just not what its pioneers thought they’d created
It’s not European. And it doesn’t divide into right and left, religious and secular. Matti Friedman, author of a new book about Mizrahi spies, on why Israel baffles and infuriates
By David Horovitz
Journalist Matthew Kalman interviews author Matti Friedman about his new book, 'Spies of No Country,' at a Times of Israel/Beit Avi Chai event on April 10, 2019, in Jerusalem. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/Times of Israel)
April 11, 2019, 2:40 pm
Decades before ‘Fauda,’ Israel’s first spies assumed Arab identities in Beirut
At a packed event, author Matti Friedman relates that a well-conjugated Arabic verb was the difference between life and death for the Jews who founded Israel’s intelligence agency
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
Matti Friedman’s newest book is 'Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel.' (Mary Anderson/Algonquin Books/via JTA)
April 2, 2019, 11:40 am
Author Matti Friedman to launch real-life spy thriller in a live ToI interview
Meet the writer at the Israel debut of his new book, hosted by The Times of Israel in partnership with Beit Avi Chai, in Jerusalem on April 10
By Matthew Kalman
Matti Friedman’s newest book is 'Spies of No Country: Secret Lives at the Birth of Israel.' (Mary Anderson/Algonquin Books/via JTA)
March 9, 2019, 6:47 am
How Israel welcomed Jews from Arab lands — as spies
A new book tells the story of Palmach’s Arab Section, and its young Mizrahi Jewish agents who gained society’s respect through their ability to cross borders undetected
By Emily Burack
Matti Friedman, left, and Haim Watzman in the Crusaders Hall, at the Tower of David Museum as part of the Times of Israel Presents on April 25, 2017. (Yaakov Schwartz/ Times of Israel)
April 26, 2017, 1:45 pm
The IDF is still a base for these two immigrant authors
Ex-North Americans Matti Friedman and Haim Watzman detail their aliyah experiences in a candid mutual interview
By Yaakov Schwartz
Authors Haim Watzman and Matti Friedman will discuss their newest books as part of the Times of Israel Presents series on April 25 at the Tower of David. (Photo of Watzman, Adi Martinotti. Friedman, courtesy)
April 18, 2017, 5:49 pm
It’s fact and fiction at TOI event with two Jerusalem-based authors
Writers Matti Friedman and Haim Watzman to discuss their latest books on April 25 at the Tower of David
By Matthew Kalman
Clockwise, from left: Nitsana Darshan Leitner, Michael Oren, Natan Sharansky. (courtesy)
April 16, 2017, 7:20 pm
Natan Sharansky, Michael Oren headline season of live English events
Program features former Prisoner of Zion, deputy minister, Jerusalem authors and anti-terror lawyer
By Matthew Kalman
A New York City police officer standing guard outside Grand Central Station in New York City, Sept. 20, 2016. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images via JTA)
September 23, 2016, 6:37 am
After bombings, New Yorkers cop an Israeli attitude: ‘Stuff’ happens
Americans have learned resilience from their experience with terror, say experts in Israel
By Andrew Tobin
Matti Friedman, pictured during his IDF service in the late 1990s (Courtesy Matti Friedman)
July 12, 2016, 1:23 pm
How Lebanon humbled, but didn’t break, Israelis
On the 10th anniversary of the Second Lebanon War — another chapter in Israel’s long, painful, and unfinished conflict in Lebanon — an excerpt from the new book ‘Pumpkinflowers’ examines the impact of decades in Lebanon on the Israeli psyche
By Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman, pictured during his IDF service in the late 1990s (Courtesy Matti Friedman)
May 8, 2016, 3:15 pm
From Lebanon, a sparkling, contemplative war memoir on the dimming of a generation’s hope
In his new book ‘Pumpkinflowers,’ Matti Friedman — an Israeli soldier in Lebanon, then a tourist there, and now a Jerusalem father of 3 — shows that the men who tried to kill him in the late 1990s were the pioneers of a new type of conflict, now in hideous full bloom
By Mitch Ginsburg
Hezbollah fighters celebrating on the day the IDF left South Lebanon, May 24, 2000. (AP: Enric Marti)
May 25, 2015, 9:17 pm
Why Israel’s retreat from Lebanon marked the birth of today’s Middle East
The May 2000 withdrawal seemed to be part of a larger land-for-peace trend; instead it raised the curtain on the wars of the 21st century
By Mitch Ginsburg
Matti Friedman's The Aleppo Codex (photo credit: Courtesy)
January 22, 2014, 9:32 am
Friedman accepts ‘Aleppo Codex’ prize
Former Times of Israel writer receives $100,000 in ceremony at the King David Hotel, organized by the Jewish Book Council
By Jessica Steinberg
Matti Friedman's The Aleppo Codex (photo credit: Courtesy)
November 7, 2013, 10:55 pm
TOI’s Matti Friedman wins prestigious literary award
‘The Aleppo Codex,’ a true-life detective story about how the ancient Biblical manuscript was smuggled out of Syria, garners $100,000 Rohr Prize
By TOI staff
Matti Friedman's The Aleppo Codex (photo credit: Courtesy)
October 8, 2013, 1:40 am
TOI’s Matti Friedman a finalist for Sami Rohr Prize
‘The Aleppo Codex’ is one of five books on the short list for $100,000 literary award for non-fiction
By TOI staff and JTA
Matti Friedman's The Aleppo Codex (photo credit: Courtesy)
May 2, 2013, 9:28 pm
‘Aleppo Codex’ wins Canadian book award
Times of Israel reporter’s investigation recognized in history category
By TOI staff
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