Anshel Pfeffer

Anshel Pfeffer (Hebrew: אנשיל פפר; born 22 June 1973) is a British-Israeli journalist. He is a senior correspondent and columnist for Haaretz, covering military, Jewish and international affairs, and Israel correspondent for The Economist.^[1][2]

Personal life

Pfeffer was born to a Jewish family in Manchester in the United Kingdom.^[3][4]

Career

Pfeffer has been a working journalist since 1997.^[3] He has written for a variety of publications including The Guardian, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Times.^[5]

His Haaretz column, "Jerusalem & Babylon",^[6] was a series of articles which covered issues relating to Israel and to Jewish identity, for which he received the B'nai B'rith award for "Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage"^[4][7][8]

Pfeffer's British passport enabled Haaretz to send him to cover the 2011 Egyptian Revolution as Egypt is reluctant to permit entry to Israelis.^[3]

During the Gaza war, Pfeffer said Israel wasn't committing genocide, and those who accused it of genocide were either ignorant or blinded by hate of Israel.^[9] Journalist Jordan Elgrably considers Pfeffer to be an "apologist" for Israeli government policies towards Palestinians.^[10]

In 2025, Pfeffer was invited to speak at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Palestinian-American poet Fady Joudah accused Pfeffer of being a "genocide apologist" and withdrew from the Edinburgh festival in protest.^[11]

Works

• Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu, Basic Books, 2018.

References

1. "Anshel Pfeffer". The Guardian. August 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
2. "Netanyahu's strategy of long-term conflict with Palestinians may backfire, says biographer". CBC. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
3. Remnick, David (28 February 2011). "The Dissenters". The New Yorker. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
4. "Q&A with Haaretz's Anshel Pfeffer". Haaretz. 16 June 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
5. "Anshel Pfeffer Haaretz Journalist | Muck Rack". muckrack.com.
6. "Jerusalem & Babylon". Haaretz. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
7. Izikovitch, Gili (22 April 2010). "Haaretz correspondent Anshel Pfeffer wins journalism award". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
8. "Award winners named for Diaspora reporting". Jewish Journal. 22 April 2010.
9. Pfeffer, Anshel. "Israel isn't committing a genocide, but it has genocidaires | Opinion". Haaretz.com. Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.
10. Elgrably, Jordan (18 July 2025). ""Silence is Not the Way"—Arab Writers Against Israel's Genocide". The Markaz Review. Retrieved 9 August 2025.
11. "Poet pulls out of Edinburgh Book Festival in protest at invitation of Israeli writers". The Herald. 14 July 2025. Retrieved 10 August 2025.

Further reading

• Jonathan Freedland, "Trump's Chaver in Jerusalem" (review of Anshel Pfeffer, Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu, Basic Books, 2018), New York Review of Books, vol. LXV, no 13 (16 August 2018), pp. 32–34.
• Adam Shatz, "The sea is the same sea" (review of Anshel Pfeffer, Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu, Hurst, May 2018, ISBN 978 1 84904 988 7), London Review of Books, vol. 40, no. 16 (30 August 2018), pp. 24, 26–28.
• Anshel Pfeffer's author page (in Russian)