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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: War, Atonement, and the Resurrection of Leonard Cohen.
MattiFriedman
Jews and Christians at ‘the End of Time’
To understand our own era, go back 2,000 years.
Matti Friedman
They Are Home
For two dark and often hopeless years, Israelis rallied to keep the hostages in the headlines. It worked.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: Is Gaza Starving? Searching for the Truth in an Information War.
When I asked a former senior government official if there is mass hunger among Gazans, he answered me honestly: ‘I don’t know.’
Matti Friedman
At the Symbol of Israeli Science, a Cost Too Vast to Calculate
Israelis are emerging from the shelters to assess the damage of 12 days of war. At the Weizmann Institute, the cost is impossible to measure.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: After the Bombs
American B-2s just changed the Middle East. Now it’s time to return the region to the humans who live here.
Matti Friedman
Bombs Rain Down—and a Divided Israel Unites Behind the War
Israelis have lost many things since October 7. One is the idea that the West is coming to save us. No one will wage this necessary battle but us.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: A Siren. And a New Middle East.
It’s a cliché to say that the Middle East is at a turning point. But sometimes it’s true. June 13, 2025, is one of those times.
Matti Friedman
Matti Friedman: What the Kibbutz Can Teach Israel on Its 77th Birthday
Of the 400 residents of Nir Oz, a quarter were either kidnapped or killed by Hamas on October 7. Now, they rebuild.
Matti Friedman
Qatargate Roils a War-Weary Israel
Qatari money is like fingerprints that appear when an ultraviolet light turns on. Few expected it to turn up in Israel itself.
Matti Friedman
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
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