Through many tragic rounds of violence in Gaza, I’ve watched much of the press malfunction in similar ways, time after time. For anyone trying to understand current events and coverage, here’s a thread with some of my essays and articles on the subject. From the summer of 2014: “An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth,” based on my years as an AP reporter
tabletmag.com/sections/israe…

In response to lots (and lots) of inquiries about my 2014 essays about international coverage of Israel, which have been resurrected and are being widely cited: Every single fact in both essays is correct. Part 1: tabletmag.com/sections/israe…

A lot of AP-related material has come my way since yesterday’s airstrike. I have no direct knowledge of the incident and am relieved that no one was hurt. I hope the organization’s Gaza staffers, and everyone else in Gaza and here in Israel, see this violence end quickly. In my two essays from 2014, I gave multiple examples of the way news organizations like the AP had been compromised by Hamas in Gaza. Contrary to what I’ve seen attributed to me today, I didn’t write that Hamas operated out of the same building, and don’t know if that’s true.

It’s hard to say much that isn’t glib about the events here in Israel now. But it’s possible to comment on the poisonous kind of storytelling we’re seeing abroad, which has been brewing for about 10 years and is getting worse. A few essays that might help make sense of it: Written in the last significant Gaza war, in 2014, a look at how the “Israel story” is made (part 1, from @tabletmag): tabletmag.com/sections/israe…

Isaac Shoshan, one of Israel’s first spies, died this morning. He was 96. Isaac was the main character in my book “Spies of No Country.” He was a modest and funny man and I was incredibly lucky to know him. Here he is under cover in Beirut in 1948: Isaac was born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1924 and ran away to British Mandate Palestine as a teenager. He served in the Palmach and later in the Mossad, and helped smuggle the last Jews out of Syria. (He's the one in glasses.)

יצחק שושן, מגיבורי המחלקה הערבית בפלמ"ח, נפטר הבוקר. הוא היה בן 96. יצחק היה אחד המרגלים הראשונים של ישראל ודמות מרכזית בספרי "מסתערבים." הוא היה איש נעים, מצחיק, וחכם, והיתה לי זכות ענקית להכיר אותו. הנה יצחק בביירות ב-1948: יצחק (במשקפיים) עם חברו למחקלה הערבית, חבקוק כהן ז"ל, במשימתם בביירות בתש"ח: