Benny Ziffer ( he, בני ציפר; born 21 January 1953) is an Israeli author and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Biography

Benjamin (Benny) Ziffer was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

. His parents, Heinz and Nira (née Farhi), immigrated to Israel from

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in 1949. In 1895, his grandfather, Albert (Avraham) Ziffer, founded the world's first Jewish sports team in Istanbul. Ziffer studied French literature and political science. He is married to the curator Irit Ziffer, and they have three children. Ziffer holds two nationalities: Israeli and Turkish.

Journalism career

In 1988, Ziffer was appointed literary editor of ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner f ...

'' daily

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

. Ziffer is the author of three novels. He has also translated French novels and poetry into Hebrew. Ziffer writes a political-cultural column in ''Haaretz'' that combines

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

reviews with reflections on contemporary Israeli life.

Views and opinions

Some of his columns are considered controversial; in 2015, Ziffer wrote that "not recognizing the Armenian genocide is a triumph for common sense", adding "There are still a few responsible adults around who haven't surrendered to the self-righteous kitsch of national victimization". In August 2019, returning from a condolence visit to the

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli se ...

Ofra Ofra ( he, עֹפְרָה) is an Israeli settlement located in the northern West Bank. Located on the main road between Jerusalem and Nablus (Route 60), it falls under the jurisdiction of Mateh Binyamin Regional Council. In it had a population ...

in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

, Ziffer wrote on his

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page: “En route I looked at the Palestinian villages alongside the Jewish communities, and I thought of how for the

Palestinians Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

murder is a type of sport or enjoyment, perhaps a substitute for erotica. From that perspective we will never have anything culturally in common with them. ... Regarding this evil and undignified people living among us, we can only yearn for the land to vomit it out, because it isn’t worthy of this land, which is full of Jewish blood that it has spilled.”

Gideon Levy Gideon Levy ( he, גדעון לוי; born 2 June 1953) is an Israeli journalist and author. Levy writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper '' Haaretz'' that often focus on the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories ...

f There’s Such a Thing as a Murderous Culture, Then It Exists in Israel F, or f, is the sixth Letter (alphabet), letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is English alphabet#Let ...

, 29 August 2019.

Awards and recognition

In 2010, Ziffer was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to New Media prize by the

International Council for Press and Broadcasting International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

at the International Media Awards in London

Published works

* ''A Bird Nests at Home'' (Tsipor Mekanenet Ba-bait) (1978) - poetry *''Turkish March'' (Hebrew for 'Alla Turca')(1995) *''Ziffer and his Kind'' (1999) *''The Literary Editor's Progress'' (2005)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ziffer, Benny 1953 births Israeli journalists Israeli novelists Israeli people of Turkish-Jewish descent Israeli poets Israeli television critics Living people People from Tel Aviv Tel Aviv University alumni French–Hebrew translators