Amos Harel is one of Israel's leading media experts on military and defense issues. He has been the military correspondent and defense analyst for Haaretz for the last 12 years. In this role, he has written extensively about Israel's ongoing fight against terrorist organizations, its battles during the Palestinian Intifadah (uprising) and the last war in Lebanon.
Prior to his current position, Harel, 41, spent four years as night editor for the Haaretz Hebrew print edition, and from 1999-2005 was the anchorman on a weekly Army Radio program about defense issues. He also frequently appears in the Israeli and foreign media as a military pundit.
Along with Avi Issacharoff, Harel co-wrote "The Seventh War: How we won and why we lost the war with the Palestinians", a 2004 book about the second Intifadah. The book- a best-seller in Israel - has been translated into French and Arabic, and won the prestigious Chechic award in 2005, for outstanding security research.
Harel and Issacharoff's second book, "34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah and the War in Lebanon", about the war of 2006 was published in Hebrew in January 2008, and also became a best-seller. It was published in English, by Palgrave-Macmillan Books, in April 2008. "34 Days" also won the Chechic award in 2009.
Harel is a graduate of Tel Aviv University, with a bachelor's degree in Law. He is married with three children and lives in Hod Hasharon, in central Israel.
The series of incidents in Tehran and the deepening Lebanon crisis spell a sensitive period for Israel in the coming week ■ Annexation date came and went? Not in this army unit
The poor personal example given by Israel's top politicians is more than a symptom ■ What is stopping Netanyahu from calling a new election
The government will focus on limiting gatherings and economic pain. Meanwhile, Israelis aren’t getting a full picture of the rate of infection
Health Ministry mulls measure in response to complaints about phone-tracking errors
It's unclear if the explosion and other incidents that occurred in Iran over the past week were connected, but there is pressure mounting on Iran to respond. In the meantime, Israel is keeping quiet on whether it was responsible
Shin Bet to convene urgent meeting with top officials, as Knesset panel demands solutions after thousands of Israelis claim they were mistakenly sent into quarantine with no way to appeal
The measures announced by the cabinet on Monday to combat the pandemic will have serious repercussions for the economy and probably could have been avoided. But Netanyahu shrugs off responsibility
Expert panel issues stark warning, urges Israeli army to take over management of coronavirus crisis
They're still assessing the damage to the nuclear facility, but Iran is already blaming Israel. They may try to retaliate
Both the Israeli army and the Palestinian factions agree: Even a 'symbolic' annexation could ignite the street
The Israeli government did little in the face of the sharp rise in cases. The price could be another lockdown that would decimate the economy ■ Netanyahu should already be preparing for Trump's likely November defeat
Sharing information, sharing power could have helped to stem the renewed coronavirus outbreak, which will likely have even longer-lasting consequences
In irregular move, team advising National Security Council pens letter to PM blaming public health services for mounting difficulties on formation of mechanism to track chains of infection
It seems Netanyahu is already preparing an alibi in case annexation is frozen ■ While Abbas may limit response to threats, Hamas is a different story
Eli Waxman, who advised the National Security Council, identifies two central reasons for the uptick: A rushed reopening and failure to set up a rapid response capability
Cabinet found no solution to limit the virus’s spread, so comprehensive digital tracking is the plan
With a week to go before deadline to begin the process in earnest, the alternate prime minister is having trouble shaking his subservience to the prime minister
There seems to be no chance of a commission of inquiry being appointed into Israel’s failures in handling the coronavirus pandemic. But senior politicians don’t like taking unnecessary chances, and they take no prisoners
As defense and health officials avoid taking responsibility, harsh public response to a report just as harsh puts Israelis' trust in their government to the test
If steps to roll back reopenings and increase public awareness are not taken, Israel may see a thousand new coronavirus cases a day within a month, Center for Information and Knowledge on the Coronavirus report warns
Even the ideology behind annexation is informed by political considerations – and these are tied directly to the prime minister's corruption trial
Economic pressure on one hand, fears of renewed outbreak on the other ■ Israelis may not take kindly to a new lockdown ■ Has Netanyahu lost interest in the pandemic?
U.S. opposition is not just coming from the 'usual suspects' – the Democratic party's left – but also from firm supporters of Israel, moderate senators and House members considered close to AIPAC
With experts divided over the significance of the rise in cases, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu keeps public comments on the virus to a minimum while his social media accounts focus on his trial
In his planned annexation of West Bank territory, Netanyahu may meet resistance in the form of Jared Kushner
For Netanyahu, the move mixes ideology and personal survival ■ Why is the Israeli army chief warning of 'a grave mistake' that would carry a 'heavy price'?
Eroding public trust, economic downturn, the prime minister's trial and perhaps a violent flare-up could spell a hard winter
Without proper tracking of coronavirus patients, cases climb but experts are split on true infection rate, with some seeing exponential rise
The prime minister will find it hard to back down
And the question whether Trump is the catalyst or a symptom remains open