Ze'ev Chafets

Zev Chafets (born 1947) is an American-Israeli author and columnist.[1]

Zev Chafets
Born1947 (age 75–76)
Pontiac, Michigan, U.S.
OccupationAuthor, columnist
LanguageEnglish, Hebrew
Alma materB.A. University of Michigan graduate studies Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Tel Aviv University.
GenreJournalism, non-fiction, fiction
Chafets (left) with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2019

Biography

Zev Chafets was born in 1947 in Pontiac, Michigan, and raised there.[2][3][4] He graduated from the University of Michigan.[4] In 1966-67 Chafets was president of the National Federation of Temple Youth. He immigrated to Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967.[4] He spent a decade in the army, government service and politics. In 1977, he was appointed director of the Government Press Office, a post he held for five years during the administration of Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Chafets was an active participant in the Egyptian-Israeli peace process and a delegate to the first Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations.

He is the author of fourteen books of fiction, media criticism, and social and political commentary, three of which have been named Notable Books of the Year by The New York Times. A review in The New York Times of his book Heroes and Hustlers called him "an Israeli Tocqueville." He is also the recipient of the 2008 Wilbur Award for his book A Match Made In Heaven. His book on Detroit, Devil's Night, earned him admission to the Michigan Monthly's Detroit Hall of Fame.

Chafets was the founding managing editor and staff columnist of The Jerusalem Report magazine. During an extended stay in the United States he was a staff columnist at the New York Daily News (beginning in 2000) and a frequent contributor to The New York Times Sunday Magazine.[5] In 2008, his New York Times Magazine cover story on Mike Huckabee was a finalist for the National Magazine Award.[6] In 2011, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the City of Pontiac, his American hometown.

Following his return to Israel in 2012, Chafets was a contributing columnist to Fox News Online (2013–2016) and Bloomberg Online (2017–2022). Many of his Bloomberg columns were reprinted in The Washington Post. In 2016 he was the co-host of The Presidential Podcast (Hebrew) on Radio Tel Aviv.

Chafets is a strong supporter of Israel. He has been a vocal critic of Arab dictatorships, Islamic radicalism, extremist groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, and what he asserts is a pro-Palestinian bias in academia and parts of the mainstream media. He is also known for his opposition to ultra-orthodox religious political parties. In 2016, as the co-host of The Presidential Podcast (Hebrew) on Radio Tel Aviv, he opposed Donald Trump's candidacy but predicted, a few days before the election, that Trump would win.

Chafets resides in Tel Aviv, Israel. He has four children and five grandchildren. He is married to Leah Greenspan.

Published works

Non-fiction
  • Double Vision: How America's Press Distorts Our View of the Middle East (1985)
  • Heroes and Hustlers, Hard Hats and Holy Men: Inside the New Israel (1986)[7]
  • Members of the Tribe (Bantam Hardcover) (1988)
  • Devil's Night: And Other True Tales of Detroit (1990)[8][9]
  • A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man's Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance (HarperCollins Hardcover - Jan 9, 2007)[10][11][12]
  • Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame (2009, Bloomsbury USA)[5]
  • Rush Limbaugh: An Army of One (2010)[13]
  • Roger Ailes: Off Camera (2013)[14]
  • Remembering Who We Are: A Treasury of Conservative Commencement Addresses (2015)
  • The Bridge Builder (2015)

Fiction
  • Inherit the Mob (Random House) (1993)
  • The Bookmakers (Random House) (1995)
  • The Project (Warner Books) (1997)
  • Whacking Jimmy (as William Wolf) ((Villard))
  • Hang Time (Warner Books) (1996)[15]

Selected articles in magazines and newspapers

The New York Times

  • The Tragedy of Detroit[16]
  • "Lives; No Regrets",[17]
  • A letter to the editor correcting the story,[18]
  • The two referenced versions of No Regrets, sung by Jimmy Barnes[19]
  • Little Willie John[20]
  • The Sy Empire[21]
  • A subsequent article correction[22]
  • Obama's Rabbi[23]

See also

References
  1. "A Diluted American" Eve Silberman, Michigan Today, Spring, 2000
  2. "Interview with Zev Chafets, author of Rush Limbaugh: Army of One".
  3. Syme, Daniel B.; Kanter, Cindy Frenkel (1998). 100 Essential Books for Jewish Readers. Carol Publishing Group. p. 181. ISBN 978-0-8065-1906-7.
  4. Kirszner, Laurie G.; Mandell, Stephen R. (2011-12-22). Patterns for College Writing: A Rhetorical Reader and Guide. Macmillan. ISBN 978-0-312-67684-1.
  5. Mcgrath, Charles (28 July 2009). "Zev Chafets's 'Cooperstown Confidential': Taking a Swing at Baseball's Hall of Fame". The New York Times.
  6. Chafets, Zev (12 December 2007). "Mike Huckabee - Presidential Election of 2008 - Elections - Evangelical Movement - Religion - Politics - Republican Party". The New York Times.
  7. "Heroes and Hustlers, Hard Hats and Holy Men: Inside the New Israel". Foreign Affairs: America and the World. 2009-01-28. ISSN 0015-7120. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  8. "The "White" Version: Devil's Night and Other Not So True Tales of Detroit". Michigan quarterly review. hdl:2027/spo.act2080.0031.001:16.
  9. Joseph, Lawrence (1990-12-17). "Can't Forget the Motor City". The Nation. Vol. 251, no. 21. pp. 774–777.
  10. "A Match Made in Heaven by Zev Chafets". Commentary Magazine. 2007-01-01. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  11. Shmuel, Rosner. "Zev Chafets". Haaretz. Rosner's Domain. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  12. Gross, Terry (January 18, 2007). "Zev Chafets and the 'Israel-Evangelical Alliance'". NPR.org. Fresh Air. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  13. Zev Chavets (May 20, 2010). "The Limbaugh Victory". The New York Times. p. A27. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
  14. Kakutani, Michiko (18 March 2013). "'Roger Ailes: Off Camera,' by Zev Chafets". The New York Times.
  15. Simon, Scott (July 13, 1996). "Simon/Chafets (Hah-Fetz) - Scott speaks with Zev Chafets (HAH-fetz), former press secretary for Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, about his novel "Hang Time" — a story about the kidnapping of three American basketball stars in Israel. (published by Warner Books)". NPR.org. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  16. Chafets, Ze'Ev (1990-07-29). "The Tragedy of Detroit". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
  17. Chafets, Ze'Ev (1999-01-31). "Lives; No Regrets". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  18. "No Regrets". The New York Times. 1999-02-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  19. No Regrets. YouTube. Goldisc Records From The Vault Vol. 6, ℗ 2007 Goldisc Records Div. Timeless Entertainment Corp. Official Jimmy Barnes channel on YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  20. John, Little Willie. No Regrets. YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-12.
  21. Chafets, Zev (2007-10-14). "The Sy Empire". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  22. "Correction: The Sy Empire". The New York Times. 2007-10-28. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-31.
  23. Chafets, Zev (2009-04-02). "Obama's Rabbi". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-07-31.

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