Where to Get Real Israel News in English, From Someone Who Lives Here
If you have ever followed a war in Israel through the evening news, you know the strange feeling of watching a story you lived through get rewritten before your eyes.
I have spent my career in Israeli media and digital diplomacy, including eight years on Prime Minister Netanyahu's digital team, and the question friends abroad ask me most is a simple one. Where can I get Israel news in English that I can actually trust? Here is my honest answer, organized by what you need.
The best sources for Israel news in English
Start with outlets based inside Israel. Reporters who live here understand context that a correspondent flown in for a week will miss, and they usually have the story first.
The Times of Israel: fast and broad, with a live blog that is often the quickest English source when something breaks.
The Jerusalem Post: Israel's oldest English daily, strong on diplomacy, defense and the wider Jewish world.
Israel Hayom in English: the English edition of the most widely read newspaper in the country, close to mainstream Israeli opinion.
Ynetnews: the English site of Ynet, useful for seeing what Israelis themselves are reading today.
JNS: solid reporting and analysis on Israel and its relationship with the United States.
i24NEWS English: a television news channel based in Tel Aviv, good for live coverage while events unfold.
ILTV: Israeli television news in English with a direct, local point of view.
All Israel News: focused on Israel and the Middle East with Christian readers in mind.
For breaking security events, go straight to the official sources. The IDF Spokesperson publishes operational updates in English, and the Home Front Command app sends official rocket alerts and safety instructions in real time. During missile attacks I trust those channels before any headline, because they come from the people actually running the defense.
If you read Hebrew, or are willing to use a translation tool, the Hebrew sites of Ynet, Maariv and the public broadcaster Kan often carry details hours before the English editions. Following a few Israeli military and diplomatic correspondents directly on social media is another good way to hear about events as they happen, straight from the people who cover them every day.
Every week I also publish a Middle East update video on my YouTube channel and post analysis here on the blog, explaining what happened and what it means for Israel. My aim is to give you the context the big networks leave out, in a few minutes, from someone who lives with the consequences.
How to spot bad reporting on Israel
Even good outlets get things wrong, so it pays to check a story yourself. The clearest lesson came on October 17, 2023, when an explosion at the Al Ahli hospital in Gaza was reported around the world as an Israeli strike that killed hundreds, based on claims from Hamas. Within days, American, British and French intelligence assessments pointed to a misfired rocket launched from inside Gaza, and the New York Times published an editors' note admitting it had relied too heavily on Hamas.
When you read a story, look for where the numbers come from. Casualty figures from Gaza come from a health ministry run by Hamas, and many reports still print them without telling you so. Notice whether the headline tells you who started the violence or buries that fact deep in the article, and check whether the reporter is actually in the country or rewriting wire copy from a desk in London.
The best habit of all is reading more than one outlet. Put an Israeli source and an international one side by side and you will quickly see which details get dropped and which words get chosen to shape your opinion.
Social media can help when it points you to original footage and official statements, and it can hurt badly when it spreads anonymous claims faster than anyone can check them. Before you share something dramatic, wait until an Israeli outlet or an official channel confirms it.
The world's newsrooms have been wrong about Israel often enough that relying on them alone will leave you misinformed about one of the most important stories of our time. Take your news from people who live here and you will understand Israel better than most commentators on television. Am Yisrael Chai.
Keep reading: claims the media gets wrong
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