LANDAU, DAVID

LANDAU, DAVID (1947– ), Israeli journalist. Born in London, Landau graduated in law from London University and studied at Slobodka Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Immigrating to Israel in 1970, he joined the Jerusalem Post, filling a number of reportorial posts including diplomatic reporter. In 1981 he became the first Israeli reporter to interview President Anwar *Sadat of Egypt. In 1986 he was appointed managing editor. In 1990, when Yehudah Levy was appointed local publisher after the newspaper was sold to the Hollinger newspaper chain, Landau led a rebellion against Levy's right-wing editorial line, which ended with the dismissal of Landau and the other journalists. In 1991 he joined Maariv as a political commentator. In 1993 he joined Haaretz, working as a news editor and subsequently as features editor. In 1997 he founded Haaretz's English edition, including the local distribution of the International Herald Tribune. In 2005 he was appointed editor of Haaretz. Identified with the Left, Landau moved the newspaper in that direction editorially on diplomatic and defense issues. A religious Jew, he defined himself as a secular Zionist, strongly opposing messianic trends in modern Orthodoxy in Israel. He sought to widen Haaretz's readership beyond the European Ashkenazi secular intelligentsia to embrace other population sectors. He was the Israel bureau chief of the *Jewish Telegraphic Agency for many years, and correspondent for The Economist for ten years. He wrote Piety & Power: The World of Jewish Fundamentalism and collaborated with Shimon *Peres on his memoirs.

[Yoel Cohen (2^nd ed.)]