NEWSRAEL: We congratulate Edy Cohen, who is, among everything else, a contributor to NEWSRAEL. He is a true Zionist fighter who knows the Arab world and culture like the back of his hand. His account on Twitter, which is predominately in Arabic, he has close to a half million followers who are very active. While many of the replies to his tweets are terribly Anti-Semitic in nature, many are very honest and favorable, showing the change of thinking that is going on in the Middle East.

From the special page of Arab News made up for Edy Cohen:

Current occupation: Researcher and commentator at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies

Former employers: Israel State Archives, Office of the Prime Minister

Education: BA in political science and government, MA in history of the Middle East, PhD in Near and Middle Eastern studies, post-doctorate in Near and Middle Eastern studies, all from Bar-Ilan University in Tel Aviv. 

Nationality: Israeli

Edy Cohen is a historian and media commentator who specalizes in inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in the Arab world, Islamist terrorism, and the history of Jewish communities in the Arab world. 

Born and raised in Beirut, Cohen’s research and career interests were heavily influenced by his surroundings and the period of political turmoil in the region during which he grew up. 

Cohen completed his early years of education in Christian schools in Beirut. However, in 1991, given the increasing hostility directed at Jews living in predominately-Arab societies, Cohen and his family were forced to flee growing Arab anti-Semitism of that time. 

Fluent in Arabic, Hebrew and French, Cohen is well known for forecasting political events. For instance, he managed to expose the sedition plot in Jordan a few days before it took place, where a Jordanian court sentenced a former royal aide and a minor royal to 15 years in jail on charges of attempting to destabilize the monarchy.

Cohen currently serves as a researcher and commentator at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

As a native speaker and writer of Arabic, Cohen’s research focuses on the interaction between Arabs and Jews, and his language proficiency allows him to communicate directly with Arab audiences.

Cohen is the author of the book “The Holocaust in the Eyes of Mahmoud Abbas.” He is also the author of “The Mufti and the Jews: Haj Amin Al-Husseini’s involvement in the Holocaust and his war against the Jews in Arab lands.”