Ayelet Hasson - The Israeli Journalist

Biography

Hasson is the fourth of five children born to Rina and Salomon Hayun.

She began her career as a crime reporter and later became the political correspondent for Channel 1. At the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, she served as the channel's political editor and hosted the program "Yoman." Simultaneously, she hosted the program "HaKol Diburim" on Reshet B' of Kol Israel every Thursday.

In 2006, leading up to the seventeenth Knesset elections, Hasson, alongside Ben Caspit, hosted the program "Israel Chooses" on Channel 1, in addition to her work as a correspondent. In 2008, they began hosting the weekly program "Yoman."

In 2009, she became the first woman to receive the "Queen of the Desert Empowerment Award" for her outstanding work in promoting civil rights, addressing social injustices, and exposing government corruption.

In August 2014, she was chosen to receive the "Ometz Award" for 2014, in recognition of her efforts in advocating for civil rights, correcting social injustices, and uncovering governmental corruption.

In the same month, she was appointed as the active director of the news division of Channel 1.

In November 2015, she transitioned to Channel 10 and began hosting the magazine program "Friday," "The Central Headquarters," and served as a senior commentator for the channel.

In February 2017, she started broadcasting a daily current affairs program on 103FM.

In February 2020, she co-hosted a daily current affairs program on the same station with Golan Yochpaz every morning, replacing "Morning Breakfast Club" hosted by Shai Goldstein and Leah Lev, which was discontinued a month later.

In May 2021, during the disturbances in Lod, Hasson was attacked by far-right activists in the city of Lod.

Hasson is multilingual, fluent in Hebrew, Arabic, English, French, and Spanish.

She is married to television producer and talent agent Shai Nesher. Nesher also served as the security guard for David Elazar. Together, they have a son and a daughter and reside in Tel Aviv.

Journalistic Exposures

Hasson is known for several impactful articles. For instance, in early 1997, she wrote an article alleging that the appointment of Roni Bar-On as the legal advisor to the government was part of a deal with the Shas party, sparking the Bar-On-Hebron scandal. In 2004, Hasson exposed recordings from 2002 in which MK Yossi Paritzky accused MK Avraham Poraz, his colleague in the Shinui party, of corruption and attempting to frame him.

Following the publication of the recording, Paritzky was removed from his position as Minister of Energy. Investigations were opened against Yossi Maimon, Tzahi Shavit, and private investigator Meir Pelovsky, suspecting they attempted to blackmail Paritzky with the recording due to his preference for Palestinian gas over Egyptian gas (which was supplied through their company). However, the case was closed without recommendations for indictment against any of the individuals involved.

An investigation into the Gil Bocker affair stirred controversy, but it was decided not to file charges. This investigation, which aired a decade after the hit-and-run incident, was prompted by a business dispute between Hasson's husband and the father of the hit-and-run victim.

A decade after the publication of the Rafaz document, Hasson returned to the story with intensity. On May 8, 2020, she revealed that in a conversation from 2010, which was preserved in a military facility, Paratroopers Brigade Commander Avichai Mandelblit told Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi regarding the Rafaz document, "I'll close the case for you." Hasson claimed that it is legal to listen to the conversation as it took place in a military facility.

However, the prosecution argued that during Mandelblit's investigation, it was discovered that the conversation was wiretapped without his knowledge, making it illegal to publish. Furthermore, it was alleged that the content was distorted and did not accurately reflect what was said in the conversation. Two days later, Hasson claimed that Mandelblit had tried to pressure her, and a friend of Ashkenazi's worked to fire her.

In June 2020, Hasson exposed that in 2016, Mandelblit approached Shai Nitzan and asked to change the reason for closing the case due to lack of guilt. However, the request was denied due to concerns of a conflict of interest.

In October 2020, she revealed that the Israeli police had arrested a resident of Givat Shmuel who had called government legal advisor Avichai Mandelblit "a shame on judges." The woman, an observant lawyer, was arrested in front of her children and forced to desecrate the Sabbath. She was questioned under warning on suspicion of invasion of privacy. In response, Mandelblit stated that he "did not complain and was not asked to complain."

Nevertheless, according to the woman's husband, Mandelblit signaled to his security guard to arrest her. A week after Hasson's report, the State Prosecutor's Office closed the case. In November 2020, the Public Complaints Commissioner determined that the woman's investigation was fundamentally flawed and handed the case over to the acting Police Commissioner.

In October 2021, Hasson published information received from the "Ad Kan" organization, indicating that Razie Issa, number 15 on the Ra'am party list for the Knesset, and one of the architects of the coalition agreement for the formation of the 36th Israeli government, had met with a senior Hamas leader, Razie Hamed, under the auspices of "48 Association" in Gaza. The report stirred controversy and received both support and criticism. The Islamic Movement even sent a message to Hasson and Channel 13 News, demanding an apology and compensation.