As Israelis go to the polls to select their prime minister and the members of the 21st Knesset, the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) will be hosting live coverage. The broadcast will take place just outside the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem’s Old City in the Kirk Douglas Auditorium of the Aish HaTorah World Center in front of a live studio audience, including a large delegation of Americans who are currently studying at Israeli universities.
The broadcast will air from 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. Israel time; 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time; 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Coverage will be broadcast live on JNS.org, as well as on the JNS.org Facebook page. Viewers can also see the live coverage here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jD13SSKlLdo).
As part of the coverage, JNS correspondents will provide live reports from the headquarters of both the Likud and Blue and White parties. In studio, the broadcast will be hosted by JNS managing director and Jerusalem bureau chief Alex Traiman, and co-moderated by Dan Diker, director of the Political Warfare Project at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and former Knesset Member Dov Lipman, senior manager for community outreach at Honest Reporting.
The moderators will be joined by experts on Israeli politics and key geopolitical issues, including Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Times of London and JNS columnist Melanie Phillips, president of Jerusalem Institute for Strategic Studies Professor Efraim Inbar, professor of politics at Bar-Ilan University Gerald Steinberg, director of Palestinian Media Watch Itamar Marcus, director of the Israel Victory Project Daniel Seaman, director of Israel Unwired Avi Abelow, former U.S. Defense Department adviser on Islamic Affairs Harold Rhode and radio-show host Eve Harow.
JNS will report the results of the first exit polls at 10 p.m. Israel time. In addition to Israeli politics, coverage will focus on the U.S.-Israel relationship, relations between Israeli and American Jews, the upcoming Mideast peace plan being put forward by the Trump administration, global anti-Semitism, BDS and more.
“Israeli elections are a time to celebrate the only democracy in the Middle East,” said Traiman, who is hosting the program. “It is also a time when individuals all around the world will take an increased interest in the future of the world’s only Jewish state. As JNS works day in and day out to explain breaking developments in Israel to the world, it is fitting that the 2019 elections will provide a platform for our first-ever video broadcast. Through our coverage, we hope to bring greater clarity on key domestic and geopolitical issues facing Israel to audiences around the world.”
