Yaakov Katz (, born 1979) is an American-born Israeli journalist and author who served as the Editor-in-Chief of The Jerusalem Post.

Career

Katz completed a law degree from Bar-Ilan University in 2007, and in 2013 was selected as an outstanding alumnus. From 2003 to 2013 Katz was the military correspondent and defense analyst for The Jerusalem Post, and has also worked as the Israel correspondent for Jane's Defence Weekly and USA Today. His writings have also appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Post, The Daily Beast, Al Jazeera English, Israel Defense, Newsmax, Special Operations Report, Fair Observer, and other publications. In 2012-2013, Katz was one of 12 international fellows to spend a year at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. In 2013 Katz became senior foreign policy advisor to Israel's Minister of Education and Diaspora Affairs Naftali Bennett. He became Editor-in-Chief at The Jerusalem Post in 2016. In March 2023 he was replaced by Avi Mayer. His first book, Israel vs. Iran: The Shadow War, which Katz co-authored with Yoaz Hendel, was published by Potomac Books in 2012 in the U.S. and by Kinneret Zmora-Bitan in Israel, where it spent several weeks on the bestseller list. His second book, Weapons Wizards, written together with veteran Walla News military correspondent Amir Bohbot, was published by St. Martin's Press in 2017 and tells the behind-the-scenes story of how Israel invented its revolutionary weapons and military technology. It has been translated into Czech, Polish, Hebrew and Mandarin. His most recent book Shadow Strike: Inside Israel's Secret Mission to Eliminate Syrian Nuclear Power, was published in May 2019 by St. Martin's Press. It was chosen as a finalist for the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature. Katz has lectured at dozens of college campuses across the U.S. and is a frequent speaker on issues relating to Israeli security and Middle East politics.

Personal life

Originally from Chicago, Katz moved to Israel in 1996. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife and their four children.

Published works