David Landau, Z”L. Farewell to a Gentleman and adversary

Jerusalem journalist David Landau, who died this week at the age of 67, was a reporter of the old school. When he was criticized, he remained a gentleman.

This was my experience with Landau for the better part of twenty years, having issued reports which critiqued his work in the different positions that Landau held, as managing editor of the Jerusalem Post, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency and HaAretz.

One of those critical reports is posted on our site.

Despite the biting criticism that our agency leveled at Landau, he never once issued a personal attack against me or the agency that I run, and always extended a greeting in a genuinely respectful manner whenever I would see him at the Beit Agron Press Center and numerous media events — and those encounters were frequent.

Unlike today’s mode of writers who lambaste critics, David Landau maintained his cool and treated critics with the dignity of an English gentleman, because that is what he was.

About the Author

David Bedein, who grew up in Philadelphia and moved to Israel in 1970 at the age of 20, is an MSW community organizer by profession and an expereinced investigative journalist. In 1987 he established the Israel Resource News Agency, with offices at the Beit Agron Int’l Press Center in Jerusalem, where he also serves as Director of the Center for Near East Policy Research. In 1991, Bedein was the special CNN middle east radio correspondent. Since 2001, Bedein has contributed features to the newspaper Makor Rishon. In 2006, Bedein became the foreign correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010. He is the author of " The Genesis of the Palestinian Authority" and "ROADBLOCK TO PEACE- How the UN Perpetuates the Arab-Israeli Conflict: UNRWA policies reconsidered"and the director and producer of the numerous short films about UNRWA policy which can be located at: http://tinyurl.com/lxc6xvs