Michael Karpin
Encyclopedia
Michael I. karpin is an Israel
i broadcast journalist and author, best known for his investigative documentaries and books, revealing two of Israel's most concealed affairs: The creation of the country's nuclear capability
and the nationalistic-messianic incitement campaign that preceded the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
. On May 1986, Karpin broke the story of Israel's secret service (Shabak) fabrication of evidence in the course of Bus Line 300's investigation
, one of the most controversial political affairs in the history of the country. In 1987, he exposed the Captain Izat Nafsu Affair, a Moslem IDF
's officer and a Circassian (a small ethnic minority in Israel), who was maliciously investigated by the secret service, convicted of spying and eventually purified by the Supreme Court. Karpin is married to Pnina (née Bahat), has 3 grownup children and lives in Tel Aviv
.
Karpin had studied political science in the Hebrew University
and mass communication in UCLA
. He entered broadcasting in 1969, as a radio news reporter for The Voice of Israel (Kol Israel)
and became one of the top Israeli reporters of the 1973's Yom Kippur War
, covering some of the most ferocious engagements at the Southern Front and the following Disengagement Talks at "Kilometer 101" and then at Geneva
, Switzerland
. In 1976 he joined the Israeli Television
's (Channel One today, which until 1986 was the sole television channel in the country) news department and for twenty years served as senior reporter and editor. From 1976 to 1980, Karpin was stationed in Bonn
, West Germany
, functioning as chief European correspondent. In 1983, he became editor in chief of his cannel's evening news (Mabat) and then, from 1986 to 1991, produced and hosted Channel One's flagship program, Second Look, specializing in investigative reporting. Between May 1991 and November 1992, he was stationed in Moscow
, becoming the first independent Israeli journalist to be accredited by the Soviet Union
(between 1967 and 1991, diplomatic relations between the two countries were ruptured and thereat only messengers of Israel's communist party daily were accredited by Moscow). In 1995, upon leaving Channel One, Karpin headed the group that won the bid for Radio 103 FM for Greater Tel Aviv, the first privet station that was established in Israel. He had built the station from scratch and after managing it for one year left to become an independent documentaries producer and writer of investigative books, intended mainly for the American market.
and the development of Israel's nuclear option. It has been screened by television networks, international film festivals and professional conferences worldwide.
The Road to Rabin Square (1997) exposes the rude incitement campaign against PM Yitzhak Rabin prior to his assassination. It won a jury Special Recognition in the 1998's Biarritz FIPA Festival and a Silver Medal in the 1997 NY Festival for International Television Programming and Promotion . It was screened by TV networks in 15 countries and many international film festivals.
Distant Relatives (1995), a three chapters' series portraying the Jewish community in North America was awarded the B'nai B'rith
World Center Award for Journalism.
, NY, 2006) tells how Israel became the Middle East
's only nuclear power
and how it succeeded in keeping its atomic program secret.
Murder in the Name of God (co-author Ina Friedman) depicts the setting up of the incitement campaign against Yitzhak Rabin's firm decision to negotiate peace-for-territories with the Palestinian Authority
and portraits the individuals responsible for the PM's assassination. The book had been published by Henry Holt and Company
, New-York (1998); Rowohlt
, Hamburg (1998); Granta
Books, London (1999); Zmora-Bitan, Tel-Aviv (1999).
Tightrope – Six Centuries of a Jewish Dynasty (John Wiley & Sons
, NY, 2008) is an historical saga of the extraordinary Backenroth family from Galicia (today in western Ukraine) - a true story based on diaries, letters, documents, and oral testimony. In its broad outlines, the history of the Backenroths is similar to the history of most of the European Jewish families that migrated to the United States.
Notes from Pushkin Square
(Yedioth Ahronoth
, Tel Aviv, 1993) depicts Karpin's experiences in Moscow during the Soviet Empire's collapse.
’s poems of Jerusalem from a new artistic and political perspective.
"I Can’t Take It Any More" (2006) displays Prime Minister Menachem Begin
’s sorrowful last years of life, from his 1981's decision to bomb Iraq
's Osiraq nuclear reactor, through the controversial First Lebanon War
, his sudden resignation from the Prime Ministry and his nine years of solitary, when he imprisoned himself in a small flat in Jerusalem. .
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
i broadcast journalist and author, best known for his investigative documentaries and books, revealing two of Israel's most concealed affairs: The creation of the country's nuclear capability
Nuclear weapons and Israel
Israel is widely believed to be the sixth country in the world to have developed nuclear weapons and to be one of four nuclear-armed countries not recognized as a Nuclear Weapons State by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty , the others being India, Pakistan and North Korea...
and the nationalistic-messianic incitement campaign that preceded the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Assassination of Yitzhak Rabin
The assassination of Yitzhak Rabin took place on November 4, 1995 at 21:30, at the end of a rally in support of the Oslo Accords at the Kings of Israel Square in Tel Aviv...
. On May 1986, Karpin broke the story of Israel's secret service (Shabak) fabrication of evidence in the course of Bus Line 300's investigation
Kav 300 affair
The Bus 300 affair , also known as Kav 300 affair, was an affair in which Shin Bet members executed two Palestinian bus hijackers, immediately after the hostage crises incident ended and the two militants were captured....
, one of the most controversial political affairs in the history of the country. In 1987, he exposed the Captain Izat Nafsu Affair, a Moslem IDF
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
's officer and a Circassian (a small ethnic minority in Israel), who was maliciously investigated by the secret service, convicted of spying and eventually purified by the Supreme Court. Karpin is married to Pnina (née Bahat), has 3 grownup children and lives in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
.
Karpin had studied political science in the Hebrew University
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
and mass communication in UCLA
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. He entered broadcasting in 1969, as a radio news reporter for The Voice of Israel (Kol Israel)
Kol Yisrael
Kol Yisrael is Israel's public domestic and international radio service, operated as a division of the Israel Broadcasting Authority.-History:...
and became one of the top Israeli reporters of the 1973's Yom Kippur War
Yom Kippur War
The Yom Kippur War, Ramadan War or October War , also known as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War and the Fourth Arab-Israeli War, was fought from October 6 to 25, 1973, between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria...
, covering some of the most ferocious engagements at the Southern Front and the following Disengagement Talks at "Kilometer 101" and then at Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In 1976 he joined the Israeli Television
Channel 1 (Israel)
Channel 1 is one of the oldest television channels in Israel and one of five terrestrial channels in the country...
's (Channel One today, which until 1986 was the sole television channel in the country) news department and for twenty years served as senior reporter and editor. From 1976 to 1980, Karpin was stationed in Bonn
Bonn
Bonn is the 19th largest city in Germany. Located in the Cologne/Bonn Region, about 25 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, it was the capital of West Germany from 1949 to 1990 and the official seat of government of united Germany from 1990 to 1999....
, West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, functioning as chief European correspondent. In 1983, he became editor in chief of his cannel's evening news (Mabat) and then, from 1986 to 1991, produced and hosted Channel One's flagship program, Second Look, specializing in investigative reporting. Between May 1991 and November 1992, he was stationed in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, becoming the first independent Israeli journalist to be accredited by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(between 1967 and 1991, diplomatic relations between the two countries were ruptured and thereat only messengers of Israel's communist party daily were accredited by Moscow). In 1995, upon leaving Channel One, Karpin headed the group that won the bid for Radio 103 FM for Greater Tel Aviv, the first privet station that was established in Israel. He had built the station from scratch and after managing it for one year left to become an independent documentaries producer and writer of investigative books, intended mainly for the American market.
Karpin's Documentaries
A Bomb in the Basement (2001) tells for the first time in television the story of the creation of Dimona's reactorNegev Nuclear Research Center
The Negev Nuclear Research Center is an Israeli nuclear installation located in the Negev desert, about thirteen kilometers to the south-east of the city of Dimona. The purpose of Dimona is widely assumed to be the manufacturing of nuclear weapons, and the majority of defense experts have...
and the development of Israel's nuclear option. It has been screened by television networks, international film festivals and professional conferences worldwide.
The Road to Rabin Square (1997) exposes the rude incitement campaign against PM Yitzhak Rabin prior to his assassination. It won a jury Special Recognition in the 1998's Biarritz FIPA Festival and a Silver Medal in the 1997 NY Festival for International Television Programming and Promotion . It was screened by TV networks in 15 countries and many international film festivals.
Distant Relatives (1995), a three chapters' series portraying the Jewish community in North America was awarded the B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith
B'nai B'rith International |Covenant]]" is the oldest continually operating Jewish service organization in the world. It was initially founded as the Independent Order of B'nai B'rith in New York City, on , 1843, by Henry Jones and 11 others....
World Center Award for Journalism.
Karpin's Books
The Bomb in the Basement – How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means to the World (Simon & SchusterSimon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster, Inc., a division of CBS Corporation, is a publisher founded in New York City in 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. It is one of the four largest English-language publishers, alongside Random House, Penguin and HarperCollins...
, NY, 2006) tells how Israel became the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
's only nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and how it succeeded in keeping its atomic program secret.
Murder in the Name of God (co-author Ina Friedman) depicts the setting up of the incitement campaign against Yitzhak Rabin's firm decision to negotiate peace-for-territories with the Palestinian Authority
Palestinian National Authority
The Palestinian Authority is the administrative organization established to govern parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip...
and portraits the individuals responsible for the PM's assassination. The book had been published by Henry Holt and Company
Henry Holt and Company
Henry Holt and Company is an American book publishing company. One of the oldest publishers in the United States, it was founded in 1866 by Henry Holt and Frederick Leypoldt...
, New-York (1998); Rowohlt
Rowohlt
Rowohlt Verlag is a publishing house based in Reinbek and also Hamburg and Berlin, part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group . The company was created in 1908 in Leipzig by Ernst Rowohlt.- Parts of the company :* Kindler Verlag...
, Hamburg (1998); Granta
Granta
Granta is a literary magazine and publisher in the United Kingdom whose mission centers on its "belief in the power and urgency of the story, both in fiction and non-fiction, and the story’s supreme ability to describe, illuminate and make real." In 2007, The Observer stated, "In its blend of...
Books, London (1999); Zmora-Bitan, Tel-Aviv (1999).
Tightrope – Six Centuries of a Jewish Dynasty (John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., also referred to as Wiley, is a global publishing company that specializes in academic publishing and markets its products to professionals and consumers, students and instructors in higher education, and researchers and practitioners in scientific, technical, medical, and...
, NY, 2008) is an historical saga of the extraordinary Backenroth family from Galicia (today in western Ukraine) - a true story based on diaries, letters, documents, and oral testimony. In its broad outlines, the history of the Backenroths is similar to the history of most of the European Jewish families that migrated to the United States.
Books in Hebrew
Metamorphosis in the Snow (Domino, Jerusalem, 1983) presents an artistic illustration of the complicated and loaded relationship between Germans and Jews.Notes from Pushkin Square
Pushkin Square
Pushkinskaya Square or Pushkin Square in Moscow, historically known as Strastnaya Square and renamed for Alexander Pushkin in 1937, is located at the junction of the Boulevard Ring and Tverskaya Street, 2 km northwest of the Kremlin...
(Yedioth Ahronoth
Yedioth Ahronoth
Yedioth Ahronoth is a daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Since the 1970s, it has been the most widely circulated paper in Israel. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Yedioth Ahronoth retained the title of most widely read newspaper in Israel...
, Tel Aviv, 1993) depicts Karpin's experiences in Moscow during the Soviet Empire's collapse.
Other Documentaries
"Jerusalem is Full of Used Jews" (2006) views Yehuda AmichaiYehuda Amichai
Yehuda Amichai was an Israeli poet. Amichai is considered by many, both in Israel and internationally, as Israel's greatest modern poet. He was also one of the first to write in colloquial Hebrew....
’s poems of Jerusalem from a new artistic and political perspective.
"I Can’t Take It Any More" (2006) displays Prime Minister Menachem Begin
Menachem Begin
' was a politician, founder of Likud and the sixth Prime Minister of the State of Israel. Before independence, he was the leader of the Zionist militant group Irgun, the Revisionist breakaway from the larger Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah. He proclaimed a revolt, on 1 February 1944,...
’s sorrowful last years of life, from his 1981's decision to bomb Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
's Osiraq nuclear reactor, through the controversial First Lebanon War
1982 Lebanon War
The 1982 Lebanon War , , called Operation Peace for Galilee by Israel, and later known in Israel as the Lebanon War and First Lebanon War, began on 6 June 1982, when the Israel Defense Forces invaded southern Lebanon...
, his sudden resignation from the Prime Ministry and his nine years of solitary, when he imprisoned himself in a small flat in Jerusalem. .