Tom Gross

Tom Gross
Tom Gross (right) interviews Egyptian dissident and former political prisoner Maikel Nabil at the 2012 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy
Tom Gross (right) interviews Egyptian dissident and former political prisoner Maikel Nabil at the 2012 Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy
BornLondon, England, United Kingdom
OccupationJournalist and commentator
LanguageEnglish
Alma materWadham College, Oxford University
Parents
Relatives

Tom Gross is a British-born journalist, international affairs commentator,[2] and human rights campaigner specializing in the Middle East.[3] Gross was formerly a foreign correspondent for the London Sunday Telegraph and New York Daily News. He now works as an opinion journalist and has written for both Arab[4][5] and Israeli[6] newspapers, as well as European and American ones, both liberal[7] and conservative.[8] He also appears as a commentator on the BBC in English,[9] BBC Arabic,[10] and various Middle Eastern and other networks.[11][12]

His politics are mixed. The German newspaper Die Welt described Gross as "A liberal in the fight against left-wing liberal hypocrisy".[13] In a profile of Gross in the Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat in 2019, it was noted that he started as a non-political entertainment and feature journalist before becoming a political commentator.[14][15]

Long involved in discreet behind-the-scenes bridge-building meetings between officials and activists from Israel and nations throughout the Arab world,[16] Gross was the first journalist sympathetic to Israel to be favorably profiled in a Saudi newspaper, at a time when Saudi outreach to Israel was in its infancy.[17]

Gross has also been interviewed by Israeli newspapers including Haaretz[18] and by Iranian opposition media. His call for good relations between Israelis, Jews and (anti-regime) Iranians was viewed on Instagram in Iran more than 2.4 million times the day after the Iranian regime fired 350 missiles and drones at Israel in April 2024.[19]

In 2014, former Pentagon official Michael Rubin wrote that "Tom Gross is probably Europe’s leading observer of the Middle East".[20] Gross was similarly described in Toronto's National Post in April 2019.[21]

  1. ^ Johnson, Daniel (5 October 2012). "Last and best of the great literary editors". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 8 September 2023.
  2. ^ "Palestine's Missing Critics". The Wall Street Journal. 2 November 2009. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Ein Linker im Kampf gegen linke Lebenslügen, By Alan Posener". Die Welt. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. ^ Tom Gross (4 September 2019). "Brexit and its Effect on the Middle East". Asharq Al-Awsat (English). Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  5. ^ Tom Gross (4 September 2019). "جنون "بريكست" وأثره على الشرق الأوسط". Asharq Al-Awsat (Arabic). Retrieved 7 September 2019.
  6. ^ "The 'shy little bird' who survived Hitler and Stalin". The Jerusalem Post. 22 December 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2010.
  7. ^ Tom Gross (30 November 2014). "A modest proposal: Qatar could win by letting Gaza host the World Cup". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  8. ^ Tom Gross (2 December 2008). "If this Isn't Terrorism, What Is?". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 25 October 2011.
  9. ^ "Israel & Arab states bypass Palestinians to make peace: BBC Lyse Doucet interviews Tom Gross, 8 April 2019". YouTube. 8 April 2019.
  10. ^ "Third Israeli elections within a year? Tom Gross on BBC Arabic". YouTube. 8 December 2019. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  11. ^ "The Queen embraced Assad, but now finally Israel gets a royal visit". YouTube. 2 March 2018. Archived from the original on 21 December 2021.
  12. ^ "Tom Gross on Sky News Arabia on Britain's Brexit vote". YouTube. 6 June 2016.
  13. ^ "Ein Linker im Kampf gegen linke Lebenslügen, By Alan Posener". Die Welt. 17 September 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  14. ^ Raneem Hannoush (16 December 2019). "توم غروس: دور الصحافي نقل الحدث لكن أصبحت للحقيقة أكثر من صورة اليوم". Asharq Al-Awsat (Arabic). Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  15. ^ Raneem Hannoush (22 January 2020). "Tom Gross: Role of the Journalist Is to Report Events, but Some Media Have Now Gone Beyond That". Asharq Al-Awsat (English). Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  16. ^ Jonathan Sacerdoti (7 January 2022). "Meet the Arab Zionists: a new generation of online pioneers". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 5 July 2022.
  17. ^ Raneem Hannoush (16 December 2019). "توم غروس: دور الصحافي نقل الحدث لكن أصبحت للحقيقة أكثر من صورة اليوم". Asharq Al-Awsat (Arabic). Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  18. ^ "'I've met waiters in Tel Aviv who have a better command of English than some Israeli diplomats'. Israel is under the spotlight as never before, yet its government has failed to respond with an effective public diplomacy campaign, according to British journalist and analyst Tom Gross". Haaretz. 12 May 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  19. ^ "Interview with Tom Gross, ManotoTV". ManotoTV. 14 April 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  20. ^ "Why Is the State Department Supporting a Jewish Conspiracy Book Fair?". Commentary. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  21. ^ "Why the Arabs are ready for peace with Israel, By Robert Fulford". The National Post. 18 April 2019. Retrieved 19 November 2019.