Veteran Israeli Foreign Correspondent Gideon Kutz Dies at 78

Veteran Israeli foreign correspondent and academic Professor Gideon Kutz has died in Paris at the age of 78. Kutz served for approximately four decades as a correspondent, initially for Kol Yisrael (Israel Radio) in Paris, and later as a representative for Channel 1, Channel 2, and the Kan Public Broadcasting Corporation across Europe.

Born in Poland in 1948, Kutz immigrated to Israel in 1957. He settled in Paris in 1978, where he earned a doctorate in communication from the Sorbonne. He began broadcasting with Kol Yisrael in 1986 and subsequently covered Europe for Channel 1. From 2001 to 2007, he was the Channel 2 news correspondent for the continent. He continued to work as a European correspondent and commentator for Kan after its establishment in 2017.

Throughout his extensive career, Kutz reported on numerous pivotal geopolitical events. These included the fall of the Berlin Wall and the revolutions in Eastern Europe, the wars in Yugoslavia and Chechnya, the Middle East peace process, the Arab Spring, European terror attacks, the war in Ukraine, and nuclear talks with Iran. He also covered significant diplomatic moments, such as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's 2002 statement expressing readiness for unconditional peace talks with then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon during a visit to Paris. Kutz was expelled from Beirut in 2002 while covering a Francophone summit. He was the sole Israeli journalist to accompany former French President Nicolas Sarkozy on his visit to Damascus in 2008 and reported from Tehran during Iran's contentious 2009 presidential election and subsequent protests.

In addition to his journalism, Kutz was an accomplished researcher and historian of Hebrew and Jewish press in Europe. He held a full professorship in communication and culture at Paris 8 University and edited the journal 'Kesher,' dedicated to the history of Jewish and Israeli media. Kutz also served as president and later honorary president of the Association of Foreign Press Correspondents in France. His expertise led him to be among a select group of journalists covering the French presidency and accompanying leaders on foreign trips. He also served on international film festival juries, including at Cannes.