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Jeffrey Goldberg

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Jeffrey Goldberg
Goldberg in 2013
Born
Jeffrey Mark Goldberg

1965 (age 60–61)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Citizenship
  • United States
  • Israel (until 2013)
EducationUniversity of Pennsylvania
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • writer
TitleEditor-in-chief of The Atlantic[1]
Spouse
Pamela Ress Reeves
​
(m. 1993)​
Children3
AwardsNational Magazine Award, Overseas Press Club's Joe & Laurie Dine Award

Jeffrey Mark Goldberg (born 1965) is an American journalist who is the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. During his nine years at The Atlantic before becoming editor, Goldberg became known for his coverage of foreign affairs. He moderated the PBS program Washington Week (rebranded as Washington Week with The Atlantic) beginning in August 2023, while continuing as The Atlantic's editor.

Early life

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Jeffrey Mark Goldberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Ellen and Daniel Goldberg.[2] His grandfather was from the shtetl of Leova, Moldova.[3] He grew up in suburban Malverne on Long Island, a predominately Catholic neighborhood he once called "a wasteland of Irish pogromists."[4] Goldberg attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the executive editor of The Daily Pennsylvanian.[5] At Penn he worked at the Hillel kitchen serving lunch to students.

Goldberg, who is Jewish,[6] dropped out of college and worked for a time at The Washington Post.[7] He then moved to Israel and served in the Israel Defense Forces during the First Intifada as a prison guard at Ktzi'ot Prison, where Palestinian participants arrested in the uprising were held. There he met Rafiq Hijazi, a Palestine Liberation Organization leader, college math teacher, and devout Muslim from a refugee camp in the Gaza Strip, whom Goldberg called "the only Palestinian I could find in Ketziot who understood the moral justification for Zionism".[5][8]

Many years after his first trip to Israel as a 13-year-old, he became a dual Israeli citizen. Goldberg recalled the sense of empowerment he felt Israel embodied.[9] In a 2013 interview with the Washingtonian, he said he had decided to give up his Israeli citizenship, saying that "If Israel goes much further down the road I think it’s on and becomes more of a theocratic, totalitarian-style state [...] how could the liberal-minded American Jew support that?"[7]

Career

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Goldberg interviewing President Barack Obama in the Oval Office, 2014

Goldberg returned to the United States and began his career as a reporter at The Washington Post, where he worked the police beat. While in Israel, he worked as a columnist for The Jerusalem Post. Upon his return to the U.S., he was the New York bureau chief of The Forward, a contributing editor at New York magazine, and a contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine.[10][11][12] In 2000, Goldberg joined The New Yorker.[10]

In 2003, "In the Party of God" won the National Magazine Award for reporting.[13][14]

In 2007, David G. Bradley hired Goldberg to write for The Atlantic. Bradley had tried for nearly two years to convince him to work for The Atlantic, and was finally successful after renting ponies for Goldberg's children.[15]

During his time at The Atlantic, Goldberg has conducted interviews with Barack Obama (five times),[16][17][18][19][20] Fidel Castro,[21] Hillary Clinton,[22] David Cameron,[23] John Kerry,[24] Benjamin Netanyahu,[25] Isaac Herzog,[26] Marco Rubio,[27] Chris Christie,[28] Ashton Carter,[29] Ben Rhodes,[30] Yair Lapid,[31] Michael Oren,[32] King Abdullah of Jordan,[33] Ta-Nehisi Coates,[34] David Gregory,[35] and Tom Cotton.[36]

In 2011, Goldberg joined Bloomberg View as a columnist.[37] He left Bloomberg in 2014.[38]

Goldberg joined The Atlantic and became editor-in-chief in 2016.[12] He mainly wrote on foreign affairs, with a focus on the Middle East and Africa.[10]

In September 2020, Goldberg published "Trump: Americans Who Died in War Are 'Losers' and 'Suckers'" in The Atlantic. According to Goldberg's article, in cancelling a 2018 visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial in France, which contains the remains of 2,289 U.S. service members killed in combat in World War I, President Donald Trump is alleged to have privately said, "Why should I go to that cemetery? It's filled with losers." He also reputedly referred to the more than 1,800 U.S. Marines who lost their lives at the Battle of Belleau Wood as "suckers" for getting killed.[39]

CNN reported that Goldberg's article "immediately became a massive story, with Democrats—including Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden—rushing to condemn Trump for his alleged behavior and the White House rallying an aggressive pushback against the article, including the President himself." Trump tweeted, "The Atlantic ... is dying, like most magazines, so they make up a fake story in order to gain some relevance. Story already refuted ..."[40]

Referring to Goldberg's "blockbuster revelation," the Intelligencer said "The scope and intensity of the pushback was nuclear." It added, "While it's impossible to directly prove any of these allegations, there is an impressive amount of corroborating evidence. Almost all of it supports Goldberg's reporting," which the Associated Press, The New York Times, Fox News, and The Washington Post "quickly confirmed."[41]

Trump immediately denied making the comments, tweeting, "This is more made up Fake News given by disgusting & jealous failures in a disgraceful attempt to influence the 2020 Election!"[42] Numerous Trump officials present that day pushed back against Goldberg's reporting, including United States ambassador to France Jamie McCourt, stating "In my presence, POTUS has NEVER denigrated any member of the U.S. military or anyone in service to our country. And he certainly did not that day, either." Also denying the report was national security adviser turned Trump-critic John Bolton and deputy chief of staff Zach Fuentes, who was close to former chief of staff John Kelly. Speaking to Breitbart News, Fuentes said, "Honestly, do you think General Kelly would have stood by and let ANYONE call fallen Marines losers?"[43] In October 2023, John Kelly told CNN that Goldberg's reporting was correct.[44]

In August 2023, Goldberg became the moderator of the PBS program Washington Week, which added "with The Atlantic" to its title as an editorial partnership between the program and the magazine was initiated.[45][46]

U.S. government group chat leak

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In March 2025, Goldberg published an article in The Atlantic stating that members of President Donald Trump's cabinet had inadvertently included him in a Signal group chat that discussed secret military plans for the imminent U.S. attacks on the Houthi in Yemen.[47][48] National Security Advisor Mike Waltz had mistakenly added Goldberg,[49] who reported that participants in the chat appeared to include Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe, National Counterterrorism Center Director Nominee Joe Kent, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, and Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff.[47] A spokesperson for the National Security Council confirmed Goldberg's report.[47][48]

Views

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In his 2008 article in Slate titled "How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?", Goldberg explained why he initially supported the Iraq War and wrote that he "didn't realize how incompetent the Bush administration could be."[50] Glenn Greenwald called Goldberg "one of the leading media cheerleaders for the attack on Iraq", saying Goldberg had "compiled a record of humiliating falsehood-dissemination in the run-up to the war that rivaled Judy Miller's both in terms of recklessness and destructive impact".[51]

Michael Massing, an editor of the Columbia Journalism Review, called Goldberg "the most influential journalist/blogger on matters related to Israel",[52] and David Rothkopf, former editor and CEO of the FP Group, called him "one of the most incisive, respected foreign policy journalists around."[53] He has been described by critics as a liberal[54] and a Zionist.[55] The New York Times reported that he "shaped" The Atlantic's endorsement of Hillary Clinton in the 2016 United States presidential election, only the third endorsement in the magazine's 160-year history.[12]

Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide

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Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide (New York: Knopf, 2006), describes Goldberg's experiences in Israel working at the Ketziot military prison camp as well as his dialogue with Rafiq, a prisoner whom Goldberg would later befriend in Washington, DC.[56][57][58]

The New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times named it one of the best books of 2006.[59][60][61]

The Los Angeles Times critic wrote, "Realization of the humanity of the 'other' is at the heart of New Yorker magazine correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg's sharply observed and beautifully written memoir."[62] The New York Times critic wrote,

Mr. Goldberg, a talented and ambitious writer for the New Yorker ... takes an engagingly personal approach to the issue in his story of a quest for mutual understanding with a Palestinian activist who had been his prisoner... For the bittersweet complexity of that moment, offered in the context of all that has preceded it, this is a genuinely admirable book.[63]

The Washington Post review of the book noted, "Prisoners is Jeffrey Goldberg's sensitive, forthright and perceptive account of his years as a soldier and journalist in Israel—and of his long-running conversation with a Palestinian whom he once kept under lock and key. It is a forceful reminder of how rewarding, and how difficult, discourse between Israelis and Palestinians can be."[64] CBS News critic wrote,

There is no shortage of histories, polemics and policy manuals about the Middle East. An honest but complex story, from what happens to be a personal perspective that many Americans can at least conjure, is a rarer opportunity for insight. And that is what Jeffrey Goldberg, a reporter for The New Yorker, delivers in Prisoners. To those of us who have followed Jeffrey Goldberg's reporting on the Muslim world, the publication of his first book is cause for real pleasure... because his writing on the subject has always been exceptional: wise, unpretentious, and at times, unexpectedly funny.[65]

Boris Kachka, a contributing editor for New York magazine, interviewed Goldberg in October 2006 about Prisoners in addition to other issues pertaining to journalism and the Middle East.[66]

Personal life

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Goldberg lives in Washington, D.C., with his wife, Pamela Ress Reeves. They have three children.[2][67]

Bibliography

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Books

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  • Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide. Knopf. 2006. ISBN 9780307265975.
  • On Heroism: McCain, Milley, Mattis, and the Cowardice of Donald Trump. Zando. 2024. ISBN 9781638932048.

Select essays and reporting

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References

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  1. ↑ Calamur, Krishnadev (October 11, 2016). "The Atlantic's New Editor in Chief". The Atlantic.
  2. 1 2 "Pamela Reeves, Jeffrey Goldberg". The New York Times. June 28, 1993.
  3. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (April 2015). "Is It Time for the Jews to Leave Europe?". The New Yorker.
  4. ↑ Klion, David (August 18, 2018). "Jeffrey Goldberg Doesn't Speak for the Jews: The editor of The Atlantic represents the failure of the liberal establishment". Jewish Currents. Retrieved February 19, 2023.
  5. 1 2 Goldberg, Jeffrey (2006). Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide. New York: Knopf. p. 41. ISBN 0-375-41234-4.
  6. ↑ Marcy, Oster (October 19, 2016). "Politico Editor Hadas Gold Gets Vicious Threats from Donald Trump Backer". Jewish Daily Forward. Several Jewish reporters covering the 2016 campaign have been on the receiving end of anti-Semitic abuse on social media including CNN's Jake Tapper, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic and Jonathan Weisman of The New York Times
  7. 1 2 "Jeffrey Goldberg, Washington's Most Pugnacious Journalist". Washingtonian. January 29, 2013. Retrieved March 25, 2025.
  8. ↑ Bronner, Ethan (October 28, 2006). "Israel and Palestine Explored in an Unlikely Friendship". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved October 30, 2023.
  9. ↑ Ivry, Sara (October 16, 2006). "Across the Great Divide". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "Contributors". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on November 14, 2006. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  11. ↑ "About Jeffrey Goldberg". Personal website. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  12. 1 2 3 Ember, Sidney (October 11, 2016). "Atlantic Names Jeffrey Goldberg Its Editor in Chief". The New York Times. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
  13. ↑ Carr, David (May 8, 2003). "In Surprise, Parenting Wins Top Award for Magazines". The New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
  14. 1 2 Accessed January 22, 2007; searchable database for National Magazine Awards on the website of the American Society of Magazine Editors (2003) [dead link]
  15. ↑ Kurtz, Howard (August 6, 2007). "The Atlantic's Owner Ponies Up". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 18, 2007.
  16. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 10, 2016). "The Obama Doctrine". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 21, 2016.
  17. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (May 12, 2008). "Obama on Zionism and Hamas". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  18. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 2, 2012). "Obama to Iran and Israel: 'As President of the United States, I Don't Bluff'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  19. ↑ "Obama to Israel -- Time Is Running Out". Bloomberg.com. March 2, 2014. Archived from the original on March 3, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  20. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (May 21, 2015). "President Obama: The Middle East Interview". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  21. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (September 8, 2010). "Fidel: 'Cuban Model Doesn't Even Work for Us Anymore'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 21, 2016.
  22. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (August 10, 2014). "Hillary Clinton: 'Failure' to Help Syrian Rebels Led to the Rise of ISIS". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  23. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (April 17, 2015). "David Cameron: 'I Would Be Heartbroken If Jews Left Britain'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  24. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (August 5, 2015). "Kerry Warns Congress About Risk of 'Screwing' the Ayatollah". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  25. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (May 23, 2014). "Netanyahu Says Obama Got Syria Right". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  26. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 16, 2015). "Bibi's Opponent: 'I Trust the Obama Administration to Get a Good Deal'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  27. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (August 6, 2015). "How a President Marco Rubio Would Undo the Iran Deal". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  28. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (December 4, 2015). "Chris Christie: 'Iran is a Greater Threat Than ISIS'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  29. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (November 6, 2015). "The U.S. Defense Secretary: Gulf Arabs Need to Get in the Fight Against ISIS and Iran". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  30. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 4, 2015). "White House Official: Nuclear Deal Is Best Way to Avoid War With Iran". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  31. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (June 25, 2015). "'Israel Can't Absorb 3.5 Million Palestinians and Remain a Jewish, Democratic State'". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  32. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 15, 2015). "Undoing Netanyahu's Damage to U.S.-Israel Relations". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  33. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 18, 2013). "The Modern King in the Arab Spring". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  34. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (September 29, 2015). "Interview With Ta-Nehisi Coates, Putative Genius". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  35. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (September 21, 2015). "David Gregory's Search for God". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  36. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (April 13, 2015). "Will the Iran Deal Lead to Nuclear War?". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  37. ↑ "Jeffrey Goldberg: Articles & Columns". Bloomberg. Retrieved November 25, 2013.
  38. ↑ "Bloomberg View article list". Bloomberg. November 21, 2014. Retrieved January 15, 2017.
  39. ↑ Ward, Alex (September 4, 2020). "Did Trump call US war dead "losers" and "suckers"? The controversy, explained". Vox. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
  40. ↑ Cillizza, Chris (September 5, 2020). "Here's the problem for Donald Trump with the Atlantic story". CNN. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  41. ↑ Chait, Jonathan (September 4, 2020). "Here's All the Corroboration for the Atlantic Story on Trump Attacking Troops". Intelligencer. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
  42. ↑ Miller, Zeke (April 20, 2021). "Trump denies calling US war dead 'losers,' 'suckers'". AP News.
  43. ↑ Deese, Kaelan (September 8, 2020). "Ambassador to France says Trump never disparaged war dead". The Hill.
  44. ↑ Tapper, Jake (October 3, 2023). "Exclusive: John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump". CNN.
  45. ↑ Malone, Michael (August 2, 2023). "'Washington Week' Gets New Moderator, New Name". Broadcasting & Cable. Future US, Inc. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  46. ↑ "Jeffrey Goldberg moderates Washington Week with The Atlantic". YouTube. PBS. August 11, 2023. Archived from the original on March 3, 2024. Retrieved March 3, 2024.
  47. 1 2 3 Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 24, 2025). "The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  48. 1 2 Beaumont, Peter (March 24, 2025). "White House adds journalist to top-secret Yemen war group chat by mistake". The Guardian. Retrieved March 24, 2025.
  49. ↑ Levin, Sam (March 26, 2025). "Mike Waltz claims 'full responsibility' for Signal chat group leaked to journalist". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved March 26, 2025.
  50. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (March 19, 2008). "How Did I Get Iraq Wrong?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
  51. ↑ Greenwald, Glenn (June 27, 2010). "The Jeffrey Goldberg Media". Salon. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  52. ↑ Michael Massing, "The News About the Internet", New York Book Review Volume 56, Number 13 (August 13, 2009).
  53. ↑ "In Search of the Real Barack Obama". Foreign Policy. June 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  54. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (May 5, 2008). "A Jew of the Liberal Breed". The Atlantic. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  55. ↑ "The Israeli Desert". NYMag.com. June 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  56. ↑ Watzman, Haim (October 29, 2006). "The Hope: A Middle East correspondent's troubled friendship with the Palestinian he once kept locked up". The Washington Post. p. BW06. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  57. ↑ Hammer, Joshua (December 2006). "Stuck in the Middle East With You: Lessons from an improbable friendship". Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on January 11, 2008. Retrieved April 9, 2007.
  58. ↑ Lappin, Elena (November 12, 2006). "My Friend, My Enemy". The New York Times. Retrieved March 28, 2025.
  59. ↑ "100 Notable Books of the Year". The New York Times. November 22, 2006. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  60. ↑ "Holiday Guide 2006: Book World Holiday Issue". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
  61. ↑ "Favorite Books of 2006: Nonfiction". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 2006.
  62. ↑ Ellenson, Ruth Andrew (October 29, 2006). "Common ground". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  63. ↑ Bronner, Ethan (October 30, 2006). "Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide". The New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  64. ↑ Watzman, Haim (October 29, 2006). "The Hope". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved January 22, 2016.
  65. ↑ Morgan, David (October 31, 2006). "Intellectual Journey: Through The Mideast". CBS News. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  66. ↑ Goldberg, Jeffrey (October 16, 2006). "Brave Heart: Jeffrey Goldberg". NYMag (Interview). Interviewed by Kachka, Boris. Archived from the original on November 3, 2006. Retrieved February 2, 2016.
  67. ↑ "Jeffrey Goldberg". Knopf Speakers Bureau. Retrieved April 7, 2007.
  68. ↑ Carr, David (May 8, 2003). "In Surprise, Parenting Wins Top Award for Magazines". New York Times. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
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