CNN has announced the addition of Barak Ravid as a political and foreign policy analyst.

Currently, Ravid serves as a politics reporter and Middle East expert for Axios. He also writes for Walla News in Israel.

Ravid has covered the Middle East for the last 18 years, mostly focusing on Israel’s foreign policy and relations, and how the United States has influenced its strategy in the region. He worked in Tel-Aviv before shifting to being basked in Washington, D.C.

In 2021, Ravid released his first book, “Trump’s Peace: The Abraham Accords and the Reshaping of the Middle East”. The book — which was written in Hebrew — details the historic peace deals between Israel, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates.

A former Israeli soldier, Ravid will continue to be based in Washington, D.C. in his new role with CNN.

CNN’s Jake Tapper is one of the country’s most high-profile Jewish anchors and recently spoke with colleague Oliver Darcy for a lengthy interview.

Among the topics was the rise of antisemitism across the globe, and Darcy asked whether Tapper has seen a spike in bigoted attacks toward him. The CNN host notes what it’s like to be a religious minority and applies it to the way he covers the news.

“My faith only guides my journalism in the sense that I know what it’s like to be a religious minority so I apply that across the board to Muslims, Mormons, Catholics, and to everyone else,” Tapper told Darcy. “I don’t assume that because someone is of one particular faith that they have certain views.

“That’s about it. I see the war as a journalist and as a human. I want the human suffering to end now. And I would prefer a world where all peoples can live with democracy and self-determination. 

“This is a time where antisemitism is without a doubt on the rise and I’ve certainly seen an uptick online, but ugly words are just that: words. It’s nothing compared to what the people in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank are currently going through.”

Jake Tapper was recently in the news regarding his Jewish faith after radio host Mark Levin called media figures like Wolf Blitzer, Tapper, and MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell “self-hating Jews”. In response, both CNN and the White House condemned the comments from Levin.

Benjamin Hall, a correspondent who was seriously injured while covering the war between Ukraine and Russia, returned to Ukraine after 20 months. He was accompanied by the Executive Chairman and CEO of FOX Corp., Lachlan Murdoch. 

During the trip, Hall had an exclusive conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, discussing the progress made in the conflict and the country’s current relationship with the United States.

“Last time I got onto this train, I was barely alive. I was badly injured, but we made it out the other side. And today is the day that we are going back,” Hall said on Fox News.

Hall asked Zelenskyy if he had a message for the family of the two people who were killed on the day that Hall was critically wounded.

“I wanted to say my condolences to all the parents, relatives of those very brave guys, men, and women who lost their lives because they wanted to help Ukraine to be alive,” Zelenskyy said.