Gad Eitan Lerner (; born 7 December 1954) is an Italian journalist, writer and TV presenter.

Early life

Lerner was born in Beirut in 1954. His father was the son of Jewish

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

parents who hailed from the Galician village of

Drohobych Drohobych ( ; ; ) is a city in the south of Lviv Oblast, Ukraine. It is the administrative center of Drohobych Raion and hosts the administration of Drohobych urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 1939–1941 and 1944–1959 it w ...

, once part of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

but now located in Ukraine. Moshe had been born in a

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

kibbutz in

Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...

. His mother, Revital Taragan, was born in Tel Aviv, the daughter of Joseph Taragan, a wealthy Turkish Sephardic merchant and his wife Zipora, whose parents were Lithuanian intellectuals who adhered to the

Hovevei Zion The Lovers of Zion, also ''Hovevei Zion'' () or ''Hibbat Zion'' (, ), were a variety of proto-Zionist organizations founded in 1881 in response to the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire and were officially constituted as a group at a conf ...

movement. Revital grew up in Beirut. In 1957, Lerner's family emigrated to Italy where they took up residence in Milan.

Career

In 2000, Lerner served as director of news broadcasts TG1 for

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship television channel and is known for broadcasting ...

but resigned after a selection of pornographic footage was mistakenly aired on prime time during his news broadcast on TG1. Along with his resignation, he revealed that a politician from

National Alliance National Alliance may refer to: Electoral alliances *National Alliance (Egypt) (2015) * National Alliance (Ireland) (2024 onwards) * National Alliance (Pakistan) (2002-2004) *Nation Alliance (Turkey) (2018-2023) Political parties and organizations ...

Mario Landolfi Mario Landolfi (born 6 June 1959) is an Italian politician, served as a member of the parliament and minister of communications. Early life Landolfi was born in Mondragone, the province of Caserta, on 6 June 1959. Career Landolfi was a council ...

, who also was the president of the

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

commission of vigilance regarding the public TV broadcasting service, asked him to favour an acquaintance of his in the TG1. In 2001, Lerner participated in the foundation of a new Italian TV channel

La7 La7 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned by Cairo Communication. Cairo Communication acquired it from Telecom Italia Media, itself owned by Telecom Italia, in 2013. La7 features a generalist programming schedule, primarily ...

, where he was the first director of the news program '' TG La7'' for a short time and after he hosted a weekly talk show '' L'Infedele'' until 2012. He left

in 2013 and has since curated and developed other TV programs, including the talk show '' Fischia il vento'' for La EFFE and a documentary series '' Operai'' for

RAI 3 Rai 3 (formerly Rai Tre) is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It was launched on 15 December 1979 and its programming is centred towards cultural a ...

. In 2010, he was denied visa to

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

, even after his friend and journalist Alix Van Buren defended him: "He often defends the Muslim communities in Italy and their right to have mosques ... he is an independent

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, who doesn't belong to any lobby ..., he signed a petition written by a group of

European Jews The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Jews, a Semitic people descending from the Judeans of Judea in the Southern Levant, Natural History 102:11 (November 1993): 12–19. began migrating to Europe just b ...

which opposes some of the politics of Israeli prime minister

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin Netanyahu (born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who has served as the prime minister of Israel since 2022, having previously held the office from 1996 to 1999 and from 2009 to 2021. Netanyahu is the longest-serving prime min ...

." In 2007, Lerner was one of the founding members of the Democratic Party (PD) in Italy. In 2017, Lerner resigned from the PD in protest against the party's politics over immigration.

Selected bibliography

* 2005: ''Tu sei un bastardo. Contro l'abuso delle identità'' (). * 2009: ''Scintille. Una storia di anime vagabonde'' (). * 2017: ''Concetta. Una storia operaia'' (). * 2024 ''Gaza:Odio e amore per Israele,'' Feltrinelli

Awards

In 2011, he received the prize "Archivio Disarmo - Golden Doves for Peace" awarded by IRIAD.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lerner, Gad 1954 births 20th-century Italian Jews Italian male journalists Italian communists Italian people of Lebanese-Jewish descent Italian newspaper editors Jewish Italian writers Jewish socialists Lebanese emigrants to Italy Living people Workerism Writers from Beirut Writers from Turin