Aaron Klein is Jerusalem Bureau Chief for the popular news website WorldNetDaily. He is known to millions of Americans for his regular segments and commentary on some of America's top radio programs. Klein served as a co-host of ABC Radio's national "The John Batchelor Show" which is currently on temporary hiatus. Klein also has a column that appears every week on Page 2 of The Jewish Press. He is known for his regular interviews with Middle Eastern terrorists.
Exclusive interviews
Klein interviewing Taliban leader.
Klein routinely conducts interviews with top Middle East leaders and newsmakers. Personalities he has interviewed have included the late PLO Leader Yasser Arafat, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas chief Mahmoud al-Zahar, Albanian Prime Minister Fatos Nano, former Lebanese Prime Minister Michel Aoun, Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, imprisoned spy Jonathan Pollard, leaders of the Taliban, Palestinian negotiation minister Saeb Erekat, former Israeli foreign minister Shlomo Ben Ami, worldwide Al-Muhajiroun leader Omar Bakri Muhammad, Army of Islam leader Abu Muhammad, West Bank Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Ala Senakreh, Popular Resistance Committees leader Abu Abir, Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades rocket chief Abu Oudai, 2002 siege of the Church of the Nativity leader Jihad Jaara, among many others.
In the news
Klein first debuted in the national media in 1999 when at age nineteen he spent time with and interviewed members of a group reportedly connected to al-Qaida. His article about the experience, "My Weekend with the Enemy," was published in major-city newspapers in four countries, including in the Jerusalem Post, and in U.S. in the Boston Globe and Washington Post. [1]
Klein, radio host Rusty Humphries with gun-toting leadership of the Al Aqsa Brigades terror group (credit: WorldNetDaily)
In November 2005, Klein and nationally syndicated radio host Rusty Humphries conducted a widely reported interview with the senior leadership of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror organization. [2] The interview was discussed on Fox News Channel's "Hannity and Colmes," and on several other media outlets. Humphries in October 2006 released a parody music CD with songs based on the interview and in which excerpts from the interview were featured. [3]
Klein was in the papers in December 2005 when he was denied a journalist visa to broadcast with ABC Radio in Syria. Officials from Syria's embassies in Washington, DC and Amman, Jordan were quoted as saying Klein's Jewish faith was a problem.[4] The leaders of Lebanon, including Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and top parliamentarian and former Prime Minister Michel Aoun, condemned Syria for its refusal to admit Klein.[5]
In the days leading up to 2006 U.S. midterm elections, Klein conducted a series of interviews with senior Middle East terrorists in which the terror leaders urged Americans to vote for Democrats. [6] Jihad Jaara, a senior member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades terror group and the infamous leader of the 2002 siege of Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, told Klein a Democrat win would ensure victory for worldwide jihad, explaining the Democrats policy of withdrawal from Iraq would "enhance the resistance."
Klein also read to the terror leaders statements from prominant Democrats such as House minority leader Nancy Pelosi claiming a withdrawal from Iraq would end the insurgency there. All terror leaders interviewed rejected the claim. Islamic Jihad leader Muhammad Saadi said an American withdrawal would "prove the resistance is the most important tool and that this tool works." Jaara declared a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would "mark the beginning of the collapse of this tyrant empire (America)."
Klein's article, "Mideast terror leaders to U.S.: vote Democrat," was discussed on cable news networks and became a popular topic on American radio prior to the elections. [7]
Background
Klein got his start in journalism at Torah Academy Boys High School in Philadelphia, where he graduated from a class of five. He edited the boys high school's monthly newspaper, The T.A. Times.
Klein attended college at Yeshiva University in New York while serving as editor-in-chief of The Commentator, the undergraduate student newspaper.
In his capacity as editor, Klein drew the ire of Yeshiva administrators with regular investigative pieces questioning University practices, such as the then-policy of not allowing students to speak at graduation ceremonies. After Klein quoted school officials accusing the University of misusing an $8 million donation, Yeshiva administrators allegedly ordered the regular removal of student newspapers from campus news stands. During Klein's tenure, issues of The Commentator were also reportedly routinely removed from the campus and disposed of during public events hosted by the University. [8]
Klein told the NY Times, which reported on the issue, the last straw for him was the removal of an issue of The Commentator reporting on the fact that the newspapers were being removed. [9] Klein threatened to sue Yeshiva. The fiasco generated national media attention, with coverage in the Times, US News and World Report and on television. In the end, the University signed a contract in which it agreed to discontinue its Commentator confiscation practices. Yeshiva reimbursed the student newspaper for the thousands of missing Commentators.
Klein attended Jewish schooling from nursery through college. He is the oldest of ten children and hails originally from Philadelphia.
External links
Aaron Klein's article archive
Aaron Klein's bio page
Klein barred from Syria
Klein/Humphries radio interview with Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades
Leaders of Lebanon condemn Syria over Klein snub
Klein served as college newspaper editor-in-chief
NY Times article on Klein
