Matthew Bell
Editor
Matthew Bell is an editor at The World.
I’m an editor based in the Boston newsroom — working from home a lot lately, of course. I work closely with our correspondents who cover the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Africa and Latin America.By way of background, I studied comparative religion and Chinese history at the University of Vermont. That led me to Mandarin language classes and UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, and then to KQED Radio in San Francisco. From there, I started freelancing for The World and joined the team full-time here in Boston in late 2001.In my previous life as a reporter, I was blessed with the opportunity to cover a huge range of stories for The World. But some of the most memorable ones involved taking a trip on a Louisiana shrimping boat in the Gulf of Mexico, covering events in Egypt during the so-called Arab Spring, and meeting North Korean refugees in Seoul, South Korea.I’m super interested in religion and I tend to think most big news stories have an important, if overlooked, religion angle. I’ve reported a lot on US foreign policy, human rights in China, North Korea’s nuclear activities and life in Israel and the Palestinian territories. Beyond journalism, I’m helping to raise kids and engaged in the lifelong pursuit of learning to play the electric guitar.
Israeli PM Netanyahu defends the war in Gaza on Capitol Hill
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the goal for his visit to Washington is to shore up bipartisan support for Israel and its war in Gaza. But his trip has been met with protests, with many Democratic Party lawmakers deciding not to attend his speech on Wednesday.
Netanyahu says stopping the Gaza war now is ‘not an option’
As talks around a possible ceasefire in Gaza continue, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday that the Israeli military is still planning to launch a ground offensive into Rafah. But there are signs that negotiators are getting closer to a ceasefire deal.
‘We need to fix the country’: Israelis ponder a post-war future
US President Joe Biden says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making a “mistake” with his approach to Gaza. More than 70% of Israeli respondents of a recent survey said Netanyahu should either resign now, or as soon as the war in Gaza ends. The World’s Matthew Bell is in Jerusalem and he’s been speaking with Israelis about how they’re thinking of the post-war future.
For Palestinians, a grim reality in Gaza obscures the future
The Biden administration says it’s looking for leadership from the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank after the war in Gaza is over. A new technocratic government has been sworn in, but as war continues to rage in Gaza, Palestinians are not hopeful. The World’s Matthew Bell speaks with people in the West Bank city of Ramallah about their vision for the future.
Tens of thousands attend Friday prayers at Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem
On April 5, the final Friday in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this year — a special time for Muslims worldwide — more than 3,500 Israeli police were deployed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Here, an estimated 57,000 Muslims attended Friday prayers.
Sharing the national burden in Israel
In Israel, most Jewish men are drafted into three years of military service soon after they graduate from high school. Jewish women serve two-year stints. The ultra-Orthodox community has been exempt. But this is beginning to change. Israel’s Supreme Court just ruled that religious seminaries called yeshivas are being cut off from government funding because they don’t send students into the military.