JEDDAH: Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy has joined Arab News as a weekly political columnist, it was announced this week.
The seasoned media executive joins a raft of other high-profile writers on the newspaper’s Opinion pages.
The news comes as it was confirmed that El-Menawy has also been appointed managing director of Al-Masry Al-Youm, where he is set to update the Egypt-based media group’s publications.
El-Menawy has a long history in the Arab media, having worked on the launch of several private and governmental news channels.
The media executive began his career as a journalist in 1982, and later joined the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, where he became head of its Cairo office.
He has also served as editor in chief of Majalla magazine and later worked as head of Egypt’s state TV news under former President Hosni Mubarak.
His assignments as a journalist have included the war in Bosnia and he has reported from Sudan, Libya, Algeria, France, Hong Kong and Germany among other locations.
In addition to his work in media, El-Menawy has published many books, notable among them being “Tahrir: The Last 18 Days of Mubarak,” and “Copts, the Church or the Nation?”
El-Menawy has presented many news programs through several Egyptian and Arab channels, and interviewed many leaders, presidents and senior policymakers around the world.
He is one of the several new contributors to the Opinion pages of Arab News. Other writers include: Turkey’s former Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis; Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU); Frank Kane, an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai; and Baria Alamuddin, an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.
Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy joins Arab News as weekly political columnist
Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy joins Arab News as weekly political columnist
Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ
- Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
- Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites
LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.
Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.
During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.
Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.
עיתונאים של CNN טורקיה נעצרו לאחר שצילמו את בסיס הקרייה@NoamIhmels pic.twitter.com/t8a5P9yXfw
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 3, 2026
Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.
Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.
After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.
The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.
Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.
