Israeli academic and independent analyst Ori Goldberg has died at the age of 50, his family said. His eldest daughter, Avigail, confirmed the death in a statement posted on his X account on Sunday, saying he had died after a long battle with colon cancer.
In her statement, Avigail said her father was the best dad in the world, adding that she did not think she could describe him in a single sentence. In a separate post on the same account, his eldest son, identified as Dave, said his father was “the light where things looked dark.”
Opinion pieces on Middle East affairs
Goldberg was a frequent contributor to the website of a Qatar-based media network, where his opinion pieces focused on Middle East affairs. He also appeared regularly on the network’s English news and current affairs programmes, including Inside Story.
In a December 2025 article titled “Israel is imploding”, he examined whether Israel could be losing its status as the region’s hegemon while its state and society grew increasingly dysfunctional. He argued that an international coalition led by the United States, with the participation of Qatar, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye, was gradually removing Gaza from Israeli control.
Another piece from the same month, “Netanyahu will win again”, set out why the Israeli prime minister’s supporters would likely vote for him in a 2026 election. His final piece for the network, published last month, addressed Israeli authorities’ reaction to NAZA, an award-winning documentary by Yuval Avraham and Rachel Szor.
Academic record and honours
Goldberg received a PhD in History from Tel Aviv University in 2008. His dissertation examined the role of religious experience in shaping and applying Iranian Shia revolutionary discourse in the second half of the 20th century.
He received many awards and scholarships, including a fellowship at the Mellon Foundation from 2013 to 2015.
