Magid Opinion Editor Jeffrey Goldberg, who spent nearly two decades as a reporter for the Times in Jerusalem before relocating to New York, is joining the Wall Street Journal to write a column.
Goldberg will start writing the piece for the Journal in February. His first column, which will focus on the Middle East and Europe, is slated to run on February 2.
“I’ve grown accustomed to the dual pressures of reporting and comment, and to the fact that some readers don’t always want to take both sides,” Goldberg said in a statement. “But it’s clear that the tone on the world is changing, and people are taking sides more in their politics. I plan to bring a different point of view to the Middle East.”
The move is not a surprise, as the Journal has made a concerted effort to attract The Times’ Middle East correspondents. Rania Abouzeid, who worked at The Times’ Jerusalem bureau and originally went to The Journal, joined the publication earlier this month as a reporter.
“I hope my first column will be a primer for anyone who is baffled or scared to blog,” Goldberg said. “My plan is to write engaging, smart journalism, and to analyze current events not as a sideshow but as an active participant.”
Goldberg, an immigration lawyer who was born in Tunisia, served as a newspaper reporter and columnist at The Times and worked in Beirut, where he wrote a column about U.S. embassies in danger. He also founded and ran a traveling film festival in Israel and wrote a documentary film about a city besieged by a civil war.
The move puts him in direct competition with some of his former colleagues. As an influential media figure in Israel, Goldberg has grown close to Netanyahu, and wrote an opinion piece for The Times titled “Bibi’s Wild Pleasure in Giving Ransom.”
“Jeffrey has had a remarkable career as a journalist,” Reuters Editor-in-Chief Steve Adler said in a statement. “He was a top-notch foreign correspondent in Jerusalem, and a regular on national television as one of Israel’s leading commentators. He also played a key role in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s 2012 campaign. We will miss Jeff, but we can’t wait to learn more about him at the Wall Street Journal.”
CNN has reached out to both the Times and the Journal for comment.