Lucy Aharish (Arabic: لوسي هريش; Hebrew: לוסי אהריש; born 18 September 1981) is an Israeli journalist, news anchor, television host, and actress. She was the first Arab-Muslim news presenter on mainstream Hebrew-language Israeli television.[1]
As of 2024, Aharish serves as a news anchor for Reshet 13. She was previously a morning anchor on a current-affairs show for its predecessor Channel 2, a presenter of the Evening Edition for i24NEWS, a news presenter and reporter for Channel 10, a co-host for Radio 99, a late-night co-host for Channel 1, as well as a co-host for Kan 11.[1][2][3][4][5]
Early life and education
Aharish was born in Nazareth, Israel, to an Arab Muslim family.[6] Her parents Maaruf and Salwa Aharish were originally from the city. The family moved to Dimona, Israel, where Lucy grew up. She is the youngest of three daughters. Growing up, she was the only Arab student at her school. On Purim she dressed up as Queen Esther, and on Israeli Independence Day she wore blue and white.[7] Later, in 2015, Aharish praised her former high school principal Meir Cohen (currently a Knesset member with the Yesh Atid party) for having fostered an uncompromising stance against racism.[8]
In the summer of 1987, a few months before she turned six years old, she was slightly injured while driving in the Gaza Strip by a Molotov cocktail thrown at her family's car by Palestinian militants. Her 3-year old cousin suffered severe burns all over his body and was hospitalized for months. In an interview with the Times of Israel in 2015, she recounted how "growing up, I couldn't understand how someone could be that evil.[9]
During her adolescence, she says she was able to relate to right-wing voters: "I am an Arab who grew up among Moroccan Jews [in Israel]. That's the worst. You learn the hard-core shticks; they have a very short fuse. I was a right-wing Muslim, a fan of Beitar (Jerusalem soccer club with nationalistic fans)."[10] In 2009, she identified with the left.[10]
While at university, she drifted toward becoming a devout Muslim, although subsequently distanced herself from religious life.[10] The idea of pursuing a career in media developed after she moved to Jerusalem to study social sciences and theater at Hebrew University. "[O]n Highway 1 I saw Arabs being taken out of a van and made to face a wall, with rifles aimed at them. I felt that no human being deserves that, and then the penny dropped. But it's also impossible to ignore what the Palestinians are doing." After graduating from Hebrew University, she studied journalism at the Koteret school in Tel Aviv and then interned for a year and a half at a school in Germany.[10][11][12]
Career
Upon returning from Germany, Aharish moved to Tel Aviv. Following a two-week stint as an Arab affairs reporter for Yedioth Ahronoth,[7] in 2007, she became the first Arab to present the news on mainstream Israeli television when she was hired by Channel 10.[12] After leaving that job in 2008, owing to professional differences, she went on to report for Channel 10's Erev Tov ("Good Evening") with Guy Pines and to co-host a morning radio show with Emmanuel Rosen and Maya Bengal.[10][13][14]
In 2011, she co-hosted Channel One's late-night show, Nivheret ha-Halomot ("The Dream Team"),[15] as well as Hamahadura ("The Edition"), a current events program for teens.[16]
In April 2015, Aharish was one of twelve Israeli personalities chosen to light torches in the official ceremony kicking off Israel's 67th Independence Day celebrations.[19]
In March 2020, Aharish started to co-host the daily edition of the television program "Culture Agent" along with Kobi Meidan on KAN 11. She was dismissed from KAN three days later because of a staff restructuring related to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Corporation.[20] Some suggest she was fired for participating in a rally against Benjamin Netanyahu's handling of the pandemic.[21] The same year, she participated in the Israeli production of The Masked Singer as The Stork.
Personal life
She married Tsahi HaLevi on 10 October 2018 in a private ceremony. They have one son.[22] The couple had kept their relationship of four years a secret for fear of harassment.[23][24] Public controversy followed the announcement of their marriage as HaLevi, who is Jewish, was repeatedly criticized by a number of right-wing Israeli politicians, such as Oren Hazan, for his act of "assimilation" through an inter-ethnic and inter-faith marriage with an Arab and Muslim woman.[25] However, Hazan was subsequently denounced by other members of the Knesset as well as by other Israeli government officials, who congratulated the couple and wrote their colleagues off as racist.[26][27][28]
^ abNovick, Ronit (ed.). לוסי אהריש: מגישת החדשות הערביה הראשונה בישראל. נטו ארט נט: עיתון לתרבות ואמנות (in Hebrew) (26). Archived from the original on 16 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2011. 'ביום העצמאות הייתי לובשת כחול-לבן ומשתתפת בטקסים בבית הספר.'
^ abcdeHalutz, Doron (3 July 2009). "A generation of Israeli Arabs nurtured on Jewish chutzpah". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 April 2011. That strategy seems to be working. Aharish is a reporter on Good Evening, a program about the entertainment industry hosted by the veteran Guy Pines; the anchor of the children's news program on Channel 1 (state television); and twice a week she also anchors the morning show of the Tel Aviv-based Radio 99, alongside Emanuel Rosen and Maya Bengal.
^"Arab to deliver Hebrew TV news". The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles. JewishJournal.com. 15 March 2007. Retrieved 5 April 2011. Lucy Aharish, an Israeli Arab graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who also underwent broadcast training in Germany, was hired recently by Channel 10 television as a news anchor. Aharish, 25, told Maariv in an interview Monday that although she has experienced racism in Israel, she believes Arabs can overcome such challenges and succeed. Having barely survived an attack on her family car when she visited Gaza as a child, she also voiced disinterest in the Palestinians.
^ abShabi, Rachel (11 July 2009). "Lucy Aharish: 'People don't imagine I'm an Arab'". The National. Retrieved 5 April 2011. Now, nearly two years after she made her glittery debut on prime time news, she has a lower profile - but can still be seen and heard all over Israeli broadcast media: she co-presents a morning radio show, is newsreader for youth TV, reports for a television magazine programme (short documentaries on news issues), and presents entertainment features for a music TV channel.
^Crystal, Meirav (7 April 2008). "Poll: Israelis ready for Arab anchor". Ynetnews. Retrieved 6 April 2011. As if to echo their feeling, Channel 10's Lucy Aharish, the channel's first Arab news anchor, resigned her post recently over professional differences. Aharish is now the front runner to be an anchor on one of Channel 2's morning shows.
^Swisa, Eran (21 November 2008). מיס לוסי: ראיון עם לוסי אהריש [Miss Lucy: Interview with Lucy Aharish]. Nrg Maariv (in Hebrew). Retrieved 6 April 2011. המתיחות בין השתיים הלכה וגאתה עד שהגיעה לשיא בעקבות איחור של אהריש לאחת המשמרות, כאשר מבזקנית אחרת נאלצת להישאר במערכת כגיבוי. הרוחות בבית הוורד סערו ובן-עובדיה גערה בתקיפות במבזקנית המאחרת בנוכחות עובדים אחרים. בתגובה החליטה אהריש להתפטר מיד מעבודתה. 'השפילו אותי באופן מילולי, אבל אני מעדיפה לא להרחיב בנושא הזה.'
^Noy, Gonny (22 February 2011). "House Mouse / Late night tweets". Haaretz. Retrieved 6 April 2011. Currently he is moderating the program Dream Team every night at 11 P.M. on Channel 1, along with Lucy Aharish and Jacky Levy, Is Anyone Home? on Channel 10 and the radio program Shai and Dror every morning on 103 FM.
