Jerrold Kessel

Jerrold (Yoram) Kessel (; March 3, 1944 – February 24, 2011) was an Israeli journalist, sports journalist, author, and foreign correspondent.

Biography Kessel immigrated to Israel from South Africa at an early age. He played cricket for Team Israel at the 1973 Maccabiah Games.

He was married to Lorraine and had a son, Ariel, and four grandchildren. reported on the Middle East for CNN from its Jerusalem bureau from 1990 to 2003. He was known for his iconic white beard. He had been called "one of Israel's leading English-language journalists." He initially worked for Israel Radio, the Jerusalem correspondent for the London Jewish Chronicle, and the Jerusalem Post before joining CNN as an on-air correspondent in 1990.

He covered major events affecting Israel for CNN, including the Oslo Accords and the assassination of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Kessel began producing and co-producing independent television programming after leaving CNN in 2003.

He also authored a book of soccer and began writing a sports column for the daily newspaper, Haaretz, the last of which was published a week before his death in 2011.