Akiva Eldar is currently a chief political columnist and editorial writer for the prestigious Israeli national daily Ha'aretz. His columns also appear regularly in the Ha'aretz-Herald Tribune edition, as well as in the Japanese daily Mainichi. He lectured at the School of Journalism in Tel Aviv University and is also a consultant at CBS News. Mr. Eldar was previously (1993-1996) the Ha'aretz US Bureau Chief and Washington correspondent, covering the peace process, US-Israel relations, American issues and Israel-Diaspora relations. Prior to this post, Mr. Eldar was for ten years (1983-1993) the diplomatic correspondent for Ha'aretz. Prior to this he was reporter and editor at the Israeli Public Radio. Before that he served as spokesperson for former Mayor of Jerusalem, Teddy Kollek.

Mr. Eldar is the co-author of the biography of Mr. Shimon Peres, Israel's foreign minister, and was a special consultant to Abba Eban's PBS television documentaries on the history of Israel and the Oslo peace initiative. Mr. Eldar graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where he majored in Economics, Political Science and Psychology.