Veteran journalist and military commentator Roni Daniel passed away on Monday at the age of 73 due to cardiac arrest.
Daniel worked at Channel 2's (today Channel 12) as a journalist and the military affairs correspondent for 28 years during which he became a household name and one of Israel's top commentators.
He began his journalistic career in the late 70s, working for Kol Yisrael radio first as a transportation reporter and later as a military reporter. He was promoted as head of the news division in the 1980s and also worked for Army Radio. In the early 1990s, he was one of the presenters of the "Communications File" program on Israeli Educational Television and became Channel 2 news company's military affairs correspondent in 1993.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett eulogized Daniel, crowning the late journalist as "the voice of a different era."
"Roni Daniel, a man who combined journalism with patriotism and healthy Zionism, passed away today," he said Monday. "Roni was not just a military correspondent. He was the voice of a different era, of the good land of Israel, of loving the state and safeguarding its security, of the kibbutz and the city together. He had criticism when needed, always had a good word when deserved. He will be missed by all of us on our screens and in our hearts. My condolences to the family. May his memory be a blessing."
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, who used to host Channel 2's weekend edition, took to Facebook to say goodbye to his former colleague.
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Daniel reports from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip during IDF's Operation Rainbow in 2004
(Photo: Channel 2)
"Roni, my friend. We've worked together for many years. You were almost the most professional, most diligent, and most importantly, a friend and a human being. A man who was all heart. His heart had stopped. Miss you already," he wrote.
Daniel was born in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in October 1947 and lost his father two months later. At the age of 3, he immigrated to Israel with his mother and grew up on a kibbutz. He enlisted in the IDF in the mid-60s and served in the Nahal Brigade with which he fought in the 1967 Six-Day War against the Egyptians. He later became a company commander and fought in the War of Attrition.
During his reserve service, he was appointed as commander of the Golani Reserve Battalion and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel.