Courtesy of Janet Agassi.
Janet Harshman Agassi was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio to Abe and Florence Harshman, both activists for Israel and the civil rights movement. She has lived in Israel for 43 years with her Israeli husband, Amnon, and 3 children, ages 40, 38 and 36 —all who have served in the army.
Agassi graduated with honors in journalism and political science from the University of Michigan in 1972 and immediately after landed a job with the Walter Cronkite show in Washington, DC. Shortly after that she worked for the program “60 Minutes” as a researcher/associate producer for five years, being nominated one year for an Emmy Award.
In 1982, three months before the first Lebanon War, Agassi was sent by ABC News to be a producer in the Jerusalem bureau where she worked until 1985. She covered fascinating stories during that time, including the first Lebanon war, the massacre at Sabra and Shatila, the downfall of Begin, etc. She hardly slept for three years!
Needless to say, during all these years Agassi has been living in Israel through the intifadas, terrorism periods, rockets, missiles, demonstrations, Oct. 7 — you name it.
Following her stint as a journalist, she was head of public affairs for seven years for a pharmaceutical company that has offices in the States and in Europe. After that, from about 2020 until 2015, Agassi founded her own business called “All in English,” which became one of the top business English programs in Israel where she taught at Israel’s leading hi-tech companies.
She is now a freelance writer and a full-time grandmother with 8 grandchildren under the age of 8!
Janet Agassi’s column, Letters from Israel, will offer her unique perspective on her life in Israel as an Ohioan.
