Hagai Segal

Hagai Segal was born in 1957 in Haifa

Segal was born in Haifa in 1957 and grew up in Acre. His father Shalom, born in Romania, was an Irgun member, a Herut secretary and a math teacher. His mother Aviva, born in England, was a poet, and his uncle was Irgun member Yedidya Segal.

He studied at the Kennedy religious high school in Acre. In the IDF he served in the air defense corps and as a trainer of recruits. He earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, joined the settlement of Ofra and was among the first editors of the monthly Nekuda.

In 1980, as a member of the Jewish Underground, he took part in bomb attacks on Palestinian mayors. One bomb cost Ramallah mayor Karim Khalaf his leg. Caught in 1984, he was convicted of causing grievous harm, holding weapons and terror group activity, and sentenced to 3 years in prison, during which he wrote the book Dear Brothers.

He headed the news department at Arutz Sheva and wrote columns for several newspapers. In 2003 he was tried with other station managers over its illegal broadcasts and received a suspended sentence and a fine. He edited Makor Rishon from 2014 to 2023 and hosted the current affairs show Rosh BeRosh on the Knesset Channel.

His books include a study of Yedidya Segal's death, published in 2009, and a 2025 book on Ben-Gurion and the right. He is married with 5 children, among them journalists Amit and Arnon Segal.