Jonathan Cook

Jonathan Cook was born in 1965 in Buckinghamshire

Jonathan Cook was born in 1965 and grew up in Buckinghamshire, England. He studied philosophy and politics at Southampton University, graduating in 1987. He earned a journalism diploma from Cardiff University in 1989 and an M.A. in Middle Eastern studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in 2000.

He began working as a reporter and editor at newspapers in Southampton in 1988. From 1994 to 1996 he was a freelance sub-editor for national newspapers. He then worked on the staff of The Guardian and The Observer from 1996 to 2001.

In September 2001 he moved to Nazareth and worked there as a freelance writer, writing columns for The Guardian until 2007. He later wrote regular columns for The National and Middle East Eye. In 2011 he received a special Martha Gellhorn award for his work on the Middle East.

He wrote three books on Israel and the Palestinians, including Blood and Religion in 2006 and Disappearing Palestine in 2008. He married Sally Azzam, an Arab citizen of Israel he met in Nazareth, and received Israeli citizenship through the marriage. The couple has two daughters and returned to the United Kingdom in 2021.