A couple hours ago, pro-Palestinian activist Abir Kopty tweeted that “Israeli border police arrested NYT magazine’s reporter a while ago at #NabiSaleh.” New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief Jodi Rudoren reported on Twitter that the journalist in question was detained rather than formally arrested, and has been released.
New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Hugo Lindgren confirmed to me over email that the journalist in question is Ben Ehrenreich, a recent National Magazine Award winner, who was on assignment. He “was detained but not arrested, and he has been released,” Lindgren said.
Ehrenreich, who won a 2011 National Magazine Award for an article in Los Angeles magazine that followed a body from death to its grave, has also written two novels (I’ve read the first, The Suitors,and it’s excellent). His mother is the journalist Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed, and his sister is the national security expert and journalist Rosa Brooks.
Marc Tracy is a staff writer at The New Republic, and was previously a staff writer at Tablet. He tweets @marcatracy.