Danny Kushmaro

Danny Kushmaro was born in Beer Sheva and grew up in the southern region of Israel. His parents immigrated to Israel from Romania in the 1960s.

He served in the Israeli Navy and was a major in the reserves. Afterwards, he studied engineering and business administration at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.[2] During this period, he wrote for the newspaper Hadashot.

Kushmaro has a spouse[3] and two sons.[4] He is a passionate motorcyclist. In June 2018, he was in a serious motorcycle accident in Modena, Italy.[5][6]

He started his career presenting at a local radio station in 1996. In 2001, he moved to the Israeli News Company. From 2003 to 2013, he presented Channel 2's Saturday news magazine. In 2008, he became the evening anchorman after Gadi Sukenik left. He and Yonit Levi alternately host the main news broadcast on weekdays.[7] In 2012, he replaced Yair Lapid as permanent presenter of Studio Friday (Hebrew: אולפן שישי – ulpan shishi) after Lapid entered politics. He has also hosted morning television programs and produced several documentaries.

On 1 February 2003, he covered the reentry of the Columbia space shuttle, and thus the homecoming of Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon.[8] Ramon's father, Eliezer Wolferman, was present in the studio. During the initially festive broadcast, the contact with the shuttle was lost. After this was clear, Wolferman was sent out of the studio away from camera.[9] Kushmaro announced the shuttle's disintegration, leaving Ramon and his six colleagues dead.

He made a cameo appearance in the American movie Edge of Tomorrow, together with his colleague, reporter Nir Dvori.

In 2017, he interviewed white supremacist Richard Spencer.[10] Afterwards, one viewer published the phone number of the Israeli News Company, so others could criticise the channel for interviewing a neo-Nazi.[11]

In 2018, he covered the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl, the Great March of Return and the inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem.[12]