EFRAT LACHTER
War Correspondent | Investigative Journalist | Documentary Filmmaker
ABOUT
Efrat Lachter is an investigative journalist and war correspondent contributing to Fox News, Israel’s Channel 12 News, and the weekly news magazine "Friday Studio." She has directed and produced over 200 documentary segments across more than 40 countries.
Recipient of the 2022 Shimon Peres Center for Peace Award, Lachter is also a 2023-24 Knight-Wallace Journalism Fellow at the University of Michigan and an ambassador for the humanitarian aid NGO IsraAid.
She holds a bachelor's degree in communication and a master's degree in political science from Tel Aviv University. Originally from Israel, she now resides in the United States with her partner and two young boys.
SKILLS
War Coverage
Lachter believes in the power of storytelling and inquiry, believing that firsthand narratives build understanding and empathy.
This conviction has led her to document conflicts and break exclusive stories. In Iraq she uncovered the ransom paid to ISIS to liberate Yazidi women from sex slavery. In Syria she revealed an ISIS underground torture prison. During months of coverage of the war Ukraine, she conducted exclusive interviews with high political figures including the minister of defense and minister of foreign affairs. Lachter was also one of the only Western journalists to enter Russia after the war and bring testimonies from Putin's opposition.
Investigative Journalism
Lachter's investigative work spans a spectrum. She exposed human trafficking networks from Eritrea to Israel which led to arrests of traffickiers. She revealed lobbyist corruption in the Israeli parliament which ended in a legislation change. She also uncovered Israeli weapons companies' illegal arms dealing with countries under embargo. Lachter published evidence of abuse of foreign workers and revealed connections between politicians and organized crime groups which started an ongoing police investigation.
Academic
and Public Speaking
Lachter serves as a lecturer and academic mentor specializing in Investigative Journalism within the Department of Communication at Reichman University. Renowned not only for her academic role but also as a compelling public speaker, she actively strives to bring stories directly to the people. She lectures about her journalistic experience in conflict zones, the refugee crisis, women's empowerment, and global politics.
Recent Talk at the 25th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ)
Gender-Based Reporting
As Israel's first female war correspondent, Lachter is particularly passionate about spotlighting the narratives of women in war zones.
Lachter interviewed victims of gender-based violence from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Eritrea, Iraq, and Afghanistan. She conducted a documentary segment about a women-and-children-only village in the Kurd-controlled area of Syria. She was embedded with special units led by female commanders in Musol, Iraq. Lachter also revealed instances of sexual harassment at the highest ranks in the Israeli police and in the IDF, which led the IDF Chief of staff to address the sexual harassment code publicly and make changes accordingly.
PROJECTS
Lachter's journalistic endeavors center on exposing human rights violations and revealing atrocities. Her work spans a range of critical issues, from uncovering human trafficking in Sudan and Israel to documenting modern-day slavery in Malawi, the plight of orphans in Ukraine, internal political corruption in Israel, and the unique challenges faced by a village exclusively for women and children in the Kurd-controlled area of Syria.
Syria:
From Dystopia to a Fragile Utopia
In 2019, Friday Studio correspondent Efrat Lachter entered Syria to report on life in the aftermath of the liberation of A-Raqqa, the first capital of the ISIS caliphate, and in the surrounding northern region. Her two-part report told the stories of victims and survivors of ISIS, documented war crimes and broadcast images of the ruined city and ISIS torture chambers. She interviewed the 30-year-old Kurdish female governor of A-Raqqa, female combatants of the Kurdish YPG and other women who were working to rebuild their lives and create a feminist revolution in the region. More than a million viewers watched the broadcasts in June 2019. The footage later was translated into English and French and rebroadcast internationally on i24 News.
Part 1, "A-Raqqa": https://youtu.be/nExbMl5w0ig
Part 2, "The Syrian feminist revolution": https://youtu.be/nExbMl5w0ig
Iraq:
Testimonies from Hell
Little was known in 2015 about sex-trafficking network that ISIS ran in Iraq after conquering the Yazidi town of Sinjar and kidnapping thousands of women. After months of preliminary legwork and investigation, Efrat Lachter traveled to Iraq and entered Islamic State territories, where she met women who had been liberated after being bought back from ISIS by their families. Aired on Friday Studio, Israel's most-viewed television news magazine in September 2015, this documentary proved to be pivotal for Israeli viewers, and a humanitarian effort began in Israel to send aid to the area.
Ukraine:
The Orphans of Odessa
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Israel Channel 12 news correspondent Efrat Lachter has made several reporting trips to the conflict area. To date, she has filed nearly 50 stories. Her report “The Orphans of Odessa,” a seven-minute segment that aired on the evening news in March 2022, had a significant impact within Israel and contributed to the decision of the Israel Foreign Ministry to provide documentation to help the children flee the country. Lachter’s follow-up in June 2022 chronicling the children’s new lives in Berlin was watched by more than 1.5 million viewers. The footage subsequently was translated into English, Russian, Ukrainian, Spanish and French.
Directing, producing and narration: Efrat Lachter.
“The Orphans of Odessa”: https://youtu.be/tmwTpUE8lDA
“New Life as Refugees in Berlin”: https://youtu.be/XZCjMdK3Vs8
Afghanistan:
The Runaway Women from Afghanistan
In October 2021, Israel Channel 12’s “Friday Studio” news magazine aired “The Runaway Women from Afghanistan,” a documentary report by correspondent Efrat Lachter about the evacuation and resettlement of 167 vulnerable women from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. The operation was conducted by the NGO IsraAID in collaboration activist groups and foreign governments. Lachter’s report was watched by more than 1 million viewers, and the footage was subsequently translated into English.
Israel:
Inside Israel's foreign service
In this invistigation Efrat Lachter dig deep into the issues that plague Israel's Foreign Service, and weakened it in Netanyahu's Administration.
The story was aired on Channel 12 news on 2019.
Israel:
Saving lives on 'Death Street'
How an Israeli kindergarten teacher became a battlefield hero on October 7
Efrat Lachter returns to the heroes of the attack, a year after.
Published by Fox News, October 2024
Ethiopia:
The life awaiting Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia
Deporting Eritrean refugees in Israel to Ethiopia would condemn them to a life of misery - Efrat Lachter brings harrowing insights from a camp in northern Ethiopia.
Published in Haaretz Magazine, on March 2014
USA:
The Double Bind of Israelis on Campus
Studying in America has long been seen as a pinnacle of academic achievement for Israelis, but some have faced doxxing, harassment and administrative indifference. Efrat Lachter reports for Moment Magazine, published June 2024
Morocco:
Despite strained ties with Israel, annual Moroccan Book Festival features exhibition on Jewish literature, culture
Activists involved in programs connecting Israelis with people from the Middle East-North Africa region Tell Efrat Lachter that efforts are more challenging post-Oct. 7 but still critical.
Published by EJP, June 2024
AWARDS
2012 | Dov Yudkovsky Best Young Journalist in Israel
2012 | Documentary Story of the Year, Documentary Filmmakers Forum (on kidnapped refugees in the Sinai peninsula)
2012 | Primor Award, Israeli TV 2nd Authority (for exposing parliament lobbyists that lead to anti-corruption action)
2018 | Forbes "30 Under 30" List of Promising Young Professionals
2022 | Peres Center for Peace Award
2022 | Galil College Media Person of the Year
2022 | Onlife magazine Female Journalist of the Year
2023 | University of Michigan, Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalists 2023-2024
