Henrique Cymerman

Henrique Cymerman (born 1959 in Porto, Portugal) is a multilingual journalist holding Portuguese, Spanish, and Israeli nationality, renowned for his role as a Middle East correspondent covering Israel, the Palestinian territories, and regional conflicts for European broadcasters and newspapers including Portugal's SIC Notícias, Spain's La Vanguardia, and Italy's Mediaset. Having relocated to Israel at age 16, he reports in five languages to audiences across Europe, Latin America, the United States, and Asia, while also serving as a lecturer at institutions like IDC Herzliya and authoring books such as one examining Israel's post-October 7, 2023, security challenges. Cymerman has directed documentaries on topics like Jerusalem's divisions and jihadist threats, and he has been honored with titles including Comendador of the Order of the Infante Dom Henrique for his contributions to journalism and voluntary interfaith initiatives.

Henrique Cymerman was born in 1959 in Porto, Portugal. He was raised in the city, where his family maintained a strong Jewish identity despite Portugal's small Jewish community, which is concentrated primarily in Lisbon.

Cymerman's father, Meir Cymerman, emigrated to Portugal from Poland, reflecting Ashkenazi Jewish roots. His mother, Cotta, originated from an established Sephardi family in Melilla, the Spanish enclave in North Africa. This dual heritage—Ashkenazi on the paternal side and Sephardi on the maternal—shaped his early exposure to Jewish traditions, including preparations for his bar mitzvah conducted with Lisbon's rabbi. Following Portugal's 1974 Carnation Revolution, his parents relocated to Spain, while his mother later immigrated to Israel in her eighties.

Cymerman was born in Portugal to a Spanish mother and a Polish father, immigrating to Israel at the age of 16. This relocation during his adolescence immersed him in Israel's geopolitical environment, fostering an early awareness of Middle Eastern conflicts and Jewish diaspora dynamics.