Robert Rosenberg, who brought hard-boiled Boston sensibilities to his writing about Israel, died at 54. His employer, Ha’aretz, said he died Wednesday of cancer in Tel Aviv. Rosenberg’s experiences covering the police beat for the Jerusalem Post in the 1980s were the basis for four detective novels featuring Avram Cohen, a brandy-swigging Holocaust survivor. He helped pioneer Internet use in Israel, setting up a personal Web site in 1995, and corresponded at times for UPI, Time Magazine, U.S. News & World Report and other publications. But it was Rosenberg’s work at the Jerusalem Post in the 1980s that brought him attention, enthralling readers with tales of cops on the beat tracking Jerusalem’s underclass. After moving to Tel Aviv in the late 1980s he both amused and annoyed readers with his “Tel Aviv, Tel Aviv,” column, chronicling what he believed were that city’s salacious delights. He is survived by a wife, daughter, mother, brother and sister.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
