Born to an Israeli mother and American father in Detroit, Aaron Poris is Executive Content Editor and lead news anchor at ILTV, an independent English-language media company based near Tel Aviv that provides daily Israel news and entertainment to global audiences.
After Aaron moved to Israel in 2015, he worked at the Ilana Goor Museum in Jaffa. Aaron worked as Ilana’s resident jewelry designer in the museum in 2013 during an internship program, and kept in touch with the museum’s staff.
“When I moved here in 2015, they kind of threw me a bone. They didn’t need me, but they gave me a couple days here and there, so I could have some pocket money while I looked for work,” Aaron says. “I eventually found ILTV, which became my full-time position shortly after.”
Aaron started out at ILTV doing behind-the-camera production work. Eighteen months later, as ILTV was expanding its team of on-screen talent, their lead anchor at the time, Natasha Kirtchuk, suggested Aaron do a screen test. And as they say, the rest is history.
We caught up with Aaron to learn more about him and his position at ILTV.
IZZY: Why did you move to Israel from Detroit?
Aaron Poris: The short and sweet answer is that I’m a Zionist. I believe Israel has the right to exist, and I believe Israel has a responsibility to exist. This is not to disenfranchise, at all, any indigenous groups, be they Palestinians, Circassians, Christians, Druze, or Bedouins.
It’s just that, for millennia, people have been telling Jews to go back to where we came from. So we listened (laughing) and I’m okay with that.
IZZY: What’s it like to be the face of ILTV and even more than that… For many people, ILTV is their live look into Israel on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis.
Aaron: Well, when you put it like that, it’s anxiety-filling (laughing). The truth is, I’m very honored and humbled by the position. I don’t often meet people who watch the show, which is the weird part about it, because most of our audience is abroad. When I do meet them, it’s always such a pleasure. We have such an incredible audience.
And for me to be in a position to portray Israel in a more positive and realistic fashion… And I think “realistic” is even more important than “positive” because the reality is more positive than the more popular narrative. So it’s a real pleasure for me to portray that to other people.
Aaron Poris lives in Tel Aviv with his wife, Tirzah, and their dog. Be sure to follow Aaron on Instagram.
