Johanna Berkman

New York

Investigative Journalist at Freelance

Writer at Large @airmail plus stories in @thefreepress @thecut @tabletmag @nytimes @nymag etc.

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Articles

Attacking Jews at Harvard Doesn’t Just Go Unpunished. It Gets Rewarded.

1 month ago | thefp.com | Johanna Berkman

Attacking Jews at Harvard Doesn’t Just Go Unpunished. It Gets Rewarded. Instead of discipline, the students behind an attack that went viral got a fellowship, accolades—and a commencement spotlight. In the year and a half since the Hamas massacre of October 7, 2023, there have been so many alarming incidents on college campuses aimed at Jews. Many stick out for their grotesque imagery, for their outrageous slanders, and for their Soviet-style tactics.
Is the Dire Wolf Truly Back from the Dead?

2 months ago | thefp.com | Johanna Berkman

It’s a quarter past one in the afternoon in Dallas when I meet bearded billionaire Ben Lamm, the 43-year-old denim-jacketed CEO of Colossal Biosciences, who claims to have reintroduced dire wolves into the world after more than 10,000 years of extinction. The three animals, it turns out, are currently living, Truman Show–like, in a 2,000-acre enclosure in an undisclosed location, under round-the-clock surveillance.
What Happened to Silicon Valley’s Most Infamous Thought Criminal?

Mar 17, 2025 | thefp.com | Johanna Berkman

LUXEMBOURG CITY, Luxembourg — It’s a bitterly cold day in the Low Country of Luxembourg. So when James Damore opens the door to a seventeenth-century cathedral, offering it up as a kind of refuge, I fall in line behind his gangly footsteps and follow him inside. “I like noncommercial spaces,” he whispers softly, as we shuffle through the soaring Notre-Dame de Luxembourg. The cathedral is dark, lit mostly by stained glass windows and dozens of candles at the altar.
She Stood Up for the Truth. Then the UN Fired Her.

Feb 3, 2025 | thefp.com | Johanna Berkman

She Stood Up for the Truth. Then the UN Fired Her. Why was Alice Nderitu, the UN’s former special adviser on the prevention of genocide, ‘bullied and hounded’ out of her job? Johanna Berkman reports.
Was Alice Nderitu Fired Because of October 7?

Jan 31, 2025 | airmail.news | Johanna Berkman

Last November, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres declined to renew the contract of U.N. Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide Alice Wairimu Nderitu, who did not label Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide, even while other U.N. officials have either done so or released reports which make this claim.
Hamas's Little-Known Ties to U.S. Based Charities and Non-Profits

Aug 9, 2024 | airmail.news | Johanna Berkman

On September 13, 1993, keffiyeh-clad P.L.O. chairman Yasser Arafat and silver-haired Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin signed the Oslo Accords, shaking hands on the White House lawn with President Bill Clinton standing between them. Their agreement, which promised to bring Palestinian self-governance to the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, was hailed as a historic step toward peace in the region. But not everyone was rejoicing.
August 10, 2024 - Air Mail

Aug 9, 2024 | airmail.news | Andy Borowitz |Johanna Berkman |Anna Maxted |Jensen Davis

Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley Ashley Baker Ash Carter Chris Garrett Nathan King Julia Vitale Elena Clavarino Jensen Davis Clara Molot Carolina de Armas Lucy Horowitz Jeanne Malle Paulina Prosnitz Jack Sullivan Dana Brown Cazzie David Lisa Henricksson Walter Isaacson Pico Iyer Rachel Johnson John Lahr Jonathan Margolis Linda Wells James Wolcott Lili Anolik Bridget Arsenault Johanna Berkman Joseph Bullmore Vassi Chamberlain William D.
March 2, 2024 - Air Mail

Mar 1, 2024 | airmail.news | Johanna Berkman |Rich Cohen |Alex Diggins

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS LAW AND ORDER A TASTE OF THE PAST TRADING UP COPYCAT KILLER KINGPIN CAPITAL IT’S … ALIVE? BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Issue No. 242 The View from Here For Alice Wairimu Nderitu, the U.N.’s special adviser on the prevention of genocide, the hot seat keeps getting hotter Murder in Fairfield County Jennifer Dulos is dead.
The U.N.'s Alice Nderitu on Israel, Hamas, and the Genocide Question

Mar 1, 2024 | airmail.news | Johanna Berkman

Ever since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war, the word “genocide” has been tossed around like a political football.
January 20, 2024 - Air Mail

Jan 19, 2024 | airmail.news | Johanna Berkman |John Arlidge |Alyssa Kapito

BAD SPORTS CAPITAL CRIMES POST MORTEM BUCKING BRANCO GOING VIRAL KEEPING MUM Seeing Double BUT, WAIT, THERE’S MORE! Issue No. 236 The View from Here Since 2020, the Ivy League has used its prominence—and free ESPN spots—to stand against various forms of discrimination.