Our Man Elli reports live from the Mideast warzone

"The helicopter crash occurred about one o'clock this afternoon, sparking a huge blaze which initially prevented firefighters, paramedics and IDF forces from getting close to the scene. The fire engulfed a hilltop orchard..."

That's Our Man Elli in Israel, reporting from outside Haifa on the fatal crash of an Israeli Army helicopter amid the campaign to destroy Hezbollah.

Native New Yorker Elli, veteran of the tabloid newspaper and local TV news wars and for more than a decade a resident of Jerusalem, is in deep in this one, as an IBA News television correspondent reporting live from the warzone. After many taped reports, he goes "live" from the field today-- for the first time.

The worldwide broadcast is historic in more ways than one.

As Elli reminds us: "IF I CATCH A KATYUSHA, YOU'RE GONNA FEEL GUILTY YOU DIDN'T SEE ME DO MY FIRST - AND LAST - LIVE STANDUP ."

A Katyusha is a rocket. That's humour from the trenches.

Check out Our Man Elli, our eyes and ears in the mideast and world of sports, and star of the upcoming documentary feature, Sex & Baseball. Go to the Israeli Broadcasting Authority website, click ENGLISH TV NEWS on the right of the screen, and watch an old school, no-frills news report on the action-- from the heart of Israel.

War is the constant x-factor in Elli's Sex & Baseball world...

See Elli in live and taped reports, and meet his femme colleague, the wonderfully named Viva Press.


UPDATE: Our Man Elli's first live television report is now available online:

"We go live now to IBA’s Elli Wohlgelernter in Haifa. Elli, what is the latest on today’s attacks?"

"Yes, Yochanon, there have been quite a number of Katyushas that have fallen across the north today. Let me begin first with the fatalities…"

Elli emails:
I am the replacement here for Viva Press. I actually worked with her 10 years ago at the Jerusalem Post. Meanwhile, I just took a walk down this street. It's all hotels and all the networks including Europe have their reporters lined up along the promenade (with the view of Haifa Bay in the background, which we switched today for a side shot because we have been doing that one for two weeks), and saw the Fox live report to Greta. I think her name was Kellogg (globetrotting reporter Amy Kellogg- ed.). I thought to myself, so this-- on a much smaller scale, of course-- is what Camp OJ must have been like.