46 | JANUARY 26 • 2023 

international affairs corre-
spondent and since has been 
promoted to senior diplomatic 
correspondent.
The news station, i24, is an 
English-language format, but 
Alterman uses his Hebrew 
when doing the information 
gathering and reporting. In 
his role, he has traveled con-
siderably. “I’ve been to the 
European elections three times 
in France, once to Singapore 
for the [President] Trump-
[South Korean President] Kim 
Summit, the White House 
lawn to the signing of the 
Abraham Accords, Russia, 
China, Kazakhstan, a bunch of 
European countries” and others, 
he recounted.
Poris’ entry to the profession 
was a little rockier.
“When I made aliyah in 2015, 
I started off working at the 
Islamic War Museum a couple 
of days a week while looking for 
something full time,
” he said.
In job hunting, he noted, 
“Israel is a really interesting 
place. It’s not like in the States, 
where you’re asked questions 
as a big prerequisite to many, 
many jobs, such as: ‘Whom do 
you know?’ or ‘Where did you 
go to school?’
“In Israel, the startup 
mentality is such that they 
don’t care about that. They 
care whether or not you can do 
the job. The other stuff is not 
relevant,
” he added.
“So, I was on Facebook, 
where I saw a post for a brand-
new news company [ILTV]. 
At the time, ILTV didn’t even 
really exist yet. And the post 
was put up by Natasha Raquel 
Kirtchuk, the original anchor, 
who now works at i24 News. 
She said to me that she was 
looking for somebody to write, 
sit with the video editors and 
put things together, edit my 
writing a little bit, sit in the 

control room, etc.,
” he said.
“
And my skill set just fit,
” 
he said. “I had experience as 
an art teacher teaching video 
editing. Also, speaking Hebrew, 
visiting Israel regularly and 
having family here helped me 
be knowledgeable about politics 
in Israel, the functioning of 
the government, the cultural 
atmosphere and the society as 
a whole. So, that all fit because 
that was actually a bit of a blind 
spot for her at the time,
” he 
added.
His teacher training, both 
at Wayne State and in the 
classroom, likewise, prepared 
him with writing and editing.
“I was working about 14 
hours a day doing the job, 
screen tests and learning 
everything that I didn’t know 
from staff at Channel 20, where 
we rented space. Slowly, we 
built up the company. A couple 
of months went by, and then we 
started on the air,
” he said.

Poris said he made ILTV 
his life. “I was the first person 
in the office and the last one 
to leave,
” he said. “
And as I 
remember, I was underpaid at 
the time.
”
“They were paying me 
around 4,000, 4,500 shekels a 
month, which was below the 
minimum wage. I was working 
crazy hours, so after about three 
months, I told my boss, ‘You’re 
going to have to bump this 
up to eight [8,000 NIS] now, 
otherwise I’m out,
’ ” he said.
“
And he [my boss] said to me, 
‘Here’s your raise.
’ And I said, 
“No, it’s a correction. We’ll talk 
about a raise in a couple more 
months,
” he recounted.
“Because that’s how it’s done 
in Israel,
” he said.
“
After a couple more years, 
I was writing and doing some 
story packages, but mostly I 
was doing production work. 
The channel was looking for 
somebody to be able to join 

Natasha on screen to relieve 
some of the stress on her and to 
bring another face and voice to 
the show. She suggested that I 
do a screen test,
” he recalled.
“I had taken Second City 
improv classes in Detroit as 
a teacher, and I was used to 
public speaking and presenting 
information in front of people. 
I was winner of the screen test,
” 
he said. Poris had a new job.
He would solo as anchor 
while Kirtchuk was on vacation 
or on assignment. When she 
left ILTV for good, the station 
auditioned several potential 
anchors to join Poris. He 
ultimately was awarded the lead 
anchor position.

OUTSIDE OF WORK 
Poris said he still works in art. 
“One of my favorite things to 
do is to interview people while 
I do their portrait.
” He also is 
working on launching his own 
podcast focusing on promoting 
more positive things, he said.
He and Tirzah, an immigrant 
from England, were married 
in 2019, and she gave birth to 
their daughter Elli in October. 
They live in Tel Aviv and they 
visit Detroit fairly often for 
family and friends. They last 
were in town in May for friends’ 
weddings.
While “friends in Detroit and 
Thanksgiving remain important” 
for Alterman, Petah Tikvah is 
where he calls home, along with 
his wife, Talya, and two young 
children, Tohar and Naveh. 
Talya’s work keeps her 
closer to home. The sabra, 
who grew up in Ariel, “works 
in special ed, has a business 
doing chocolate workshops 
for kids with special needs, as 
well as in schools and in other 
community settings. She trained 
as a chocolatier and is certified, 
and has a degree in special ed,
” 
he noted. 

continued from page 45
ERETZ
Aaron Poris, his 
wife Tirzah and 
daughter Elli