Eldad Yaniv is an Israeli lawyer, activist, and media personality. Born in Rishon LeZion, Israel, as the son of Audet and Ishai, he was drafted into the IDF in 1986 and served with the weekly magazine Bamahane. After discharge, he became the de facto editor of Bamahane in the mid-1990s and worked as a journalist for the Yedioth Ahronoth group, editing local editions including Yedioth 08 Ramla-Lod, Middle Netanya, Middle Hadera, and On the Sharon. He studied law at Bar-Ilan University, interned and worked several years at Dov Weisglass's law firm, and founded Yaniv and Partners law firm in Tel Aviv in 2001, where he serves as senior partner. He continues to serve in IDF reserves as a military defender with the rank of captain.

Politically, Yaniv was a team member in Ehud Barak's 1999 election campaign, head of the Prime Minister's personal staff after Barak's victory, legal advisor to the Israeli Labor Party (2002-2006, fired in 2006), opposed Amir Peretz's mass registrations in the 2005 Labor primaries, campaign manager for Barak's 2007 Labor leadership bid, and head of Labor Party headquarters in 2007 (removed by Barak after months). He headed the Eretz Hadasha (New Land) party, founded in 2012 with Rani Blair, but later withdrew, and remains a member of both the Israeli Labor Party and Eretz Hadasha.

As an activist, he co-founded the National Left movement in 2009 with Shmuel Hasfari and promoted its manifesto. He identified with the 2011 tent protests and co-founded the weekly anti-corruption protests near the Attorney General's home (2017-2019) alongside Meni Naftali, leading to multiple arrests (e.g., August 2017 and 2019). He also petitioned for transparency in the Netanyahu investigations in 2017.

In media, he is a regular panelist on the Council of Sages TV program, a columnist for Turn the Horse on Walla (2013-2014, censored over Binyamin Ben-Eliezer) and later Liberal magazine (2014 onward), and hosts the podcast What is Happening Here? (מה קורה פה?) on YouTube (@EldadYanivpod). He is active on social media via X (@EldadYaniv), Instagram (@eldadyaniv), and Facebook (eldad.yaniv).

Other roles include board member of the Alda association (aid for children with special needs), steering committee member for the State Comptroller on capital-government relations (2010, appointed by Micha Lindenstrauss), board member of AGL SJ Investments Ltd, and lecturer at Emek Yizrael College and Peres Academic Center (formerly Ono Academic Center).

Controversies include involvement in the Barak associations affair (1999-2000), for which he later apologized to Amon Lipkin-Shahak, and self-described as 'the cable' connecting capital and government, stating, 'I think that in the very near future people will be imprisoned for things I did. The things I did will be considered crimes...' His political shifts have moved from Labor circles to anti-Netanyahu activism, with later right-leaning advisory roles to Dedi Simchi (2026 reports of comeback after post-2023 war hiatus). He currently resides in Tel Aviv-Yafo.