''Israel Hayom'' ( he, יִשְׂרָאֵל הַיּוֹם, lit=Israel Today) is an Israeli national Hebrew-language free daily newspaper. First published in 2007, ''Israel Hayom'' is Israel's most widely distributed newspaper. Owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, who was personal friend and benefactor of

Benjamin Netanyahu Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu (; ; born 21 October 1949) is an Israeli politician who served as the ninth prime minister of Israel from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2009 to 2021. He is currently serving as Leader of the Opposition and Chairman of ...

, ''Israel Hayom'' has often been criticized for portraying Netanyahu in an overly positive light. ''Israel Hayom'' is distributed for free around Israel.

History

''Israel Hayom''s print edition was launched on 30 July 2007 and competed directly with ''

Israeli Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

'', another free daily. The same year, '' Maariv'' editor Dan Margalit left the newspaper to write for ''Israel Hayom''. A weekend edition was launched in October 2009. In 2014, ''Israel Hayom'' bought Israeli media outlets ''

Makor Rishon ''Makor Rishon'' ( he, מָקוֹר רִאשׁוֹן lit. "Firsthand Source") is a semi-major Israeli newspaper associated with Religious Zionism and the conservative right-wing. History ''Makor Rishon'' was founded as a weekly magazine in Jul ...

'' and '' nrg מעריב''. In May 2014, the name מעריב (Maariv) had been removed from nrg log, and it was rebranded as nrg. Following the acquisition an antitrust complaint had been failed against ''Israel Hayom'', which resulted in a court order that requested to transfer the maariv domain name to ''Maariv'' weekly. In 2017, nrg was renamed to nrg360, and on 10 January 2018 the website had been closed and all its content had been merged into the

website. In 2014, it was believed that Sheldon Adelson invested in total at least $50 million in ''Israel Hayom''. Adelson's support of Israeli Prime Minister

has led the latter's political opponents in the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (wit ...

to sponsor a bill that would prevent the distribution of newspapers in Israel for free. Framed as a bill to prevent unfair competition and save the Israeli print newspaper industry, critics of the bill said it hurts free enterprise and is a thinly veiled attempt to target Adelson and his political causes, as ''Israel Hayom'' is Israel's only free-of-charge national newspaper. The bill passed the first reading in the Knesset, but not subsequent ones. In 2016, Adelson's attorney announced that although it was commonly believed that Adelson owned the newspaper, it was owned by a relative of his. In January 2021, Saudi-American independent academic researcher, Najat Al-Saied, became the first person from the

Arab states of the Persian Gulf The Arab states of the Persian Gulf refers to a group of Arab states which border the Persian Gulf. There are seven member states of the Arab League in the region: Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emir ...

to join ''Israel Hayom''.

Political leaning

According to a 2022 study, ''Israel Hayom'' benefitted

and his Likud party electorally. A 2008 study by Moran Rada published in '' The Seventh Eye'' showed that while competing newspapers' coverage of

was "not especially fair", ''Israel Hayom''s coverage was biased in favor of Netanyahu in most editorial decisions, and that the paper chooses to play down events that do not help to promote a positive image for Netanyahu, while on the other hand touting and inflating events that help promote Netanyahu and the Likud. Oren Persico reached the same conclusion after the 2009 Knesset elections, writing that throughout the campaign ''Israel Hayom'' published only one article critical of the Likud, and tens of articles critical of Kadima. A popular nickname of ''Israel Hayom'' is the "Bibiton", a

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of words While in the Prime Minister's office,

Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; he, אֶהוּד אוֹלְמֶרְט, ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer. He served as the 12th Prime Minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009 and before that as a cabinet minister from 1988 to 1992 and ...

criticized ''Israel Hayom''. Journalist Ben-Dror Yemini has described the paper as having "endless capital with a political agenda". In 2016, it formally endorsed the presidential campaign of

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...

Connection to Benjamin Netanyahu

''Israel Hayom'' is owned by the family of

's personal friend and benefactor Sheldon Adelson, and is often criticized by the political left for portraying Netanyahu in an overly positive light. Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Netanyahu currently stands on trial in five cases of alleged

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

; one of the cases, case 2000, directly involves ''Israel Hayom''. According to the investigations, as Prime Minister, Netanyahu held three meetings with Arnon Mozes, editor of ''

Yedioth Ahronoth ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' ( he, יְדִיעוֹת אַחֲרוֹנוֹת, ; lit. ''Latest News'') is a national daily newspaper published in Tel Aviv, Israel. Founded in 1939 in British Mandatory Palestine, ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' is the largest paid n ...

'', the main competitor of ''Israel Hayom'', during which Netanyahu offered limiting the circulation of ''Israel Hayom'' in exchange for ''Yedioth Ahronoth'' hiring journalists more favorable to Netanyahu.

Market share

Being distributed for free, ''Israel Hayom'' has an edge over other daily newspapers in Israel. In July 2010, ''Israel Hayom'' surpassed ''

'' in weekday exposure rate in the semi-annual

Target Group Index Kantar Group is a data analytics and brand consulting company, based in London, England. It was founded in 1992, and has approximately 30,000 employees in 100 countries working in various research disciplines, including social media monitoring, ...

(TGI) survey. As of 2021, ''Israel Hayom'' had a 31% weekday readership exposure, followed by ''

'' with 23.9%, ''

Haaretz ''Haaretz'' ( , originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , ) is an Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel, and is now published in both Hebrew and English in the Berliner ...

'' with 4.7% and '' Maariv'' with 3.5%. In January 2016, citing internal records from ''Israel Hayom'', ''

'' revealed that between 2007 and 2014 the newspaper lost about 730 million shekels ($190 million), approximately equal to one shekel per copy printed.

Employees

;Senior management * Asher Baharav – publisher. * Boaz Bismuth – editor-in-chief. * Zippi Koren – CEO. * Ariel Schmidberg – deputy editor. * Baruch Ron – deputy editor, news director. * Amir Finkelshtein – chief operating officer. * Eithan Segal – VP marketing. * Riki Roob – chief financial officer. ;Staff * Shlomo Cohen – editorial cartoonist. * Gideon Alon – parliamentary correspondent. * Ran Reznick – health correspondent. * Dan Margalit – senior commentator. * Naama Lanski – magazine correspondent. * Eli Sahar – sports editor. * Shir Ziv – television critic. * Boaz Bismuth – foreign news editor, senior analyst. * Shlomo Cesana – diplomatic correspondent. *

Aviad Hacohen Aviad Hacohen (Hebrew:אביעד הכהן; born 1962) is an Israeli attorney and professor of law. Biography Aviad Hacohen is the son of Rabbi Menachem Hacohen, who was a Labor party member of the Israeli Parliament (Knesset), and Devorah Haco ...

– legal affairs commentator. * Ronen Dorfan – sports commentator. * Yoav Kutner – music critic. * Lilach Shoval – military correspondent. * Mati Tuchfeld – political correspondent. *

Shlomo Scharf Shlomo Scharf ( he, שלמה שרף; born 1 January 1943) is a former Israeli football player and manager who now works as a regular commentator on Israeli Sport 5 TV channel. Scharf managed Maccabi Haifa to three championships, and was Israel na ...

– sports commentator.

References

External links

* * {{DISPLAYTITLE:''Israel Hayom'' Companies based in Tel Aviv Free daily newspapers Hebrew-language newspapers Israeli brands Israeli companies established in 2007 Mass media companies of Israel Mass media in Tel Aviv Multilingual news services Centre-right newspapers Daily newspapers published in Israel Publications established in 2007 Sheldon Adelson