Headline Roundup • November 26th, 2024
Israeli Government to Cut Ties With Haaretz After Publisher’s Palestinian ‘Freedom Fighters’ Comment
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Israel’s cabinet voted unanimously to stop advertising in Haaretz (Lean Left bias) on Sunday after the outlet’s publisher called for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government to be sanctioned.
The Details: The move comes in response to comments made by Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken on October 27 when he referred to Palestinians as “freedom fighters.” Schocken later clarified that he was referring to “Palestinians living under occupation and oppression in the West Bank,” and did not believe Hamas were freedom fighters.
For Context: Offered in Hebrew and English, Haaretz was founded in 1918 and is currently the longest running print newspaper in Israel. In October 2023, an AllSides reviewer concluded Haaretz's digital “opinion section appeared to feature opinions more of interest to a Lean Left audience, while its news content was more centered and balanced in its approach.”
Key Quotes: Israeli communications minister Shlomo Kar’i, who proposed the move, wrote, “We must not allow a reality in which the publisher of an official newspaper in the State of Israel will call for the imposition of sanctions against it and will support the enemies of the state in the midst of a war and will be financed by it.” In a response, Haaretz accused Netanyahu of trying to “dismantle Israeli democracy” and “silence a critical, independent newspaper.”
How the Media Covered It: The news was mostly covered by outlets on the left which mostly framed Haaretz as journalistically noble. Aside from Newsmax (Right bias), which did not include background on Haaretz or its response, AllSides did not find coverage from the right.
Featured Coverage of this Story
AFP/Getty Images
Israel’s cabinet unanimously voted to sanction the nation’s oldest newspaper, Haaretz, on Sunday citing its critical coverage of the war following the October 7 Hamas attacks and comments by the outlet’s publisher calling for sanctions on senior government officials.
Haaretz, which is widely respected internationally, has provided critical coverage of Israel’s war following the Hamas attacks on October 7, including investigations into abuses allegedly committed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) as military operations expanded across Gaza and into neighboring Lebanon.
Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90
The ministries of the interior, education, and Diaspora affairs cut ties with the Haaretz newspaper Thursday, while the communications minister proposed a boycott covering all government bodies, after publisher Amos Schocken told a conference that Israel is imposing an “apartheid regime” on the Palestinians and referred to “Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists.”
In a letter to its spokesperson’s department, Interior Ministry Director General Ronen Peretz wrote that Schocken’s remarks “provoke disgust and show a disconnect from basic values.”
Israel has officially cut ties with the Haaretz newspaper after its publisher "expressed support for terrorism" and called for Israel's government to be sanctioned.
The government unanimously approved a proposal Sunday to cut ties that was constructed by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi, which called on the Israeli government and those funded by it to "cease to engage with the newspaper Haaretz in any way and not publish any advertisements in it."
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