Haaretz

Haaretz (Hebrew: הָאָרֶץ, meaning "The Land [of Israel]") is an Israeli daily newspaper first published in 1918, making it the oldest continuously printed newspaper in the country. It appears in Hebrew and English in the Berliner format, with an online edition as well. In North America, it is issued weekly, combining material from the Friday edition with a summary of the week's news. Haaretz serves as Israel's newspaper of record and is recognized for its left-wing and liberal positions on both domestic and foreign matters.

As of 2022, Haaretz has the third-largest circulation among Israeli newspapers. Its English edition is widely read by international observers and frequently cited in the global press. According to the Center for Research Libraries, among Israel's daily newspapers, Haaretz is considered the most influential and respected for both its news reporting and its commentary.

The paper was first launched in 1918 under the sponsorship of the British military government in Palestine. In 1919, a group of socialist-leaning Zionists, mostly from Russia, took it over. It was formally established on 18 June 1919 by businessmen including philanthropist Isaac Leib Goldberg, initially under the name Hadashot Ha'aretz ("News of the Land"), later shortened to Haaretz. Its literary section attracted leading Hebrew writers of the era. The paper began in Jerusalem, and from 1919 to 1922 it had a series of editors, including Leib Yaffe. It closed briefly due to a budget shortfall, then reopened in Tel Aviv in early 1923 under editor Moshe Glickson, who stayed for 15 years. The Tel Aviv municipality supported it by paying in advance for future advertisements.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Haaretz's liberal outlook was loosely linked to the General Zionist "A" faction, which later helped form the Progressive Party, though the paper remained nonpartisan and avoided endorsing any party line. It was regarded as the most sophisticated daily in the Yishuv. In December 1935, Salman Schocken, a Jewish businessman who fled Germany in 1934 after the Nazis came to power, bought the paper. Schocken was involved with Brit Shalom, an organization supporting Jewish-Arab coexistence and sympathetic to a homeland for both peoples. His son, Gershom Schocken, became chief editor in 1939 and held the role until his death in 1990.

The Schocken family owned the entire Haaretz Group until August 2006, when they sold a 25% stake to German publisher M. DuMont Schauberg. The deal, negotiated with the help of former Israeli ambassador to Germany Avi Primor, sparked controversy in Israel because DuMont Schauberg's father, Kurt Neven DuMont, had been a Nazi Party member and his publishing house promoted Nazi ideology. On 12 June 2011, Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin purchased a 20% stake in the group, buying 15% from the family and 5% from M. DuMont Schauberg. In December 2019, the Schocken family bought back all of DuMont Schauberg's shares, giving them 75% ownership, with Nevzlin holding the remaining 25%.

In October 2012, a union strike protesting planned layoffs caused a one-day halt in publication of Haaretz and its TheMarker business supplement. According to Israel Radio, this was the first time since 1965 that a newspaper failed to go to press due to a strike. On 24 November 2024, the Israeli government ordered a boycott of Haaretz by government officials and anyone working for a government-funded body, and banned government advertising in the paper. The Guardian reported that Haaretz had published a series of investigations into wrongdoing or abuses by senior officials and the armed forces, and had long been a target of the current government. The sanctions were condemned by the Committee to Protect Journalists and by Anton Harber and Irwin Manoim, founders of the South African Weekly Mail, who wrote to Haaretz that the Netanyahu government's sanctions reminded them of their own paper's struggle against the apartheid government decades earlier.

The newspaper's editorial policy was shaped by Gershom Schocken, editor-in-chief from 1939 to 1990. He was succeeded by Hanoch Marmari, then David Landau in 2004, Dov Alfon in 2008, and Aluf Benn in August 2011, who is the current editor-in-chief. Charlotte Halle became editor of the English print edition in February 2008. Walter Gross served on the governing editorial board and as a columnist from 1951 to 1995.

Haaretz describes itself as having a broadly liberal outlook on both domestic and international affairs, and has been characterized as liberal on security, civil rights, and the economy, supportive of the Supreme Court, and very critical of Netanyahu's government. Others describe it as liberal, centre-left, left-wing, and Israel's only major left-leaning newspaper. The paper opposes the ongoing Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories and consistently supports peace initiatives. Its editorial line is supportive of weaker groups in Israeli society, including sex workers, foreign laborers, Israeli Arabs, Ethiopian immigrants, and Russian immigrants.