Israel’s government approved on Sunday a proposal by Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi that mandates any government-funded body refrain from communicating with Haaretz or placing advertisements in the paper. The proposal was approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The decision, according to the government’s explanation, is a reaction to “many articles that have hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self defense, and particularly the remarks made in London by Haaretz publisher, Amos Schocken, that support terrorism and call for imposing sanctions on the government.”

The proposal did not appear on the government’s agenda published ahead of the weekly cabinet meeting. The Attorney General’s office, unaware of the intention to bring the proposal to a vote, did not review it at all and did not present its opinion, as customary. The resolution was presented to ministers during the discussion without any legal opinion.

In a speech at the Haaretz conference in London last month, Schocken said “the Netanyahu government doesn’t care about imposing a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population. It dismisses the costs of both sides for defending the settlements while fighting the Palestinian freedom fighters, that Israel calls terrorists.”

    • catloaf@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      One of them, and also the most left-leaning. The Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post lean right, and are generally supportive of Israel and its genocide.

      Edit: I should also note that these are the English-language publications. They have others in Hebrew and other languages, but you don’t see them posted in English-language communities for obvious reasons.

    • aeshna_cyanea@lemm.ee
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      3 days ago

      Good preview for what’s going to happen to the new York times under the new admin :)

    • DolphinMath@slrpnk.net
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      4 days ago

      Nope. It’s a prominent one, but by no means the “main” media outlet. It’s also largely in opposition to Netanyahu and his coalition.

      Source:

      As of July 31, 2023, a TGI survey indicated that Israel Hayom, distributed for free, is Israel’s most read newspaper, with a 29.4% weekday readership exposure, followed by Yedioth Ahronoth, with 22.3%, Haaretz with 4.8%, Globes with 4% and Maariv with 3.9%.[1]