There’s a newspaper in Israel, the oldest in the country, that’s been operating since 1918. For most of its history it was considered serious, influential, and important enough that government officials, diplomats, and international journalists read it every morning with their coffee. In certain circles, this paper considered Israel’s newspaper of record.
That paper is Haaretz. And these days, neo-Nazi websites have cited it more than 1,400 times as a source.
That’s not a coincidence. Haaretz is very left-leaning and has morphed into a paper so intensely critical of Israel that makes itself useful to people who despise the only Jewish sovereign state and its citizens. So it’s worth asking how we got here, who’s running it, and who benefits from what it publishes.
Haaretz is controlled by the Schocken family with a 75% ownership of the group. The current publisher is Amos Schocken, the third generation of his family to fill the role. He doesn’t just run the paper. He uses it as a platform for his own views, and those views aren’t vague.
In 2016, Schocken published an op-ed in his own newspaper titled “Only International Pressure Will End Israeli Apartheid.” In it, he referred to “nearly 50 years of Israeli apartheid” and framed international pressure, including product labeling and sanctions, as “a crucial beginning of global action against an illegitimate situation.” He wrote that if apartheid was a necessary condition for Zionism to exist, then Zionism itself was illegitimate. He published this in his own newspaper, in both English and Hebrew, for a global audience who were already chomping at the bit for validation.
In October 2024, speaking at a Haaretz-sponsored conference in London, Schocken described Israel’s government as imposing “a cruel apartheid regime on the Palestinian population,” referred to “Palestinian freedom fighters that Israel calls terrorists,” accused Israel of carrying out “a second Nakba,” and called for international sanctions against Israeli leaders and settlers. The event was held at JW3 in London and co-organized with Yachad and the New Israel Fund UK.
The blowback was immediate. His minority co-owner, Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin, who holds 25% of Haaretz, publicly called the comments “appalling, unacceptable, and inhumane.” Nevzlin said Schocken’s views conflicted with the newspaper’s values, with his own values, and with those of “the vast majority of the newspaper’s journalists and staff.” Four Israeli government ministries, including Interior, Education, Diaspora Affairs, and Economy and Industry, severed ties with the paper. Hundreds of subscribers, including government offices, cancelled. The Israeli Communications Minister proposed a government-wide boycott. A victims’ advocacy group filed a complaint with police accusing Schocken of incitement.
Schocken issued a partial clarification the following day mentioning he should have said “freedom fighters who also use terrorist methods.” That was his walk-back.
This work is entirely reader-supported. By choosing a paid subscription, you allow me to continue this long-form research and to bring these vital stories to light. Thank you for helping this Lioness roar for the truth
