Israel is housing some of the smartest minds of the Middle East, almost all Israeli Jews can read! And most of them have a favorite newspaper. Actually some of Israel’s newspapers are older than the state itself!
How many newspapers are in Israel is really beyond me, but Israel has tens of daily and weekly newspapers. It has newspapers that some Israelis never heard of.
Most Popular Daily Israel Newspapers:
Haaretz
(Political Affiliation: Liberal, Left, Secular. Hebrew Name Means: “The Country”)
Haaretz is Israel’s oldest newspaper, it’s 30 years older than Israel. Haaretz was first published in 1918 and modern Israel was born in 1948.
Still, Haaretz is not the newspaper for each and every Israeli, it targets mainly liberal, secular and leftist Israelis. In 2007 Haaretz editor-in-chief David Landau said that Haaretz didn’t want to write about investigations against former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon because he had a “peace plan” that had Israel withdraw from Gaza right before Hamas came to power.
Haaretz is available in Hebrew and English, in both printed and online forms. You can read a few articles of the newspaper online in English before they ask you to sign up for an account (not free, cheap though).
Here is the offical website of Haaretz Newspaper.
Here is the official Hebrew website of the newspaper.
The Jerusalem Post Newspaper
(Political Affiliation: Independent)
This is another newspaper that is older than the state of Israel, but only 16 years older. It is the legitimate heir of an older Israeli newspaper called The Palestine Post (published between 1925 and 1932). It changed its name from The Palestine Post to The Jerusalem Post in 1950, two years after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
Unlike Haaretz, The Jerusalem Post is not very liberal, makes it a newspaper that doesn’t cater to all Israelis, just like Haaretz.
The Jerusalem Post has always been seen as a newspaper that spoke for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the British Mandate of Palestine and was always against the British authorities back then.
The newspaper is published in English and French.
Here is the offical website of The Jerusalem Post Newspaper.
Yediot Ahronot (also spelt Yedioth Ahronoth)
In 1930 (18 years before the State of Israel was born), an investor named Nachum Kumarov started this newspaper in what was known as the British Mandate of Palestine. The newspaper was a huge hit, and it was the first Israeli evening newspaper ever.
Today Yedioth Ahronoth is considered Israel’s most read and best selling newspaper (arguably), selling around 300 thousand copies a day during the week and more then half a million copies on weekends.
On the year modern Israel was born (1948), some of the staff and editors of Yediot Ahronot left the newspaper and established a new evening newspaper named Maariv (the next on this list).
Here is the official website of Yediot Ahronot in Hebrew, and here is the Yediot Ahronot in English.
Maariv
(Political Affiliation: Political Center. Hebrew Name Means: “Evening”)
Maariv was first published in 1948, the year Israel was born. Because of it’s more or less moderate political affiliation, Maariv was able to sell to many Israelis, still it’s officially a “political center” newspaper often critical of right-wing politicians. It is the second best-selling Newspaper in Israel today (after Yedioth Ahronoth).
Here is the official website of Maariv newspaper in Hebrew.
Israel Newspapers catering to minorities in Israel that speak other languages than Hebrew.
Because of the very unique modern history of Israel, citizens of the State of Israel speak many different languages (and preserve various traditions and cultures), so there has always been a need for media that caters to those minorities. And with Israel’s free and relatively open society, all those minorities were able to create their own TV channels and newspapers.
Arabic Israel Newspapers:
Israel’s largest minority is the Arabic-speaking one, usually called “Israeli Arab”, they have many newspapers that reflect their own opinions and views on the State of Israel and on their very local issues. Still, most Arabic newspapers are owned by Israeli Arab parties (yep, they even have political parties in Israel).
Russian Israel Newspapers:
Around one million Russian speaking Jews (and non-Jews who were eligible to be Israeli citizens) immigrated to Israel in the 90’s. Those Russians also wanted to express their identity and to read about fellow Russians issues and stories. Unlike Arabic-speaking Israelis, Russians were mostly Jews who wanted to be Israelis, so they adopted Hebrew as their own language and lived just like the rest of Israelis. Still, many of them still preserver their Russian culture and even speak Russian at home.
Here are a few Israel newspapers that are published in Russian laguage:
- Nasha Strana
- Novosti Nedeli
- Russkiy Izrailtanin
- Vesti
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