The Israeli Right has been waging a war on history in recent years, using extreme measures to remove evidence of the Nakba from the national discourse. It failed. Yedioth Hakibbutz is the weekly magazine of the United Kibbutz Movement. It is delivered every week to hundreds of Kibbutzim as part of the weekend edition of Yedioth Ahronoth, the best selling paper in Israel. Even at a time of diminishing political influence – there is not a single representative of the United Kibbutz Movement in the current Knesset – the Kibbutzim remain both a symbol and a stronghold of conservative Zionism, and the…

How the 'newspaper of the nation' reported on a Border Policewoman's killing of a Palestinian teenager who was found to have been carrying a toy gun.  Yedioth Aharonoth's coverage of Wednesday's killing of a Palestinian teenager in Hebron tells you pretty much everything you need to know about how Israeli brainwashing works. And Yedioth, the country's most widely-read, influential newspaper, is considered relatively liberal, which it is in the sense that it often criticizes Netanyahu and the right, but when the story is Israel vs. the Arabs, particularly the Israeli army vs. the Arabs, then Yedioth, the "newspaper of the…

By Leehee Rothschild A recent Israeli celebrity's admission that he has had sexual experiences with men but does not consider himself homosexual has drawn ridicule from the LGBT community, exposing its own biases and intolerance.  My Facebook feed recently filled up with posts by LGBT friends mocking the Israeli singer and songwriter Ze'ev Nehama, who shared with a Yedioth Ahronoth interviewer (Hebrew) his sexual experiences with other men. In the interview, Nehama said that while he did have sexual encounters with men, he does not define himself as a homosexual, since these encounters were merely sexual, and not emotional. This…

The top stories in all Israeli dailies this weekend discuss a coming strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Thirty-seven percent of Israelis think President Obama would stop Iran from developing a bomb, while only 29 percent doubt it. The front page headlines in all major daily papers in Israel deal with the increased likelihood of a war with Iran. Yedioth Aharonoth has an important expose: the paper's diplomatic correspondents, Nahum Barnea and Shimon Shiffer, report that Defense Minister Ehud Barak has gathered senior army generals twice (the latest meeting took place at Mossad headquarters) in order to obtain their support for…

Yair Lapid left his position in Channel 2 News and announced his intention to enter politics. He is likely to split the secular vote in a way that won't allow anyone but the Likud to form the next government One of the questions that has dominated the political landscape in Israel in the last couple of years received an (almost) definite answer this week, when the most popular journalist in Israel, Yair Lapid, resigned from his post as Channel 2's Friday evening anchorman in order to enter politics. If he had it his way, Lapid would have waited for new…

According to government sources, the army doesn't have any evidence that the flotilla activists are planning violent resistance, yet it publicly accuses them of conspiring to murder soldiers The top story in two of Israel's leading daily papers yesterday was a bombshell: The IDF unveiled plans by flotilla passengers to kill soldiers trying to stop the ships from getting to Gaza. Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's most widely read paper, ran a headline declaring "Flotilla activists set to kill," which was attributed to military sources (but only in the fine print). The story declared, "Intelligence information revealed violent plans." In the inside…

The Israeli government insists that it tries to contain the situation in Gaza, and to prevent unnecessary escalation that would cost more lives on both sides. However, Alex Fishman, the military correspondent for Yedioth Ahronoth (Israel's leading daily paper) is not convinced, to say the least [Hebrew Link from 7th eye site]: “The Chief-of-Staff, Benny Gantz, declared yesterday that Israel was not interested in an escalation in the Gaza Strip, but Southern Command's activity sends the exact opposite message," wrote Alex Fishman this morning in Yediot Acharonot. "[...] The more our side does not want an escalation, the more the…

Who leans to the left and who moves to the right? which paper supports Netanyahu and who goes after him? a short guide to the subtleties of the Hebrew press Newspapers in Israel have always been of great importance. One of the first things early Zionists did in Palestine was to create their own Hebrew papers. Every major political faction had its own publication, usually a national daily. Even today, with the decline of printed journalism, papers are still widely read, especially among opinion makers. The Hebrew papers raise issues and frame political questions; Knesset members often quote news items…

Take a look at today's front pages shown here. The one on the left is Yedioth Ahronoth's, Israel's leading tabloid. On the right is the New York Post. Yedioth's top story reads "wave of terrorism," referring to the two shooting attacks carried out by Hamas militants against settlers in the last 48 hours. On the bottom and on the right side of the page there are health, sports and other magazine stories. The only reference to the peace process is the quote in small print, on the top of the page. It reads: "Netanyahu: I came for an historic compromise."…

The rightwing free tabloid "Israel Hayom" (ישראל היום, Israel today) is now the most widely read daily paper in Israel, with, for the first time, a slight lead over Yedioth Ahronoth on weekdays. Israel Hayon is known for his support of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The paper's publisher, gambling billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is a close friend and political ally of Netanyahu, and according to reports, the papers editor, Amos Regev, was part of Netanyahu's inner circle for some time. Most papers in Israel don't disclose the number of copies they distribute, so their share of the market is evaluated by…