The Times of Israel

The Times of Israel

Head office in Jerusalem (2012)
Type	Online newspaper
Founder(s)	David Horovitz Seth Klarman
Editor-in-chief	David Horovitz
Editor	Suha Halifa (Arabic) Stephanie Bitan (French) Avi Davidi (Persian)
Deputy editor	Joshua Davidovich Elie Leshem Amanda Borschel-Dan
Opinion editor	Miriam Herschlag
Launched	February 2012; 12 years ago (2012-02)
Political alignment	Centre[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
Language	English, Hebrew, Arabic, French, Persian
Headquarters	Jerusalem
ISSN	0040-7909
OCLC number	1076401854
Website	timesofisrael.com

The Times of Israel is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012. It was co-founded by Israeli journalist David Horovitz, who is also the founding editor, and American billionaire investor Seth Klarman.^[8] Based in Jerusalem, it "documents developments in Israel, the Middle East and around the Jewish world."^[9] Along with its original English site, The Times of Israel publishes in Hebrew (via its own edition, Zman Yisrael), Arabic, French, and Persian. In addition to publishing news reports and analysis, the website hosts a multi-author blog platform.^[10]

In February 2014, two years after its launch, The Times of Israel claimed a readership of two million.^[11] In 2017, readership increased to 3.5 million unique monthly users.^[12] By 2021, the paper had on average over nine million unique users each month and over 35 million monthly page views, while the paper's blog platform had 9,000 active bloggers.^[13][14]

History

The Times of Israel was launched in February 2012. Its co-founders are journalist David Horovitz,^[15][16] and American billionaire Seth Klarman, founder of the Baupost Group and chairman of The David Project. Klarman is the chairman of the website.^[17]

Several Times of Israel editors had previously worked for the Haaretz English edition, including Joshua Davidovich and Raphael Ahren, and former Haaretz Arab affairs correspondent Avi Issacharoff – co-creator of the popular Israeli television series Fauda – joined as its Middle East analyst.^[18] Amanda Borschel-Dan, who was the Magazine Editor of The Jerusalem Post, is currently The Times of Israel's Deputy Editor, responsible for the Jewish world and archaeology. She also hosts the paper's weekly podcast.

The Times of Israel launched its Arabic edition, edited by Suha Halifa, on 4 February 2014;^[19][20] its French edition, edited by Stephanie Bitan, on 25 February 2014;^[21] and its Persian edition, edited by Avi Davidi, on 7 October 2015.^[22] It launched its Hebrew site, Zman Yisael, on 1 May 2019, edited by Biranit Goren.^[23]

Both the Arabic and French editions combine translations of English content with original material in their respective languages, and also host a blog platform.^[11] In announcing the Arabic edition, Horovitz suggested, The Times of Israel may have created the first Arabic blog platform that "draw[s] articles from across the spectrum of opinion. We're inviting those of our Arabic readers with something of value that they want to say to blog on our pages, respecting the parameters of legitimate debate, joining our marketplace of ideas."^[20] "[T]o avoid the kind of anonymous comments that can reduce discussion to toxic lows", comments on news articles and features in all of the site's editions can only be posted by readers identified through their Facebook profiles or equivalent.^[20]

In February 2014, two years after its launch, The Times of Israel claimed a readership of 2 million.^[11] In 2017, readership increased to 3.5 million.^[12] By 2021, the paper had on average over 9 million unique users each month and over 35 million monthly page views. It also maintains a blog platform, on which some 9,000 bloggers post.^[13]

In November 2023, the site saw web visits increase 604% year-on-year to 64.2 million and entered the Press Gazette's top-50 ranking for the first time in 42nd place, according to digital intelligence platform, Similarweb.^[24] The increase is likely linked to the increase in demand for news about the Middle East following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on 7 October 2023.

On 1 August 2014, an article entitled "When Genocide is Permissible" and recommending the obliteration of the entire population of Gaza Strip was published on the blogs by a regular contributor. The article was later deleted. Opinion editor Miriam Herschlag said that the article did not conform to their editorial guidelines and the contributor had been discontinued.^[25]

Since 2016, The Times of Israel has hosted the websites of Jewish newspapers in several countries, known as "local partners". In March 2016, it began hosting New York's The Jewish Week.^[26] It also hosts Britain's Jewish News, the New Jersey Jewish Standard, The Atlanta Jewish Times, and Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.^[27][28][29] In October 2019, The Australian Jewish News became the seventh local partner.^[30]

On 2 November 2017, hackers in Turkey took down the website of The Times of Israel for three hours, replacing the homepage with anti-Israel propaganda.^[28] Responding to the attack, Horovitz said: "We constantly work to improve security on the site, which is subjected to relentless attacks by hackers. How unfortunate, and how badly it reflects on them that the hackers seek to prevent people from reading responsible, independent journalism on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world."^[31]

In 2020, Reuters reported that The Times of Israel, along with The Jerusalem Post, Algemeiner, and Arutz Sheva, published op-eds sent to them by someone using a falsified identity.^[32][33] The op-eds were removed as soon as the problem was discovered. Opinion editor Miriam Herschlag said that she regretted the scam because it distorted the public discourse and might lead to "barriers that prevent new voices from being heard".^[32]

Editorial orientation

Most sources describe The Times of Israel as "centrist".^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

According to editor David Horovitz, The Times of Israel is intended to be independent, without any political leanings.^[34][35] The paper's editorial board is composed of former Jerusalem Report editor Sharon Ashley, Irwin Cotler, Efraim Halevy, Saul Singer, and Ehud Yaari. Yehuda Avner was a member of the editorial board until his death in March 2015.^[9] Horovitz said in 2012: "We are independent; we're not attached or affiliated with any political party."^[36]

However, Haaretz reported that a Times of Israel co-founder gave $1.5 million in 2012 to CAMERA, a right-wing group that criticises news outlets over their coverage of Israel.^[37] Haaretz stated that Times of Israel owner Seth Klarman "supports other conservative, media-related organizations and groups that seek to counter anti-Israel bias or have a right-wing agenda".^[37]

Controversies

Times of Israel Blogging Platform

Times of Israel has offered a third-party blogging platform since 2012 which allows writers who are not affiliated with the news site to publish online. The articles on this platform are clearly marked as such, and Times of Israel staff does not oversee or edit the content from outside users published on the blogging platform. Times of Israel at times has removed content that has violated the site's policies. This platform has occasionally brought about controversy for the newspaper with inflammatory and controversial blog pieces that were later removed.^[38] These pieces written by 3rd party users have often been misrepresented as or confused for the endorsed original work of Times of Israel, leading to accusations about the newspapers' bias^[39][40] For example, on May 18, 2023, a third party user of the site's blog platform named Jeffrey Camras published an op-ed titled "Moving Forward on Palestine". Camras proposed that "in order to right a wrong, in order to make peace and move forward, Palestine must be obliterated." Although Camras was not affiliated with Times of Israel, sites like Palestine Chronicle and others presented his article as if it were a Times of Israel staff written editorial.^[41][42][43] Times of Israel apparently removed the article. Times of Israel amends the following to every blog post by 3rd party users: "Please note that the posts on The Blogs are contributed by third parties. The opinions, facts and any media content in them are presented solely by the authors, and neither The Times of Israel nor its partners assume any responsibility for them. Please contact us in case of abuse."^[44][45]

Additional media

In addition to written journalism, The Times of Israel produces and publishes three podcasts; it also produces video content:^[46]

• The Daily Briefing, a daily news podcast.
• Times Will Tell, a long-form weekly revue.
• Paralyzed Nation, a deep look into the Israeli political system.

Notable writers

Analysts and journalists

• Haviv Rettig Gur^[47]
• David Horovitz^[48]
• Avi Issacharoff^[49]

Competition

The Times of Israel competes for readership with The Jerusalem Post, Arutz Sheva's Israel National News, Haaretz daily English edition, Israel Hayom, and The Forward.^[36]

See also

• Mass media in Israel

References

1. "The U.S. Reassessment of Netanyahu's Government Has Begun". The New York Times. 11 July 2023. David Horovitz, the founding editor of the centrist Times of Israel
2. "Is American media coverage of the Israel-Hamas war biased?". Religion News Service. 21 November 2023. the centrist Times of Israel
3. "Israeli media laud Obama 'bear hug'". Politico. 22 March 2013. the politically centrist Times of Israel
4. "U.N. rewrites history; Jews look on bright side". The Japan Times. 19 October 2016. The centrist Times of Israel
5. "Israel just crossed a line it has never crossed before". The World from PRX. 8 February 2017. The centrist Times of Israel
6. "Shul Axes Pamela Geller, and 2 Others Invite Her". The Forward. 14 April 2013. the centrist Times of Israel
7. "Migrant workers and refugees affected in the MENA region". BBC Monitoring. 28 May 2020. the centrist Times of Israel news website
8. Forbes: The World's Billionaires: Seth Klarman. Archived 1 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine. April 2014.
9. "About The Times of Israel | The Times of Israel". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 22 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
10. Grunzweig, Emilie (16 February 2012). "New English-Language Israeli Website Launched". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
11. "Times of Israel Adds French Edition". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. 25 February 2014. Archived from the original on 27 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
12. "New York Jewish Week, the Times of Israel's new local partner, launches its new website". The Times of Israel. 11 January 2017. Archived from the original on 28 March 2017. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
13. "Introducing: The Times of Israel Community". Times of Israel. 6 November 2019. Archived from the original on 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
14. "Advertise with the Times of Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 3 September 2021.
15. Jodi Rudoren and Michael R. Gordon (30 June 2013). "Kerry Sees Progress in Effort to Revive Mideast Talks". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
16. Rudoren, Jodi (20 July 2013). "Palestinian Prisoner Release Is Critical Hurdle in Resuming Peace Talks". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
17. Klarman, Seth (12 February 2012). "A note from the chairman". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
18. "The (Possible) Triumph of Common Sense". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 11 April 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
19. Wiener, Julie (4 February 2014). "Translating Israel, from English to Arabic". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
20. Horovitz, David (4 February 2014). "From Today, The Times of Israel Is Also in Arabic". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
21. Horovitz, David (25 February 2014). "Bonjour and Welcome to The Times of Israel in French". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 21 May 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
22. "Khosh Amadid! Welcome to The Times of Israel Persian". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 25 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
23. Horovitz, David (1 May 2019). "Clear-headed journalism, this time in Hebrew: Introducing Zman Yisrael". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
24. Majid, Aisha (17 November 2023). "Top 50 biggest news websites in the world: Times of Israel sees biggest growth as Gaza conflict leads to traffic surge for many". PressGazette. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
25. Bankoff, Caroline. "Israeli Website Deletes Op-ed Suggesting Genocide Is a 'Permissible' Option in Gaza [Updated]". Intelligencer. Retrieved 20 April 2022.
26. "Jewish Week To Partner With Times Of Israel". The Jewish Week. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
27. "News Brief Times of Israel website hacked by Turkish group". JYA. 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
28. Rosenberg, Yair (3 November 2017). "Times of Israel Hack Reveals Major Vulnerability in Jewish Media Infrastructure—and Not Just in Israel". Tablet. Archived from the original on 3 November 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
29. "Jewish Week To Partner With Times Of Israel". The Jewish Week. 22 March 2016. Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
30. "Australian Jewish News becomes Times of Israel's seventh local partner". 15 October 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 30 November 2019.
31. "Times of Israel hit by hack attack". The Times of Israel. 2 November 2017. Archived from the original on 8 November 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2017.
32. "Deepfake used to attack activist couple shows new disinformation frontier". Reuters. 15 July 2020. Archived from the original on 26 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
33. "News outlets covering Israel found, again, to have run fake op-eds". J. The Jewish News of Northern California. 17 July 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
34. "Tycoons Turning Israeli Media into Hasbara Tools". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
35. Rosner, Shmuel (21 February 2012). "More of the News That's Fit to Print!". Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
36. Nathan-Kazis, Josh (29 February 2012). "The Softspoken Man Behind Times of Israel". The Forward. Archived from the original on 4 February 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
37. "Times of Israel Cofounder Gave $1.5 Million to Right-wing Media Watchdog That Routinely Goes After News Outlets". Haaretz. 5 September 2016. Retrieved 9 December 2023.
38. "The Times of Israel and its bloggers". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
39. "Blog Post Advocating 'Gaza Genocide' Removed From Times of Israel Website". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
40. "Times of Israel removes an unacceptable blog post". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
41. "'Palestine Must Be Obliterated': 'Times of Israel' Publishes, Deletes Article Calling for Genocide". Palestine Chronicle. 19 May 2023.
42. "Times of Israel Removes Article Calling for Palestine to be 'Obliterated'". 20 May 2023.
43. "'Palestine Must be Obliterated': 'Times of Israel' Publishes, Deletes Article Calling for Genocide". 19 May 2023.
44. "Stay wild, children of the moon. Stay wild | Sarah Tuttle-Singer | The Blogs". Retrieved 5 November 2024.
45. "The Times of Israel Terms and Conditions". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
46. "Podcasts | The Times of Israel". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
47. "Writer: Haviv Rettig Gur". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
48. Rudoren, Jodi (10 June 2014). "Peres, at 90, Is Ready to Leave the Israeli Presidency, but Not to Retire". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2017.
49. Rudoren, Jodi (16 May 2014). "Abbas Meets in London with Israeli Negotiator". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 February 2017. Retrieved 28 February 2017.

External links

Media related to The Times of Israel at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website