Worried. Bennett
Photo: Eli Mendelbaum
Powerful allies. Netanyahu
Photo: Ido Erez
The planned purchase of a second right-wing Israeli newspaper by a major American backer of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has some critics seeing a move to shore up his constituency as US-sponsored peace talks with the Palestinians advance.
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Industry in Decline
Associated Press
Legal and financial troubles plague historic newspaper, first published with the establishment of Jewish state.
Yet the deal was deplored by Naftali Bennett, a cabinet minister whose ultra-nationalist Bayit Yehudi party is a key member of Netanyahu's conservative coalition government and openly opposes the prospect of a Palestinian statehood accord.
"It saddens me," Bennett told Israel's Army Radio when asked about the Makor Rishon sale, which must still be cleared by anti-trust authorities. "Israel Hayom is Pravda. It is a mouthpiece newspaper for one person - the prime minister."
He cited Israel Hayom's endorsing of Netanyahu policies condemned by many fellow rightists, such as a 2009-2010 partial moratorium on Jewish settlement of disputed territories sought by the Palestinians. Washington now wants such curbs renewed to help keep the troubled peace negotiations on track.
"At every juncture when there has been friction between the national interest and the prime minister, the newspaper has always supported the prime minister," said Bennett.
Press chess
Makor Rishon deputy editor, Uri Elitzur, deemed Bennett's remarks untrue - "an unpleasant slip of the lip" - and said his newspaper would come out against any settlement evacuations.Hanoch Marmari, a former editor of the liberal Israeli daily Haaretz who blogs on media affairs, suggested Bennett was wary of losing a means of mobilizing constituents against Netanyahu.
"If I were Bennett, I would prefer to see Makor Rishon as a paper representing pluralism, rather than one side," Marmari said. "It's possible that this is a chess board and someone is playing the game while looking several steps into the future."
A Bayit Yehudi lawmaker has teamed up with left-wing and centrist counterparts on legislation that would ban free newspapers. These, the bill says, unfairly undermine for-profit papers and pose "significant harm to the freedom of expression".
"In many Western countries, it is acceptable today to grant newspapers economic support so as to guarantee their continued performance, which is essential for democracy," the bill says.
Israel Hayom columnist Gonen Ginat, who often wages wars of words against the daily's detractors and top-selling competitor Yedioth Ahronot, excoriated the legislation.
"There is no country in which the contest between paid-for and free newspapers is conducted via gagging, care of the legislature. This is an Israeli invention," he wrote.
Yediot's weekend edition outsells Israel Hayom's by some 43% to 31% market share. Israel Hayom may narrow the gap by buying Makor Rishon, whose weekend paper has a 4 percent market share. Makor Rishon daily's sales are negligible.
Asked on Army Radio if Makor Rishon, once bought, would censure Netanyahu were he to evacuate West Bank settlements, Elitzur said: "Let's assume that, yes - and if that's not how it is, then my place will no longer be there."