Israel Hayom
Israel Hayom (Hebrew: ישראל היום, lit. Israel Today) is an Israeli national Hebrew–language free daily newspaper, first published in 2007. It has the largest daily circulation in the country.
History
Israel Hayom was launched on 30 July 2007 and competed directly with Israeli, another free daily . The same year, Maariv editor Dan Margalit left the newspaper to write for Israel Hayom. A weekend edition was launched in October 2009. In 2014, it was believed that Sheldon Adelson invested in total at least $50 million in Israel Hayom.
Adelson's support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has led the latter's political opponents in the Knesset to sponsor a bill that would prevent the free distribution of newspapers in Israel. Ostensibly framed as a bill to prevent unfair competition and save the Israeli print newspaper industry, critics of the bill said it hurts free enterprise and is a thinly veiled attempt to target Adleson and his political causes, as Israel Hayom is Israel's only free-of-charge national newspaper. The bill passed the first reading in the Knesset, but not subsequent ones.
