Kul al-Arab

The National Library of Israel catalogs the newspaper under the title Kul al-ʿArab (كل العرب) and identifies its language as Arabic. Its available archive spans May 3, 1996, through October 27, 2023, although this is the cataloged archive range rather than the newspaper's full publication history.[6]

The publication has operated in both print and digital formats. HonestReporting described its Nazareth-based website as a "respected, professional" news site, an assessment reflecting that organization's characterization of the outlet.[7]

Private Arabic-language newspapers began appearing in Israel in the 1980s. Al-Sinarah was the first such paper; Kul al-Arab followed it as a weekly, and Panorama joined the landscape in the early 1990s.[4] The Jewish Virtual Library identifies the three as principal Arabic newspapers in Israel and notes that Arabic papers could have irregular schedules but were generally published several times a week or once weekly.[1]

In 2000, the newspaper belonged to the Al-Bustani advertising agency.[4] A Globes profile published that year identified poet Samih al-Qasim as editor of Kul al-Arab and reported that he had arrived at the weekly in the early 1990s, when he described it as a 32-page, unpopular paper and credited himself with helping transform it.[4] Al-Qasim said he wanted the paper to address a broad public rather than compete for a single sector, characterizing his approach as "national-liberal-progressive-modern." His employment agreement, he said, separated the advertising agency's commercial interests from editorial policy, and he cited his cancellation of sex-related advertisements as an example of his editorial independence.[4]

By 2008, the responsible editor was Faiz Ishtawi, who had held that role since 1995 after beginning at the paper as head of advertising. Following an increase in his holdings in March 2008, he owned 40% of the newspaper's shares.[3] In 2005, editor Zuhair Andraous used an editorial to call for Arabs in Israel to limit births by choice rather than by default and urged Arab leaders to support an active campaign. He argued that education was the only weapon against Israeli policy and that Arabs should become an "intelligent ticking bomb" rather than a "demographic ticking bomb."[8] He also pledged to donate his child allowance toward establishing a fund to study racism in Israel.[8]

A Geocartography survey reported by Globes gave Kul al-Arab an exposure rate of 33.5%, compared with 31.9% for Panorama, although the difference between the two was not statistically significant.[3] These figures represent exposure rates rather than print-circulation counts. Ishtawi argued that many Arabic-speaking citizens had turned to their own media because they felt Hebrew-language outlets did not adequately represent Arab people, leaders, culture, or public figures. He urged Israeli outlets to employ Arabs as experts on Arab affairs rather than relying on Jewish commentators.[3]

A 2012 overview described the Kul al-Arab website as based on the weekly newspaper and covering politics in Israel and abroad, including issues affecting Arab citizens in northern Israel and smaller villages.[5] The site also published petitions, calls to protest or organize, and volunteer opportunities, giving it a community and social-activity dimension beyond news reporting.[5]

Kul al-Arab has been cited by researchers and journalists as a source for Arab public opinion and political developments inside Israel. CAMERA reported that the paper published a survey of Umm el-Fahm residents in summer 2000 asking whether respondents wanted their city included in a potential Palestinian state. According to the report, 83% opposed the idea, and 54% of those opposed cited a preference for continuing under democratic rule and enjoying a good standard of living.[9] The available account did not detail the survey methodology.

The newspaper has also served as a platform for political polling. A Times of Israel report said it conducted a poll of Arab voters about their preferred leader for a proposed joint pan-Arab electoral slate, with Ahmad Tibi favored by nearly half of respondents amid negotiations among Ra'am-Ta'al and Balad over forming a shared list.[10] A 2019 JNS article placed the paper among Nazareth-based newspapers and recounted an election cartoon discussed by Arab political analyst Shaheen Sarsur. The cartoon depicted the dissolution of the Joint List and reduced Arab-party representation through the image of fewer, disorganized, and broken chairs.[11]

An INSS report on Arab media in Israel cited Kul al-Arab coverage of protests and restrictions related to al-Aqsa Mosque, the police killing of Khayr al-Din Hamdan in Kafr Kanna, and President Reuven Rivlin's visit to Kafr Kassem. One 2014 item was credited to journalist Muna 'Armush.[12] Ynet News reported in 2006 that former Arab Knesset member Abdulmalik Dehamshe gave an interview to the paper in which he supported Palestinian rocket attacks and described the operation in which Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was kidnapped as legitimate.[13]

Before Mansour Abbas's December 2021 remarks at a conference in Tel Aviv, Jewish News reported that he had spoken to Kul al-Arab in Arabic several weeks earlier, describing Israel as a Jewish state and saying his central goal was to define the status of Arab citizens.[2] The Times of Israel similarly reported that Abbas gave the paper an interview in November 2021 in which he argued that Israel's Jewish identity would not change and framed Arab citizens' status as the central question. His approach drew criticism from Arab politicians including Sami Abou Shehadeh and Ayman Odeh.[14]

The 2000 Globes profile recounted al-Qasim's claim that then-politician Ariel Sharon objected to his trip to Syria to visit Hafez al-Assad and imposed an advertising boycott on the paper. Al-Qasim alleged that Sharon instructed the Israel Electric Corporation not to advertise in Kul al-Arab and attempted to pressure other government companies to do the same.[4] He said he nonetheless continued covering Sharon as a politician. The boycott account rests on al-Qasim's testimony as reported by Globes and is not independently corroborated.[4]

A Washington Institute analysis from 2000 characterized Kul al-'Arab's editorials following Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon as describing the Lebanese resistance favorably and Israeli weakness "in a tone of jubilation," presenting this as an example of the withdrawal's effects on Israel's Arab community.[15] MEMRI cited the paper in a report on Palestinian Authority statements about preparations for a possible confrontation in mid-2000. The cited items relayed predictions of a more violent intifada, but the report attributed those predictions to Palestinian officials quoted in the paper rather than to Kul al-Arab itself.[16] These accounts reflect the analytical frameworks of the organizations that published them.