Makor Rishon

Makor Rishon’s editorial offering encompasses news and commentary alongside several distinct supplements: Yoman, devoted to current affairs; D’yokan, a magazine; Shabbat, covering Jewish thought, Judaism, literature, and the arts; and Motzash, addressing current affairs and society.[1] This combination places political journalism and Jewish cultural discussion within the same publication rather than limiting its content to either field.[1] The newspaper offers subscriptions for website content and printed copies, while its website operator is registered as Makor Rishon Limited Partnership, registration number 55-025550-9, at a Jerusalem address.[8]

The paper’s founding initiative came from intellectuals and opinion leaders in Israel’s national camp, with an expressed ambition to create a deeper, bolder Israeli conversation and provide space for views and audiences insufficiently represented in mainstream media.[1] Founding editor Meir Uziel nevertheless recalled rejecting an advertising concept that would have presented the publication as the newspaper of a particular sector, preferring the ambition of being “the newspaper for every Israeli.”[4] That broad aspiration also appeared in editor Amnon Shomron’s 2001 description of a conservative, nationally oriented but nonpartisan newspaper that allowed individual writers their own voices.[9]

Its publication arrangements have changed over time: early accounts describe daily publication followed by revival as a Friday weekly, while later periods included a combined daily newspaper and weekday online publication alongside Friday print editions.[9][10] A 2020 national-security conference program identified it as a weekly and named Orly Goldklang as deputy editor.[11] These different formats form part of the paper’s publishing history rather than a single unchanging schedule.[9][10]

Makor Rishon was established in 1997, with Meir Uziel as its first editor.[1][9] Uziel recalled that author Moshe Shamir approached him in the mid-1990s about creating a newspaper and that Rabbi Shmuel Tal was associated with the early initiative.[4] The project initially stalled for lack of funding; about two years later, Gadi Listenberg, whom Uziel remembered as the young managing director and organizer, approached him about a renewed effort.[4] A separate recollection by former editor Amnon Shomron highlighted Tal and Listenberg as initiators and Emmanuel Shilo as someone who helped establish the young publication.[4]

A test issue was produced in winter 1997 in a small print run and was not distributed to subscribers.[4] The preserved seventeenth issue, dated November 7, 1997, was Uziel’s last as editor-in-chief; he recalled handing over the position three and a half months after the launch.[4] By December, the newspaper was publishing commentary by established literary figures: Moshe Shamir contributed an opinion piece to its December 5 issue.[12] Uziel also recalled an early feasibility survey in which 25 percent of respondents said they wanted a newspaper that was “less left-wing,” a result he interpreted as evidence of potential demand rather than an actual readership measurement.[4]

Uziel’s intended editorial priority was strengthening news reporting, which he regarded as a weakness of right-wing journalism.[4] He recruited former Maariv desk chief Moshe Lerer as deputy editor and head of news, and favored interviews, research, fact-checking, scoops, and reporting over a publication dominated by lengthy ideological essays.[4] His efforts to establish the paper within the wider press community included securing a room for reporters at the Knesset and holding its launch ceremony at Beit Sokolov.[4] These were practical and symbolic expressions of his wish that Makor Rishon be treated as a newspaper in its own right.[4]

The early business proved fragile: a 2001 profile described two years of struggling as a daily before closure and subsequent revival by publisher Michael Karish as a weekly appearing on Fridays.[9] In a retrospective essay, Amnon Shomron recalled becoming editor-in-chief in 2001 with limited resources and a largely inexperienced staff, requiring improvisation and partnerships to reduce costs.[13] He wrote that the paper aspired to cover news but lacked a team of news reporters, so its front page offered a weekly publicistic-news statement and its opening inside pages summarized the week.[13]

Shomron also recalled serious commercial obstacles, arguing that major advertising agencies avoided the paper either for ideological reasons or because religious-Zionist readers already consumed general media.[13] In the same account, he said the purchaser who revived the newspaper bought it from Rabbi Tal after a financial collapse, and he credited the purchaser with substantial respect for editorial independence.[13] In his contemporaneous 2001 description of editorial policy, Shomron emphasized journalistic treatment rather than polemics and estimated that most of the writers were secular, despite a substantial religious-Zionist readership.[9]

Shlomo Ben-Zvi acquired Makor Rishon in 2003 as part of a concentration of media holdings in right-wing and religious outlets.[14][15] His plans included an expanded relaunch in early 2005 and the creation of a new right-wing daily.[14] He criticized Israeli media for insufficient patriotism and negative depictions of the Israel Defense Forces.[14] A later profile described a major overhaul after his acquisition, involving additional sections and departments and the recruitment of new editors.[10] Efforts to extend the newspaper’s reach beyond the religious-Zionist public included a weekend magazine aimed at secular Tel Aviv readers, although those magazine ventures subsequently closed.[10]

The acquisition of HaTzofe brought an older religious-Zionist newspaper into this publishing enterprise.[16][5] Founded in August 1937 as the organ of the World Mizrachi Movement, HaTzofe initially appeared three times weekly and became a daily that December; it later expressed modern Orthodox viewpoints and party opinions.[16] The National Religious Party sold it to Ben-Zvi in 2005.[16] In 2007, HaTzofe merged with his weekly Makor Rishon, and the combined Makor Rishon–Hatzofeh became a daily.[5]

HaTzofe continued as a weekend religious-affairs supplement until its final edition in December 2008.[5] Management’s stated decision was to concentrate resources on developing Makor Rishon, including the addition of a midweek politics supplement.[5] A 2009 account described the combined paper as serving nationalistic and religious audiences and noted that it had introduced its own website.[17] Its development therefore joined a newer national-camp publishing initiative with a newspaper rooted in the institutional history of religious Zionism.[1][16]

A further digital expansion was planned in 2009: a daily edition distributed at 1 p.m. to approximately 100,000 subscribers, with roughly 32–40 pages covering news, business, sports, and current affairs.[18] The reported launch budget was NIS 500,000, and access through JTIMES.CO.IL was to be free for the first three months.[18] Thirty-five staff members had been recruited, including twenty journalists and editors; the paper also maintained printed morning and Friday editions.[18] The group’s owner at that time was identified as British businessman David Morris.[18] By 2012, its publishing arrangement was described as online on weekdays and in print on Fridays.[10]

In 2012, owner Shlomo Ben-Zvi acquired the financially troubled Maariv and its NRG website.[3][4] Contemporary reporting characterized Makor Rishon as religious-nationalist and right-wing, and Maariv as a traditionally centrist tabloid.[3] Financial difficulties subsequently led to the assets being offered for sale, with Makor Rishon and NRG entering court-appointed trusteeship under Ben-Zvi’s ownership.[6] Poor sales left the combined company owing approximately $1 million to creditors and employees, and Makor Rishon faced possible closure without a timely sale decision.[19]

In March 2014, the Jerusalem District Court approved the sale of Makor Rishon and NRG to Israel Hayom for NIS 17 million, divided into NIS 14 million for the newspaper and NIS 3 million for the website, subject to antitrust approval.[6] Israel Hayom committed to retain 114 of the newspaper’s 120 employees, 90 percent of its freelancers, and all distribution employees.[6] The Antitrust Authority approved the transaction in April, allowing the newspaper to pass into Sheldon Adelson’s Israel Hayom company.[19][7] Contemporary reporting placed the transaction at approximately $4.9 million.[19]

The competition review distinguished Israel Hayom’s widely distributed free daily from Makor Rishon’s relatively expensive product, especially at weekends, and its more limited, distinct readership.[7] Most Makor Rishon readers were already exposed to Israel Hayom, and the authority concluded that the acquisition did not create a sufficiently significant incentive to adversely influence Makor Rishon’s content.[7] Approval brought relief to employees who had warned that failure to complete the sale could close the paper.[15]

In August 2025, Kalman Libeskind was appointed editor-in-chief, with his arrival expected in mid-September.[20] His weekly column was to move from Maariv to Makor Rishon while he continued presenting the daily “Kalman Liberman” program on Kan’s Reshet Bet.[20] The appointment represented a return: he had begun his journalism career at Makor Rishon as an investigative reporter.[20] The newspaper’s current description identifies him as editor-in-chief and as an investigative journalist, columnist, and radio broadcaster.[1]

Shabbat provides a dedicated setting for Jewish thought, Judaism, literature, and the arts, alongside the newspaper’s news and current-affairs sections.[1] A Mosaic/Tikvah Ideas biography identifies Yoav Sorek, editor-in-chief of the Hebrew quarterly Hashiloach, as a former editor of Makor Rishon’s Shabbat Musaf section.[21] The newspaper’s broader supplement structure has also included a women’s supplement and a children’s supplement; in 2012 its Friday edition cost NIS 22.50, and Motzash was described as a culture magazine.[10]

Political and social reporting, cultural coverage, and attention to Palestinian media were already features of the paper in 2001.[9] Its coverage of shooting attacks included incidents without casualties, and it maintained a regular column about Palestinian media.[9] The range of its security-related contributions also included an op-ed by Dr. Ely Karmon titled “Iran – Threat to World Peace” and a February 21, 2015 Hebrew-language interview with Dr. Jonathan Fine about religious terrorism.[22][23]

Articles have circulated beyond the newspaper through edited republication in research-center publications.[24][25] An article published in Makor Rishon on October 12, 2020 appeared in edited form in a paper released on October 20.[24] Another, published on March 30, 2021 by Mordechai Kedar, a senior research associate at the BESA Center, appeared in edited form on April 5.[25] These examples document the newspaper’s role as an original publication venue for analysis subsequently presented to additional audiences.[24][25]

Its political commentary has included arguments about the security implications of territorial withdrawal.[26] A Jerusalem Center article recounts that columnist Amnon Lord interviewed Uzi Arad about the Gaza withdrawal plan in his February 3, 2004 “Neged Haruach,” or “Against the Grain,” column.[26] In that account, Arad warned that the plan’s security and diplomatic effects could encourage expectations of further withdrawals and increase pressure on Israel.[26] Lord’s warning, quoted in the later article, was: “The missile threat that now exists in the north will come to the south. Endangered Haifa will be joined by Tel Aviv.”[26]

In discussing religious representation in Israeli media, a review of Yoel Cohen’s study argued that the nationalist religious camp “may be said to be represented by Makor Rishon,” and to some extent by Yisrael Hayom.[27] The review contrasted this role with the relatively narrow selection of media directed at modern Orthodox or national-religious audiences.[27] It suggested that the limited number of specialized publications might reflect those audiences’ use of general newspapers, non-religious radio, and television, while also describing a possible feeling of under-representation.[27]

A 2026 Jewish Review of Books article called Makor Rishon the “flagship dati leumi,” or national-religious, newspaper and discussed an interview Shalom Sadik gave to it in response to criticism of his ideas.[28] The article quoted Sadik using provocative animal comparisons in discussing religious practice and belief: “Even if we are indeed only very clever monkeys,” Torah and commandments enable people “to become happy dogs.”[28] This interview formed part of the newspaper’s engagement with arguments about religious thought rather than only institutional or electoral politics.[28]

The newspaper has also supplied material for explaining Israeli Religious Zionist discussion to English-speaking readers.[29] In introducing his Tradition Online series, Yitzchak Blau explained that he had previously summarized Hebrew writing on Facebook, much of it from Makor Rishon.[29] His expanded project sought to make accessible writing and ideas that readers might otherwise miss because of linguistic and cultural barriers.[29]

Readership measurements describe a comparatively small audience rather than mass-market reach.[30] A July 2014 TGI report gave Makor Rishon exposure of 3.1 percent, down from 3.6 percent in the preceding half-year, while separately reporting an increase in the July-to-June annual average relative to the equivalent earlier period.[30] These were exposure measurements, not circulation figures.[30] A 2016 newspaper-exposure table listed a weekend value of 3.5 and left the weekday column blank; that table did not define the measurement or specify its unit.[31]

The digitized archive catalogues the publication as “Maḳor rishon - מקור ראשון,” a Hebrew newspaper from Israel, with Jerusalem as its city.[2] One listing covers March 6, 2011 through July 31, 2026 and contains 1,107 issues and 112,234 pages, while a title-browsing listing extends the end date to October 2, 2026.[2][32] An older archive page lists holdings through September 20, 2024, totaling 975 issues and 92,174 pages.[33] These figures describe the respective archive listings, not the newspaper’s full publication history.[2][33]

Makor Rishon is also included in the Beit Ariela Public Library press collection.[34] That collection contains press articles primarily from 1993 onward and supports searches by author or topic, with results potentially identifying an article’s newspaper and publication date.[34] Together with the digitized newspaper issues, this provides another route to locating individual contributions and studying the paper’s published record.[2][34]

The 2014 acquisition raised public concerns about media concentration and Makor Rishon’s ability to maintain an independent editorial line under Adelson’s ownership.[35] One reporter described political correspondents as “a little worried,” while also welcoming the opportunity to continue in-depth reporting and analysis from a right-wing perspective; Economy Minister Naftali Bennett expressed hope that the newspaper would retain an independent nationalist position.[35] Employees demonstrated outside the Antitrust Authority in Jerusalem, saying they had been promised journalistic independence and that their integrity would not be compromised.[36] The authority stated that its decision would concern market competition rather than political pressure.[36]

Editorial identity also produced criticism within the religious-Zionist press.[5] A HaTzofe journalist objected to Makor Rishon’s film and theater coverage as unsuitable for a religious audience and characterized its direction as secular-leaning, while management’s spokesman maintained that Makor Rishon did not support a particular political party.[5] The earlier acquisition of Maariv raised separate questions about editorial direction, illustrated by differently framed headlines and details in the same writer’s reports on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s visit to Cairo.[3]

A 2020 critique questioned the handling of a Makor Rishon cover interview with “Itzik the Chinese,” identified as Xi Xiaoqi, an employee of China Radio International’s Hebrew Department.[37] The interviewee described producing positive content to tell Israelis about China and improve its image; the critique argued that the reporter insufficiently challenged his comparisons and moved to copyright questions rather than pursuing them.[37] This was an assessment of that interview’s execution, rather than an established finding about the newspaper’s editorial practice generally.[37]