Edge Rewrite
restyle Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

Jump to content

The Times of Israel

Page extended-confirmed-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Simona Weinglass)

The Times of Israel
Home page of The Times of Israel on July 30, 2026
TypeOnline newspaper
Founders
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
LaunchedFebruary 2012; 14 years ago (2012-02)
Political alignment
Centre[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
LanguageEnglish, Hebrew, Arabic, French, Persian
HeadquartersJerusalem
ISSN0040-7909
OCLC number1076401854
Websitetimesofisrael.com

The Times of Israel (ToI) is an Israeli multi-language online newspaper that was launched in 2012 and has since become the largest English-language Jewish and Israeli news source by audience size. 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 pageviews, according to its press kit, while the paper's blog platform had 9,000 active bloggers.[13] In 2025, the press kit listed an audience of 8 million unique monthly users, comprising 25 million monthly visits and 75 million monthly pageviews.[14] Website ranking company Similarweb listed the site's traffic as 45 million visits in June 2025, with more than half the traffic originating in the United States,[15] with liaison journalists stationed in New York City.

History

Headquarters of ToI in Jerusalem (2012)

The Times of Israel was launched in February 2012. Its co-founders are journalist David Horovitz,[16][17] and American billionaire Seth Klarman, founder of the Baupost Group and chairman of The David Project. Klarman is the chairman of the website.[18] 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]

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] 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]

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.[23] It also hosts Britain's Jewish News, the New Jersey Jewish Standard, The Atlanta Jewish Times, and Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle.[24][25][26]

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.[25] 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".[27]

In February 2019, The Times of Israel launched website for its Hebrew language edition, Zman Yisrael. Birnit Goren was appointed editor-in-chief of Zman Yisrael, whose editorial team is based in Tel Aviv.[28][29] In October 2019, The Australian Jewish News became the seventh local partner of The Times of Israel.[30]

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.[31][32] 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".[31]

Editorial position

The Times of Israel is considered to be "centrist" by various sources.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] The Jewish Independent described The Times of Israel as centrist but critical of Benjamin Netanyahu.[33] Courrier International described the Zman Yisrael, sister website of The Times of Israel in Hebrew, as centrist.[34]

According to editor David Horovitz, The Times of Israel is intended to be independent, without any political leanings.[35][36] Horovitz said in 2012: "We are independent; we're not attached or affiliated with any political party".[37]

Readership

The Times of Israel competes for readership with The Jerusalem Post, Arutz Sheva, Haaretz daily English edition, Israel Hayom, and The Forward.[37]

In February 2014, two years after its launch, The Times of Israel claimed a readership of 2 million.[11] In 2017, readership of the paper increased to 3.5 million.[12] By 2021, The Times of Israel had on average over 9 million unique users each month and over 35 million monthly page views.[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.[38]

Third-party blogging

The 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 articles 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. The Times of Israel has at times 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.[39] These pieces written by third-party users have sometimes been confused for or misrepresented as the endorsed original work of The Times of Israel, leading to criticism of the newspaper itself.[40][41] As of 2013, it was estimated that The Times of Israel hired more than 1,500 bloggers.[42] By 2019, the platform had 9,000 bloggers.[13]

Removed blog posts

On August 1, 2014, blogger Yochanan Gordon wrote a blog post titled "When Genocide is Permissible", which discussed 2014 Gaza war. The post was removed in less than a minute after it was uploaded and was condemned by spokeswoman of The Times of Israel, who described it as "damnable and ignorant". She said it violated ToI's editorial guidelines.[43][44] The blog post questioned whether committing genocide against the people of Gaza was morally justifiable, since Hamas would never accept peace.[45]

On April 9, 2015, a blog post titled "Understanding the Idea of Israeli Land Under Talmudic Law" with a byline of Australian lawyer Josh Bornstein referred to the Palestinians as "cockroaches" and “worthless subhuman beasts and vermin” and called to "exterminate them". The post was heavily criticized on social media and subsequently removed by ToI along with Bornstein’s author page for being “inappropriate/satire". Josh Bornstein said on Twitter that he was not involved in the creation of the post.[46] Writing for The Guardian, Bornstein explained that he had nothing to do with the post nor The Times of Israel and was a victim of identity theft by an American neo-Nazi group that wanted to defame him.[47] The blog post was shared on social media and led to Bornstein receiving threats, including from a Twitter account linked to the Islamic State.[48]

In May 2023, Chicago-based blogger Jeffrey Camras wrote a blog post in which he stated; “In order to right a wrong, in order to make peace and move forward, Palestine must be obliterated”.[49] Camras also claimed that Palestinian nationality was "a lie". Genocide scholar Raz Segal cited this as an example of genocidal rhetoric in the Israeli discourse.[50] The post was subsequently removed after receiving criticism on social media and The Times of Israel‘s comment section.[51]

Additional media

In addition to written journalism, The Times of Israel produces and publishes three podcasts; it also produces video content:[52]

  • 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

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "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. 1 2 "Is American media coverage of the Israel-Hamas war biased?". Religion News Service. 21 November 2023. the centrist Times of Israel
  3. 1 2 "Israeli media laud Obama 'bear hug'". Politico. 22 March 2013. the politically centrist Times of Israel
  4. 1 2 "U.N. rewrites history; Jews look on bright side". The Japan Times. 19 October 2016. The centrist Times of Israel
  5. 1 2 "Israel just crossed a line it has never crossed before". The World from PRX. 8 February 2017. The centrist Times of Israel
  6. 1 2 "Shul Axes Pamela Geller, and 2 Others Invite Her". The Forward. 14 April 2013. the centrist Times of Israel
  7. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 "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. ↑ "Similarweb PRO - Times of Israel". pro.similarweb.com. Archived from the original on 23 April 2025. Retrieved 29 July 2025.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ 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.
  18. ↑ 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.
  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. 1 2 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. ↑ "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.
  24. ↑ "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.
  25. 1 2 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.
  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. ↑ "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.
  28. ↑ Persico, Oren (12 February 2019). "אחרי למעלה מעשור: שחקן חדש בזירת העיתונות העברית ברשת – זמן ישראל, בבעלות משותפת של המיליארדר סת קלרמן". The Seventh Eye (in Hebrew).
  29. ↑ 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.
  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. 1 2 "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.
  32. ↑ Wilensky, David A. M. (17 July 2020). "News outlets covering Israel found, again, to have run fake op-eds". J. J. The Jewish News of Northern California. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 26 September 2020.
  33. ↑ Flescher, Ittay (12 December 2023). "Who's who in Israel's print media". The Jewish Independent.
  34. ↑ "Zman Yisrael (Jérusalem)". Courrier international (in French). Retrieved 30 July 2026.
  35. ↑ "Tycoons Turning Israeli Media into Hasbara Tools". Haaretz. Archived from the original on 20 March 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  36. ↑ 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.
  37. 1 2 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.
  38. ↑ 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". Press Gazette.
  39. ↑ "The Times of Israel and its bloggers". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  40. ↑ "Blog Post Advocating 'Gaza Genocide' Removed From Times of Israel Website". Haaretz.com. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  41. ↑ "Times of Israel removes an unacceptable blog post". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  42. ↑ Marshall, Sarah (9 October 2013). "How The Times of Israel created a blogging community". journalism.co.uk. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013.
  43. ↑ Gander, Kashmira (1 August 2014). "Israel-Gaza conflict: 'When Genocide is Permissible' article removed". The Independent.
  44. ↑ Mathis-Lilley, Ben (1 August 2014). "Israeli Website Publishes Piece Titled "When Genocide Is Permissible"". Slate Magazine. ISSN 1091-2339.
  45. ↑ Fisher, Max (1 August 2014). "Here's the full text of the deleted Times of Israel post backing genocide in Gaza". Vox.
  46. ↑ James, Brendan (9 April 2015). "Times Of Israel Scrubs Another Pro-Genocide Post Against Palestinians". Talking Points Memo.
  47. ↑ Bornstein, Josh (5 May 2015). "White supremacists stole my identity to spew hatred on the Times of Israel". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077.
  48. ↑ Mastracci, Davide (12 May 2015). "Prominent Jewish lawyer threatened by ISIL after falling prey to systemic neo-Nazi plot". National Post.
  49. ↑ "'Palestine Must Be Obliterated': 'Times of Israel' Publishes, Deletes Article Calling for Genocide". Palestine Chronicle. 19 May 2023. Retrieved 25 September 2025.
  50. ↑ Segal, Raz; Daniele, Luigi (5 March 2024). "Gaza as Twilight of Israel Exceptionalism: Holocaust and Genocide Studies from Unprecedented Crisis to Unprecedented Change". Journal of Genocide Research. 28: 69–78. doi:10.1080/14623528.2024.2325804.
  51. ↑ Nash, Charlie (20 May 2023). "Times of Israel Removes Article Calling For Palestine to Be 'Obliterated'". Mediaite.
  52. ↑ "Podcasts | The Times of Israel". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 29 October 2022.
  53. ↑ "Writer: Haviv Rettig Gur". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  54. ↑ 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.
  55. ↑ 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.

Wikimedia Commons logo Media related to The Times of Israel at Wikimedia Commons

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Times_of_Israel&oldid=1367178826#Investigative_journalism"