The exact cause of the decision is unknown, although it is widely believed to be in response to comments made by Amos Schocken, publisher of the newspaper, during a conference in London last month. Schocken referred to Palestinian militants as “freedom fighters”. He quickly walked back the remarks, and clarified that he was not referring to Hamas, but the damage was already done.

In his statement announcing the boycott on Sunday, Karhi argued that the paper had been “undermining the goals of the war” and “weakening the military effort and its social resilience”. But it seems that such a move has been under consideration for a while: last year, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs worked on a draft resolution preventing the government advertising office from publishing in Haaretz, although it was never implemented.

Even though most government ministers had already independently announced that they would no longer cooperate with the newspaper, it is another development in the erosion of liberal norms in Israel, which was already underway before 7 October but which has gathered pace since.

Many Israelis who took to the streets in protest against proposed judicial reforms in 2023 argued that it was particularly important for a country like Israel to have a strong and independent judiciary, given the tendency of governments to undermine rights and become more authoritarian during wartime, and the enduring likelihood of the nation being engaged in serious conflict.

So it has proven, with increasing attacks on the judiciary, the media, and the purging of relative moderates from the government, such as Gadi Eisenkot and Yoav Gallant. Spurious charges of undermining the war effort are being made against an increasingly varied section of society, including Arab Israelis, former military officers, and elements of the media.

One of the justifications given by the International Criminal Court for its arrest warrant against former defence secretary Gallant, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is that they did not do enough to investigate media reports of potential war crimes. The boycott against Haaretz puts yet more pressure on an already enfeebled liberal press in the country, and makes it less likely that such reports will be issued in the future.

In his statement, Karhi argued that Haaretz’s editorials had “harmed the legitimacy of the State of Israel in the world”. However, Haaretz has been one of the very few publications in Israel — a democratic country — to publish legitimate critiques of the war against Hamas and Hezbollah. If the surreal disconnect between how the conflict in Gaza is perceived inside and outside of the country intensifies, the state’s legitimacy will be undermined — not by Haaretz, but by the Israeli government.

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David Swift is a historian and author. His next book, Scouse Republic, will be published in 2025.

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