Israel Hayom editor Bismuth quits as paper appears to veer away from Netanyahu

Israel Hayom editor Boaz Bismuth’s visage will no longer grace the paper, as he announces his departure, during a shift by the tabloid away from opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Bismuth, who helmed the paper for five years, after an eight-year stint as international editor, says he is leaving to take on “new challenges,” recounting highlights of his career, which he says are topped by the US embassy moving to Jerusalem.

An astute political observer who once served as Israel’s envoy to Mauritania, Bismuth was nonetheless criticized for his fawning coverage of Netanyahu, as well as that of former US president Donald Trump. Even before he took over, the popular free tabloid was seen by many as a mouthpiece for Netanyahu, credited with helping bring the Likud leader back to power just a few years after it started operations, and helping sustain his subsequent 12-year stint in office.

According to reports, Bismuth’s departure is tied to a shift by the paper away from Netanyahu and toward Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, whose right-wing ideology dovetails with many of the paper’s columnists. Bismuth was seen as closely tied to Netanyahu.

On Friday, Israel Hayom was one of several papers to run wide-ranging interviews with Bennett.

Last week, Walla gossip editor David Vertheim tweeted that he was hearing from journalists there that a shift toward Bennett and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked and away from Netanyahu was underway, and that by this week the paper would be fully in their corner.  He later noted that Bismuth’s departure was tied to this shift.

Yair Netanyahu, the son of the former PM, also takes note of the shift, tweeting that the paper is now “just another leftist outlet, and another propaganda tool for Bennett.”

Publisher Miriam Adelson, whose late husband Sheldon Adelson started the paper, says Omer Lahmanovich will take over as acting editor.