After examining the bids that were submitted, Israel Hayom’s bid to acquire the activities of newspaper Makor Rishon and the internet site NRG were higher than the other offers.

By World Israel News Staff

Pro-Israel Jewish philanthropist Sheldon Adelson, owner of the free daily newspaper Israel Hayom, has outbid Jerusalem Post owner Eli Azor in acquiring Israel’s flailing newspaper Makor Rishon and news website NRG.

According to Hen Berdichev, the trustee appointed by the Jerusalem District Court to handle the bidding off of Makor Rishon and NRG,  Azor was unwilling to match Adelson’s 14 million shekel bid on Makor Rishon and 3 million shekel bid on NRG.

“After examining the bids that were submitted, Israel Hayom‘s bid to acquire the activities of newspaper Makor Rishon and the internet site NRG were higher than the other offers in all parameters, to a meaningful and obvious degree, in terms of the sum and in terms of the numbers of workers that it obligated to continue to employ,” said Berdichev.

Because Adelson holds Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in high esteem, the prime minister’s detractors tried to curb Israel Hayom’s political influence by introducing a law in 2014 designed to prohibit the distribution of daily newspapers free of charge.

In 2014, the Knesset approved the preliminary reading of the proposed “Israel Hayom Law,” but it never reached the plenum for a second vote.

The billionaire has shown much support for the Jewish State over the years.

Israel’s historic $100 million effort to reach the moon with the Beresheet lunar module was financed largely by Adelson.

Adelson has reportedly offered to donate $500 million toward the construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem.

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Leaked transcripts of police testimony given by Miriam Adelson in connection with a graft probe of the Netanyahus reveal alleged demands for positive coverage in one of Israel’s primary daily papers.

By World Israel News Staff

Police transcripts from a graft probe of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara revealed new details regarding alleged attempts to manipulate media coverage to portray them in a positive light.

The transcripts consisted of comments by Israel Hayom publisher Miriam Adelson, who is Israel’s wealthiest woman and has been a supporter of Netanyahu in the past. Adelson reportedly told police that the prime minister and his wife complained about how they were portrayed in the paper, according to a Channel 12 report.

In the leaked transcripts, Adelson claimed that Sara Netanyahu “told me once that if Iran obtains nuclear weapons and Israel will be wiped out that it will be my fault because I did not protect Bibi,” Arutz Sheva reported, quoting Channel 12.

Adelson’s testimony was given in connection with Case 2000, which is based on allegations that Netanyahu attempted to negotiate an agreement with the publisher of the Yediot Aharonot newspaper through which he would receive favorable news coverage in exchange for the closure of Israel Hayom, Yediot Aharonot’s primary competitor.

The Prime Minister’s Office blasted the Channel 12 report, referring to the transcripts as “more skewed, gossipy, tabloid leaks, published on the eve of elections in order to harm Prime Minister Netanyahu and Likud,” Times of Israel reported.

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