Davar Newspaper

Davar was more than a daily newspaper. For most of the twentieth century it served as a principal public voice of the Labor movement, the Histadrut and the institutions of the Jewish community in Palestine, while also becoming one of the most influential forums for political debate, Hebrew culture and social life in Israel. Published from 1925 until 1996, it recorded the transition from the Yishuv to statehood and helped shape the language through which generations discussed nation-building, work, immigration, settlement and culture.

Founding Davar

Davar was founded by Berl Katznelson and Moshe Beilinson. Its first issue appeared on June 1, 1925, under the name Davar—The Newspaper of the Workers of Palestine. The name is generally attributed to Haim Nahman Bialik, although some accounts credit Katznelson; in any case, Bialik was the figure who made the final choice. Lily Tzedek designed the newspaper’s distinctive masthead. The Davar publishing house, established to produce the paper, also published books.

Katznelson viewed the newspaper as an instrument of the Labor movement: a means of advancing its socialist and national vision, educating readers and building an organized Hebrew society. Among Davar’s early regular writers was Zalman Shazar, who later became president of Israel. After Katznelson’s death in 1944, Shazar became the newspaper’s editor.

The paper’s creation was accompanied by a dispute over editorial authority and the relationship between journalistic independence and the Histadrut leadership. After a clash between Katznelson and Yitzhak Lufban of Hapoel Hatzair, the Histadrut recognized Katznelson as sole editor and accepted his demand that the editor be chosen by the Histadrut convention. This early conflict foreshadowed a tension that remained part of Davar’s identity: it was closely aligned with a political movement, yet aspired to function as a newspaper of broad public importance.

Davar under the British Mandate

During the Yishuv period, when the Labor movement and the Histadrut occupied central positions in Jewish public life, Davar was regarded as the newspaper of the Yishuv’s leadership. It became the most widely read newspaper among the Jewish population of Palestine, particularly among members of the kibbutzim, moshavim and labor settlements, who regarded it as their own public forum.

The paper adopted the form of a modern newspaper, but its editorial line was unmistakably identified with Mapai and the Zionist movement. It attacked political opponents at home and abroad, and the boundary between reporting and opinion was often blurred. Within the newsroom, writers seeking wider reporting freedom frequently came into conflict with movement officials determined to maintain political discipline.

Moshe Sharett, then known as Moshe Shertok, joined the staff after Katznelson asked him to return to Palestine. Sharett was the only person in the newsroom who knew English and edited the telegrams and reports arriving from the British administration. He left Davar in 1931 to pursue political activity.

Davar opposed British restrictions on immigration and illegal immigration, and the Mandate authorities closed it several times because of its articles. In July 1937 the newspaper was suspended for two weeks, during which subscribers received issues of Omer and the news section of Hatzofe. On October 22, 1937, a sharply worded editorial condemned plans to restrict immigration, leading to another week-long closure. In August 1939, after the paper protested the transfer of immigrants rescued from small boats to detention at Sarafand, the authorities closed it from August 17 to 24. In November 1945 it was closed for a week after the publication of a caricature by Aryeh Navon.

Davar’s nationalist perspective also shaped its coverage of the Jewish-Arab conflict. It generally portrayed the Palestinian national movement in hostile terms and did not adequately address the conflict’s national dimensions. At the same time, its opposition to restrictions on Jewish immigration made it one of the Yishuv’s prominent voices against British policy.

A newspaper of war, statehood and society

During the War of Independence, Jerusalem was under partial siege and newspapers printed in Tel Aviv could not reach the city. Jerusalem journalists therefore joined together to publish a local paper, Davar Jerusalem. It was headed by Yitzhak Ben-Dor, Davar’s Jerusalem editor, who was killed during the war by shelling. This episode illustrates the newspaper’s role not only as a source of information but also as a public institution that continued operating under emergency conditions.

By 1950, Davar employed approximately 400 people throughout the country. Its network of branches distributed the paper and, in various locations, also served as bookshops and local news agencies. Davar was therefore part of the infrastructure of public life in the young state, connecting the center of the country with settlements, factories, kibbutzim and moshavim while carrying news, commentary, literature and debates about education, economics and settlement.

Supplements, culture and satire

Davar published a wide range of supplements and affiliated publications, including Davar for Children, Davar HaPo'elet, Davar for the Immigrant and The Cooperative Economy. These publications extended the newspaper’s readership and brought family life and everyday concerns into conversation with debates about settlement, economics, literature and theater. For many members of Israel’s labor settlements, Davar’s pages were a place to formulate disagreements and examine their public identity.

In 1961, Davar HaShavua changed from an independent weekly supplied only to subscribers into Davar’s Saturday supplement. In 1964 Ahad Zamora became its editor and transformed it into a leading cultural magazine. He gathered younger writers around him, including Nahum Barnea, Doron Rosenblum, Michael Handelsaltz, Ali Mohar, Dani Kerman, Yair Garbuz and Yonatan Geffen. He also persuaded leading writers—including Amos Oz, Yoram Kaniuk, Haim Be'er, Nissim Aloni, Dan Tsalka, Hanoch Bartov, S. Yizhar and Moshe Shamir—to contribute specially written stories and essays to holiday issues. The issues devoted to Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Passover, Independence Day and Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day later became collectors’ items and helped define the cultural prestige of Hebrew journalism.

Davar gave work to journalists, novelists, poets and artists. The painter Aryeh Navon was its regular cartoonist, and satire became one of the paper’s recognizable features. The column Davar Aher, launched in July 1983, was initially written by Dani Kerman, Haim Be'er, Yitzhak Ben-Ner and Aharon Shami; Shlomo Nitzan and Yair Garbuz later joined it. As Davar declined, the column also appeared in Yedioth Ahronoth and continued there until 2004, extending its influence beyond the life of the newspaper itself.

Editors, social change and the final years

Hana Zemer began at Davar as a parliamentary and political correspondent and later served as deputy editor-in-chief. She edited the newspaper from 1970 to 1990. Under her leadership, Davar remained a major platform for public debate even as Israeli society changed and the historical connection between the newspaper, Mapai and the Labor movement became less self-evident.

Davar was also the only Israeli daily newspaper to publish a regular section for gay men and lesbians. The two-page section, Homogeni, edited by Zvi Marom, appeared in Davar HaShavua during the newspaper’s final years. Its presence widened the boundaries of mainstream Israeli journalism and provided visibility to a community that had rarely received sustained attention in the national press.

After the political upheaval of 1977, the decline of the Histadrut’s influence and the rise of the political right, Davar’s readership also weakened. The paper was increasingly identified with an outdated Mapai culture and faced serious financial difficulties during the 1980s. After Zemer retired, it was edited jointly by Yoram Peri and Daniel Bloch. In an effort to create a younger and more modern image, the newspaper was renamed Davar Rishon near the end of its life, and Ron Ben-Yishai became editor. The changes did not prevent its closure in 1996.

The name after the newspaper

Davar continued to occupy an important place in Israeli public memory after it ceased publication. On September 24, 2004, a special issue was printed to mark sixty years since Berl Katznelson’s death. In 2005, on the eightieth anniversary of the newspaper’s first issue, Daniel Bloch prepared a one-time online edition. The Davar building at the corner of Melchett and Sheinkin Streets in Tel Aviv was demolished and replaced by an apartment building, but the newspaper remains present in preserved issues, archives and the memories of its readers.

In 2015, the Histadrut decided to launch a news website using the Davar brand. On June 7, 2016, the website Davar Rishon went online. It was not a direct continuation of the historic daily, but the revival of the name demonstrated the enduring power of the brand and its association with socially engaged Hebrew journalism.

Why Davar belongs in Moreshet

Davar merits inclusion in the Moreshet archive because it was a central institution in the history of Jewish society in Palestine and the State of Israel. It documented the transition from the Yishuv to statehood, covered the War of Independence, disseminated the Labor movement’s ideas, represented the world of the kibbutzim and moshavim, and helped shape the vocabulary through which Israelis discussed nationalism, work, culture and social responsibility.

Its importance extends beyond its political alignment. Through its supplements, literature, cartoons, satire and platforms for groups that were often missing from mainstream coverage, Davar created a space where journalism, education and culture met. Many writers who later shaped Hebrew literature and Israeli journalism passed through its pages, while its surviving issues offer a detailed record of changing Jewish and Israeli life across seven decades. Davar’s history is therefore also part of the history of modern Hebrew and of the institutions that built Israeli public culture. Moreshet and Moreshet.com preserve this context by showing why a newspaper that disappeared from the newsstands remains essential to the study of Jewish heritage, Israeli society and the power of the press to shape collective memory.