The Jerusalem Post

The Jerusalem Post is an Israeli daily newspaper in English whose history follows the development of the Jewish community in Palestine, the State of Israel and the global Jewish world. For more than nine decades, it has provided news, analysis and interpretation to readers in Israel and abroad. Its distinctive role has been to explain Israeli life in English, connect Israel with Jewish communities overseas and bring international audiences into direct contact with the Israeli and Jewish story.

From the Palestine Bulletin to the Palestine Post

The newspaper's direct predecessor was the Palestine Bulletin, founded in 1925 by Jewish-American publisher Jacob Landau through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. One of its editors was Gershon Agronsky, a Russian-born American journalist who immigrated to Palestine and later became known as Gershon Agron, mayor of Jerusalem. Another editor was the Jewish-English jurist David Goitein, who later became a justice of Israel's Supreme Court.

In 1932, Landau and Agronsky agreed to cooperate, and on 1 December of that year The Palestine Post appeared as the successor to the Palestine Bulletin. In the first editorial, Agronsky described its mission as giving English-speaking readers information about Judaism and Zionism, helping British officials understand the Jewish community, and reporting daily on Jewish life and aspirations in Palestine and the Diaspora.

That mission gave the paper importance beyond ordinary commercial journalism. During the British Mandate, it reported on the Jewish settlement, the struggle for a national home and Jewish communities abroad. It openly opposed British restrictions on Jewish immigration. Although it was not formally a publication of the Jewish Agency, it was widely regarded as an important public voice for the Yishuv. During the Second World War it was among the most widely circulated papers in Palestine, reaching approximately 50,000 copies on the day of the Normandy landings in 1944.

A newspaper in moments of national crisis

The paper did not merely report the formative events of its era; it became part of their history. During the War of Independence, a car bomb severely damaged its Jerusalem building. Four people were killed, dozens were injured and the press was badly damaged, yet the newspaper appeared the following day with assistance from other printing houses. The editorial published after the attack expressed the paper's determination to continue speaking even under the most difficult conditions.

The siege of Jerusalem and the interruption of transport routes forced the staff to adapt quickly. For approximately ten weeks in 1948, the paper appeared in parallel Tel Aviv and Jerusalem editions, preserving its connection with readers in areas that had been cut off from one another. After wartime damage, the Histadrut provided financial assistance through Solel Boneh; according to the supplied material, it did not intervene in the paper's management or editorial work.

A new name and an Israeli mission

After Israel's establishment, the paper continued to present the country to diplomats, tourists and English-speaking audiences. In 1950, when a proposal was made to move the newspaper from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, Gershon Agron chose to preserve its connection with the city and renamed it The Jerusalem Post. The name became both a historical identity and a powerful link to Jerusalem, Israel's capital and a central focus of Jewish life.

Ownership changed over the decades. Organizations connected with the Histadrut held a substantial share during the early state years, and Sam Rothberg's Israel Investors was a significant ownership force during the 1970s. In 1989 the paper was purchased by Conrad Black's Hollinger group. The paper's political direction then moved to the right, and a group of departing journalists founded the weekly The Jerusalem Report, later acquired by Hollinger as well.

The Eli Azur era and an expanding media organization

After Hollinger's financial difficulties and business collapse, the paper was put up for sale in 2004. Businessman Eli Azur acquired control, initially in partnership with the Canadian company CanWest and eventually on his own. During this period, the newspaper expanded its partnerships and range of products. In 2008 it began cooperating with The Wall Street Journal and distributing its European edition in Israel.

The organization continued to develop print journalism alongside digital media. JPost.com was launched in 1996 and offers news, opinion, archives, an online edition of the newspaper and additional magazines. The website operates as a separate digital entity from the daily paper, with its own teams and a broad archive of articles and editions. This digital expansion allowed the newspaper to reach readers worldwide and preserve access to reporting on Israeli society and Israel's relationship with the Jewish Diaspora.

The group also developed products for language learners and younger readers, including Jerusalem Post Lite in easy English, editions for children and teenagers, services for learning English and Hebrew, the easy-Hebrew magazine IVRIT and a French edition. These projects made the organization more than a news provider: they turned it into an educational and cultural resource that helps readers in Israel and Jewish communities abroad read, learn and deepen their connection with Israel.

Conferences, public conversation and the Jewish world

Since 2012, the newspaper has held The Jerusalem Post Conference in New York. The event brings together government figures, public leaders, journalists and influential members of the Jewish world, extending the newspaper's role from reporting the news to creating a forum for public conversation. Through the conference and its international activities, The Jerusalem Post strengthens connections among Israeli decision-makers, Jewish communities abroad and international audiences.

Since 2010, the newspaper has also published an annual list of the world's fifty most influential Jews. The list highlights contributions in science, culture, business, public leadership and social action, emphasizing the breadth of Jewish influence in Israel and throughout the world. In 2023, the organization announced a congress and awards ceremony connected with the list.

A living archive of Israel and Jewish life

The historical value of The Jerusalem Post lies not only in individual headlines but in the continuity of its record. From the political struggle under the Mandate, through the War of Independence, the building of the state, Israel-Diaspora relations and the digital age, the paper has documented changes in Israeli society and the ways Israel has been presented to the world. It has enabled readers who do not read Hebrew to encounter the country's institutions, communities, debates and achievements in a language accessible to international audiences.

The newspaper has passed through ownership changes, editorial transitions and technological transformations, yet it has retained its central role as an Israeli publication in English. Its persistence after the Jerusalem bombing, its adaptation during the siege, its expansion into digital media and its investment in educational programs and international conferences show how a media institution can survive historical change while continuing to serve new generations of readers.

Why The Jerusalem Post belongs in Moreshet

The Jerusalem Post merits inclusion in Moreshet because it is a communications institution that has recorded and explained the life of Israel and the Jewish people across generations. It gave Israeli voices an international platform, helped readers around the world understand the country's reality and created a continuing bridge between Israel and Jewish communities in the Diaspora.

Its legacy is visible in concrete achievements: a newspaper that continued publishing after an attack during the War of Independence, a staff that maintained communication despite the isolation of Jerusalem, a digital archive that preserves access to the past, educational editions that support language learning and an international conference that brings together leaders and members of the Jewish world. For these reasons, The Jerusalem Post has a natural place on Moreshet.com. Its story is not only the story of a newspaper; it is also the story of a vehicle through which Israel, Jerusalem and the Jewish world have explained themselves to one another and to the wider world.