The main entrance to Haaretz’s Tel Aviv office was smashed by a masked vandal on Wednesday morning, the newspaper confirmed.
Security footage showed the individual reaching through the entrance grates and tossing two bricks at a glass door, which punched a hole through the entrance before he fled.
Haaretz released a statement in response to the attack, saying, “Following the incident, the newspaper filed a complaint with the police. Alongside the immediate steps the newspaper is taking to protect the personal safety of its employees, including increasing security at the building’s entrance, Haaretz will continue to fulfill its professional and public mission to practice free and independent journalism – and will not surrender to these violent attempts of intimidation and silencing.”
This is the second incident of this type in a few days, as Channel 12’s glass entrance in Tel Aviv was shattered this Sunday.
Masked man smashes main entrance to Haaretz Tel Aviv offices overnight pic.twitter.com/daBgFnxGTu
— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) July 8, 2026
Second news outlet targeted in days, rhetoric morphing into violence
The incidents come amid heated public discourse and campaigns by right-wing activists and government officials criticizing certain news companies for their coverage in Israel.
Michal Peylan, Channel 12’s welfare reporter, took to X/Twitter to comment on Sunday’s incident, saying “Every sane person, whose heart has not yet been completely destroyed and whose eyes have been completely blinded by hatred, hopes to understand how dangerous it is to live in a country where the government, its head, the minister responsible for the media, and the minister responsible for the security of citizens will not say a word today about the insane violence against journalists. (And will also continue to incite against them, of course).”
In response to the Haaretz incident, MK Naama Lazimi released a statement, condemning the government for creating the atmosphere that led to the attacks.
“We are no longer in the ‘preview,'” she said. “We are in the midst of civil terror fueled by the government against Israeli democracy. The regime’s machine of poison and incitement is being translated on the ground into operational orders for incited lawbreakers, with one clear goal: to shut mouths, eliminate the free and independent press, and turn Israel into a dark dictatorship.”
She continued, “We will throw this rotten and dangerous leadership out at the ballot box, restore sanity to the country, and ensure that anyone who had a hand in the destruction of democracy pays the price. We will win, and we will fix the system from its foundations.”
Miki Levin contributed to this report.
