Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first edition of Haaretz appeared on the 18th of June 1919 in Jerusalem. A group of socialist-oriented Zionists from Russia established the paper under the name Hadashot Ha'aretz, meaning News of the Land.
Salman Schocken purchased the newspaper in December 1935 after leaving Germany following the Nazi rise to power. The Schocken family remained sole owners of the Haaretz Group until August 2006 when they sold a 25% stake to German publisher M. DuMont Schauberg.
Haaretz describes itself as having broadly liberal outlook on domestic issues and international affairs with editorial lines favoring weaker elements in Israeli society. The paper strongly advocated a two-state solution in July 2025 during the Gaza, Israel conflict and labeled it Israel's most vehemently anti-settlement daily paper.
On the 24th of November 2024, the Israeli government ordered an official boycott banning government officials from using the paper due to critical reporting by editor Amos Schocken. This marked one of the most severe conflicts between the state and its press in recent years following remarks made at a London conference on the 31st of October 2024.
A TGI survey in 2022 found Haaretz had third largest readership in Israel with exposure rate of 4.7% while trailing behind Israel Hayom's 31%. The newspaper reported paid subscribership of 65,000 and daily sales of 72,000 copies in 2008 with weekend editions reaching 100,000 copies.