Sheldon Adelson Claims He Doesn’t Really Own Israeli Paper — or Does He?
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
An attorney for Sheldon Adelson told Israel’s Supreme Court that the billionaire casino magnate does not own the daily newspaper Israel Hayom.
At a hearing Monday in the Supreme Court, attorney Avigdor Klagsbald disclosed for the first time that the newspaper is owned by an Adelson relative. Adelson has been cited frequently in media reports as the newspaper’s owner, including by JTA.
The question of Adelson’s ownership of Israel Hayom, a right-wing newspaper widely considered to be a mouthpiece for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, came up during an appeal of a Jerusalem District Court ruling on a Freedom of Information petition.
Klagsbald said the ruling should be vacated because it may be based on incorrect facts – including the misconception that Adelson owns Israel Hayom, Haaretz reported.
An article in December in the Las Vegas Review Journal, which a media group owned by Adelson and his children purchased late last year, noted the Israeli newspaper is run by Sivan Ochshorn Dumont, a daughter of Adelson’s wife, Miriam, from a prior marriage. However, it identifies Sheldon Adelson as the owner.
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