Court Orders Shutdown of Major Haredi Newspaper Network After Publisher’s Death

A court has approved a liquidation request filed by about 75 employees of the Haredi media network Ko Otoz and ordered the companies dissolved. The ruling came about two months after the sudden death of owner Ariel Kunik, who left the staff unpaid and the companies in severe financial distress.

Following the decision, the workers submitted claims to Israel’s National Insurance Institute to recover wages that had not been paid since Kunik’s death. The case affects dozens of employees who went without salaries for an extended period after the owner’s passing.

Kunik, who died unexpectedly in Nissan at the age of 62, was a major figure in Haredi media. He founded the Ko Otoz local newspaper chain, which included titles such as Kol HaIr and HaShavua BeYerushalayim, distributed in thousands of copies each week. He began in journalism with his father, Aharon, after buying the local weekly HaShavua BePetah Tikva in the 1990s, and later created another local paper at the request of then-Bnei Brak mayor Moshe Irnstein.

Beyond print, Kunik founded the Kol Barama radio station, served as its first CEO, and later stepped away after disputes. In 2018, he and Yossi Shinover bought the struggling Haredi-Sephardi paper Yom Leyom, with the Jerusalem District Court approving the deal. In 2017, South American investors bought up to 33% of Ko Otoz at a valuation of 22 million shekels, and Chaim Cohen was appointed chairman. The liquidation now marks a dramatic end to a media empire that shaped Haredi journalism for decades.