Former Haaretz Journalist Slams Paper Over "Humiliating" Dismissal

Former Haaretz journalist Haim Levinson has strongly criticized the newspaper's management nearly a year after his dismissal, describing the process as "despicable" and "humiliating." In an interview with Nadav Peri, Levinson recounted that within five hours of being informed of the intention to fire him, the news of his termination was publicly announced. He stated he didn't even have time to inform his children at school or have a proper conversation with his wife, only managing to tell her "I was fired from the newspaper, we'll talk later." Levinson expressed deep personal hurt, feeling the newspaper made an "enormous effort to show they trampled me," citing the cancellation of his digital subscription on the same day. He contrasted this with the newspaper's purported humanist values, stating, "This is a newspaper that preaches humanism, but the people there have no humanity."

Levinson was fired from Haaretz after colleague Bar Peleg revealed that Levinson had received at least NIS 200,000 from "Perception," a company owned by Shrulik Einhorn, who was suspected in a classified documents leak and the Qatar affair. Levinson had publicly expressed opinions on the Qatar affair investigation, including calling it "inflated," and had interviewed Einhorn and his mother, without fully disclosing the payments received from Einhorn's associate's company.