Free 'Israeli' daily gets stay of execution

The free "Israeli" will continue to publish through Monday (Jan. 15) while the partners in the paper try to decide which one will own the 13-month-old, 150,000-circulation daily newspaper. Israel National News reports that a Tel Aviv District Court judge on Thursday (Jan. 11) heard the lawsuit of Sheldon Adelson, who claims his partner, Shlomo Ben-Zvi, illegally took money from the business. Adelson is seeking the liquidation of the company. The court will hold another hearing on the suit on Monday (Jan. 15). Another lawsuit has been filed by workers at the newspaper, who claim the Israeli is bankrupt and that the only way to save it is to sell it as a going concern. Meanwhile, Ben-Zvi has promised to pay the employees' salaries, amounting to 500,000 Israel New Shekels ($118,624 U.S.), and publish the paper through at least Jan. 15. On Jan. 9, a columnist at the Haretz newspaper reported incorrectly that that day's issue of the Israeli would be the paper's last. As Free-Daily.com noted Nov. 22, the dispute between the two partners over the paper had boiled over into a lawsuit. At the time, Ben-Zvi was quoted as saying: "Adelson’s desire to hurt and pressure me has addled his mind, and caused him to take absurd measures."