Walla! Communications Ltd. () is an Israeli internet company headquartered in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

and is fully owned by

The Jerusalem Post ''The Jerusalem Post'' is an English language, English-language Israeli broadsheet newspaper based in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1932 during the Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate of Mandatory Palestine, Palestine by Gershon Agron as ''Th ...

. Until 2020, it was fully owned by

Bezeq Bezeq () is an Israeli telecommunications company. Bezeq and its subsidiaries offer a range of telecom services, including fixed-line, mobile telephony, high-speed Internet, transmission, and pay TV (via Yes (Israel), Yes). The company is tra ...

. Walla!'s

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

provides news, search (powered by

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google or Google.com) is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the World Wide Web, Web by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze an ...

) and e-mail, among other things. ,

Alexa Alexa may refer to: Technology *Amazon Alexa, a virtual assistant developed by Amazon * Alexa Internet, a defunct website ranking and traffic analysis service * Alexa Fluor, a family of fluorescent dyes * Arri Alexa, a digital motion picture ca ...

rankings put it in the top 9 sites by

traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...

originating in Israel. Its online news outlet Walla! News is one of the major Israeli news websites.

Etymology

The origin of the name ''Walla!'' is the Arabic interjection وَاللّٰه meaning '"Really?!"'.

History

The portal was founded by Erez Pilosof and Gadi Hadar in 1995 as Israel's first online website directory, and soon afterward acquired by "Mashov Computers Marketing", a member of The Mashov Group headed by Yaki Dunietz and David Assia. In 1998, the company, traded on the

Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE; ), colloquially known as The Bursa, is the only public stock exchange in Israel and a public company itself, listed on its own exchange since August 1, 2019. It is regulated by the ''Securities Law (1968)'' a ...

, changed its name to "Walla! Communications Ltd". In the same year, the company was acquired by

Formula Systems Formula Systems (1985) Ltd. () is a publicly traded holding company headquartered in Or Yehuda, Israel. Through its subsidiaries it operates mainly in the area of information technology. Shares of Formula Systems are traded on the NASDAQ Global S ...

, headed by

Dan Goldstein Dan Goldstein (; 19 June 1954 – 9 June 2022) was a pioneer of the Israeli software industry. He was the founder of Formula Systems, sold in 2006, and ''Formula Vision Technologies''. Goldstein served as Chairman of the Public Companies Associ ...

, and in 2001 it merged with IOL, a similar site run by the

Haaretz Group ''Haaretz'' (; originally ''Ḥadshot Haaretz'' – , , ) is an List of newspapers in Israel, Israeli newspaper. It was founded in 1918, making it the longest running newspaper currently in print in Israel. The paper is published in Hebrew lan ...

Services

Most news stories that appear in Walla! came from the Haaretz Group, news agencies and other content providers. However, during the year 2006, Walla! started building an independent news and editorial staff, which produces original news stories and special features. In addition, Walla! produces original content in various fields such as sports, cinema, music, fashion and food. The website offers many programs and services, a search engine, E-mail, online shops, chats, and video on demand.

Controversy over ties to Netanyahu family

In December 2020, Bezeq owner

Shaul Elovitch Shaul Elovitch (; born 1948) is an Israeli businessman and the owner of Eurocom Group, one of the largest private holding groups in Israel. Background Shaul Elovitch was born in 1948 in Poland and made aliyah to Israel when he was two years ol ...

, his son and former Bezeq director Or Elovitch; former secretary Linor Yochelman, the former CEO of Yes, Bezeq's satellite TV subsidiary, Ron Eilon and former Yes CFO Mickey Naiman were indicted on charges of fraud, breach of trust, receiving illicit gifts and violations of the Securities Law. A substantial portion of the charges also concerned Walla! 's alleged favoritism towards Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Former Bezeq CEO Stella Handler wasn't indicted after agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors. On April 5, 2021, former Walla! CEO

Ilan Yeshua The trial of Benjamin Netanyahu, also known as the Netanyahu-Elovitch-Mozes Trial or the Publisher's Trial, began following investigations into allegations of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust by him and close political allies within his i ...

testified that Shaul Elovitch ordered him to not report negative stories about Netanyahu. Yashua also testified that Shaul ordered him to also attack Netanyahu's political rivals and post stories favorable about the Israeli Prime Minister as well. On April 12, 2021, Yeshua told the Jerusalem District Court that Netanyahu was the "big guy" who persuaded ''Walla!'' to publish only parts of an interview he conducted with journalist Dov Gilhar a week before the March 2021 Israeli election, and that "any negative item led to outburst" from the Israeli Prime Minister. Yeshua also revealed a February 2015 text message which Shaul Elovitch sent to him in February 2015. In the text message, Elovitch stated that he had a problematic meeting with Netanyahu, whom he referred to as "the big one". On April 20, 2021, Yeshua detailed more instances where Netanyahu showed authority over the editorials at ''Walla!'', such as telling Elovitch to take down a news story which appeared on ''Walla!'' about a romantic relationship between Netanyahu's son Yair and a non-Jewish Norwegian woman, and also his requests for using the news site as a way to spread attacks on

Naftali Bennett Naftali Bennett (, ; born 25 March 1972) is an Israeli politician and businessman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 13 June 2021 to 30 June 2022, and as the alternate prime minister from 1 July to 8 November 2022. Bennett was t ...

and his wife Gilat. On May 4, 2021, Yeshua stated that the Israeli Prime Minister also got Walla! to remove stories about "bereaved" families of Israeli soldiers who were killed during the 2014 Gaza War and whose remains were still held by

Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...

."Netanyahu's lawyers begin cross-examining key witness in premier's graft trial"
''The Times of Israel''. May 4, 2021. One notable family was the family of Hadar Goldin, an IDF soldier whose remains have been held by Hamas in Gaza since the 2016 war. He did not clarify who told the editors to erase these stories. However, he also noted how the Prime Minister's wife

Sara Netanyahu Sara Netanyahu (; []; born November 1958) is the spouse of the Prime Minister of Israel, spouse of the prime minister of Israel by marriage to Benjamin Netanyahu, holding the role for her third time. By profession, she is an Educational psycholo ...

also had influence at Walla! and how Netanyahu associate Zeev Rubinstein, whom he described as "their senior officer in the Byzantine court", was used to carry out Sara's "crazy requests and angles".

References

External links