When NAnews — Israel News first appeared online, it wasn’t born from strategy or funding rounds. It was born from exhaustion — a fatigue with headlines written to please sponsors and algorithms, and a desire to bring back what journalism once was: personal, uncertain, alive. The first drafts weren’t typed in a newsroom, but in a Haifa apartment, surrounded by open laptops, cold coffee, and late-night arguments about honesty.

NAnews was never designed to chase clicks. It was built to chase meaning — a space where Israeli life could be described not as a spectacle, but as a heartbeat. For repatriates from Ukraine, volunteers, cultural writers, or young journalists who switched languages mid-sentence, this project became a safe home. A digital kitchen table where truth could still be debated.

A newsroom without walls

The newsroom of NAnews is not a room at all. It’s a network of screens glowing in different time zones — a message from Haifa answered in Kyiv, an interview edited in Tel Aviv, a headline discussed in Netanya over a midnight phone call. English, Hebrew, Russian, and Ukrainian coexist in one shared Google Doc, refusing to compete.

Our editors write from different worlds but meet in the same rhythm. A journalist in Haifa files a piece about Israeli tech; a volunteer in Kiryat Yam translates a refugee’s quote; a photographer in Ashdod captures the reopening of a synagogue. It doesn’t follow corporate newsroom order — and that’s the point.

Independence here isn’t branding; it’s labor. Saying “no” to easy sponsorships, declining “content partnerships” that smell like control, and choosing collaboration over competition. In a landscape obsessed with monetization, NAnews survives on transparency, trust, and human stubbornness.

Between Israel and Ukraine — two homes, one voice

If there’s one thread running through everything we do, it’s the invisible bridge between Israel and Ukraine. The team itself is proof of it. Some of us were born in Odesa or Kharkiv, others in Tel Aviv or Haifa — yet all of us write from that same tension between memory and belonging.

Our Russian-language edition — NAnews (Russian edition) — gives voice to those who came to Israel not to escape, but to rebuild. They tell stories of identity: how to raise Israeli-born kids while your parents still pray in Ukrainian, how to send aid to Dnipro while volunteering at a Haifa food bank, how to be both Israeli and a child of exile.

These are the stories major outlets skip because they don’t fit the political frame. For us, they define what journalism should be: empathy over spectacle, substance over trend.

The philosophy of silence and noise

Every newsroom has to decide what kind of sound it makes. Some amplify the noise; others look for the silence between headlines. NAnews belongs to the latter. We believe that reflection is as necessary as urgency — and that slowness can sometimes reveal more than speed.

When the war in Gaza escalated, the easiest path was to publish what everyone else did. We waited instead. We re-checked facts, re-read quotes, and asked one question: “What story will still matter tomorrow?”

That hesitation — that moral pause — became our identity. Journalism, after all, is not about racing; it’s about remembering.

Precision became our quiet rebellion. A single misused word can distort a prayer, a law, or a life. So we double-check translations, consult scholars, argue over commas. It’s not perfectionism; it’s respect.

Behind the lens — where stories breathe

From this discipline grew something new — our visual and video storytelling. The photo essays are quieter than words; they let the viewer breathe between emotions. Faces of volunteers, fragments of destroyed synagogues, children drawing flags on Haifa’s sidewalks — small details that say more than statistics.

Our video team developed that same pulse, creating documentary-style clips that look more like memories than news segments. You can find their work on NAnews Video , where each frame feels like a confession, not a broadcast.

This commitment to real rhythm — slow, human, cinematic — is what sets NAnews apart from algorithmic media. It’s storytelling for those who still want to feel.

Why it matters

NAnews exists because truth has texture. Because journalism is not a product but a relationship between those who tell and those who listen.
In a country that lives between conflict and creation, between war zones and tech hubs, there must be a corner for doubt, empathy, and faith in words.

We built ours.
And every time a reader writes back — sometimes angry, sometimes thankful — we are reminded that journalism still matters.

FAQ

Why is NAnews independent?
Because freedom of speech means nothing if it’s rented. NAnews stays independent by refusing political funding and relying on community collaboration.

Who writes for NAnews?
Journalists, repatriates, students, and cultural observers from Israel, Ukraine, and the global diaspora — people who live between languages.

Is NAnews political?
No. It’s personal. And in today’s media climate, that’s the most political choice of all.

HowTo

How to follow updates: Visit the English homepage and subscribe to the newsletter.
How to contact the team: Use the “About” section on the main site.
How to support independent media: Share stories, credit sources, and keep reading with care — that’s how small newsrooms survive.