Aluf Benn, the editor-in-chief of Haaretz, has hit back at the Israeli government’s decision to boycott the left-leaning newspaper in an editorial titled, “Haaretz will not be silenced by Netanyahu”, Al Jazeera reports.

The Israeli prime minister has “never liked our reporting and our strong stance against his policy of occupation and annexation in the occupied territories and his overall denial of Palestinian rights”, Benn wrote.

“Now his political henchmen want to delegitimise and strangle us financially — but we are not alone in the government’s crosshairs,” he said, referring to an ongoing bid “to close Israel’s public broadcaster, which the government sees as too independent”.

Netanyahu’s “coalition colleagues are promoting anti-democratic bills that threaten to undermine free elections and other means of political expression, as they prepare for building Jewish settlements in occupied Gaza”, Benn added.