Iconic Israeli newspaper Maariv fails to print Sunday edition; paper in danger of collapse

JERUSALEM – An iconic Israeli newspaper has not printed its Sunday edition as its publisher is seeking to keep the paper from collapse.

Avi Lerner, a spokesman for Maariv, says the paper would renew its print edition only if a court Sunday agrees to a stay of proceedings in litigation against the newspaper's publisher. The paper published its online edition.

Creditors and employees say the publisher owes them money, but the newspaper is in debt.

Publisher Shlomo Ben-Tzvi is proposing large cuts to newspaper staff and becoming a mass circulation evening paper.

Maariv was first published in 1948 with the establishment of Israel, and was once the country's largest paper. But it has been the brink of closure in recent years, struggling to compete with the free tabloid Israel Today.