Facebook co-founder and new Editor in Chief and majority shareholder of The New Republic, Chris Hughes. Photo: wiki commons.

The iconic American publication, The New Republic, has just been acquired by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes.  Hughes, who also helped President Obama build his 2008 campaign via social media, will become Editor in Chief of the nearly 100 year old magazine after becoming majority shareholder.

The liberal leaning New Republic has been owned by Marty Peretz and Laurence Grafstein since 2009.

Peretz received his bachelors degree from Brandeis University and is a strong supporter of Israeli interests.

In opposition to the appointment of Charles Freeman as the next Director of the National Intelligence Council, Peretz once wrote:

“But Freeman’s real offense (and the president’s if he were to appoint him) is that he has questioned the loyalty and patriotism of not only Zionists and other friends of Israel, the great swath of American Jews and their Christian countrymen, who believed that the protection of Zion is at the core of our religious and secular history”

The New Republic has also been considered a strong advocate of Israel’s interests.

In 2007, Eric Alterman wrote, “Nothing has been as consistent about the past 34 years of TNR as the magazine’s devotion to Peretz’s own understanding of what is good for Israel.”