Newt Gingrich’s South Carolina primary victory has brought onto the spotlight his campaign’s main benefactor, Sheldon Adelson. Relatively to his wealth and the manner in which he has acquired it, Adelson has managed to stay away from the limelight – despite his quoted bragging of being “The world’s richest Jew” (he’s not, btw; but his wealth is currently estimated at >$20B).

Because of this relative obscurity, Adelson’s political exploits in Israel remain unexplored. Robert Scheer might wonder about the details of the “business” transaction between magnate Adelson and candidate Gingrich. For a casino billionnaire, it is amusing to see Adelson put his pocket change ($10M and counting) on such long odds. His bet in the Israeli scene has been much larger – yet far safer and more successful. Well, over there you can apparently buy the entire gambling house. NYT laconically tells us that

Over time, Mr. Adelson made his conservative views felt not only within the committee, but also in Israel. He started a free daily newspaper in 2007, Israel Hayom, that is widely viewed as supportive of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a close friend who shares his hawkish outlook.

Can you taste the sugar(coating)? Ah, the wonderful world of NYT, where every story on Israel must present that country in a respectable light – lest angry mobs burn down the house. This is yet another case, where the reality is so much more fun than its sanitized NYT version.

Adelson’s investment in Israel Hayom far exceeds his Gingrich bets. But perhaps “investment” should be understood in the metaphorical sense, because it doesn’t appear there’s a chance to ever make money with a daily-issue sale price of (0). This business article (Hebrew link) estimates that Adelson had lost NIS 250M ($70M) on the paper in 2007-2010. It is now 2012.

Rather than making money off a newspaper, Adelson’s “Israel Hayom” mission has been to reshape Israel’s politics and media, and in this he has succeeded, wreaking damage that is possibly beyond repair.