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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, December 21, 2015

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Silvan Shalom, May 17, 2015 (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Top Likud minister Silvan Shalom quits politics amid sexual harassment claims

Veteran politician, considered close to PM Netanyahu, resigns as police check into allegations against him; probe is subsequently closed

Likud taps its first openly gay MK to replace Shalom

Shalom resignation sets off jostling for cabinet posts

One of Silvan Shalom’s alleged victims: A serving Knesset member

Illustrative photo of Israeli artillery on the Lebanese border, January 28, 2015. (IDF Spokesperson)

IDF shells South Lebanon after rocket fire on Western Galilee

By Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross

Israel says it holds Lebanese Army responsible for any cross-border activity aimed at harming its citizens

Hezbollah MP: Vengeance for Kuntar is matter of time

Syrian rebels claim they killed arch-terrorist Kuntar

Bracing for further attacks, mayors in northern Israel open bomb shelters

By Adiv Sterman and Judah Ari Gross

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah discusses the death of terrorist Samir Kuntar, allegedly at the hands of Israel, in a televised speech from Beirut on December 21, 2015. (screen capture: YouTube)

Live updates (closed)

IDF post comes under fire in West Bank

No injuries or damage at site; Hezbollah leader says there’s ‘no doubt’ Israel killed Kuntar, praises Palestinian teens who attack the Jewish state

Samir Kuntar salutes as he arrives to pay his respects at the grave of Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, south of Beirut, Lebanon, on July 17, 2008. (AP/Darko Bandic, File)

Analysis

Amid tangle of foes facing Israel from Syria, Kuntar was an obvious target

By Avi Issacharoff

The terror chief was working for Iran in orchestrating attacks on Israel from Al-Hader, a key border town where a spectacularly complicated power struggle is playing out

A postal worker stands in the selection hall at a post office in Tel Aviv February, 22, 2010. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash 90)

Israelis go postal over failing mail system, but it could be a lot worse

By Simona Weinglass

An international study ranked the Israel Postal Company 35th out of 159 countries, behind the US and Algeria but ahead of France and the UK

Rachel Sharansky Danziger

To the guy who called my friend traitor

And to all those who want to stuff people in black and white boxes…oh never mind, you won’t listen anyway

Ezra Schwartz: A path through darkness

30 days after the murder, the question we ought ask is not ‘why?’ but ‘What do we do now?’

Micha Odenheimer

Burundi on the brink: It’s a Jewish Issue

Jews have an obligation to work toward halting the African republic’s spiraling violence, because: never again

The unraveling of Israeli democracy

Ultra-nationalist efforts to demonize dissenters are aimed at redefining the very nature of the state

A test of the David's Sling missile defense system (Defense Ministry)

David’s Sling missile defense system ready for use, defense officials say

By Judah Ari Gross and ToI Staff

Air Force to subject medium range interceptors, jointly developed with US, to real-world tests after delivery in 2016

Archaeologists unearth a marble slab bearing a Hebrew inscription found on the shores of the Sea of Galilee at the Byzantine Jewish site of Kursi. (University of Haifa)

Ancient inscription points to Jewish past for early Christian site

By Ilan Ben Zion

One of the suspects arrested in connection with the Dawabsha murder, December 3, 2015. Under a court-issued gag order, the identities of the suspects cannot be revealed. (Screen capture)

Firebombing suspects allege torture as case reported to move forward

Security agency denies one suspect’s claim that he tried to slit his wrists over harsh interrogation methods; indictments over Duma attack expected in coming weeks

Right-wing Jewish extremists and police clash during a demonstration against the arrest of Jewish youth suspected of involvement in an arson attack in the West Bank village of Duma, December 20, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police officers hurt as rally for Duma suspects turns violent

Far-right demonstrators block traffic in Jerusalem, hurl stones at police to protest continued detention of alleged Jewish terrorists

IDF soldiers at the site of a thwarted stabbing attempt, at the Eliyahu Crossing in the West Bank, on November 9, 2015. (Defense Ministry)

Israel returns body of failed stabber Rasha Awissi

Hundreds attend funeral in Qalqilya; Palestinians say Israel still holds some 60 terrorists’ bodies

Israeli and Palestinian laborers place barriers at a bus stop in Jerusalem on December 20, 2015, after a terror attack there last week. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Jerusalem fortifies bus stops against car-ramming attacks

Hundreds of posts cemented into sidewalks in bid to protect waiting passengers; project proposed by mayor, approved by PM

Shas leader Aryeh Deri (left), Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) and Health Minister Yaakov Litzman at the weekly cabinet meeting in the Prime Minister's Office, Jerusalem, December 20, 2015. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Reform leaders urge PM to condemn ‘violent rhetoric’ against Rivlin, NGOs

By JTA

Heads of movement writes to Netanyahu over attacks on Rivlin for attending conference with controversial Breaking the Silence group

Yesh Atid party leader MK Yair Lapid (center) together with Amit Deri (2nd right) IDF reserve officers and soldiers at a press conference against the Breaking the Silence group, December 20, 2015. (Yesh Atid spokesperson)

Lapid bids to stop BDS-backers from funding groups like Breaking the Silence

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Announcing planned legislation, Yesh Atid leader singles out IDF-bashing NGO Breaking the Silence for crossing ‘red line from criticism into subversion’

The Greek parliament (CC BY-SA ΠΑΣΟΚ/Wikimedia Commons, File)

Greek parliament set to recognize Palestine

By AFP

Vote on nonbinding resolution will be attended by Abbas, comes after Greece’s foreign affairs committee approved similar motion

Jewish-American filmmaker J.J. Abrams on the set of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' in May 2014. (screen capture: YouTube/Star Wars)

J.J. Abrams says he initially declined Star Wars film offer

After reboot’s opening weekend global gross of $517 million, ‘terrified’ Jewish director likely breathing a sigh of relief

Star Wars fans dressed up in character for one of the first screenings of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' at Jerusalem's Cinema City theater (Courtesy Naomi Wurtman)

Star Struck‘The Force Awakens’ exceeds expectations in Israel

By Jessica Steinberg

Yosef Ben David, the prime suspect, who was charged along with two minors for the abduction and murder of the Palestinian teenager Mohammed Abu Khdeir, is escorted by Israeli policemen at the district court in Jerusalem on December 20, 2015.

Father of Abu Khdeir compares son’s killer to Islamic State

By Keren Preiskel

Hussein Abu Khdeir rejects Yosef Ben-David’s defense of mental incapacity as court awaits psychiatric evaluation

The Meisler, Forkash & Cash Clan Welcoming a Sweet New Year, North Massapequa, NY (Detail) © Meryl Meisler Photography

Photographer rediscovers there’s no place like home

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld performs in Tel Aviv on December 19, 2015. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Podcast

TOI talks Israeli airstrikes, Jewish comedians and the battle of the NGOs

By Raoul Wootliff

The weekly panel discusses the latest news and views defining our coverage

More Headlines

Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez (L) is mistakenly crowned Miss Universe 2015 by Miss Universe 2014 Paulina Vega (R) during the 2015 MISS UNIVERSE show at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, in Las Vegas, California, on December 20, 2015. (Valerie Macon/AFP)

Beauty Boo-booWrong Miss Universe crowned in stellar live TV mix-up

By KIMBERLY PIERCEALL

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, seen with their sons Yair (R) and Avner (2L), at the Jerusalem's Ammunition Hill on December 1, 2014. (photo credit: Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Family guyNetanyahu updates Twitter profile, now mentions all 3 kids

By Raoul Wootliff

Illustrative: Santa Claus at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. (Craig Lassig/Invision for Frito-Lay Grandma’s)

California school cancels Santa visit after Jewish mother complains

By JTA

Disabled individuals (Pixabay)

Government to help disabled find jobs, buy homes

By David Shamah

A copy of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' (dccarbone/CC-BY, via Flickr)

Berlin rabbi breaks with community head over ‘Mein Kampf’

By JTA

A picture shows a relief inside the tomb of Maia, the wet-nurse of legendary Egyptian boy king Tutankhamun, in Saqqara, about 35 kilometers south of Cairo on December 20, 2015. (AFP/KHALED DESOUKI)

All in the familyKing Tut’s wet nurse was likely his sister

By AFP

US reality TV star Kim Kardashian carries her daughter, North West, upon arrival at the Armenian St. James Cathedral in Jerusalem's Old City on April 13, 2015. (AFP/Ahmad Gharabli)

Holy FamilyKim and Kanye returning to Israel to baptize new baby

By Keren Preiskel

Sheldon Adelson, 2014 (Ethan Miller/Getty Images, via JTA)

Nevada paper hints at motive for its purchase by Adelson

A file picture taken on October 22, 2008, shows Samir Kuntar posing for a picture during an interview on the outskirts of Beirut. In the background is a photograph of the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (AFP PHOTO/JOSEPH BARRAK)

Hebrew media reviewExecuting justice

By Ilan Ben Zion

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