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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, December 20, 2018

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Contiguous Shiite land between Iran, Iraq and Syria

Ex-defense chief warns US pullout from Syria could spark ‘all-out’ war in north

By Alexander Fulbright

Avigdor Liberman says move a boon for Iran and its proxies; his predecessor Ya’alon calls for US recognition of Israeli sovereignty in Golan ‘as an expression of continued support’

Israeli soldiers guard at the Quneitra border crossing with Syria in the Golan Heights on September 27, 2018. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a speech during the 5th Israel-Greece-Cyprus summit, before the signing a trilateral agreements in cyber and innovation, on December 20, 2018 in Beersheba. (Menahem KAHANA / AFP)

Netanyahu: We will step up our efforts against Iran in Syria after US pullout

By Judah Ari Gross

A US soldier walks on a newly installed position, near the tense front line between the US-backed Syrian Manbij Military Council and the Turkish-backed fighters, in Manbij, north Syria, April 4, 2018. (AP/Hussein Malla)

Israel media reviewLeaving Syria, abandoning Israel: 10 things to know for December 20

By Joshua Davidovich

In this photo from December 18, 2018, US President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion about school safety at the White House. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

Trump on leaving Syria: US doesn’t want to be ‘policeman of the Middle East’

By AFP and ToI Staff

US president defends controversial decision to pull troops out of Syria after widespread criticism, says US gets ‘NOTHING but spending precious lives and trillions of dollars’

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual press conference in Moscow on December 20, 2018. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP)

Putin applauds Trump’s pullout of US troops from Syria

By Agencies and ToI Staff

A file photo taken on April 25, 2017, shows a US military officer (R) speaking with a fighter from the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) at the site of Turkish airstrikes near the northeastern Syrian Kurdish town of Derik, known as al-Malikiyah in Arabic. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)

Rebuffing Trump, Syrian Kurds say IS not yet defeated

The US military outpost al-Tanf in southern Syria, October 22, 2018. (AP/Lolita Baldor)

Analysis

Trump pullout from Syria leaves Israel alone to battle Iran’s likely resurgence

The US didn’t have a massive troop presence, but it still managed to keep Tehran’s weapons from the Iraq-Syria border region; now even Netanyahu can’t hide his disappointment

IDF soldiers seen near tanks at an army base near the border with the Gaza Strip, May 30, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Knesset report finds IDF’s readiness has ‘significantly improved’ since 2014 war

US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, October 10, 2018. (SAUL LOEB/AFP)

Troop pullout the latest zigzag on Syria for Trump

By AFP

Iraqi Kurdish security members line up in front of a polling station to vote ahead of parliamentary elections in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq on May 10, 2018. (AFP Photo/Safin Hamed)

Op-ed

Avi Issacharoff

In Syrian withdrawal, Trump abandons Israel and the Kurds

As the Kurdish minority faces a possible massacre, the US president could be opening a direct route from Tehran to Beirut

Illustrative: US military forces in Syria in April 2018 (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

In video, Trump declares victory over IS, says ‘time for troops to come home’

By Thomas WATKINS

US forces armored vehicles drive near the village of Yalanli, on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij, on March 5, 2017. (Delil Souleiman/AFP)

US ‘quickly’ pulling out troops from Syria as Trump says IS ‘defeated’

By AFP and ToI Staff

Asem (L) and Salih (R) Barghouti at a rally in Kobar after the former was released from Israeli prison in April 2018 (screenshot: Twitter)

Official: Suspected terrorists in Ofra and Givat Assaf attacks are brothers

Asem Barghouti, who is wanted in killing of 2 soldiers, linked to Salih Barghouti, who was slain by security forces after an earlier shooting attack

Settlers and right-wing activists protest against the ongoing terror attacks against Israelis in the West Bank outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, on December 16, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Settler leader accuses counterparts of ‘dancing on blood’ of terror victims

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras, right, and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades attend the 5th Israel-Greece-Cyprus summit, to sign trilateral agreements in cyber and innovation, in Beersheba, Israel, December 20, 2018. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Live updates (closed)

Israel, Greece, Cyprus to ink natural gas pipeline deal in early 2019

By Tamar Pileggi

US envoy Friedman says $7 billion trilateral energy project integral to ‘stability and prosperity of the Middle East and Europe’

7:32 pm

IDF investigating shots fired near Ofra settlement
7:20 pm

Senators urge Trump to reverse Syria pullout
7:07 pm

Explosions heard in northern Israel as IDF begins destroying Hezbollah tunnels

Analysis

Has Israel made a huge mistake letting a Chinese firm run part of Haifa port?

‘Why did we do it? I don’t know, but we needed someone to operate our ports quickly,’ says official, amid fears Beijing’s potential intelligence gathering could keep US navy away

A view of Haifa bay, April 24, 2018. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

The UN Security Council meets on April 14, 2018, at UN Headquarters in New York. (AFP/HECTOR RETAMAL)

UN fails to take action against Hezbollah terror tunnels

By Agencies and ToI Staff

But several Security Council members join Israel in condemning Lebanese terrorist group for tunneling under the border

Israel accuses Lebanese army of working with Hezbollah to thwart anti-tunnel op

By Eric Cortellessa

Bombed out and broke, Hamas-affiliated Al-Aqsa TV to go off air

IDF: Suspicious rock formation, strange fire helped locate 4th Hezbollah tunnel

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit, left, and State Prosecutor Shai Nitzan. (Tomer Neuberg/ Flash90)

State prosecutor hands indictment recommendations against PM to attorney general

By Raoul Wootliff

Shai Nitzan reportedly concludes enough evidence to charge Netanyahu for bribery in 3 separate cases; AG Mandelblit to pore over 800-page report in preparation for final decision

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit speaks at the Globes conference in Jerusalem on December 20, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

AG on Netanyahu probes: We’re not going after any one person, only justice

Parents: How to not be part of the ‘shidduch crisis’

For starters, don’t assume you have to be married to buy a new set of pots and pans

Dery and Axelrod should leave the Ramon family alone!

Given the tragic manner of Ilan Ramon’s death, taking a hard line against Rona Ramon’s planned cremation is particularly insensitive

David Zachary Sidman

The terrorist transfer bill: Not at all what it seems

Expelling a terrorist’s family to the next town over is… inadequate, and making it optional is ridiculous

Nathan Lopes Cardozo

There’s more to Judaism than mitzvot

Historically, Diaspora Jews needed conformity and protective walls to keep us alive in a largely anti-Semitic world. No longer

David Shrayer-Petrov outside of the Brookline Booksmith store in November, where he and the translators of 'Doctor Levitin' spoke to a crowd. (Courtesy of Maxim Shrayer/via JTA)

Stranger than fiction

Refusenik, 82, sees first English translation of his tragic 1979 novel

By Penny Schwartz

Robots working with headsets and monitors (PhonlamaiPhoto, iStock by Getty Images)

AI could highlight cyber threats invisible to the human eye, experts say

By Federico Maccioni

According to a former top CIA official and other analysts, the use of AI techniques in understanding natural language could reinforce intelligence agencies

Cantor Laura Stein. (Courtesy)

In tune with tikkun olam, this cantor has a day job helping transgender patients

By Cathryn J. Prince

More Headlines

Senator Dianne Feinstein (California-Democrat) speaking to members of the media in Washington, DC, on February 15, 2018. (Alex Wong/Getty Images via JTA)

Feinstein, Sanders urge Senate not to include anti-BDS law in spending bill

Albanian special policemen take part in a security briefing at the Elbasan Arena stadium before the 2018 World Cup group G qualifying football match between Albania and Israel, in Elbasan on November 12, 2016. (AFP PHOTO / GENT SHKULLAKU

Albania expels Iranian diplomats over foiled plot to attack Israelis — report

Rona Ramon, who died on December 17, 2018. She was the widow of first Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in a fatal accident aboard the space shuttle Columbia on May 9, 2013, and the mother of IAF pilot Asaf Ramon, who died in a crash during a training flight in September 2009. (Flash90)

Rona Ramon’s cremation request roils rabbis

By Marissa Newman

A car in the East Jerusalem of Beit Hanina whose tires were slashed next to a wall that was gratified with a Jewish star the Hebrew phrases "Death to murderers" and "We don't sleep when the name of God is desecrated" on December 20, 2018. (Courtesy)

In apparent hate crime, tires slashed and wall graffitied in Jerusalem

Illustrative: Prisoners leave Maasiyahu Prison in Ramle on December 20, 2018, after the state released 970 prisoners from prisons as part of a High Court of Justice decision. (Avi Dishi/Flash90)

Domestic abusers and sex offenders among nearly 1,000 prisoners released early

In this photo from December 10, 2018, two carpet weavers open their hand-woven carpet at the grand bazaar in Kashan, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iran’s Persian rug-makers suffer, blame their leaders, as US unravels nuke deal

By Amir Vahdat and Mohammad Nasiri

CCTV footage showing a suspect kicking a Sudanese asylum seeker in Petah Tikva on November 14, 2016. (Screen capture/Ynet)

Man sentenced to 6.5 years in jail for beating Sudanese migrant to death

Airbnb's Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs Chris Lehane (2L) meets with Samaria Regional Council chairman Yossi Dagan (2R) in the northern West Bank on December 18, 2018. (Samaria Regional Council)

Airbnb exec tours West Bank but sticks by decision to exclude settlements

By JTA and Jacob Magid

Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest outside the army draft office in Jerusalem on December 13, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox integration into Israeli life is slowing down, think tank warns

A gas chamber in the former German Nazi death camp Majdanek, in Poland, October 2017 (Matt Lebovic/The Times of Israel)

German court won’t try 97-year-old Nazi death camp suspect

By Geir Moulson

(Michael Jacobs/Art in All of Us/Corbis via Getty Images via JTA)

Bete'avon!The Jewish food trends you’ll be seeing in 2019

By Shannon Sarna

‘Fake News #MAGA’ sign planted with arrow pointing to Texas Holocaust museum

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November	December 2018					January
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10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30
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