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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, December 24, 2018

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on December 24, 2018, confirming early elections. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Early elections called for April 9 as coalition agrees to dissolve Knesset

By Raoul Wootliff

Government says all parties have agreed on national polls after ‘full four-year term,’ amid disagreements over ultra-Orthodox draft law and as AG weighs corruption cases against PM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leads a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset on December 24, 2018, confirming early elections. At his side is coalition chief David (Dudi) Amsalem (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Netanyahu predicts another election victory, with same core coalition parties

By Raoul Wootliff and ToI Staff

Opposition leader Tzipi Livni speaks during a Zionist Union faction meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 17, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

‘Good riddance’: Opposition lawmakers cheer as early elections called

By Michael Bachner and Raoul Wootliff

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit attends a State Control committee meeting in the Knesset on December 3, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Attorney general won’t decide on Netanyahu charges before election — reports

Legal officials say Avichai Mandelblit doesn’t want to be seen as meddling in national vote; Justice Ministry denies ‘speculative’ reports, says review of cases continues apace

Yesh Atid alleges Haredim were offered money for draft law

By Raoul Wootliff

New Bank of Israel governor installed amid economic turmoil

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Meretz members vote to block party MK from seeking reelection

Former interior minister Gideon Sa'ar (left) and television news anchor Geula Even. (Yoav Ari Dudkevitch/Moshe Shai/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

TV host quits, indicating her husband Gideon Sa’ar will rejoin politics

By Michael Bachner

Geula Even announces her resignation as Kan broadcaster’s main news anchor; former Likud minister expected to run in ruling party’s primaries

7:35 pm

Ex-Disney actor charged with 6 counts in underage sex case
7:31 pm

Madoff's former secretary seeks early release from prison
7:26 pm

TV host quits, indicating her husband Gideon Sa'ar could rejoin politics

US Syria withdrawal may speed up Arab-Israeli detente, well-connected rabbi says

By Raphael Ahren

Marc Schneier, who this month was named a ‘special adviser’ to the king of Bahrain, predicts a Netanyahu visit to Manama as early as January

Rabbi Marc Schneier (left) with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (courtesy The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding)

Israel media reviewTrump’s festivus for everyone but us: 9 things to know for December 24

By Joshua Davidovich

Order signed for US military’s controversial Syria exit

By AFP and ToI Staff

AnalysisIsrael sees limits of Trump support with Syria pullout

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin speaks at the 15th annual Jerusalem Conference of the 'Besheva' group, on February 12, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Conservative Movement leader blasts PM’s immigration minister appointee

Yizhar Hess says nomination of Yariv Levin — a public critic of Reform Judaism — is a demonstration of ‘utter contempt’ for Diaspora Jewry

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Likud MK Yariv Levin (R), at a Likud-Beytenu faction meeting at the Knesset on May 19, 2014. (Flash 90)

Netanyahu gives immigration portfolio to Tourism Minister Yariv Levin

By Raoul Wootliff

Kulanu MK Michael Oren, on June 20, 2016. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Michael Oren: I am the most qualified person to be immigration minister

By Raoul Wootliff

Former Israeli reality TV star charged in US for alleged binary options fraud

By Simona Weinglass

Lissa Mel faces up to 20 years in prison for her alleged role as a ‘senior broker’ for binary options firms BigOption and BinaryBook

Mohammad al-Abbasi, 25, sitting in the living room of a family member's home in Silwan on December 23, 2018. (Adam Rasgon/Times of Israel)

Family of Palestinian shot dead deny his car ran a West Bank checkpoint

Relatives of Qassem al-Abbasi say they posed no threat at the time of shooting last Thursday; military says the driver didn’t stop after soldiers fired warning shots

Palestinian members of the al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas terror group, attend a rally marking the 31st anniversary of Hamas's founding, in Gaza City, December 16, 2018. (SAID KHATIB/AFP)

Ahead of Friday protest, Palestinian terror groups threaten fresh violence

By ToI Staff and Adam Rasgon

Palestinian Authority security forces touring Israeli-controlled Hebron in uniform. (Wafa)

Palestinian Authority boasts it ‘thwarted’ major land sales to Jews in Jerusalem

The Jews I know never ate Chinese on Xmas

The tradition actually runs deep — especially for those immigrants whose pathway to America took them through New York

Major lessons from minor events

When Israelis demanded greater force against Gaza attacks, Israel’s hawkish prime minister did the unexpected: nothing

Is ‘East Jerusalem’ Palestinian territory?

Who cares if the PLO is making two contradictory claims in two international courts? Outrageously, nobody

Like Obama, Trump is eroding American credibility

The US pullout from Syria is both a strategic and a moral mistake

Analysis

Federico Maccioni

Galilee village awaits Christmas influx, unfazed by Hezbollah tunnels nearby

Fassuta, just south of the Lebanon border, this weekend hosts its annual holiday market, whose winter charm draws tens of thousands of visitors

A Palestinian band performs on Manger square in front of the Church of the Nativity in the biblical West Bank city of Bethlehem, on December 24, 2018. (HAZEM BADER/AFP)

Pilgrims gather at Jesus’s traditional birthplace for Christmas

By AFP

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu,left, attends a press conference with Tunisian Foreign Affairs Minister Khemaies Jhinaoui, in Tunis, Tunisia, on December 24, 2018. (FETHI BELAID/AFP)

Turkish foreign minister: Netanyahu is a ‘baby killer’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

In latest round of ongoing spat, Mevlut Cavusoglu says Israeli leader and Kurdish fighters wanted to split Syria

Trump said to have told Erdogan that Syria is ‘all yours. We are done’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

MKs demand Netanyahu answer questions about spurned Russia-Syria deal

Netanyahu: Erdogan is an ‘anti-Semite’ obsessed with Israel and its moral army

By Agencies and ToI Staff

The organizers of the Women’s March, from left to right: Bob Bland, Linda Sarsour, Carmen Perez, and Tamika Mallory, at BET’s Social Awards in Atlanta, February 11, 2018. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images for BET via JTA)

Women’s March leader says white Jews ‘uphold white supremacy’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Jewish co-founder of movement says she was marginalized over her heritage, was told by Tamika Mallory and Carmen Perez that Jews played a significant role in the slave trade

In this July 30, 2018 file photo, LeBron James listens to a question at a news conference after the opening ceremony for the I Promise School in Akron, Ohio. (AP Photo/Phil Long, File)

Lebron James knocked for ‘Jewish money’ social media post

A 2,000-year-old bronze ring with a solitaire gem stone was uncovered in archaeological excavations in the City of David National Park in Jerusalem. (City of David)

Misplaced 2,000-year-old ring discovered in Jerusalem’s City of David

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Unearthed in excavation of the monumental Pilgrims’ Path, the Second Temple-era adornment likely fell after use of a ritual bath, say archaeologists

Illustrative: Slomo Koves, chief rabbi of the Chabad-affiliated Unified Israelite Congregation of Hungary (EMIH), speaks during a commemoration marking the Memorial Day of the Hungarian Holocaust victims in the Holocaust Memorial Center in Budapest, Hungary, on April 19, 2017. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)

Interview

Head of contested Hungary Shoah museum takes aim at ‘irresponsible’ opponents

By Yaakov Schwartz

More Headlines

Education Minister and leader of the Jewish Home party Naftali Bennett speaks with the media as he arrives for a special faction meeting in the Israeli outpost of Givat Assaf, in the West Bank on December 17, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Minister says Trump peace plan includes Palestinian state – and he’ll oppose it

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Residents inspect a house damaged by a tsunami, in Carita, Indonesia, December 23, 2018 (AP Photo)

Israel sends warm wishes, but no aid, to tsunami-stricken Indonesia

By Raphael Ahren

Illustrative photo of an El Al plane taking off from Ben Gurion Airport, August 5, 2013. (Moshe Shai/Flash90)

In rare move, El Al drug smuggling suspects held beyond 30 days without charges

Honduras' President Juan Orlando Hernandez talks during an economic forum as part the XXVI Iberoamerican Summit in Antigua, Guatemala, November 15, 2018 (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Honduras mulling moving embassy to Jerusalem — report

(From L-R) Chaim Silberstein, Raphael Ish-Ran, Culture Minister Miri Regev, Binyamin Regional Council chairman Yisrael Gantz and Avichay Buaron attend a ceremony marking the alleged purchase of land where the Amona outpost once stood on December 23, 2018. (Eli Sabati)

Minister attends inauguration ceremony for Havat Amona illegal outpost

A picture taken on July 4, 2018 from the Golan Heights shows displaced Syrians from the province of Daraa staging a protest (top L) calling for international protection, in the Syrian village of al-Rafid, near the border fence with Israel. (AFP/Jalaa Marey)

IDF opens fire at gunmen approaching border fence from Syria

Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox Jews pass by a billboard welcoming US President Donald Trump ahead of his visit, in Jerusalem on May 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

IDF sends troops to tour museum honoring Evangelicals’ support of Israel

Then-deputy defense secretary Patrick Shanahan, right, listens as US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House, in Washington, DC, on April 9, 2018. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Riled over Mattis’s apparent snub, Trump axes defense secretary two months early

By AP and ToI Staff

Illustrative. An ultra-Orthodox man cuts kugel during Rosh Hodesh (new Jewish month) prayer at the Rashbi gravesite in Meron, Northern Israel on January 17, 2018. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Kiddushing aroundSick synagogue worshipers suspect teens poisoned the kugel

Rona Ramon, widow of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, speaks at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport in southern Israel, on May 9, 2013. (Flash90)

Judges throw out attempt to stop Rona Ramon cremation

Jerusalem Police Chief Deputy Commissioner Yoram Halevy arrives at the scene of a stabbing attack on the city's light rail line near IDF Square in Jerusalem on April 14, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Jerusalem top cop drops out of contention to lead Israel Police

Illustration of syringe, 2009. (Chen Leopold / Flash 90.)

God's name in veinBiohacker injects DNA versions of Bible, Quran verses into his body

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November	December 2018					January
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3	4	5	6	7	8	9
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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