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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Tuesday, December 25, 2018

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement to the press at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 19, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

First poll after elections called shows Likud breezing past Gantz to easy win

By Raoul Wootliff

Netanyahu’s party maintains massive lead in new survey, way ahead of hypothetical new party led by former IDF chief

Gideon Sa'ar speaks at a Likud party conference in Lod, on December 31, 2017. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Ex-minister Gideon Sa’ar confirms he’ll run in Likud party primaries

By Michael Bachner

Former defense minister Moshe Ya'alon speaks at a cultural event in Ra'anana, July 15, 2017. (Flash90)

Former defense chief Ya’alon announces new political party

By Raoul Wootliff and ToI Staff

InterviewNot indicting would be strange, to the point of inexplicable

The case against Netanyahu: Is Israel about to reelect a corrupt prime minister?

By David Horovitz

Elections in April mean campaigning will coincide with AG’s deliberations on charging the PM for corruption. Top law prof Mordechai Kremnitzer explains how it all might play out

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces elections will be held in April, 2019, at a Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, December 24, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/FLASH90)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife Sara, center, sits in a courtroom in Jerusalem, on October 7, 2018. (Amit Shabi, Yedioth Ahronoth, Pool via AP)

Deadline up for arbitration in Sara Netanyahu’s $100,000 fraud case

By Raoul Wootliff

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan attends a committee meeting in the Knesset, on July 2, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Appointment of new Israel Police chief could be delayed until after election

Analysis

6 questions that may hold the key to Israel’s upcoming elections

Will the attorney general indict Netanyahu? Will a new center-left leader rise? How will Gideon Sa’ar fare in a hostile Likud? And will the next coalition be exactly the same?

Composite photo (from left): Ehud Barak, Avi Gabbay, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yair Lapid, Moshe Ya'alon (All pictures: Flash90)

Ministers okay elections but PM loyalist signals he may delay Knesset vote

By Raoul Wootliff

Knesset expected to dissolve this week, as April 9 confirmed as election day

Coalition lawmakers warily welcome demise of ‘difficult’ government

By Michael Bachner and Raoul Wootliff

Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a September 11, 2013, Navy ceremony (photo credit: AP Photo: Dan Balilty)

Live updates (closed)

Polls show Likud strong, Gantz a wildcard, and most don’t want Netanyahu as PM

According to a television report, Avi Gabbay offered former IDF chief to lead his Zionist Union party, but was turned down

7:13 pm

Netanyahu may cut Brazil visit short over political developments
6:58 pm

Knesset committee approves $185.5 million grant to Intel Company
6:46 pm

United Torah Judaism factions to stay together -- report

White doves rest on a rooftop in Jerusalem's Old City, at sunset, on December 24, 2018. (Mendy Hechtman/Flash90)

Analysis

Snap elections may put Trump’s peace plan on back-burner until summer

White House does not want April 9 poll to become a referendum on its ‘ultimate deal,’ or a platform for PM’s right-wing rivals to attack him over proposal’s concessions

US signals snap Israeli election could affect peace plan rollout

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Abbas: We want America’s friendship, but it must deal with us justly

Trump vows allies will no longer ‘take advantage’ of US military aid

By ToI Staff and AP

Donald Trump in Home Alone 2 (screenshot)

Wrong number

Trump takes calls from children who want to find Santa Claus

By AP

Taking part in the North American Aerospace Defense Command festive program, US president asks one child whether he still believes in Father Christmas

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers a statement in Tel Aviv, November 18, 2018, saying he will take over temporarily as defense minister, as early elections loom. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Analysis

Early election timing likely more to do with graft-dodging than draft-dodging

Netanyahu apparently decided last week to call the snap poll, just as the State Prosecution was handing his corruption probes over to the attorney general for a final decision

Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit speaks during a farewell ceremony for outgoing Israel Police chief Roni Alsheikh, on November 29, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Attorney general could announce Netanyahu charges months before vote — reports

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

Illustrative detail image of a vehicle from New Future Transportation. (Courtesy)

Husband-and-wife duo sets sights on flying cars over San Francisco next year

By Federico Maccioni

New Future Transportation (NFT) is developing an electric car prototype with wings that aims to solve congestion and also be affordable at $50,000

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to deliver a statement at the Knesset, on December 19, 2018. (MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP)

Israel media review

It’s the most wonderful time of the year? 9 things to know for December 25

By Joshua Davidovich

The timing of new elections, as possible charges are readied, leaves little doubt as to why Netanyahu called a snap poll; it’s unlikely Mandelblit will have a very jolly time

Former defense minister Ehud Barak attends a launching event of the 'Mehazkim' movement in Tel Aviv on August 24, 2018. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Flirting with comeback, former PM Barak concedes he can’t unseat Netanyahu alone

A bad neighborhood just got worse

The US ground forces in the Mideast were a declaration of intent, maintaining America’s right to have a say in the region; Trump just gave up that right

Nechama Goldman Barash

The Rabbinate’s 65-year monopoly on marriage and divorce

A spousal registry, civil unions for those with no religion — there are ways to get married without the formality of ’getting married’

Bethlehem's Manger Square on December 24, 2018. (Adam Rasgon/Times of Israel)

Thousands celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem with waning Christian Palestinians

Otto Warmbier, center, is escorted at the Supreme Court in Pyongyang, North Korea, March 16, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

US court orders North Korea to pay $500 million to family of Otto Warmbier

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Judge awards family of late Jewish student approximately half the $1.05 billion they requested in their punitive damages lawsuit

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani speaks during parliament's open session on confidence vote for four new ministers, in Tehran, Iran, October 27, 2018. (Ebrahim Noroozi/AP)

Rouhani says US sanctions won’t bring Iran ‘to its knees’

An African-inspired piece of clothing created from recycled pieces of fabric, by Ganit Goldstein (Courtesy Ganit Goldstein)

With an eye on the past, a textile artist prints 3D fabrics of the future

By Jessica Steinberg

More Headlines

The families of terror victims Kim Levengrond Yehezkel and Ziv Hajbi meeting with the Border Police fighters who killed terrorist Ashraf Na'alowa, December 2018. (Border Police)

‘You’re family,’ terror victims’ relatives tell officers who killed terrorist

By Michael Bachner

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Roseanne Barr, at a live podcast, at Stand Up NY, on July 26, 2018 in New York City. (James Devaney/Getty Images)

Joking asideRoseanne Barr to speak at Knesset in January

21 Savage performs at the Voodoo Music Experience in City Park on October 28, 2018, in New Orleans. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

Offensive reboundRapper sorry for ‘Jewish money’ lyrics that snagged LeBron

By Alexander Fulbright

Nicole Parsons, a junior at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, said she decided to put up this sign after a swastika was drawn over a Happy Hanukkah sign. (Courtesy)

UMass student asked to remove ‘F*** Nazis’ sign because it’s not inclusive

Illustrative. A firefighter extinguishing a fire in a field near the Gaza Strip that was sparked by a flaming object flown from the Palestinian enclave, on June 5, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Arson aleGaza border farmers to make beer from wheat that survived fires

Members of the Reform movement hold Torah scrolls during a mixed men and women prayer at the public square in front of the Western Wall, in Jerusalem's Old City, November 16, 2017. (Noam Rivkin Fenton)

Poll: Israelis increasingly support non-Orthodox Jewry

Attorney Efi Nave, chairman of the Israel Bar Association, seen here when he was the IBA Tel Aviv district chief, April 24, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Israel Bar Association chair indicted for allegedly smuggling woman into country

By Stuart Winer

Illustrative photo of a metro station in Paris, France. January 1, 2015. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)

‘Little old Jewish lady’ feted for telling off anti-Semites on Paris metro

By Stuart Winer

The flags of Israel and Spain seen at the welcoming ceremony for then-president Shimon Peres in Madrid, Spain on February 21, 2011. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO/Flash90)

Madrid rejects motion to boycott Israel

By JTA

Illustrative. Young American Jews participating in a Birthright event in Jerusalem. (Dudi Vaknin/ Flash90)

Birthright participants say they were booted for ‘asking about the occupation’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a ceremony at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on December 2, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu blocks IDF officer from speaking at rights group’s event – report

By Michael Bachner

Janet Fein (L) with her longtime college adviser, Sheila Rollerson. (University of Texas at Dallas News Center.)

Never too late84-year-old Jewish grandmother finishes her college degree

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