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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, June 18, 2020

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A Ryanair Boeing 737 airliner seen at Ramon Airport near Eilat, March 4, 2019. (Rafi Peled/Israel Airport Authority)

EU okays landmark Israel ‘Open Skies’ aviation deal, despite annexation tensions

By Raphael Ahren

Jerusalem hails diplomatic achievement as Brussels ratifies pact with large majority; left-wingers’ bid for delay rejected; EU to watch political developments, ‘act accordingly’

Ireland, a frequent Israel critic, and Norway win seats on UN Security Council

In first, EU nixes grant to Palestinian NGO refusing to sign anti-terror clause

By Raphael Ahren

Settlers torch construction site in Palestinian village

People with face masks wait for a bus at a bus stop in downtown Jerusalem on June 18, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

215 new coronavirus patients diagnosed as Israel nears 20,000 total cases

Data shows spike in cases continues, with 4,177 currently active cases; 38 patients are seriously ill, 28 of them on ventilators

6:30 pm

Police said to have issued over 6,000 fines for masks this month
6:13 pm

Facebook removes Trump ads containing symbol used by Nazis
6:04 pm

Jordan said to tell Abbas: You must speak to Trump directly to stop annexation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) attends a ceremony welcoming the new Health Ministry director general, in Jerusalem on June 18, 2020 (Health Ministry)

Netanyahu: No further easing of virus restrictions until infections go back down

Prime minister warns he will bring back closures if recent spike in cases is not leveled, says foreign tourists not even under consideration for now

A Sion Medical workers makes protective masks at the company's factory in the southern city of Sderot on June 17, 2020. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Number of active coronavirus cases in Israel rises above 4,000

Palestinian Authority Health Minister Mai al-Kaila announces a surge in cases in Hebron on June 17, 2020. (Courtesy: Wafa)

46 new infections in West Bank raise concerns of potential second wave

By Aaron Boxerman

Defense Minister Benny Gantz at a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, on June 7, 2020. (Marc Israel Sellem/Pool)

Gantz: I won’t back annexing areas with ‘many Palestinian residents’ — report

Defense minister also said to tell security officials he’s sure Netanyahu will not ‘endanger’ Jordan peace treaty or Israel’s relationship with US

Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Benny Gantz at the Knesset, May 17, 2020. (Alex Kolomoisky/Pool)

PM said to present Gantz with 4 annexation options, including only symbolic move

Some 5,000 Israelis from the culture and arts industry protest outside the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on June 15, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel media reviewUp, up and away with the restrictions: 5 things to know for June 18

By Joshua Davidovich

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, with Shas party chairman Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, March 4, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Interior minister revives efforts for Orthodox control over Jewish conversion

Aryeh Deri reportedly asks prime minster to distribute memorandum for bill seeking to recognize only conversions authorized by the ultra-Orthodox state rabbinate

Shas party leader Aryeh Deri arrives at the Knesset for a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, March 3, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Using new law, Shas leader Deri resigns from Knesset to allow new MK to enter

By Raoul Wootliff

Chairman of the Jewish Agency Isaac Herzog welcomes members of the Ethiopian community on February 4, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Times of Israel podcastLISTEN: Jewish Agency head Isaac Herzog says ‘real issues’ trump annexation talk

Jordan's Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi delivers his speech during a United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA, conference, in Rome, March 15, 2018. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

Jordanian FM makes rare trip to Ramallah for annexation talks

By AFP and ToI Staff

Ayman Safadi meets with Abbas as Jordan pushes against Israel’s plans to annex parts of the West Bank; PA source says international pressure is working

Member of Blue and White-led bloc says he’ll back annexation even if Gantz won’t

3 former top IDF officers said to reject Gantz offer to oversee annexation plans

UAE official: Israeli annexation may increase calls for single binational state

By AP and ToI Staff

Interview

Haviv Rettig Gur

Labor’s 1-woman opposition: ‘No to a religious, occupying, non-democratic state’

MK Merav Michaeli, dragged into a government she loathes, insists the left will start winning again when its leaders develop a backbone and stop fearing the right

File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and Merav Michaeli, now Labor leader (right) attend a conference marking the 25th anniversary of the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan at the Knesset, on November 11, 2019. (Flash90)

Then-Foreign Minister Israel Katz speaks during an emergency meeting the at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on February 13, 2020. (Flash90)

Finance minister denies Netanyahu seeking new elections with budget U-turn push

By Raoul Wootliff

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on May 17, 2020, as their new coalition was sworn in. (Knesset)

Blue and White helps sink bill barring PM under indictment, which it initiated

My mom is white and my dad is black. Don’t call me a ‘Jew of Color.’

I have always felt at home in the Jewish world, and I choose not to define myself by the few negative moments in my life

Jason Rubenstein

First – listen. Then – entertain heresy

White Americans must learn what Black Americans have always known, that America is not only the promised land, it is also Egypt

Medical staff at the coronavirus unit in Ichilov hospital, Tel Aviv, May 4, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Israel already using steroid said to save 1/3 of most severe COVID-19 cases

Three hospitals have been giving dexamethasone to some patients since the start of coronavirus outbreak, TV news reports, day after UK researchers say it can improve survival rate

Maj. Gen. Lior Carmeli, right, shakes hands with the outgoing commander of the IDF's Digital Transformation Administration, Brig. Gen. Omer Dagan, at a ceremony at the military's Tel Aviv headquarters on November 7, 2019. (Israel Defense Forces)

Third IDF general goes into quarantine after coming close to coronavirus carrier

By Judah Ari Gross

Train station staff and workers are seen receiving training instructions at Yitzhak Navon train station in Jerusalem, before a possible reopening order from the government on May 14, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel to resume train services next week, cultural venues also reopening

A scepter from the Canaanite temple that is believed to have been part of a life-sized "divinity statue." (Courtesy)

Ancient scepter found in south may be first proof of life-sized ‘divine statues’

Hebrew University archaeologist says spatula-like object unearthed at Lachish was ‘an identifying marker and symbol’ of a Canaanite god

Illustrative: Members of the Orthodox Jewish community watch as protesters walk through the Brooklyn borough on June 3, 2020, during a "Breonna Taylor and Black Lives Matter" protest in New York City, after the recent death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP)

Some New York City yeshivas are operating in the shadows

Parents given clandestine instructions on how to drop kids off, quickly using side doors and carrying school books in shopping bags; other schools refusing to operate illegally

Self-employed people and kindergarten owners participate in a rally calling for financial support from the Israeli government in Jerusalem, on April 19, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Women bear brunt of coronavirus job losses in Israel, report says

By Shoshanna Solomon

Distinguished professor of Genetics, Dr. Jay A. Tischfield, Rutgers-New Brunswick. (Courtesy Rutgers)

Interview

First COVID-19 saliva test in US can be taken at home via tele-medicine

By Rich Tenorio

This photo provided by the CNES shows a Russian Soyuz rocket lifting off from the Kourou space base, French Guiana, Dec.18, 2019 (JM Guillon/ESA-CNES-Arianespace via AP)

Israeli doctors to blast bacteria into orbit, readying for space-based medicine

By Nathan Jeffay

Scientists will send experiments into space, including a capsule of E. coli, with the hope of overcoming antibiotic-resistant germs and to prepare for space travelers getting sick

Illustrative: An Iranian warship fires a missile, reported to be a Noor long-range anti-ship missile, in an exercise in the southern waters of Iran, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/IIPA, Ebrahim Norouzi)

Iran tests cruise missile, claims it can destroy targets 280 kilometers away

By AP

State media says test took place during naval exercise, the first Tehran has held since 19 soldiers were killed by friendly fire during drill in May

‘Lessons in hate’: Hezbollah school books teach anti-Semitism, terror support

Vowing new Syria campaign, US sanctions dozens including Assad’s UK-born wife

By Shaun Tandon

Israel says it thwarted Hamas attempt to smuggle weapons from Sinai

By Judah Ari Gross

More Headlines

In this July 31, 2019 file photo, then National security adviser John Bolton speaks to media at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Bolton: Trump asked China for reelection help, encouraged camps for Uighurs

By Zeke Miller, Deb Riechmann and Jill Colvin

This undated photo provided by Immigration Equality shows Roee, left, and Adiel Kiviti, right, with their children newborn, Kessem and older brother Lev. (Courtesy of Adiel and Roee Kiviti/Immigration Equality via AP)

Judge rules US can’t deny citizenship to child of US-Israeli gay married couple

By Michael Kunzelman

An illustrative photo of Germany's Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, Germany, May 19, 2020. (Uli Deck/dpa via AP)

US woman whose father fled Nazis unfairly denied German citizenship, court rules

By AP

A San Diego county sheriff's deputy stands in front of the Poway Chabad Synagogue in Poway, California, April 28, 2019, after a shooting. (AP /Denis Poroy)

Poway shooting victims sue gunmaker, alleged shooter and his parents

Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League, May 2, 2017 (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

6 groups, including ADL, urge companies to pause Facebook ads to combat hate

By ToI Staff and AP

The Noble Energy control room on the Leviathan platform on December 31, 2019. (Noble Energy)

Noble Energy faces possible further sanctions for malfunctions at gas rig

Screen capture of Santa Rosa Memorial Park. (Google Maps)

Fountain dedicated to Holocaust survivors smashed at California cemetery

Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Jason B. Rosenthal on a trip to Florida in 2017. (Courtesy of Jason Rosenthal)

Amy Krouse Rosenthal’s husband pens memoir about getting ‘permission’ to move on

Screen capture from video at the scene where a man was fatally shot in the northern Arab Israeli town of Jatt, June 18, 2020. (Ynet)

Man shot dead in 4th killing in two days in Arab community

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Illustrative: Sudanese demonstrate in support of their people in South Tel Aviv, June 30, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Satisfied Sudan migrant inspires new attempts to cross into Israel from Lebanon

By ToI Staff and Judah Ari Gross

Ella-Lee Lahav, a 17-year-old singer, has a new K-pop-style single released June 2, 2020, that's becoming a global favorite (Courtesy Ella-Lee Lahav)

Lovey dovey‘Zot Ani,’ K-pop-style single in Hebrew, becomes global hit

By Jessica Steinberg

Soldiers from the Maglan reconnaissance unit take part in a training exercise in Cyprus in October 2018. (Israel Defense Forces)

Officer jailed, sergeant booted for hazing recruits in elite commando unit

By Judah Ari Gross

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May	June 2020					July
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