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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Sunday, October 18, 2020

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Boys play in a yeshiva school in Beitar Illit that opened in violation of coronavirus regulations, October 18, 2020. (Screenshot: Twitter)

Sephardim and some major Hasidic sects keep schools closed

Hundreds of Haredi schools in high-infection areas reopen in violation of rules

Widespread rebellion comes after top rabbi told boys’ classes to resume; 3 institutions fined; ministers call to defund defiant schools, while some ultra-Orthodox fume at Netanyahu

Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky in the northern Israeli city of Safed, February 26, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Prominent rabbi orders Haredi schools to reopen; Netanyahu warns against move

Israeli police argue with ultra-Orthodox worshippers in Miron on October 15, 2020. (David Cohen/FLASH90)

Virus czar warns ultra-Orthodox against opening schools ahead of lockdown exit

Policemen at a checkpoint to the ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak on October 18, 2020. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

63% of Israelis say politics driving decisions on lifting lockdown — poll

Majority of respondents to TV survey disapprove of Netanyahu’s handling of pandemic; only 21% believe gradual easing of restrictions will prevent third national lockdown

6:28 pm

Indiana police recruit fired for ties to neo-Nazis
6:27 pm

Sudanese leaders reportedly meeting to discuss 'peace with Israel'
6:14 pm

63% of Israelis say politics driving decisions on lifting lockdown -- poll

Young children at a kindergarten in Yashresh, Israel, on October18, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Israel media review

Patriarch of the cave: What the press is saying on October 18

By Joshua Davidovich

Netanyahu is accused of ceding to ultra-Orthodox pressure and dooming Israel to Lockdown 3 by okaying red zones’ preschools, and barely peeping as regular schools open there too

Israelis on the beach in Tel Aviv on October 18, 2020, as lockdown restrictions were eased. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

As lockdown eased, Israel sees 395 new virus cases in day, lowest rate in months

Closed stalls in Jerusalem's Old City on October 12, 2020, during a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Employment service: 260,000 registered as jobseekers over 2nd lockdown

An Israeli-US delegation being welcomed with a ceremony at the Bahraini International Airport on October 18, 2020. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Israel about to sign its fourth accord with an Arab state

Landing in Bahrain to sign deal, Israeli official stresses ‘genuine peace’ hopes

By Raphael Ahren and ToI Staff

In first, El Al plane carries Israeli delegation to Manama to formalize relations: Bahrain FM: ‘I hope this visit marks another step on road to truly peaceful Middle East’

Israeli delegation heads to Bahrain to establish formal diplomatic relations

By Raphael Ahren

All together now‘Hello you’: Joint Israeli-UAE song becomes a YouTube hit

By AFP

Joint List chief: Israel’s occupation, not Iran, is region’s main problem

Stop trying to kill my mother

Israel needs the government to be a grownup and stop rushing into opening back up

Kylie Ora Lobell

I thought anti-Semitism was a thing of the past. Then I became Jewish.

When I tell my family I want to move to Israel, they ask why I’d want to move so far away. I tell them I want to survive.

Michael Helfand

Dear New York, here’s how not to seem anti-Semitic during COVID

After coming across as unfairly singling out Jewish neighborhoods, the state must do better at explaining the numbers and the science

Kenneth S. Stern

Examined Zionism: Mira Sucharov and belonging

In a thoughtful memoir, the author dives deep into her complex relationship with Israel: A chapter on cancel culture takes on the BDS litmus test

A man holds a Charlie Hebdo cover during a demonstration in Rennes on October 17, 2020, a day after a teacher was beheaded in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, in an alleged Islamist terror attack. (Damien Meyer/AFP)

Thousands in France to rally after beheading of teacher

By Eleonore Dermy and Alice Lefebvre

Killing of history teacher Samuel Paty has sparked outrage and memories of a wave of Islamist terror in 2015; Macron says a national tribute to be held

A man holds a Charlie Hebdo cover during a demonstration in Rennes on October 17, 2020, a day after a teacher was beheaded in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, 30kms northwest of Paris, in an alleged Islamist terror attack. (Damien Meyer/AFP)

Beheaded French teacher was threatened online for showing Mohammed cartoons

By Eleonore Dermy and Alice Lefebvre

A poster reading "I am Samuel" and flowers outside the school where slain history teacher Samuel Paty worked, on October 17, 2020, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris. (AP/Michel Euler)

Murdered French teacher didn’t show cartoons to provoke, parent says

By Fanny LATTACH

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Illustrative: An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walks with his daughters in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, Tuesday, April 7, 2020 (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

New York said to halt planned Orthodox Jewish wedding with up to 10,000 guests

By ToI Staff and AFP

Amid COVID-19 restrictions and unrest in Orthodox neighborhoods, Governor Cuomo says: ‘You can get married. You just can’t get a thousand people at your wedding’

One of Sheba's innovation projects: the "hospital room of the future," built in the Israel Center for Medical Simulation at Sheba Medical Center (courtesy of Sheba Medical Center)

Israel’s Sheba, New Jersey’s Holy Name to join forces on digital health

By Shoshanna Solomon

Protesters gather for a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near his residence in Jerusalem on October 17, 2020. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Pre-teen girl, other anti-gov’t protesters pepper-sprayed in string of assaults

By ToI Staff and Aaron Boxerman

Police arrest several suspected of attacks, including bike deliveryman, in Tel Aviv, Haifa and elsewhere; reports of anti-government demonstrators being punched, egged

Protesters play drums during a demonstration against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near his residence in Jerusalem on October 17, 2020. (Menahem Kahana/AFP)

Thousands mass at PM’s residence as major protests resume after restrictions

By Aaron Boxerman and ToI Staff

Police scuffle with anti-Netanyahu protesters during a march in downtown Jerusalem, October 17, 2020. ( Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)Police clear remaining protesters from Jerusalem’s Paris Square

Screen capture from video of secretary General of the PLO Executive Committee and senior Palestinian negotiator in peace talks with Israel, Saeb Erekat, during an interview with Palestinian television in which he revealed he is waiting for a lung transplant. (YouTube/Pal TV)

Top PLO official Erekat, sick with COVID, hospitalized in Israel

By Aaron Boxerman

Chief Palestinian negotiator and longtime diplomat in Jerusalem’s Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital for treatment after his condition worsens

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz after the presentation of the 35th government of Israel at the Knesset, May 17, 2020. (Alex Kolomoisky/POOL)

Gantz says ‘everything’s fine’ after brief hospitalization for exam

A Shahab-3 surface-to-surface missile is on display at an exhibition by Iran's army and paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in downtown Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019. (AP/Vahid Salemi)

Iran says UN arms embargo on Tehran has ended

By AFP

5 years after nuclear deal took effect, ‘all restrictions on transfer of arms terminated,’ Islamic Republic says, hailing world’s position ‘in defiance of US regime’s efforts’

Students seen on the Safra Campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, on the first day of the new Academic school year, on October 14, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Amid pandemic, most college students out of work, 24% may drop out — survey

Poll shows 51% of students unemployed since start of coronavirus crisis; student union head warns of ‘severe social epidemic’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a televised press conference in Jerusalem on October 17, 2020. (Screen capture: Facebook)

Netanyahu: Lockdown exit will be gradual, in line with experts’ plan

By ToI Staff and AFP

Clalit Health Services workers take swab samples for preschool and daycare staff members at a drive-thru coronavirus testing site in the central city of Lod, October 16, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Preschools, daycare staff undergo coronavirus testing ahead of Sunday reopening

More Headlines

US President Donald Trump arrives for a campaign rally on October 17, 2020 in Muskegon, Michigan (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images/AFP)

Trump sets hectic campaign pace; frontrunner Biden keeps more subdued profile

By Mandel NGAN and Sebastian Smith

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (left) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a press briefing, July 27, 2020 (Gobi Gideon/GPO)

Blue and White said to threaten to ‘act as opposition’ if budget not advanced

With two bandages on his hand, President Donald Trump gestures while speaking from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)

New book by ex Trump aide alleges anti-Semitic, racist remarks

A deserted Republique street in Lyon, as a curfew is in place to fight the spread of COVID-19 (JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

Europe faces soaring virus cases, Paris enters new curfew

By Rana Moussaoui and Chris WRIGHT

Commuters wear face-masks during morning rush hour on the Victoria Line of the London Underground in central London on October 16, 2020 (Tolga Akmen / AFP)

Over half of England’s population comes under new virus restrictions

By AFP

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, speaks with Defense Minister Benny Gantz, both wearing protective masks due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, during a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, June 7, 2020. (Menahem Kahana/Pool Photo via AP)

Gantz: If government fails to function, pass budget, I’ll weigh options

Actresses of the Jewish State Theater, wearing face masks for protection against COVID-19 infection, perform during the rehearsals for the premiere of the "The Beautiful Days of My Youth" play, based on the diary of Romanian Jewish Holocaust survivor Ana Novac, in Bucharest, October 15, 2020. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)

With all-female cast, Romania’s Jewish State Theater premieres Holocaust play

By VADIM GHIRDA and EDITH BALAZS

Illustrative image of robots in the manufacturing process (PhonlamaiPhoto; iStock by Getty Images)

European firms seek tie-ups with Israeli startups in bid for innovation

By Shoshanna Solomon

A new way of greeting to avoid the spread of coronavirus. (iStock by Getty Images)

Study: COVID survives on skin for 9 hours, 5 times longer than flu

By AFP

Artist Philip Guston paints as part of the Federal Art Project, February 1939 (David Robbins, photographer, Archives of American Art, public domain, via wikipedia)

From our partnerFury as four Tate galleries drop exhibit by anti-racist Jewish artist

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