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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, October 21, 2020

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Opposition MKs express anger after Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin nullifies a vote calling for an inquiry into the submarines affair, October 21, 2020. (Shmulik Grossman/Knesset)

Knesset speaker overturns vote after MKs approve inquiry into submarine scandal

Opposition lawmakers, watchdog vow to appeal decision at High Court after Levin holds second vote to nullify decision for parliamentary commission of inquiry

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset plenum on August 24, 2020. (Knesset Spokesperson's Office)

In rare unity display, Likud, Blue and White said to agree to torpedo inquiries

Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, center, visits students on the first day of school at Chen Nerya school in Alon Shvut, on September 1, 2020. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Israel media reviewBe bitter: What the press is saying on October 21

By Joshua Davidovich

A child plays in the city center of Jerusalem as Israel steps out of coronavirus lockdown and rolls back restrictions on October 21, 2020. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

Ministers end meeting without decision on reopening schools, stores

Coronavirus cabinet to reconvene next week; Netanyahu seeks five-stage plan to lift restrictions, rather than current 9 stages, in move opposed by top health officials

6:28 pm

In rare statement, exiled Fatah chief Dahlan hopes Erekat recovers
6:14 pm

Erekat remains in serious condition with COVID-19
5:55 pm

Mysterious flight travels directly from Israel to Sudan

PLO secretary general Saeb Erekat addresses the media following a meeting with diplomats in the West Bank city of Ramallah on January 30, 2019. (Abbas Momani/AFP)

Op-ed

Treating Saeb Erekat

The PLO’s secretary general is on life support… in an Israeli hospital. There’s a whole world of tragedies, ironies, foul hypocrisies, and, just maybe, lessons in this story

Saeb Erekat speaks to journalists after a meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah II, at the Royal Palace in Amman, Jordan, on January 29, 2018. (Khalil Mazraawi, Pool Photo via AP)

Erekat on life support but ‘stable’ as daughter holds out hope for recovery

By ToI Staff and AP

A new West Bank power station which Israel has transferred to Palestinian control (IDF Coordinator of Government Activity in the Territories)

With coordination still suspended, Israel hands three power stations to PA

By Aaron Boxerman

This photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces on October 20, 2020, shows soldiers operating along the border with the southern Gaza Strip, after a tunnel entering Israeli territory was found in the area. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF uncovers Gaza ‘terror tunnel’ that penetrated into Israeli territory

By Alexander Fulbright

Tunnel detected by sensors in Israel’s new subterranean barrier; IDF says there was no threat to local communities, holds Strip’s Hamas rulers responsible

This photo provided by the Israel Defense Forces on October 20, 2020, shows military engineering equipment along the border with the southern Gaza Strip, after a tunnel entering Israeli territory was found in the area. (Israel Defense Forces)

Army chief: Uncovered Gaza attack tunnel was ‘major asset’ to the enemy

By Judah Ari Gross

Illustrative: An Israeli missile launched from an Iron Dome missile defense system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells, is seen above Gaza City on November 13, 2019. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

IDF hits Hamas-linked subterranean site after Gaza rocket fire

By Alexander Fulbright

Finance Minister Israel Katz holds a press conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem on July 1, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)

Analysis

Haviv Rettig Gur

Finance Minister Katz has a budget. Netanyahu should be worried

Even as he declares his loyalty to his party leader, the Likud treasury chief has his own interests to consider

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) and Defense Minister Benny Gantz at the weekly cabinet meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Netanyahu ally admits political considerations behind failure to pass budget

ILLUSTRATIVE -- Police officers during a protest march against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in Jerusalem, on October 17, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)

Arrested protester says police officer told him, ‘You won’t topple’ Netanyahu

Yes, we do need a law about financial abuse

The new law recognizes that no access to money can be the hell of an abusive situation, and it is designed to enable the abused party to leave

I blew the whistle on the planned 10,000 person Satmar wedding

The lies of the New York Hasidic community around COVID compliance have been pronounced and explicit, and I wanted to make sure lives were not lost because of it

2020 US election

A President Biden would likely take less combative approach on Israel than Obama

Israel and Mideast not expected to top foreign policy priorities for Democratic nominee; if elected, his administration may disengage from region, but won’t leave Israel behind

Then-US Vice President Joe Biden at a press conference at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, March 9, 2016. (Debbie Hill, Pool via AP)

US President Bill Clinton gestures toward Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, left, and PLO leader Yasser Arafat shaking hands in the East Room of the White House, September 28, 1995. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak looks on behind Arafat. (AP Photo/Doug Mills)

Americans for Peace Now remember Rabin the peacemaker, without Ocasio-Cortez

People wearing face masks shop at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem as Israel rolls back coronavirus restrictions on October 20, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Virus outbreak continues to abate, but experts warn of potential new surge

Health Ministry figures show 1,165 confirmed cases in 24 hours, with 3% positive rate; officials advise against complacency, say data points to infections rising over coming week

People walk in the almost empty market in Rehovot, on October 19, 2020 (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Ministers warned against hasty virus reopening as cabinet debates schools, shops

Israeli volunteer Sharon Yaron, left, brings a cake to 85-year-old Holocaust survivor Sara Weinsten during a visit to her house in Yavne, Israel, October 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

With cakes, lonely Shabbat sweetened for older Israelis

By ISAAC SCHARF

Iyad Halak. (Courtesy)

Reckless manslaughter charges recommended for cop who shot autistic Palestinian

By Aaron Boxerman

Iyad Halak, 32, was killed in May by Border Police who say they mistook him for a terrorist; Justice Ministry unit recommends charges for one officer, pending a hearing

IDF troops seal off room of a Palestinian man suspected of killing a soldier earlier this year, in the town of Yabed on October 21, 2020. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF seals off room of Palestinian man suspected of killing soldier with a brick

By Judah Ari Gross

Illustrative: Amit Rahav (Yanky) and Shira Haas (Esty) in Netflix's 'Unorthodox.' (Netflix)

Warning: explicit content

LISTEN: Everything is kosher and nothing is unorthodox in sex, says therapist

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Ultra-Orthodox Jews keep social distance amid concerns over the country's coronavirus outbreak, during a protest against what they say is incitement against the city and country's religious population, in the southern Israeli city of Arad, October 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Ultra-Orthodox hold protest in Arad, rigorously adhering to virus rules

Gur Hasidic sect, which has been accused of flouting rules in the past, organizes rally against alleged incitement, keeping mask-wearing and distancing guidelines

Illustrative: United Hatzalah workers wearing protective clothing as a preventive measure against the coronavirus test ultra-Orthodox Jewish men, at the Wolfson Yeshiva in Jerusalem on August 27, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

As ‘red zones’ reopen, concern Haredi test avoidance exaggerates improvement

By Nathan Jeffay

Israel's Scentech Medical hopes to create a breath test to sniff out the coronavirus (YouTube screenshot)

Israeli company announces identification of COVID-19 indicators in breath test

Defense Minister Benny Gantz speaks to IDF Home Front Command soldiers during a visit in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod. September 14, 2020. (FLASH90)

‘Things happen’: Defense minister seems to hint Israel behind Syria strike

By Judah Ari Gross

Gantz calms residents of south after military uncovers attack tunnel from the Gaza Strip in Israeli territory

Illustrative: Explosions are seen in the Syrian town of Salamiyah on June 24 after an airstrike (video screenshot)

Israel said to strike Iran-backed militia base in southern Syria

By ToI Staff and Agencies

An Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company oil terminal in Eilat. (CC BY 2.5/Pikiwikisrael)

Israeli firm signs deal to pipe UAE oil to Europe

State-owned Europe-Asia Pipeline Co. says agreement, reached as part of normalization pact, will see much more oil pumped through major link between East Asia and Europe

Iran’s Khamenei: Muslim nations reject ‘humiliation’ of compromise with Israel

Israel-Qatar ties warming amid joint efforts to ensure Gaza calm — Israeli TV

Israeli airline Arkia starts offering flights to Dubai from January

CCTV footage shows a mother in Iraq leading her two small children along a bridge before she throws them in the river (Screencapture)

Horror in Iraq as mother seen throwing her two small children into Tigris River

Authorities arrest woman, recover bodies of children 3 and 1; incident said part of bitter divorce

French celebrity philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy addresses the 38th World Zionist Congress, October 20, 2020. (Screenshot)

Bernard-Henri Levy in unity plea amid right-wing Zionist Congress takeover bid

By Yaakov Schwartz

Philosopher speaks out as legacy Jewish organizations try to thwart power-sharing deal beneficial to the religious and right that threatens to marginalize progressive Jews

View of the Jewish Agency headquarters in Jerusalem, November 29, 2016. Photo (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Hadassah, other groups delay right-wing takeover of World Zionist Congress

More Headlines

Itamar Grotto seen during a press conference at the Health Ministry in Jerusalem on December 20, 2009. (Flash90)

Senior health official reverses car into man, lightly injuring him

Activists protest against recent cases of violence against women outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, October 21, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Gantz shouted down by protesters against domestic violence outside Knesset

People attend the 'Marche Blanche' in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris, on October 20, 2020, in solidarity after a teacher was beheaded for showing pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. (Photo by Bertrand GUAY / AFP)

France to shut pro-Hamas group after murder; Macron vows action on Islamists

By AFP and ToI Staff

Sacha Baron Cohen appears as Borat on Jimmy Kimmel's show, October 19, 2020. (Screenshot)

Bumbling bigotBorat blames coronavirus on Israel: ‘It spread from the you-know-whos’

An illustrative image of BioFarm's Israeli startup Aleph Farms hopes to set up on the Moon or Mars, as part of a consortium with space agencies, to grow meat locally (Courtesy)

Israeli startup Aleph Farms cooks up plan to grow cultured steaks on Mars

By Shoshanna Solomon

Prof. Yehoshua Blau poses for a picture at his home in Jerusalem on August 22, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

ObituaryProf. Yehoshua Blau, giant of Semitic languages, dies at 101

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

General Secretary of Unite the Union Len McCluskey at a protest in London, March 6, 2019. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

UK labor union boss tells ex-minister with Jewish ancestry to ‘count his gold’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

An Iranian woman illegally rides a bicycle without a hijab in the city of Najafabad. She was later arrested. (Screenshot/Twitter)

Iranian woman arrested for cycling without hijab

By AFP

General view of a prison colony outside Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, Friday, Dec. 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Denis Tyrin)

Jewish prisoner in Russian penal colony goes on hunger strike to get Shabbat off

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Illustrative: Hundreds of mourners gather in the Brooklyn borough of New York, Tuesday, April 28, 2020, to observe a funeral for Rabbi Chaim Mertz, a Hasidic Orthodox leader whose death was reportedly tied to the coronavirus. (Peter Gerber via AP)

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio: I regret how I handled that Orthodox funeral in April

Then-defense minister Naftali Bennett delivers a statement to the media in Ariel, in the West Bank, January 26, 2020. (Sraya Diamant/Flash90)

Bennett says his support for gay rights doesn’t mean he’ll back laws for them

In this file photo Hatice Cengiz, the fiancee of the late Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, delivers a prerecorded message during a remembrance ceremony for her fiancee in Washington, DC, on November 2, 2018. (Jim WATSON / AFP)

Khashoggi fiancée sues Saudi prince in US over journalist’s murder

By AFP

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