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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, December 24, 2020

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Israelis shop at the market in Ramle. The market has been partially closed down due to restrictions to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. December 23, 2020. (Yossi Aloni/FLASH90)

Virus czar: Lockdown will probably be extended beyond two weeks

Health minister says vaccines to be made available to all age groups in 1-2 weeks, says appointments for elderly and at-risk groups will be moved up

Lockdown will shutter 7,500 additional businesses, report says

By Shoshanna Solomon

Business owners seethe over third nationwide lockdown, demand compensation

Israel to enter national lockdown on Sunday for 2 weeks as infections surge

From the blogs

Yossi Klein Halevi

Netanyahu’s two Israels

He is our most talented leader and our most destructive politician, bringing unprecedented agreements with Arab countries and scorched earth in our governance

Then-environment protection minister Zeev Elkin attends the Likud Party's election campaign opening event in Jerusalem, on January 21, 2020. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Likud’s Elkin officially quits Knesset to join forces with Netanyahu rival Sa’ar

Onetime confidant says PM has destroyed the party, sent Israel to avoidable elections for personal interest; colleagues say they were blindsided by the move

Ze'ev Elkin announces his resignation from Likud as he joins Gideon Sa'ar's New Hope party, December 23, 2020 (video screenshot)

Quitting Likud to join Sa’ar, Ze’ev Elkin says Netanyahu forced these elections

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 he’ll challenge Netanyahu for PM, but won’t rule out joining forces

Ze'ev Elkin attends a debate between candidates for the Jerusalem municipal elections, Jerusalem, October 21, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Op-ed

Haviv Rettig Gur

Ze’ev Elkin puts the first serious chink in Netanyahu’s Likud armor

Israeli politics are littered with ex-Likudniks who left in anger at the PM. Elkin is different, and his reasons for leaving reflect the growing disquiet of many in the party ranks

AnalysisWarning the public against Netanyahu, a defecting confidant lands a heavy blow

By David Horovitz

Screen capture from video of Yesh Atid MK Ofer Shelah announcing he was leaving the party to set up his own political movement, December 24, 2020. (Channel 12 news)

MK Ofer Shelah says he’s leaving Yesh Atid to start his own party

By Stuart Winer

A photo released by the Israel Defense Forces on December 24, 2020, shows soldiers in the West Bank detaining a suspect in the suspected murder of Israeli woman Esther Horgen. (Israel Defense Forces)

Palestinian arrested in suspected terrorist killing of Israeli mother of six

By Aaron Boxerman

TV network says man confesses, gives details on attack; reports indicate he is a released security prisoner; security forces also detain several potential accomplices

Israelis protest in Safed on December 22, 2020, following the death of Ahuvia Sandak, who was killed when his car flipped over while being chased by police in the West Bank. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Four settler youths questioned over teen killed in crash during police chase

Deni Avdija, number 9, makes his NBA debut with the Washington Wizards, December 23, 2020, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Athlete interview

‘Dream come true’ as Israeli Deni Avdija makes NBA debut with Wizards

The 9th draft pick’s first game with the Washington Wizards ends in 113-107 loss to the 76ers in which he scores 7 points, pulls down 4 rebounds, and has 1 steal and 1 assist

Deni Avdija speaks to the media after NBA's Washington Wizards picked him in the NBA draft 2020 in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Deni Avdija’s NBA debut gives Israel a shot at basketball stardom

Israelis artists protest against the COVID-19 lockdown, on November 8, 2020 in Tel Aviv. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Israel media review

Lockdowns and screwups: What the press is saying on December 24

By Joshua Davidovich

A fresh closure, which includes the partial shutting of schools, is met with unholy anger only matched by a defecting Ze’ev Elkin, who is seen as dealing a major strike to Likud

Benny Gantz, left, and Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset during a vote for the parliament to dissolve itself, on December 2, 2020. (Danny Shem Tov/ Knesset Spokesperson)

S&P: Failure to curb debt due to political volatility may pressure Israel rating

By Shoshanna Solomon

IDF soldiers perform contact tracing for coronavirus patients. (Israel Defense Forces)

Health Ministry’s epidemiological chief resigns, claims IDF tracing a failure

By Stuart Winer

Meet the ‘cow’ who spent 2020 mooing at anti-Semitic tweets

With more than 21 thousand followers, the bovine troll employed humor and facts to school those who tweeted hateful tropes

Michael Rose Knopf

How to topple tyranny? Simple. Just never give up

Justice can prevail only when people recognize that every action, no matter how small, can make a difference

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem on December 22, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

Netanyahu says pandemic will likely be over in Israel ‘within weeks’

By Michael Bachner

PM claims that lockdown combined with vaccination campaign will make Israel the 1st country to overcome coronavirus crisis

7:35 pm

Regular Israel-Morocco flights to begin in 2-3 months: Rabat's tourism minister
7:28 pm

Pair of headstones bearing Nazi swastika removed from Houston Cemetery
7:19 pm

Iranian hackers say they hacked major Israeli cyber firm Portnox

Doctors and nurses wearing protective gear work at the coronavirus ward of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, on December 17, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

4 cases of UK’s new virus strain found in Israel as cabinet mulls lockdown

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Officials said to fear recent spike in Haredi infections is result of variant; Health Ministry said to recommend 25-day shut down of all non-essential public life, starting Sunday

A medical worker receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Ziv Medical Center in the northern city of Safed, December 21, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Hospitals to join COVID-19 vaccination effort next week

A researcher with Franceville International Medical Research Centre collects bats in a net inside a cave in the Zadie region in Gabon, November 25, 2020. (Steeve Jordan/AFP)

Into the bat cave: Virus hunters delve in stifling Gabon forest for next threat

By Adrien MAROTTE

Israeli winemaker Yaakov Berg holds a bottle of his red blend named after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Psagot Winery in the Sha'ar Binyamin industrial park near the Psagot settlement in the West Bank, north of Jerusalem on November 18, 2020. (Emmanuel DUNAND / AFP)

US begins to label settlement products as ‘Made in Israel’

Policy shift was announced by Pompeo during unprecedented recent visit to a West Bank winery; unclear if Biden administration will uphold it

Likud Minister Ofir Akunis in Jerusalem on May 28, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

After US official raised issue, Likud minister hints Indonesia may agree to ties

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a Christmas greeting in a video posted to his social media channels on December 23, 2020. (Screenshot/YouTube)

Holiday spiritNetanyahu highlights normalization deals in Christmas greeting

A woman picks a book at a bookstore on Enqelab (Revolution) street in Iran's capital Tehran, on September 8, 2020. (ATTA KENARE/AFP)

Analysis

Reading Anne Frank in Tehran: Diarist among top foreign authors for Iran’s women

Israeli academic Yuval Noah Harari’s history of mankind, translated into Persian, can also be found on display tables of book shops in Iranian capital

Israel's ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff poses in front of a giant Menora set up for the Jewish Hanukka Festival of Lights in front of Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, prior to an interview with AFP on December 17, 2020. (John MACDOUGALL/AFP)

Israel open to German efforts to expand Iran nuclear deal with more restrictions

By Deborah Cole

US President-elect Joe Biden at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware, December 23, 2020. (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

150 House Democrats urge Biden to reenter Iran nuclear deal without conditions

In this photograph taken on August 9, 2011, Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis performs during a rehearsal with Una Stella Baroque musical ensemble in Marseille, southern France. (Bertrand Langlois/AFP)

Israeli violin genius Ivry Gitlis dies at 98; found fans far beyond the elite

By AFP

Haifa-born virtuoso was as comfortable playing with the Rolling Stones or Stephane Grapelli as he was with classical repertoire

A general view of Dubai is shown from the Burj Khalifa tower, the world's tallest building, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, November 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell/File)

Overstocked Dubai real estate market eyes Israeli investors for rebound

By Shoshanna Solomon

More Headlines

In this March 4, 2005 file photo, Charles B. Kushner, flanked by his wife, Seryl Beth, left, and his attorney Alfred DeCotiis arrives at the Newark Federal Court for sentencing in Newark, New Jersey (AP /Marko Georgiev)

Charles Kushner pardon revives ‘loathsome’ tale of tax evasion, sex

By Jill Colvin and Colleen Long

In this May 6, 2019 file photo, Gal Gadot attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the 'Camp: Notes on Fashion' exhibition in New York (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Ptolemy about it‘Cleopatra was Macedonian’: Gal Gadot responds to critics of role

By Gabe Friedman

This image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman in a scene from 'Wonder Woman 1984.' (Clay Enos/Warner Bros Pictures via AP)

‘Wonder Woman 1984’ could be a moment of truth for pandemic-torn Hollywood

By Andrew MARSZAL

Blue and White MK and former Yeruham mayor Michael Biton, in the Knesset on April 29, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Strategic affairs minister says he’s examining shuttering his own ministry

The family and friends cast of 'Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat,' a production created solely for the coronavirus bar mitzvah celebration of Jerusalem 13-year-old Adin Markowitz (Courtesy Laura Ben-David)

Zoom outFamily brings ‘Technicolor Dreamcoat’ to life for bar mitzvah

By Jessica Steinberg

Mourners hold up pictures of people who died in the bombing of the AMIA Jewish center that killed 85 people on the 25th anniversary of the attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2019. (AP/Natacha Pisarenko)

AMIA bombing suspect acquitted in historic trial, sparking outrage

By JTA

Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the alleged mastermind behind the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnap-slaying, appears at the court in Karachi, Pakistan, March 29, 2002. (Zia Mazhar/AP)

Pakistan court orders release of man charged in killing of reporter Daniel Pearl

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and head of the Mossad Yossi Cohen during a toast ceremony for the Jewish New Year on October 2, 2017 (Haim Zach/GPO)

Vetting panel approves deputy Mossad head as spy agency’s next chief

Reality music show mogul Simon Cowell will join the Israeli version of 'X-Factor' as a judge in the new season (Courtesy 'X-Factor Israel')

Judge, jury, executionerSimon Cowell to join Israeli X-Factor show

By Jessica Steinberg

Illustrative: A policeman holds handcuffs. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Police investigating suspected rape of 9-year-old girl by 4 boys

Rio Mayor Marcello Crivella speaks at the inauguration of the city's Holocaust memorial, Dec. 13, 2020. (Courtesy of the Rio Holocaust Memorial via JTA)

Rio’s pro-Israel mayor, Marcelo Crivella, arrested on corruption charges

By Marcus M. Gilban

From left: Shira Haas, Doval'e Glickman and Michael Aloni in season 3 of 'Shtisel.' (Ohad Romano/ via JTA)

In their own wordsWhy non-Jews around the world love ‘Shtisel’

By Esther D. Kustanowitz

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