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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, January 28, 2021

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Two US Navy F-35C Lightning II jets fly in formation during an exercise out of Naval Air Station Lemoore, California, November 16, 2018. (US Navy/Chief Mass Communication Specialist Shannon E. Renfroe)

US suspends $23 billion sale of F-35s to UAE that followed Abraham Accords

By Jacob Magid and Agencies

Washington reviewing foreign arms sales made by Trump administration, including deal reached as part of Israel normalization, as well as accord with Saudi Arabia

Antony Blinken, accompanied by his wife Evan Ryan, arrives for his ceremonial swearing-in as Secretary of State, Washington, January 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Top American envoy Blinken says Iran needs to return to nuclear deal before US

By AFP

In this Feb. 3, 2007 file photo, a technician works at the Uranium Conversion Facility just outside the city of Isfahan, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran offers US ‘reality check’ on insistence it comply first with nuclear deal

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Young Israeli children dressed up in costumes for the Jewish holiday of Purim at a school in northern Israel, on February 27, 2018. (Anat Hermony/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

Health officials indicate pandemic rules to be in place over Purim holiday

Despite vaccination drive, gatherings and parties expected to be limited over festival in late February

7:14 pm

UK announces UAE travel ban over virus spike
6:57 pm

Iran plans to install 1,000 centrifuges at Natanz in 3 months
6:56 pm

120 interfaith leaders in New York call for vaccination of prisoners

A medical worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine in Kiryat Ye'arim, on January 25, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Vaccine found 92% effective in Israel, in first controlled result outside trials

By Nathan Jeffay

Only 31 out of 163,000 fully vaccinated Maccabi members caught virus, indicating Pfizer shots living up to expectations; expert: Results ‘well within expected standard deviation’

People wearing protective face masks walk past the Pfizer Inc. headquarters on December 9, 2020 in New York City. (Angela Weiss / AFP)

Pfizer vaccine effective against UK, South Africa virus mutations, company says

By Stéphane ORJOLLET and Kelly MacNamara

A nurse administers a Pfizer/Biontech COVID-19 vaccine to a health care worker in Liege, Belgium, January 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Pfizer, Moderna both trying for 3rd dose booster shots to combat virus variants

Op-ed

Ultra-Orthodox COVID extremists betray Judaism’s emphasis on sanctity of life

How to understand the sometimes violent defiance of life-preserving lockdown rules by a substantial minority of the Haredi community, and what Israel should do about it

An ultra-Orthodox man faces off with police officers during enforcement of coronavirus emergency regulations, in Jerusalem, January 26, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox men walk outside the IDF recruitment office in Jerusalem, on December 5, 2019. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Gantz threatens to enlist all Haredim unless his national service plan advances

By Judah Ari Gross

Wedding of the offspring's of Sanz and Toldot Ahron Hasidic sects leaders in Netanya on January 21, 2021 (Screenshot)

Dozens said to attend Netanya Hasidic wedding in violation of virus rules

Actors on the "Eretz Nehederet" satire show portray Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and his grandson on January 27, 2021 (Screencapture/Channel 12)

Satirical portrayal of top rabbi sparks outrage, debate over freedom of speech

Amid conflict with Haredi community over lockdown violations, critics call ‘Eretz Nehederet’ skit of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky ‘disrespectful and offensive’; others see it as brave

Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox Jews argue with Israeli border police officers during a protest over the coronavirus lockdown restrictions, in Ashdod, January 24, 2021. (AP/Oded Balilty)

AnalysisNetanyahu reelection hopes jeopardized by ultra-Orthodox unrest

By Josef Federman

Illustrative: Ultra-Orthodox Jews in the Stamford Hill section of London. (CC BY-dcaseyphoto/Flickr)

From our partnerUK Jewish News investigation: ‘For months they’ve broken every rule in the book’

The unsung heroine-artist who helped save Israel’s wildflowers

You may not have heard of Bracha Avigad, but chances are you’ve seen the exquisite illustrations she spent 7 decades creating

Benny Gantz: My Holocaust survivor mother made me a better general

She understood that the human fabric of society is what deters people from turning to hateful ideologies as a way of filling the void

Israel failed this Darfur genocide survivor. He’s leaving.

Walyadin’s decision to return to his dangerous homeland, Sudan, represents a deep moral failure on our part

My grandfather survived Auschwitz — and spends his life spreading kindness

The rioting mob at the US Capitol shows that hateful ideologies are still alive, but so is he, and against all odds, he has lived a life rooted in love

Almond tree blossom, January 21, 2016. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)

The Daily Briefing

PODCAST: On Tu Bishvat, Israel’s carbon footprint and which tree to hug

A quick 15-minute podcast with ToI editors and reporters to catch you up on what’s important today

Interview

The secret maritime route that brought Holocaust survivors to pre-state Israel

From a US Army chaplain who rallied surviving Jews to a fake military unit, resilience and chutzpah star in Rosie Whitehouse’s new book about post-WWII exodus to the promised land

The Wedgwood arriving in Haifa, 1 July 1946. (Donated to the Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum, Haifa by Brigadier General Nir
Maor/ Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0)

Surviving children of the Auschwitz concentration camp show their tattoos in January 1945, January 15, 1945. (Screen capture: 'Auschwitz' by Soviet film director Elizaveta Svilova via AFP)

In virtual ceremonies, Auschwitz child victims honored 76 years on

By AFP

President Joe Biden holds his face mask as he delivers remarks on COVID-19, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2021, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)

Biden in remembrance day statement: ‘The Holocaust was no accident of history’

Joint List members present their party slate to the Central Elections Committee in the Knesset, January 15, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Knesset panel approves Joint List’s breakup after talks with Ra’am faction fail

By ToI Staff and Aaron Boxerman

Hadash, Balad factions to continue as Joint List alliance of Arab parties, while Ahmad Tibi’s Ta’al and Mansour Abbas’s Ra’am will each run separately

Defense Minister Benny Gantz (L) and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kohavi in Jerusalem on July 2, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Gantz appears to rebuke IDF chief over public criticism of US, threat to Iran

By Judah Ari Gross

Defense minister says comments like those made by Aviv Kohavi in his Tuesday speech should be aired ‘in closed rooms’

Then-US vice president Joe Biden, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, talk before a dinner at the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Baz Ratner, Pool)

Netanyahu hoping to avoid immediate clash with Biden on Iran — report

Illustrative: A US B-52H Stratofortress from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana is refueled during a training exercise, August 21, 2017. (US Air Force/Louis Briscese)

US B-52 once again overflies Mideast in show of force to Iran

By AFP and ToI Staff

Tobin Mitnick really loves trees, and wants you to, too. (Courtesy of Mitnick/ via JTA)

Interview

TikTok’s comic ‘Jew Who Loves Trees’ wants you to take Tu Bishvat very seriously

By PHILISSA CRAMER

File: Israeli police clash with Haredi men as they enforce coronavirus restrictions in the Haredi neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, January 24, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Paving way for lockdown extension, MKs set to vote on upping enforcement

96 die of COVID-19 in a day, as coalition infighting continues; ultra-Orthodox lawmakers said planning to boycott committee vote on increasing fines for rule-breakers

A medical worker administers a COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit vaccination center in Jerusalem, on January 21, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Netanyahu warns virus strain resistant to current vaccines is inevitable

Illustrative -- Medical team worker at the Barzilay hospital in Ashkelon handles a coronavirus test sample on March 29, 2020 (Flash90)

ExplainerHow many variants of the coronavirus are there?

By MARION RENAULT

Foreign Ministry's Twitter account on January 27, 2021, International Holocaust Remembrance Day (photo credit: Courtesy)

Auschwitz survivor, 92, takes over @Israel for Holocaust Remembrance Day

By Lazar Berman

Foreign Ministry gives its Twitter account to Itzik Yaakobi, prisoner B-11057, to recount his experiences during the Shoah and answer questions from around the world

Shai Hoffman explains about his Bus of Encounters project in Frankfurt, Germany on August 25, 2020. (Cnaan Liphshiz/ JTA)

Rise of anti-Semitism, other extremism has German Jews questioning their future

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Vice President of the European Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress Charlotte Knobloch speaks during a ceremony marking the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi Germany's Auschwitz death camp, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2021 at the Bundestag in Berlin. (SCHWARZ / AFP)

At German parliament, Holocaust survivor urges nation to fight today’s far-right

United States Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield testifies during for her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Capitol Hill on Jan. 27, 2021, in Washington. (Greg Nash/Pool via AP)

Biden’s UN envoy nominee: BDS activity ‘unacceptable, verges on anti-Semitic’

At Senate hearing, Linda Thomas-Greenfield pledges to combat ‘unfair targeting of Israel,’ encourage states that have normalized with Israel to back Jerusalem at world forums too

A Palestinian woman walks past a closed health center that run by United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) during a strike of all UNRWA institutions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on September 24, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / SAID KHATIB)

Return of US aid for Palestinian refugees won’t cover shortfall, UN says

By AFP and ToI Staff

US Vice President Joseph Biden (left) with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas ahead of their meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah, March 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

PA official welcomes resumed US ties, but realizes Palestinians not 1st priority

By Aaron Boxerman

A retired Israeli F-16 fighter jet is loaded into a cargo plane as it is sold to a North American company on January 27, 2021. (Defense Ministry)

Israel sells old F-16s to US, Canada to use as training planes

By Judah Ari Gross

Four of 29 retired aircraft sent to America this week in major deal worth tens of millions of dollars, Defense Ministry says

Antony Blinken speaks during his confirmation hearing to be secretary of state before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on January 19, 2021 in Washington, DC. (Alex Edelman-Pool/Getty Images/AFP)

New US Secretary of State Blinken speaks to Israeli FM Ashkenazi for first time

A tank prototype developed by Elbit Systems as part of the Defense Ministry's Carmel project, which was tested on August 4, 2019. (Defense Ministry)

Israel’s Elbit wins $172m contract to supply tanks to Asia-Pacific country

Almond trees blossom in the Golan Heights, on February 27, 2020. (Maor Kinsbursky/Flash90)

Tu Bishvat

Erupting with flowers before spring, almond tree a bounty of Jewish symbolism

More Headlines

Illustrative: a octor looking image of leukaemia cells (kukhunthod via iStock Getty Images)

Israeli scientists unveil ‘powerful tool’ advancing personalized cancer medicine

By Nathan Jeffay

An Israeli woman carries a sign as Left-wing and Right-wing demonstrators are separated by police during protests in support and against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on March 02, 2019. (Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Israel seen as increasingly corrupt for fourth year in a row, index finds

An Israeli student seen during a remote class at her home in Moshav Haniel, northern Israel, on January 25, 2021. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

12 hours daily screen time: COVID speeds up digitalization of Israeli society

By Stuart Winer

A rabbi checks the quality of poultry meat in a kosher slaughterhouse in Csengele, Hungary on January 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Laszlo Balogh)

European court ruling brings kosher slaughterhouse new business amid old fears

By Justin Spike

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas speaks to the media after a meeting on the divisive migrant issue in Paris, France, July 22, 2019. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

German FM insists nuclear deal is best way to confront Iran’s ‘reckless’ acts

By Lazar Berman

Illustrative -- Violins hang next to each other at the Music Fair in Frankfurt, Germany, April 11, 2018. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

From the webGermany’s commitment to Holocaust restitutions tested by case of rare violin

The West Bank Jewish settlement of Ma'ale Efrayim in the Jordan Valley, June 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

West Bank settler population surged during Trump era, report says

By AP

Illustrative: A member of the Boogaloo Boys extremist group stands armed with an assault rifle, gas mask and combat helmet outside of the Oregon State Capitol building in Salem, January 17, 2021. (Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/AFP)

US issues national terrorism alert over anti-government extremists

By Paul Handley

A view of Luxembourg City's City Hall in 2008. Hundreds of real estate properties in the city could be subject to Holocaust restitution claims. (Wikimedia Commons/via JTA)

Luxembourg signs restitution deal to pay for funds, art looted during Holocaust

By AP

In this March 29, 2002, photo, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the alleged mastermind behind Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's kidnap-slaying, is escorted by police in Karachi, Pakistan. (Aamir Qureshi/AFP)

Pakistan court orders release of man accused of killing journalist Daniel Pearl

By KATHY GANNON

A delivery man riding a bicycle passes the New York Stock Exchange and Fearless Girl, a bronze sculpture by Kristen Visbal, in New York, January 27, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Israeli firm files for $220 million SPAC on Wall Street, days after Taboola deal

Tombs tagged with swastikas are pictured in a Jewish cemetery in Westhoffen, eastern France, December 3, 2019. (AP Photo)

Anti-Semitic incidents drop by 50% in France; physical assaults almost unchanged

By Cnaan Liphshiz

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December	January 2021					February
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4	5	6	7	8	9	10
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18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30	31

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