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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, February 17, 2021

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An Israeli military outpost in the Golan Heights is pictured from the Syrian town of Quneitra on March 26, 2019. (Louai Beshara/AFP)

Israel negotiating release of Israeli woman held in Syria

By Aaron Boxerman and Marissa Newman

Report: Woman is 25 from Modi’in Illit; Syrian media says she entered country accidentally; Israel frees Syrian from house arrest, Damascus said to want release of another

Illustrative: Israeli soldiers guard at the Israeli side of the Quneitra Crossing, on the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights on March 23, 2019. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)

Cabinet holds urgent vote on classified humanitarian issue related to Syria

By Judah Ari Gross

A nurse at a field hospital set up to handle a surge of COVID-19 patients in Cranson, Rhode Island, Feb. 10, 2021. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

COVID-19 pandemic ebbs globally: Infections down 16% last week, deaths drop 10%

By Robin MILLARD

New cases decline for past five weeks, with a decrease of 50% since first week of January as outbreak subsides in most world regions, World Health Organization says

Iranian health worker Sara Gudarzi receives the COVID-19 vaccine as the country launches its inoculation campain, at the Imam Khomeini hospital in the capital Tehran, on February, 9, 2021 (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

WHO says around 1% of Mideast — excluding Israel — has gotten a vaccine shot

By AFP

An Israeli woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit vaccination center in Jerusalem on February 16, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Two-thirds of eligible Israelis have received at least 1 dose of COVID vaccine

Illustrative: A broker works in a trading room of a Portuguese bank in Lisbon, Wednesday, July 3, 2013. (AP/Francisco Seco)

ToI investigates

Austrian authorities allege ex-IDF intel officer ‘mastermind’ behind €200m scam

By Simona Weinglass, David Horovitz and Joshua Davidovich

No charges, but investigators say Ilan Tzorya and Tradologic provided software to manipulate financial data and help swindlers defraud consumers; Tzorya denies wrongdoing

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives Channel 12 anchor Yonit Levy his "na na na na na" rendition during an interview on February 17 (Channel 12 screenshot)

Na na na na na Netanyahu: PM’s mockery of media critics goes viral

Clip from premier’s interview with Channel 12 set to music, while opponent Sa’ar seizes on the phrase: ‘For him, 5,406 dead is na na na’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu receives a certificate after having his second COVID vaccine shot, on January 09, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Experts reject Netanyahu’s claim Israel is almost ‘done with COVID’

By Nathan Jeffay

A man at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on January 10, 2021, during a third nationawide coronavirus lockdown. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Pandemic-battered Israeli economy contracts 2.4% in 2020

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel Podcast

PODCAST: Daily Briefing, Feb. 17 — Bibi rises as Israelis see end of pandemic

Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) during a visit to a COVID-19 vaccination center in Zarzir, northern Israel, February 9, 2021. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Poll shows public less critical of government’s response to COVID; Yamina slips

Labor party member Ibtisam Mara'ana seen during a first meeting of the Labor party with new elected members in Tel Aviv on February 2, 2021 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Knesset panel bans Arab Labor candidate over Memorial Day comments

By TOI staff and Raoul Wootliff

Shifra Dukes Livne

Israel’s quarantine hotels gone wrong

Meet some of the law-abiding Israeli citizens who are suffering the human rights violation of being locked up in a controlled facility against their will

Hiring! Female Orthodox clergy who are younger than a certain age

Capping the age of women applying for rabbinical roles is short-sighted: it blocks the talent and wisdom earned over time, and ignores the community’s real needs

A composite image showing the cover of the book "Rebel Daughter," by Lori Kaufmann, and a Late 1st century epitaph for Claudia Aster. (Courtesy Delacorte Press and Museo Archeologico nazionale, Naples)

Inspired by an ancient tomb, a Jewish love story puts the Roman in bildungsroman

By Jessica Steinberg

Snow falls in north, Jerusalem as wintry weather hits Israel

Rains lash the coast in storm expected to last several days; fears of flooding in desert areas

'Crisis' in Levittown, Pennsylvania, when the Black Meyers family moved to town, August 1957 (public domain)

Black history month

How America’s Jewish ‘king of the suburbs’ kept Blacks out of suburbia

By Matt Lebovic

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah gives an address on official party al-Manar TV on September 29, 2020. (Screenshot: Al-Manar)

Hezbollah chief threatens Israel after IDF drill directed at terror group

Hassan Nasrallah says terrorist organization will bomb Israeli cities in response to any attacks in Lebanon

An F-35 fighter jet takes off during a surprise exercise, 'Galilee Rose,' in February 2021. (Israel Defense Forces)

In threat to Hezbollah, IDF holds drill practicing massive attacks on group

By Judah Ari Gross

Syrian actor Duraid Lahham (video screenshot)

Popular Syrian actor says normalization with Israel ‘is coming’

Nihal Al-Maqt, a Syrian woman held by Israel, as shown in Syrian media on February 17, 2021 (Channel 12 screenshot)

Live updates (closed)

Negotiations between Israel and Syria on prisoner swap said to hit snag

Refusal of 2 Syrian prisoners to be deported from Jewish state reportedly holding up deal to secure release of Israeli woman; officials believe it’ll be resolved in days

7:23 pm

Cop charged over death of Ethiopian Israeli teen deemed unfit for public service
7:15 pm

Liberman attends gathering in violation of health rules -- reports
7:14 pm

Blinken says US to pay $200 million in WHO obligations

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks at the State Department, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Blinken says that for Iran, ‘the path to diplomacy is open’

US secretary of state won’t say if Washington has reached out to Tehran, vouches for nuclear deal, says Iran still ‘ways away’ from being in compliance

US President Joe Biden speaks during a meeting with a bipartisan group of mayors and governors to discuss a coronavirus relief package, in the Oval Office of the White House, Feb. 12, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

As Israel waits, Biden reverts to old rules of telephone diplomacy

By AP and TOI staff

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki speaks during a news briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, on February 16, 2021, in Washington. (Nicholas Kamm / AFP)

White House: Biden’s first call to Mideast leader will be to Netanyahu

By TOI staff and AP

The Magen David Adom mobile vaccination unit inoculates a yeshiva student at an unspecified location, February 16, 2020 (Courtesy)

Cholent, pizza and prayer cards: Haredi community targeted in vaccination drive

Mobile units go to yeshivas to inoculate ultra-Orthodox students, also stop by in Tel Aviv and Holon

An Israeli medic waits during an event to encourage the vaccination of young Israelis at a vaccination center in Holon, Feb. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Proposed bill: Public-facing staff must vaccinate or be tested to go to work

An Israeli youth receives a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine during an event to encourage the vaccination of young Israelis at a vaccination center in Holon, near Tel Aviv, Feb. 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

Poll: Some 25% of Israelis who haven’t vaccinated have no intention of doing so

Children return to school in Tel Aviv on February 11, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Thousands more kids to go back to school as Health Ministry eases criteria

More kids in medium-infected areas to return to classroom Sunday, along with grades 5-6, 11-12 in ‘yellow’ and ‘green’ localities; transmission rate drops to near key level of 0.8

The departure hall at Ben Gurion Airport on January 25, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Transportation Ministry seeks to restrict international travel for unvaccinated

Illustrative: A judo event held in Tel Aviv in 2020. (Flash90)

5 ‘borderline’ COVID cases diagnosed at Tel Aviv international judo tournament

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