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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, February 22, 2021

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Jews of Aden, Yemen, awaiting evacuation to Israel on November 1, 1949. (GPO/Public domain)

Issue affects 1,000 families who claim state took their kids

Government expresses ‘regret,’ will compensate for disappeared Yemenite children

Cabinet approves NIS 162 million settlement for families whose kids vanished after arriving in the country in 1950s; but no official apology for what happened

People clean tar from an oil spill in the Mediterranean sea in Gador nature reserve near Hadera, Israel, Feb. 20, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Analysis

Tarred and shuttered: Anatomy of the oil disaster that closed Israel’s beaches

Experts call the spill Israel’s worst beach contamination in memory, and they fear much marine life has been wiped out. Nobody can say how long recovery will take

Police officers receive instructions at Nitzanim beach in southern Israel before joining volunteers to help clean up tar from an oil spill, February 22, 2021 (Menachem Fried/Israel Nature and Parks Authority)

In surprise move, court slaps 7-day gag order on probe into oil spill disaster

Destruction to a low stone early Iron Age wall at the Mount Ebal archaeological site, January 31, 2021. (Courtesy, Shomrim Al Hanetzach)

ToI investigates

Settlers take on West Bank archaeology as ancient ‘Joshua’ wall tumbles down

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

Hady Amr, now US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli and Palestinian Affairs, speaks at the Brookings Institute, where he was a fellow, on December 3, 2018. (Screen capture/YouTube)

Profile

As Biden puts Mideast on backburner, US point-man on conflict seeks small gains

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr starts job gunning for improvements to Palestinian economy and renewing bilateral ties, but is not giving up on two-state solution

A military delegation visit the display of Halcon, a regional leader in the end-to-end manufacturing of precision-guided systems, during the opening day of the International Defence Exhibition and Conference, IDEX, in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, February 21, 2021. (Kamran Jebreili/AP)

UAE weapons show draws major deals, traders, but pandemic keeps Israel away

By Isabel Debre

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel Podcast

PODCAST: Daily Briefing, Feb. 22 — Coronavirus stats, successes and sadnesses

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

Sherwin Pomerantz

Drawing the line at Heidi Cruz’s WhatsApp messages

Do we really want a world in which everything we’ve committed to text and sent to a friend is up for grabs, to be used without our permission?

Daniel Orenstein

A little black blob in the sand

As long as we are dependent on fossil fuels, we will be a ’throw-away’ society, creating a landscape of plastic waste, and destroying local wildlife

Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Galactic, poses for a photo outside the New York Stock Exchange as fireworks are exploded before his company's IPO, performed via a reverse merger with a SPAC, on Monday, Oct. 28, 2019. (AP/Richard Drew)

Israeli startups join craze as SPACs pack stock market with quickie IPOs

By Shoshanna Solomon

From the blogs

Lessons from inside the whale

A post-mortem of the massive oil spill reveals how appallingly unprepared Israel is to prevent and handle future, inevitable ecological disasters

Tar washed up onto Tel Shikmona beach in northern Israel, February 21, 2020. (Tomer Ofri, Israel Nature and Parks Authority)

Israel media review

No safe harbor: What the press is saying about tragedies and mutinies

By Joshua Davidovich

Death of a pregnant woman brings the issue of vaccinating those expecting to the fore, while cities go rogue to get more kids in school and a tar spill blackens Israel’s beaches

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives a hearing in his corruption case at the Jerusalem District Court, February 8, 2021. (Reuven Kastro/Pool)

Live updates (closed)

Evidence stage of Netanyahu’s corruption trial postponed until after elections

Proceedings to begin on April 5, less than two weeks after national vote; hearings will be held three times a week

7:22 pm

Court chides attorney general for failing to approve Netanyahu probes in writing
7:03 pm

Israeli ambassador speaks to Kerry, vows cooperation to fight climate change
7:01 pm

Evidence stage of Netanyahu's trial postponed until after elections

Shaare Zedek hospital team member wearing safety gear help a pregnant woman at the Coronavirus ward of Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem on February 3, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Death of mother, fetus highlights sharp rise in COVID infections among pregnant

Despite government recommendation, only one-third of pregnant women in Israel have been vaccinated; 50 expectant mothers currently hospitalized, including 8 in critical condition

Osnat Ben Shitrit (Instagram)

Family of pregnant woman who died of COVID say she was wary of getting vaccine

An Israeli dressed up in costume ahead of the holiday of Purim, puts on tefillin in downtown Jerusalem, March 8, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Health Minister: No escape from nighttime curfew on Purim holiday

Health Ministry worried over parties that will drive up virus cases; Edelstein pushes back against cities planning to defy government and open school for grades 7-10

Fifth-grade students return to school in Efrat, February 21, 2021. (Gershon Elinson/ Flash90)

Defying government, 17 cities prepare to reopen classes for grades 7-10

Likud lawmaker Fateen Mulla in the Knesset on April 29, 2019. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Likud said in touch with PA, asking help to get Arab Israeli votes for Netanyahu

By Stuart Winer

MK Fateen Mulla reportedly in contact with Ramallah officials regarding encouraging Arab Israelis to back the PM in March election; PA said to fear an even more hawkish leader

An election poster showing Blue and White party Benny Gantz, posted alongside the Ayalon highway in Tel Aviv, February 1, 2021. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

130 former top defense officials call on Gantz to pull out of election

Blue and White leader Benny Gantz, in a January 11, 2021 speech, says he was wrong to partner with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Elad Malka)

Poll shows Blue and White failing to enter Knesset, Yamina still power broker

A crewmember of a Dvora patrol boat poses with the ship's machine gun during the Israeli Navy's flotilla in honor of Israel's 70th Independence Day on April 19, 2018. (Judah Ari Gross/Times of Israel)

IDF says it uncovered ‘potential threat’ to navy ships off Gaza coast

By Judah Ari Gross

Military does not immediately elaborate on nature of the danger, says troops thwarted it; Palestinian media says Gazan boat targeted

A car used in a failed shooting-ramming attack on Israeli troops on January 9, 2021. (Israel Defense Forces)

Israeli forces nab suspects in ramming attack last month

By Judah Ari Gross

A stolen car that was abandoned inside the Israeli Air Force's Nevatim Base after alleged thieves drove into the facility, puncturing the tires on security spikes at the gate, on February 8, 2021. (Israel Police)

Cops nab suspected Palestinian car thief who broke into air base 2 weeks ago

By Judah Ari Gross

Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi meets Egyptian Petroleum Minister Tarek El-Molla meet in Jerusalem, February 21, 2021 (photo credit: MFA)

Analysis

Rare visit to Israel by Egypt’s oil minister sends signals to Biden, Erdogan

The trip, following similar delegations of Greek and Cypriot leaders, is intended to show that the regional allies are united and coordinated, when dealing with friends and foes

Israel's offshore Leviathan gas platform. (Albatross)

Israel to build new natural gas pipeline from its offshore rig direct to Egypt

20,000 coronavirus vaccines donated by the United Arab Emirates arrive in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, February 21, 2021 (screenshot: Al-Ghad TV)

Arranged by Abbas rival, 20,000 vaccine doses donated by UAE arrive in Gaza

By Aaron Boxerman

The Israeli woman who crossed into Syria and was returned in a deal brokered by Russia, in a picture shown by Channel 13 on February 20, 2021 (Channel 13 screenshot)

Woman who entered Syria said to tell investigators she was ‘seeking adventure’

Civilian who was held by Syrian regime and then returned via Moscow reportedly expresses no regrets for crossing border: ‘Syria was, for me, another destination for a trip’

A picture released by a Hezbollah affiliated journalist shows an Israeli woman watching the Lebanese border in October 2020. The photo has been altered by The Times of Israel to conceal the woman's identity, in line with censorship requirements. The photo could not be independently verified. (Ali Choeib via Twitter)

Woman returned from Syria was previously spotted by Hezbollah on Lebanon border

Screen capture from video said to show Israeli spy Eli Cohen walking along a street in Damascus, Syria. (YouTube)

Russian state media shows allegedly unseen footage of top Israeli spy Eli Cohen

Israeli author Amos Oz at Beit Avi Chai in Jerusalem. (Courtesy)

In new book, Amos Oz’s daughter accuses late novelist of ‘serial abuse’

Author’s widow and two other children dispute charges made by Galia Oz: ‘We knew a different father’

Iran' Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) meets with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi (R), in Tehran on February 21, 2021 (AFP)

Iran: Temporary deal limiting IAEA access to sites is ‘significant achievement’

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Tehran says under agreement, inspectors stay in nuclear sites; some cameras will run at suspicious non-nuclear sites, but IAEA won’t get footage until sanctions rolled back

Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Mariano Grossi addresses media after his arrival at Vienna International Airport on February 21, 2021. (ALEX HALADA / AFP)

UN nuclear chief concedes Iran to grant ‘less access’ to inspectors at its sites

By Agencies and ToI Staff

More Headlines

Conservation work carried out at the Western Wall, Jerusalem (Yaniv Berman/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Healing the stonesWestern Wall gets own health injections in latest preservation work

Saturday Night Live Weekend Update co-host Michael Che on February 20, 2021. (Screen capture/YouTube)

SNL under fire after actor jokes that Israel only vaccinating Jews

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, right, and then Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas, left, speak as they head the first cabinet meeting of the new coalition government at Abbas' office in Gaza City, March 18, 2007. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Hamas says it won’t nominate presidential candidate for Palestinian elections

Residents from southern Israel protest against the increasing number of violent incidents in the Negev Region, in Mash'abim Junction, southern Israel, on February 19, 2021. (Flash90)

Suspected burglar, 17, indicted for rape of 10-year-old girl

By Stuart Winer

81-year-old Effie Hertzke, in an interview with Channel 12 news, February 21, 2021. (Screenshot/Facebook)

Grandma's gunsGreat-grandma flexes for camera, hits on news anchor as gyms reopen

TAU-SAT1, the nanosatellite developed by Tel Aviv University. (Tel Aviv University)

Israeli-made nanosatellite released into Earth orbit

A man passes a poster of Syrian President Bashar Assad with Arabic that reads, 'Congratulations victory,' on September 30, 2019, while crossing the border into Syria at the newly opened crossing between the Iraqi town of Qaim and Syria's Boukamal, Syria. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

Syria set to be elected to top post in UN human rights forum

Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler, in an undated screenshot. (Screen capture YouTube)

From the webIsraeli billionaire sanctioned by US got rare relief in Trump’s final days

Mobster Zeev Rosenstein is seen on his release from prison on February 21, 2021 (FLASH90)

Notorious mobster Zeev Rosenstein freed from prison after 17 years

Erez Drigues and his large locks of hair appearing in "Rehearsals." (Screen capture: Kan)

Erez Drigues, ‘Rehearsals’ co-creator and co-star, accused of sexual harassment

By Jessica Steinberg

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January	February 2021					March
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