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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, February 26, 2021

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The Helios Ray, which was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Singapore, shown (in a white circle, center-right) on the Marine Traffic website's live shipping tracker soon after it was hit in the Gulf of Oman, February 26, 2021 (MarineTraffic.com screenshot)

Owner: Vessel likely hit by a missile or a mine

Explosion hits Israeli-owned cargo ship in Gulf of Oman, no injuries

By Jon Gambrell and Isabel Debre

Maritime intelligence firm says blast likely stemmed from ‘asymmetric activity by Iranian military’; ship identified as MV Helios Ray owned by Israeli shipping magnate Rami Ungar

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets actress Carmit Mesilati Kaplan, right, during a visit to the Khan theater ahead of the re-opening of the culture sector, in Jerusalem on February 23, 2021. (Ohad Zwigenberg/Pool Photo via AP)

Netanyahu on Biden’s Iran strategy: It’s a mistake to rely solely on agreements

Illustrative: Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh during a press conference in Tehran, on February 22, 2021. (Atta Kenare/AFP)

‘Netanyahu resorts to bigoted lies’: Iran says Israeli PM seeks to demonize it

Two US Air Force F-22 Raptors fly over Syria, February 2, 2018, while supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. (US Air National Guard/Staff Sgt. Colton Elliott)

Israel said very pleased with US strikes in Syria: ‘Biden is not Obama’

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Officials tell Walla News they see attacks on Iran-backed militia base as a positive signal about new administration’s posture toward Tehran, say US gave Israel advance notice

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

US strikes Iran-backed fighters in Syria, in 1st military action under Biden

By Agencies and ToI Staff

A Syrian worker disinfects a street to prevent the spread of coronavirus in Damascus, Syria, August 3, 2020. (SANA via AP)

Syria gets vaccines from ‘friendly country’ after Israel said to pay for doses

Bene Israel women perform kirtans at AJDC program in Mumbai, 2016 (Surabhi Sharma)

Jewish Indian women elders spearhead revival of Purim musical tradition

By Renee Ghert-Zand

Police put up a temporary roadblock on Route 1 near Jerusalem during a nighttime curfew for the Jewish holiday of Purim, February 25, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Police break up over 100 parties, give 2,500 fines on 1st night of Purim curfew

Dozens arrested as Illegal celebrations dispersed in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and beyond; police: ‘We all know the repercussions, but some willing to endanger themselves, others’

AnalysisPurim curfew could do more harm than good among vaccine skeptics, 2 experts say

By Nathan Jeffay

Police put up a temporary roadblock on Route 1 near Jerusalem during a nighttime curfew for the Jewish holiday of Purim, February 25, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Nationwide Purim curfew takes effect in bid to limit revelries, contagion

The cover of the book 'The Wondering Jew,' (left) by author Micah Goodman (right). (Courtesy/Shalom Hartman Institute)

Times Will Tell

PODCAST: Author Micah Goodman on Israelis’ ongoing search for Jewish identity

Popular philosopher lays out Israeli Jews’ foundational religious and secular thinkers, ultra-Orthodoxy’s ‘optical illusion’ and the paradox of Purim

Clothes make the man

Parshat Tetzaveh is nearly always read right before Purim, but what is the connection between the garments of the Temple high priest and the Diaspora holiday?

Jennifer Raskas

For goodness’ sake: Textual and ethical illuminations in Megillat Esther

How Esther and Mordechai take the very values of the realm and transform them into a more ’Jewish’ approach

Parshat Tetzaveh – Knit together

When the personal goes public: Haman’s vendetta against Mordecai became a plan to annihilate an entire people, and Esther’s intimate relationship led to the nation’s salvation

Effie the sassy gym bubbe and her very special Hebrish

Despite her thick American accent, the immigrant grandma interviewed on TV had no problem communicating. Linguists call it translanguaging.

Yamina leader Naftali Bennett at a protest against the state's intention to close the Hilla Project, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on August 12, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Analysis

Haviv Rettig Gur

Derided by Netanyahu as Lapid ally, Bennett shifts course, moves closer to Sa’ar

As race enters its final month, Netanyahu is seeking to funnel away right-wing votes from his challengers, but may have wound up pushing Yamina and New Hope closer to each other

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on June 28, 2020 (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Likud loses a little ground, would be unable to form coalition, poll finds

Mohammad Mahmoud Al Khajah, the UAE's first ambassador to Israel (right), meets in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 23, 2021 with Eitan Na'eh, Head of Mission of the State of Israel to the UAE (via Twitter)

UAE’s first ambassador to Israel to take up post next week

By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid

A reconstruction of a 1,600,000 years old Homo erectus based on a fossil specimen known as 'Turkana boy' is seen at the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, Germany, on July 3, 2019. (AMartin Meissner/AP)

Israeli researchers offer new theory on human brain evolution: We were hungry

By Stuart Winer

Archaeologists suggest that as supplies of large animals declined through hunting, early Homo erectus developed the smarts needed to catch smaller, harder-to-trap prey

Yoga practice with Yoga Synagogue Ah!, a new community founded by Laura Gilinski (center, mauve shirt) during the coronavirus pandemic (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

From tempeh to yoga, pandemic downtime fuels cottage industry boom

By Jessica Steinberg

A sign attests that the small promenade was built by the Jewish National Fund, known by its Hebrew acronym KKL, near the Israeli West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut on Feb. 22, 2021. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

KKL-JNF board advances controversial $11.5 million purchase of West Bank land

Contentious decision passes by one vote after left-leaning members try to delay untill after election; purchase won’t go through until group decides its policy beyond Green Line

Palestinian health workers at a hospital in the West Bank town of Nablus, where health workers were vaccinated against the coronavirus after the delivery of vaccine doses from Israel. February 03, 2021 (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

West Bank hospitals under stress as 3rd coronavirus wave hits Palestinians hard

By Aaron Boxerman

A healthcare worker prepares a shot of the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine at a clinic in the Negev's main Bedouin town of Rahat, on February 17, 2021. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)

With mere 2% vaccinated, unrecognized Bedouin villages are an Israeli blind spot

By AFP and ToI Staff

Alander Especie, shown with his daughter Liz, puts on tefillin every day. (Courtesy of Especie/ via JTA)

Raised in one of Rio’s most violent favelas, he’s now a rising artist in Israel

By Marcus M. Gilban

Ghazi Zoabi, 24, died of COVID-19 on February 25, 2021 (courtesy)

2 Israeli men in their 20s die of COVID-19 in a day

Neither had preexisting health conditions; both collapsed in their homes

A man presents his Green Pass, proof that he is vaccinated against the coronavirus, on opening night at the Khan Theater for a performance where all guests were required to show proof of vaccination or full recovery from the virus, in Jerusalem, February 23, 2021. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)

AnalysisDebuting vaccine passes, Israel once again leads world — into an ethical pickle

By Laurie Kellman

A nurse fills a syringe with the AstraZeneca COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine at a health care centre in Seoul on February 26, 2021, as South Korea starts coronavirus vaccination campaign. (JUNG YEON-JE / POOL / AFP)

AnalysisCoronavirus vaccines block disease, but do they hinder infection?

By Marlowe HOOD

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the arrival of over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, at Ben Gurion Airport, on December 9, 2020. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP)

Israel suspends delivery of vaccines to other countries amid legal uncertainty

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Move comes after AG asks for clarifications on initiative, Gantz demands halt to shipments, citing poor decision-making process; plane carrying jabs from Israel lands in Honduras

A worker at an israeli logistics center where coronavirus vaccines are stored and distributed, on January 7, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Study: Vaccine saved Israel elderly from full force of UK strain in nick of time

By Nathan Jeffay

An employee works behind a window with a message taped to it at Pfizer Manufacturing in Puurs, Belgium on February 25, 2021. (Virginia Mayo/AP)

Pfizer to test a tweaked vaccine aimed at defeating South African virus strain

By AFP

People dressed up in costumes attend a festival at the Tel Aviv Port to mark the Jewish holiday of Purim on February 25, 2021 (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Task force says pandemic on rise again, warns of new worrisome New York variant

Team suggests reassessing plans to further ease restrictions; new mutation on rise in NYC shares characteristics with South African strain, may curb vaccine effectiveness

Shaare Zedek hospital team members wearing safety gear as they work in the coronavirus ward of the hospital in Jerusalem on February 3, 2021 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli HMO: British variant likely behind 70% jump in serious cases

Shoppers walk with their purchases, Monday, Feb. 8, 2021, in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

New coronavirus variant in New York spurs caution, concern

By MARION RENAULT

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses the nation in a televised speech marking the birthday of Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Tehran, Iran, November 3, 2020. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Iran’s supreme leader says women in cartoons must wear hijabs

Unclear if ruling issued by Ali Khamenei will be enforced; foreign films showing unscarved women can be screened in Iran, but locally made productions are banned from doing so

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CEO of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) David M. Schizer at the Spivack gymnasium in Ramat Gan, playing basketball as part of the Israel Unlimited partnership with the Ruderman Family Foundation and Israeli government to empower Israelis with disabilities, February 2018. (JDC)

The Jewish world’s biggest donor to disability inclusion is pulling its funding

More Headlines

Mohammad Abu Adra (Shin Bet)

Israeli accused of spying for Hamas, providing intel on rocket defense array

Screen captuer from video of investigator collecting forensic evidence from a quaratine hotel in Jaffa as part of a alleged rape case. (video screenshot)

Man accused of raping 13-year-old at government-run COVID quarantine hotel

Staff Sgt. Yonatan Granot, killed by an apparent accidental discharge from another serviceman’s weapon on a base in the Jordan Valley (Courtesy)

IDF soldier accidentally shot at military base dies of his injuries

By Emanuel Fabian

US Vice President Joe Biden, right, offers his condolences to Prince Salman bin Abdel-Aziz upon the death of his brother Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, at Prince Sultan palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)

Biden, Saudi king hold first phone call ahead of release of Khashoggi report

Lowell School Committee member Bob Hoey (Screenshot from YouTube via JTA)

Massachusetts school board member calls Jew a ‘kike’ on live TV

Fishermen remove fish from nets after returning from a fishing trip on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Israeli Arab village of Jisr az-Zarqa, in the early morning of Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021 (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

After oil spill, fishermen at Jisr az-Zarqa net catch despite seafood sales ban

By Ilan Ben Zion and Alon Bernstein

Illustrative: Police officers stand outside an apartment building during a search in Osnabrueck, Germany, November 6, 2020. (Festim Beqiri/TV7News/dpa via AP)

Hundreds of German police swoop on members of banned anti-Semitic Islamic group

By AP

Illustrative: A Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion flies during the ILA Berlin Air Show in Berlin, Germany, April 25, 2018. (Michael Sohn/AP)

Israel chooses CH-53K King Stallion as its new transport helicopter

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