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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Tuesday, March 23, 2021

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for Knesset elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem, March 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Live updates (closed)

Election day as it happened: After 4th election, Israel still deadlocked

By Michael Bachner, Joshua Davidovich and Alexander Fulbright

Netanyahu hails ‘great accomplishment’ of finishing as largest party despite losing seats, extends hand to rivals, warning of 5th election otherwise

1:21 am

Middle East Quartet urges 'meaningful' Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
1:00 am

Israel strikes Hamas targets in Gaza after election day rocket fire
12:46 am

Netanyahu says 'we can't go to fifth elections,' hints he'll seek defectors

President Reuven Rivlin casts his ballot at a voting station in Jerusalem, during the Knesset Elections, on March 23, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Rivlin: Constant votes very troubling; Netanyahu: Hope this is the last election

By Aaron Boxerman, Jacob Magid, Michael Bachner and Lazar Berman

Lamenting political situation that has forced 4 rounds of voting in 2 years, president says power to influence is in hands of public; PM calls day a ‘festival of democracy’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu takes to Facebook Live to urge his supporters to get the vote out (screen capture)

‘Two more seats or Lapid wins’ is Netanyahu’s election day mantra

By Lazar Berman

Party leaders in Israel's March 23, 2021 elections. Top row left to right: Itamar Ben Gvir (Otzma Yehudit, part of the Religious Zionism party); Bezalel Smotrich (Religious Zionism); Naftali Bennett (Yamina); Aryeh Deri (Shas); Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism). Middle row left to right: Avigdor Liberman (Yisrael Beytenu); Gideon Sa'ar (New Hope); Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud); Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid); Merav Michaeli (Labor). Bottom row left to right: Benny Gantz (Blue and White); Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz); Ayman Odeh (Joint List); Mansour Abbas (Ra'am); Yaron Zelekha (New Economy party). (All photos: Flash90)

Israel votesTurnout, fate of small parties crucial as polls open for 6.5 million Israelis

Israel votes

With help from Netanyahu, Kahanist candidate optimistic 4th election’s a charm

Itamar Ben Gvir is relatively relaxed on campaign trail as his far-right movement is all but assured entry to Knesset after decades of pariah status

Itamar Ben Gvir casts his ballot in the March 23, 2021 election (Jacob Magid / Times of Israel)

New Hope party leader Gideon Sa'ar at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on March 22, 2021, a day before Knesset elections. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)

Sa’ar says open to power-sharing deal with Lapid or Bennett

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center) and members of his Likud party at an inauguration ceremony for a new neighborhood in the West Bank settlement of Revava, March 23, 2021. (Roy Hadi/Shomron Regional Council)

A day before election, Netanyahu courts settler vote

A patient casts a ballot from bed at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on March 23, 2021 (courtesy of Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center)

In COVID wards, patients in pajamas take long trip down the corridor to vote

By Nathan Jeffay

Hospital voting gets underway with hazmat suits, oxygen tubes and ballots via airlocks, in stark collision of pandemic and politics

Polling stations in Corridor E at Ben Gurion Airport, on election day, March 23, 2021 (Israel Airport Authority)

In Corridor E at Ben Gurion, election day arrivals get to vote before quarantine

By Tal Schneider

A man votes during a demonstration of a drive-thru polling station, ahead of the upcoming elections, at the central elections committee warehouse in Modi'in, on February 23, 2021. (Flash90)

Socially distanced democracy: Israel votes in a pandemic

By Nathan Jeffay

Analysis

Haviv Rettig Gur

The painfully complex act of voting in an Israeli election

The electoral system is simple: Voters have one choice to make, and there are no regional constituencies or extra chambers of parliament. So why is it so complicated?

Shas party supporters at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on March 19, 2021, four days before the general election. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israeli elections 2021With more absentee ballots than ever, vote aftermath may be fuzzier than usual

By Tal Schneider

Israelis cast their ballot at a voting station in Jerusalem, March 2, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/ Flash90)

Personal details of all Israeli voters again leaked online, day before election

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel Podcast

Podcast: Daily Briefing Mar. 23 – Election day diary: Voting ‘first’ in Modiin

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

File: Israelis count the remaining election ballots, in Jerusalem early on March 4, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Israel has held most frequent elections among democracies since 1996 – report

People pass an election campaign billboard for the Likud party that shows a portrait of its leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Ramat Gan, Israel, March 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

For or against? Key factors in election, yet again, that’s all about Netanyahu

By Josef Federman

Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas casts his vote in his hometown of Maghar in northern Israel, March 23, 2021. (Ra'am Spokesperson)

In northern Israel, Ra’am makes final push to cross election threshold

By Aaron Boxerman

Arab areas reportedly see lower turnout than expected, leaving both the Joint List and the breakaway Ra’am faction worried

AnalysisFor Arab Israelis, it all hinges on turnout as Ra’am hovers at voter threshold

By Aaron Boxerman

InterviewBattling ex-allies and old foes, new Balad head seeks to rebalance party

By Aaron Boxerman

Yohanan Plesner

Vote. Despite everything, just go vote.

A small number of votes, one way or another, can determine whether or not extremists are empowered, the economy recovers, and democracy is stable

Theodore M. Lichtenfeld

Liberty for all

It took some long centuries for the experience of Passover to sink in and bequeath the legacy of the eternal value of freedom to the Jews themselves, and then the world

Message from Leket Israel

Help put a meal on their Passover table

Over the past year, thousands of Israeli families joined the circle of poverty. You can provide a hot meal for vulnerable Israelis in time for the Passover holiday.

Central Elections Committee head Orly Adas shows a mock quarantined ballot, during a press conference at the Knesset in Jerusalem on February 26, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Expecting longer tally, election chief warns of efforts to discredit results

By Raoul Wootliff

Orly Adas urges public to ‘be smart enough’ not to buy into or share ‘rumors and conspiracy theories’ reminiscent of Trump campaign

Illustrative: Members of a Knesset security team take part in a defense drill against terror attacks, at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on February 26, 2017. (Maor Kinsbursky/ Flash90/File)

Security services said preparing for scenario in which Knesset is stormed

By ToI Staff and Tal Schneider

Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid during an election campaign tour in Hod Hasharon, March 19, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Man arrested at airport after threatening to murder Yair Lapid

Palestinians wave national flags during a protest against normalization of ties between the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain with Israel, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, September 15, 2020. (Majdi Mohammed/AP)

Top Abbas advisers urge Palestinian statehood with ‘soft’ sovereignty

By Stuart Winer

Hussein Agha and Ahmad Samih Khalidi, seasoned negotiators with Israel, propose Jordan and Egypt taking on security roles, and Saudi normalization if settlement expansion ends

Hospital staff transport a new patient to the coronavirus ward of the Ziv medical center in the northern Israeli city of Safed, January 7, 2020. (David Cohen/Flash90)

Number of seriously ill COVID patients drops to 499, lowest figure in 3 months

Health Ministry reports over 4.6 million people fully inoculated and a 1.6% positive infection rate, signaling continued drop in infections

Illustrative: A medical worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at a Clalit vaccination center in Jerusalem on February 25, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Pfizer vaccine less effective against South African variant, Israeli study finds

A file photo taken on February 6, 2021 shows a box containing vials of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at the Foch hospital in Suresnes, France (Alain JOCARD / AFP)

AstraZeneca may have used outdated info in vaccine trial, says US

By AP

Hena, a Yazidi newborn from Sinjar, waits in a Duhok hospital for permission to enter Israel for life-saving heart surgery. (Shevet Achim)

Kurdish babies’ lives hang in balance as Israeli red tape blocks their last hope

By Lazar Berman

Doctors near Tel Aviv are ready to operate, but a hellish bureaucratic mess between government bodies means sick children are being kept from surgery that can save their lives

Thousands of anti-Syrian government protesters shout slogans and wave revolutionary flags, to mark 10 years since the start of a popular uprising against President Bashar Assad's rule, in Idlib, the last major opposition-held area of the country, in northwest Syria, March 15, 2021. (Ghaith Alsayed/AP)

AnalysisAs Biden mulls Syrian war policy, Russia poised to boost its regional influence

By Ellen Knickmeyer

Google to set up chip team in Israel led by former Intel exec

By Shoshanna Solomon

US tech giant says in blog it is ‘doubling down’ on designing and building custom chips to boost performance; newly appointed Uri Frank will build ‘world-class’ team in Israel

Jonathan Pollard, left, shortly after his arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, December 30, 2020, in a picture released by the Prime Minister's Office. (Courtesy)

Pollard defends spying in rare interview: US ‘stabbed Israel in the back’

By AP

Convicted spy, who moved to the Jewish state after his parole ended last year, says ‘I know I crossed a line, but I had no choice’

US President Donald Trump arrives in the early morning hours, Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2021, at the White House in Washington, after returning from a rally in Dalton, Georgia (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Orthodox Jewish organizations shaped Trump’s pardons, NYT reports

More Headlines

Illustrative: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits the Bushehr nuclear power plant just outside of Bushehr, Iran, January 13, 2015. (AP Photo/Iranian Presidency Office, Mohammad Berno, File)

Western officials fear Iran hiding equipment it could use to build nuke — report

Illustrative: Students seen at the Givat Ram campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, October 27, 2014. (Miriam Alster/FLASh90)

Universities set to resume in-person classes after Passover

Israeli actor Eyal Kitzis speaks during a conference of the Israeli Television News Company in Tel Aviv on September 5, 2019. (Flash90)

The joke's on usIsrael TV satirist thrives on political turmoil

By AFP and ToI Staff

A Barak-8 missile, developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is launched during a test. (IAI)

IAI completes test of new defense missile with 150 km. range

A worker at a restaurant in Tel Aviv hangs a 'help wanted' sign on the window, on March 3, 2021. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Unemployment down to 16.7% in February as economy reopens

Israelis enjoy the beach of Paradis Sweir, a desert resort located on the Red Sea shore, South Sinai, Egypt, during the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, October 15, 2016. (Johanna Geron/Flash90)

Israelis to reportedly be allowed to visit Sinai within a week

Tourists stand in front of the temple of Hera in ancient Olympia, the place that hosted the ancient Olympic Games, on Monday, March 22, 2021. Greece's government reopened the ancient sites nationwide after four months as it prepares to restart the tourism season in mid-May. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Greece to allow in 10,000 vaccinated Israeli tourists per week

William Shatner participates in the 'William Shatner Spotlight' panel at C2E2 at McCormick Place, on Sunday, March 1, 2020, in Chicago. (Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP)

Final frontierWilliam Shatner to be immortalized in AI video for 90th birthday

Bezeq workers installing fiber optic cables. (Courtesy)

Bezeq subsidiaries warn unvaccinated workers will be sent home without pay — TV

A letter written by Albert Einstein on June 10, 1939 to William Morris. (Courtesy)

Albert Einstein letter from 1939 on Jewish refugees goes on auction block

Pedestrians walk past the McDonald's restaurant on Piazza Re di Roma in Rome, Italy in 2015. (Google Street View via JTA)

Rome food delivery man goes on anti-Semitic rant, stabs man who protests

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Brazilian lower house deputy Roberto Jefferson gestures as he finishes his speech during a session of the Congress Lower Chamber to vote his ouster 14 September, 2005 in Brasilia. (AFP PHOTO/Evaristo SA)

Brazilian Jews file complaint over politician who said Jews sacrifice children

By Marcus M. Gilban

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