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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, March 31, 2021

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Likud ministers Yariv Levin (R) and Miri Regev arrive for a meeting with Reuven Rivlin at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on April 15, 2019. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

President urges out-of-ordinary coalitions to break deadlock

Likud MKs turn on Rivlin, claim he’s abusing his powers in bid to oust Netanyahu

By Raoul Wootliff

President dismisses assertion he’s obligated to pick the candidate who gets most recommendations, insists he’ll choose the one best-placed to form a government backed by Knesset

President Reuven Rivlin (R) receives the official election results from Central Elections Committee chairman Uzi Vogelman at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, March 31, 2021. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Receiving official election results, Rivlin recommends ‘unusual collaborations’

The Daily Briefing

Times of Israel PodcastDaily Briefing Mar. 31 – Enter Rivlin: Can the president solve the deadlock?

Illustrative: A girl takes a coronavirus test. (ChiccoDodiFC via iStock)

Super-speedy Israeli COVID test gets European approval; airport rollout planned

By Nathan Jeffay

SpectraLIT eliminates the need for complex lab equipment by giving relatively accurate results after just 20 seconds of analysis, possibly aiding resumption of international travel

United Hatzalah medical workers test a patient for COVID-19 in Jerusalem on February 10, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

COVID reinfection hits 1 in a 1,000, variants may fuel it, Israeli study finds

By Nathan Jeffay

Traffic jams on the Ayalon highway during the Passover holiday, March 30, 2021. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Worst-ever Passover traffic chaos as reopened Israel enjoys vaccinated vacation

Vials of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Palais des Sports venue in Lyon, hosting a vaccination center, on March 29, 2021, as France faces a new wave of infections of the novel coronavirus. (JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK / AFP)

Pfizer says COVID vaccine 100% effective on ages 12-15, eyes FDA approval

By AFP and ToI Staff

Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and Benny Gantz. (Yonatan Sindel, David Cohen/Flash90)

Netanyahu blames Gantz for potential vaccine shortage in latest political spat

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus speaks during a press conference at the World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva on June 25, 2020. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

WHO chief urges probe of COVID lab leak theory as leaders eye pandemic treaty

By AFP

Israeli soldiers stop Palestinian protesters from reaching a Jewish settler outpost, at the outskirts of the West Bank village of Mughayer, north of Ramallah on December 18, 2020. (AP/Nasser Nasser)

In return to pre-Trump norm, State Dep’t report refers to ‘occupied’ territories

Human rights report names chapter ‘Israel, West Bank and Gaza,’ as in Trump era, but areas themselves labeled ‘occupied’ for first time in years

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks about the release of the '2020 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,' at the State Department in Washington, March 30, 2021. (Mandel Ngan/Pool via AP)

Turning page on Trump, US vows to defend human rights everywhere

By Shaun Tandon

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.

Mansour Abbas, head of the Islamist Ra'am party, speaks to a crowd in the northern town of Maghar on March 26, 2021. (Ahmad Gharabli/AFP)

Ra’am said leaning toward backing Netanyahu-led government

Report says Islamist party open to lending external support to coalition headed by Likud if Ben Gvir not a minister; Sa’ar hints Lapid should let Bennett be PM first

Ra'am party leader Mansour Abbas at the party headquarters in Tamra, on election night, March 23, 2021. (Flash90)

Netanyahu slammed Ra’am as a potential partner for Gantz in 2019 post

United Torah Judaism leader MK Moshe Gafni at a conference in Jerusalem on March 7, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Haredi faction gives tepid support to Netanyahu, appears to keep options open

Yamina party leader Naftali Bennett seen during an election campaign event in the southern Israeli city of Sderot, March 17, 2021. (Yossi Zeliger/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

80% of public unsatisfied with election results, anti-PM voters back Bennett

TV poll indicates majority of supporters of anti-Netanyahu bloc think Lapid should cede premiership to Yamina chair, who may have better shot at forming coalition

6:28 pm

Bennett, Sa'ar respond to Netanyahu, tell him to kick rocks
6:14 pm

80% of public unsatisfied with election results, anti-PM voters back Bennett -- poll
5:58 pm

PA to begin vaccinating families of security prisoners in Israeli jails

Left to right: Yesh Atid party leader Yair Lapid (Miriam Alster/Flash90); Yamina party chief Naftali Bennett; and New Hope party head Gideon Sa'ar (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Sa’ar tells Lapid to ‘step aside’ to let Bennett be PM, before it’s ‘too late’

Yesh Atid head responds that parties must first recommend he form gov’t, so Netanyahu isn’t tasked to do so; after that, ‘everything’s on the table’; Sa’ar: You’ve got it backwards

Finance Minister Yair Lapid, left, and Economy Minister Naftali Bennett at the opening session of the Knesset in January, 2013. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Lapid said ready to be 2nd in rotation with Bennett but won’t let him form gov’t

By Raoul Wootliff

File: New immigrants from Yemen arrive in Israel on February 19, 2009 (Roni Schutzer/Flash90)

As 13 Yemeni Jews leave pro-Iran region for Cairo, community of 50,000 down to 6

By Aaron Boxerman

Family confirmed to depart for Egypt in deal with Houthis; country’s remaining half-dozen Jews live in areas controlled by Iranian-backed militias but seem to want to stay

Illustrative: In this frame grab from video, Saudi state television shows an airplane damaged in an attack by Yemen's Houthi rebels at an airport near Abha, Saudi Arabia, February 10, 2021. (Saudi state television via AP)

UN report points to Houthis as culprits in December attack on Yemen airport

By AFP

Central Election Committee workers count ballots at the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, after the general elections, on March 25, 2020. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Behind the Headlines

Join ToI Community to access our live Israeli elections panel

This Thursday: A special Behind the Headlines LIVE panel with veteran ToI journalists a week after Israel’s fourth round of elections — exclusively for ToI Community members

Your moral failure is stunning

Dr. Deborah Birx and others may have thought they could do good by staying on Trump’s coronavirus task force. They’re wrong. The Talmud is clear on this

I’m learning Hebrew and it’s not funny

Hebrew has masculine and feminine versions of words, which is extra annoying since I have no interest in speaking to any females, ever

Illustrative: From 'Til Kingdom Come,' a new documentary about the unlikely relationship between Jews and evangelical Christians, premiering on Kan 11 on October 28, 2020 (Courtesy Maya Zinshtein)

PBS postpones documentary on evangelicals and Israel for ‘editorial review’

By Stephen Silver

Broadcaster delays release of ‘Til Kingdom Come’ after accusations from pro-Israel watchdog group that director misleadingly spliced together two parts of Trump speech

The Christian Passover seder with challah braided in the shape of a cross. (Screenshot/@clapifyoulikeme via JTA)

Christian Passover Seder with cross-shaped challah sparks online rage

By Gabe Friedman

Linda Laura Sabbadini. (Photo courtesy of Italian President's Office)

Women's History Month

The new G20 women’s group leader is an Italian Jew who revolutionized statistics

By Giovanni Vigna

Illustrative photo of an execution in Iran. (AFP/Arash Khamooshi/ISNA)

267 in 2020: Iran ‘obsessively’ carrying out executions, rights groups say

By AFP

Report by activists says Islamic Republic using death penalty less in recent years, but still leads world in per capita executions, usually after torture

US President Joe Biden passes a note to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, during a virtual meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, from the State Dining Room of the White House, March 12, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

US said open to crafting road map back to Iran nuclear deal, as progress stalls

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, right, and European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell shake hands prior to their meeting in Tehran, Iran, February 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

In first since 2013, EU set to sanction Iranians for rights abuses – report

A Palestinian child stands in front of a mural of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti at the Kalandia checkpoint between the West Bank city of Ramallah and Jerusalem. (Kobi Gideon/Flash 90)

Barghouti to challenge Abbas in parliament, ahead of possible presidential bid

By Aaron Boxerman

Fatah heavyweight is serving five life sentences for masterminding terror attacks against Israelis; surveys say a list he backs would beat an Abbas slate of candidates

Palestinian Authority President Mahmud Abbas casts a vote at the Muqataa, the Palestinian Authority headquarters, in the city of Ramallah, West Bank, December 3, 2016. (Ahmad Gharabli/Pool photo via AP)

EU accuses Israel of ignoring request to observe Palestinian elections

By Aaron Boxerman

Israelis at the art market on Nahalat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv, on March 30, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

S&P says Israeli political instability not affecting credit rating… yet

Ratings agency warns ‘fiscal risks could build’ if continued gridlock in Knesset hampers government’s ability to rein in spending

An illustrative image of a data center; server farm and a cloud service concept (noLimit46; iStock by Getty Images)

Amazon, Google reportedly oust Microsoft, Oracle in massive Israel cloud tender

By Shoshanna Solomon

Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron, speaking at the Eli Hurvitz Conference on Economy and Society organized by the Israel Democracy Institute, December 17, 2019 (Michal Fattal)

Israel may need tax hike to cut virus-swollen debt, Bank of Israel says

By Shoshanna Solomon

More Headlines

Cannabis seeds developed by CanBreed (Courtesy)

Israel’s CanBreed gets hemp growing and breeding license in California

By Shoshanna Solomon

Illustrative: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham jihadists try to disperse people who gathered at the Bab al-Hawa border gate with Turkey to protest bombing by the Syrian regime, Dec. 20, 2019. (AP Photo/APTN)

Three held in Italy over fake kidnapping by jihadists that turned real

By AFP

Illustrative: A young woman and member of the Lev Tahor community in the Canadian city of Chatham, Ontario, November 29, 2013. (Rick Madonik/Toronto Star via Getty Images, JTA)

Leader of extremist ultra-Orthodox sect Lev Tahor arrested in Guatemala

Orit Oged, an Israeli woman suspected of murder in California. (Courtesy/Mono County Sheriff's Office)

Israeli woman arrested in Montana for suspected double homicide

Security forces inspect the scene where a man was shot to death by a police officer after the man attempted to stab him, in Haifa, March 29, 2021. (Roni Ofer/Flash90)

Cops close ranks around officer who killed mentally ill knifeman in Haifa

Education Minister Yoav Gallant at a conference in Jerusalem on March 15, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israel Prize committee petitions top court over minister’s veto of math winner

Screen capture from video of US tech entrepreneur Jennifer Arcuri during a television interview in the UK, November 18, 2019. (YouTube)

Lawyer says British PM has ‘case to answer’ over affair with US businesswoman

In this October 31, 2010 file photo, Holocaust survivor Samuel Willenberg, who created the Częstochowa memorial, displays a map of Treblinka extermination camp during an interview with the Associated Press in Tel Aviv, Israel. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

Monument for Holocaust victims defaced with swastikas in Poland

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrives to attend the Saudi Cup award ceremony at King Abdul Aziz race track in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on February 20, 2021. (Amr Nabil/AP)

Saudis invest $3.2 trillion in effort to revitalize COVID-stricken economy

By AFP

The tweet sent by the US Strategic Command on March 29, 2021. (Screenshot: Twitter)

Nuclear slip-up?US military account mysteriously tweets ‘;l;;gmlxzssaw’

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