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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, August 20, 2021

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Prime Minister Naftali Bennett receives his third COVID-19 vaccine shot at Meir Medical Center in Kfar Saba, on August 20, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

'We're seeing profound efficacy. It's working, it's safe'

As boosters open to over-40s, PM gets his: ‘We can beat Delta, it’s up to us’

Bennett says an open Israel is ‘within reach,’ but avoiding 4th closure requires public’s cooperation: ‘You can protect yourselves, your livelihoods, our economy, our kids’

A health worker prepares a COVID-19 vaccine at a temporary Clalit health care center in Jerusalem, August 15, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

In world first, Health Ministry approves COVID boosters to all Israelis over 40

Illustrative image: An Israeli woman receives a coronavirus vaccine booster shot; Oramed is aiming at introducing oral vaccines instead (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Panel backs boosters for over-40s, as evidence of strong protection mounts

A woman receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a mobile Magen David Adom center on Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv, on August 14, 2021. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Israel media review

Shooting from the hip: What the press is saying about boosters, blazes and Biden

By Joshua Davidovich

Israel wastes no time getting 3rd COVID vaccine doses out, with more seen on the way; a massive blaze sparks questions; and what Kabul chaos means for DC’s BFF in the Mideast

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid heads a Yesh Atid faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on August 2, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Lapid says he’ll oppose another lockdown, should have sat in on virus cabinet

The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, England, on July 21, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP)

AstraZeneca hails promising trial results for a COVID-19 antibody drug

By AFP

In this photo provided by the US Marine Corps, civilians prepare to board a plane during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 18, 2021. (Staff Sgt. Victor Mancilla/US Marine Corps via AP)

18,000 airlifted from Kabul chaos; tens of thousands desperate to follow

By AP and ToI Staff

A soldier at Kabul Airport lifts a young child in a Sky News report from Afghanistan, August 19, 2021 (Screenshot)

Desperate mothers reported to throw babies over Kabul airport barbed wire

By AFP and ToI Staff

Afghan people wait to board a U S military aircraft to leave Afghanistan, at the military airport in Kabul on August 19, 2021 after Taliban's military takeover of Afghanistan. (Shakib RAHMANI / AFP)

Taliban checkpoints, airport chaos hamper US bid to speed Kabul evacuation

By Robert Burns, Matthew Lee and Lolita C. Baldor

Taliban fighters patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 19, 2021. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Despite vowing ‘amnesty,’ Taliban said hunting for West’s allies house-to-house

A confidential report for the UN says people who worked with US and NATO forces face torture and execution, as extremist group conducts ‘targeted door-to-door visits’

An Afghan takes a selfie with Taliban fighters on patrol in Kabul, Afghanistan, on August 19, 2021. (AP/Rahmat Gul)

Banned by Facebook but not Twitter, Taliban maneuver in a social media dilemma

Hundreds of people gather near a US Air Force C-17 transport plane at the perimeter of the international airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Monday, August 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Shekib Rahmani)

Afghan teen soccer star falls to death from US plane while trying to escape

By AFP

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty salon with defaced images of women in Shar-e-Naw, Kabul, August 18, 2021. (Wakil Kohsar/AFP)

Images of women vandalized in Kabul as Taliban rule takes hold

By David Fox and Sean GLEESON

Ads have been defaced on shops such as once-banned beauty parlors, which proliferated in Afghan capital after US toppling of Islamists in 2001

An Afghan waves the national flag in Kabul on August 19, 2021. (WAKIL KOHSAR / AFP)

Afghans protest Taliban for 2nd day, in emerging challenge to their rule

By ahmad seir, Rahim Faiez, KATHY GANNON and Jon Gambrell

In this Feb. 29, 2020 file photo, US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, left, and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban group's top political leader, shake hands after signing a peace agreement between Taliban and US officials in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Hussein Sayed, File)

Analysis

Matthew Lee and Eric Tucker

Was Biden handcuffed by Trump’s Taliban deal in Doha?

The US president has blamed his predecessor for committing him to a troop withdrawal deadline; experts say the full picture is more complicated

In this July 12, 2018 file photo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, center, poses for a photo with the participants of the conference on Afghanistan bringing together representatives of the Afghan authorities and the Taliban in Moscow, Russia. (AP/Pavel Golovkin, File)

Russia laid groundwork for ties with Taliban, years ahead of its Afghan takeover

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV

Defendants attend a trial at the Primary Court in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 6, 2015. The sign in Dari behind the judges reads, "verdicts are based on Sharia (law), any rebellion against the verdict is rebellion against (the Prophet) Muhammad." (AP/Allauddin Khan)

ExplainerAs Taliban return in Afghanistan, how is sharia law followed in Muslim world?

By AFP

Shmuel Silverberg (Courtesy)

Police arrest 4 suspects in US yeshiva student’s slaying, rule out antisemitism

By JTA and ToI Staff

David Sasso, a musician and psychiatrist, was interviewed by Amanda Borschel-Dan for the Times Will Tell podcast. (Courtesy: Dr. David Sasso)

Times Will Tell

Podcast: The ‘mad genius’ hypothesis with Dr. David Sasso

A musician and psychiatrist, the Yale School of Medicine assistant clinical professor works in the intersection of mental health, music and the arts

'We were stunned at the effort to destroy Jewish culture'

NYC exhibit of Nazi-looted art tells a tale of Jewish loss and recovery

By Cathryn J. Prince

Opening Friday, the Jewish Museum’s ‘Afterlives: Recovering the Lost Stories of Looted Art’ is a testament to survival, despite attempts to eradicate an identity and culture

A policeman directs traffic as smoke from a wildfire billows outside of Jerusalem on August 15, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

‘We said it’s all over’: Hospital staff describe recall rescue as flames neared

By Michael Bachner

After evacuation of Eitanim during huge blaze, staff meet cops who risked their lives to save them and describe earlier desperation: ‘There was nothing we could do’

A wildfire in a forest near Beit Meir, outside of Jerusalem, on August 15, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Report: Investigators increasingly believe Jerusalem-area blaze caused by arson

Israeli astronaut Eytan Stibbe (right) holds a 1,900-year-old coin from the Bar Kochba revolt that he will take to space, standing alongside Eli Eskosido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, August 2021. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)

Israeli astronaut to take 1,900-year-old Bar Kochba revolt coin to space

By Michael Bachner

Palestinians receive financial aid payments from Qatar at a post office in Gaza City, on June 27, 2020. (Mahmud Hams/AFP)

Gantz says he conducted talks with Qatari officials to enable Gaza aid

Defense minister reportedly met with high-ranking official in a third country in leadup to announcement of new funding arrangements

Palestinians receive their financial aid as part of an aid allocated by Qatar, at a post office in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on November 27, 2019. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

Qatar, UN reach agreement to return some Qatari subsidies to Gaza

By Aaron Boxerman and Judah Ari Gross

A Palestinian worker checks a truck carrying United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA) aid supplies that arrived through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on May 12, 2019. (Said Khatib/AFP)

53 Dem lawmakers say US must ensure Israel, Egypt let aid into ‘occupied Gaza’

By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff

Chana Tannenbaum

Carry on, my wayward son

The potential acquittal of the Bible’s ’rebellious son’ is a dramatic representation of the power of parent’s forgiveness, and worth learning from (Ki Teitzei)

Shmuly Yanklowitz

Got a nanny? You’re an employer – and the Torah has a message for you

It’s time for Jewish bosses to uphold the teaching in this week’s portion: You are responsible for the well-being and dignity of your domestic workers

The night of ‘fraternal assistance’ sowed the seeds

When Warsaw Pact forces invaded Czechoslovakia on August 21, 1968, few knew yet that it was the beginning of the end of the Soviet regime

Nature vs. nurture

The notion that those born to a given nation will have certain character traits borders on racism; indeed, the rabbis limited the legal reach of such claims

Workers prepare the King David Hotel sukkah on October 3, 2017 (Courtesy Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Jerusalem hotels bet on local guests this Sukkot — but don’t expect a bargain

By Jessica Steinberg

Giving up on foreign tourists for the approaching holiday season, high-end establishments seek to woo domestic tourists to spend their vacation shekels

An air defense missile, bottom center, streaks toward what appears to be a missile shot into Syria, in a video distributed by Syrian state news. (Screen capture: YouTube/SANA)

4 pro-Iran fighters said killed in alleged Israeli strikes on Syria

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Damascus urges UN ‘to take firm and immediate measures to prevent the repeated Israeli attacks,’ after Hezbollah arms depots reportedly bombed

The moon rises over the capital city of Beirut as it remains in darkness during a power outage, Lebanon, August 19, 2021.(AP/ Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon complains to UN over alleged Israeli strikes from its airspace

By ToI Staff and AFP

An air defense missile, bottom center, streaks toward what appears to be a missile shot into Syria, in a video distributed by Syrian state news. (Screen capture: YouTube/SANA)

Explosions rock Syria in alleged Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah arms depots

By ToI Staff and AP

Yoni Rosenblatt, Team Israel’s sports physical therapist, in Tokyo. (Courtesy of Yoni Rosenblatt/Baltimore Jewish Times via JTA)

Israel baseball team was ‘painfully close’ to medal, physical therapist laments

By Jesse Berman

From left to right: Former Supreme Court Judges Miriam Naor and Esther Hayut; co-founder and chairman of Genesis Prize Foundation Stan Polovets; Supreme Court Justice and Genesis Lifetime Achievement Award Honoree, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg; and former presidents of Israeli Supreme Court Aaron Barak and Dorit Beinich, at the Genesis Award ceremony in Tel Aviv, July 4, 2018. (Eran Lamm/Lens Productions)

Grant in RBG’s honor funds report on gender gap among Jewish leaders

Survey, which received money as part of Genesis Prize won by the late US Supreme Court justice, finds relatively few women heading Jewish groups, calls to boost numbers

In this September 27, 2017 photo, Larry David attends the premiere of HBO's 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' at the SVA Theatre in New York. (Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

‘You’re disgusting’: Larry David said to yell at Alan Dershowitz over Trump ties

By Gabe Friedman

Legal commentator retorts that comedian was ‘writing bad jokes’ while he was bringing ‘peace in the Middle East’

More Headlines

Moroccan King Mohammed VI waves to a crowd as he arrives for the opening session of the Moroccan Parliament in Rabat, Morocco, on October 12, 2018. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Moroccan king says he hopes ties with Israel will encourage regional peace

German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a joint press conference with Israeli prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, on October 4, 2018. (Hadas Parush/Flash90)

Germany’s Merkel to visit Israel ahead of planned retirement

By AFP

Serbia's President Aleksandar Vucic talks for the media during a news conference in Skopje, North Macedonia, on July 29, 2021. (AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski, file)

Serbian pro-gov’t media likens Twitter to Hitler for ‘state-affiliated’ label

By AFP

CIA chief William Burns, left, meets with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in Jerusalem, August 11, 2021. (Amos Ben-Gershon/GPO)

CIA chief told Bennett of US worries over Chinese influence in Israel — report

In this April 22, 2019, file photo, Colin Jost, left, and Scarlett Johansson arrive at the premiere of "Avengers: Endgame" at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Wedding bells are in the future for actress Scarlett Johansson and Saturday Night Live's Colin Jost. Johansson's publicist Marcel Pariseau tells The Associated Press Sunday, May 19, 2019, that the private couple is officially engaged after two years of dating. Pariseau says no date has been set for the nuptials. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)

Special updateIt’s a boy! Scarlett Johansson, Colin Jost welcome 1st kid together

By Yaakov Schwartz

The grave of an IDF officer who died in jail under unclear circumstances. (Screen grab/Kan)

Test on blood of officer who died in military prison gives indefinitive results

Various centrifuge machines line a hall at the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility, Iran on April 17, 2021. (Screenshot/Islamic Republic Iran Broadcasting-IRIB, via AP)

Europeans criticize Iran over ‘serious violations’ of nuclear deal

By Kirsten Grieshaber

Roman Zadorov is seen an an appeal hearing at the Supreme Court in jerusalem, on August 20, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Top court stops convicted killer Zadorov’s release to house arrest until Tuesday

Elon Musk announces the 'Tesla Bot' in an online conference, on August 19, 2021. (Video screenshot)

I, robot makerElon Musk announces plans for humanoid ‘Tesla Bot’

By AFP

HaChaverim Shel Natasha (Natasha's Friends) played a sold-out crowd at the National Library of Israel's Docu.text festival on Thursday night, on August 20, 2021. (Jessica Steinberg/Times of Israel)

Meeting old friendsHaChaverim Shel Natasha rock the National Library plaza

By Jessica Steinberg

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