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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, November 17, 2021

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Natali Oknin appears in an advertisement for the Egged bus company. (Screenshot/YouTube)

Israeli detained in Turkey: Do they think spies appear in bus company commercials?

Natali Oknin, held on suspicion of espionage, has featured in several ads for her employer, Egged; lawyer files appeal with Turkish court against couple’s detention

Illustrative: The Silivri prison complex, outside Istanbul, April 30, 2018. (AP Photo/Mehmet Guzel)

Israeli diplomats visit couple held in Turkey; Mossad chief said to get involved

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks at a press conference in Jerusalem, on November 6, 2021 (Haim Zach/GPO)

Bennett speaks with relatives of Israeli couple held by Turkey

Mordy and Natali Oknin were arrested in Turkey for photographing Erdogan's palace, November 2021. (Screenshot)

Analysis

Couple’s ongoing detention likely means Turkish intel still fishing for Israeli info

October arrests of 15 suspected Mossad spies didn’t get Ankara what it wanted; now it may think it’s found a better bargaining chip

Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar leads a New Hope faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 8, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Justice minister says Israelis held in Turkey were arrested ‘for no reason’

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Part of a new 15 million euro solar plant during its official inauguration at the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan, on November 13, 2017. (AFP Photo/Khalil Mazraawi)

Israel, Jordan, UAE reportedly set to sign massive solar, water swap deal

US climate envoy Kerry expected to be on hand for Monday signing of biggest regional cooperation project Israel’s ever reached with its neighbors, after helping move talks forward

Chinese President Xi Jinping applauds during the closing session of the National People's Congress in Beijing on Thursday, on March 11, 2021. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)

In first, Herzog speaks to China’s Xi on Iran, Abraham Accords

By Lazar Berman

Illustrative: Two US F-35 Lightning II’s bank after receiving fuel over the American Midwest, September 19, 2019. (US Air Force/ Master Sgt. Ben Mota/ File)

American official says US ‘fully committed’ to F-35 sale to UAE

By Jon Gambrell

Yuval Noah Harari. (Courtesy)

Unholy Podcast / Sponsored

A conversation with Yuval Noah Harari

Harari joins Yonit and Jonathan for a conversation on pandemics, climate change, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and more.

The family of Natali and Mordy Oknin speak by phone with Natali on November 17, 2021, for the first time since she and her husband were arrested eight days earlier in Turkey. The couple, both Egged bus drivers, are being held separately and face espionage accusations, which they and the Israeli government firmly deny. (Channel 13 screenshot)

Live updates (closed)

Israeli woman detained in Turkey speaks by phone with family for 1st time

In recording of call, Natali Oknin — who was arrested with her husband Mordy for photographing Erdogan’s palace — tells her children and sister, ‘If you’re strong, I’m strong’

7:20 pm

Meeting Abbas, US envoy conveys Biden's support for two states, raps PA over prisoner payments
7:10 pm

Police release security video of stabbing attack in Jerusalem's Old City
6:37 pm

In 1st phone call, Israeli woman detained in Turkey tells family, 'If you're strong, I'm strong'

A man in pointing at himself looking at shadow with long nose of a liar (iStock via Getty Images)

Liar, liar! ‘Reading’ faces, Israeli tech spots fibbers with 73% accuracy

By Nathan Jeffay

Breakthrough paves the way for spotting liars from a distance via cameras, though it currently requires electrodes on face; works by tracking micro-movements

Israeli company Redefine Meat developed plant-based products as an alternative to meat. (Redefine Meat)

Israel’s Redefine Meat to serve 3D-printed, plant-based meat at eateries in Europe

By Ricky Ben-David

Illustrative: A pointer is used to follow the Hebrew written passages in the Torah. (AP Photo/ Rogelio Solis)

Israeli company CryptoVerses sells NFT of Bible verse for $8,400

A diabetic man injecting himself with insulin (iStock by Getty Images)

University launches major $75 million project to combat diabetes, as cases climb

By Nathan Jeffay

Bar Ilan University initiative will focus on Galilee region, where cases are 3 times higher than national average; 1 million Israelis expected to be diabetic by 2040

ToI podcast

Daily Briefing Nov. 17 – Will limiting the PM’s term transform Israeli politics?

Political reporter Tal Schneider on term limits, and the coming bombshell testimony in Netanyahu’s trial; US correspondent Jacob Magid on the new Israeli ambassador to the US

Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu points at his hair during a speech at the Likud faction meeting in the Knesset, on October 25, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

After 10 years, US publication walks back claim that Netanyahu has genius IQ

By Tal Schneider

Exhibition'These things didn't happen in the shadows'

London’s Imperial War Museum brings the Holocaust into the light for all to see

Unlike other memorials, the recently opened permanent exhibit is unusually well-lit, giving the very human perpetrators of the genocide of Europe’s Jews no shadows in which to hide

86-year-old woman named Israel’s ‘Miss Holocaust Survivor’

By AP

Supporters of former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu protest outside his trial at the District Court in Jerusalem on November 16, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

TV reporter has kippa flipped off by pro-Netanyahu protester outside courtroom

After woman attacks Channel 13’s Baruch Kra, he says a ‘well-oiled system of incitement’ has led to such violence

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with his wife Sara at a Likud post-election gathering early on March 24, 2021, after the end of voting in the fourth national election in two years. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

New witness testimony indicates Netanyahu knew about illicit gifts for wife: report

Supporters of opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu outside his trial at the Jerusalem District Court, November 16, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Key witness in Netanyahu trial files complaint over death threats outside court

US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield tours Israel's southern border, with IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi on November 16, 2021. (US Mission to the UN/Twitter)

Touring northern, southern borders, US envoy pledges Iron Dome replenishment

Army provides Biden’s UN envoy Linda Thomas-Greenfield with rundown of security challenges stemming from Iran; meeting Gantz, she urges him to avoid settlement building, evictions

An explosion is seen during a reported Israeli strike near the Syrian city of Homs on November 8, 2021. (Screen capture: Twitter)

Israeli missiles target empty warehouse near Damascus, Syria says

By Judah Ari Gross and ToI Staff

Has the minyan muscle in my community atrophied?

I miss how the in-person morning gathering gave sacred significance to the details of the mundane, and I miss knowing that my physical presence belonged there

Kenneth Brander

Rabbis: Critique all you want, but please refrain from derisive, divisive attack

I believe in keeping strictly kosher, but I’m also certain that toxic rhetoric against fellow Jews is more harmful than an assortment of kashrut labels is

Iran said to resume work at centrifuge plant allegedly targeted by Israel

Wall Street Journal cites diplomat saying parts for 170 advanced centrifuges have been produced at Karaj since late August, without any UN monitoring

The alleged Karaj centrifuge parts plant near Karaj, Iran, seen in a photo posted online by Google user Edward Majnoonian, in May 2019. (Screenshot/Google Maps)

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)

New IAEA report says Iran has boosted stockpile of highly enriched uranium

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi addresses the parliament in Tehran on November 16, 2021. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran’s Raisi tells Putin: Tehran is ‘absolutely serious’ about nuclear talks

By AFP and ToI Staff

From left to right: IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Defense Minister Benny Gantz attend a military drill in northern Israel on November 16, 2021. (Amos Ben-Gershom/GPO)

Visiting IDF exercise, Bennett and Gantz say Israel ready to act against Iran

By Judah Ari Gross

Prime minister, defense minister meet with top military officers at massive drill up north, say army better prepared now that a national budget has been passed

Fire rising from an oil pipeline that exploded in southern Iran on November 17, 2021. (Screenshot: Twitter)

Explosion reported at oil pipeline in southern Iran, creating tremors

A medical employee takes a COVID-19 rapid antigen sample in Lod on October 17, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Health Ministry plans to ease pre-flight testing rules for incoming travelers

According to proposal, those flying to Israel will be allowed to choose between a PCR test in the 72 hours before departure or a rapid antigen test in the 24 hours pre-boarding

A vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children 5 to 12 years old sits ready for use at a vaccination site in Fort Worth, Texas, on November 11, 2021. (LM Otero/AP)

Arrival of Pfizer vaccines for kids said delayed; inoculation set to begin Nov. 24

By Stuart Winer

File: Pfizer's experimental COVID-19 pills, which the drugmaker said on November 16, 2021 that it is submitting for US authorization, setting the stage for a likely launch in coming weeks. (Pfizer via AP)

Pfizer submits its COVID-19 pill for US authorization

By MATTHEW PERRONE

Illegal electrical cables hang over a neighborhood in Wadi Ara on November 9, 2021. (courtesy)

Long deprived of power in illegally built homes, Arabs hope change finally near

By Aaron Boxerman

Around 130,000 are estimated to live in houses connected illicitly to the national grid. Everyone agrees something must be done, but not on what

President Herzog condemns hospital violence as incidents rack up

Juana Ruiz Sanchez Rishmawi, a Spanish citizen married to a Palestinian, seen during her sentencing at Ofer prison near Jerusalem, on November 17, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Spanish woman sentenced to 13 months for passing funds to Palestinian terror group

By Aaron Boxerman

Israel trumpeted plea bargain as support for its controversial move to ban 6 Palestinian groups, but judge says Juana Rishmawi, who worked elsewhere, had no knowledge of PFLP ties

Laura Ingraham and Raymond Arroyo during a viral exchange on the Fox News show 'The Ingraham Angle.' (Screenshot)

You's on first

‘It was on You’: Fox News confusion baffles viewers, sparks hilarity

Exchange between Laura Ingraham and Raymond Arroyo goes viral, prompting comparisons to famous Abbott and Costello sketch as well as claims the interaction was staged

More Headlines

Activists protest against recent cases of violence against women in Tel Aviv, on March 7, 2021. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Domestic violence complaints increased by 10% this year, ministry data shows

Illustrative: A secure laptop. (Anyaberkut, iStock by Getty Images)

Israeli spyware firm Candiru linked to cyberattacks on Mideast websites

By AFP

The German-made Saar 6-class corvette (R) purchased by the Israel Navy is moored at the military port of Haifa, after its arrival on December 2, 2020. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Elite IDF navy officer reportedly charged with raping woman from his unit

Convicted rapist Benny Sela arrives at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, on May 20, 2009. (Kobi Gideon/Flash90)

Serial rapist given extra 2 years for indecent act in prison

US Senator Dianne Feinstein attends a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 9, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/The New York Times via AP)

Act of CongressDianne Feinstein could become 3rd in line to US presidency

Anti-Semitic graffiti found at a synagogue in Carmel, Indiana, July 2018. (Screenshot/WISH)

New Jersey man sentenced to year in prison for ordering attacks on synagogues

French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour, surrounded by bodyguards, arrives to visit the "Made in France" fair at the Porte de Versailles in Paris, on November 14, 2021. (Thomas Samson/AFP)

French far-right candidate on trial for hate speech over comments on migrants

By Sylvie Corbet

Police and protesters clash at the Geulat Zion illegal West Bank outpost, on November 17, 2021. (Twitter)

Three arrested in clashes with police during demolition of illegal West Bank outpost

By Stuart Winer

The Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee meets to discuss the effects of climate change on the country's national security, on November 16, 2021. (Noam Moskowitz/Knesset)

Knesset committee calls for climate change to be seen as a national security issue

By Judah Ari Gross

A Sudanese migrant family are seen in a closed Sudanese restaurant in south Tel Aviv, on October 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

Sudanese migrants in Israel fear deportation to post-coup Sudan

By jack jeffery

The 'Kids Speak' books by author Chaim Walder. (Feldheim)

New York Judaica shop drops children’s books by author accused of sexual abuse

Oud player Wassim Odeh, who will perform November 19, 2021, at the Jerusalem Oud Festival produced by the Jerusalem Confederation House. (Courtesy Hisam Abu Ayoub)

Oud timeThis oud player lives for music, steers clear of politics

By Jessica Steinberg

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