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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, December 1, 2021

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Coronavirus czar Salman Zarka attends a press conference about the coronavirus, in Jerusalem on August 29, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Minister: Vaccine mandates are only used by dictatorships

Israel’s coronavirus czar: We need to consider making vaccines mandatory

While stressing it’s his personal opinion, Salman Zarka says nation should weigh legislation compelling citizens to get virus shots, as some European nations are mulling

Likud lawmaker Yuval Steinitz, then serving as energy minister, at the Knesset in Jerusalem on May 23, 2018. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Likud’s Steinitz threatened, compared to Nazis after call for mandatory vaccinations

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen arrives to deliver a statement at the EU headquarters in Brussels, December 13, 2020. (Olivier Hoslet/Pool Photo via AP)

EU chief: It’s time to ‘think about’ mandatory COVID vaccination

By AFP

An aerial view of the Ayalon highway running between Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan, October 17, 2018. (Matanya Tausig/FLASH90)

Tel Aviv ranked world’s most expensive city, overtaking Paris

By AFP

White City climbs five rungs to top spot, for first time, in Economist ranking — due to strength of shekel, increased cost of transportation and groceries

In this photo released by the US Air Force, an Israeli Air Force F-15 Strike Eagle flies in formation with a US Air Force B-1B Lancer over Israel as part of a deterrence flight Saturday, October 30, 2021. (US Air Force/Senior Airman Jerreht Harris via AP)

ToI podcast

Daily Briefing Dec. 1 – Did Israel get it all wrong on Iran?

US correspondent Jacob Magid assesses Israel’s efforts to stop Tehran from attaining nuclear capability; reporter Amy Spiro looks at Hanukkah’s burgeoning place in popular culture

Military personnel stand near the flag-draped coffin of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, during a funeral ceremony in Tehran, Iran, on November 30, 2020. (Iranian Defense Ministry via AP)

Killing of top scientist didn’t slow Iran’s nuke work, official tells Israeli TV

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid (right) meets with French President Emanuel Macron in Paris, on November 30, 2021. (MFA / Quentin Crestinu)

Lapid tells Macron that only a credible military threat can stop Iran nuclear drive

By Lazar Berman

Jews in Tunisia, 1880 (public domain)

Day of the Expulsion'Hundreds of thousands were torn brutally from their homes'

Ignored by the UN, Mizrahi Jews survived pogroms and expulsions, too

By Matt Lebovic

Persecution of Middle Eastern Jewry ‘has been denied for a lengthy period,’ according to historians advocating for ‘more inclusive’ Jewish memory

Netanyahu trial'I feared I would not come out of it alive'

Netanyahu trial witness says interrogators threatened to destroy his family

During cross-examination, Nir Hefetz describes the ‘vile’ conditions of his detention that caused him to break after 11 days and turn state witness against his former boss

Nir Hefetz seen as he arrives for a court hearing at the District Court in Jerusalem on December 1, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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

Live updates (closed)

Iran accuses Israel of lying in order to ‘poison’ Vienna nuclear talks

Foreign ministry spokesman tweets that Israel’s ‘existence relies on tension,’ and calls on parties to negotiations to ignore ‘fake news designed to destroy prospects for success’

7:26 pm

Two Israelis attacked, car torched after entering downtown Ramallah
7:20 pm

Air Force chief: Israel is 'insurance policy' against Iran getting nuclear bomb
7:07 pm

First US case of COVID-19 Omicron variant identified in California

Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz gives a press conference at Soroka Medical Center in the southern city of Beersheba, on November 30, 2021. (Flash90)

Health minister planning shake-up of ‘ridiculously outdated’ abortion rules

Horowitz intends to make process easier, end lengthy wait for appointments in some parts of country; current regulations require permission from committees to end a pregnancy

A protester holds a sign that reads 'Hands Off Roe!!!' outside of the US Supreme Court ahead of arguments in case at the court challenging abortion laws, seen in Washington, November 30, 2021. (Andrew Harnik/AP)

US abortion rights at stake as Supreme Court set to hear Mississippi challenge

By Mark Sherman

Travelers wearing protective face masks arrive at Ben Gurion Airport, Nov. 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Israel media review

Mutating worries: What the press is saying (now) about Omicron, kid shots and Iran

By Joshua Davidovich

After following officials into panic mode over the Omicron variant, Tehran’s nuclear program and the slow pace of kid vaccinations, news outlets pull back to a less frenzied view

A medical team member wearing protective gear swabs an Israeli traveler to test for COVID-19 in Rome, Italy, on November 11, 2021. (Yahav Gamliel/Flash90)

Two doctors infected with Omicron COVID variant; confirmed cases in Israel rise to 4

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett holds a video conference with Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg and Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babic about the COVID-19 pandemic, November 30, 2021. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Bennett defends ‘drastic steps’ against Omicron in call with Austrian, Czech leaders

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield during a news conference at United Nations headquarters, on March 1, 2021. (Mary Altaffer/AP)

Ambassador raises issue of settler attacks on Palestinians

US envoy to Security Council: Settlement building has ‘reached a critical juncture’

Thomas-Greenfield also raps top UN body for disproportionate focus on Israel, but says it can play productive role by opposing terrorism, urging positive steps for Palestinians

A bag of foodstuffs provided by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) lies in a cart as Palestinians collect food aid following a cease-fire reached after an 11-day military conflict between Gaza's Hamas rulers and Israel, in Gaza City, on May 22, 2021. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

UNRWA chief warns Palestinian refugee agency facing a funding crisis

By AP and ToI Staff

The UAE at 50: Progress, prosperity and, yes, peace

The Gulf state, now marking 50 years since its founding, rejected religious fanaticism and has stretched its hand out to Israel in genuine friendship

Anastasia Kennedy

Without Hanukkah, there’s no Christmas to celebrate

When Palestinians and their supporters claim Jesus as their own and deny his Jewishness, they help recreate the conditions for atrocities against Jews

Philip Earl Steele

Poland’s urban legend about Menachem Begin

Where did Poles get the idea that Israel’s Nobel-winning prime minister was once called Mieczysław Biegun – and why does the belief persist?

Ronnie Katz Gerber

A Hanukkah miracle might happen here

Before you know it, my doctor is crying. Weeping. I tell him to stop, that I’m going to be fine until I’m not and that that could take a few good years yet

Lanner resigned in 2000 and served 3 years in prison

Orthodox Union, youth group sued over past handling of sex abuse

By Gary Rosenblatt

4 women allege OU, NCSY knowingly allowed Rabbi Baruch Lanner’s sexual and violent behavior against them when they were teens despite numerous, long-standing complaints against him

A flyer from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s Sexual Offender registry lists Baruch Lanner’s status as “Subject to Registration.” (Via FDLE via JTA)

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi lights Hanukkah candles with Sgt. First Class Or Nehamia at the military's Bahad 6 base, on November 30, 2021. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF chief marks Hanukkah with female soldier allegedly filmed secretly by officer

IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kohavi, left, and Defense Minister Benny Gantz attend a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset, on October 19, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

IDF to probe service conditions in nonmilitary units amid prison ‘pimping’ scandal

Air China flight crew members in hazmat suits walk through the arrivals area at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Nov. 30, 2021 (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Gov’t adviser: ‘Truly don’t know’ if travel ban will end in time for winter tourism

By Nathan Jeffay

Ran Balicer suggests government will set high bar before skies open, while head of travel agency says industry in tatters and Israel ‘lost whatever goodwill we had from tourists’

Merck antiviral medication molnupiravir. (Merck & Co. via AP, File)

FDA advisers narrowly back first-of-a-kind COVID-19 pill from Merck

By MATTHEW PERRONE

Air China flight crew members in hazmat suits walk through the arrivals area at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

WHO warns against Omicron travel bans as nations shut borders

A young man who has difficulty getting up in the morning (iStock via Getty Images)

Gut tweak can make anyone a ‘morning person,’ Israeli poop analysis suggests

By Nathan Jeffay

Scientists examine mailed-in samples and find that early risers share gut bacteria pattern, hope to replicate it to help others get up with the larks

Actor, comedian and writer, Mel Brooks, holds up his 2015 National Medal of Arts awarded to him by President Barack Obama during a ceremony at the White House in Washington, DC, on September 22, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Interview'The grandest adventure any human being could ever take'

At 95, and with a new book out, Mel Brooks isn’t thinking about his legacy yet

In long and lively phone interview, actor reflects on his new projects, life without longtime friend Carl Reiner, Jewish humor and modern sensitivities

Mel Brooks insists his humor is more ‘New York’ than ‘Jewish’

By Andrew Lapin

Rabbi Levy Kaminetsky, bottom right, prepares to light a Hanukkah menorah made of ice outside his synagogue in Tomsk, Russia on Nov. 28, 2021. (Courtesy/Levy Kaminetsky via JTA)

Hanukkah’s early start this year put a Siberian tradition on thin ice

By Cnaan Liphshiz

Jews in city of Tomsk annually construct a giant ice menorah; this year, due to holiday’s date and climate change ‘it was really touch and go’

ExplainerWith White House menorah lighting, Biden set to bring back a 20th century tradition

By Jonathan D. Sarna

Entertainers, politicians rally against antisemitism at Times Square Hanukkah event

By julia GERGELY

Austin Chabad lights menorah at overpass where neo-Nazis hung antisemitic banners

An illustrative photo of payment processing. (Mikhail Nilov from Pexels)

Israeli-founded firm Fundbox becomes unicorn with fresh $100m investment

By Ricky Ben-David

Fintech company, based in California, focuses on financial services and tools for small businesses

Daniel Ramot (left) and Oren Shoval, the co-founders of ridesharing firm Via Transportation Inc. (Courtesy)

Israel-founded ride-sharing firm Via raises $130M at $3.3B valuation

By Ricky Ben-David

Coinbase employee Daniel Huynh holds a celebratory bottle of champagne as he photographs outside the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York's Times Square, Wednesday, on April 14, 2021. (AP/Richard Drew)

Coinbase to buy Israeli company, launch local R&D center

By Ricky Ben-David

Danny Fenster, center, hugs his mother Rose Fenster as former U.S. diplomat Bill Richardson, right, looks on at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

'It's an emotional story how they rallied behind this'

A determined US Jewish community helped bring home journalist imprisoned in Myanmar

By Andrew Lapin

How a campaign and behind-the-scenes advocacy by Jews worldwide put pressure on the military junta to free 37-year-old Danny Fenster, held since May 24

A painting believed to be the 'Judith Beheading Holofernes' by the Italian baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is displayed at the Brera Gallery in Milan, Italy, םמ November 7, 2016. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)

Explainer

Alan Avery-Peck

This Hanukkah, learn about the holiday’s forgotten female heroes

Jewish educator says the stories of Judith and the unnamed mother in Maccabees show ‘it’s not always the likely candidates who save the day’

Holocaust survivors dance during a Hanukkah menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall, in the Old City of Jerusalem, on Tuesday, November 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

Holocaust survivors mark Hanukkah at Western Wall menorah lighting

By AP

Stephen Colbert reveals slate of satirical Hanukkah movies. (Screenshot/Twitter via JTA)

Casino DreidaleStephen Colbert thinks there aren’t enough Hanukkah movies, so he made some up

More Headlines

Screen capture from video of Greek beauty queen Rafaela Plastira. (YouTube)

Greece says beauty queen ‘boycotting’ Miss Universe in Israel isn’t its contestant

By Stuart Winer and ToI Staff

Illustrative: In this photo from August 17, 2018, family and friends who have lost loved ones to OxyContin and opioid overdoses leave pill bottles in protest outside the headquarters of Purdue Pharma, which is owned by the Sackler family, in Stamford, Connecticut. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

US states say Sackler family is abusing bankruptcy process in OxyContin case

By GEOFF MULVIHILL

A fuel truck with a Qatari flag enters the Nusseirat power plant, in the central Gaza Strip, on June 28, 2021. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

Hamas announces deal for Qatar to subsidize Gaza public employees

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Lara Logan, then-chief foreign affairs correspondent for CBS News, speaks at a ceremony on Capitol Hill, on October 26, 2017. (Saul Loeb/AFP)

Fox host Lara Logan compares Fauci to Nazi death camp doctor Mengele

In this courtroom sketch, Ghislaine Maxwell is seated at the defense table while watching testimony of witnesses during her trial, in New York, Nov. 30, 2021. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

1st accuser in Ghislaine Maxwell trial details alleged abuse from when she was 14

By Larry Neumeister and Tom Hays

Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli (L) and Public Security Minister Omer Barlev (R) (Flash90)

Amid spate of attacks in south, ministers say throwing rocks at vehicles is ‘terror’

Students and parents from Beit Rabban Day School in Manhattan march to express their gratitude to neighborhood workers on the Upper West Side on the eve of Thanksgiving, on November 24, 2021. (Laura Kaler via JTA)

Give thanks, or elseNYC Jewish day school’s Thanksgiving parade goes viral on TikTok

By julia GERGELY

A screenshot from Jewish a capella group Six13's new video 'West Side Chanukah Story.' (Screenshot/ via JTA)

Gee, Officer Latke?‘West Side Story’ Hanukkah parody comes just in time for reboot

A police road block restricts access to Oxford High School following a shooting in Oxford, Michigan, November 30, 2021. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images/AFP)

15-year-old student kills three, wounds eight in Michigan high school shooting

By AFP

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, left, and his brother, CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, right. (Mike Groll/Office of Governor of Andrew M. Cuomo via AP; Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

CNN suspends Chris Cuomo for helping governor brother fight misconduct allegations

NYPD photo of suspects sought in relation to three attacks on Jewish New Yorkers in November 2021. (NYPDHateCrimes/Twitter)

NYPD hunts 3 women for assault of Jewish kids, teen in alleged antisemitic attacks

By julia GERGELY

Ryan Turell plays in a game for the Yeshiva University Maccabees. (Courtesy of Yeshiva University via JTA)

Undefeated in 44 games, Yeshiva U’s basketball team tops poll in NCAA’s Division III

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