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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, December 29, 2023

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File - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) speaks with Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich during a cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on June 18, 2023. (Amit Shabi/Pool)

Under pressure from Smotrich, PM cancels war cabinet meeting on post-war Gaza plan

Talks to be held in security cabinet instead, after far-right factions protest their exclusion; Smotrich to Biden: ‘Not a single shekel will go to the Nazi terrorists in Gaza’

US President Joe Biden, left, meets with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, on October 18, 2023. (Miriam Alster/ Pool Photo via AP)

In ‘frustrating’ call, Biden said to tell PM to resolve Palestinian tax funds issue

By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid

Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib stands outside of her office after placing a Palestinian flag there on January 25, 2023. (Rashida Tlaib/Twitter)

Tlaib calls Netanyahu a ‘genocidal maniac,’ rebukes US lawmakers who meet him

A Supernova party survivor at the Secret Forest retreat center in Cyprus, in an undated photo. Her bracelet is the entrance token from the party, on the date of the massacre. In the October 7, 2023 onslaught, 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists burst through the Gaza border and murdered 1,200 people in southern Israel, most of them civilians, some 360 of them at the Supernova outdoor music festival. (Courtesy)

Warning: Graphic content

In harrowing detail, NYT reports on weaponization of rape, sexual violence on Oct. 7

Publication uncovers new information, devastating testimony, on systemic targeting of women and girls, use of sexual assault and mutilation during savage Hamas onslaught in Israel

IDF announces soldier killed in north Gaza, as operations expand in Khan Younis

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Toll of slain troops in ground offensive against Hamas rises to 168; sirens sound in largely evacuated Gaza border towns; soldiers spot Hamas operative in tunnel shaft with RPG

The IDF announced death of Captain (res.) Harel Sharvit during the Gaza ground operation, December 29, 2023 (courtesy)

This undated photo shows Judih Weinstein and Gad Haggai. They were killed by Hamas terrorists at Kibbutz Nir Oz on October 7, 2023. (Iris Weinstein Haggai via AP)

Israeli-American Judith Weinstein confirmed murdered on Oct. 7, body held in Gaza

Promoted Content

Standup in Solidarity

The Koby Mandell Foundation invites you to laugh and support our new programs for bereaved families

An Israeli Apache helicopter fires a missile in the direction of the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, December 29, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 29: IDF strikes targets Lebanon and Syria in response to rocket fire

Gaza ground op toll reaches 168 * Troops demolish Hamas infrastructure in homes of terrorists who attacked Kibbutz Nir Oz * 5 troops hurt in car-ramming attack in the West Bank

9:29 pm

IDF strikes in Syria after rockets fired at Golan; also hits Hezbollah sites in Lebanon
9:18 pm

Skipping congressional review, Blinken okays emergency sale of M107 shells to Israel
8:55 pm

PM said to bar heads of Mossad and Shin Bet from a meeting with Gallant, IDF chief

Shayna Goldberg

It is my privilege to be raising Israeli children

The so-called ’Tik-Tok generation’ kids have interests and ideals, and, when called, put down their screens and rush out to do their duty

Jason Fredric Gilbert

It’s not the reinforced walls or blast door that protects the people as much as it is their impossible optimism

Shana Strauch Schick

Who is fit to lead?

Even in the Torah, when the expected leader can’t do the job well, he is replaced by those who have the requisite traits he lacks (Vayechi)

From Slobodka to Jaffa and back again

My Torah studies left me optimistic about the future, but since October 7, I find myself returning to the doom and gloom edicts of my youth

Sinwar sent terrorists to Syria, Lebanon to train for attack

Report details Hamas’s secret buildup to Oct 7, terror group’s isolation in its wake

Gaza terror leader Yahya Sinwar is said to have used ‘dummy’ commanders as cannon fodder, but now he is under fire for pre-empting Hezbollah and Iran while cutting off his bosses

Palestinian terrorists head toward the border with Israel from Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. (Said Khatib/AFP)

Israeli forces seized around NIS 10 million from nine money exchange branches in the West Bank overnight during a raid on companies found to be transferring funds to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, December 28, 2023. (Israel Defense Forces)

5 West Bank money exchange firms to be blacklisted over transfers to Hamas, PIJ

Former prime minister Naftali Bennett at a court hearing in a defamation lawsuit against Rabbi Yosef Mizrahi at the Magistrate's Court in Tel Aviv, September 11, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Bennett reveals details of two direct strikes on Iran in 2022 while he was PM

In Wall Street Journal op-ed, he calls for Israel and US to take on Tehran directly, ‘make it pay’ for sowing chaos via Mideast proxies: ‘Evil empire of Iran must be brought down’

A picture obtained from the Iranian Mizan News Agency on October 16, 2022 shows empty bunk beds inside the notorious Evin prison, northwest of the Iranian capital Tehran. (Koosha Mahshid Falahi / Mizan / AFP)

Iran says it executed 4 for ‘collaboration’ with Israel’s Mossad

By ToI Staff and Agencies

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)

UK, US, France and Germany condemn Iran for accelerating uranium enrichment

By AFP and ToI Staff

‘We failed in our mission,’ IDF chief acknowledges

Battalion chief told hostage to approach; when he did, a soldier shot him, probe finds

By Emanuel Fabian

Full investigation into IDF’s mistaken killing of 3 hostages in Gaza finds troops had ‘insufficient awareness’ they could encounter captives, deaths ‘could have been prevented’

This infographic published by the IDF on December 28, 2023, details the locations of an incident in Gaza City's Shejaiya neighborhood where three hostages were killed by troops (Israel Defense Forces)

File: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his wife Sara at his side, meets with representatives of families whose loved ones are being held hostage by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, October 28, 2023. (GPO)

PM meets hostages’ families, hints at progress in talks ‘to bring everyone home’

Partygoers shelter behind a tank with a Sharabi brother standing and wearing a helmet on the right, as they fend off terrorists, October 7, 2023 (Screen grab via Channel 12 used used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Brothers saved dozens at Nova, fighting terrorists with commander’s phoned-in advice

Daniel and Neria Sharabi defended some 30 rave attendees sheltering behind a tank, using unfamiliar weapons as reserve commander gave instructions over the phone

CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations William Daroff at the site of the October 7 Supernova rave massacre, December 25, 2023. (courtesy)

ToI podcast

What Matters Now to US Jewish leader William Daroff: Where are our allies?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

CEO of Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations describes a ‘second punch in the gut’ by those who misjudge the Oct. 7 tragedy and ‘continue to not get it’

A residential tower is under construction next to the Mahane Yehuda market in downtown Jerusalem on December 7, 2023. (John MacDougall / AFP)

Inside Story

Amid worker shortage due to war, Israeli constructors struggle to build

By Shoshanna Solomon

With most Palestinian workers banned from Israel in wake of Oct. 7 onslaught, and thousands of foreign workers gone, the building sector says it’s at a ‘complete standstill’

Immigration to Israel dropped sharply following Oct. 7 assault — statistics bureau

Investment in Israeli tech firms slumps 56%, hit by political upheaval and Hamas war

By Sharon Wrobel

Damage seen in Kiryat Shmona on December 28, 2023 as a result of a rocket launched by Hezbollah in Lebanon. (Kiryat Shmona Municipality)

IDF launches ‘widespread’ strikes in south Lebanon after barrages of Hezbollah rockets

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Projectiles cause damage in Kiryat Shmona; drone from Lebanon intercepted near Haifa; Hezbollah says missiles in response to overnight killing of operative, 2 relatives

A handout picture released by the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on July 19, 2023, shows a ball of light in the sky during Israeli air strikes near Damascus. (SANA / AFP)

Syrian state media says Israeli airstrikes caused damage

By AFP and ToI Staff

This photo released by the Houthi Media Center shows a Houthi forces helicopter approaching the cargo ship Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023. (Houthi Media Center via AP)

US announces sanctions against network responsible for financing Houthi rebels

By Jacob Magid and AP

Analysis

High Court ‘reasonableness’ ruling may presage return to tribalism and overhaul fight

If accurate, a leaked draft indicating justices will strike down government’s controversial legislation will have a deep constitutional impact. It may also strengthen Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, attends a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem holocaust museum, on Holocaust Remembrance Day April 18, 2023. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)

The scene of a car-ramming attack near Otniel in the West Bank, December 29, 2023 (Social media used in accordance with clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

5 soldiers wounded, one seriously, in West Bank car-ramming attack

By Emanuel Fabian

Attacker shot dead by troops at the scene near military position, close to Adorayim Junction

Security forces at the scene of a stabbing attack at the Mazmuria checkpoint, near Jerusalem, December 28, 2023. (Israel Police)

Two moderately wounded in stabbing attack at checkpoint near Jerusalem

By Emanuel Fabian

Illustrative - A man casts his ballot at a voting station on the morning of the Municipal Elections, on October 30, 2018, in Kedumim. (Hillel Maeir/Flash90)

IDF: 688 reservists running in municipal elections ‘most likely’ can’t be released

Discussions continue on whether to again postpone elections, originally scheduled for October 31; Smotrich: ‘Numbers leave no room for doubt… I hope the government will postpone’

IDF reserve units guard a kibbutz near the Syrian border in the northern Golan Heights on October 8, 2023 (Photo by Michael Giladi/Flash90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 29: Day 84 – Reservists demand aid as gov’t delays their retirement

Sen. Herb Kohl, a Wisconsin Democrat, during the Senate Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee hearing on the administration's fiscal 2005 budget for the Department of Homeland Security, on Capitol Hill, February 10, 2004. ( Scott J. Ferrell/Congressional Quarterly/Getty Images via JTA)

Obituary

Herb Kohl, former Jewish senator from Wisconsin and Milwaukee Bucks owner, dies at 88

He was known for his soft-spoken approach in philanthropy, business and politics, an outlook he said he learned from his Jewish immigrant parents

Former Israeli president Reuven Rivlin, left, shakes hands with French-Armenian singer Charles Aznavour on October 26, 2017 at the presidential compound in Jerusalem. (GALI TIBBON/AFP)

'When he saw what happened to Jews, he couldn't stay idle'

New museum in Armenia to tell story of Charles Aznavour, French crooner who loved Jews

By Larry Luxner

Tribute to Time Magazine’s entertainer of the 20th century will include accounts of unpublicized WWII heroism, including harboring Jews and members of French underground in Paris

More Headlines

Hundreds protest in support of the right of LGBTQ couples to adopt children, outside the Ministry of Absorption in Tel Aviv on July 20, 2017. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

High Court rules same-sex adoption must be allowed, in landmark decision

By Jeremy Sharon

Israeli consciencious objector Tal Mitnick during a November interview in Tel Aviv. (Screenshot used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Teen sent to military prison over draft refusal; cited ‘revenge campaign’ in Gaza

Maj. Idan (right), deputy commander of the Givati Brigade's Rotem Battalion, returns a wallet and dog tag that Yedid Ackerman (left) lost during the 2014 Israel Hamas war (Ynet video screenshot; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

After 9 years, soldier who lost dog tag and wallet in 2014 Gaza war gets both back

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, Russia, December 27, 2023. (Alexander Nemenov/Pool Photo via AP)

Lavrov appears to liken Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

The unrecognized Bedouin villages around the Ramat Hovav industrial area in southern Israel suffer from a high level of air pollution from nearby chemical evaporation ponds and an Israel Electric Company power plant, December 28, 2017. (Yaniv Nadav/Flash90/File)

Exposure to polluted air in Israel up to 3.5 times global target levels

Israel Police Deputy Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi (Courtesy)

Ben Gvir taps aide Kobi Yaakobi as interim prison service chief, amid coalition rift

By Michael Horovitz

Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Heritage Meir Porush arrives for the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on May 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

UTJ minister criticized for lobbying for son’s election the day after Oct. 7 attack

In this October 13, 2014 photo, a man shows an Islamic State flag at an Islamic bookstore in the Fatih district of Istanbul. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)

Turkey said to detain 32 IS-linked suspects, foil attacks on synagogues and churches

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Foreign Minister Eli Cohen (L) and Energy Minister Israel Katz. (Collage/AP)

Cabinet set to vote Sunday on replacing Eli Cohen with Israel Katz as FM

By Michael Horovitz

Former US president Donald Trump speaks during a commit to caucus rally, Dec. 19, 2023, in Waterloo, Iowa (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Maine bars Trump from state’s presidential primary ballot over Jan 6 ‘insurrection’

By Nicholas Riccardi and David Sharp

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