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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, December 18, 2024

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the top of the Syrian side of Mount Hermon along with IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi (right) and other troops, December 17, 2024. (Maayan Toaf/GPO)

Atop Syrian Hermon, Netanyahu says Israel to stay until ‘another arrangement’ found

By Emanuel Fabian, Lazar Berman, ToI Staff and Agencies

PM stresses strategic importance of the summit following fall of Assad, is joined by Katz who says presence will also deter Syrian rebels from setting sights on Israel

Syrian fighters from rebel group, observe a location identified as a mass grave for detainees killed under rule of Bashar Assad in Najha, south of Damascus, Syria, December 17, 2024. (AP Photo/ Hussein Malla)

War crimes prosecutor says Syrian mass graves expose Assad’s ‘machinery of death’

By Timour Azhari and Anthony Deutsch

Inside story

US intel wrongly envisioned catastrophic outcome if IDF escalated against Hezbollah

Israeli assessments were nearly identical, but Netanyahu decided to step up campaign in Lebanon, deeming the heavy cost worth paying, officials tell ToI

Medics and police at the scene of a deadly Hezbollah rocket impact in Shfar'am, northern Israel, November 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

The Swiss House of Parliament in Bern, on December 11, 2024. (Fabrice Coffrini/ AFP)

Swiss parliament votes to outlaw Hezbollah

By Reuters and ToI Staff

'It is practically at same level as nuclear-armed states'

UN monitor says reviving Iran deal now irrelevant, since Tehran on cusp of nuke

IAEA’s Grossi cautions negotiators hoping for another pact will need to formulate fresh technical guidelines conforming to ‘new reality’ of Iran becoming a nuclear threshold state

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General, Rafael Grossi, addresses the media after arriving at the Vienna International Airport in Schwechat, Austria, May 7, 2024. The head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog traveled to Iran, where his agency faces increasing difficulty in monitoring the Islamic Republic's rapidly advancing nuclear program as tensions remain high in the wider Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/ Heinz-Peter Bader)

The Iranian flag outside the IAEA headquarters during the International Atomic Energy Agency's Board of Governors meeting at the agency's headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on November 20, 2024. (Joe Klamar/AFP)

UK, France, Germany: No ‘credible civilian’ basis for Iran’s growing uranium stash

By AFP and ToI Staff

Students and activists protest for an eighth day at an anti-Israel encampment on the campus of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, on May 4, 2024. (Photo by Alexis Aubin / AFP)

Promoted podcastJPPI Podcast

Antisemitism in Canada

Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Irwin Cotler talks the 670% increase in antisemitism since Oct. 7 and threats to his life by the regime in Iran.

An underground Hezbollah command center in southern Lebanon is destroyed by the IDF, December 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 18: Amid truce, IDF destroys underground Hezbollah command post used to direct attacks

Group of hostages’ families declares opposition to a deal with Hamas that includes phased release of captives * At corruption trial, PM says he doesn’t discuss day’s events with wife

9:56 pm

Trump opposes deal to avert fast-approaching US government shutdown
9:12 pm

Hamas official: 34 hostages could be released in first phase of deal, Rafah Crossing would reopen
8:39 pm

Hundreds gather in Tel Aviv to mark hostage Matan Zangauker's 25th birthday

Relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza and their supporters protest a deal to free the captives and end the war, outside the Likud party's headquarters in Tel Aviv, December 17, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

White House says administration 'cautious in our optimism'

CIA head to visit Qatar as Israeli reports downplay claims that hostage deal imminent

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Bill Burns to meet with Qatari PM after delegations from Hamas, Israel held talks in Doha the previous two days; Trump envoy also expected there following his trip to Cairo

Benjamin Netanyahu, center, seen getting off a helicopter in Jerusalem on December 17, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg FLASH90)

Netanyahu denies jetting to Cairo as reports of Gaza deal progress boost hopes

By Lazar Berman, ToI Staff and Reuters

Op-ed: Day 439 of the war

The justice minister is bent on tearing Israel apart from within. Again

Yariv Levin appears to have learned nothing from Israel’s recent calamities. And his boss continues to recklessly encourage him

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Justice Minister Yariv Levin at the Knesset during a discussion and a vote on the state budget in Jerusalem, December 14, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Families of Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip and their supporters dress in white as they attend a silent protest calling for the release of the hostage, outside the Knesset in Jerusalem, November 25, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Most Israelis worried for democracy, study finds; trust in Knesset, government down

By Jeremy Sharon

The broadcast studio of Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, in Jerusalem, January 31, 2023. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

European Broadcasting Union warns privatizing Kan could undermine Israel’s democracy

By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol

Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara attends a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting in the Knesset in Jerusalem, on November 18, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)

Attorney general to be summoned before cabinet to defend record – report

Hearing on Gali Baharav-Miara’s performance to be followed by non-binding vote of no-confidence, with coalition still unable to come to agreement on her termination

Lawmakers in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee debate a bill to prevent the prosecution of soldiers who give classified intelligence to the prime minister without authorization, December 17, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

Edelstein questions need for coalition bill letting soldiers leak secret info to PM

Israeli soldiers and police clash with far-right protesters, after they broke into the Beit Lid army base over the detention for questioning of military reservists who are suspected of abuse of a Palestinian terror suspect detained there, on July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv / AFP)

Police, IDF absent from Knesset hearing on far-right attacks on detention facilities

By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff

IDF troops are seen operating in northern Gaza's Jabalia, in a handout photo issued on December 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF orders evacuations in central Gaza amid reports of imminent hostage deal

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Palestinians told to move away from 4 residential areas in Bureij; Hamas-run authorities say at least 12 killed in recent strikes; IDF probing reports of attack on hospital

Palestinians carry UN-donated flour in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Saturday December 14, 2024.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 18: Day 439 – How Palestinians envision ruling Gaza the day after

By Amanda Borschel-Dan, Gianluca Pacchiani and Gavriel Fiske

The compound of Joseph's Tomb in the West Bank city of Nablus, April 10, 2022. (Nasser Ishtayeh/Flash90)

Palestinians shoot at bus of Israelis illegally visiting Nablus tomb, injuring one

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

A rally in support of the hostages held in Gaza in New York City's Central Park, December 15, 2024. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

Reporter's notebook'Cold, rain, in any weather people are still showing up'

‘Sense of community’: NY hostage rallies keep drawing crowds after 14 months of war

Hundreds regularly attend weekly demonstrations in Central Park to hear from family members of the captives, where they back their efforts and support each other

‘If you don’t uphold what I say, then I’ll change the rules’

In avoiding the High Court ruling that he must convene the committee to appoint the court’s president, Minister Yariv Levin is abusing his authority

I am a digital camera

I am as sentimental as the next person, but once is enough to be treated to the image of a soon-to-be-forgotten moment of family fun

Israeli settler activists set up tents in what they claimed is southern Lebanon, which the IDF initially denied, December 7, 2024. Banner reads: "Lebanon is ours." (Uri Tzafon Movement)

IDF admits settler group crossed northern border into Lebanon this month

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Military corrects previous statement that activists hadn’t crossed Blue Line, reiterates dangers of civilian attempts to cross border without authorization

Benjamin Netanyahu during a visit to the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, January 12, 2009, from "The Bibi Files." (Jigsaw Pictures)

‘The Bibi Files’ makes Academy Awards shortlist for best documentary

By Jessica Steinberg, Agencies and ToI Staff

Film is one of several Israel-related movies to advance to next round of voting, including Norwegian-Palestinian documentary ‘No Other Land’ about West Bank settler violence

A Jewish student watches a protest in support of Palestinians at New York’s Columbia University campus, November 14, 2023. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images via JTA)

American Jewish mainstream veering slightly right as Trump prepares for second term

By Andrew Silow-Carroll

While many US Jewish organizations believe in free speech, they are hoping the incoming president will curb antisemitism on college campuses and in schools

Israel concerned ‘wild card’ Musk could share sensitive data with others – report

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Adrien Brody in 'The Brutalist.' (Lol Crowley/A24)

Film review

Starring Adrien Brody, ‘The Brutalist’ is based on postwar Jewish architects in the US

By Andrew Lapin

László Tóth, a fictional Hungarian Jewish architect who moves to America, is a composite of real-life characters whose struggles are propelling the new film to critical acclaim

A third century CE Christian silver amulet, discovered in a Roman-era grave in Frankfurt, Germany. (image capture/Monument Office of the city of Frankfurt am Main/used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Archaeology

Amulet found in Germany said to be ‘oldest Christian testimony north of the Alps’

By Gavriel Fiske

Silver scroll, found to contain verses of protection in Latin, dates from the mid-3rd century CE. Israeli researcher says too early to draw conclusions

Young seminarians of the Armenian Christian convent arrive for the daily afternoon prayer service at St. James Cathedral at the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem, November 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Eclipsed by conflict, Armenians struggle for survival in Jerusalem’s Old City

By AP and ToI Staff

As population dwindles, small Armenian Christian community face attacks from Jewish fundamentalists and is in danger of losing land to questionable deal

Sara Funaro, then assessor of Florence, attends the Righteous Among The Nations award ceremony for Bisto and Stella Nepi, who saved a Jewish fugitive from fascists and Nazis during World War II, at Florence Synagogue on April 18, 2023. (Roberto Serra - Iguana Press/Getty Images/File)

Meet Sara Funaro, the first female – and first Jewish – mayor of Florence, Italy

By Rossella Tercatin

Born to a Jewish father and Catholic mother, the incoming city head converted to Judaism in her 20s, does not make her religious identity a central part of her political one

More Headlines

United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni chairs a meeting of the Knesset Finance Committee, December 16, 2024. (Noam Moskowitz, Office of the Knesset Spokesperson)

Knesset panel passes 2025 tax hikes set to hit working people in their pockets

By Sharon Wrobel

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar addresses the press ahead of his New Hope party's weekly faction meeting in the Knesset, December 16, 2024. (Chaim Goldbergl/Flash90)

‘Antisemitic liar’: FM blasts Irish president’s claim Israel wants to settle Egypt

FILE - Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)

Lawsuit claims State Department skirting US human rights law with Israel military aid

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Ukrainian refugee children look at the drawings at the Lauder Morasha Jewish school in Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, July 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Michal Dyjuk)

Polish textbooks continue to teach antisemitic tropes in schools, report finds

Equipment is handed out to members of the IDF's new David Division, in a photo issued by the IDF on December 17, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF announces new light infantry division based on volunteer reservists

By Emanuel Fabian

A Teva Pharmaceuticals logistics center in Shoham, January 7, 2021. (Yossi Aloni/ Flash90)

Teva soars on ‘positive’ trial results for inflammatory bowel disease treatment

By Sharon Wrobel

Pope Francis shakes hands with officials after their meeting for the Pope's departure ceremony at the Ajaccio airport, on the French island of Corsica, December 15, 2024. (Ludovic Marin; Pool via AP)

Pope Francis was target of attempted suicide attack on 2021 trip to Iraq, he says

By Reuters and ToI Staff

The high-ceilinged dorm rooms of Abraham Hostel Jerusalem (Courtesy Abraham Hostel)

With tourism slacking, Jerusalem hostel pivots to low-cost student housing

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