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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Wednesday, December 25, 2024

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Screen capture from video of air defenses intercepting a missile fired from Yemen at central Israel, December 25, 2024. (X. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Houthis fire missile at central Israel for 4th night in past week; IDF intercepts it

By Stuart Winer and Emanuel Fabian

Millions scramble to bomb shelters, with alerts activated in wider areas as part of new policy; UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on attacks

Illustrative: Two Arrow 3 interceptors are launched during a test of the missile defense system on January 18, 2022. (Defense Ministry)

Defense Ministry inks deal with IAI to expand supply of Arrow 3 missile interceptors

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Analysis

Israel shifts focus to Houthis, but it needs partners to defeat distant foe

After hundreds of missiles fired at Israel, PM says Yemeni rebels will meet same fate as Hamas and Hezbollah; so far, Saudi and US campaigns haven’t deterred Iran-backed force

Houthi supporters raise a poster of late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah during a rally marking one year since the Gaza war was sparked when Hamas attacked Israel, October 7, 2024. (AP/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Defense Minister Israel Katz, center, visiting an IDF air defense operations center on December 24, 2024. (Ariel Hermoni/ Defense Ministry)

Israel vows to target Houthi leaders, ratcheting up threat after missile fire

By Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

A rally calling for the release of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, December 21, 2024 (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Israel and Hamas accuse each other of foiling hostage-ceasefire deal

By ToI Staff and Lazar Berman

PM’s office says terror group ‘reneging on understandings already reached’ after Hamas claims Israel adding new demands; Qatar reportedly asks Israel to show more flexibility

Protesters outside the IDF's Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv call for the release of the hostages on December 17, 2024. (AP/Ariel Schalit)

Hostage negotiators return to Israel from Qatar for ‘internal deliberations’

Demonstrators dressed as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, right, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, take part in a performance during a protest against the government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas terrorist group, in Tel Aviv, December 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 25: Day 446 – Qatari mediators ask Israel to be more flexible

By Jessica Steinberg and Jacob Magid

This combination of six undated photos shows hostages, from top left, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Eden Yerushalmi; from bottom left, Almog Sarusi, Alexander Lobanov, and Carmel Gat. They were murdered by their Hamas captors in Gaza in August 2024. (The Hostages Families Forum via AP)

IDF probe: Intel on 6 hostages murdered by Hamas was lacking; troops acted carefully

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Investigation finds army was aware of possibility captives were being held in the Rafah neighborhood of Tel Sultan, but deemed the chances to be low

A mock missile bearing a portrait of former Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah is placed in front of demonstrators during a rally by university students and faculty denouncing strikes on Yemen and in solidarity with Palestinians, in the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital Sanaa on December 25, 2024. (Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 25: Expand strikes, hit Iran, or wait for Trump? Israel said vexed by how to halt Houthis

Reports indicate officials split over what, if anything, can be done to stop daily attacks * Bereaved family angrily confronts conference for ignoring son slain in Lebanon

10:12 pm

Syrian interior ministry says 14 killed, 10 wounded in clashes with former regime forces
9:44 pm

Mossad chief said pushing for Israel to hit Iran to get at Houthis
9:30 pm

Nine reported killed in Syria clashes amid attempt to arrest Assad prison official

Humanitarian aid waiting to be picked up on the Palestinian side of the Kerem Shalom aid crossing in the Gaza Strip, December 19, 2024. (Ohad Zwigenberg/AP)

US envoy pans new report asserting famine in north Gaza as ‘outdated and inaccurate’

By Jacob Magid and Agencies

Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew calls assessment by USAID-backed agency ‘irresponsible’ for relying on ‘inaccurate data’ to inflate affected population; IDF kills gunmen in Gaza hospital

Palestinians grab humanitarian aid from a truck as it crossed into the Gaza Strip in Rafah, December 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair, File)

US, UN officials: Israel failing to crack down on humanitarian aid looting in Gaza

By David Gauthier-Villars, Nidal al-Mughrabi and John DAVISON

Op-ed: Day 446 of the war

IDF’s prewar complacency replaced by wariness on every front, proactivism where possible

Security chiefs mistrust Syria’s new rulers and don’t think Hezbollah is finished; assess Iran will seek the bomb but wait to see how Trump will act; favor a hostage deal, for moral and practical reasons

Weapons and other equipment that the Israeli army says belonged to the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, seized by the army during its ground operation in south Lebanon, are displayed for the media on December 23, 2024, in a northern Israeli military base. (Jack Guez/AFP)

Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani speaks at the Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East at the United Nations headquarters on October 2, 2024, in New York. (Bryan R. SMITH / AFP)

After Israel confirms killing Haniyeh, Iran says October missile attack was justified

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

The torched command center of the Nahal Oz IDF base, overrun by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, during a visit by relatives of slain lookout soldiers on December 19, 2023. (Courtesy/Eyal Eshel)

Katz orders IDF to release full October 7 recordings of slain surveillance soldiers

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Soldiers’ families in uproar after being supplied with apparent partial recordings that end 12 hours before Hamas invasion, in which some soldiers are not heard at all

Regional Cooperation Minister David Amsalem at a Knesset session, December 16, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg FLASH90)

Minister blames Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught on attorney general, High Court justices

Shira Lankin Sheps

We will sing again, Hanukkah edition

Maoz Tzur’s account of history’s miracles gives me faith in our salvation, as I offer new prayers for our dark times on this holiday of lights

Because of Jesus?

The same cultural shifts that recast Christmas as a safe holiday for Jews will surely, eventually defang anti-Zionism – if we put in the work to make them happen

Illustrative: Police and community safety vehicles at a Jewish event in Brooklyn, New York City, May 19, 2022. (Luke Tress/Times of Israel)

ISIS, protests, cybercrime: US Jewish security group warns of holiday threats

No known concrete dangers for American Jews during Hanukkah, but calls for attacks by extremist groups raise concerns

Threats that Donovan Hall allegedly sent to the Settenbrino family over videos their son shared from Gaza. (Courtesy)

Man charged for threatening NY hotel owners over videos soldier son posted from Gaza

The Hanukkah House in Midwood, Brooklyn, is an annual tradition. (Courtesy)

Holiday guide

As Hanukkah begins, here are 8 special activities in New York City

Taking samples at copper production sites in the Timna Valley, in an image released on December 23, 2024. (courtesy TAU)

ArchaeologyMinimal metal pollution, 3,000 years ago

Ancient copper smelting at ‘King Solomon’s mines’ was less toxic than today’s industry

By Gavriel Fiske

Soil samples from Timna show that previous studies have exaggerated the environmental impact of the mining industry in antiquity, Tel Aviv University research team finds

A liquor store decorated for Christmas in the Christian Quarter of the Jerusalem Old City, December 24, 2024 (Gianluca Pacchiani/Times of Israel)

'Faith reminds us that God is guiding history and his people'

Jerusalem’s Christmas dimmed by war, but some Christians see a glimmer of hope

By Gianluca Pacchiani

As conflict persists and tourist influx remains limited, public celebrations in the Old City are canceled for the second year in a row, but some refuse to give in to despair

On Christmas, Pope Francis calls for Gaza hostage-truce deal, Ukraine peace talks

By Agencies and ToI Staff

A Christian cross that was apparently damaged by IDF troops on Syria’s Mount Hermon and then returned to its original position on December 24, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

IDF says cross on Syrian Mount Hermon fixed, after troops damaged it on purpose

Military spokesperson says alleged acts don’t ‘reflect the values of the IDF,’ whose troops ‘represent all different faiths’; soldiers apparently rotated the cross to become an X

Screen capture from video of a Christmas tree that was set alight in the Christian-majority town of Suqaylabiyah, near Hama, Syria, December 24, 2024. (X. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Hundreds protest for Christians’ rights in Syrian capital after Christmas tree burned

By Agencies and ToI Staff

A bomb planted by Palestinian gunmen explodes after being detonated by Israeli soldiers during a military raid in the Nur Shams refugee camp near the West Bank city of Tulkarem, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

IDF brigade chief lightly hurt in blast during Tulkarem op; Palestinians report 8 killed

By Emanuel Fabian, ToI Staff and Agencies

Col. Ayub Kayuf taken to hospital for treatment after device detonated against his vehicle; army says it conducted drone strikes on gunmen; Ramallah says 2 women among the dead

Palestinian security forces deploy to Jenin in the north of the West Bank on December 17, 2024. (Photo by Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP)

Two Palestinians killed in West Bank as IDF says it eliminated terrorist

By ToI Staff and Agencies

A Palestinian Authority security officer clutches his gun amid a major raid against members of terror groups in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank, December 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

ExplainerWhy PA security forces are cracking down on Palestinian terror groups in West Bank

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Ben Carasso having tea with Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom Tzipi Hotovely. (Courtesy)

Israel’s 9-year-old ‘Spokeskid’ explains the war through a child’s eyes

Ben Carasso, a fourth-grader from Tel Aviv, volunteers with the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office initiative and shares his experiences on social media and speaking tours

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the courtroom of the Tel Aviv District Court where he is giving testimony in his criminal trial, December 24, 2024. (Moti Milrod/POOL)

Netanyahu says ‘ridiculous’ indictment shows he acted neutrally, not due to bribes

By Jeremy Sharon

In his sixth day of testimony, PM argues the charge sheet against him shows he authorized regulatory permits even before alleged quid pro quo deal with businessman

Ilan Stavans and Margaret Boyle, co-authors of 'Sabor Judio: The Jewish Mexican Cookbook.' (I. Rabchinskey /courtesy The University of North Carolina Press)

Recipe inside

Latkes con mole and other delicacies feature in this Mexican-Ashkenazi fusion cookbook

By Penny Schwartz

‘Sabor Judío’ by Ilan Stavans and Margaret E. Boyle contains more than just recipes from Eastern European immigrants to Mexico – it also dishes up a slice of Jewish history

More Headlines

The wreckage of Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 on the ground near the airport of Aktau, Kazakhstan, December 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Azamat Sarsenbayev)

Azerbaijani airliner with 67 onboard crashes in Kazakhstan, leaving 32 survivors

By Katie Marie Davies and Dasha Litvinova

Producer Richard Perry poses for a photo in Los Angeles, January 18, 1982. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon, File)

ObituaryRichard Perry, producer behind ‘You’re So Vain,’ Ringo Starr album, dies at 82

By AP and ToI Staff

File: Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir attends a plenum session on the state budget in the Knesset, December 16, 2024 (Chaim Goldberg FLASH90)

Otzma Yehudit again votes against budget-related bill, which passes anyway

By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff

Lebanese singer Ragheb Alama performs during the 57th session of the International Festival of Carthage (FIC,) at the Roman Theatre of Carthage on the outskirts of Tunis on August 5, 2023. (Photo by FETHI BELAID / AFP)

School owned by Lebanese singer torched after he seems to praise death of Nasrallah

A t-shirt showing Hassan Nasrallah, offered for sale on the Walmart website on December 24, 2024. (screen capture: Walmart.com)

Walmart removes at least 4 shirts glorifying slain terror chiefs Sinwar, Nasrallah

Screen capture from video of Italian soccer fans giving fascist salutes to celebrate a goal scored by the great-grandson of wartime dictator Benito Mussolini, Cesena, Italy, December 23, 2024. (X. Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Fascist salutes after soccer goal by Mussolini’s great-grandson to be probed

By AFP and ToI Staff

Illustrative: A Saudi flag behind barbed wire. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, highest number in decades – rights groups

A WhatsApp icon is displayed on an iPhone. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, File)

Iran votes to lift ban on WhatsApp, Google Play

By Payam DOOST MOHAMADI

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