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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, December 26, 2024

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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and his wife Sara at a state ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on October 27, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/FLASH90)

Live updates (closed)

Dec. 26: Ministers slam AG’s decision to call for investigation into Sara Netanyahu

IDF chief: Strikes on Houthis in Yemen prove military’s ability to ‘reach any threat’ * IDF platoon commander killed fighting in northern Gaza, says military

9:10 pm

IDF platoon commander killed fighting in northern Gaza, says military
8:56 pm

Director of northern Gaza hospital says 5 staffers killed in Israeli airstrike
8:29 pm

Ministers slam AG's decision to call for investigation into Sara Netanyahu

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea at the IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv on October 15, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

'We need to go head-on against Iran,' Barnea quoted saying

Report: Mossad chief believes Israel should target Iran to get at Houthis; PM disagrees

By ToI Staff and Lazar Berman

At Hanukkah candle-lighting, Netanyahu vows rebel group will suffer same fate as other enemies in region; officials said doubtful Israel can stop Houthis without help of US

Yemeni rebels demonstrate in the suburbs of the Houthi-controlled capital Sana'a, on December 23, 2024. (Photo by Mohammed HUWAIS / AFP)

Houthi drone crashes in south as terror group said to brace for major Israeli attack

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Members of the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terror groups release Israeli hostages to the Red Cross, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, November 28, 2023. (Flash90)

Burned, beaten, starved: Health Ministry compiles hostage testimonies to submit to UN

By Stuart Winer and Diana Bletter

Final report to be presented to UN committee that deals with torture; health minister says it should be a ‘wake-up call’ to pressure Hamas into releasing remaining captives

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi speaks at a pilots graduation ceremony at the Hatzerim Airbase in southern Israel, December 25, 2024. Israel Defense Forces)

IDF chief Halevi tells military to finish probes into Oct. 7 attack by January’s end

By Emanuel Fabian

Memorial candles line the charred desks in the destroyed command center of Nahal Oz base, February 23, 2024. (Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

After complaints, parents to hear full tape of surveillance soldiers before attack

By Emanuel Fabian

President Isaac Herzog attends an emergency conference on the medical condition of Israeli hostages in the Gaza Strip at the President Residence in Jerusalem, December 10, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Herzog pleads for government to reach Gaza deal, says hostages’ lives in immediate danger

At Hanukkah ceremony, president tells leaders, ‘It’s your job, your responsibility’ to get captives home; Lapid says PM doesn’t want a deal, would fly to Qatar or Cairo if he did

Mia Shalom, mother of IDF soldier Almog Shalom who was killed in battle, lights the first Hanukkah candle on his grave
at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on December 25, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 26: Day 447 – Israel and Hamas offer recriminations, but no deal

By Jessica Steinberg and David Horovitz

Men mourn by the bodies of victims killed in overnight Israeli strike, outside the morgue of Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on December 23, 2024. (Bashar Taleb/AFP)

IDF strike kills five staffers of Islamic Jihad-affiliated TV station in Gaza Strip

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Military says strike in central Gaza’s Nuseirat hit PIJ terror cell; baby dies of hypothermia in humanitarian zone, said to be third within days

Palestinians collect clean drinking water at a desalination plant that now operates round the clock in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, Nov. 14, 2024. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Water desalination quietly returns to Gaza, after work by Israel and PA

By AFP

Palestinians line up for food in Deir Balah, Gaza, on December 25, 2024. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

US-backed monitor takes down report alleging north Gaza famine after envoy’s critique

Flyers urging the release of hostages held by Hamas placed on the seats at a synagogue in Herzliya, September 13, 2024 (Detainee Support Organization)

Police drop probe of 3 arrested for placing hostage flyers at Edelstein’s synagogue

Attorney for women says investigation was closed on the grounds of ‘lack of culpability,’ calls their arrest over incident at Knesset speaker’s synagogue ‘spurious’

Reporter's notebook

While extremists rise, German Jews expect pro-Israel voices to prevail in Feb. election

The local community enjoys wider political support than in most other Western European countries, but hostile voices on the far right and left raise concerns for the future

A supporter hoists a Palestinian flag as Sahra Wagenknecht speaks at a campaign rally in Frankfurt, Germany, May 29, 2024. (Photo by Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir visits the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, on December 26, 2024. (Courtesy Otzma Yehudit)

Ben Gvir says he prayed on Temple Mount, PM quickly claims status quo hasn’t changed

Hamas calls for escalation of violence over national security minister’s visit to holy site, where Jews are banned from praying but lately have done so increasingly openly

Family of slain soldier rages at event honoring researcher he was escorting in Lebanon

Grandfather of fallen soldier Gur Kehati lambastes local brigade commander for ‘shaming’ the IDF by attending memorial event for 71-year-old Zeev Erlich amid military investigation

Assaf Agmon, center, confronts participants of a memorial conference for Zeev Erlich in the West Bank settlement of Shavei Shomron on December 25, 2024. (Courtesy: Samaria Regional Council)

IDF troops operate in southern Lebanon, in a handout photo issued on December 23, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

UN force decries ‘continuing destruction’ by IDF in Lebanon, urges faster withdrawal

By AFP and ToI Staff

Hezbollah weapons and other equipment seized by the IDF during its ground operation in south Lebanon, are displayed for the media at military base in northern Israel on December 24, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

IDF displays thousands of Hezbollah weapons, shares details on pager operation

By Emanuel Fabian

Let there be lights, and let there also be presents

Yes, I am allowed to have a Hanukkah wish list, and, no, it does not include a salad spinner

The festival of judicial independence

Who rules on whether the oil is pure? The rabbinic version of Hanukkah we follow today says it’s not the priest-kings, it’s the court.

Archaeology

Rare oil lamp with Temple menorah found from time when Romans barred Jews from Jerusalem

By Gavriel Fiske

Intricately designed 1,700-year-old artifact was discovered intact near the Mount of Olives, will go on display in Jerusalem

US President Joe Biden speaks during a Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House in Washington, December 16, 2024. (Rod Lamkey, Jr./AP)

‘Capacity for faith is light of the Jewish people’: Biden marks start of Hanukkah

Security forces deploy outside the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of St George during the Christmas morning mass in Syria's western coastal city of Latakia on December 25, 2024. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP)

New Syrian regime declares crackdown in coastal region after 14 policemen killed

Security forces launch operation in Alawite-majority Tartus region, erstwhile stronghold of fallen Assad government, after attack on police blamed on Assad supporters

Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habib arrives to attend an extraordinary Arab foreign ministers meeting at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023, to discuss the ongoing Israel-Hamas war. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Lebanon hopes for neighborly relations in first message to new Syria government

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Major Jewish movies of 2024 included (clockwise from top left) "Between the Temples," "September 5," "A Complete Unknown," "The Brutalist" and "A Real Pain." (Photo illustration: Grace Yagel/70 Faces Media)

'They don't make non-Jewish audiences uncomfortable'

Despite US Jews’ anxiety over antisemitism and Israel, Jewish films are having a moment

By Andrew Lapin

‘The Brutalist,’ ‘A Real Pain’ and ‘A Complete Unknown’ are all on this year’s prominent top-10 lists as they and others are expected to see plenty of attention come Oscar season

This image released by Searchlight Pictures shows Timothée Chalamet in a scene from 'A Complete Unknown.' (Macall Polay/Searchlight Pictures via AP)

Film review

Bob Dylan biopic ‘A Complete Unknown’ is electric in more ways than one

In theaters Friday, film starring Timothée Chalamet is utterly fascinating, captures a moment in time when songs had weight, when they could move the culture

The two winning UNICEF Photo of the Year picks; on the left, Stav, a survivor of the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack, by Avishag Shaar-Yashuv and on the right, Dareen, 11, and her brother, Kinan, five, the only survivors of a family killed by an Israeli airstrike during the war against Hamas in Gaza, by Samar Abu Elouf (Courtesy UNICEF)

Israeli photojournalist shares UNICEF Photo of the Year prize with Palestinian colleague

By Jessica Steinberg

Avishag Shaar-Yashuv, a photographer whose work regularly appears in The New York Times, wins prize for image of Israeli child who survived October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack

Hazel and David Brief hold a photo book made by their son Yona Brief, who died 14 months after Hamas terrorists shot him 13 times on October 7, 2024 in Kfar Aza, at their home in Modi'in, December 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)

A symbol of ‘Don’t quit’: The IDF soldier who died 417 days after being shot 13 times on Oct. 7

By Agencies and ToI Staff

His spirit never waned, say parents of Yona Betzalel Brief, 23, an Israeli-US citizen from Modiin who has come to emblemize sacrifice made by hundreds of fallen Israeli troops

Ezra Cohen with his dreidel collection, whch includes more than 1,000 items (Courtesy)

Interview

Spinning tales: A collector shares dreidel stories from ancient Egypt to October 7

Ezra Cohen has been collecting the spinning tops used on Hanukkah for more than 30 years, and loves discussing their rich history and how they connect cultures

More Headlines

Illustrative. High-tech office buildings in Herzliya Pituach, in central Israel, December 12, 2015. (Nati Shohat/ Flash 90/ File)

Foreign investments in Israel rebound after decline caused by political instability, war

By Sharon Wrobel

Families at Ein Alamein, near Had Nes, Golan Heights, on December 13, 2024. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Locals have conflicting emotions over plan to double Golan Heights population

By AP and ToI Staff

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) and Finance Ministry Director General Shlomi Heisler attend a committee meeting at the Knesset on February 12, 2024 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Finance Ministry director quits, apparently over disagreements with Smotrich

By ToI Staff and Reuters

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives to the courtroom at the District court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, December 18, 2024. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

Judges in Netanyahu trial ask for testimony to move faster as defense dwells on every detail

Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Pierbattista Pizzaballa leads Christmas morning service at the Christmas morning Mass at the Catholic Church of Saint Catherine, in the Nativity Church Complex, in Bethlehem in the West Bank on December 25, 2024. (HAZEM BADER / AFP)

Bethlehem marks second subdued Christmas, amid pall of ongoing war

By AFP and ToI Staff

Illustrative: View of the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital in Jerusalem on August 17, 2021. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Unvaccinated 17-year-old from Jerusalem area contracts polio, condition unspecified

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November	December 2024					January
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2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

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