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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, February 21, 2025

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Shiri, Kfir and Ariel Bibas (Hostages Families Forum)

Live updates (closed)

Feb. 21: Families of hostages ask for loved ones’ coffins to lie in state outside Knesset

Police bring remains to forensic institute to be ID’d, day after Hamas sent body it said was Shiri Bibas but was a Gazan woman * Trump: ‘I really am’ fine with any decision Israel makes — continue truce or resume war

10:01 pm

Red Cross handover to IDF of body, allegedly of Shiri Bibas, expected soon
9:37 pm

Accused of Nazi salute at CPAC, Steve Bannon says it was just a wave
9:22 pm

Man convicted of attempted murder of Salman Rushdie, says 'Free Palestine' as he leaves court

Shiri, Ariel, and Kfir Bibas (Courtesy)

Army: Bibas brothers were 'brutally murdered' in captivity

Remains ID’d of Oded Lifshitz, Ariel and Kfir Bibas, but other body is not the boys’ mom Shiri

By Lazar Berman, Emanuel Fabian, Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff

IDF says forensic experts can find no match for fourth body handed over by Hamas, slams terror group for ‘very serious violation’ of hostage-ceasefire deal

This combination of pictures created on February 20, 2025 shows posters bearing the portraits of Israeli hostages Shiri Bibas (C) and her two children Ariel (L) and Kfir (R), held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, set up on a square outside the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, on January 21, 2025 (AFP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Feb. 21: Day 504 – Where is Shiri Bibas?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Lazar Berman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu holds up a photo of Ariel and Kfir Bibas in a video message, February 21, 2025. (Screenshot/GPO)

Israel demands UN condemn 'heinous crime'

PM slams Hamas’s ‘unspeakable cynicism,’ as body it sent proves not to be of Shira Bibas

By ToI Staff, Lazar Berman and Agencies

Lawmakers fume after terror group sends body of unknown Gazan woman in her place; Kibbutz Nir Oz eulogizes young Bibas brothers Ariel and Kfir after bodies returned to Israel

Top row, from left: Omer Shem Tov, Tal Shoham, Eliya Cohen. Bottom row, from left: Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed, Omer Wenkert (Courtesy)

These are the six living hostages released Saturday

US President Donald Trump welcomes Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the White House, July 9, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Promoted podcastJPPI Podcast

Qatar’s Diplomatic Game

Yigal Carmon, founder and president of MEMRI, breaks down the complexities of Qatar’s diplomatic game, from hosting world-class sports events to funding Hamas.

A man in northern Israel holds a sign portraying Shiri Silberstein Bibas, whose body Hamas falsely claimed to have released, and her sons, Ariel, 4, and baby Kfir, whose remains were in fact handed over, on February 20, 2025. His sign reads 'The Bibas family: We will not forgive and we will not forget!' (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

US threatens ‘annihilation’ after Hamas returns bodies of Bibas boys without their mother

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Argentina declares 2 days of mourning as terror group returns bodies of dual-citizens Ariel, 4, and baby Kfir, along with body that Hamas falsely claimed was mother Shiri Bibas

Security forces probe a bus targeted by an explosive device, in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

2 Jewish Israelis, Palestinian said arrested in connection with botched bus bombings

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

IDF says it’s bolstering West Bank presence with 3 battalions after apparent attempt at large-scale terror attack thought to have originated there; Katz: bombs ‘will not deter us’

A bus goes up in flames after an explosion at a parking lot in Bat Yam, February 20, 2025. (Screenshot)

3 buses explode in Bat Yam, Holon in suspected strategically planned terror attack

By ToI Staff and Emanuel Fabian

Oded Lifshitz, hostage slain by Islamic Jihad, was journalist and peace activist

By AFP and ToI Staff

Lifshitz, among Nir Oz’s founders, defended expelled Bedouins, reported on infamous massacres of Palestinians by Israel-backed militias, and drove sick Gazans to Israeli hospitals

Oded (right) and Yocheved Lifshitz, in a cactus garden they planted outside their home, before October 7, 2023 (Amiram Oren)

Palestinian terrorists carry to the Red Cross one of four coffins said to hold a body of a slain Israeli hostage, in the southern Gaza Strip's Khan Younis, February 20, 2025. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

UN human rights chief: Hamas ‘parading’ of hostages’ bodies is ‘abhorrent and cruel’

By Agencies and ToI Staff

US envoy: Phase 2 is 'more difficult' but success possible

Dermer in US to meet Witkoff on ‘difficult’ phase two of hostage-ceasefire deal

By Lazar Berman, Jacob Magid and Agencies

Hamas accuses Israel of procrastinating over second stage talks; VP Vance says Trump will ‘fight every single day’ to bring hostages home, noting that ‘we’ve still got work to do’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (C) meets with US special envoy Steve Witkoff (3rd R) and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz (3rd L) , accompanied by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer (2nd R), National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi (2nd L), Ambassador to the US Yechiel Leiter (R), and Chief of Staff Tzachi Braverman (L) and military secretary Roman Gofman (bottom C) in Washington on February 4, 2025. (Avi Ohayon/GPO)

Palestinians walk past tents lining the streets amid the rubble of destroyed buildings in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, February 18, 2025. (Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP)

Arab leaders gather in Saudi Arabia to hash out alternative to Trump’s plan for Gaza

By AFP and ToI Staff

Kenneth Brander

Our place in this land

We Jews must reflect on our actions, not to blame ourselves for the tragedies perpetrated by others, but to emerge from them with greater strength (Mishpatim)

David Ben Moshe

How far is a marathon?

If Yarden Bibas, why not me? I find myself imagining what I can’t, and instead admire the family’s very Jewish hope against hope and very Israeli belief in the impossible

Head of the Nachala settlements advocacy organization Daniella Weiss stands by a sign declaring "Gaza is ours forever," in the southern city of Sderot, December 26, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

Ultranationalist demo for expulsion of Gazans, building settlements, set for next week

By Jeremy Sharon

Demonstration labeled ‘Occupation, expulsion and settlement’ seeks to rally support against phase two of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, halt IDF withdrawals from Gaza

Brothers Eitan (left), Iair and Amos Horn, before Iair and Eitan were taken hostage on October 7, 2023. (Courtesy Horn family)

Ex-hostage Iair Horn begs Trump to bring home ‘seriously ill’ brother Eitan

Thanking US president for ‘decisive action’ that led to his release, Horn recounts being ‘starved, abused’ by captors, reveals he was held with Eitan after they were reunited inside Gaza

Newly-released hostage Iair Horn (center) reunites with relatives at Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center on February 15, 2025. (Ma'ayon Toaf / GPO)

With his brother still captive, freed hostage Iair Horn sent home from hospital

By Diana Bletter and ToI Staff

Vicky and Eilam Sher on their wedding day in 2020. They held a private ceremony not recognized by the State of Israel. (Courtesy)

Avoiding the Rabbinate, 3,000 Israeli couples married last year in Utah’s ‘Zoom weddings’

By Rossella Tercatin

New report by group promoting religious freedom says 67% of Israeli public supports recognizing all types of marriages in Israel, including civil, Reform and Conservative

October 7 changed Israel forever. But the ultra-Orthodox? Not so much, report suggests

By Rossella Tercatin

Israel Democracy Institute’s study indicates that Haredi solidarity with the rest of society was transient

Ultra-Orthodox extremists opposed to the draft protest and clash with police outside a conference honoring Haredi soldiers, in Jerusalem, January 28, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Pastor Sam Rodriguez (L) and Bishop Robert Stearns (R) in Jerusalem, February 2025 (Courtesy Eagles' Wings)

Interview'This is where the Latino evangelical church rises up'

Leading Hispanic pastor seeks to build firewall against declining Israel support

By Lazar Berman

In partnership with Eagles’ Wings, Sam Rodriguez – adviser to Bush, Obama, and Trump – sees young clergy as key to countering pro-Palestinian trends in Latino community

ToI podcast

Friday Focus: After 3 years of Ukraine war, should anyone care?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Lazar Berman

Three years since its launch, the conflict between Ukraine and Russia appears to be winding down – if US President Donald Trump has his way. Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman weighs in

President Donald Trump meets with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Trump Tower, September 27, 2024, in New York. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

German Jews express alarm after JD Vance helps boost far-right party before election

By Toby Axelrod

Head of Jewish federation warns ‘Jewish life in Germany would be in danger’ if AfD comes to power, as ‘Holocaust deniers and antisemites feel at home’ in the party

An election poster showing AfD top candidate for chancellor Alice Weidel is fixed on a lamp pole in Frankfurt, Germany, February 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

21-year-old Muhammad Odeh, from Jaljulia, an Israeli citizen who has been held in Palestinian Authority detention since September 17, 2024. (Courtesy of Abdallah Odeh)

Israeli citizen detained for months by Palestinian police, in breach of Oslo Accords

By Charlie Summers

Lawyers for 21-year-old Muhammad Odeh say ongoing detention in Nablus ‘puts his life at risk’ as PA holds him without trial; Israeli authorities unresponsive

More Headlines

Kash Patel, US President Donald Trump's choice to be director of the FBI, arrives for his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 30, 2025. (AP/Ben Curtis, File)

Fierce Trump loyalist Kash Patel confirmed 51-49 as FBI director by Senate

New York City Mayor Eric Adams departs court, February 19, 2025, in New York. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

NYC Mayor Adams defends comparing calls for his resignation to Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’

By JTA and ToI Staff

Illustrative. A grocery shopper in the northern town of Katzrin, in the Golan Heights, on July 1, 2022. (Michael Giladi/Flash90)

Israel launches campaign to fine retail chains failing to display prices on products

By Sharon Wrobel

In this undated photo, malnourished children eat nutritious meals at the Africa 3030 compound in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. (Courtesy)

Rebel offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo clouds future for Israeli NGO

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald reacts after arriving at the count at the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

Irish politicians to boycott annual White House visit over Trump’s Gaza plan

By AFP, Lazar Berman and ToI Staff

Ishaq Nissan, a Syriac Orthodox Christian, rings the church bell in the northeastern Syrian village of Tel Tal, currently controlled by the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, January 27, 2025. (AP/Bernat Armangue)

Syria’s Christians mark 10 years since deadly ISIS attack amid worry for their future

By BASSEM MROUE

French policemen escort Georges Ibrahim Abdallah (C), a Lebanese terrorist sentenced to life in prison for the murder of two diplomats, one American and the other Israeli, as Abdallah leaves Pau's Courthouse, southwestern France, on February 18, 2010. (Jean-Louis Duzert / AFP)

French court postpones decision on freeing Lebanese terrorist who killed diplomats

By AFP

US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber as Congress returns for the lame-duck session at the Capitol in Washington, November 12, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

US Sen. Mitch McConnell won’t seek reelection, ending long term as Republican leader

By bruce schreiner

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