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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Monday, March 17, 2025

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Left: Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90); Center: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Reuven Kastro/Pool); Right: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara (Oren Ben Hakoon/Pool)

Levin against Baharav-Miara: Government has the authority

Netanyahu says he’ll fire Shin Bet chief Bar; AG says he can’t without legal review

By Lazar Berman, Emanuel Fabian, Sam Sokol and ToI Staff

PM cites ‘ongoing distrust’ in security agency chief, who says expectation of personal loyalty is ‘fundamentally illegitimate’; timing coincides with Shin Bet probe into PM’s aides

L to R: The Democrats chair Yair Golan, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid, and National Unity chair Benny Gantz. (Flash90)

Opposition lawmakers vow ‘resistance,’ legal action against firing of Shin Bet chief

Head of the Shin Bet security service Nadav Argaman attends the Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset on November 6, 2018. (Hadas Parush/ Flash90/ File)

Police to question former Shin Bet chief Argaman for alleged threats against PM

Israelis protest against the government and call for early elections, near the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 18, 2024. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90)

Jon Polin: Ronen Bar showed highest level of integrity

Protest groups plan huge Jerusalem rally against firing of Shin Bet leader

Business chiefs warn PM against ‘destructive’ move to oust Ronen Bar; minister threatens to suspend funds to Tel Aviv school after principal tells students they should join protest

Op-ed

With move to fire Shin Bet chief, Netanyahu aims to tighten his personal control of Israel

The PM will have calculated there will be strong public protest and legal opposition to his ousting of Ronen Bar. To the country’s misfortune and peril, that didn’t give him pause

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, on April 4, 2023. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)

Promoted ArticleATTO

The SHABBATTO: Mobility Meets Halacha

A mobility scooter on Shabbat? Yes, really. With SHABBATTO, independence, halacha, and religious life go hand in hand.

Analysis

In clash over PM’s right to fire Shin Bet chief, a deeper question about responsibility for Oct. 7

AG and Supreme Court will likely want to know why Netanyahu is firing Ronen Bar now – 17 months after the failure to thwart Hamas’s massacre but exactly when the Shin Bet is investigating the PM’s aides

From left to right: Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and Shin Bet security services director Ronen Bar at a special operations room overseeing a mission to release hostages in the Gaza Strip, June 8, 2024. (Shin Bet security service)

Illustrative: Ronen Bar, chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency, attends a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool photo via AP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Mar. 17: Day 528 – What happens to security if the PM fires the Shin Bet head?

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Emanuel Fabian

L to R: Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, February 13, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90); Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the District Court in Tel Aviv, before the start of his testimony in the trial against him, March 12, 2025. (Tomer Appelbaum/POOL); Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

March 17: Vote to fire Shin Bet chief may be held Tuesday, but not finalized

Massive protests planned outside Netanyahu’s office * PM claims AG opened probe of his office’s ties to Qatar to prevent him from firing Ronen Bar, accuses AG of ‘abusing her authority’ by opposing his decision

9:58 pm

Lebanon and Syria agree to ceasefire after two days of border clashes
9:44 pm

Iranian air force says it encountered US spy drone close to Iran's airspace
9:01 pm

Iran accuses US of making 'provocative statements' about Tehran's ties to the Houthis

Demonstrators raise placards and and light flares during a protest calling for action to release the remaining Gaza hostages, outside the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv on March 15, 2025. (Jack Guez/AFP)

After deadlock in Doha hostage talks, Israeli team heads to Cairo in search of results

By Jacob Magid and Lazar Berman

US envoy Witkoff warns Hamas to ‘get sensible,’ agree to deal that would free 5 living hostages; says he discussed the demilitarization of Gaza with Arab leaders in Doha

Exclusive

Embattled US hostage envoy hosts summit for global counterparts in Big Sky, Montana

Attendees, some of whom double-checked event was still on after Boehler withdrew nomination to become presidential envoy, to sign joint statement on collaborating against hostage taking

US presidential envoy for hostage affairs Adam Boehler speaks during a ceremony to raise the Hostage and Wrongful Detainee flag at the State Department, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush in the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Assailants beat Haredi minister’s son, try to snatch his infant grandson

By Charlie Summers and Sam Sokol

Attackers accuse Meir Porush of harming Gur Hasidic rebbe, vow to ‘avenge him’; attack seen as related to inter-party squabbles concerning military enlistment, state budget

This handout image released by US Central Command (CENTCOM) via X (formerly Twitter) on March 15, 2025 shows CENTCOM forces launching an operation against Houthi targets across Yemen. (Photo by US Central Command (CENTCOM) / AFP)

US piles pressure on Yemen’s Houthis with fresh airstrikes

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Iran-backed terror group says Red Sea port city of Hodeidah and Al Jawf governorate north of capital Sanaa targeted; US official says campaign could continue for weeks

This image taken from video provided by the US Navy shows an aircraft launching from the USS Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea before airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, March 15, 2025. (US Navy via AP)

Houthis claim 2 attacks on USS Truman; US strikes said to target seized Israel-linked ship

By Agencies and ToI Staff

An Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter jet takes off for airstrikes against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, December 26, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

Air Force on high alert for resumption of Houthi missile, drone attacks on Israel

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Prof. Dan Peer and research team at Tel Aviv University's Laboratory of Precision Nanomedicine. (Tel Aviv University)

'My dream is that we will replace chemotherapy'

Israeli researchers use gene editing to eliminate 50% of head, neck tumors in mice

By Diana Bletter

Tel Aviv University scientists say they can inject CRISPR genetic ‘molecular scissors’ to shrink tumors by 90%; researcher ‘optimistic’ about clinical trials in 2 to 3 years

Abraham Hamra faces off with a pro-Palestinian protester in New York City. (Courtesy)

Interview

Bucking stereotypes and fighting hatred, a Syrian Jewish ex-refugee lights up Instagram

By Cathryn J. Prince

An immigration lawyer by day, New Yorker Abraham Hamra has gained over 59,000 followers using his fluent Hebrew and Arabic to bridge gaps with adversaries and counter misinformation

Syrian soldier killed by Hezbollah rocket; 3 dead as Syrian troops shell Lebanon village

By Nurit Yohanan and Emanuel Fabian

3 Syrian troops killed in Lebanon; Damascus accuses Hezbollah of seizing, killing them

By AFP and ToI Staff

Why is the US, not Israel, leading negotiations to free my son?

I should not have to fly all over the world to ensure that those working to free Itay hear the hostage families’ position directly

Dismissal of the Shin Bet head: The red flags could not be bigger

With investigations of the government now underway, the attempt to dismiss Ronen Bar is, on its face, marred by conflict of interest

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer gives a television interview at the Capitol in Washington, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

US Jews think Oct. 7 ‘could happen here’: 10 quotes from Chuck Schumer’s NYT interview

Published just before his book ‘Antisemitism in America: A Warning’ hits shelves, wide-ranging discussion includes concerns on how the Hamas atrocities indelibly affected US Jewry

Yarden, Shiri, Ariel and Kfir Bibas. (Courtesy)

Family of Yarden Bibas fundraises to help him heal, memorialize Shiri and the boys

Released hostage, whose wife and young sons were murdered in captivity, has shown tremendous strength, but has a ‘long, complex and painful journey’ ahead, says his father

Illustrative: Violent clashes at the University of Amsterdam campus at Binnengasthuisterrein, May 8, 2024. (Bart Schut)

Critics say violent anti-Israel protests led U of Amsterdam to cut ties with Hebrew U

Advisory committee affirms May 2024 decision by UvA President Verbeek, who negotiated with masked rioters that demanded school divest from Israeli institutions

Poet and doctor Owen Lewis felt his latest poetry book 'barrel out of him' after the atrocities of October 7 (Courtesy Columbia News)

Columbia med school professor and poet reflects on October 7 grief

By Jessica Steinberg

In ‘A Prayer of Six Wings,’ psychiatrist Owen Lewis grapples with the traumas of the Hamas atrocities

Passengers at the Duty Free in the Ben Gurion International airport near Tel Aviv on January 26, 2024. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Airlines flock back to Israel with resumed services in coming month

1st United Airlines flight arrives from New York; British Airways, Ryanair, Delta, Iberia, Air Baltic carriers set to restore operations, with others to follow later in the year

More Headlines

Illustrative: A police car in Jerusalem on June 8, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Man shot dead in his bed in northern Bedouin town

Soccer referee Sapir Berman at an Israeli Premier League match between Beitar Jerusalem and FC Ashdod at the Teddy Stadium in Jerusalem on January 8, 2024. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)

Israeli readies to be first transgender referee to officiate international soccer match

By AFP

Russian President Vladimir Putin (left), in Moscow, February 17, 2025, and US President Donald Trump in Palm Beach, Florida, February 18, 2025. (Composite image: Pool via AP)

Trump says he’ll speak with Putin Tuesday to discuss ending Ukraine war

US Rep. Nita Lowey in the Capitol, October 16, 2019. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images via JTA)

ObituaryNita Lowey, longtime Jewish US congresswoman and Mideast peace advocate, dies at 87

By PHILISSA CRAMER and Ron Kampeas

People hold signs as they protest the arrest of former Columbia University anti-Israel student activist Mahmoud Khalil during a 'Fight for Our Rights' demonstration at the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington, March 15, 2025. (Jason Redmond/AFP)

Rights group challenges legality of Trump deportations of anti-Israel activists

By Reuters and ToI Staff

A lion cub (left) and a monkey rescued by police in operations in Kfar Qasim and Lod, March 15, 2025. (Israel Police)

Smugglers using drones to spirit lion cubs and monkeys into Israel, police say

By Charlie Summers

Iran's then-Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency Kazem Gharibabadi waits for the start of the IAEA board of governors meeting at the International Center in Vienna, Austria, November 21, 2019. (AP/Ronald Zak)

Iran says official to meet UN nuke chief, will respond to Trump letter after ‘scrutiny’

Then-Col. Erez Winner in the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, June 4, 2012. (Uri Lenz/ Flash90)

IDF general said to lose highly classified military documents in parking lot

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February	March 2025					April
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3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
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