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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Friday, May 2, 2025

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A man walks past a partially burnt building following sectarian clashes in Ashrafiyat Sahnaya near Damascus, Syria, May 1, 2025. (Omar Haj Kadour/AFP)

5 Syrian Druze wounded in clashes evacuated to Israel

Israel strikes targets near Damascus presidential palace in ‘message to Syrian regime’

By Nurit Yohanan and Emanuel Fabian

Regime slams ‘dangerous escalation’; Syrian Druze agree to hand over unlicensed weapons to new government; airstrikes come after Israeli Druze blocked roads to protest government’s inaction

A protester stands atop a car waving the Druze flag during a demonstration in northern Israel calling for the government to help the Druze community in Syria amid sectarian violence, May 1, 2025. (Screenshot, X: Used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Druze protesters take to the streets, demand Israel step in to aid community in Syria

Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar attends a conference organized by the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on March 27, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Sa’ar: World must intervene in Syria to defend Druze from regime’s ‘terrorist gangs’

By ToI Staff and AFP

Rachel Goldberg-Polin speaks at the President's Independence Day reception for foreign diplomats in Israel, May 1, 2025 (Screenshot/GPO)

'It may be the most godly thing you do in your lives'

In raw speech, Rachel Goldberg-Polin tells foreign envoys they can get hostages freed

By Lazar Berman

As president and FM listen, mother of slain captive Hersh Goldberg-Polin reveals new details of his captivity and murder, says he was found with his face resting on the face of Eden Yerushalmi, ‘a girl named after paradise’

US President Donald Trump speaks during a National Day of Prayer event in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, May 1, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Trump: Fewer than 24 hostages are alive; we don’t know how Edan Alexander is doing

Britain's King Charles III (left) shakes hands with President Isaac Herzog on the sidelines of the COP28 summit in Dubai, December 1, 2023. (Courtesy)

UK’s Charles laments ‘immense pain and suffering’ of Gaza hostages in letter to Herzog

A Maltese tugboat helps put out a fire onboard the vessel Conscience, sparked by what the ship's operators, the Freedon Flotilla Coalition, said was an Israeli drone strike, in international waters near Malta in the Mediterranean Sea, early May 2, 2025. (Government of Malta)

Flotilla carrying pro-Gaza activists struck by drone near Malta, group says

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Freedom Flotilla Coalition blames Israel, though origin of strike unclear; Malta says all on board are safe and refusing to leave vessel; activists reportedly tied to Hamas

Gal Gadot poses with her new star at a ceremony honoring her on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on March 18, 2025, in Los Angeles. (Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Pro-Palestinian protesters disrupt Gal Gadot film set in London

From our sponsor

Your WZC vote matters, and this is why.

Our leaders are urging you to vote OIC-Mizrachi, Slate #5 by May 4th to ensure support for lone soldiers, Torah education, and youth programs. Every vote counts.

‘JCPOA 2’: New US-Iran nuke deal said shaping up as largely similar to one Trump ended

By Samia Nakhoul, Humeyra Pamuk and Parisa Hafezi

Agreement being negotiated ‘preserves the core’ of 2015 deal, sources say; may impose constraints on uranium enrichment but not dismantle nuclear facilities or address Iran’s ballistic missiles

Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (L) meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome before nuclear talks, on April 19, 2025. (Handout / ITALIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY / AFP)

US President Donald Trump, left, greets Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, April 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP/Evan Vucci)

AnalysisHow Trump thwarted Netanyahu’s plans to confront a would-be nuclear Iran

By Tia Goldberg

Women walk near a building bearing an anti-US mural with the slogan "Down with the USA" and skulls replacing the stars on the US flag, on Tehran's Karim Khan Zand avenue on April 26, 2025. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)

US-Iran nuclear talks postponed, Iran says next round ‘depends on US approach’

By Reuters and ToI Staff

L: US President Donald Trump, January 23, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt / AFP), R: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, December 3, 2024. (Saudi Ministry of Media / AFP)

Live updates (closed)

May 2: US State Department approves possible sale of air defense missiles to Saudi Arabia

By Michael Bachner and ToI Staff

Netanyahu’s office hits out at ‘baseless’ reports that Israel rejected Egyptian truce offer * IDF says 5 more Syrian Druze evacuated to Safed hospital

10:43 pm

US judge strikes down Trump order against law firm Perkins Coie
8:51 pm

Syria reports Israeli strike targeting Hama countryside
8:47 pm

US State Department approves possible sale of air defense missiles to Saudi Arabia

Inside story

Emanuel Fabian and Jacob Magid

IDF planning major shift in Gaza aid delivery in bid to thwart Hamas diversion

Army recommending that aid again be let into Strip to prevent possible starvation, but Arab official briefed on plan concerned about chance for success, humanitarian implications

Trucks carrying humanitarian aid enter the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, February 12, 2025. (AP/Abdel Kareem Hana)

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir attends a ceremony marking Memorial Day for Israel's fallen soldiers and victims of terror, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, on April 29, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

IDF says chief war goal is return of hostages, contradicting Netanyahu’s position

By Emanuel Fabian

Destroying Hamas’s rule in Gaza is second on military’s list of priorities, official says, after premier describes ‘victory’ over terror group as supreme goal

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the annual Bible Contest in Jerusalem on May 1, 2025. (Screenshot/Ynet)

Netanyahu: Return of hostages important, but war’s ‘supreme goal’ is victory over enemies

White House National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, left, listens as US President Donald Trump speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, March 7, 2025. (Pool via AP)

Trump removes Mike Waltz as national security adviser, makes him new UN ambassador

By Reuters, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid

Excuse me if I don’t applaud Harvard’s antisemitism report

Missing amidst the self-congratulation is a sincere statement recognizing the Jew-hatred on campus and a plan of action to eradicate it

Yohanan Plesner

Israelis are united. When will our leadership follow suit?

Consensus is strong on a slew of security, governance and domestic issues – but politicians are sticking to their divisive tactics

Former hostage Mia Schem attends a press conference ahead of a concert in memory of the victims murdered at the Nova festival by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, in Tel Aviv, March 11, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Ex-hostage Mia Schem alleges she was raped by well-known personal trainer

23-year-old released in first deal says Tel Aviv coach, whose name is under gag order, drugged and raped her in March; suspect insists he’s innocent

Lebanese president Joseph Aoun, center foreground, and Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, right, head a cabinet meeting at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Thursday, April 17, 2025. The Arabic on the screen reads, "Summary of the situation and security measures taken." (Lebanese Presidency press office via AP)

Lebanese government warns Hamas not to conduct operations from its territory

By Reuters and Nurit Yohanan

Lebanon army said to seize 800 rockets from Palestinian refugee camp in country’s north amid efforts to disarm non-state actors

Illustrative: This picture taken from Kibbutz Malkia along the border with southern Lebanon, shows smoke billowing above the Lebanese village of Mays al-Jabal during Israeli strikes on May 5, 2024. (Jalaa MAREY / AFP)

IDF strikes in southern Lebanon kill two Hezbollah operatives

By Emanuel Fabian and Agencies

Sgt. Niv Dayag, who was killed in a military-related car crash in the Golan Heights on May 1, 2025. (Courtesy)

IDF soldier killed in car crash during military activity in Golan Heights

By Emanuel Fabian

Tessa Veksler celebrates her graduation from the University of California, Santa Barbara, June 16, 2024. (Courtesy)

'I didn’t want to just survive this. I wanted to thrive'

How a Jewish-American student leader faced down hate to become a global influencer

By Katja Ridderbusch

As anti-Israel protests peaked last year, Tessa Veksler beat a recall vote as UC Santa Barbara student body president. She now features in the top-grossing documentary ‘October 8’

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo)

Trump says he’ll strip Harvard of tax exempt status in latest salvo against school

‘It’s what they deserve,’ president writes in brief social media post amid Ivy League school’s lawsuit against the administration after it froze $2.2 billion in funding

Illustrative: Smoke trails, apparently from the interception of a Houthi missile fired from Yemen, are seen high above Jerusalem, May 2, 2025. (Times of Israel)

Houthis fire two missiles at Israel, triggering sirens in Haifa and across north

By Emanuel Fabian

Both projectiles from Yemen downed, military says; slight damage caused to kindergarten by falling debris

US President Donald Trump waves as he walks from the Oval Office to depart on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, May 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump threatens sanctions against countries purchasing Iranian oil, petrochemicals

By Reuters and ToI Staff

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, shakes hands with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, before their meeting in Tehran, Iran, on February 25, 2019. (SANA via AP)

Document shows Iran had imperial plans in Syria that were foiled by Assad’s collapse

By John DAVISON, Allison Martell and Reade Levinson

ToI podcast

Amanda Borschel-Dan and Lazar Berman

Friday Focus with Lazar Berman: Genesis of Israel’s hostage policy

ToI’s diplomatic reporter delves into Israel’s long history of hostage release negotiations and how the price per captive has become increasingly inflated over the decades

View of Beit Shemesh on February 8, 2021. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90)

Inside Story

In Beit Shemesh, neighborhood after neighborhood turns Haredi, squeezing out others

Residents of the Neve Shamir neighborhood are up in arms over plans to turn what was initially intended to be a mixed community into an ultra-Orthodox one

Housing snapshot: Home sales and rentals across Israel in April 2025

The the damage caused from a massive wildfire in Latrun, May 1, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

20,000 acres burned, including 70% of Canada Park, JNF says

Jerusalem hills wildfires under control after nearly 30 hours; no major injuries

PM blames conflagration on Palestinian incitement, but fire officials said to attribute fire to hiker negligence; president warns of climate change’s effects

People celebrate Israel's 77th Independence Day at Sacher Park in Jerusalem, May 1, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Israelis mark muted Independence Day amid ongoing fires

FILE: With the Dome of the Rock on the right, an Israeli man covered in a flag watches Israelis wave the national flag as they march in the Jerusalem Day parade in Jerusalem's Old City, June 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Interview

Jewish state or state of the Jews? How Israel’s independence sparked an identity conflict

By Rich Tenorio

In his book ‘To Be a Jewish State,’ Oxford professor Yaacov Yadgar raises provocative questions in the context of the old-new arguments about national and religious identity

More Headlines

Hashem Younis Hashem Hnaihen (Orange County Sheriff's Office)

Jordanian sentenced to six years in US prison for anti-Israel attacks

By Reuters and ToI Staff

Illustrative photo of students on the first day of school, at the Gabrieli Carmel School in Tel Aviv, on September 1, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Teachers to strike Sunday morning in protest of surprise cuts to salaries

CEO 5W Public Relations Ronn Torossian speaks during 5WPR 15th Anniversary Event at Catch Rooftop on June 14, 2017 in New York City. In 2024 Torossian relaunched the Zionist group Betar in the United States. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for DuJour)

After spat with firebrand Shai Davidai, Betar USA founder banned from Zionist Congress

By JTA and ToI Staff

US. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan sits on a panel at the 2024 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference in Sacramento, California, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)

Jewish US justice ponders publicly funded yeshivas in case of religious charter school

By Asaf Elia-Shalev

Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann stands in a protective glass booth flanked by Israeli police during his trial June 22, 1961, in Jerusalem. (Photo by GPO)

Argentina declassifies over 1,800 files on Nazi ‘ratline’ escape routes after WWII

By Grace Gilson

Alexander Smirnov, second from right, leaves a courthouse in Las Vegas, Nevada, February 20, 2024, in Las Vegas (Bizuayehu Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

Israeli ex-FBI source who made up Biden bribery story will stay in jail, judge rules

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