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The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Sunday, October 18, 2026

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Democrats party chair Yair Golan (right) and MK Gilad Kariv (left) visit photojournalist Heidi Levine, who was attacked in the West Bank on October 16, in the hospital on October 18, 2026.

Journalist groups demand IDF ensure safety

No arrests announced, 2 days after settlers’ assault on Washington Post photojournalist Levine

By Jeremy Sharon and ToI Staff

Rubio: Trump is not ‘a supporter of what he’s seeing now on television,’ says US has asked Israel to ‘crack down’ on extremist settler violence; relatives say Levine, who has lived in Israel since the 1980s, has covered war zones for decades and never faced such an attack

Washington Post photographer Heidi Levine at Beilinson Hospital, in Petah Tikva, October 17, 2026. (Channel 12 news screenshot)

Washington Post photojournalist beaten by settlers slams Netanyahu after surgery on nearly detached finger

By ToI Staff and Agencies

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a reception marking the opening of the Colombian Embassy in Jerusalem, held at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem, October 14, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Amid outrage, Netanyahu claims no ‘compelling evidence’ settlers attacked European diplomats

By Lazar Berman, Nurit Yohanan, ToI Staff and Agencies

Left: Right-wing media personality Yinon Magal attends a hearing at the Supreme Court in Jerusalem on May 9, 2025. Right: Gadi Eisenkot, leader of the Yashar party and a former IDF chief of staff, speaks during an election campaign rally in Nordiya, August 31, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90, Gili Yaari/Flash90)

Eisenkot: Problem isn't Magal, but the man behind him

Pro-Netanyahu pundit calls Sephardic Eisenkot a ‘monkey;’ critics decry it as a racist slur

Yashar party likens remark to infamous 1981 ‘chah’chahim’ speech that insulted Likud voters; Yinon Magal says he used the term to mean a puppet controlled by others, not as racist jab

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud party chairman, visits supporters in the northern city of Haifa, ahead of the upcoming election, October 14, 2026. (Sharon Leibel/Flash90)

Netanyahu condemns ‘monkey’ slur against Eisenkot, claims Likud members face worse

By Stav Levaton and ToI Staff

Exclusive

Ex-Likud official warns party app could be used to illegally monitor polling stations

In a sworn affidavit to the High Court, a former campaign tech chief claims the ruling party’s new app can bypass the law and secretly transmit voter data in real time using AI

Illustrative: Israelis cast their votes at a voting station in Safed, during the Knesset election, on November 1, 2022. (David Cohen/Flash90)

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Inside story

Arab states see hawks ruling Israel no matter who wins vote, but still sense room for change

Observers tell ToI that even if new leadership leaves security doctrine and opposition to two-state solution in place, shifts in approach to Palestinians and regional diplomacy could change tenor of ties

After meeting for the Negev Summit, Bahrain's Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani, left, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Israel's Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita, and United Arab Emirates' Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, pose for a photograph Monday, March 28, 2022, in Sde Boker, Israel. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir speaks during an election conference at Tel Aviv University, October 18, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/ Flash90)

Live updates (closed)

Oct. 18: Former chief rabbi Yitzhak Yosef forbids followers from voting for Ben Gvir

Austrian Air flight from TLV to Vienna makes emergency landing due to suspected security threat * Boy reportedly shot dead by IDF in northern Gaza, 2nd child said killed today

8:46 pm

Opposition source reportedly says Trump endorsement of PM was compensation after he refused to attack Iran
8:27 pm

Lufthansa group: Austrian Air flight that made emergency landing undergoing security checks
8:05 pm

'Choose Bibi, not the monkey': Channel 14 panelist repeats slur targeting Eisenkot

A woman walks beneath a sign that reads in Arabic “Jewish Quarter,” in the old city of Sidon, southern Lebanon, September 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Lebanon’s Jews recall a lost era of the community as new talks with Israel stir hope

By BASSEM MROUE

‘We’ve lost a world’: Former residents remember peaceful childhoods and civil-war trauma; only some 20 Jews are believed to remain from a once-vibrant community

South Lebanon village braces for UNIFIL exit after decades of peacekeeper presence

Lebanon seeks international presence in south from French FM as peace keeper exit nears

By Agencies and ToI Staff

'We must oust Bibi'

Bennett, Liberman lay out plans to pass laws against Netanyahu immediately after election

By ToI Staff and Ariela Karmel

Hawkish opposition chiefs say they’ll replace Knesset speaker, pass term limits for PM, ban criminal defendants from serving in role; Netanyahu urges high turnout among his backers

Left: Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman speaks in Glilot, central Israel, on October 13, 2026. Right: B'Yachad party chairman Naftali Bennett speaks in Tel Aviv, October 16, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)

A classroom ready for first day of school at Paula Ben Gurion elementary school in Jerusalem on September 1, 2026. (Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

Cabinet okays NIS 2.6 billion in across-the-board ministry budget cuts to fund defense

By Ariela Karmel

Workers prepare ballot boxes for the upcoming election at the Central Elections Committee warehouse in Shoham, ahead of their distribution to polling stations across the country, October 14, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Explainer

2026 Israeli elections: What you need to know

38 parties are competing for 120 seats in the Knesset; only about 11 of them are expected to enter parliament, and then one candidate needs to pull together a viable coalition

News editor Ben Sales appears on the Daily Briefing with host Jessica Steinberg (Flash 90)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing Oct. 18: With election days away, polls still can’t predict a winner

By Jessica Steinberg and Ben Sales

A stun grenade appears to explode next to ultra-Orthodox demonstrators during clashes with police officers and civilians as they blocked Route 4 during a protest against the jailing of yeshiva students who failed to comply with an army recruitment order, at the Yavne Interchange, October 18, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Ultra-Orthodox block main highway in rush hour protest over draft dodgers’ arrest

By Noam Lehmann

Demonstrators choke off Route 4 for two hours during peak traffic, scuffle with drivers, until police use stun grenades, force to clear them away; no injuries or arrests reported

Forget the propaganda: Small parties don’t burn votes

When voters decide in advance to spurn new parties, they surrender the one tool they have to tell Israel’s leaders what they believe

A person should own the algorithm: Watching ‘The Social Reckoning’ with my son

My 8th grader joined social media to fight antisemitism. When we saw the new film about Facebook, I discovered he understands something Mark Zuckerberg has forgotten

Susannah Schild

The worst deal I make every year for the oldest harvest in the land

After last year’s poor olive yield, we were somehow certain this year would be plentiful. And so we hunted (and hunted) for the best trees for our oil

18 not-so-serious questions about the meaning of life in Israel

After 15 months here, I still need to learn many things, like whether the parakeets on my street are indigenous to Israel or colonizers – and does anyone like amba?

Arab Israelis cast their vote at a voting station in Tayibe, during the Knesset election on November 1, 2022. (Jamal Awad/Flash90)

Desperate for change, Israel’s Arab minority sees election as existential

By Hiba Aslan

Disturbed by policies of right-wing government and its extremist ministers, many say they will vote for the first time on October 27 to defeat perceived growing threat

Fire burns and destroys the city hall after a group of individuals forced entry into the building during ongoing protest action against cost of living, in Limoges, central France, on October 17, 2026. (Melaine PAYZAL/AFP)

Protests also erupt in Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Albania

Mass protests in France spiral into worst riots in years; 1,200 arrested, 150 cops injured

By Janis Laizans, Stamos Prousalis and Yann Tessier

Hundreds of thousands protest cost of living; city hall torched as police use tear gas; teen protester loses hand after picking up stun grenade; PM blames ‘ultra-left,’ months before presidential election

French gendarmes stand among rubbles and damages at the Hotel de Nesmond, the state’s official residence in Gironde, in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on October 18, 2026 a day after the building became a target of rioters during a nationwide protests against the “high cost of living." (Philippe Lopez/AFP)

‘Like we had a war’: France reels at cost of violent protests

By AFP

Protesters, including pro-Palestinians, clash with police during a demonstration against the rising cost of living and in support of better living conditions, on October 17, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Stringer/Anadolu via Reuters)

Rioters loot stores in Milan during cost-of-living protest featuring Palestinian symbols

Iranian defense minister Mehrdad Akhlaghi delivers a statement following a vote in the Iranian parliament approving his appointment, on October 18, 2026. (Screenshot: X, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Iran’s new defense chief warns US of ‘enormous damage’ if attacks resume

By AFP

Mehrdad Akhlaghi wins parliament’s backing, 8 months after predecessor was killed in opening US-Israeli strikes; UN sanctioned him in 2007 over alleged nuclear, missile activity

Naava Shafner in Jerusalem, 2026 (Yitzchak Ledee)

'The Jewish world’s greatest asset is its connections'

Peoples of Israel: Naava Shafner, the social entrepreneur ‘unicorn’

By Sarah Tuttle-Singer

On this week’s installment, we meet a social changemaker who refuses to choose between the different parts of who she is while making a difference in the world

An undated photo of Captain Smit Machchhar, captain of a flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv that suffered a terrorist attack mid-air, with the copilot subdued after stabbing Machchhar, in an alleged attempt to crash the plane full of Israelis, September 30, 2026. (Danny Danon via X)

Flydubai captain recalls struggle to open cockpit door during attempted terror attack

By AFP

Indian pilot Smit Machchhar says he kept thinking to himself, ‘you can’t die like this,’ as he struggled to alert others that he was being attacked with an axe by his Omani copilot

Palestinians inspect the wreckage of a car after it was destroyed in Israeli strike at the Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City on October 13, 2026. (Omar AL-QATTAA/AFP)

IDF says it killed 4 Hamas operatives, including Oct. 7 terrorist, in latest Gaza strikes

By Emanuel Fabian

Army says terror operatives targeted in past few days include a Hamas sniper, Nukhba commander and another ‘involved in advancing attacks on troops’

Sarah Helm gives a virtual talk called "Toppling Balfour" in July 2020. (YouTube screenshot)

Pro-Palestine Action post by wife of aide to British PM doesn’t warrant probe — cops

By Agencies and ToI Staff

More Headlines

Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi speaks during a joint press conference with his Indonesian counterpart Prabowo Subianto following their meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, October 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

At Sissi’s urging, Egypt parliament to deliberate defending Saudis from Houthi attacks

An Israeli Premier League soccer match between Hapoel Tel Aviv and Ironi Tiberias at Bloomfield Stadium in Tel Aviv, October 17, 2026. (Danny Maron/Flash90)

Four Israeli soccer team officials arrested on suspicion of ‘systematic’ fraud

By Noam Lehmann

A grab taken on October 16, 2026 from a live feed released by Tesla shows the company unveiling on October 15 its next-generation Roadster electric car in McGregor, Texas, United States. (Tesla/AFP)

Not a bird or a planeTesla unveils new ‘flying’ car, but consumer rollout likely still years away

By AP

Nevada congressional candidate Marty O’Donnell speaks before President Donald Trump at a campaign rally at the Laughlin Bullhead International Airport, October 14, 2026, in Bullhead City, Arizona. (AP Photo/John Locher)

‘Marty Army’: Online forum run by Nevada GOP House candidate is filled with Nazi-talk, slurs

By WISDOM HOWELL and BRIAN SLODYSKO

Mount Scopus campus of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

Hebrew U to rename Mt. Scopus campus for John Paulson after record $250m donation

Emergency crews and military personnel are seen at the Wainwright Health Centre as injured military members are treated after a fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, outside of Wainwright, Alberta October 17, 2026. (John Ulan/The Canadian Press via AP)

Fatal mass casualty incident at Canadian military base sparks major fire, leaves dead and injured

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