Benny Gantz enters politics with new party * PM ’won’t step down if indicted’ * Benjamins battle * Trump: Israel can defend itself in Syria * Pa ralyzed groom stands tall

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Daily Edition Thursday, December 27, 2018 [Ex-IDF chief Gantz unveils new political party ahead of April elections]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Former chief of staff enters politics, calls his faction ‘Israel Resilience Party,’ amid reports he will team up with ex-defense minister Moshe Ya’alon]( [Former IDF chiefs Gantz, Ya’alon said in talks to form joint list for election]( By [TOI staff]( [Ex-general Gal Hirsch, a probed almost-police chief, enters politics]( By [TOI staff]( 2019 elections [Netanyahu says he won’t step down if indicted, turns up heat on AG – report]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Senior Likud sources say Mandelblit ‘will become the target of a merciless attack’ if he announces charges before April’s elections]( [Alan Dershowitz: Not enough evidence to indict Netanyahu]( By [Stuart Winer and TOI staff]( [Netanyahu said to warn Likud members of threat from new centrist party]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Israel media review / In it to win it: 8 things to know for December 27]( By [Joshua Davidovich]( Op-ed [David Horovitz]( [Israel’s 2019 election: A battle of two Benjamins]( [We could save the economy $480m, spare ourselves 100 days of bickering, and declare Netanyahu the winner again right now — were it not for the tantalizing candidacy of Benny Gantz]( [Likud MK calls Ethiopian lawmaker a ‘token immigrant’]( By [TOI staff]( [MKs cheer news firebrand Arab lawmaker retiring, but she says it’s a nasty rumor]( By [TOI staff]( [20th Knesset officially dissolves, sets elections for April 9, 2019]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Eyeing new diplomatic and economic horizons, Netanyahu heads to Brazil]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [PM takes a six-day break from domestic politics in effort to forge new ties with Latin America’s biggest country, once considered a ‘diplomatic dwarf’]( Live updates [IDF destroys additional cross-border Hezbollah tunnels from Lebanon]( By [Alexander Fulbright]( [Army says operation to ‘neutralize’ the subterranean passages has seriously undermined terror group’s plans in future war]( [Photos said to show Iranian warehouse flattened by Israeli strike in Syria]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [But satellite images reveal no evidence of attack at Damascus airport, which reportedly targeted a 747 cargo jet belonging to Iran’s Fars Air Qeshm]( [Jerusalem official confirms Israel struck Iranian arms depot in Syria]( By [Agenices and TOI staff]( [Army finds, destroys fifth attack tunnel from Lebanon]( By [TOI staff]( [Lebanon to file UN complaint on Israeli overflights during alleged Syria strikes]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Trump: We give Israel billions, it can defend itself in Syria]( By [Eric Cortellessa]( [President says he’s told Netanyahu military aid makes up for lack of US troops, amid jitters in Israel that withdrawal will make battling Iranian entrenchment more difficult]( [Netanyahu vows to keep hitting Iran in Syria: ‘We stand firmly on our red lines’]( By [Agencies and TOI staff]( [Ombudsman claims public will pay heavy price for ‘cover-up’ of army preparedness]( By [TOI staff]( [Israeli groom with paralysis stands tall at wedding with help of robotic device]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Developed by Israeli startup UPnRIDE, the indoor-outdoor vehicle wheels people around while they’re in a vertical position; now ready for European sales]( [Yakir Englander]( [‘And who by fire’: To the loving memory of Rona Ramon]( [It is time to share these thoughts that I have held in my heart for nine long years. A week ago, Rona Ramon passed away after a struggle with cancer. Although we never met, Rona held a unique place in my heart; I knew her in a way that no one else could have known a mother. Rona lost her husband, Ilan, the first Israeli astronaut, in the 2003 disaster of the Columbia space shuttle. But my own connection with Rona’s story came about six years later, in 2009. It was...]( Top Ops [Alon Tal]( [An eviction order for Rutti the Hyena]( [When human beings take over wild animals’ territory, the animals make themselves at home in town]( [Judy Freedman]( [The Knesset’s senior club]( [What makes you think you have something to contribute in your golden days that others, 30 years younger, cannot do better?]( [Maurice Hirsch]( [The White House is focusing on the wrong election]( [If Palestinians go to the polls in 6 months, Hamas is likely to take over the Palestinian Authority]( [Kenneth Jacobson]( [Fight terror, block Iran, protect Israel — or leave Syria]( [By the standards of Trump’s own foreign policy goals, he is coming up dangerously short]( [For first time since 2011, Palestine to apply for full UN membership]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [Though bid is doomed to fail due to expected US veto, Israeli envoy attacks Ramallah for ‘destructive policies that have encouraged recent terror ‎attacks’]( [Israel advances plans for construction of 800 more West Bank homes]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Erekat: ‘Grinch’ Israel stole Christmas with settlement plans]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Bus full of permit-less Palestinians stopped en route to Eilat vacation]( By [Stuart Winer]( [In Israel, a sterile kindergarten built so cancer patients can just be kids]( By [Larry Luxner]( More Headlines [Israel warns Gazans to stay away from border Friday or risk getting shot]( By [TOI staff]( [Splitting his sides / Head of Ukraine’s council of churches is a rabbi from New York]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [Iran building a drone force based on captured US, Israeli tech — report]( By [TOI staff]( [PA bars Hamas speaker of parliament from Ramallah, since dissolution ‘in effect’]( By [Agencies]( [January Women’s March in Chicago scotched by local organizers]( By [JTA]( [Indonesia hikes danger level for deadly tsunami volcano]( By [Dessy SAGITA and Kiki Siregar]( [Memorial to Greek Jews sent to death camps by Nazis vandalized]( By [Marcy Oster]( [Notes of harmony / In first, Andalusian Orchestra Ashdod performs in Morocco]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [Mubarak: Gaza tunnels were used by fighters to launch 2011 prison break in Egypt]( By [Agencies and TOI staff]( [As Liverpool team eyes Israeli, some in Egypt ask if star Salah should quit]( By [Adam Rasgon]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2018 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved