President leads tributes to Amos Oz, our ’greatest writer’ * Lebanese panic as cement pours from tunnel * HSBC divests * PM sneers at ’leftist’ Gantz * ToI’s top stories

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Daily Edition Friday, December 28, 2018 [Amos Oz, ‘Israel’s greatest writer,’ dies at 79]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel Prize-winner passes away after brief bout with cancer; won dozens of awards; works translated into 45 languages; was peace activist, supporter of two-state solution]( [From our archive / There are no traitors, says Amos Oz, only those unafraid of change]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [From our archive / Amos Oz ‘overwhelmed’ by film documenting family’s past]( By [Yifa Yaakov]( [From our archive / Amos Oz slams Netanyahu but chides left for naiveté]( By [Justin Jalil]( [Run or block it? IDF film shows Lebanese reactions as cement pours out of tunnel]( By [Jacob Magid and TOI staff]( [Some men flee, then others try to stop and clear away substance flowing out of what Israeli military says is an entry point in Lebanon to a Hezbollah cross-border attack tunnel]( [IDF: With explosives and ‘liquid,’ cross-border tunnels from Kafr Kila destroyed]( By [Jacob Magid]( [US troop withdrawal from Syria could take several months — report]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Arab Israeli who glided into Syria to join Islamic State jailed for 3.5 years]( By [TOI staff]( [Banking giant HSBC divests from Israeli defense firm Elbit]( By [TOI staff]( [As BDS campaigners claim victory, UK Zionist Federation expresses concern the bank is not applying same rules to defense firms from other countries]( [France, PA condemn Israel’s construction plans for over 2,000 settlement homes]( By [Jacob Magid and TOI staff]( [In escalating trade fight, PA halts Israeli produce and poultry imports]( By [Adam Rasgon]( [14 Times of Israel stories that mattered most in 2018]( By [TOI staff]( [Netanyahu hints timing of reports on grave defacement meant to hurt him]( By [TOI staff]( [PM says TV channels only covered tombstone of attorney general’s father being damaged after alleged threats attributed to him, though it was discovered 10 days ago]( [2019 elections / Legal officials said to slam PM over reported threat against attorney general]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Netanyahu calls for probe after grave of attorney general’s father defaced]( By [Michael Bachner]( [Alan Dershowitz: Not enough evidence to indict Netanyahu]( By [Stuart Winer and TOI staff]( [Netanyahu swipes at ‘leftist’ challenger Gantz]( By [Raphael Ahren and TOI staff]( [PM places up-and-coming rival in left-center political camp, pushing back against indications that former IDF chief will attempt to snatch votes from Likud voter base]( [Israel media review / It’s all about the Benjamins: 9 things to know for December 28]( By [Joshua Davidovich]( [Bereaved mother: Gantz, Ya’alon did nothing when my son was captured by Hamas]( By [TOI staff]( [Opposition chief Livni said trying in vain to join up with Gantz’s new party]( By [TOI staff]( [US confirms Pompeo and Netanyahu to meet in Brazil]( By [AFP]( [Israeli PM to hold talks with top diplomat weeks after Trump decision to pull out of Syria, putting Jerusalem at odds with Washington]( [Ahead of Netanyahu visit, incoming Brazilian leader blasts Israel critics]( By [Raphael Ahren and TOI staff]( [Palestinian source: Arab ministers to visit Brazil to prevent embassy move]( By [Adam Rasgon]( [Where did Frank Sinatra get his kippa? It happened in Margate]( By [Stephen Silver]( [A classical composer brings his music home to Israel]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [New Talmud ‘biography’ seeks to bring the foundational text to life]( By [Rich Tenorio]( [Artifacts stolen and smuggled in the West Bank now on display in Jerusalem]( By [Amanda Borschel-Dan]( Top Ops [Masha Kisel]( [New Year’s Eve behind the Iron Curtain]( [Could I give up the only real holiday I knew when my new American Jewish school insisted it was Christmas?]( [Tammy Jacobowitz]( [The brave birthing of a nation]( [Those Israelite women undertook the redemptive act of bringing life into a darkening reality — and changed the world (Shemot)]( [Josh Shron]( [Top Israeli songs of 2018]( [Leave out Netta’s TOY and Omer Adam’s megahits, and you still have a first-rate line-up]( [Jonathan Sacks]( [The light at the heart of darkness (Shemot 5779)]( [Instead of ’Pharaoh’s daughter,’ read ’Hitler’s daughter’ or ’Stalin’s daughter’ and understand just how righteous she was to save an Israelite baby boy]( More Headlines [Suspected incendiary balloon lands near kindergarten in Gaza border community]( By [TOI staff]( [2 more Israeli women charged in US in binary options fraud case]( By [AP and TOI staff]( [Study finds widespread traces of Sephardic genes in Latin America]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [High Court reinstates judge in Bezeq probe texting scandal]( By [Michael Bachner]( [29-year-old woman shot dead in Ramle alley]( By [TOI staff]( [Trump points to Israeli wall as shutdown seen lasting into 2019]( By [AFP and TOI staff]( [Brooklyn man charged in kidnapping of kids who escaped Hasidic cult]( By [AP]( [New York rabbi says he is advising Qatar on welcoming Jews to the 2022 World Cup]( By [JTA]( [Hasidic wedding in Brooklyn canceled after groom contracts measles]( By [Marcy Oster]( [Not so sweet home / Billionaire’s scheme to revive Alabama Jewish community goes south]( By [JTA]( [Egypt’s Coptic Christians celebrate Christmas, ponder changing date]( By [Mina Nader and Jacob Wirtschafter]( [Close encounter / Not aliens: NY skies turn bright blue after power plant explosion]( By [Jim Mustian and Michael R. Sisak]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2018 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved