ToI’s weekly deep dive: From scorched earth to a blooming desert * #MeToo Chabad rabbi * The Balfour Declaration love triangle * Hollywood exec who saved Jews from Nazis

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Weekend Edition Sunday, February 10, 2019 [In south, red is the new black as scorched lands give way to annual flower craze]( By [Melanie Lidman and Photos and video: Luke Tress]( [Fires that burned 16,000 dunams near Gaza border decimated other plants that usually compete with the seasonal red flower, clearing way for one of the reddest Darom Adoms in years]( Analysis [David Horovitz]( [Liberman’s a spy, Yair Netanyahu’s a Christian, and fake news aims to play havoc]( [Op-ed: How the online disinformation industry is trying to mess with your head, who’s fighting back, and where Israel is still vulnerable as the election campaign heats up]( Sh'Koyach [Inspired by #MeToo, Chabad rabbi breaks 20-year silence on child sexual abuse]( By [Renee Ghert-Zand]( [After watching Jewish gymnast Aly Raisman testify against abuser, Utah-based Rabbi Avremi Zippel finds strength to tell his story and fight for justice]( [Yehudis Fletcher]( [The community’s response can hurt more than the abuse]( [Private panel of rabbis annuls marriage of abused wife who sought divorce]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Up to a third of Israeli nuptials held outside state religious bodies — report]( By [TOI staff]( [His dad was an imam, his wife has Jewish roots: Meet El Salvador’s new leader]( By [Raphael Ahren]( Interview [Austrian Jewish leader: No reason for Israel to end boycott of far-right FPOe]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [Oskar Deutsch, accompanying Austria’s president here this week, praises Jerusalem’s no-contact stance on FPOe as ‘Jewish foreign policy,’ says the party is ‘obviously’ anti-Semitic]( [One in two Israelis has negative view of Poland, new survey shows]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [In Canada, strangers brave sub-zero temperatures for Holocaust survivor funeral]( By [TOI staff]( [UK anti-Semitism breaks record high for 3rd year in a row, says watchdog]( By [Yaakov Schwartz]( [How a curious love triangle spurred UK’s cabinet to pass the Balfour Declaration]( By [Robert Philpot]( Elections 2019 [In first big interview, Gantz vows he’ll be PM but won’t say what he’ll do there]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Israel Resilience party head pledges support for attorney general attacked by Netanyahu, but is wary and vague on most major issues at stake in April election]( [Yesh Atid unveils detailed policy plan to promote LGBT equality]( By [Michael Bachner]( [Analysis / With fake media outlet Likud TV, Netanyahu sets up nakedly self-serving soapbox]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Reporter's notebook / Politicians unite to fight graft. Just don’t ask them what that means]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder of Fellowship of Christians and Jews, dies at 67]( By [TOI staff]( StartUp Nation [Israelis are world’s top users of social media, survey finds]( By [TOI staff]( [77% of population reports using platforms such as Facebook and Instagram; country ranks second in smartphone ownership]( [Israel Innovation Authority sets up program to boost woman-led startups]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Dial 119 for… hacker alert]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel needs new laws to limit intel services’ powers to eavesdrop online — IDI]( By [Sue Surkes]( [He put Dracula on the big screen, and saved hundreds of Jews from a real monster]( By [Rich Tenorio]( People of the Books [Why one ex-refusenik says US democracy will survive — despite Russian meddling]( By [Renee Ghert-Zand]( [Trump’s presidency may be ‘the world’s greatest intelligence coup,’ says Mikhail Iossef, award-winning author of ‘Notes From Cyberground.’ But all is not lost]( [Interview / New book puts Freud and psychoanalysis back on the couch]( By [Cathryn J. Prince]( Sabra Sounds [Focus on the females when DJ Miri Petel is in the house]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [This Jerusalem deejay spins sets for weddings, festivals and women’s parties, bringing a different groove to the music]( [After nixing Eurovision bid over Shabbat, band may play at semifinals]( By [Michael Bachner]( [The Wondrous Judean Underland]( By [Ticia Verveer]( [The Judean Lowlands of Israel is home to hundreds of underground complexes, part of a spectacular subterranean world]( Film review [Indie flick featuring Billy Crystal as lovable rabbi just can’t get it together]( By [Jordan Hoffman]( [While there’s no lack of desire to like the new synagogue-centric film ‘Untogether,’ it might just have you looking heavenward in frustration]( [TV review / It takes a Talmudic mind to unravel Netflix’s new series ‘Russian Doll’]( By [Jordan Hoffman]( [All the world's a cage / Running from Nazis, Norwegian Jewish girl masquerades as teenage boy in new film]( By [Rich Tenorio]( Blog [What if the actual Exodus were a movie?]( By [Sally Abrams]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2019 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved