Hundreds of Haredim flout ban * Soldier killed by W Bank rock-thrower * 1 envoy for UN, US?! * US sues Israeli cop’s son for fraud * Pipes on an nexation * Stiller, mensch

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Daily Edition Tuesday, May 12, 2020 [Ignoring ban, hundreds of ultra-Orthodox crowd Lag B’Omer fires in Jerusalem]( By [TOI staff]( [Prime minister orders police to crack down on gatherings in capital and Beit Shemesh amid warnings that incidents could lead to fresh outbreak of coronavirus]( [Israel media review / Serenity now! 6 things to know for May 12]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Brooklyn synagogue blasted over funeral told to shut down services]( By [Marcy Oster]( [IDF soldier killed by rock thrown at his head during West Bank arrest raid]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [Army says Sgt. First Class Amit Ben-Ygal, 21, was wearing helmet when large stone struck him, as unit made its way out of village near Jenin; funeral set for 6 p.m.]( [‘You’re my only son, I have nothing,’ fallen soldier’s father weeps]( By [TOI staff]( [Palestinian attempts to stab cops at checkpoint north of Jerusalem, is shot]( By [TOI staff]( [Under new deal, Israel to loan PA up to NIS 800m to cover virus losses]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Health chief who led response to virus announces resignation]( By [TOI staff]( [Weighing Israel’s situation relative to other countries’, Health Ministry director Moshe Bar Siman-Tov says he achieved his goals in mitigating severity of coronavirus crisis]( [All grades to return to school Sunday, but not full time]( By [TOI staff]( From the blogs [Elhanan Miller]( [How I’m using a Saudi Ramadan TV series to give Jews a human face]( [The groundbreaking TV drama ’Umm Haroun’ is full of anti-Semitic stereotypes, but it’s still a giant leap forward — and a helpful teaching tool]( Analysis [Raphael Ahren]( [In NY and DC at the same time? Netanyahu gives ambassador Erdan double challenge]( [Why did the PM choose Gilad Erdan to fill both hugely important roles of envoy to the US and UN, and can the minister, with no diplomatic experience, rise to the task?]( [Netanyahu appoints Gilad Erdan to double role of ambassador to US, UN]( By [Alexander Fulbright]( [As Yamina breaks away, Smotrich fires at Netanyahu’s ‘weak, failed’ agenda]( By [TOI staff]( [US charges 2 Israelis, one a cop’s son, in $20m binary options marketing fraud]( By [Simona Weinglass]( [Tal Valariola, son of an ex-senior cop, and Itay Barak, son of a director of public firms, accused of disseminating videos that lured in tens of thousands of alleged scam victims]( [Coronavirus creates ‘unprecedented opportunity’ for hackers, researchers say]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Holocaust survivor, 99, recovers from COVID-19; her husband died from it]( By [TOI staff]( [Sara Itzinger, whose husband Zvi Herschel was virus victim, hailed by MDA paramedic grandson as a ‘strong, surviving woman’; couple met in the US after WWII]( [As virus sees few new Israeli cases, a once critically ill 22-year-old recovers]( By [TOI staff]( [Coronavirus death toll climbs to 258, but new infections continue to ebb]( By [TOI staff]( Interview [Raphael Ahren]( [I believe in compromise, says hawkish pundit under fire for opposing annexation]( [With seemingly dovish NYT op-ed, Daniel Pipes angered many former allies on the right. He’s not backing down, but stresses his goal is still Israel’s victory over the Palestinians]( [Ahead of his visit, Pompeo won’t confirm Israel has US green light on annexation]( By [TOI staff]( [EU ministers expected to weigh punitive response to West Bank annexation]( By [TOI staff]( First person [Jerry Stiller was a mensch. He could act with the best of them, too]( By [Curt Schleier]( Live updates [Netanyahu said to offer Edelstein health portfolio]( By [TOI staff]( [Reported offer of high-profile ministry to Likud No. 2 comes as Blue and White opposes his return as Knesset speaker in new coalition following clash with High Court]( Top Ops [Rachel Sharansky Danziger]( [Celebrating Lag BaOmer in my private cave]( [I worry about leaving the safety of home, but I know the real growth happens in the shared spaces where we clash – and learn to live together]( [Donniel Hartman]( [Annexation now?]( [Making this fateful political move during the Corona crisis is an act of opportunism that would subvert the moral credibility of our leadership]( [Gabriela Cohen]( [Please exit the water]( [The loudspeaker’s announcement warning swimmers out of the winter sea gives me pause: the recording is in 5 languages, yet they are seemingly out of order]( [Hershel Billet]( [When communal prayer is a dangerous violation of Jewish law]( [Is relaxing our standards of caution worth the risk of the loss of even one life? Judaism is very clear that it is forbidden to take a chance]( [CRM]( [Over 400,000 experiments carried out on animals in Israel last year]( By [Sue Surkes]( [Nearly half of the 3,537 projects that took place in 2019 involved subjecting the animals involved to the highest levels of pain on scale]( [‘No single cure’: Anti-Semitic incidents in US hit record high in 2019, ADL says]( By [Michael Kunzelman]( [2,107 anti-Semitic incidents recorded in 2019, including 61 physical assault cases, 1,127 instances of harassment and 919 acts of vandalism, Anti-Defamation League reports]( [Likening lockdown policies to Nazism, US protester wears face mask with swastika]( By [JTA]( [Swastikas found on two tombstones of German POWs at US military cemetery]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [Two arrested for ripping masks off Jews in Brooklyn assault]( By [Agencies]( Reporter's notebook [Pandemic turns world’s biggest Jewish party into a small, subdued formality]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( More Headlines [Virus-hit Iran to reopen mosques for holy nights]( By [AFP]( [PM said seeking Gantz’s okay for 36 ministers now, in bid to bring in Yamina]( By [TOI staff]( [Tackling hunger / Patriots owner Robert Kraft auctioning Super Bowl ring for charity]( By [Marcy Oster]( [As crisis ebbs, most women can again start IVF, though perhaps not complete it]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [Jewish attorney, New York’s ‘patient zero,’ still doesn’t know how he got virus]( By [JTA and TOI staff]( [NY mayor accused of stalling probe into city yeshivas for political reasons]( By [Marcy Oster]( [Benjamin Balint wins 2020 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature for Kafka book]( By [JTA]( [After six weeks afloat off coast, Israeli finally granted entry to Jamaica]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Netanyahu’s attorney complains PM being prosecuted as if guilty of ‘Nazi’ crimes]( By [TOI staff]( [Ombudsman turns down justice minister’s request for probe of state prosecution]( By [TOI staff]( [Cell therapy firm boosts odds for blood cancer patients as key trial succeeds]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Large businesses threaten strike if NIS 6 billion in promised aid isn’t paid out]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2020 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved