ToI’s weekly deep dive: Troubling case of Psy-Group * OP-ED: Gantz — 2nd among equals * Much ado about annexation * COVID-19 as wrath of God? * Rare Bar Kochba-era coin

[Visit timesofisrael.com for 24/7 updates]( The Weekend Edition Sunday, May 17, 2020 TOI investigates [How an Israeli intel firm allegedly harassed pro-democracy activists in Ukraine]( By [Vladimir Ivanidze, Simona Weinglass and Natalie Gryvnyak]( [In allegedly targeting Ukrainian reformers, Psy-Group served Russian interests, raising troubling questions about who a firm staffed by ex-Israeli intel officers was working for]( [US charges 2 Israelis, one a cop’s son, in $20m binary options marketing fraud]( By [Simona Weinglass]( Op-ed [David Horovitz]( [2nd among equals: In new Israeli coalition, Gantz serves at Netanyahu’s pleasure]( [The man who said Netanyahu was destroying the country now sits alongside him, with no defining influence on the fateful issue of annexation, his future vulnerable to the PM’s whim]( [Analysis / Distrust, discord, delay: Israel’s 35th Government is off to a bad (non-)start]( By [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [Full text: Policy principles of Israel’s 35th government]( By [TOI staff]( [Naomi Chazan]( [As the coronavirus crisis eases, Israel should restructure]( [CRM]( US-Israel relations [As possibility of West Bank annexation looms, Democrats mull how to sway Israel]( By [Eric Cortellessa]( [While party is unified in opposition to Israel extending sovereignty to settlements and Jordan Valley, it’s splintered over how harsh the response should be if Netanyahu goes ahead]( [State Department: Annexation should be part of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks]( By [Raphael Ahren]( [Donniel Hartman]( [Annexation now?]( Inside story [Sam Sokol]( [Slammed by COVID-19, ultra-Orthodox Jews try to understand what God hath wrought]( [Why would the heavenly power permit such evil? Posters see punishment for gossip and women’s immodesty; rabbis spy signs of messiah’s coming; others say they just don’t know]( [New US group seeks to ensure young Jewish donors keep giving to Jewish causes]( By [Eric Cortellessa]( [After historic surge in 2019, ADL says anti-Semitism now spreading amid pandemic]( By [Eric Cortellessa]( Arab Affairs [Under new deal, Israel to loan PA up to NIS 800m to cover virus losses]( By [Jacob Magid]( [During four month period, Jerusalem will top off sum of tax revenues it sends to PA to NIS 500 million, if collected amount falls below that total]( [Elhanan Miller]( [How I’m using a Saudi Ramadan TV series to give Jews a human face]( Life under lockdown [For struggling Tel Aviv establishments, reopening is only half the battle]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [A chef, bar owners and Israeli fashion store founder speak to The Times of Israel about how they are coping with shutdowns and the country’s slow return from the deadly pandemic]( [When the stage shuts down, is all the world a screen?]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( StartUp Israel [Coronavirus could shut 70,000 Israeli businesses this year, report warns]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Since start of pandemic, there has been a 70% drop in number of new businesses, mainly due to economic uncertainty, Dun & Bradstreet says]( [Global survey shows link between COVID-19 patients and taste, smell loss]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel’s weakest, youngest workers hit hardest by coronavirus crisis, data shows]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Cell therapy firm boosts odds for blood cancer patients as key trial succeeds]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( Open Up to... [Under lockdown, Portland writer pivots to pandemic poetry — from her bathtub]( By [Gregory Gutterman Scruggs]( [Oregon artist Alicia Jo Rabins’ new project is topical poems steeped in Jewish culture, yearning, and… bath salts]( [Locked down? Open up to… David Rakoff’s defensively pessimistic wit]( By [Renee Ghert-Zand]( [Locked down? Open up to… 3 exceptional contemporary Israeli poets]( By [Mitch Ginsburg]( In Israel [Life goes on: How childbirth, other women’s health concerns, fare amid COVID-19]( By [Elisheva Stern]( Interview [A California frame drummer finds inspiration and her debut album in the Negev]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [Marla Leigh Goldstein made an unexpected trip to Israel last November, and finally completed the tracks of her first solo work]( [Home studio / Batsheva dancers bring new creations online]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( Archaeology [Migratory swifts put on ancient aerial show at a Western Wall emptied of people]( By [Aviv Lavie]( [Jerusalem Old City’s colony, populated each spring by birds arriving from Africa, dates back 2,000 years, is likely one of world’s oldest]( [‘Year 2 of freedom’: Ancient coin from Bar Kochba revolt found near Temple Mount]( By [TOI staff]( [Greek Church demands evacuation of ‘living museum’ in Jerusalem]( By [TOI staff]( From the blogs [I know why the coronavirus ward dances]( By [Ruth Ebenstein]( [Hospital staff spurred each other on to create videos of the isolation wards that sparked joy, raised morale, and show how they became more than a medical team]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( © 2020 THE TIMES OF ISRAEL, All Rights Reserved