Polls show Netanyahu closing on majority with Bennett * Iran using new advanced centrifuges * Judges order airport open to all Israelis * More Dead Sea discoveries ahead?

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Wednesday, March 17, 2021 [Week to election, 1 poll shows deadlock, another gives PM a majority with Yamina]( By [TOI staff]( [Channel 12 survey says neither the PM nor his rivals have clear path to coalition, but Channel 11 is better news for Netanyahu]( [Israel media review / What’s left? What the press is saying about campaigns, coronavirus and caves]( By [Joshua Davidovich]( [Netanyahu claims to have potential defectors in Sa’ar’s, Bennett’s parties]( By [TOI staff]( [High Court annuls daily cap on number of citizens allowed to return to Israel]( By [Michael Bachner]( [Justices rule that both the original closure of borders and the current limit of 3,000 daily returnees violate basic rights, especially before next week’s election]( [Just 2.1% of COVID-19 tests positive, lowest since December 1]( By [TOI staff]( [Serious COVID cases fall below 600 for the first time since December]( By [TOI staff]( Archaeology [Amanda Borschel-Dan]( [Dead Sea scroll discovery brings tantalizing prospect of more yet to be found]( [With another 20 promising caves to be excavated — and 25% more of the Judean Desert still to be surveyed — stunning finds in Cave of Horror unlikely to be the last]( [Anyone but Ben Gvir: One man’s mission to keep a Kahanist out of the Knesset]( By [Tal Schneider]( [Spooked by the thought of the right-wing extremist becoming an MK, Yaniv Carmel is going door-to-door in right-wing strongholds to convince people to vote for anybody else]( [Arab-Jewish Ma’an party drops out of election race, endorses Joint List]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Netanyahu says he’ll debate Lapid if the two can agree on moderator]( By [TOI staff]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur and Omer Sharvit]( [Blue and White and in the red, Gantz may be hanging in race to pay off debt]( [By squeaking into Knesset, party would get retroactive state funds to cover 60% of the millions of shekels it has borrowed for its faltering campaign, and it’s not alone]( [Kids’ quarantine, every parent’s nightmare, could soon be eased, doctors predict]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [As vaccinations kick in, chance of children infecting elderly Israelis diminishes; MDs say this may eliminate need for mandatory isolation of entire classes]( [Israeli study: Babies born to vaccinated moms have COVID-fighting antibodies]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Netanyahu vows no further COVID lockdowns after elections]( By [TOI staff]( Times of Israel Podcast [Podcast: Daily Briefing Mar. 17 – How 61 seats could be a loss for Netanyahu]( By [TOI staff]( [Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today]( [Iran now using advanced new centrifuges to enrich uranium at Natanz plant]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Leaked atomic watchdog report says Iran has installed 174 highly advanced IR-4 machines at underground site in further violation of nuclear deal, and plans on installing more]( [Alleged Israeli airstrikes said to hit targets near Damascus airport]( By [TOI staff and AFP]( [In ‘technological leap,’ Iron Dome tackles multiple complex threats at once]( By [TOI staff]( Live updates [Iran blasts ‘utter hypocrisy’ of UK boosting its nuclear arsenal]( By [TOI staff]( [Tehran’s FM Zarif says that ‘unlike the UK and allies, Iran believes nukes and all WMDs are barbaric & must be eradicated’]( [Palestinian Authority receives 61,440 vaccine doses through WHO program]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Allocated through UN-backed COVAX initiative for poor countries, the vaccines arrive in Ramallah via Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport]( [Israeli envoy said to plead with Gantz to okay vaccines for San Marino]( By [TOI staff]( [Palestinian factions pledge ‘transparent’ election without violent intimidation]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( Top Ops [Nasreen Hadad Haj-Yahya]( [A mother’s voice]( [Anarchy now reigns in Arab locales, and I know that my loved ones could be harmed; I therefore turn to you, my Jewish friends, to support our demand for peace and security]( [Eliezer Blasberg]( [Out of order: We don’t have to wait to eat]( [After years of mental gymnastics to find the Israelites’ exodus from Egypt in the Passover haggadah, we rearranged our Seder, and are much happier]( [CRM]( [Netanyahu’s cousin sues exec who claimed PM’s wife has veto on security issues]( By [TOI staff]( [David Shimron, PM’s former attorney, files NIS 425,000 libel suit against former senior Israel Aerospace Industries VP David Arzi, who made assertion in video]( [Premier has no clothes / Naked, squatting Netanyahu statue erected in Tel Aviv]( By [TOI staff]( [Elections Committee bars Netanyahu from using Health Ministry slogan in campaign]( By [TOI staff]( [Environment Ministry declares oil spill emergency over]( By [TOI staff]( [82% of beaches reopened to public; cleanup operation to continue]( [US sees another surge in white supremacist propaganda distribution — ADL]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Watchdog documents 5,125 incidents in past year, nearly double figure from 2019; national average was 14 incidents a day, though just 5% of cases targeted Jews]( [US Jewish scholars push anti-Semitism definition allowing more Israel criticism]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [Congresswoman who peddled anti-Semitic theories tours NY Orthodox Jewish areas]( By [Shira Hanau]( Interview [Anti-racism advocate/rabbi/rapper publishes contemporary Torah commentary]( By [Josefin Dolsten]( [First official sexual assault complaint filed against ZAKA founder]( By [TOI staff]( [Accusation of attempted rape by Yehuda Meshi-Zahav is apparently beyond statute of limitations, but could be used to bolster other allegations]( [Meshi-Zahav will claim all relations consensual in sex crimes case, report says]( By [TOI staff]( [Jerusalem court jails man for 3.5 years over sex assault of 4-year-old girl]( By [TOI staff]( [3 tiny Israeli satellites to orbit earth on just 1 gram of fuel a day]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Chief engineer says he’s excited to blast off Jewish state’s cutting-edge tech from Kazakhstan, to where Stalin banished his father, grandparents ‘just because they were rich Jews’]( [NASA study suggests Mars’ missing water is trapped in underground rocks]( By [Lucie AUBOURG and Issam Ahmed]( [Study finds lightning strikes could have sparked life on Earth]( By [Patrick Galey]( [CRM]( More Headlines [Biden: Putin a killer, will ‘pay price’ for attempt to undermine US election]( By [Agencies]( [Islamic extremists in Mozambique beheading kids as young as 11, aid groups say]( By [ANDREW MELDRUM]( [Iraq’s last Jewish doctor, who treated the poor for free, dies in Baghdad]( By [TOI staff]( [Iran’s defense minister says country must ready for nuclear, chemical attacks]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Israeli businessman suspected of scamming US company out of $24 million]( By [TOI staff]( [At least 8 killed as shooter targets Asian massage parlors in Atlanta]( By [Kate Brumback]( [Despite pandemic, more Argentine Jews made the move to Israel in 2020]( By [JTA]( [In Germany, Rivlin says he trusts Europe will ‘stand by us’ against ICC probe]( By [TOI staff]( [Social workers plan strike as study shows 54% have experienced physical violence]( By [TOI staff]( [Citing discrimination, court orders KKL-JNF to rehire fired Palestinian workers]( By [TOI staff and Avner Hofstein]( [Mimicking an air traffic controller, AI orchestrates multiple drones in flight]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Mayor of town near Jerusalem suspected of corruption, sex offenses]( By [TOI staff]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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