ELECTION LIVE! Turnout low, esp. in Arab areas * Kahanist hopes 4th time’s a charm * Pandemic meets politics – in hospitals, at airport * Rettig Gur: Why so complicated?!

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Tuesday, March 23, 2021 Presented by Leket Israel Live updates [LIVE: Interim data shows Knesset election turnout lowest since 2009]( By [Michael Bachner]( [As of 2 p.m., 34.6% Israelis have voted, 3.5% less than in last year’s poll at same time; near-empty ballot stations have been reported particularly in Arab locales]( [Rivlin: Constant votes very troubling; Netanyahu: Hope this is the last election]( By [Aaron Boxerman, Jacob Magid, Michael Bachner and Lazar Berman]( [Lamenting political situation that has forced 4 rounds of voting in 2 years, president says power to influence is in hands of public; PM calls day a ‘festival of democracy’]( [‘Two more seats or Lapid wins’ is Netanyahu’s election day mantra]( By [Lazar Berman]( [Israel votes / Turnout, fate of small parties crucial as polls open for 6.5 million Israelis]( By [TOI staff]( Israel votes [Jacob Magid]( [With help from Netanyahu, Kahanist candidate optimistic 4th election’s a charm]( [Itamar Ben Gvir is relatively relaxed on campaign trail as his far-right movement is all but assured entry to Knesset after decades of pariah status]( [Sa’ar says open to power-sharing deal with Lapid or Bennett]( By [TOI staff]( [A day before election, Netanyahu courts settler vote]( By [TOI staff]( [In COVID wards, patients in pajamas take long trip down the corridor to vote]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Hospital voting gets underway with hazmat suits, oxygen tubes and ballots via airlocks, in stark collision of pandemic and politics]( [In Corridor E at Ben Gurion, election day arrivals get to vote before quarantine]( By [Tal Schneider]( [Socially distanced democracy: Israel votes in a pandemic]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [The painfully complex act of voting in an Israeli election]( [The electoral system is simple: Voters have one choice to make, and there are no regional constituencies or extra chambers of parliament. So why is it so complicated?]( [Israeli elections 2021 / With more absentee ballots than ever, vote aftermath may be fuzzier than usual]( By [Tal Schneider]( [Personal details of all Israeli voters again leaked online, day before election]( By [TOI staff]( Times of Israel Podcast [Podcast: Daily Briefing Mar. 22 – Election day diary: Voting ‘first’ in Modiin]( By [TOI staff]( [Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today]( [Israel has held most frequent elections among democracies since 1996 – report]( By [TOI staff]( [For or against? Key factors in election, yet again, that’s all about Netanyahu]( By [Josef Federman]( [In northern Israel, Ra’am makes final push to cross election threshold]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Arab areas reportedly see lower turnout than expected, leaving both the Joint List and the breakaway Ra’am faction worried]( [Analysis / For Arab Israelis, it all hinges on turnout as Ra’am hovers at voter threshold]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Interview / Battling ex-allies and old foes, new Balad head seeks to rebalance party]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( Top Ops [Yohanan Plesner]( [Vote. Despite everything, just go vote.]( [A small number of votes, one way or another, can determine whether or not extremists are empowered, the economy recovers, and democracy is stable]( [Theodore M. Lichtenfeld]( [Liberty for all]( [It took some long centuries for the experience of Passover to sink in and bequeath the legacy of the eternal value of freedom to the Jews themselves, and then the world]( Message from Leket Israel [Help put a meal on their Passover table]( [Over the past year, thousands of Israeli families joined the circle of poverty. You can provide a hot meal for vulnerable Israelis in time for the Passover holiday.]( [Expecting longer tally, election chief warns of efforts to discredit results]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [Orly Adas urges public to ‘be smart enough’ not to buy into or share ‘rumors and conspiracy theories’ reminiscent of Trump campaign]( [Security services said preparing for scenario in which Knesset is stormed]( By [TOI staff and Tal Schneider]( [Man arrested at airport after threatening to murder Yair Lapid]( By [TOI staff]( [Top Abbas advisers urge Palestinian statehood with ‘soft’ sovereignty]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Hussein Agha and Ahmad Samih Khalidi, seasoned negotiators with Israel, propose Jordan and Egypt taking on security roles, and Saudi normalization if settlement expansion ends]( [Number of seriously ill COVID patients drops to 499, lowest figure in 3 months]( By [TOI staff]( [Health Ministry reports over 4.6 million people fully inoculated and a 1.6% positive infection rate, signaling continued drop in infections]( [Pfizer vaccine less effective against South African variant, Israeli study finds]( By [Luke Tress]( [AstraZeneca may have used outdated info in vaccine trial, says US]( By [AP]( [CRM]( [Kurdish babies’ lives hang in balance as Israeli red tape blocks their last hope]( By [Lazar Berman]( [Doctors near Tel Aviv are ready to operate, but a hellish bureaucratic mess between government bodies means sick children are being kept from surgery that can save their lives]( [Analysis / As Biden mulls Syrian war policy, Russia poised to boost its regional influence]( By [Ellen Knickmeyer]( [Google to set up chip team in Israel led by former Intel exec]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [US tech giant says in blog it is ‘doubling down’ on designing and building custom chips to boost performance; newly appointed Uri Frank will build ‘world-class’ team in Israel]( [Pollard defends spying in rare interview: US ‘stabbed Israel in the back’]( By [AP]( [Convicted spy, who moved to the Jewish state after his parole ended last year, says ‘I know I crossed a line, but I had no choice’]( [Orthodox Jewish organizations shaped Trump’s pardons, NYT reports]( By [TOI staff]( [CRM]( More Headlines [Western officials fear Iran hiding equipment it could use to build nuke — report]( By [TOI staff]( [Universities set to resume in-person classes after Passover]( By [TOI staff]( [The joke's on us / Israel TV satirist thrives on political turmoil]( By [AFP and TOI staff]( [IAI completes test of new defense missile with 150 km. range]( By [Luke Tress]( [Unemployment down to 16.7% in February as economy reopens]( By [TOI staff]( [Israelis to reportedly be allowed to visit Sinai within a week]( By [TOI staff]( [Greece to allow in 10,000 vaccinated Israeli tourists per week]( By [TOI staff]( [Final frontier / William Shatner to be immortalized in AI video for 90th birthday]( By [TOI staff]( [Bezeq subsidiaries warn unvaccinated workers will be sent home without pay — TV]( By [TOI staff]( [Albert Einstein letter from 1939 on Jewish refugees goes on auction block]( By [TOI staff]( [Rome food delivery man goes on anti-Semitic rant, stabs man who protests]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [Brazilian Jews file complaint over politician who said Jews sacrifice children]( By [Marcus M. Gilban]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2021 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved