Political bedlam: PM names ally as justice minister, backtracks ahead of court ruling, lets Gantz have job * Blog: My friend the missionary * Va ccines don’t harm ovaries

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Wednesday, April 28, 2021 [Cabinet appoints Gantz as justice minister after U-turn by Netanyahu]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( [PM backtracks to end crisis ahead of High Court hearing, though he still insists previous cabinet vote appointing his ally Akunis was legal despite AG ruling it wasn’t]( [High Court freezes Netanyahu-led appointment of Likud ally as justice minister]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Smotrich warns of unrest if Mandelblit tries to disqualify Netanyahu as PM]( By [Raoul Wootliff]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [‘Insane’ cabinet bedlam as Netanyahu tries to wriggle out of unity straitjacket]( [Desperate to avoid November rotation, Likud unveils a new line of argument at meeting on appointing a justice minister: The unity government restrictions no longer apply to us]( [Transcript / ‘It’s an illegal vote!’: Cabinet meeting descends into chaos, fury, defiance]( By [Jacob Magid and Raoul Wootliff]( Times of Israel Podcast [Daily Briefing Apr. 28 – What the what is happening in Israeli politics & COVID?]( By [TOI staff]( [Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today]( Live updates [High Court cancels hearing on appointment of justice minister]( By [Alexander Fulbright and Michael Bachner]( [5 p.m. session called off after cabinet votes to appoint Benny Gantz to the position, following U-turn by Netanyahu who selected loyalist for post despite AG’s opposition]( From the blogs [Amanda Bradley]( [My close friend was a covert Christian missionary]( [I hate that she betrayed my trust and can’t restore it, but what I hate even more is that she destroyed our ability to trust each other]( [Bennett meets Ra’am chief Abbas amid effort to form government without Netanyahu]( By [TOI staff]( [Right-wing and Islamist parties launch unlikely cooperation, with PM’s deadline expiring in 6 days; Smotrich slams move: ‘A government with Abbas is like a government with Hamas’]( Analysis [Lazar Berman]( [In DC, Israel’s top spy and security wonk face a mission impossible on Iran]( [Meir Ben-Shabbat and Yossi Cohen are well-regarded in Washington, but their trip is unlikely to prevent the Biden administration from barreling toward deal with Tehran]( [Iran says nuclear deal talks to ‘speed up’; US dispatching its special envoy]( By [AFP and TOI staff]( [In 1st comment on leaked tape, Zarif backs ‘synergy’ between IRGC, diplomacy]( By [AFP]( [US updates Israel on Iran nuclear talks as national security advisers meet in DC]( By [Jacob Magid]( [COVID vaccines don’t harm ovaries and neither does virus, Jerusalem doctors find]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Reassuring women worldwide, Hadassah researchers record no difference in ovary function between those who are immunized and those who are not]( [CRM]( [Thomas Nides emerges as frontrunner to become US envoy to Israel – report]( By [TOI staff and Jacob Magid]( [According to Washington Post, Jewish banking official and former deputy secretary of state has edged out others, including Michael Adler, who will likely be ambassador to Belgium]( [Jewish group endorses Biden’s pick for appeals judge, tipped for Supreme Court]( By [Ron Kampeas]( Top Ops [Marianne Novak]( [It’s about language, stupid!]( [When scholars use jargon, the public cannot understand their insights, as was the case in the recent debate over rehabilitating Steven M. Cohen]( [Marian Wendt]( [As Israel strides toward peace, Germany must get off the sidelines]( [We need to stop castigating the Jewish state, admit the Oslo process is no longer viable, and embrace structural change in the Middle East]( [Internal probe faults Defense Ministry’s treatment of vet who self-immolated]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [Investigative committee on Itzik Saidyan, who suffers from PTSD, finds he was forced to fight grueling bureaucracy for years, received only temporary assistance]( [Palestinian cars torched near Jerusalem; graffiti at scene: ‘Jews, let’s win’]( By [TOI staff]( [Apparent Jewish extremist attack in Beit Iksa comes amid continued tensions in capital and after TikTok videos of Arabs attacking Jews]( [After a day of quiet, Gaza terrorists fire 2 mortar shells toward Israel]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel not seeking to thwart Palestinian election, official tells EU envoys]( By [Jacob Magid]( [As COVID wanes, Israel’s restaurants are full of customers but low on staff]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel’s hotels eye foreign tourists and wonder: If we open, will they come?]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [With the rules for noncitizens entering the country about to be significantly loosened, rooms are being readied despite concerns about travel during COVID and lack of staff]( [Israel plans to reopen to tourists in May, eyes travelers from UAE]( By [TOI staff]( [Unvaccinated children can now attend cultural events with a negative virus test]( By [TOI staff]( [Oxygen to India: Israeli group dispatching medical aid to COVID-stricken country]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [India is in turmoil, with 350,000 new COVID cases a day and a death toll that just exceeded 200,000; citing ‘shared responsibility’ to overcome virus, IsraAID sending supplies]( [India’s COVID death toll tops 200,000 as record surge breaks health system]( By [SHEIKH SAALIQ]( [Israeli artists upcycle clothes, trinkets and memories into beloved keepsakes]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( Analysis [Ilan Ben Zion]( [As tensions boil, Jaffa’s Arab Israelis say gentrification is pushing them out]( [Historic mixed city has seen vast changes as it turns into a bastion for the ultra-wealthy; some residents accuse the government of trying to get rid of them to make way for Jews]( [Elie Wiesel to be first modern Jew honored with bust in US National Cathedral]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [CRM]( [For many French Jews, Halimi murder a ‘watershed moment’ of distrust in France]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [20,000-strong Paris protest a rare show of raw emotion from local Jewish community over government’s response to antisemitism]( [French-Jewish judge resigns to protest high court ruling in Sarah Halimi affair]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [Despite COVID restrictions, antisemitism barely decreased in US in 2020 — ADL]( By [Ben Sales]( More Headlines [LGBTQ students sue Yeshiva University for discrimination]( By [Simone Somekh]( [Sapir Berman comes out as Israeli soccer’s first-ever transgender referee]( By [TOI staff]( [Bronx synagogue vandal strikes Riverdale Jewish Center in latest attack]( By [Andrew Silow-Carroll]( [Tel Aviv lawyer on Everest hopes to become first Israeli woman to reach summit]( By [TOI staff]( [IDF: Hezbollah drone downed after breaching Israeli airspace]( By [TOI staff]( [Chunk Foods gets $2 million to develop alt-meat whole cuts via fermentation]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Photo essay / Rare pink supermoon lights up the night skies]( By [TOI staff]( [Despite lockdowns, antisemitic incidents rise to record levels in Austria]( By [Cnaan Liphshiz]( [Israeli medical cannabis inhaler gets Canada’s marketing nod]( By [Shoshanna Solomon]( [Oregon auction house pulls purported Himmler dagger after Jewish groups complain]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [Pentagon says US Navy fired warning shots at Iran boats in Gulf]( By [AFP]( [Reversing decision, Virginia Republicans allow Shabbat observers to vote early]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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