Last US flights leave Kabul; Taliban revel in US defeat * Israel gives each kid DIY virus test, bars unvaccinated teachers, doctors * Feted adtech startup’s murky clients

[Times of Israel]( [The daily edition]( Tuesday, August 31, 2021 Presented by Telus International [Final US evacuation flights leave, ending America’s 20-year Afghanistan war]( By [Robert Burns and Lolita C. Baldor]( [A few hundred US citizens are left behind as final military transports depart just before midnight; General hopes they will still be able to leave Taliban-ruled country]( [America’s longest war cost thousands of lives, trillions of dollars]( By [Ellen Knickmeyer]( [US military investigating reports it killed 7 children in Kabul airstrike on IS]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [US military disables scores of aircraft before leaving Kabul airport]( By [AFP]( [Also rendered useless: a high-tech rocket defense system worth millions of dollars that could not be dismantled in time]( [Taliban revels in US ‘defeat,’ says withdrawal a ‘big lesson for other invaders’]( By [Agencies]( [Analysis / The 20-year war may be over, but Biden’s Afghanistan challenges remain]( By [AAMER MADHANI and Zeke Miller]( [Republicans lash out at Biden for ‘stranding’ Americans in Afghanistan]( By [AFP]( From our sponsor [Telus is hiring a part-time, remote independent contractor]( [If you live in Israel and are fluent in Hebrew and English, this work from home role could be for you]( [Israel hands every child a DIY virus test, in bold bid for safe school restart]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Plan aims to stop kids who are infected but don’t realize it from coming in, thus reducing COVID spread, says expert; trust between parents, schools and authorities seen as key]( [Ministers OK barring unvaccinated and untested teachers, doctors from workplaces]( By [TOI staff]( [Under fire, Isrotel nixes plan to pay out huge dividends after taking COVID aid]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel’s COVID death toll passes 7,000; over 500 felled by virus in August alone]( By [Amy Spiro]( [A total of 7,043 people have died of the coronavirus since the pandemic began; Health Ministry statistics show average of 18 deaths per day over last month]( [EU moves to reimpose COVID travel restrictions on Israel, US]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel hits new record daily COVID cases, with testing high ahead of school year]( By [Amy Spiro]( ToI investigates [For feted adtech startup, a meteoric rise partly fueled by alleged fraudsters]( By [Simona Weinglass]( [Until recently, Webpals was one of Israel’s fastest-growing tech firms. But leaked documents show links to clients with questionable business practices, and worse]( ToI podcast [Daily Briefing Aug. 31 – Pencil case, snack, COVID test: Israel girds for school]( By [TOI staff]( [Health correspondent Nathan Jeffay examines planned September 1 start of school year, and environment correspondent Sue Surkes looks at Israel’s high methane emissions]( [Bennett says schools will open Wednesday, eases in-person learning rule]( By [Amy Spiro]( [Side effects feared from vaccine are more common in COVID cases — Israeli study]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Former Afghan minister now doing food deliveries in Germany speaks to Israeli TV]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Sayed Sadaat tells Kan broadcaster he’s improving his German in hopes of getting government position; urges world to recognize Taliban government, EU to accept more Afghan refugees]( [Holocaust survivor’s son who rescued Afghans: ‘I put myself in their position’]( By [Gabe Friedman]( Live updates [LIVE: Ombudsman faults decision-making on COVID, uneven enforcement under Netanyahu]( By [TOI staff]( [State Comptroller says there was no ‘arranged procedure’ during past coronavirus waves to monitor then-PM and his cabinet, finds decisions were made without government deliberation]( [Thousands mourn at Tel Aviv funeral for slain Border Police officer]( By [TOI staff]( [Barel Hadaria Shmueli’s mother eulogizes him as ‘a king,’ but angrily accuses IDF, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett of negligence, with many in crowd booing PM]( [Family of fallen Border Police officer urges commission of inquiry into death]( By [TOI staff and Judah Ari Gross]( [Man arrested for threatening to kill Bennett in comment on post on troop’s death]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [Israel agrees to send NIS 500 million to PA, bypassing terror stipend freeze]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [So-called loan to Ramallah will be paid back via garnished tax revenue held by Israel, allowing Jerusalem to circumvent its own law requiring offsetting funds PA pays to terrorists]( [Gantz announces plans to legalize thousands of undocumented Palestinian spouses]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [IDF chief threatens response as Gazans riot on border for 3rd night]( By [TOI staff]( Top Ops [David M. Glickman]( [The moral lapse of bashing synagogue crowd limits in a pandemic]( [In a diatribe that scolds rabbis for exercising caution, Liel Leibovitz has misused his international platform to grandstand instead of to save lives]( [David Stav]( [Legal or not, synagogues must not meet indoors]( [Yes, we are all exhausted from this whole process but particularly now, we need to stay focused and the responsibility has to be shifted to us]( [Ophir Falk]( [515 Israelis died in August, schools should stay shut in September]( [Following this government’s serial missteps, and with more than 125,000 unvaccinated teachers and students, opening schools now can kill children]( [Marek Siwiec]( [Israel and Poland have so much more to do together]( [The diplomatic crisis obscures decades of work to build trust, respect and mutual understanding. We must continue to work together to face history]( [NY Jewish institutions hit with 150 child sex abuse lawsuits since 2019]( By [Asaf Shalev and Ella Rockart]( [Claims were filed after Child Victims Act opened up a two-year window for abuse survivors to seek redress for incidents that otherwise fell outside of the statute of limitations]( [Israeli AI startup bets on robotic beehives to save global bee populations]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Beewise says round-the-clock monitoring, care for honeybees will make world of difference in protecting pollinators, global food supply and agriculture]( [Cybersecurity giant Check Point acquires Israeli startup to protect cloud emails]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [US orthobiologics firm to buy Israeli medical tech company CartiHeal]( By [Ricky Ben-David and Shoshanna Solomon]( [Israel and US working on ‘Plan B’ if Iran nuke talks fail, Gantz says]( By [Judah Ari Gross]( [In wide-ranging briefing, defense minister says intel ties with US getting stronger, calls for strengthening the PA and keeping a strict blockade on Gaza until Hamas frees captives]( [Biden taps former ambassador Dan Shapiro as US point man to Israel on Iran]( By [Jacob Magid]( High Holidays 5782 [For American kids and adults, COVID-19 High Holiday safety questions answered]( By [PHILISSA CRAMER]( Obituary [Joshua Mitnick, a compassionate Israel reporter in a harsh region]( By [Dina Kraft]( [Colleagues, family remember the Middle East correspondent for his love of the land and its peoples and his passion for good food and music]( [Former Netanyahu caretaker awarded NIS 170,000 in libel suit]( By [TOI staff]( [Meni Naftali to receive damages from a range of Netanyahu associates after filing a lawsuit more than six years ago]( [Sa’ar orders work to begin on bill setting prime minister term limits]( By [TOI staff]( [Likud MK Barkat backs PM term limit, but not if it’s directly aimed at Netanyahu]( By [TOI staff]( [CRM]( More Headlines [Fake snooze / Fact checkers debunk MK’s claim that Biden fell asleep in Bennett meet]( By [TOI staff]( [Haifa man shot dead at home in latest murder in Israel’s Arab community]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [Liberman rolls out ‘most social budget ever’; predicts swift passage]( By [TOI staff]( [Right-wing ministers rankled by Gantz meeting with PA’s Abbas]( By [TOI staff]( [Alleged Palestinian stabber to give birth in prison while awaiting trial]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [6-year-old boy found dead after being forgotten for hours in a hot car]( By [TOI staff]( [Israel-Jordan ties boosted by rare alignment in interests on water, energy]( By [Ben Simon]( [Hurricane Ida causes 2 deaths, as thousands in US face weeks without power]( By [Rebecca Santana and JAY REEVES]( [Shin Bet arrests Palestinians who shot at IDF soldier during May clashes]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [Defendants in Netanyahu graft case oppose further questioning of key witness]( By [TOI staff]( [Tokyo 2020 / In upset for US, 20-year-old Jewish athlete wins Paralympic table tennis gold]( By [Emily Burack]( [Congresswoman Tlaib demands Israel release body of alleged Palestinian attacker]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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