ToI’s weekly deep dive: What’s in the budget * Is Netanyahu washed up? * Stroke-causing COVID proteins ID’ed * Back from ’Mars’ * Auschwitz on TikTok * Rules for tourists

[Times of Israel]( [Weekly Deep Dive]( Sunday, November 7, 2021 Explainer [Ricky Ben-David]( [How much of a revolution? 13 key reforms in Israel’s new state budget]( [As the coalition finally gets a state budget approved, Israelis can expect major changes in education, consumer prices, transportation, and healthcare]( [Minimum wage to increase gradually to NIS 6,000 by 2025]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Knesset passes 2022 budget, capping key win for Bennett-led coalition]( By [TOI staff]( Analysis [Haviv Rettig Gur]( [Budget in hand, Bennett’s once-brittle coalition proves it can take on Netanyahu]( [Overcoming painful compromises, the unlikely alliance behind the government manages to rebuke the country’s former leaders, and may be driving an opposition rethink]( [Liberman says budget defeat shows Netanyahu has ‘lost his magic,’ is washed up]( By [TOI staff]( [Government plans building boom to alleviate Israel’s housing crisis]( By [TOI staff]( [COVID proteins that trigger strokes and heart attacks identified by Israeli team]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Discovery, made through ‘peek in virus’s black box,’ could lead to therapies that halt havoc wrought on vascular system, say Tel Aviv University scientists]( [Israeli drug that slowed Alzheimer’s, ALS in mice gets funding to start trials]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Small trial of Israeli drug shows promise for treating fatty liver disease]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Astronauts ‘touch down’ in Negev’s Ramon Crater after mission to ‘Mars’]( By [Amy Spiro]( [In a collaboration between the Israel Space Agency and the Austrian Space Forum, 6 analog astronauts spent several weeks simulating life on Red Planet and conducting experiments]( Interview [Keeping a vow to tell her tale, Auschwitz survivor becomes TikTok sensation]( By [Robert Philpot]( [How rank and file fascists helped galvanize Europe between world wars]( By [Robert Philpot]( [A new exhibition at London’s Wiener Holocaust Library shows that even where fascists failed to gain power, their ideas and supporters had a devastating impact]( [Holocaust hidden child, who never knew his family, meets a cousin for first time]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [Holocaust survivor publishes PhD dissertation on ‘serendipity’ of Balfour]( By [Renee Ghert-Zand]( [In 1st for Conservative movement, women rabbis tie knot in same-sex wedding]( By [Alix Wall]( Explainer [TOI staff]( [How vaccinated tourists can now enter Israel: The full guide]( [Only those vaccinated in last 6 months will be allowed in; in shift, Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine will be recognized but serology test required; most children prevented from visiting]( [For first time in 20 months, Israel welcomes back tourists]( By [TOI staff]( Israel Travels [Immersive Arabic program invites Israelis to blend into life in Abu Ghosh]( By [Aviva Bar-Am]( [Chen Kupperman’s innovative courses at Blend.ar teach more than just language — they bring participants to live, work, eat and socialize with Israeli Arabs around the clock]( Op-Ed [Lazar Berman]( [With a convert’s zeal, PM takes a precarious perch among global elite in Glasgow]( [Bennett may feel his trip to the climate conference was an unmitigated success, but there are potential dangers in getting too chummy with the rich and famous]( [Johnson apologizes to wheelchair-using Elharrar as she joins Bennett at COP26]( By [Lazar Berman]( [Explainer / Israel joins the net zero carbon club of countries. How will they all get there?]( By [Sue Surkes]( Top Ops [Todd Berman]( [The 5783 Yeshiva/Seminary and Gap Year Program Buyers Guide]( [With at least 37 gap year experiences on offer, from Torah study to volunteering, it’s hard to make an informed decision. This guide makes it easier]( [Yoseph Haddad]( [The aftermath of Israel’s attack on the 6 NGOs]( [Israel’s main battle these days is on social media, which less about terrorists, and more the need to combat influencers with millions of followers]( [Nikki Haley goes after AIPAC for hosting lawmakers who support Iran deal]( By [Jacob Magid]( [At RJC confab, Trump’s UN envoy says that in making bipartisanship raison d’être, pro-Israel lobby losing site of policies it supports; claims two-state solution unrealistic]( [Bennett, Lapid in united front: ‘No place for US consulate in Jerusalem’]( By [TOI staff]( [Interview / GOP senator: Flipping House and Senate will let Republicans pass anti-BDS laws]( By [Jacob Magid]( Editor's Note [David Horovitz]( [UK’s oldest continually used synagogue emerges from the shadow of The Gherkin]( [Nestled beneath the glass and steel high-rises of the City of London, not far from St. Paul’s, Bevis Marks, 300-year-old ‘cathedral of Anglo Jewry,’ prepares to welcome the world]( Times Will Tell [Podcast: This professional foodie says it’s time to celebrate Israeli cuisine]( By [TOI staff]( [Culinary entrepreneur David Kichka, one of the founders of the Israeli Cuisine Festival opening next week, enthuses about Israel’s melting pot cuisine]( Interview [Trump impeachment witness Alexander Vindman to ToI: America can handle the truth]( By [Cathryn J. Prince]( [As the retired lieutenant colonel releases ‘Here, Right Matters: An American Story,’ he discusses growing up as a Ukrainian Jewish immigrant and the values that led him to testify]( [Trump: Israel ‘literally owned Congress’ a decade ago, today it’s the opposite]( By [Jacob Magid]( [After delay, Senate confirms Biden nominee Nides as ambassador to Israel]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Lebanese envoy hosts event for French Jewish expats, urges them to return home]( By [TOI staff]( [At unprecedented ‘reunion’ in Lebanon’s embassy in Paris, ambassador says country in danger of total collapse, citizens of all different sects must unite to save it]( [In 1st interview with Israeli TV, exiled Lebanese reporter slams Hezbollah, Iran]( By [TOI staff]( [Massive Yayoi Kusama exhibit at TLV Museum of Art offers thrills and wonder]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [‘Yayoi Kusama: A Retrospective’ opens November 15 at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, with tickets sold out until December]( [X and O mark the spot for veteran industrial designer’s whimsical flower exhibit]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [CRM]( [‘A turning point’: 3 years on, US rabbis reflect on Pittsburgh synagogue attack]( By [Danielle Ziri]( [On Oct. 27, 2018, a shooter entered Tree of Life, killing 11 in the deadliest antisemitic event in American history. Now clergy open up about that morning and life in its aftermath]( More Headlines [Israel to evacuate families of diplomats from Ethiopia, steps up travel warning]( By [TOI staff]( [Israeli firm Beamr awarded Emmy for video compression tech]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Court lifts gag order on names of alleged forex scammers wanted in Germany]( By [Simona Weinglass]( [Scuffles at Western Wall as hundreds of Haredim try to block progressive prayer]( By [AP and TOI staff]( [Twitter’s new curator for Middle East news apologizes for anti-Israel tweets]( By [Gabe Stutman]( [Israeli dossier on blacklisted rights groups contains little evidence, AP finds]( By [AP and TOI staff]( [Israel is not yet among the 90 countries in talks with Pfizer over COVID pill]( By [TOI staff and Agencies]( [Malicious activities: US blacklists Israel’s NSO Group and Candiru spyware firms]( By [TOI staff and Jacob Magid]( [The fairest of them all? / Gal Gadot to play evil queen in new ‘Snow White’]( By [Stuart Winer]( [Sally Rooney novels pulled from major Israeli bookstores after her boycott]( By [TOI staff]( [Ancient ‘hangover cure’ gold ring found at Yavne winery excavation]( By [Stuart Winer]( [In new memoir, Kirk Douglas accused of sexually assaulting Natalie Wood]( By [AP]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? [View in browser]( © 2021 The Times Of Israel, All Rights Reserved