ToI’s weekly deep dive: Tech soars in 2021 * Miss Universe, still a thing? * An Afghan escape * A working-class Tel Aviv neighborhood, booted * Bibi, annexation & the UAE

[Times of Israel]( [Weekly Deep Dive]( Sunday, December 19, 2021 [Israeli tech exits jump 520% to whopping $82.4b in 2021, hit new records]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [171 M&As and IPOs recorded so far this year, with significant local acquisition activity, says new PwC report]( [33 unicorns and $25b in funding: Israeli tech sector sets new records in 2021]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Israeli startup Noname Security hits $1b valuation after $135m investment]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( Inside story [‘They are burying us’: Tourism sector workers fume at government offer to ‘retrain’]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [In 2021, should Miss Universe still be a thing? Those involved weigh in]( By [Amy Spiro]( [The competition, hosted this year in Eilat, was the target of vocal criticism from those who view beauty pageants as outdated, sexist and damaging to young women]( [Israel’s beauty on full display as India takes the crown at Miss Universe in Eilat]( By [Amy Spiro]( [Miss Fix the Universe: Alternative ‘pageant’ in Israel highlights beauty of ideas]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( Op-ed [Nathan Jeffay]( [Vaccine grinches are wrong — Israel is still a paragon of immunization excellence]( [Two in every five Israelis have little to no immunity against infection by Omicron, but don’t jump to the conclusion that the inoculation effort has gone off track]( [Tel Aviv University breakthrough touted as key to reversing ALS]( By [TOI staff]( [Oxygen when sleeping eases depression for 1 in 3 patients in small Israeli study]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( Exclusive [Jacob Magid]( [US holding off on reopening Jerusalem consulate amid strong pushback from Israel]( [But the US Embassy’s Palestinian Affairs Unit is now reporting directly to DC, as the shuttered Jerusalem mission did until 2019, in a partial revival of the pre-Trump status quo]( [Op-ed / Trump quotes confirm what we saw: He never quite bought Netanyahu’s Palestinian line]( By [David Horovitz]( [Trump: I thought Israelis would do anything for peace, but found that not to be true]( By [TOI staff]( [‘A huge loss’: Yehudah Dimentman, 25, named as victim of West Bank terror shooting]( By [TOI staff]( [Father of one, yeshiva student gunned down outside West Bank settlement outpost; ‘He was a sweet person, welcoming to all,’ says friend injured in attack]( [Israeli forces nab suspected terrorists in deadly West Bank shooting]( By [Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff]( [‘This place is fully ours’: Hundreds at terror victim’s funeral in West Bank outpost]( By [Judah Ari Gross and TOI staff]( [Revealed: What Netanyahu really thought of UAE envoy’s peace for no-annexation offer]( By [Jacob Magid]( [When landmark op-ed appeared, Israeli envoy Dermer called Emirati counterpart irate at being kept out of loop, and warned that Jerusalem would have no choice but to annex, ToI told]( [Trump says American Jews ‘either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel’]( By [TOI staff]( [‘What the hell was that?’: Netanyahu annexation announcement caught Trump off guard]( By [TOI staff]( ToI investigates [Settler attacks on Palestinians are on the rise, but justice remains elusive]( By [Aaron Boxerman]( [Violent assaults against Palestinians in the West Bank went up by nearly 50 percent over the past year, but arrests and indictments remain scant in all but the most extreme cases]( [De-emphasized under Trump, report shows Biden taking settler violence more seriously]( By [Jacob Magid]( [After deadly shooting, extremist settlers accused of assaulting Palestinians]( By [TOI staff]( Top Ops [Efraim Zuroff]( [May you live long and be prosecuted]( [At 100, Herbert Wahler has outlived other Germans listed as members of the genocidal Einsatzgruppe C. His age should not shield him from accountability.]( [Betsalel Steinhart]( [Reach out, please, to your local tour guide]( [I’ve lost count of the many skilled educators who are working menial jobs to feed their families, who are having trouble coping, who are suffering from despair]( [Aaron Jacob]( [The Zionism = racism lie isn’t over]( [Three decades after the UN scrubbed its most anti-Israel resolution, efforts to tarnish the Jewish state are back full steam with charges of Apartheid]( [Kally Rubin Kislowicz]( [Passport renewal]( [What kind of religious woman would even consider removing her head covering for an ID photo and where’s my bionic chip?]( [Synagogue group helps Afghan family flee Taliban, reunite with relatives in New York]( By [Luke Tress]( [Refugees reach new home after help from Jewish activists and months in transit; still fear for family in Kabul as millions face starvation, drought and disease]( Op-ed [David Horovitz]( [Why is Israel again abandoning the Solomonic wisdom of the Western Wall compromise?]( [A coalition avowedly committed to advancing consensual issues is, deplorably, instead capitulating to extremists over access for the Jewish people to our holiest place for prayer]( [‘No more excuses’: Conservative Movement slams shelving of Western Wall compromise]( By [Jacob Magid]( [Lapid backs shelving of Western Wall compromise: ‘We have 4 years’]( By [TOI staff]( inside story [Abraham Rabinovich]( [Newly opened archives show Israel’s air force was a weak link during Yom Kippur War]( [In Hebrew title ‘A War of Its Own,’ Prof. Uri Bar-Joseph airs criticism that’s been kept under wraps, detailing failures that stopped Israeli operations from getting off the ground]( [A Tel Aviv neighborhood is gone, but evicted residents are still mired in struggle]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [The working-class Givat Amal is to be replaced by luxury high-rises, but its last residents, scarred and scattered by their removal, say they’re still seeking fair compensation]( [‘Gas can wait,’ says energy minister, rejecting panel’s call for further exploration]( By [Sue Surkes]( [Addressing a renewable energy conference in Eilat, Karine Elharrar vows that 2022 will be the ‘year of renewable energy’]( [Energy Ministry budgets NIS 100 million to advance hydrogen tech]( By [Sue Surkes]( [At green energy confab, industry doubts Israel will reach renewable targets]( By [Sue Surkes]( [Tovah Feldshuh is very becoming in ‘Becoming Dr. Ruth’]( By [Jordan Hoffman]( [Through Jan. 2, a limited performance of the one-woman show based on the life of Dr. Ruth Westheimer is at NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage]( Inside story [Grid locked: Many Tesla owners ‘home charge’ via living room windows]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [As battery-powered vehicle adoption rapidly accelerates, Israel’s new car owners embrace creative solutions to power up while waiting for the infrastructure to catch up]( [Mobileye rolls out trial for on-demand, autonomous car rides in Paris]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( Exhibition [No shock value, just shock: Exhibit shows Boris Lurie’s searing post-Holocaust works]( By [Danielle Ziri]( [Through April 2022, ‘Nothing To Do But Try’ at NYC’s Museum of Jewish Heritage showcases the artist’s overlooked early work, created in the immediate aftermath of the genocide]( [CRM]( [80 years ago this month, Nazis invented ‘industrial murder’ at quiet Chelmno]( By [Matt Lebovic]( [In a small Polish village outside Lodz, German SS leaders discovered how to bring the Jewish genocide ‘to scale’ and hide evidence of their crimes by cremating the human remains]( More Headlines [Times Will Tell / Podcast: Pentacostal minister talks God, Christianity and his place in Israel]( By [TOI staff]( [Stopping a suspect car, police find ancient items Bar Kochba rebels took from Romans]( By [Luke Tress]( [4th COVID shots likely soon for some immunocompromised Israelis, says top doc]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Investors rushed to buy housing units in October, ahead of purchase tax hike]( By [Ricky Ben-David]( [Iran’s nuclear breakout time is now ‘really short, unacceptably short’ – US official]( By [TOI staff and AFP]( [IDF turns to new training simulators in quest to level up recruits]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [Report: US tells Israel new tanker jets, key to Iran strike, not coming anytime soon]( By [TOI staff]( [Hogeg freed to house arrest on $22 million bail in probe of sex crimes, crypto fraud]( By [TOI staff]( [Classical music fest in Nazareth brings Arabs, Jews together for Christmas]( By [Jessica Steinberg]( [After 70 years on the sidelines, AIPAC will now officially fundraise for politicians]( By [Ron Kampeas]( [ToI investigates / Celsius suspends official under probe; 2nd staffer founded firm with money launderer]( By [Simona Weinglass]( [As Bennett ends UAE visit, his office says crown prince accepted invite to Israel]( By [TOI staff]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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