ToI’s weekly deep dive: The fentanyl blight * Nevzlin v Putin * Soccer star saved my father-in-law * Hollywood-Israel love story * Ben-Yehuda’s footsteps * Unequal Israel

[Times of Israel]( [Weekly Deep Dive]( Sunday, July 31, 2022 ToI Investigates [Luke Tress]( [Jewish communities grapple with addiction as fentanyl crisis ravages US]( [American Jews have not been spared the devastating fallout of opioid abuse, which claimed 107,000 US lives in 2021, though some still struggle with stigmas while seeking help]( First person [Sue Surkes]( [How a Tottenham Hotspur soccer player saved my father-in-law’s life]( [And why, in tribute to defender Bert Sproston’s simple, world-changing act of humanity 84 years ago, 7 members of our family will go to see London team play Roma in Haifa on Sat.]( [AS Roma beats Tottenham in Haifa soccer game; Messi and PSG meet Israeli nonprofit]( By [TOI staff]( Interview [Exiled oligarch in Israel: Putin doesn’t want to annex Ukraine, but to destroy it]( By [Ksenia Svetlova]( [His company dismantled and friends imprisoned, Leonid Nevzlin has lived in Israel for 20 years. He hasn’t ceased criticizing the Kremlin – and sees some parallels in his new home]( Op-ed [David Horovitz]( [The perils of our increasingly unequal Israel]( [Undervaluing our teachers is not only deplorably shortsighted. It’s also emblematic of an economy dangerously dividing into an often callous elite and a demotivated majority]( [Electricity prices to rise by 8.6% next month, says electric company]( By [TOI staff]( [Histadrut announces protests, information campaign to fight rising cost of living]( By [Tobias Siegal]( [Education Ministry says 5,600 teaching positions unfilled ahead of school year]( By [TOI staff]( [World’s largest ER opens in Israel, raising bar for tech and scale in emergency med]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [President Isaac Herzog and Prime Minister Yair Lapid open new 8,000 square meter Tel Aviv facility boasting self-triage and robots to help you find your way]( [Can you judge your COVID immunity with an antibody test? Israeli research says yes]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( [Concerned by low iodine levels in desalinated water, Israel starts nationwide study]( By [Nathan Jeffay]( Inside story [8 years later, fallen soldier’s family returns to Israel, now with deep connections]( By [Jacob Rivkin]( [The parents of US-born lone soldier Max Steinberg, killed in Gaza in 2014, didn’t know anyone in the country at his funeral; now they are embracing the nation that showed its love]( Interview [Matt Lebovic]( [As the Holocaust raged, US newspapers buried reports on Hitler’s Final Solution]( [In a new book, scholar Rafael Medoff shows how outlets downplayed news of the genocide until late 1943, as FDR’s government and even Jewish leaders felt little pressure to act]( [‘We have no home’: Undecided former Yamina voters wait for least worst option]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Party refugees have the potential to tip election outcome, but many are waiting to see party slates to decide – likely skewing political polls]( [Analysis / Straddling the Netanyahu question, Zionist Spirit could be kingmaker, if it survives]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( [Despite union, Zionist Spirit leaders still split over cooperation with Netanyahu]( By [TOI staff]( [Beleaguered right-wing leaders Shaked and Hendel unite as Zionist Spirit party]( By [Carrie Keller-Lynn]( Exclusive [With pilgrims coming, Uman’s ‘miracle’ refugee shelters will be forced to clear out]( By [Lazar Berman]( [Hundreds of non-Jewish Ukrainians enjoy cholent and discover Shabbat in the city’s kosher hotels, but Hasidic worshipers will arrive in weeks and officials don’t have a solution]( [Uman’s mayor to ToI: We don’t have enough shelters, can’t guarantee pilgrims’ safety]( By [Lazar Berman]( [In Ukraine’s Uman, locals predict war won’t keep all Jewish pilgrims away]( By [Lazar Berman]( Top Ops [Joshua Berman]( [Messengers from the Russian moral abyss]( [At our Shabbat table, cousins of mine embarking on their new life in Israel shared chilling accounts of a country that resembles prewar Germany]( [Marjan Keypour Greenblatt]( [In Iran, we chanted ‘death to Israel’ but dreamed of freedom]( [When I had the opportunity to tell acting Prime Minister Lapid just one thing about the country of my birth, this is what I chose to share with him]( [Daniel Landes]( [Twenty years after Ben and Marla and the Hebrew University bombing]( [I dream of them every year, remembering his rough veneer and heart of gold, her brilliance and generosity – and how I called their parents with the terrible news]( [David E. Bernstein]( [What a ‘MENA’ racial classification would mean for American Jews]( [Arab American groups are pushing for the ’Middle Eastern and North African category’ in a bid for official victim status. Jews should oppose the change]( Interview [Henry Ford’s ‘ghost’ opens up about his infamous antisemitism in new art documentary]( By [Rich Tenorio]( [A century after the publication of ‘The International Jew,’ filmmaker Andy Kirshner revives the automaker in ’10 Questions for Henry Ford,’ screening at the SF Jewish Film Festival]( [Biden pressing Palestinians to cooperate on Abraham Accords, but Abbas undecided]( By [Jacob Magid]( [US highlighting how cooperation between Israel and new ally Morocco led to improved access for Palestinians at Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan]( [Damning report finds systemic intelligence, operational failures in May 2021 riots]( By [Jeremy Sharon]( [Security agencies say reforms already underway after handling of 2021 unrest panned]( By [TOI staff]( Interview [Hollywood and Israel, a love story: How the Jewish state met the silver screen]( By [Rich Tenorio]( [In a new book, authors Tony Shaw and Giora Goodman examine the history of modern Israel’s representation in cinema — with all its ups and downs]( Interview [Julie Masis]( [Relics of a USSR both maddening and sweet emerge in blockbuster Jewish memoir]( [Yelena Lembersky’s ‘Like a Drop of Ink in a Downpour’ is a surprisingly even-handed tale of escape from the Iron Curtain with her grandfather’s famous Babyn Yar massacre paintings]( Maccabiah Games [Once homeless, para athlete Freya Levy finds a home at the Maccabiah Games]( By [Ethan Freedman]( [CRM]( [At a Catskills retreat, Brooklyn Holocaust survivors get respite and a rap show]( By [Luke Tress]( [Elderly Jews enjoy break from the sweltering city at a mountain resort for the first time since the start of COVID, and some improv from rapper Kosha Dillz]( Analysis [Emanuel Fabian]( [Hezbollah hints it’s ready for a war over gas — but knows Lebanon can’t afford one]( [As Israel prepares for potential conflict over offshore gas extraction, experts say Nasrallah’s threats are mostly an effort to stay relevant, but they also keep him dangerous]( [Analysis / Israel says IDF’s armed drones can now be talked about, unless it’s to sell them]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( [IDF exposes ‘Hamas sites’ in Gaza civilian areas, in bid to explain future strikes]( By [Emanuel Fabian]( Israel Travels [If these walls could speak: Hebrew pioneer Ben-Yehuda’s legacy lives on in Jerusalem]( By [Aviva and Shmuel Bar-Am]( [The capital is rich with historical sites marking the life and work of Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and his family, who toiled to give the nascent Jewish state a language of its own]( [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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