ToI’s weekly deep dive: On the ground in devastated Turkey * Horovitz op-ed: Demolition of Israeli democracy begins * Podcast: What Matters Now to MK Simcha Rothman

[Times of Israel]( [Weekly Deep Dive]( Sunday, February 12, 2023 Reporter's Notebook [In devastated Turkey, rescuers battle cold, concrete to save those trapped by quake]( By Judah Ari Gross Whole neighborhoods of Kahramanmaraş were flattened in Monday’s tremors; professional teams and local residents fight the clock to pull people from the rubble before it’s too late Interview [‘She helped us, told us when to do what’: Israeli doc describes rescuing Turkish girl]( By Judah Ari Gross Pediatrician Itai Basel is taking part in his first delegation to a disaster zone with United Hatzalah. ‘Training is one thing. Being a part of this is something else,’ he says [Reporter's Notebook / Israeli rescuer who helped in ’99 earthquakes returns to Turkey to save lives]( By Judah Ari Gross [IDF field hospital in Turkey treats 180 wounded in quake, including Syrian refugees]( By Emanuel Fabian [IDF teams rescue 10-year-old boy trapped under rubble for 100 hours in Turkey]( By Emanuel Fabian Op-ed David Horovitz [Demolition of Israeli democracy starts next week; Netanyahu must heed Herzog’s plea]( MKs are about to okay the 1st reading of parts of the judicial overhaul package; it’s really one man’s power grab, and only that man can pull Israel back from the autocratic brink Analysis Haviv Rettig Gur [In the Knesset and in the streets, the leaders of the Israeli center-left are MIA]( Opponents of the judicial overhaul offer no alternative, no vision and no strategy. These are given to a political movement by its leaders, which the center-left doesn’t have Interview [Irwin Cotler: Passing judicial overhaul as is would make Israel a ‘flawed democracy’]( By Jeremy Sharon Top Ops Michal Cotler-Wunsh [Another open letter to Israel’s friends in North America]( Daniel Gordis, Yossi Klein Halevi, and Matti Friedman wrote strongly against judicial reform, but they didn’t consider all the reasons to favor it Moshe Koppel [This reform will end limitless power for unelected elites]( Opponents equate their loss of political power with ‘the end of democracy,’ but with some modifications, consensus is within reach Suzie Navot [A bid for unlimited power. That’s all it is.]( As the Attorney General clearly shows, this ’reform’ doesn’t make Israel more democratic. Far from it. Jennifer Rosner [Redemption and rupture: Hidden children of the Holocaust]( Reclaiming the youngsters was an act of kindness to their murdered parents and to the Jewish people, but what about the children themselves? Interview [Weeks after filling long-empty post, Israeli envoy oversees quake aid to Turkey]( By Lazar Berman World War II [‘Ultra’ podcast depicts little-known Nazi-funded plot to topple US government]( By Matt Lebovic Rachel Maddow’s eerily timed series depicts how ultra-right nationalists prepared to bomb Jewish sites while ‘bought’ members of Congress disseminated Nazi talking points [Ronald Lauder reaches deal with Jewish heirs for Klimt painting lost under Nazis]( By Luke Tress [CRM]( ToI podcast [What Matters Now… to MK Simcha Rothman? ‘The people should appoint the judges’]( By Amanda Borschel-Dan In this second episode of What Matters Now, we speak with the legislator who has written the bills for the proposed judicial overhaul and hear why he thinks they’re not so radical Health [Haredi men three times as likely to be nearsighted, probably due to Talmud study]( By Nathan Jeffay Experts at Hadassah Academic College find that ultra-Orthodox men tend to position themselves closer to text than others, which scholars believe explains huge prevalence of myopia [Israel’s richest locales show 20% lower cancer death rate than middle-income areas]( By Nathan Jeffay [Some hair-straightening products can cause kidney failure – pioneering Israeli study]( By Nathan Jeffay [Obituary / Charles Silverstein, who helped delist homosexuality as mental illness, dies at 87]( By Yaakov Schwartz [US-born Israeli comics explain local life (and cats) in fun, wise book ‘Israel 201’]( By Jessica Steinberg Joel Chasnoff and Benji Lovitt launch their ‘Next-Level Guide to the Magic, Mystery, and Chaos of Life in the Holy Land’ Tech Israel [Israel first responders in Turkey use real-time tech for remote victim care]( By Sharon Wrobel Using Israeli-founded startup Carbyne’s dashboard of high-resolution incident mapping and video, rescuers communicate with United Hatzalah Israel call center and medical experts [For third week in a row, tech workers in Israel rally against judicial overhaul]( By Sharon Wrobel [Israeli blockchain firm develops ‘fire prevention’ tech to thwart FTX-style fraud]( By Sharon Wrobel [Israel invites US retail giant Costco to make foray into local food market]( By Sharon Wrobel Interview [Late-blooming character actor Anabel Graetz talks about finding Hollywood fame at 77]( By Cathryn J. Prince Real Estate [A playground for the 1%, Savyon’s multimillion shekel homes suddenly seem reasonable]( By Danielle Nagler Finding a home in the uber-exclusive enclave outside Tel Aviv requires both untold riches and real estate intel, but many feel it’s worth it for Savyon’s small-town luxe lifestyle [Israeli buildings face major earthquake risk, despite efforts to upgrade them]( By Danielle Nagler [Israel’s housing market is headed for rough terrain in 2023, experts say]( By Danielle Nagler Reaching for the sky [In crowded Japanese-style forest, Israeli trees find space to grow]( By Sue Surkes Interview [‘How the Soviet Jew Was Made’: A tale of wandering, oppression, language and lore]( By JP O’ Malley In his award-winning book, Prof. Sasha Senderovich mixes a rich, centuries-old body of Yiddish folklore with early 20th-century events to define a notoriously nebulous Jewish group Archaeology [Rare 1,600-year-old gold bead found by teenager in Jerusalem’s City of David]( By Michael Bachner Piece of jewelry, which required unique expertise to make, discovered in earth sifted from magnificent Roman structure in Pilgrimage Road, near Old City From the blogs [So it begins: A diary of the very near future]( By David Kretzmer This is how the government’s sweeping change to Israel’s constitutional and political regime plays out [Unsubscribe from this List]( Email not displaying correctly? 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