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Analysis
ITS PROXIES PUMMELED, IRAN IS SUDDENLY MORE VULNERABLE THAN EVER. WILL IT GO
NUCLEAR?
HEZBOLLAH IS WEAKENED, ASSAD IS HISTORY, AND TEHRAN’S AIR DEFENSES HAVE BEEN
HIT. WITH TRUMP COMING BACK, WILL KHAMENEI DECIDE TO PLAY HIS LAST CARD – AND
WILL ISRAEL STRIKE?
By Lazar Berman
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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
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Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei addresses a meeting in Tehran,
Iran, October 27, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
Iran’s position has slipped dramatically in recent weeks.
Israel hammered its most powerful proxy, Hezbollah, into stopping its rocket
attacks in November after the Lebanese terror group lost its leadership and
thousands of fighters.
Days later, Sunni rebels took advantage of Israel’s successes and swept
southward from Idlib, ending the Assad family’s half-century of rule in Syria
and breaking the land bridge between Iran and Hezbollah.
Tehran’s vaunted missile arsenal has proven underwhelming as well. Its two
massive attacks on Israel this year succeeded in killing one Palestinian man and
wounding a 7-year-old Bedouin girl. In response, Israel showed it can carry out
airstrikes on sensitive Iranian sites. Israeli Air Force planes also destroyed
the Islamic Republic’s state-of-the-art air defense batteries, opening the path
to future strikes on sensitive infrastructure.
Though the focus for months has been on the dramatic developments across
Israel’s northern frontier, it is now returning to the issue that dominated
Israeli and Western security discussions before October 7 — Iran’s nuclear
program.
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And one question is on everyone’s mind: Will Iran’s newfound weakness cause it
to avoid sparking a confrontation with its more powerful adversaries, or will it
prove to the Islamic Republic that its survival depends on attaining a nuclear
weapon?
IRAN ADVANCES
The Western countries leading the effort to prevent Iran from moving ahead with
its nuclear program are sounding the alarm.
On Tuesday, Britain, France and Germany accused Iran of growing its stockpile of
highly enriched uranium to “unprecedented levels” without “any credible civilian
justification.”
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Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization head Mohammad Eslami (R), listens to
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, following a joint press
conference in Tehran on November 14, 2024. (ATTA KENARE / AFP)
“Iran’s stockpile of High Enriched Uranium has also reached unprecedented
levels, again without any credible civilian justification. It gives Iran the
capability to rapidly produce sufficient fissile material for multiple nuclear
weapons,” the trio said in the statement.
In a report in early December, the Office of the United States Director of
National Intelligence warned that “Iran now has enough fissile material to make
more than a dozen nuclear weapons,” but said the regime had not yet decided to
break out to a bomb.
Despite the advances, the program stands more or less where it was before
October 7. Iran hasn’t enriched uranium past the 60 percent mark, and its
estimated breakout time has not shrunk.
“The bottom line has not changed,” said Raz Zimmt, an Iran scholar at the
Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv.
A replica of Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant at an exhibition at the
International Conference on Nuclear Science and Technology in Isfahan on May 6,
2024. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
Iranian rhetoric has become noticeably sharper over the past year, however.
“The threats of the Zionist regime against Iran’s nuclear facilities make it
possible to revise our nuclear doctrine and deviate from our previous
considerations,” said Ahmad Haghtalab, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
commander in charge of nuclear security, in April, as Tehran awaited Israel’s
response to its first ballistic missile attack.
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“We have no decision to build a nuclear bomb but should Iran’s existence be
threatened,” echoed an adviser to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in May, “there
will be no choice but to change our military doctrine.”
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with the President
Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, August 27, 2024.
(Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)
In October, dozens of lawmakers signed a letter to Iran’s Supreme National
Security Council asking it to change its doctrine to allow the production of
nuclear weapons.
But that rhetoric doesn’t mean Iran is about to break out to a nuclear weapon.
With key provisions of the 2015 JCPOA nuclear deal expiring in 2025, and
incoming US President Donald Trump seemingly open to discussing a new agreement,
Iran’s threatening language is meant to pressure the three European states in
the JCPOA to keep Washington from adopting an overly aggressive stance against
Iran, said Alex Vatanka, founding Director of the Iran Program at the Middle
East Institute.
“I haven’t seen anything to suggest that this has been anything other than a
fresh pressure strategy to shape the calculations of the Western camp,” he
explained.
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago,
December 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Iran also agreed last week to tougher monitoring by the UN nuclear watchdog at
its Fordow site.
Jonathan Ruhe, director of foreign policy at the Jewish Institute for National
Security of America, is not entirely of the same opinion.
Ruhe concurred that Iran’s expansion of high-enriched uranium stockpiles is
useful leverage for anticipated talks with the West, but argues that it also
“compensates for Iran’s losses on other fronts by positioning it for a major
breakout.”
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This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows damaged buildings at Iran’s
Parchin military base outside of Tehran, Iran, October 27, 2024. The damaged
structures are in the bottom right corner and bottom center of the image.
(Planet Labs PBC via AP)
With its string of losses and a long-stagnant economy, Iran may at some point
decide that the last card it has to play is indeed moving toward a nuclear
weapon.
WATCHING WEAPONIZATION
A key component of that process, not under the IAEA monitoring regime, is
weaponization.
According to Axios, US and Israeli intelligence began to detect new activity at
the “Taleghan 2” earlier this year, including computer modeling, metallurgy and
research on explosives, that would be relevant to creating a nuclear device.
“They conducted scientific activity that could lay the ground for the production
of a weapon. It was a top-secret thing. A small part of the Iranian government
knew about this, but most of the Iranian government didn’t,” a US official told
Axios.
Israeli airstrikes on Iran in October targeted the site, said the report,
destroying sophisticated equipment used to design the explosives that could
surround uranium in a nuclear device.
A general view of Tehran after Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military
sites weeks October 26, 2024. (Atta Kenare/AFP)
The attack indicates that Israeli intelligence has penetrated Iran’s
weaponization project, and would know if Tehran resumes its push toward creating
the specialized device.
But “the final leap to a bomb could still be hard to detect,” cautioned Ruhe.
“The IAEA still lacks clarity on Iran’s bomb-building program, and historically
it’s been incredibly difficult to detect the decisions that propel countries to
take that last step.”
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> The final leap to a bomb could still be hard to detect
Still, other factors are making it less likely for Iran to make that move.
A decision to weaponize was always a dangerous move for a regime in Tehran that
was worried about provoking a direct attack from the US and its allies. With its
proxies battered and air defenses reduced, that decision would be even more
dangerous.
ISRAEL’S OPTIONS
With Iran’s deterrence against Israel dissipating, voices calling for an Israeli
strike on Iran’s nuclear program are growing louder.
IDF officials briefed reporters last week that the IAF is continuing its
preparations for potential strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
An Israeli Air Force fighter jet that took part in strikes in Iran on early
October 26, 2024, in an image cleared for publication the following day. (Israel
Defense Forces)
Due to the dramatic changes in the Middle East, especially the fall of Bashar
al-Assad, which allowed the IAF to take out the vast majority of Syria’s air
defenses, the Israeli military believes there is now an opportunity to strike
Iran’s nuclear sites, the officials said.
What would Israel be able to accomplish, if it chose to strike in the final
weeks of a lame-duck Joe Biden presidency?
Israeli strikes in Iran in October and in Yemen this week should leave little
doubt about the IAF’s ability to carry out major long-range precision air raids.
Explosions are seen in Yemen after Israel carries out strikes on Houthi targets
on December 19, 2024 (Screen capture X/ used in accordance with Clause 27a of
the Copyright Law)
But it would certainly not be able to wipe out the nuclear program, only delay
it.
The challenge would be “to attack the Iranian nuclear program in the multiple
sites where you have to carry out an attack, in a way where you feel confident
that you’ve done the sort of damage that will be hard to undo for years,” said
Vatanka.
Iran has been working hard to make that kind of success much harder to achieve.
“Iran has spent years making its infrastructure as resilient as possible by
dispersing enrichment-related activities, moving them deeper underground, and
blocking inspectors,” said Ruhe. “Expedited transfers of US-made KC-46 tankers
and bunker busters would certainly help here.”
An F-16 fighter jet carrying a ‘Rocks’ air-to-surface ‘bunker buster’ missile
takes off from an Israeli air base in an undated photograph. (Rafael Advanced
Defense Systems)
Israel might prefer to wait until the Trump administration takes office, with
the hope that he is more likely to give Israel the munitions it needs for an
attack, or even eventually order a strike himself.
“We are in a waiting period,” said Zimmt.
The Iranians are likely waiting for Trump to indicate what his policy will be
before deciding on their next steps, and Israel could well be in a similar
posture.
“The most likely possibility is that Iran will try to conduct some sort of
dialogue with the new administration,” Zimmt predicted. “Both sides are ready
for negotiations.”
“The problem is I don’t see how these negotiations reach an agreement.”
The United Nations Security Council meets to discuss the situation in the Middle
East on November 20, 2024, at UN headquarters in New York City. (Angela
Weiss/AFP)
If they don’t, then in October 2025, the possibility of invoking “snapback” UN
Security Council sanctions on Iran will expire — a major landmark that adds
urgency for the West to come to some sort of plan of action well before that
date.
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Katz threatens to ‘crush Hezbollah’s head’ if terror group violates ceasefire
By ToI Staff
Gantz accuses PM of ‘sabotaging’ hostage talks with Hamas * For second time in
as many days, pope accuses Israel of ‘cruelty’ over Gaza strikes * IDF advances
to area west of Beit Hanoun
* 30min ago
7 illegal settlement outposts established in West Bank area under Palestinian
civil control, watchdog says
* 1hr ago
Gantz accuses Netanyahu of 'sabotaging' hostage deal negotiations with Hamas
* 1hr ago
Far-right protesters in Germany call for mass deportations of migrants after
Christmas market attack
* 2hr ago
For second time in as many days, pope accuses Israel of 'cruelty' over Gaza
strikes
Report: Israel demands 11 male hostages be among those freed in first stage of
deal
By ToI Staff
Egyptian TV network says Hamas demanding ‘special consideration’ in exchange;
Palestinian official tells BBC 90% of negotiations are done, but Philadelphi
remains sticking point
Israel says Hamas has yet to give list of living hostages to be released —
report
By ToI Staff and Jacob Magid
Weekly protests urge Netanyahu to strike hostage deal, without phased release
By Noam Lehmann and ToI Staff
Report: Families of several hostages receive signs of life from loved ones
By ToI Staff
Arab diplomat says hostage talks progressing but deal still likely to be weeks
away
By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff
Iran plagued by energy crisis partially caused by strikes attributed to Israel
By ToI Staff and Agencies
Outdated and underfunded energy sector’s problems further compounded by depleted
gas reserves caused by attack on two major pipelines back in February
PM: Iran ‘dumbfounded’ by Israeli strikes, saw investment in proxies go ‘down
the tubes’
By ToI Staff
Khamenei says Iran does not have or need proxy forces in Middle East
By AFP and ToI Staff
AnalysisIts proxies pummeled, Iran is suddenly more vulnerable than ever. Will
it go nuclear?
By Lazar Berman
US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen, takes down drones over Red Sea
By AFP and ToI Staff
Hours earlier, the Iran-backed rebel group launched a missile at Tel Aviv,
wounding 16, in the second such attack in two days
Fighter pilots laud precision of operation to strike Yemen: ‘An incredible
feeling’
By ToI Staff
After Yemen strikes, Netanyahu says Israel hitting Houthis on behalf of ‘entire
world’
By Lazar Berman and Emanuel Fabian
ToI podcast
Amanda Borschel-Dan and Emanuel Fabian
Daily Briefing Dec. 22: Day 443 – Houthi missiles punch holes in IDF air
defenses
Military reporter Emanuel Fabian on IDF presence in Syria, what’s happening on
the ground in Gaza, new cooperation between the PA and the IDF, and Israelis
breaching the Lebanon border
Several interceptors failed to knock down Houthi missile that hit Tel Aviv — IDF
probe
By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff
Military says it has already implemented lessons from Air Force, Home Front
Command investigations; drone likely also launched by Yemeni rebels shot down
over south
Missile fired from Yemen explodes in south Tel Aviv, lightly injuring 16
By ToI Staff
Germany Christmas market attack suspect charged with murder, attempted murder
By Agencies
Police report scuffles at far-right protest attended by thousands on Saturday
night calling for migrants to be deported
Germans mourn victims of Christmas market ramming as police search for
attacker’s motive
By Agencies
Death toll in German Christmas market attack reaches 5, with at least 200
wounded
By Kirsten Grieshaber, SARA ABOUBAKR and Vanessa Gera
Analysis
Orhan Qereman, TOM PERRY and Tuvan Gumrukcu
As Turkey moves in following Assad’s fall, Syria’s Kurds are on the defensive
After rebels sweep to power in Damascus, Syrian Kurdish leader asks Trump to
prevent northern incursion by Ankara — which views Kurdish factions as a
national security threat
Live updates (closed)Dec. 21: Eli Cohen’s daughter says gov’t acting against the
Israel her father sacrificed for
By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff
IDF apologizes for inviting family of captive soldier to brigade’s memorial
ceremony
By ToI Staff
Yehuda Cohen, father of hostage Nimrod Cohen, blasts military for granting
‘honored distinction’ of bereaved family while still not investigating
circumstances of son’s capture
Inside one man’s struggle to get his cousin’s body, taken on Oct. 7, back from
Gaza
By Jessica Steinberg
Tal Chaimi’s remains are still being held by terrorists. Udi Goren has stepped
up to represent the family as they beg for all the hostages, living and dead, to
be returned home
Former prisoner of Zion, anti-Soviet dissident Eduard Kuznetsov dies at 85
By ToI Staff
Refusenik was one of the leaders of Operation Wedding, a failed attempt to
hijack an empty civilian plane to escape Soviet Russia and head to Israel
US judge finds Israeli spyware firm NSO liable for hacking in WhatsApp lawsuit
By Reuters
‘We’re proud to have stood up against NSO,’ says WhatsApp head; expert says
ruling ‘makes it clear that NSO Group is in fact responsible for breaking
numerous laws’
Israel accuses pope of ignoring Hamas cruelty after he criticizes Gaza
airstrikes
By AFP and ToI Staff
Foreign Ministry calls remarks ‘disappointing’ and ‘disconnected’ from reality,
in latest tensions between Jerusalem and the Holy See
Pope condemns Israeli airstrikes in Gaza: ‘This is cruelty. This is not war’
By Reuters and ToI Staff
‘Jazzukkah Project’ aims to create a new Jewish soundtrack for the holiday
season
By Luke Tress
Jazz band hopes its Hanukkah repertoire will provide an alternative to Christmas
music for Jewish audiences, will perform at New York synagogue on the first
night of festival
Ex-Sky News Australia presenter: I support Israel because I ‘see right from
wrong’
By ToI Staff
In sit-down interview after she was fired by network, Erin Molan tells Israeli
TV she couldn’t stay silent after Oct. 7 but acknowledges she paid ‘heavy price’
for advocacy
University of California settles six antisemitism, three Islamophobia complaints
By Agencies and ToI Staff
Five campuses resolve Title VI of the Civil Rights Act cases, majority of which
involved antisemitism, anti-Israel discrimination surrounding pro-Palestinian
campus protests
Toronto Jewish girls’ school fired at for third time this year
By Joseph Strauss
Civil rights probe finds Philly school district failed to tackle antisemitic
harassment
By AP and ToI Staff
Interview
‘We are collateral damage’: Orthodox Belgian MP set to fight for the Jews of
Europe
By Zev Stub
As the European Jewish Association’s first diplomatic envoy, Michael Freilich
will go to battle as Jews’ and Muslims’ religious freedoms are systematically
shrunk in the EU
Those we have lost
Gil Avital, 56: Dad of 3 who was ‘the first to jump into action’
By ToI Staff
Killed battling the Hamas invasion of southern Israel on October 7 next to Yesha
Those we have lostStaff Sgt. Adam Agmon, 21: Rugby fan planned to work with
at-risk youth
By ToI Staff
Those we have lostMatan Ekstein, 23: Avid surfer with a ‘captivating smile’
By ToI Staff
More Headlines
From our partnerUK Hamas supporter who threatened Starmer, called for jihad
jailed for a year
US authorizes military sales of more than $5 billion to Egypt
By AFP
Guatemala takes 160 minors from Lev Tahor cult into protective custody amid
abuse claims
By Agencies
French court convicts 8 people of involvement in 2020 beheading of teacher
By TOM NOUVIAN and Samuel Petrequin
InterviewMK threatens that judges ‘playing hardball’ will lead to resumption of
judicial overhaul
By Sam Sokol
Tehran protests US arrests of Iranians linked to bombing of American base
By Reuters and ToI Staff
US House of Representatives passes government funding bill, preventing shutdowns
By LISA MASCARO, Farnoush Amiri and Matt Brown
Elon Musk endorses far-right German party after government’s collapse
By Ron Kampeas
US charges Israeli-Russian for involvement in notorious ransomware group
By Susan Heavey and AJ Vicens
Blinken acknowledges Israel-Saudi normalization unlikely before Biden leaves
office
By AFP and ToI Staff
Top Ops
Rebecca Bardach
Shared fragility on Jerusalem’s streets
My hope is that these stories of mutual help between Israeli Jews and Arabs will
mitigate against the terrible harms that are drowning both communities
Neal Katz
One light in a dark valley
In these days, the world feels darker and darker. Enter a recent piece of art a
local church lovingly shared with my congregation
Bepi Pezzulli
The UN is watching you, but who’s watching the UN?
In a year where many of the most oppressive regimes committed human rights
atrocities, the world body stayed fixated on Israel
Rachel Sharansky Danziger
A letter to our 100 – and to ourselves
We cannot undo Joseph’s captivity at his brothers’ hands, but we must do all we
can for our captives in Gaza, for we are our brothers’ and sisters’ keepers
(Vayeshev)
Mijal Bitton
When we are estranged: The Jewish covenant
In times of suffering, the Jewish people circle the wagons. What’s harder is
keeping hold of our fractious family when times are good (Vayeshev)
Adam S. Ferziger
The Maccabi miracle and the Manhattan murder: On Hanukkah and healthcare
Instead of the apparent contempt for human lives that emerges from the US
healthcare system, the US should look at Israel’s healthcare; Israel gets it
right
David Bryfman
The best education needs dialogue
After too many incidents have left Jews feeling marginalized, I say it’s time to
talk it out with our non-Jewish colleagues
Suzie Navot
‘If you don’t uphold what I say, then I’ll change the rules’
In avoiding the High Court ruling that he must convene the committee to appoint
the court’s president, Minister Yariv Levin is abusing his authority
Harold Behr
I am a digital camera
I am as sentimental as the next person, but once is enough to be treated to the
image of a soon-to-be-forgotten moment of family fun
Alon Tal
The truth about life with a deceitful leader
Netanyahu’s loose relationship with the truth leaves the public wondering
whether to believe anything he says
Gilles Darmon
For the day after, injustice in Israel’s budgetary policies must end
It is unacceptable to finance wartime efforts by reallocating resources in ways
that devastate the most vulnerable populations
Israel’s justice minister is creating a dictatorship in the judicial system
A group of experts, including a former chief justice of the Supreme Court and
two former IDF chiefs of staff, respond to claims made by Justice Minister Yariv
Levin
Today's Daily Briefing
Day 443 – Houthi missiles punch holes in IDF air defenses
listen to the podcast
Latest Articles
* 13 minutes ago
Khamenei says Iran does not have or need proxy forces in Middle East
* 43 minutes ago
ToI podcastDaily Briefing Dec. 22: Day 443 – Houthi missiles punch holes in
IDF air defenses
* 1 hour ago
Germany Christmas market attack suspect charged with murder, attempted murder
* 2 hours ago
Report: Israel demands 11 male hostages be among those freed in first stage
of deal
* 2 hours ago
Former prisoner of Zion, anti-Soviet dissident Eduard Kuznetsov dies at 85
* 4 hours ago
As Turkey moves in following Assad’s fall, Syria’s Kurds are on the defensive
* 5 hours ago
From our partnerUK Hamas supporter who threatened Starmer, called for jihad
jailed for a year
* 6 hours ago
IDF apologizes for inviting family of captive soldier to brigade’s memorial
ceremony
* 7 hours ago
Amid ruins of Damascus camp-city, Palestinian refugees recall horrors of
Assad’s regime
* 9 hours ago
Rare Christmas, Hanukkah overlap opens up opportunities for interfaith
engagement
* 10 hours ago
Inside one man’s struggle to get his cousin’s body, taken on Oct. 7, back
from Gaza
* 10 hours ago
Israel accuses pope of ignoring Hamas cruelty after he criticizes Gaza
airstrikes
* 11 hours ago
Live updatesKatz threatens to ‘crush Hezbollah’s head’ if terror group
violates ceasefire
* 11 hours ago
Germans mourn victims of Christmas market ramming as police search for
attacker’s motive
* 11 hours ago
US strikes Houthi targets in Yemen, takes down drones over Red Sea
* 12 hours ago
Iran plagued by energy crisis partially caused by strikes attributed to
Israel
* 14 hours ago
Ex-Sky News Australia presenter: I support Israel because I ‘see right from
wrong’
* 14 hours ago
AnalysisIts proxies pummeled, Iran is suddenly more vulnerable than ever.
Will it go nuclear?
* 15 hours ago
Israel says Hamas has yet to give list of living hostages to be released —
report
* 16 hours ago
Weekly protests urge Netanyahu to strike hostage deal, without phased release
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Full Coverage fall of Assad regime
* As Turkey moves in following Assad’s fall, Syria’s Kurds are on the defensive
By Orhan Qereman, TOM PERRY and Tuvan Gumrukcu
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Full Coverage What Matters Now
* What Matters Now to Andrew Fox: Cynical use of inflated death figures from
Gaza
By Amanda Borschel-Dan
* What Matters Now to Ksenia Svetlova: Women are the canary in the Mideast coal
mine
By Amanda Borschel-Dan and Ksenia Svetlova
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problem
By ToI Staff
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Full Coverage Liveblog
* Katz threatens to ‘crush Hezbollah’s head’ if terror group violates ceasefire
By ToI Staff
* Dec. 21: Eli Cohen’s daughter says gov’t acting against the Israel her father
sacrificed for
By Jacob Magid and ToI Staff
* Dec. 20: New Syrian leaders say they want to contribute to ‘regional peace’
By Jacob Magid and Michael Bachner
See All
Full Coverage ToI Original Video
* The 8119th Reserve Battalion
* Hersh
* Tel Aviv cafe brews up resilience
See All
Those we have lost
Stories of the civilians and soldiers who have fallen in the Israel-Hamas war
*
Those we have lost
Avraham Munder, 79: Doting grandfather and amateur singer
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Hodaya and Tair David, 26, 23: Sisters who held hands in last moments
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Insp. Andrey Poshivay, 39: Embodiment of a Hollywood-style hero
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Staff Sgt. Itay Glisko, 20: NJ native fought terrorists for hours
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Eden Ben Rubi, 23: Artist, life of the party who lived ‘every moment’
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Staff Sgt. Dor Yarhi, 21: Sports lover made the most of each moment
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Addir Mesika, 23: Charged at terrorists to save girlfriend and friends
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Roni Polvanov, 23: Former IDF firefighter with ‘a pure heart’
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Yedidya Raziel, 31: Social worker who fell defending his kibbutz
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Staff Sgt. Barak Ben David, 19: Fought to follow father into Golani
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Rajesh Kumar Swarnakar, 25: Nepali student ‘was family’s hope’
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Binyamin Rachamim, 52: Father of 9 murdered on his way to synagogue
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Paul Vincent Castelvi, 42: Filipino carer’s first child born posthumously
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Amitay Malihi, 20: ‘Endlessly playful’ despite his struggles
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Staff Sgt. Eden Alon Levy, 19: Raised in a family of women warriors
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Cpt. Or Moses, 22: Helped repel terrorist invasion of Zikim Base
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Sgt. Shir Biton, 19: Volunteer medic dreamed of becoming a doctor
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Emma Poliakov, 83: Great-grandmother who loved to sing
By ToI Staff
*
Those we have lost
Eitan Snir, 21: Took a final selfie at rave Oct. 7 morning
By ToI Staff
*
Those We Have Lost
Staff Sgt. Dvir Zakai, 20: Golani soldier was always the ‘peacemaker’
By ToI Staff
Those we are missing
The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Oded Lifshitz, drove Gazans to hospitals
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Yarden Bibas, injured on his head at abduction
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Informal educator Eitan Horn visiting from Kfar Saba
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Daniella Gilboa, identified by the shirt she wore
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Avinatan Or, planning to move in with girlfriend
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Eitan Mor, guard at rave who helped save others
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Gali Berman, from Kfar Aza’s ‘young neighborhood’
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Naama Levy, Hands of Peace project alumnus
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Tsahi Idan, terrorists promised daughter his safe return
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Karina Ariev, told parents ‘continue your lives’
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Thai worker Pongsak Tanna, father of 14-year-old girl
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Alon Ohel, pianist’s family recorded song for him
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Or Levy arrived at festival minutes before onslaught
By AP
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Gadi Moshe Mozes, expert potato farmer, ‘saba’ to all
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: David Cunio, abducted from burning house
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Amazon employee Sasha Trufanov
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Devoted uncle and Nir Oz resident Yair Horn
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Eli Sharabi from Kibbutz Be’eri
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Elkana Bohbot, young son asking, ‘Where’s Daddy?’
By ToI Staff
*
Those we are missing
Taken captive: Tal Shoham, held captive separately from family
By ToI Staff
Tales of the Times
The quirky, improbable, infuriating and uplifting
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Bewitching
Viral ‘Wicked’ Hanukkah video shines light with message of resilience
By Zev Stub
*
On the menu
Anu museum offers virtual culinary tours with foodie Gil Hovav
By Jessica Steinberg
*
The way we were
Virtual museum recreates Jewish enclaves in Iran and Morocco
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Spoiler alert
Mossad agent on the loose as Season 3 of ‘Tehran’ finally arrives
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Peace vibes
Local ‘Woodstock’ aims to unite Israelis, Palestinians for peace
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Jewish camp
Son of cantor, 11, makes Broadway debut in musical on drag queens
By Steve North
*
Ace in the hole?
Jewish pitcher Max Fried signs record-breaking deal with NY Yankees
By jacob gurvis
*
Historic text
Adam Schiff sworn into Senate on 1490 edition of Maimonides’ legal code
By Ron Kampeas
*
Ballin' hard
Innovation delivers an array of instant matzah ball options
By Rachel Ringler
*
Extra challenges
Jerusalem’s Sam Spiegel Film Lab launches 13th year
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Real TV
Actor Guri Alfi returns to the US for new episodes of ‘The New Jew’
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Ming leftovers
Mount Zion dig unearths 16th century Chinese porcelain bowl fragment
By Gavriel Fiske
*
Historic move
Jerusalem ancient citadel museum to host accessibility conference
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Happy ending
Former Hamas hostage Mia Schem engaged to childhood friend
By ToI Staff
*
Tiny treasure
Girl, 12, finds 3,500-year-old Egyptian amulet on hike in central Israel
By Gavriel Fiske
*
Elon, watch your back?
Meta CEO Zuckerberg dines with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
By AFP
*
Year of discord
October 7 reverberates at Israeli music awards
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Sensory arts
At Nalaga’at festival, the blind lead the public to food and fun in the dark
By ToI Staff
*
Ultra-Orthodox LGBTQ+
Israel’s Nir Bergman wins director’s prize in Tallinn
By Jessica Steinberg
*
Fiction meets reality
3rd season of ‘Tehran,’ featuring Hugh Laurie, returns to Kan
By Jessica Steinberg
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