Israel Voted. Nobody Got to 61.
Exit polls leave both blocs short of the 61 seats it takes to govern.
Israel's exit polls put both blocs short of a majority. The main polls gave Netanyahu's bloc 50 or 51 seats and the Jewish-led opposition 51 or 52, with 61 needed, the Times of Israel reports. Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot called it "a complete vote of no confidence in Netanyahu and the October 7 government." 1
Israel revoked Brad Lander's travel permit. Lander, a New York Democratic congressional candidate, and several American rabbis lost their travel authorizations after being detained picking olives with Palestinian farmers in the West Bank, JTA reports. Lander tied it to "occupation and ethnic cleansing." Our view: that charge is wrong, and pulling rabbis' permits over a harvest is still a bad answer. 2
Phoenix's Temple Chai returned two Torah textiles to Berlin, 88 years after Kristallnacht. Holocaust survivor Moishe Saksenhaus bought them in postwar Germany and paid in Crisco, coffee and cigarettes, JTA reports. "If the people from whom they were stolen wanted them back, that was where they belong," said Rabbi Bonnie Koppell. 3
People's Sexiest Man Alive plays TV's nice Jewish doctor. Noah Wyle, 55, got the title Tuesday. People praised his "smoldering intensity" and noted that "he loves to do the dishes," which will settle a few arguments at a few Shabbat tables. Wyle, who starred in ER in the 1990s, plays Dr. Michael "Robby" Robinavitch on HBO Max's The Pitt, his first Jewish role, built from his father's Russian-Jewish background. Robby wears a Star of David and recites the Shema in a season one crisis; Wyle's daughter coached his pronunciation, and her bat mitzvah is on the calendar. He also wrote a season two episode about a patient with ties to the 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting. He said he first took the news as "a classic set-up for a prank." 4
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