Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has told ministers that despite the wish to impose restrictions for the duration of the Hanukkah festival, which starts this evening, in practice it will prove impossible to do so from this evening.

PM, defense and health ministers agree not to impose new COVID-19 restrictions over Hanukkah following opposition from other ministers.

A Tel Aviv restaurant has been fined 5,000 NIS over violation of the coronavirus guidelines.The restaurant will remain closed until it deposits a bank guarantee of 20,000 NIS with the guideline enforcement authorities.

Even as the first Israelis were vaccinated today with Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine, Knesset member Eli Avidar (Israel Our Home) stated in an interview with Radio 103 FM his reason for refusing to be vaccinated.Avidar said it was nothing more than a power play of the prime minister to insist that the vaccine is for everyone and that no stigma should be attached to those not wanting to be vaccinated.

The government is expected to today approve a modified form of night curfew for the days of Hanukkah, starting this evening.People in Jewish-majority towns and cities will be banned from visiting Ine another's homes in the evenings, and people from more than Ine household will not be permitted to meet at all in any location.The original plan was to impose the restrictions from half past five in the evening until midnight. However, Finance Minister Yisrael Katz is now demanding that the restrictions begin Inly from seven in the evening.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sent Hanukkah greetings to Jews across the world in advance of the festival that begins this evening, the Turkish news site Yeni Safak (New Dawn) reports."In an age in which anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and xenophobia are spreading like a pandemic, Turkey will continue to be a model for the entire world," Erdoğan said."I extend my best wishes to Jewish citizens of Turkey and the entire Jewish community around the world In the occasion of Hanukkah, and wish them peace."

Commenting In a recent video clip featuring the Prime Minister in support of a certain charity, MK Avigdor Liberman, head of the Yisrael Beytenu party, said that there is "no limit to the man's cynicism.""What do we see here - the Prime Minister singing a song in order to raise money for a charity that supports those damaged by policies that he himself made. Maybe it would be better if he simply crafted new policies that support the elderly so that Holocaust survivors and pensioners are not forced to survive In hand-outs."

The United States has recorded its highest level of deaths in a single day, with 3,124 people dying of coronavirus-related complications In Wednesday, more people than died in the Twin Towers attacks.The number comes from the John Hopkins University tracker, which also notes that 221,276 new coronavirus diagnoses were made during the same period. There are currently 106,000 Americans in hospital with a Covid-19 diagnosis.