Originally Posted by
sfogate
I know that alot of agents will tell you that we will only check your bags as far as EWR because of the length in time between flights. I don't agree with this view since this is the "first available" flight to you and you should not be penalized for this long gap between your two flights.
There is another EWR-TLV flight earlier than the one the OP is booked on, but otherwise I agree with your analysis. The OP has a lot of options available.