The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

A surface-to-surface missile launched from Yemen set off sirens across central Israel this morning. Fabian gives us an update.

A barrage of some 40 rockets was fired from Lebanon at the Galilee Panhandle and Golan Heights this morning. We hear how these rockets are wreaking damage and how they compare to the missile shot by Yemen this morning.

On Saturday, the IDF called on Palestinians in parts of the northern Gaza city of Beit Lahiya to evacuate, after two rockets were fired from the area aimed at the southern coastal city of Ashkelon. The IDF in recent months has repeatedly issued evacuation orders for areas from which terrorists launched rockets at Israel, but that wasn’t always the case. What changed?

Fabian reports back from Rafah where he learned last week that the Hamas terror group’s Rafah Brigade has been decimated, at least 2,308 of its operatives have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces and over 13 kilometers (8 miles) worth of tunnels have been destroyed. What did he see on the ground?

According to a number of unconfirmed foreign reports last week, Israeli special forces carried out a raid on an Iranian weapons facility in Syria. The reports claim Israeli troops operated on the ground at Masyaf, which lies about 200 kilometers (124 miles) north of Israel, only about 30 kilometers (18 miles) from Syria’s western coastline. The IDF has not confirmed these reports, but Fabian describes what we are hearing.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Ballistic missile fired from Yemen triggers sirens across central Israel

IDF orders evacuations in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya after rocket attack on Israel

IDF declares Hamas’s Rafah Brigade defeated; no active cross-border tunnels found

Reports: Israeli troops raided IRGC weapons facility in Syria, took equipment, documents

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Police near the remains of a ballistic missile fired by the Iran-backed Houthis from Yemen, near Moshav Kfar Daniel, September 15, 2024. (Yossi Aloni/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Today, we bring you a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World. This episode features host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove.

Cosgrove is a leading voice in Conservative Judaism, who has served as head rabbi of New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue since 2008.

We speak about his soon-to-be-published book, "For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today" (Harper Collins), which was written after the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1,200 and abduction of 251.

The book is a blend of memoir, Torah study and reflection on what it means to be a Jew in the Diaspora today even as Israel continues its war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Using the October 7 onslaught as a touchstone, the book is roughly divided into past, present and future and examines the connection between American Jewry and Israel throughout the decades. Cosgrove addresses concerns such as a new generation of young Jewish Americans who are proud of their religious heritage, but repudiate the nationalism exhibited by the Jewish state.

So this week, we ask Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, what matters now.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove, head rabbi of New York’s Park Avenue Synagogue, holding his new book, 'For Such a Time as This: On Being Jewish Today,' September 11, 2024. (Courtesy)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, Rettig Gur and Borschel-Dan attended a joint press conference for the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research and Tel Aviv University, where they heard the findings of the latest Palestine-Israel Pulse survey.

They heard eye-opening perspectives of massive distrust in the other and how that influences any kind of vision of the future. They also learned that there is one sector -- Arab Israelis -- that is still optimistic and still thinks that peace can be achieved.

The survey was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PSR) in Ramallah and the International Program in Conflict Resolution and Mediation at Tel Aviv University with funding from the Netherlands Representative Office in Ramallah and the Representative Office of Japan to Palestine through UNDP/PAPP. The lead authors were Dr. Dahlia Scheindlin, Dr. Khalil Shikaki and Dr. Nimrod Rosler.

It polled 1200± Palestinians — over 800 from the West Bank and over 400 from Gaza in person — and 900 Israeli adults online, in the last half of July.

Among other things, its findings addressed the impact of October 7 and the ongoing war on support for the two-state solution and support for various alternatives to the two-state solution, including one democratic state, one undemocratic state, a two-state confederation.
We hear about attitudes toward the war and massive distrust of the other, extreme perceptions of the other and each side’s sense of victimization.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Palestinian-Israeli Pulse: A Joint Poll

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Displaced Palestinians live in shelter tents in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, September 12, 2024. (Ali Hassan/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Legal reporter Jeremy Sharon and Arab Affairs correspondent Gianluca Pacchiani join host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Sharon discusses the latest attempt by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu through Israel's Attorney General to stave off the International Criminal Court from issuing arrest warrants for him and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

He also reviews what Justice Minister Yariv Levin may do to circumvent the court order he was given this week to finally appoint a new president of Israel's Supreme Court.

Pacchiani talks about the insights offered by an exiled Egyptian analyst regarding Gaza's Philadelphi Corridor, and Egypt's longstanding involvement with that stretch of land.

Sharon looks at what is happening with a Hebron Hills Palestinian enclave whose residents could finally return to their homes following Jewish settler violence, only to be told by Israel's civil administration that they may have to leave again.

Pacchiani discusses a Middle East confab in Baku, Azerbaijan where academics and high-tech types came together to discuss cooperation in the region.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Netanyahu said to ask AG to probe him and Gallant in bid to avert ICC arrest warrant

High Court orders Levin to appoint new court president; he calls its ruling undemocratic

Egypt is embarrassed to admit failure to control Philadelphi, says exiled analyst

Israel warns Palestinian village will be demolished if residents refuse to relocate

In Baku, emerging Israeli and Arab leaders prepare for a post-conflict Middle East

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: A large billboard depicting an image of Benjamin Netanyhau with the words 'You're the head, you're guilty' in Tel Aviv, February 14, 2024 (Photo by Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and political reporter Tal Schneider join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Late yesterday, the IDF released a video filmed in the tunnel where hostages Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi were executed by their captors on August 29 before being discovered by the IDF on August 31. Fabian explains what we learned from the video about the hostages’ conditions.

An American peace activist who was shot dead in the West Bank last week had “with high probability” been hit by IDF troops’ mistaken gunfire, the army said Tuesday, expressing regret for the killing. What further steps are being taken?

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told foreign journalists on Monday that Hamas is no longer an organized military force in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s 11-month ongoing military campaign, sparked by the terror group’s October 7 massacre. We hear about Gallant’s assessment of Hamas’s capabilities and the need for the continued quenching of its guerrilla operations. How does that square with the IDF’s projections for the war against Hamas?

On Tuesday, Gallant told troops that the IDF was shifting its focus from Gaza to the northern front and that they should prepare for a ground offensive there. Fabian describes how Gallant delivered this news to a group of soldiers.

US Vice President Kamala Harris asserted that Israel has the right to defend itself after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, as Republican candidate Donald Trump accused her of “hating” the Jewish state. Schneider describes what else the two said about Israel.

After the official echelons decided not to pursue a widespread investigation into the failures of October 7, an independent civilian commission of inquiry was launched. Schneider explains who and how this got off the ground and what we're hearing so far.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF video shows ‘horrific conditions’ in tunnel where 6 hostages were held, executed

IDF regrets ‘indirect and unintended’ fire that likely killed US woman in West Bank

Gallant: Hamas as ‘military formation’ in Gaza is gone, IDF focus shifting to north

IDF hits Hezbollah launchers after rocket fire; Gallant to troops: Prepare for ground op

At debate, Harris backs Israel’s right to self defense; Trump says she ‘hates Israel’

Witness: For years before Oct. 7, ‘PM told me he’d never order IDF to topple Hamas’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: This image released by the IDF on September 10, 2024, shows bottles filled with urine and a makeshift toilet inside of a tunnel in southern Gaza's Rafah where six Israeli hostages were murdered by Hamas terrorists (Israel Defense Forces) 

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

ToI founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Horovitz discusses the latest Hezbollah attack in the northern coastal town of Nahariya, and the mounting concerns regarding the terrorist organization in Lebanon, and whether the threat can be contained by diplomatic means.

Horovitz then describes the anguished but clear comments made to the prime minister by the bereaved father Rabbi Elhanan Danino, whose son, Ori Danino, was one of the six hostages killed in Hamas captivity ten days ago. During a condolence call visit by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, Danino told Netanyahu that it was his policies that led to the death of his eldest son.

Horovitz also reviews the latest machinations on the part of Justice Minister Yariv Levin regarding the appointment of a new High Court president.

He also speaks about the Toronto Film Festival screening of 'Bibi Files,' the documentary about the Netanyahu graft trials, and the prime minister's attempts to stop the Canadian screening.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hezbollah drone hits Nahariya high-rise, as over 20 rockets fired at north

After Hezbollah strike on Nahariya, residents say government abandoned them

Gantz says military focus should shift from Gaza to Lebanon: ‘We’re late on this’

Top US official warns of ‘catastrophic consequences’ to war in Lebanon – reports

Bereaved father of hostage to Netanyahu: ‘My son was murdered in a tunnel you built’

Levin mulls legislation to change majority for appointing Supreme Court president

‘Bibi Files’ Canada premiere puts PM interrogation footage on screen for first time

Court denies Netanyahu bid to block Canadian screening of leaked interrogation footage

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walking outside his office at the Knesset in Jerusalem on September 9, 2024. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and editor Amy Spiro join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Reports came out last night that the chances of a phased hostage-ceasefire agreement being achieved on the basis of Israel’s May proposal are “close to zero” and there is “very broad pessimism.” The US, which had indicated it was planning to present a new bridging proposal in the next two or three days, is now regarded as unlikely to do so, it added. Berman brings an update.

Amid public criticism from top Israeli officials last week, Egypt’s army chief of staff Lt. Gen. Ahmed Fathy Khalifa made a surprise visit on Thursday to the country’s border with the Gaza Strip to inspect the security situation. At around the same time, the Egyptian leader, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi made a first Egyptian presidential visit to Turkey in 12 years, where he discussed the Gaza war and ways to further repair the long-frozen ties between the regional powers during talks in Ankara. How is the growing daylight between Israel and Egypt affecting the region?

Israel wrapped up its time at the 2024 Paris Paralympics on Sunday with 10 medals, including four gold, its best showing at the Games in 20 years. In this year’s games, only three of the 28 Paralympians representing Israel this year were wounded during military service. One of the sad byproducts of the war is a sharp uptick in other potential candidates. We hear about the highlights of the games and how the organization is working towards using the 2028 games as a goal for this war's wounded warriors.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Slain hostages struggled with their killers in final moments, IDF probe said to find

Negotiators said to believe chance of hostage deal ‘close to zero’; US also pessimistic

Erdogan seeks Islamic alliance against Israel, says its ‘expansionism’ won’t stop in Gaza

Egypt’s army chief visits Gaza border after Israel says Sissi failed on smuggling

Israel celebrates its best Paralympic showing in 20 years with 10-medal haul

From Gaza to LA: Can Paralympics dream help wounded soldiers get back their fighting spirit?

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

Illustrative: Mossad chief David Barnea attends a farewell ceremony in his honor, at the National Police Academy in Beit Shemesh, on July 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Three Israeli men were shot dead by a terrorist at the Allenby Bridge crossing between Jordan and the West Bank. The assailant, reportedly a truck driver from Jordan, arrived at the terminal and opened fire at the crossing’s employees. One of the three victims of the terror shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge Crossing this morning is named as Yohanan Shchori, 61, from the West Bank settlement of Ma’ale Efraim. The second victim of the shooting attack at the Allenby Bridge crossing is named as Yuri Birnbaum, 65, from the West Bank settlement of Na’ama.

An American woman was shot and killed by IDF troops during a protest near Nablus in the northern West Bank on Friday. Separately, a 13-year-old Palestinian girl was reported shot dead when extremist settlers stormed a village near Nablus and clashed with villagers. We learn about both incidents.

Two Palestinian Islamic Jihad battalion commanders were killed in a recent Israeli airstrike in the Gaza Strip. Also on Saturday, the IDF said it had carried out airstrikes on command rooms operating from two former schools in Gaza City. We learn first about the strikes in the school compounds and then hear about a strike in the humanitarian zone near a hospital that killed the two PIJ commanders.

More than 50 rockets were launched from Lebanon at the Galilee Panhandle and Kiryat Shmona area overnight, some of which impacted Kiryat Shmona, causing damage. On Friday, during a tour of the Golan Heights, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the IDF is “very focused” on fighting Hezbollah and preparing offensive actions in Lebanon against the Iran-backed terror group. What is offensive is Halevi referring to?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

3 Israelis killed in terror shooting at crossing between West Bank and Jordan

US activist said shot dead by IDF at W. Bank protest; girl killed as settlers storm village

Two PIJ commanders killed in IDF strike in central Gaza, IDF and Shin Bet say

IDF says over 50 rockets fired at north overnight; some damage, no injuries

Military ‘very focused’ on fighting Hezbollah, prepping offensive, IDF chief says

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Police at the scene where three Israelis were killed in a terror shooting attack at Allenby Bridge, a crossing between West Bank and Jordan, September 8, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

This week, Israel was shattered by the news that six hostages, all previously thought alive, were discovered dead in a Gaza tunnel. The six hostages whose bodies were recovered over the weekend — Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Ori Danino, Alex Lobanov, Carmel Gat, and Almog Sarusi — were killed just days before troops found them, according to autopsies and the IDF.

They were all buried this week and hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets on Sunday demanding a hostage release deal, now.

Rettig Gur and Borschel-Dan have an open, painful conversation about what may be the two sides of Israel’s Sophie’s Choice: between live hostages and, potentially, the military deterrence to prevent more Israelis from being taken.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: A display of 27 coffins of the hostages who were killed while in captivity in Gaza set up at Habima Square in Tel Aviv. (Zohar Ben Yehuda)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Magid says the Biden administration has a slightly more positive outlook regarding the hostage negotiations, indicating that Israel and Hamas have reached an agreement on some 90% of the issues in the potential hostage deal. The two thorniest remaining issues are the Philadelphi corridor and which Palestinian prisoners would be released, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said are two major issues.

He also comments on Israeli negotiators telling mediators they still support a complete withdrawal of the IDF from the Philadelphi Corridor, and the prime minister's "wishywashy" comments and double-speak on that topic to the Israeli press, foreign press and Fox News in the last week, as the prime minister wants to "appear tougher."

Magid turns to the US elections, and remarks made by presidential candidate Donald Trump questioning the continued existence of the state of Israel if Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is elected.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

‘It must serve as wakeup call’: Hersh’s family okays release of Hamas propaganda clip

Blinken indicates mediators will present updated hostage deal offer to Israel, Hamas ‘in coming days’

US: 2 issues holding up deal, Netanyahu comments on Philadelphi make things ‘difficult’

Israel assured Qatar IDF would fully pull out of Philadelphi in ceasefire’s 2nd phase

Vote for me or Israel will be annihilated, Trump says in pitch to Republican Jews

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken gives a press conference at the end of his one-day visit to Haiti, at the Toussaint Louverture International Airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Thursday, Sept. 5, 2024. (Roberto Schmidt/Pool photo via AP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

At a press conference to the foreign press last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his positions on the state of the war in Gaza, and particularly his focus on the Strip’s border with Egypt, known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and his refusal to remove Israeli troops from there for a potential ceasefire-and-hostage release deal. Horovitz assesses whether there was different messaging coming out of the two languages and speaks about the Philadelphi sticking point and how other Israeli officials view it.

August saw the most rockets fired from Lebanon amid the ongoing war, according to new data published by the Shin Bet security agency this morning. There are some 68,000 displaced people from the northern district from 43 settlements and their return is now a stated war goal. But, has Netanyahu given any indication of when?

The first phase of a large-scale polio vaccination campaign in Gaza has concluded successfully, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday, providing nearly 200,000 children in the center of the Strip with their initial dose. More than 500 teams, consisting of nearly 2,200 health and community outreach workers, took part in the campaign. Horovitz weighs in on what this cooperation may indicate.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Under Netanyahu, Israel is in existential danger

‘A step away from victory’? Netanyahu says his April claim was not intended literally

Top Netanyahu aide doesn’t rule out pullout from Gaza-Egypt border in deal’s 2nd phase

Hezbollah pounds Galilee with over 100 rockets, causing heavy damage but no injuries

WHO hails success of polio 1st phase vaccination campaign in Gaza

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stands before a map during a press conference at the Government Press Office in Jerusalem, Sept. 4, 2024. (Abir Sultan/Pool via AP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian and reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Fabian reports on the latest from the West Bank city of Jenin, where IDF troops have been operating in the major terror hotspot since last week, an operation dubbed Summer Camps by the IDF, ripping up explosive devices and enabling the army to be able to return to the area more easily in the future.

He also discusses a strike that killed Hamas Nukhba force company commander Ahmed Fawzi Nasser Muhammad Wadiyya, who led the invasion of Netiv Ha’asara on October 7 that killed 22 people.

Surkes speaks about the start of the school year in Sderot, where parents uneasily welcomed the return to their hometown. She also reports about Kibbutz Re'im, where families are slowly returning, unsure if they feel ready to return home yet.

Surkes also relates some research about vultures, and the uncanny resemblance in some of the bird's personality traits to humans.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

In longest West Bank raid in 20 years, IDF aims to set stage for future, smaller ops

IDF says it killed Hamas commander who murdered father in front of his kids on Oct. 7

While Israeli kids near Gaza rejoice at return to school, parents remain ambivalent

While young vultures gad about, older ones prefer to stay home – study

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves.

IMAGE: Idit Dayan (center, wearing yellow), the principal of the Gil Rabin School in Sderot, southern Israel, welcomes children back for the new school year, on September 1, 2024. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and culture editor Jessica Steinberg join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Thousands of mourners lined the streets of Jerusalem on Monday to bid a final farewell to slain American-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the best-known faces among those seized by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7. Steinberg, a family friend, talks about Hersh and brings the overriding messages from the funeral.

After many many months in which Israelis have called upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to spell out his vision of a hostage release deal, he finally held a rare press conference in Jerusalem after a day of massive strikes and protests throughout the country. What were the salient points Netanyahu tried to make last night?

US President Joe Biden on Monday said Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a deal for the release of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, while revealing that his administration was “very close” to presenting a final hostage deal offer later this week. How does this overt chastisement affect the talks?

Britain said Monday it would immediately suspend dozens of arms export licenses with Israel because there is a risk the equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, drawing rebuke from Israeli officials. But this morning, Britain’s defense minister John Healey said the country’s suspension of 30 of its 350 arms export licenses to Israel will not threaten Israel’s ability to defend itself. Berman discusses the mixed message the UK is sending.

Speaking to the Israel Bar Association this morning, President Isaac Herzog issued a strident call for unity, insisting that "the soul and future of the nation are at stake.” What else did he say in the aftermath of days of country-wide turmoil?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

‘We all failed you’: Heartbreak at funeral for Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem

‘My sweet boy Hersh, we tried so desperately to save you’

Netanyahu: If we leave Philadelphi, Hamas will be able to rearm, revive, repeat Oct. 7

Biden says US close to presenting final ceasefire offer, PM not doing enough for deal

Court shuts down Histadrut strike, accepting government claim it was political

UK suspends 30 of 350 arms export licenses to Israel, insists it’s not an embargo

‘Don’t you dare’: Herzog warns against reviving judicial overhaul, pleads for unity

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Mourners and family members gather to bury executed US-Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin whose body was recovered with five other hostages in Gaza, during the funeral at Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem on September 2, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen / POOL / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Last night, mass demonstrations were held throughout Israel after news came out that the bodies of six executed hostages were found, with protesters demanding the government reach a deal for the release of all hostages. Rettig Gur unpacks the protesters' frustrations and motivations.

On Thursday, the security cabinet voted to back Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position in favor of maintaining Israeli military presence along the Gaza-Egypt border as part of any potential ceasefire and hostage release deal. In a security cabinet meeting Sunday evening, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant reportedly called the demand “an unnecessary constraint that we’ve placed on ourselves.” But can a deal be approved without this line item now?

During a press conference in Tel Aviv on Sunday, the head of the major labor union Arnon Bar-David said that the strike would start at 6 a.m. Monday and an official in the Histadrut Labor Federation told Channel 12 this morning that the organization is considering extending the general strike to tomorrow. Rettig Gur weighs in on the tactic of using a strike to pressure the government as it faces a Sophie's choice of a decision.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Autopsy finds 6 hostages were shot multiple times at close range in last 48-72 hours

Masses protest across Israel in flood of grief, anger after Hamas executes 6 hostages

Gallant said to call Philadelphi demand a ‘disgrace,’ drawing fury from PM, ministers

Ministers back Netanyahu’s demand for IDF to stay in Philadelphi Corridor in any deal

Striking unions join protest as thousands take to streets for hostage deal

Histadrut labor union announces nationwide strike, over failure to release hostages

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Zev Levi.

IMAGE: In Tel Aviv, protesters demanding a hostage release deal block the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, September 2, 2024. (courtesy)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The bodies of six hostages abducted alive by Hamas on October 7 were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah a few days ago, shortly after they were murdered by terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday. They were named as Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27. We learn about the operation to recover their bodies and what we know about the killings of the six.

Late last week, the IDF announced it had wrapped up a three-week operation in the southern Gaza Strip and also that the Hamas terror group’s Rafah Brigade had “collapsed” as a result of the Israel Defense Forces’s ongoing offensive in the city. What is the current status of the Hamas brigades and the location of the fighting on the ground?

A health official said Saturday that a polio vaccination campaign had begun in Gaza after the war-torn territory recorded its first case of the disease in a quarter of a century. The campaign involves two doses and aims to cover over 640,000 children under age 10. How are these temporary pauses in fighting being carried out?

Three Israeli police officers were killed in a shooting attack in the southern West Bank on Sunday morning. The attack came after terrorists on Saturday detonated two car bombs in the southern West Bank’s Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Two soldiers were lightly and one moderately hurt in the explosions. Fabian describes the two terror incidents.

Last week, the military launched an ongoing counterterrorism operation in several West Bank cities. Fabian updates us on the operation's achievements so far and describes what cooperation the IDF is seeing with the Palestinian Authority.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Bodies of 6 hostages, murdered by Hamas just days ago, found in Rafah – IDF

IDF wraps up 3-week raid in south Gaza; 250 gunmen killed, 6 km of tunnels destroyed

IDF: Hamas’s Rafah Brigade has collapsed, 80% of border tunnels neutralized

Polio vaccination campaign begins in Gaza, health officials say

3 cops killed in southern West Bank shooting attack; IDF pursuing gunmen

2 car bombs detonate in coordinated West Bank attacks; terrorists killed by troops

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Zev Levi.

IMAGE: Pictures of 107 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are displayed by their families and friends as they protest outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence in Jerusalem, Auguest 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

The New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode, a bonus reply of our weekly What Matters Now podcast.

This week, campuses across North America opened their doors for their fall semester. Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Stephens recently wrote a column called, “What I Want a University President to Say About Campus Protests,” in which he channels a university president presenting his foundational principles, including, “the spirit of inquiry.”

In this week’s episode, we hear Stephens’s take on concepts that have evolved and flourished on campuses in the past several decades, including how critical theory has shifted faculties and the role of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI).

So this week, as students return to campuses, we ask Bret Stephens, what matters now?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod Waves and Adina Karpuj.

IMAGE: New York Times op-ed columnist Bret Stephens. (Jason Smith via JTA)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Vice President Kamala Harris was again heckled by an anti-Israel protester, this time during a rally in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday. The Democratic presidential nominee responded by stressing her support for a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Berman describes this incident and points out a gaping omission in her stated support for Israel.

The WHO and UN children’s fund UNICEF are hoping to provide oral vaccines against type 2 poliovirus (cVDPV2) to more than 640,000 children in the Strip after a baby contracted the first confirmed case in 25 years in the Palestinian territory. Berman updates on the partial pauses in fighting in the Strip.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday reportedly presented the security cabinet with a document he drew up in recent days urging a hostage-ceasefire deal and detailing the potentially dire consequences for Israel of a failure to finalize such an agreement. We discuss the domino effect that potentially could allow the 68,000 displaced people from the northern district from 43 settlements return home while still maintaining Israel's deterrence.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Harris says she won’t change US policy on arming Israel, stresses need for hostage deal

Israel agrees to localized ‘humanitarian pauses’ in Gaza for polio vaccination, WHO says

Gallant said to warn ministers multi-front war dangerously close sans hostage deal

Ministers vote to back PM’s stance in favor of IDF staying in Philadelphi Corridor

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Zev Levi.

IMAGE: IDF troops are seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo published on August 29, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The Israeli military has launched a large-scale counterterrorism operation in the wake of last week’s attempted suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that is expected to last at least several days, military sources said yesterday. At the same time, top Hamas official Khaled Mashal in Turkey yesterday called for a resumption of suicide bombings. What is the Biden administration saying about the IDF's operation in the West Bank so far?

The Biden administration issued its sixth batch of sanctions targeting Israeli settler violence in the West Bank, blacklisting a group that provides volunteer guards for illegal outposts and a civilian security guard for a flashpoint settlement who has allegedly engaged in attacks against Palestinians. Magid gives nuance to who was -- and what wasn't -- including in this batch of sanctions.

After a summit of high-level hostage release negotiations that took place last weekend in Cairo, the result was an agreement to hold another round of lower-level talks this week in Doha. Magid spoke with White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby who is an unapologetic optimist. We hear what he said.

Last week, a five-year-old child accidentally broke a rare Bronze Age clay vessel on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa, but ended up being invited back, along with his family, for a special tour of the museum. After a few days of staycation, Borschel-Dan can definitely identify with this family's plight.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

11 Palestinians killed as IDF launches major anti-terror raid in West Bank

Top Hamas official Mashaal urges resumption of suicide bombings against Israel

‘This is a war’: FM urges Gaza-style temporary evacuation of Palestinians in West Bank

US issues new batch of sanctions targeting West Bank settlers amid rampant violence

‘We failed’: IDF finds it didn’t act sufficiently to prevent deadly settler rampage

Unapologetic optimism: How US approaches its messaging around hostage negotiations

Kid shatters 3,500-year-old jar in Haifa museum, gets invited back

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Adina Karpuj.

IMAGE: Troops of the Kfir Brigade's Haruv Reconnaissance Unit are seen operating in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, August 28, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Arab affairs correspondent Gianluca Pacchiani and political reporter Sam Sokol join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Pacchiani discusses the Bedouin background of rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi, and the little known about his family, who didn't speak to the press over the last eleven months of his captivity, preferring their privacy and given concerns about how Hamas would treat a Bedouin hostage.

He also speaks about his recent analysis of the Hamas propaganda machine, and the psychology behind their extensive advertising and public relations, which always aligns with one message.

Sokol talks about the latest brouhaha with Transportation Minister Miri Regev who was tapped to handle the government's official October 7 ceremony but is seen as the wrong person for the job because of her political leanings.

Sokol also expands on the interview he and founding ToI editor David Horovitz conducted with opposition leader Yair Lapid, and Lapid's thoughts about how and when the Netanyahu government will come to an end.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Better than a baby: ‘Surprise’ hostage rescue gives way to joy as family reunites

In Rahat, a Bedouin community mourns its October 7 losses away from the public eye

Terrorize Israelis while eliciting sympathy abroad: Inside Hamas’s propaganda strategy

Huge alternative Oct. 7 memorial ceremony to be held in Tel Aviv; state event in Ofakim

‘He lost his soul’: Lapid sees ‘sacred cause’ in toppling Netanyahu’s government

Lapid: Netanyahu was briefed on dangers ahead of Oct. 7, ignored ‘all red flags,’ must go

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

IMAGE: Rescued hostage Farhan al-Qadi at Beersheba's Soroka Hospital on August 27, 2024 (Courtesy Yossi Ifergan/GPO)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian and political writer Tal Schneider join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Fabian discusses the timing of Sunday's visit of Airforce General Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to Israel, hours after Hezbollah launched hundreds of rockets and drones at Israel, that were mostly thwarted. 

He mentions a military probe into the death of one Navy soldier and two injured soldiers on a Navy vessel, as a result of the Sunday Hezbollah rocket and drone attack.

Fabian also speaks about the IDF drone strike in the West Bank that killed five people situated in a terror command room — including a Hamas member released by Israel in the November 2023 hostage-release deal.

Schneider takes another look at National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and the latest in his recent, incendiary statements regarding Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, causing an ultra-Orthodox newspaper to call him out for his actions.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Top US general says risk of broader war ‘somewhat’ abated after Israel-Hezbollah clash

Israeli Navy sailor killed, two hurt by interceptor missile amid Hezbollah attack

Halevi: IDF working to return displaced northern residents ‘as quickly as possible’

IDF says it carried out drone strike on West Bank terror cell; 5 reported killed

Haredi newspaper calls Ben Gvir ‘pyromaniac politician’ over Temple Mount remarks

Ben Gvir says Jews can pray on Temple Mount; Netanyahu insists status quo unchanged

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

IMAGE: IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halev and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr, August 26, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Horovitz discusses the comments made by Hezbollah terror leader Hassan Nasrallah in the wake of the extensive rocket attack against Israel early Sunday morning, in which Nasrallah claimed victory for the attack mostly thwarted by the IDF.

He then looks at the latest in the ceasefire and hostage deal talks, currently ongoing in Cairo and Doha, with the US pressing hard for a deal.

Horovitz also speaks about the latest comments made Monday morning by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir regarding the right for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, long seen as a flashpoint in local political and security tensions. Ben Gvir's statements feed into the letter recently sent by Shin Bet head Ronen Bar to Netanyahu and government ministers, regarding fears for Ben Gvir's actions on the Temple Mount and growing Jewish terror.

He also delves more deeply into his interview last week with opposition leader Yair Lapid, who expressed optimism about Israel's future and what needs to be done going forward.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Nasrallah asserts Hezbollah attack was success, reserves right to strike again

PM says strikes on Hezbollah ‘not end of story’ as allies warn against escalation

No breakthroughs in Cairo talks as US says mediators pushing ‘feverishly’ for deal

Defense minister says national security being sapped by Ben Gvir’s moves

Shin Bet chief warns Netanyahu, ministers that Jewish terror endangering Israel

‘He lost his soul’: Lapid sees ‘sacred cause’ in toppling Netanyahu’s government

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

IMAGE: National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, after his visit to the Temple Mount on August 13, 2024 (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

According to the IDF, some 210 rockets and some 20 drones were launched from Lebanon at northern Israel in Hezbollah’s attack this morning. Some of the projectiles were intercepted, while others struck Israel, causing damage and injuries. But also according to the IDF, potentially thousands of launchers were preemptively struck. Fabian gives us a timeline of events.

US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, began his trip in Jordan and said he will also travel to Egypt and Israel in the coming days to hear the perspectives of military leaders. What does his presence in the region signal?

Five soldiers were killed during fighting against the Hamas terror group in the central Gaza Strip over the weekend. We hear about the deadly incidents and also learn about a lengthy tunnel attributed to Palestinian Islamic Jihad that was recently uncovered.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF hits Hezbollah launch sites in Lebanon to thwart major attack on central, north Israel

IDF bracing for ‘significant week,’ as Hezbollah strike expected within days

Top US general makes surprise trip to Middle East as threatened Iranian attack looms

Travel chaos as Ben Gurion Airport briefly shut, foreign airlines nix flights

IDF says soldier killed in Gaza yesterday, raising toll of op to 339

3 reservists killed in central Gaza fighting, bringing IDF’s weekend toll to 4

IDF reservist killed, others wounded by explosive device in Gaza City

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: In this combination of pictures created on August 25, 2024, photos taken from a position in northern Israel show Hezbollah UAVs being intercepted by the Israeli air force over northern Israel on August 25, 2024. (Jalaa Marey / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Those We Have Lost project coordinator Amy Spiro joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Today, we’re dedicating the daily podcast's time to stories of civilians and soldiers who have fallen since October 7. We’ve each chosen eight individuals to focus on and we’ll explain why they moved us.

We also hear updates from Spiro on how many of the over 1,600 individuals who were killed on or after October 7 during this war with Hamas that we have been able to write memorials for.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Michal Zarbailov, 60: Daycare worker was on her way to Dead Sea

Hava Ben Ami, 78: Walked to pre-state Israel by foot from Syria

Kobi Shmaya, 47 & Sgt. Osher Shmaya, 19: Father & son slain together

Sgt. 1st Class Shay Pizem, 23: Had only 2 weeks with his daughter

Roland and Ronit Sultan, 68 & 55: Immigrant couple built kibbutz life

Staff Sgt. Adi Baruch, 23: Boyfriend proposed to her at her funeral

Bnayahu Bitton, 22: Musician who always had a guitar at hand

Maj. Sagi Golan, 30: Killed 13 days before wedding to his boyfriend

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by The Pod Waves. 

IMAGE: Illustrative: Friends and family members mourn near graves of Israeli soldiers killed on October 7, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, on May 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and US bureau chief Jacob Magid join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

US Vice President Kamala Harris just accepted the presidential nomination and she addressed the war in Gaza very directly and clearly in her speech from the podium. Magid reports from Chicago on this and other aspects of Jewish or Israeli interest, including the moving speech by Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, at the Democratic National Convention.

Chances for an immediate breakthrough appear increasingly remote even as Israel sends a team headed by Mossad chief David Barnea, and including Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, head of the IDF General Staff Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate. Berman assesses the status of the talks and weighs in on the role the US has played in bringing them to this point.

The bodies of the six hostages recovered by the IDF from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis this week all have signs of gunshot wounds, according to initial autopsy findings released Thursday. What does it potentially mean that Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Avraham Munder were killed by gunfire?

Sgt. Ori Ashkenazi Nechemya, 19, was killed during fighting in southern Gaza on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip. Berman lays out where the fighting is currently, and where it may be going.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israeli negotiators fly to Cairo amid deep disagreements over Philadelphi Corridor

Bullet wounds in bodies of all 6 hostages from Gaza suggest they were killed by captors

Soldier killed by anti-tank fire in Rafah, as IDF presses on with operations in Gaza

Emhoff pledges to continue fighting against antisemitism ‘when I’m first gentleman’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yoel Sigel. 

IMAGE: US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff wave from the stage on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. (Charly Triballeau / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Four Israeli settlers, including one minor, were detained overnight by police over their suspected involvement in an attack on the Palestinian West Bank village of Jit last week. According to a joint statement issued by police and the Shin Bet, the four are suspected of terrorism against Palestinians in several incidents, including the attack on Jit. We explore how rare this accusation is.

The army announced it was operating at “peak readiness” three weeks ago, following the dual assassinations in Teheran and Beirut, and was able to immediately pivot to try to avert any attack from Iran and Hezbollah. Fabian assesses whether this is still the case amid the continuing conflict along the northern border.

More than 150 tunnels have been demolished along Gaza’s southern border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Wednesday while speaking with soldiers at the Philadelphi Corridor, as the army said it destroyed some 30 terror sites and killed dozens of gunmen in airstrikes across the enclave over the past day. We hear what else is happening on the ground.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, in his last speech as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, said Wednesday that he was responsible for not providing a warning ahead of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught. He also seemed to indicate that others who are responsible for the failure should likewise take responsibility and leave the IDF. But where would he stop?

Amid a persistent manpower shortage caused by the ongoing war in Gaza, the defense establishment has started recalling to duty some 15,000 previously exempted reservists. We hear who is affected by this recall to reserves even as only seven ultra-Orthodox men report for duty yesterday -- and 70 in the past month -- amid riots.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Gallant: IDF razed 150 tunnels on Egypt-Gaza border, defeated Hamas’s Rafah Brigade

Israeli hurt in rocket barrage on Golan; Fatah official tied to Iran killed in Sidon strike

Outgoing IDF intel chief Haliva says he failed to warn of Oct. 7, urges state probe

Amid troop shortage, IDF begins calling up 15,000 previously released reservists

IDF: Only some 70 Haredi men have reported to induction centers since High Court ruling

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: A man stands in front of burnt cars, a day after an attack by Jewish settlers on the village of Jit near Nablus in the occupied West Bank that left a 23-year-old man dead and others with critical gunshot wounds, on August 16, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan from Chicago for today's episode.

Talks to bring about a ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners are “on the brink of collapsing,” according to a Politico report, citing two unnamed US officials and one unnamed Israeli official. Magid explains the significance of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's nixed audience with Qatar’s Emir Tamim Al-Thani after sitting down with top leaders in Israel and Egypt and weighs in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mixed messaging with the families of slain soldiers and Hamas hostages.

The Democratic National Convention began Monday in Chicago. After his speech, US President Joe Biden made a statement regarding the hostage release negotiations in which he accused Hamas of “backing away” from a hostage deal with Israel that would halt the ongoing fighting in Gaza. We hear of the statement's strategic purpose, as well as disturbances during Biden's speech.

The first two days of the convention spotlighted a number of well-known Jews. Magid highlights their speeches and discusses the Hostage Square exhibit set up near the convention center.

Finally, we learn about what anti-Israel demonstrations have taken place so far -- and what may be on the horizon.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Blinken urges ‘maximum flexibility’ from Israel and Hamas in hostage-ceasefire talks

Biden says Hamas ‘backing away’ from hostage-ceasefire deal, as Blinken heads to Egypt

Israel activists erect ‘Hostage Square’ in Chicago on sidelines of Democratic convention

Anti-Israel protests fail to overshadow first day of Democratic Party confab

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators charge police line outside Israeli consulate in Chicago

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: Former President Barack Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention August 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The Israel Defense Forces confirms that it has recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages during an overnight operation in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The hostages are Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78. Fabian debriefs us on what we know so far.

An Israeli officer was killed and several others were wounded by a failed airstrike in southern Gaza on Monday morning, the military said, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip. The soldier was named as Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21, a team commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Petah Tikva. We learn about the tragic technical failure and are updated on the number of soldiers killed in accidents and "friendly fire" during the war in Gaza.

A noncommissioned officer in the IDF was killed and another soldier was seriously wounded in a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in northern Israel on Monday morning. The slain NCO was named as Chief Warrant Officer Mahmood Amaria, 45, a tracker in the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade, from the northern Bedouin village of Ibtin. Fabian fills us in on the continued deadly tit-for-tat conflict along the northern border.

The Hamas terror group on Monday claimed responsibility for an explosion in Tel Aviv the day before, saying it was a suicide bombing conducted as a joint operation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and vowing further such attacks. Fabian explains what we know -- and don't -- about the incident.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF recovers bodies of 6 hostages from Gaza, including one previously presumed alive

IDF officer killed in failed Israeli airstrike in Gaza’s Khan Younis

Soldier killed, another seriously hurt in Hezbollah drone attack on Western Galilee

IDF strikes Hezbollah weapons depots deep in Lebanon after deadly drone attack

Hezbollah fires 75 rockets at Israel after IDF hits weapons depots in eastern Lebanon

Police, Shin Bet said to believe Iran, Hezbollah may be behind failed Tel Aviv attack

Hamas claims Tel Aviv blast as attempted suicide bombing, vows to carry out more

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo published on August 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in our Jerusalem offices for today's episode.

As Hamas again rejects the current hostage-release deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to try to bridge gaps. Horovitz weighs in on where negotiations stand now and what is at stake with them in terms of the broader regional picture. He also compares the current process with the 2011 Gilad Schalit release deal.

State Attorney Amit Aisman announced on Sunday that he will oversee an investigation into Thursday’s rioting by extremist settlers in the Palestinian village of Jit during which 23-year-old Rasheed Seda was killed and homes and vehicles were set ablaze. No suspects have been arrested yet over Jit yet, however, police detained two more Israeli settlers suspected of assaulting four Arab Israeli women, including a three-year-old, in the West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen earlier this month. Are these signs that official Israel is taking these incidents seriously?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hamas rejects US hostage-ceasefire proposal as PM said to warn chance for deal ‘not high’

A hostage deal that also averts regional war should be a no-brainer for Netanyahu. But…

State Attorney Amit Aisman to oversee investigation into Jit settler rampage

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Jerusalem, August 19, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's episode.

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that more than 50 tunnels discovered along the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Egypt-Gaza border area, have been demolished by combat engineers over the past week. Fabian drills down into the strategic importance of the corridor, one of the sticking points in the hostage negotiations currently being conducted in Cairo.

Two Israeli reservists were killed by a roadside bomb in central Gaza on Saturday afternoon, the IDF announced, as fighting continued across the Strip. We hear about the deadly incident and about the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, which has turned into IDF staging grounds and the launch pad for humanitarian aid.

Hezbollah launched a barrage of some 55 rockets at a northern Israeli kibbutz on Saturday in what it said was a response to an Israeli airstrike overnight that killed at least 10 people and wounded five others. We learn about the incident that prompted this barrage as well as other strikes on both sides of the northern border.

Two senior Hamas terrorists were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday evening, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency said. The pair of Hamas operatives were involved in planning a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley last week, in which 23-year-old Yonatan Deutsch was killed and another civilian was wounded. Fabian explains the unusual way in which the IDF announced how their whereabouts were discovered.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF: Dozens of tunnels razed on Gaza-Egypt border, 17,000 terror operatives killed in war

2 IDF reservists killed by bomb during logistics supply mission in central Gaza

55 rockets launched at north after IDF strike on Hezbollah arms depot said to kill 10

Two senior Hamas operatives killed in IDF drone strike in West Bank city of Jenin

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: View of the Philadelphi Corridor between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, on July 15, 2024. (Oren Cohen/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Author Yossi Klein Halevi joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode, a bonus replay of our What Matters Now weekly podcast.

This week, we turn to Klein Halevi for a deeply intense probe into what it means to be part of the existential Israeli struggle.

We discuss how, as the war in Gaza continues, the different forces in Israeli society are caught up in a destructive push-pull dance even as Israel is losing its moral capital during this long war.

During this time of existential schism in the Jewish state, we also hear how to weave threads of unity.

So this week, we ask best-selling author Yossi Klein Halevi, what matters now.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: Author Yossi Klein Halevi. (Shalom Hartman Institute)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

As potentially fateful talks for a hostage and ceasefire deal are underway in Qatar, 10 hardliners from the ruling Likud party issued a public letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, detailing four “red lines as members of the Likud movement and as members of the coalition.” Magid fills us in on what are we hearing after the first day of talks, including communications from Qatar to Iran.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a special session of the Turkish parliament on Thursday that he would travel to the Gaza Strip as a statement of solidarity with his people under war. Magid weighs in on some potential obstacles to the visit.

Dozens of masked settlers participated in the riot through the northern West Bank village of Jit, with the Palestinian Authority health ministry reporting that a 23-year-old local was killed by “settlers’ bullets.” Israeli security sources said it was unclear who shot him. Magid explores the forces in the coalition that have ties to these extremist elements.

Former US president Donald Trump said yesterday that he counseled Netanyahu when they met last month to swiftly “get your victory” because the “killing has to stop” in Gaza. Magid unpacks Trump's statements on this and about a potential future Democrat State Department.

Magid recounts how Biden’s big hostage-release deal speech from the White House State Dining Room on May 31 was initially supposed to be a different speech altogether.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Gaza truce talks in Doha get off to ‘promising start,’ set to continue Friday

In Turkey, Abbas declares he’ll go to Gaza ‘even if it costs my life,’ mourns Haniyeh

Palestinian killed as settlers torch homes and cars in West Bank village

Trump: I told Netanyahu ‘get your victory quickly’ because ‘the killing has to stop’

A Biden speech urging national Israeli reckoning was shelved at the last minute. Here’s why

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: A car torched by masked settlers in the Palestinian town of Jit in the West Bank, August 15, 2024. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and Arab Affairs reporter Luca Pacchiani join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu adviser Ophir Falk were sent to Doha to participate in two days of hostage release negotiations. We hear how the Arab press is covering their chances of success.

On Tuesday, Hamas launched rockets toward Tel Aviv for the first time in months. Fabian discusses what we know about the conflict on the ground as well as what this recent rocket attack could symbolize. And as Hezbollah projectiles continue to batter the north, Fabian updates.

Yesterday, five Palestinian gunmen were killed in a 12-hour Israeli counter-terrorism raid in the northern West Bank and four soldiers were also wounded during the operation after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle. Fabian debriefs on how the IDF is carrying out a long-term strategy with this type of operation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken okayed the sale of fighter jets and other arms to Israel in deals worth over $20 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday. What is expected and when?

On April 13, Amina Hassouna, a 7-year old Bedouin girl, was the sole victim of the Iran attack and was seriously wounded in the head by shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile. We hear how her unrecognized Bedouin community in the Negev, Al-Fura, and many others still lack basic infrastructure, but also sirens, rocket shelters and cover from the Iron Dome missile defense system.

As Israelis wait in uncertainty and trepidation for an Iranian attack that may or may not materialize in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, some media outlets in the Arab world have begun to ridicule Tehran’s perceived empty threats and grandstanding. Pacchiani describes a few.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel sending high-level team to Doha talks, seen as possible last chance for deal

Hamas fires rockets at Tel Aviv, a first since May, as IDF advances in Khan Younis

5 Palestinian gunmen killed, four troops hurt in West Bank raid

US approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel, including 50 fighter jets

As Iranian retaliation looms, thousands of Bedouins still vulnerable to rockets 

Satirical cartoons in the Arab press lampoon Iran for delaying attack on Israel

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, who regularly publishes in the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, draws an Iranian tank carries a gigantic missile launcher, which only ends up ejecting a small drone carrying a miniature rocket, August 10, 2024. (screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Political reporter Tal Schneider and settlements reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal are scheduled to resume in Qatar on Thursday, with US mediators touting the summit as possibly the final opportunity to release the hostages captured by Hamas on October 7, end the 10-month-long war in Gaza. Schneider tells us what we’re hearing about how the negotiations could also avert the possibility of an all-out regional war with the involvement of Iran.

The influential newspaper aligned with the United Torah Judaism political party Yated Ne’eman blasted National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for “endangering Jewish lives” by visiting Temple Mount on the solemn Jewish fast day of Tisha B’av and insisting that Jewish prayer was permitted at the site, in direct contradiction to the status quo upheld by the Israeli government. Sharon weighs in on the ideology guiding Ben Gvir and then Schneider discusses the political fallout.

Schneider brings a report about a petition to the High Court that was brought by dozens of parents of IDF fighters who have been in battle for most of the 313 days of the war against Hamas. They claim that the IDF has no regulations in place to handle this long-term situation and as a result, their children are being denied really basic things, such as basic hygiene or the right to even take their boots off for over 80 days. What do the parents hope to accomplish?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Biden: Iran expected to push off attacking Israel if Gaza ceasefire deal clinched

US leads international condemnations of Ben Gvir’s ‘provocations’ at Temple Mount

Ben Gvir scorns PM’s objections as Jews seen praying on Temple Mount: ‘It’s my policy’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Relatives and supporters of Israelis held hostage by Hamas since the October 7 attacks lift flags and placards as they demonstrate calling for their release in Tel Aviv on August 10, 2024. (Oren Ziv / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi held an assessment and approved battle plans for “the various fronts,” the military said yesterday, as the country braced for an attack from Iran and its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah. How is the IDF ramping up its preparations for "peak alertness"?

The military wing of Hamas on Monday said that members of the terror group assigned to guard Israeli hostages killed a male captive and seriously wounded another two female hostages. The Israel Defense Forces said it could neither confirm nor deny the claim. Fabian tells us what little we know.

The United Nations Security Council is set to meet today to discuss Gaza in the wake of this weekend’s Israeli airstrike on what it says was a terror HQ inside a school that was being used as a shelter. Fabian updates with new numbers of terrorists killed during Saturday's strike.

In a petition filed Sunday to the Tel Aviv District Court, 14 Tel Aviv residents and the Rosh Yehudi group accused the municipality of facilitating sex-segregated prayers on public grounds by Muslims on their holidays, while preventing similar activities by Jews on Yom Kippur and beyond. Lidor gives background to this tinderbox issue.

Today is the annual Jewish day of mourning, Tisha B’Av. Lidor notes a sad new addition to the lamentations traditionally recited today.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF on ‘peak alert’ for Iran, Hezbollah attacks; US expects it may happen this week

IDF chief approves multi-front battle plans as Israel girds for Iran, Hezbollah attack

Hamas says its guards killed a hostage, wounded two others; IDF investigating claim

IDF names another 12 Hamas, Islamic Jihad terrorists killed in Gaza school strike

Sidelined by war, fight over gender-segregated prayer in Tel Aviv resumes in court

October 7 trauma reconnects Israelis with a 2,000-year-old Jewish day of mourning

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Jewish men pray during Tisha B'Av, at the Wall Western, in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Lebanese media is reporting that in recent days Hezbollah has entirely evacuated its headquarters in the Beirut suburb of Dahieh and last night AXIOS reported that Defense Minister Yoav Gallant spoke last night with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and told him Iran’s military preparations suggest Iran is getting ready for a large-scale attack on Israel. What are we hearing about Israel's preparedness?

On Saturday morning, after the IDF struck a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command room at the Taba’een school in Gaza City, international media was aflame with damning headlines. Horovitz weighs in.

The widely endorsed ceasefire and hostage release deal presented to Israel and Hamas earlier this year is still viable, according to US President Joe Biden, despite the Palestinian terror group’s announcement that it would not be sending a delegation to the August 15 confab.

During Sunday’s cabinet meeting, Justice Minister Yariv Levin reportedly pushed for the renewal of the government’s legal overhaul, which has been frozen since October 7. We hear how the judicial overhaul influenced the country last year, leading Borschel-Dan to ask, why make this push now?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

In reversal, Israel said to now believe Iran plans to attack in next few days

Hamas says it won’t attend Thursday’s ‘last opportunity’ talks for hostage-truce deal

In cabinet meeting, justice minister said to call to revive judicial overhaul plan

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Vehicles drive past a huge billboard depicting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian (R) and slain Palestinian Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran's Valiasr Square on August 12, 2024. (Atta Kenare/ AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The IDF ordered an airstrike Saturday morning on a Hamas and Islamic Jihad command room at the Taba’een school in Gaza City, killing some 19 Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror operatives. Fabian debriefs us on the controversial operation and what else is happening on the ground in the Strip.

Amid a Hezbollah drone attack on northern Israel, a treatment and rehabilitation center for people with disabilities was hit and severely damaged after a likely Iron Dome interceptor landed in the center’s indoor pool and wreaked havoc -- without causing casualties. We learn about other drone strikes and how the IDF is combatting them.

Iranian spies created fake online profiles impersonating Israeli users as part of a scheme to recruit Israeli civilians to carry out missions for Tehran, Israeli authorities said Thursday. Fabian explains how this wasn't the first time -- and won't be the last.

In the event of an emergency, the IDF Home Front Command can announce restrictions on gatherings, the education system, and workplaces in specific areas, or across the country. We hear why it is still business as usual across the country, even as an expected reprisal attack from Iran and/or Hezbollah could be imminent.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Amid global criticism, Israel names 19 it says it killed in terror HQ at Gaza school

Hezbollah launches drones at north after IDF kills Hamas commander in Lebanon

IDF launches new offensive in Khan Younis; officer seriously hurt in Rafah

Iranian operatives have been posing as Israelis to try to recruit them, Shin Bet says

As Iran and Hezbollah attacks loom, why hasn’t the IDF adjusted civilian guidelines?

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: An Israeli anti-missile system intercepts drones fired from Lebanon over the Upper Galilee, on August 10, 2024. (Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode, a bonus replay of our What Matters Now weekly podcast.

Israel awaits an expected retaliatory attack from Iran and Hezbollah for the assassinations of Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh in Teheran and Hezbollah chief of staff Fuad Shukr in Beirut.

We don’t know what’s going to happen: The potential strike could be tonight, could be tomorrow — or could be never.

During this period of uncertainty, we discuss with good humor, “How do you prepare for a potential ‘Armageddon’ — both physically and metaphysically?”

So this week we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: A bomb shelter in Nahariya painted by Lidia and Igor Katliarski (Lidia Katliarski)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Magid discusses conversations he had in Qatar this week, regarding the Israeli negotiating team and their sense of a lack of credibility as they make commitments during the negotiations, and then fail to get final approval from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu upon their return to Israel, impacting the hostage talks and looking at the Israeli leader as the obstacle to a deal.

He also talks about the Arab countries that don't want to participate in peacekeeping forces in Gaza after a ceasefire is approved, although there could be pressures and leverage that would allow them to change their minds.

Magid speaks about Vice President Kamala Harris' comments at a rally in Detroit, where an offhand comment she made to a far-left group about an arms embargo for Israel was taken out of context.

He also discusses Harris' recently chosen running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, his strong record with the Jewish community and Israel, which he supported without question after October 7.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hostage deal won’t happen unless Biden squeezes Netanyahu harder, Arab officials say

Netanyahu accused of undercutting Israeli credibility in Gaza truce talks

Jordan, Qatar, Saudis hesitant to join US-driven postwar peacekeeping force in Gaza

Harris tells anti-Israel hecklers to be quiet unless they ‘want Donald Trump to win’

Aide says Harris opposes Israel arms embargo, after far-left group claims she may not

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Demonstrators protest for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, outside the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv, August 7, 2024. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in the Jerusalem office on today's episode.

Back in April, Iran directly targeted Israel with some 500 projectiles, including drones, missiles and rockets. Since the assassination in Teheran of Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh, which Israel has not taken credit for, paired with the overt assassination of Hezbollah chief of staff Fuad Shukr, Israelis have been waiting for a retaliatory strike. Horovitz weighs in on how this is playing out on the diplomatic stage and at home.

According to the IDF, only 48 out of 900 Haredi men who received call-up notices last month showed up at the army’s induction center over the past several days for an initial evaluation. Horovitz and Borschel-Dan discuss some of the implications of the lack of manpower on the IDF and how this thorny problem must be solved through dialogue.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

The waiting

Israel said to believe Hezbollah will respond before Iran to deaths of terror chiefs

Western ambassadors pull out of Nagasaki memorial after Israel not invited

Harris tells anti-Israel hecklers to be quiet unless they ‘want Donald Trump to win’

IDF claims violent enlistment protests scaring off ultra-Orthodox draftees

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

Check out yesterday's Daily Briefing episode here:

https://omny.fm/shows/the-daily-briefing/day-306-resolute-christian-israelis-stay-put-near

IMAGE: Iran's acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri (L) welcomes his Jordanian counterpart Ayman Safadi ahead of their meeting in Tehran on August 4, 2024. (AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Political reporter Tal Schneider and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, the Hamas terror group named Yahya Sinwar as the new head of its “political bureau,” the highest-ranking position in the organization, following the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week. Schneider explains what message Hamas is bringing with this appointment.

A Washington Post columnist wrote this morning that the United States’ diplomatic efforts to temper Iran’s retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh might be working and that Iran may yet rethink its plans after the US rushed its forces to the region and passed along messages to Iran warning of serious consequences for the new government of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Schneider delves in.

If hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalate, the northern port city of Haifa is likely to get hammered with dozens, if not hundreds, of rockets a day, possibly for weeks on end. Lidor was there on Sunday and reports back.

Dozens of ultra-Orthodox extremist protesters breached the Tel Hashomer army base on Tuesday, jumping over the fence in an attempt to disrupt the enlistment of yeshiva students to the Israel Defense Forces. Schneider and Lidor discuss the ongoing efforts of the IDF to conscript this population and the extreme pushback.

Several thousand residents of the Aramean Christian village of Jish, situated about 3.5 kilometers (2 miles) from the border, have not evacuated and are indeed hunkering down. Lidor illuminates this inspiring community.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

October 7 mastermind Yahya Sinwar chosen to replace Haniyeh as Hamas leader

19 injured, one critically, as Hezbollah drones strike near northern city of Nahariya

In Haifa, locals meet the prospect of imminent war with calm resolve

Extremist Haredim storm IDF recruitment base to protest drafting of yeshiva students

In Jish, an indigenous Christian minority defiantly stays in Hezbollah’s crosshairs

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Christian worshippers attend church in the Jish village in northern Israel near the Lebanon border on January 17, 2024. (Jalaa Marey / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian, US bureau chief Jacob Magid and Olympics correspondent Amy Spiro join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Fabian updates us on what he knows about the IDF’s preparations for a multitude of scenarios for a retaliatory strike from Iran and its proxies over the assassinations of Hamas head Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah chief of staff Fuad Shukr last week. He speaks about the Homefront Command's new system to send location-based public warning messages, following successful trials.

Seven reservists were wounded, including four seriously, during fighting in the southern Gaza Strip on Monday morning. Also yesterday, an Israeli truck driver was lightly injured by a rocket impact near Kibbutz Re’ím, as terrorists in the Gaza Strip launched a barrage at southern Israel. Fabian debriefs on the current fighting in Gaza.

Early this morning, an anti-tank missile hit the backyard of a home in the evacuated northern community of Avivim, without causing casualties. But, as Fabian describes, just yesterday there were attacks that left IDF soldiers wounded. We hear how the IDF retaliated.

IMAGE: Sharon Kantor of Israel celebrates her women's iQFOiL windsurfing class silver medal win among the waves during the 2024 Summer Olympics, August 3, 2024, in Marseille, France. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Magid reports on his way to the US from Doha about what he heard in Qatar about the hostage release negotiations.

Spiro fills us in on all the excitement surrounding a so-far unprecedented six medals garnered by Team Israel at the Olympics and we hear what else may be in store.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

At command center, Gallant says IAF preparing for ‘quick transition to offense’

IDF can now send location-based alerts to phones in case of large-scale attacks

7 IDF reservists wounded, 4 of them seriously, in blast in southern Gaza

CNN: Hamas central Gaza battalions still effective, may hold hostages; IDF denies claims

Two IDF soldiers moderately wounded in Hezbollah drone attack on north

Hostage talks on hold until after Iran response, replacement of Haniyeh — officials

Double medalist Dolgopyat wants to inspire young athletes to ‘believe in themselves’

Judo Olympic medalists return home: ‘Our goal was to raise the flag of Israel high’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told counterparts from G7 countries that Washington believes an Iranian attack on Israel could begin within the next day or two, according to an Axios report. According to a Kan broadcaster report, unnamed Western diplomats estimate that the same regional coalition that helped repel Iran’s direct drone and missile attack in April can be put together again to thwart another potential attack. Rettig Gur zooms out to look at Iran's options versus those who will support it over Israel.

Three soldiers suspected of the sexual abuse of a Palestinian detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel were released from custody on Sunday following new information brought into the case. A week after the arrests of 10 reservists and a mob of far-right activists and lawmakers that broke into two IDF bases, Rettig Gur gives some perspective.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

US said to believe Iran attack on Israel imminent, Biden to hold situation room meeting

Diplomats said optimistic coalition that foiled Iran’s April attack can be reassembled

3 suspects in Sde Teiman abuse case released after new evidence presented

Torture, abuse, unfit conditions: The allegations over Sde Teiman and its guards

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: A portrait of slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is displayed during a demonstration denouncing his killing and that of Hezbollah's senior commander Fuad Shukr, in the Lebanese coastal city of Sidon, on August 2, 2024. (Mahmoud Zayyat / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Two Israeli civilians were killed and two others were wounded in a terror stabbing attack in the central city of Holon on Sunday morning, police and medics said. Fabian debriefs.

An Israeli drone strike Saturday morning in the southern Lebanon town of Bazourieh, near Tyre, killed Ali Abd Ali, a prominent operative in the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, continuing the tit-for-tat conflict along the northern border since October 8. Who was Abd Ali?

Officials in Washington and Jerusalem expect Iran and its proxies could attack Israel as early as tomorrow, according to the Axios news site, in retaliation for the killings of Hezbollah military chief Fuad Shukr and Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh last week. Fabian takes us through several potential scenarios of attack and what Israel could do to counter.

Nine Palestinian gunmen were killed in two Israeli drone strikes near the West Bank city of Tulkarem on Saturday morning. We hear how Hamas is alive and well in the West Bank.

The largest rocket barrages in months were sent from the Gaza Strip over the past several days. What is happening on the ground in Gaza?

Residents of central Israel report disruptions to navigation apps like Google Maps, Waze and other systems that use GPS with some Tel Aviv motorists being shown that they were in Beirut. We hear how this ties in with any potential incoming attacks from Iran and its proxies.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Two dead, 2 hurt in terror stabbing spree in Holon; Palestinian attacker shot by police

Israel kills ‘central’ Hezbollah operative in Lebanon, strikes Hamas targets in Gaza

Iran warns Hezbollah will strike civilian targets deeper in Israel as war fears heighten

Hamas commander, eight other gunmen killed in IDF drone strikes near Tulkarem

At least 19 rockets fired at Israel from southern Gaza, the largest barrage in weeks

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Ultra-Orthodox Jews shop at the Yesh Chesed Supermarket in the northern Israeli city of Tzfat, August 1, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York, joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in The Times of Israel's Jerusalem offices for today's special Shabbat episode.

Ten months into the war with Hamas, it is easy for Israelis to lose heart and focus on the struggle rather than the beauty and purpose of the Jewish state.

Creditor brings words of strength and shares moving experiences from his short support mission to Israel this week.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Rabbi Menachem Creditor, the Pearl and Ira Meyer Scholar in Residence at UJA-Federation New York (courtesy)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Legal reporter Jeremy Sharon and Arab affairs correspondent Gianluca Pacchiani join host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Sharon speaks about the legal aspects of the case against the nine reservists, accused of alleged abuses against Palestinian detainees at the Sde Teiman military base. The proceedings have gone ahead, as the government, attorney general and high court moved quickly, despite the heated protests by right-wing activists earlier this week, at Sde Teiman.

He also talks about Palestinian villagers, victims of a spike in violence in the West Bank after October 7, carried out by extremist settlers against Palestinian herding communities, forcing some out of their homes for months. Now the High Court is critical of the Israel Police for their lack of control against the violence and protection.

Pacchiani looks at the public statement of mourning by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for assassinated Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, surprising given that they are bitter rivals, but Hamas is popular among Palestinians and Abbas had no choice but to offer his condolences.

He also discusses public comments of dissent made by some Lebanese individuals against Hezbollah, showing how the terrorist organization has hijacked the country but emphasizing the publics' inability to rally in the streets.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Far-right MK: Justice officials who go after soldiers will be ‘prosecuted as traitors’

Torture, abuse, unfit conditions: The allegations over Sde Teiman and its guards

Court: Israel must enable return of displaced Palestinians to West Bank villages

Abbas declares day of mourning for Haniyeh as he blasts ‘cowardly’ killing

Majdal Shams massacre highlights Solomonic predicament of Golan’s Druze community

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Supreme Court justice Uzi Vogelman at Supreme Court in Jerusalem for a petition asking the state to close the detention facility at the Sde Teiman military base, June 5, 2024 (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in our Jerusalem office on today's episode.

Iran’s supreme leader and representatives of Palestinian terror groups prayed over the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard in Tehran earlier today. We begin by speaking about the symbolism of a strike on the head of an Iranian proxy in its capital.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke after a three-hour security cabinet meeting last night and said Israel was facing threats from across the region following the killing of Fuad Shukr, whom he called “Hezbollah’s chief of staff,” in Beirut on Tuesday night. “We are ready for every scenario,” he promised, “and will stand united and determined against every threat.” He added: “Israel will exact a very heavy price for any aggression against us.” We discuss the assassination of Shukr, a relatively little-known figure until his death.

Earlier in the week, two far-right mobs rampaged into two IDF bases -- at Sde Teiman and Beit Lid. Horovitz weighs in on the continual lack of imagination on the part of the IDF to stave off "unthinkable" attacks.

On this, the 300th day of the war, protesters and relatives of hostages blocked the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, calling for a deal to free the hostages held in Gaza. Egypt and Qatar warned that strikes on terror leaders this week have undermined efforts made by mediators to reach an agreement for hostages to be released and a ceasefire. How likely is it that the potential deal was taken into consideration when ordering this assassination?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

With two strikes in enemy capitals, the war enters uncharted territory

Khamenei said to order direct strike on Israel after Haniyeh killed in Tehran

Netanyahu: ‘Challenging days ahead,’ Israel will exact heavy price for any attack

Lufthansa flight to Tel Aviv lands in Cyprus, returns to Munich amid Iran tensions

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Iranians follow a truck, center, carrying the coffins of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh and his bodyguard who were killed in an assassination blamed on Israel on Wednesday, during their funeral ceremony at Enqelab-e-Eslami (Islamic Revolution) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Aug. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and military reporter Emanuel Fabian join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in our Jerusalem offices on today's episode.

Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in the early hours of the morning in Iran, hours after he attended a swearing-in ceremony for the country’s new president Masoud Pezeshkian. No nation has taken credit for the attack. Fabian fills us in on what we know about the means of the attack.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington will help defend Israel if it is attacked, while the White House will also work to reduce tension in the region following Haniyeh's assassination. Berman speaks about the possibilities of a wider war in the Middle East and how other countries are condemning Israel.

This morning, Hezbollah issued its first statement on Israel’s assassination of the terror group’s top military commander Fuad Shukr last night, saying he was present in the building in Beirut when it was struck, but does not confirm his death, which the IDF announced last night. Fabian debriefs on this strike.

Berman discusses how these two attacks are an "elegant" solution to the need for respond to the Iranian-made Hezbollah bomb that killed 12 children in Magdal Shams on Saturday afternoon. Is there any speculation that there will be further reprisal?

Fabian clarifies that as yet there are no changes to Homefront Command guidelines following the two strikes.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh assassinated in Tehran missile strike

IDF kills top Hezbollah commander in Beirut in response to deadly Majdal Shams attack

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: People hold up the Palestinian flag and a portrait of assassinated Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, during a rally at Tehran University, in the Iranian capital on July 31, 2024, as Iran declares three days of mourning. (AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid and Olympics correspondent Amy Spiro join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in our Jerusalem offices on today's episode.

Far-right activists on Monday evening broke into a military base where soldiers detained on suspicion of abusing a Palestinian detainee were taken for questioning, hours after a separate base was stormed by a right-wing mob fuming over the arrests. Magid discusses who were among the mob and its affects on the IDF.

Yesterday, a diplomatic Israeli source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that “the estimation is that the response will not lead to an all-out war… That would not be in our interest at this point.” We hear what the US is doing to try to clamp down a regional war.

Hamas accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday of preventing a ceasefire in Gaza by adding new conditions and demands to a US-backed Israeli truce proposal, charges the prime minister later denied. Magid weighs in.

Yesterday, the third day of sporting competitions at the Paris Olympics, saw weather-related frustrations for Israel’s windsurfers, a disappointment in swimming, and an achievement in surfing thousands of miles away in Tahiti. Spiro dives in on this and other sports that Team Israel is competing in and shares what we should look out for in the near future.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

‘Bordering on anarchy’: IDF chief sounds alarm after right-wing mob overruns 2nd base

Military Police raid IDF detention facility, 9 held, over ‘serious abuse of a detainee’

As diplomats scramble, Israel says response to Hezbollah to be ‘harsh’ but contained

Hamas, Israel accuse each other of stalling hostage deal with new demands

Sailing frustrations, surfing triumphs and tough judo battles for Israel in Paris

In the pool, on the mat and in the river, Israeli Olympians seek gold and national pride

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Far-right activists protest against the detention of nine Israeli reserve soldiers suspected of assaulting a Hamas terrorist, at the Sde Teiman military base near Beersheba, July 29, 2024. (Dudu Greenspan/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Political reporter Tal Schneider and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The funeral for the 12th boy killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike on a soccer field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams on Saturday took place this morning. Yesterday afternoon, Israeli ministers authorized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief to decide on the “manner and timing” of a response to the rocket strike. Schneider fills us in on what we know about the security cabinet meeting.

Yesterday, Lidor traveled to the town of Majdal Shams, where 10 of the 12 children had just been buried. We discuss the townsfolks' reactions as well as their special status in Israel.

Mossad director David Barnea met in Rome on Sunday with top negotiators from the US, Egypt, and Qatar for talks on the updated proposal for a hostage release deal with Hamas that Israel relayed to the White House on Saturday. What are the next steps -- if any?

Although 47 Ofakim residents were slaughtered by Hamas on October 7, until recently, the small city some 21 km from the border with Gaza was not included in the government’s broader rehabilitation plan for affected communities. Lidor explains what was the holdup for the community to receive funds.

The Knesset is now officially on recess. What did we see as this summer session wound down for the next three months and how does the country view its lawmakers' long break?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Ministers authorize Netanyahu, Gallant to order retaliation for deadly Golan strike

Anger and grief mix as Majdal Shams buries 10 children killed in rocket strike

Government ministers shouted down at funeral for children killed by Hezbollah attack

Mossad chief meets negotiators in Rome after Israel submits new hostage deal draft

Ofakim gets NIS 229m after Oct. 7 massacre, but kept off national recovery plan

Knesset’s summer session ends but parliamentary activity continues

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Elders and mourners attend the funeral of Gevara Ebraheem, 11, killed in a Hezbollah strike from Lebanon two days earlier, in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan on July 29, 2024. (Jalaa Marey / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

At least 12 people were killed Saturday, mostly children and teens, and dozens more were wounded when a rocket fired from Lebanon hit a soccer field in the northern Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights. We hear about the attack and Fabian discusses IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi's statements about the IDF's readiness in case of an increased escalation along the border.

A Hezbollah drone launched from Lebanon and believed to be heading toward offshore gas infrastructure in northern Israel was shot down by the Israeli Navy over Israel’s territorial waters on Saturday morning, the military said. How is the IDF protecting this vulnerable site?

On Saturday morning, the IDF issued fresh evacuation orders to Palestinians in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, including in sections of the Israeli-designated humanitarian zone, citing intelligence that Hamas terrorists were operating in the area. What new area of Gaza is the IDF operating in now?

In a dangerous operation on Wednesday, the bodies of Ravid Katz, 51, Oren Goldin, 33, Maya Goren, 56, Sgt. Kiril Brodski, 19, and Staff Sgt. Tomer Yaakov Ahimas, 20, were recovered by IDF special forces and members of the Shin Bet security agency. Fabian explains how the interrogation of a Hamas prisoner led to the bodies' location.

On Friday, the coastal city of Ashkelon was targetted by rockets in an attack claimed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad. What do we know about this terror group’s capabilities almost 10 months into the war?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

12 killed, all aged 10-20, as Hezbollah rocket hits soccer field, sparking wider war fears

Hezbollah will pay ‘heavy price,’ PM vows after strike on Druze town kills 12 youngsters

IDF has killed 500 terrorists in Lebanon since beginning of war, says senior officer

Hezbollah drone apparently heading for offshore gas rig downed by Israeli Navy

IDF orders new evacuations for humanitarian zone, hits Hamas HQ in central Gaza school

Bodies of 5 hostages were found in tunnel in Gaza’s Israeli-designated humanitarian zone

Ashkelon targeted by rocket fire from Gaza for first time in a month

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

IMAGE: Mourners carry the coffin of a child killed in a Hezbollah rocket strike from Lebanon a day earlier, during a mass funeral in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, on July 28, 2024. (Jalaa Marey / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Head of ToI's Those We Have Lost project Amy Spiro joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The XXXIII Olympics opened officially in Paris last night and Team Israel is well represented with 88 athletes this year.

Since the October 7 massacre, The Times of Israel has published hundreds of memorial posts about the Hamas victims and fallen soldiers. In the course of the project, we noted a trend of serious athletes among those killed.

On this Olympics weekend, we share nine of their stories.

Discussed articles include:

Lt. Yonatan Goutin, 20: Star judoka who chose combat in IDF

Cpt. Eden Nimri, 22: Professional swimmer, led all-female IDF team

Roni Petrovski, 24: Youth soccer coach with a ‘heart of gold’

Lior Asulin, 43: Ex-soccer player killed celebrating his birthday

Kobi Paryante, 43: Dedicated family man and accomplished athlete

Naomi Shitrit Azulay, 52: Personal trainer and one of 10 siblings

Lior Waitzman, 32: Netflix soundman was training for Ironman

Mor Cohen, 24: Talented athlete was a pioneer in Israel’s lacrosse scene

Haim Bennaim, 55: Landscape architect and avid cyclist

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Top row, left-to-right: Naomi Shitrit Azulay, Mor Cohen, Lior Waitzman; Middle: Roni Petrovski, Haim Bennaim, Lt. Yonatan Goutin; Bottom: Lior Asulin, Kobi Paryante, Cpt. Eden Nimri. (courtesy)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid and Tech Israel editor Sharon Wrobel join host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Magid discusses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday, as well as the talks the two leaders held with families of US hostages, who expressed some hope for the first time in months, regarding the possibility for an imminent hostage deal.

Magid also reviews the prime minister's meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris and her remarks to the press afterwards, during which she emphasized the suffering in Gaza, comments that the Prime Minister's Office said could harm chances for a deal.

Wrobel talks about Israeli software platform Cyabra, which tracks fake users and accounts on social media to root out disinformation, and plans to list its shares on Nasdaq.

Wrobel also discusses new defense technologies that have emerged during the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, and the group of Texas-based and Israeli entrepreneurs that raised funds to invest in Israeli early-stage defense tech startups, particularly from Texas, a US state that remains friendly toward Israel.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Biden, Harris tell Netanyahu it’s time to seal hostage deal as families turn hopeful

Ahead of Netanyahu-Trump meet, official says they spoke July 4 for 1st time in years

Harris: I won’t stay silent on Gaza suffering; Israel: Her words harm chances for deal

Harris blasts ‘hate-fueled’ anti-Israel protests where US flag and PM effigy burned, Hamas hailed

Israeli AI startup tracking fake news plans to list on Nasdaq at $70 million valuation

New $50 million Texas fund to scout for battle-tested Israeli defense tech

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Jonathan Dekel-Chen, center, father of American hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen, along with other families of hostages in Gaza, speaks with reporters following their meeting with President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and US bureau chief Jacob Magid join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress yesterday. We discuss what was said — and unsaid -- in the hour-long speech and hear about who was in the room in support (or dissent) of the premier.

We learn about other meetings of note on Netanyahu's agenda and finally, we get a first-hand account of flying on the newly broken in the premier's Wings of Zion airplane.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

We’re protecting you: Full text of Netanyahu’s address to Congress

In address to both Republicans and Democrats, Netanyahu’s real audience never came up

Addressing Congress, Netanyahu lays out vision for postwar Gaza, anti-Iran alliance

Families pan Netanyahu for leaving hostage deal out of address to Congress

Israeli negotiating team postpones departure to Qatar for hostage talks

As Wing of Zion finally takes off, a less than soaring adventure for press corps

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the US Capitol on July 24, 2024, in Washington, DC. (Saul Loeb / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, Einav Zangauker, the mother of a hostage held by Hamas, published a short video filmed in the Gaza Strip after the October 7 attack, but recently discovered. Horovitz speaks about her decision to release the video now.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to address Congress this afternoon and will meet United States President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday at the White House, and former president Donald Trump on Friday in Miami. We hear the potential points Netanyahu is likely to make.

Rescued hostage Noa Argamani tearfully told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a meeting Monday that her most difficult experience during her eight months of captivity was hearing the premier declare that the war was going to be long. Argamani’s comments came even as she and her father faced virulent criticism from some left-wing journalists and others for agreeing to accompany Netanyahu on his visit to the US, leading to condemnations by both coalition and opposition lawmakers. Horovitz weighs in.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Tuesday told the heads of local authorities that students from northern communities evacuated because of the war would not be able to return to school in their hometowns in September and would instead continue to attend schools elsewhere in Israel. While the Knesset is set to break for recess this week, we hear how there is much more work MKs could be doing for their nation at war.

The National Security Council on Sunday told Israelis traveling to Paris for the Olympics to exercise increased caution, warning that it believes that global jihadist and Iran-backed terror organizations “are seeking to carry out attacks on Israeli/Jewish targets around the Olympics.” Horovitz speaks about the increasing perception that Israel is a pariah nation.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hostage Matan Zangauker’s mom publishes clip showing him in Gaza after Oct. 7 attack

Netanyahu to meet Biden and Harris on Thursday, Trump on Friday

Tearful Noa Argamani tells Netanyahu his vow of long war broke her in captivity

Education minister: Students won’t start school year in displaced northern towns

Israel urges citizens attending Olympics to be cautious, warning of terror threats

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: People hold pictures of Israeli hostages during a vigil on the National Mall on July 23, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Justin Sullivan/ GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, the IDF announced that it had confirmed the deaths of two additional hostages in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, Alex Dancyg, 75, and Yagev Buchshtav, 35, after obtaining new intelligence information. Fabian discusses the ongoing IDF investigation into their deaths.

The IDF said it was adjusting the boundaries of the Israel-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip to better target Hamas following numerous rocket attacks on southern Israel in recent weeks. How does this tie into the renewed fighting in the Khan Younis area?

An empty school and preschool were hit in rocket barrages fired from southern Lebanon toward Israeli communities on Sunday, as several fires sparked by Hezbollah missile attacks raged in the north of the country. What are the Air Force’s assessments for all-out war there?

The Shin Bet security agency announced on Monday that it recently foiled plans by a West Bank terror cell from the Aqabat Jaber camp to carry out a kidnapping attack against Israelis. What do we know about the members of this terror cell?

Fabian reports on a Canadian man attempted a terror stabbing on Monday morning at the entrance to Netiv Ha’asara, a moshav in southern Israel close to the Gaza border.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF announces deaths of hostages Alex Dancyg and Yagev Buchshtav in Hamas captivity

IDF orders evacuation of part of Gaza safe zone, says Hamas deeply embedded in area

Rockets hit empty school, preschool in north after IDF strikes arms depot in Lebanon

West Bank terror cell indicted over plot to attack, kidnap Israelis

Canadian citizen attempts terror stabbing at moshav near Gaza, is shot dead

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Smoke rises following Israeli strikes in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, July 22, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The Israeli Air Force released footage showing missiles launched by IAF fighter jets striking four large container cranes at the port used to unload shipments. The symbolism — and pragmatism of course — behind that move can’t missed after all these months of shipping interference, which is part of a larger strategy, posits Rettig Gur.

Israeli public figures on Sunday expressed gratitude to US President Joe Biden for his backing of Israel throughout his long career after the Democratic incumbent announced he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential election. Some US leaders have placed Biden's announcement in stark contrast with the conduct of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Rettig Gur weighs in.

US Senator JD Vance of Ohio, who is Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, will not attend Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday. Is this more than mere logistics?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IAF issues footage of strike on Houthi-controlled port, says it’s girding for reprisal

Israeli leaders thank Biden for ‘steadfast support’ after he quits presidential race

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: This handout satellite image released by Maxar Technologies shows a view of burning oil tanks in the port of Yemen's Houthi-held city of Hodeida on July 21, 2024, a day after Israeli strikes. (Satellite image ©2024 Maxar Technologies / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Earlier this morning, the IDF said a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis from Yemen was intercepted by Israel’s long-range Arrow 3 defense system. Berman weighs in on how this conflict could spiral into a regional war.

A public fight broke out between Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Benjamin Netanyahu Thursday after Gallant announced on Wednesday that a field hospital for children would be established by the IDF in Israel, near the Gaza border, due to the extended closure of Gaza’s Rafah Crossing into Egypt. We hear what were the prime minister’s objections to this humanitarian aid.

In a conclusive and unambiguous decision, the International Court of Justice declared in a non-binding ruling Friday that Israel’s 56-year long rule in “the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967” is “illegal,” and that it is obligated to bring its presence in that territory to an end “as rapidly as possible.” But does this ruling have any teeth?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet the Israeli negotiating team today before flying to the United States as efforts are being made to approve the Israeli response to the potential hostage-ceasefire deal, according to a Kan public broadcaster report. Berman explains potential complications. 

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF shoots down missile heading to Israel in 1st Houthi attack since Yemen port strike

Two senior ministers boycotted vote to approve Yemen strike, protesting belated update

PM vetoes Gallant’s field hospital for Gaza kids; defense officials: He’s playing politics

World Court: Israeli presence in East Jerusalem, West Bank is illegal and must end

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Houthi supporters attend a rally against the US and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The Israel Defense Forces confirmed it carried out airstrikes in Yemen Saturday afternoon after an explosives-laden drone sent by the Houthis struck Tel Aviv yesterday at 3:14 a.m. and killed 50-year-old Yevgeny Ferder.

We hear about the human error that eliminated any warning of the attack in Tel Aviv and about the drone's unusual flight path.

Fighter jets struck military targets of the Houthi terror regime in the area of the Al Hudaydah Port in Yemen in what is Israel's farthest known attack in recent history. Fabian updates us on what we currently know.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel strikes Houthi-controlled port in Yemen after deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv

IAF tracked drone that hit Tel Aviv for 6 minutes, but failed to classify it as threat

Explosive drone from Yemen hits Tel Aviv apartment, killing one man, wounding others

Houthis’ deadly Tel Aviv drone strike: ‘Lucky shot’ or strategic threat?

ToI Original Video: Drone strike in Tel Aviv

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree speaks at a rally against the US and Israel in Sanaa, Yemen, July 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Magid reports from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he has been attending the Republican National Convention. He describes the scene there and discusses what remarks from former president Donald Trump's hour-plus speech are of note for Israel or the Jewish community at large.

Trump’s selection of JD Vance as his running mate has seen a lot of worried responses from Jewish organizations, but Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog indicated Thursday that he is not overly concerned. We hear why.

Wednesday night, the parents of US-Israeli hostage Omer Neutra spoke to the convention. Magid speaks about their message in this forum.

And finally, we hear a little more about who Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is definitely going to meet next week in Washington, DC -- and who he'd like to.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israeli envoy: GOP’s isolationist wing more likely to impact Ukraine than Israel

Father of Hamas captive at RNC: Trump told me he ‘stands with the American hostages’

US-Israeli hostage’s family fights to keep American public interested in fellow citizen

Netanyahu said seeking sit-down with Trump during trip to US; will meet Kamala Harris

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump stands on stage with former first lady Melania Trump during the final day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, July 18, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Early today, the Knesset voted not to establish a Palestinian state through a resolution co-sponsored by parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition together with right-wing parties from the opposition. Why now?

In the name of not meddling in the American presidential elections, far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has suggested to security cabinet ministers that a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas should be delayed. Horovitz weighs in.

Mossad chief David Barnea told a security cabinet meeting Tuesday that young female hostages held by Hamas don’t have time to wait for a new hostage deal framework, according to unsourced leaks from the gathering that were widely reported by Hebrew media outlets Wednesday. We hear about some of the voices from within the coalition supporting the deal.

Aides to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are optimistic that some progress has been made in his yearslong effort to re-ingratiate himself with Donald Trump, after the former president reposted Netanyahu’s video condemning Saturday’s assassination attempt, according to a Wednesday report. Could the two meet up during Netanyahu’s upcoming trip?

The IDF is set to begin sending initial draft orders on Sunday, summoning haredi men to the induction center to begin their physical and other testing ahead of their draft. Horovitz discusses the hot-button issue.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hamas is weakened, but there’s no room for complacency

Knesset votes overwhelmingly against Palestinian statehood, days before PM’s US trip

Report: Ben Gvir urging hostage deal to be held up to avoid helping Biden vs Trump

Netanyahu aides said to see hope of mending fences with Trump after assassination attempt

Urging deal, Mossad chief said to warn time running out for young female hostages

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, ministers and MKs at the plenum hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem on July 17, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and Tech Israel editor Sharon Wrobel join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The Israel Defense Forces is increasingly convinced that Muhammad Deif, the commander of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday. We hear what additional information has been released about the strike.

Over the past day, more than 25 targets were struck by Israeli fighter jets and other aircraft in the Gaza Strip, the IDF says. Fabian notes an uptick in strikes on schools as Hamas is increasing leaving the tunnels and embedding itself with civilians. Where does this leave the Hamas hostages?

Around 100 Hezbollah rockets targeted several different areas of northern Israel in four separate waves on Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, as the Israel Defense Forces responded with strikes on Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon. We hear that while this barrage isn't unprecedented in number,  the impetus behind the rocket fire is less clear than in previous large volleys.

Yesterday, the IDFs announced it will begin to send out initial draft orders to members of the Haredi community on Sunday. What is the expected procedure and how long will it take to see more ultra-Orthodox soldiers in uniform?

The Finance Ministry has warned that enlisting working ultra-Orthodox men into the army will damage efforts to integrate this group of the population into the labor market. Wrobel explains what else we are hearing out of the Finance Ministry.

Many aspects of Israel’s cost of living have just been going up during this war. We focus on housing prices.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Google is nearing a record-breaking deal to purchase Israeli-founded cybersecurity startup Wiz for $23 billion. How sure are we this deal will go through and what does it mean for Israel?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF increasingly certain Deif died in strike, says Hamas fighters in ‘survival mode’

100 rockets target northern Israel as IDF strikes in Lebanon said to kill 5 Syrians

IDF says it will begin drafting ultra-Orthodox from Sunday; protesters block road

Finance Ministry warns enlisting Haredim to IDF will damage efforts to integrate them into workforce

Inflation edges higher, bolstered by uptick in housing prices

Google said nearing record-breaking $23 billion buy of Israeli-founded cyber startup

Could Google’s $23b bid for Israel-founded cyber unicorn boost local tech outlook?

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Israel Defense Forces operate in Gaza, July 17, 2024, in this handout image. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren and legal reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

During a heated debate in the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice committee yesterday, bereaved parents echoed statements made last week by some lawmakers over the state funding the legal defense of Hamas terrorists. The committee is debating a bill to prohibit the Public Defender’s Office from providing legal representation to those defined by law as illegal combatants. What does the current law require?

Also yesterday, the High Court of Justice issued a provisional order against the state over the controversial Sde Teiman detention facility, where allegations have been made that camp guards severely abused captured unlawful Palestinian combatants held at the site, giving the state just 10 days to respond to petitions demanding it be closed. Sharon weighs in.

Ultra-nationalist politician and former MK Michael Ben Ari was indicted on charges of incitement to racism for “dozens” of public statements during the years 2017 to 2023, in which he incited against Arab Israelis, the State Attorney’s Office announced Sunday. What makes this case so resonant?

Goren discusses what she sees as a concerted effort from the Prime Minister’s Office to shift the narrative of the blame for October 7, including several members of the Netanyahu administration.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Outcry at Knesset as bereaved parents protest plans to fund legal defense of Hamas terrorists

Justice and finance ministers refuse to fund legal defense for Hamas terrorists

High Court gives state 10 days to answer petitions to close Sde Teiman detention site

State attorney indicts former hard-right MK for incitement to racism against Arabs

‘A crybaby and a coward’: Lapid slams Netanyahu for complaining about incitement

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: This undated photo taken in the winter 2023 and provided by Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows blindfolded Palestinians captured in the Gaza Strip in a detention facility on the Sde Teiman military base in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Former US president Donald Trump called on Americans on Sunday to stand united after he was injured in an assassination attempt on Saturday and said that “God alone” saved him. In the shooting’s wake, international leaders, especially those who consider themselves Trump allies, drew parallels to other assassination attempts. Berman weighs in.

Likewise, in Jerusalem, Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs screened a compilation of video clips showing critics of the government engaging in “incitement against the prime minister” during the weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. The discussion was not on the cabinet’s original agenda but was added after the attempt on Trump’s life as a warning for what could arise in Israel.

Over the weekend, the IDF conducted a strike targeting leading Hamas terrorist Muhammad Deif and his deputy, Rafa’a Salameh. What are any repercussions in the hostage negotiations so far, as well as the way in which the IDF is conducting the war?

In his first trip to Israel as UK foreign secretary, David Lammy called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, to include the release of all hostages in Gaza. Who did he meet with during his two days in Israel and the Palestinian Authority, and what else did he say?

Last week, Berman joined 23 European ambassadors, consuls, and attachés to tour emptied-out areas along Israel’s northern border, as well as the IDF Northern Command headquarters in Safed. What was the point of the trip and what did he experience there?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Trump says ‘God alone’ saved him from assassination, urges Americans to unite

After attempt on Trump, cabinet watches video of alleged incitement against Netanyahu

IDF chief says military is creating all the pressure needed on Hamas for hostage deal

Biden to meet with Netanyahu at White House on July 22

Visiting UK foreign secretary urges immediate ceasefire including release of all hostages

Decision on Hezbollah must come ‘very soon’, senior MK tells European diplomats

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Then-President Donald Trump arrives before a dinner with then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro at Mar-a-Lago, March 7, 2020, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Muhammad Deif, together with his deputy Rafa’a Salameh, were targeted in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday morning as they were reportedly present in an above-ground building between the al-Mawasi designated humanitarian zone and the city of Khan Younis. Before we turn to the operation, we hear about its targets?

Four IDF soldiers were wounded, one seriously, during a rocket attack Saturday on the northern city of Kiryat Shmona, as cross-border skirmishes between Israeli forces and Hezbollah continued to flare. Fabian updates us on the conflict in the north.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday it struck facilities belonging to the Syrian Army overnight in response to the launch of two drones from Syria at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat the day before. What do we know about the group behind the drones?

The government will vote today on extending mandatory service for male Israel Defense Forces soldiers to three years, as well as women who serve in combat and some roles. Fabian explains the changes and talks about how the Defense Ministry is beginning to work on conscripting haredi men -- starting next month.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Netanyahu says ‘not absolutely certain’ Deif killed, ‘cracks’ appearing in Hamas

IDF strike targets Hamas military chief Muhammad Deif; group claims at least 90 killed

4 IDF troops hurt, including 1 seriously, as north peppered with rockets and drones

IDF says it hit Syrian military facilities in response to drones targeting Eilat

Ministers to vote Sunday on extending male mandatory IDF service to 3 years

Defense minister says IDF will start drafting ultra-Orthodox men next month

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Palestinians inspect the damage at a site hit by an Israeli operation targeting Hamas's shadowy military commander Mohammad Deif in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on this bonus episode of The Times of Israel's weekly What Matters Now podcast.

Family members of Israelis held hostage in Gaza, along with hundreds of supporters, are marching today in the final leg of a four-day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, calling for a deal with Hamas to secure the release of their loved ones.

The organizers are a group of around a dozen hostage families operating under the name “Kulanu Hatufim” (“We are all hostages”). They are known for their fiery protests outside IDF headquarters in Tel Aviv and for blocking the Ayalon Highway every Saturday night.

The small march began Wednesday in Tel Aviv at Israel Defense Forces headquarters. It will culminate tonight after Shabbat in a protest outside the Prime Minister’s Office in the capital.

Rettig Gur discusses the historical efficacy of protests and whether this time, they just might succeed.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hostage families continue four-day trek from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, demanding deal

Calling for deal, hostage families continue four-day march to Jerusalem

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Families and friends of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza call for their return as they begin a four-day march from Tel Aviv to the Prime Minister's house in Jerusalem, in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

The long-awaited Israel Defense Forces probe into the events of October 7 on Kibbutz Be’eri was published last night, citing the army’s colossal errors in judgment and the residents’ bravery.

While hundreds of Hamas fighters infiltrated Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 101 civilians and 31 security personnel were killed from a community of around 1,000 residents. A further 30 residents and two more civilians were taken hostage by the Hamas terrorists, 11 of whom still remain in Gaza. At least 125 homes in the community were damaged and destroyed amid the fighting that finally ended only on October 9.

The probe found that for seven hours, only 26 armed Israelis were present in Be’eri, facing down around 340 terrorists.

The Be’eri probe is aimed at drawing specific operational conclusions for the military. Fabian describes specific battles and the timeline of events, how detailed the investigation is -- and whether the IDF is implementing lessons learned.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Failure and slaughter: IDF’s Be’eri probe shows army’s colossal errors, residents’ bravery

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Part of a house destroyed in the October 7 Hamas infiltration of Kibbutz Be'eri near the Israeli-Gaza border, October 25, 2023. (Edi Israel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Wednesday his Lebanese terror group would accept Palestinian ally Hamas’s decision on Gaza hostage negotiations and would stop cross-border attacks on Israel if a ceasefire were reached. But would Israel also back down from the conflict on the north?

This week marks a decade to Operation Protective Edge, which took place from July 8-August 26, 2014. Horovitz was on the ground in Gaza’s Shejaiyiya neighborhood earlier this week and saw a location that one of the IDF officers he met with, Lt. Col. Ron Sayag, called a "closing of a circle" from that operation 10 years ago. What did Horovitz see inside the Strip?

The results of an Israel Defense Forces probe into the onslaught and battle on October 7 in the border community of Kibbutz Be’eri, during which tanks shelled a house where Hamas was holding hostages, was presented to Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi on Monday and were given to residents of Be’eri this morning. Borschel-Dan and Horovitz were in Kibbutz Be'eri and Kfar Aza yesterday. They discuss their impressions.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Nasrallah: If Hamas agrees to ceasefire with Israel, Hezbollah will also halt attacks

Shejaiya is at least partly uninhabitable, but troops here say Hamas will return if it can

IDF chief shown results of probe into October 7 fighting at Kibbutz Be’eri

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick.

IMAGE: This handout picture released on July 11, 2024 shows an Israeli soldiers during operations in the Gaza Strip. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Magid discusses the latest regarding the hostage talks taking place in Doha, and the possible sticking points for Israel and Hamas with regard to the proposed three phases of the deal that would take place over the course of three, six-week blocks.

Magid looks at the timing of the deal, which will require several more weeks of mediation, and how that timing could coincide with aspects of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's planned visit to Washington, DC to address Congress on July 24.

He also discusses statements and details about Israel, antisemitism and campus protests in the 16-page document from the Republican Party ahead of their upcoming convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Finally, Magid reviews the ongoing "freakout" by Democrats after President Joe Biden's dismal debate with former President Donald Trump, and how Biden is pushing forward with his campaign.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hamas accuses Netanyahu of placing ‘obstacles’ to truce-hostage negotiations

Netanyahu issues list of 4 ‘nonnegotiable’ demands as hostage talks slated to restart

Optimism in truce-hostage talks: Mossad chief goes to and from Doha, Hamas briefs Hezbollah

GOP platform pledges to stand with Israel, deport ‘pro-Hamas radicals’ from US

In interview, Biden says only ‘the Lord Almighty’ could make him drop out of race

‘Not Biden’s policy’: Official says Democrats’ Israel plank won’t include aid cutoff

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Thousands of protesters on Begin Road in Tel Aviv on July 7, 2024 in calls for a deal now! (Credit: Danor Aharon)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Knesset reporter Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Sokol reviews the Knesset on Monday, as hostage brother Danny Elgarat was thrown out of a committee meeting by committee chair Simcha Rothman after a disagreement with the brother of another hostage about the hostage deal under discussion. 

Sokol discusses the comments and images that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich offered as he voiced his disapproval for the hostage deal, and his underlying threat to bolt the coalition if the government agrees to the deal, along with other Knesset members' recent remarks that this government may not last much longer.

Smotrich's ultra-right ally, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, then threatened ultra-Orthodox party Shas that he would not support their narrowed bill for community rabbis, calling Shas "a lapdog of the left," while Shas Knesset member Aryeh Deri retorted, by calling Ben Gvir "an inflated balloon."

Sokol also mentions the statement made by Knesset member Gideon Sa'ar hinting that former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett is considering a return to politics.

Steinberg talks about some recent projects for hostage families, the bereaved and survivors, including free tattoos for about 120 Israelis, and a hostage family project called "Week of Goodness."

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

‘Shame!’: Knesset ushers drag brother of hostage out of meeting for interrupting

Some in coalition threaten its demise as Ben Gvir blocks key Shas bill, slams PM and Deri

Holding a Sinwar victory pic, Smotrich pans hostage deal; Lapid to PM: We’ll back it

Gideon Sa’ar says former PM Bennett planning a return to politics

Beauty through the pain: Survivors of October 7 inked by visiting tattoo artists

Parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin launch ‘Week of Goodness’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Hostage mothers, activists and Knesset members protest at the Knesset, marking nine months of their captivity, on July 8, 2024. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Last night, ahead of the Israeli negotiating team’s departure for further hostage deal talks in Cairo and Doha later this week, Netanyahu presented a list of what he said were nonnegotiable Israeli demands. What was included in this list?

Marking nine months since the October 7 Hamas massacre, President Isaac Herzog on Sunday asserted that a majority of the public is in favor of a deal to free hostages taken by Hamas terrorists during the brutal assault. What does this statement represent?

Gaza City residents say that they are seeing some of the heaviest fighting since the start of the war and the Israeli military sent columns of tanks into the city from different directions. At the same time, an Israeli military pilot to create “humanitarian enclaves” for Gazan civilians unaffiliated with Hamas is reportedly set to be rolled out in two northern Gaza cities, Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahi. Berman weighs in.

Keir Starmer, the United Kingdom’s newly elected prime minister, told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Sunday morning call that he looks forward to “further deepening the close relationship between the two countries.” What else was discussed, according to 10 Downing Street?

The so-called moderate candidate won Iran’s runoff elections this weekend. Under Masoud Pezeshkian, could Iran be more prone to conduct nuclear talks?

Haaretz newspaper reported yesterday that during the first hours of the October 7 Hamas terror onslaught in southern Israel, IDF troops on the ground were instructed to prevent the kidnapping of soldiers into Gaza by whatever means necessary, or the controversial “Hannibal Protocol.” Berman discusses this morally problematic directive that was rescinded in 2016.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Netanyahu issues list of ‘nonnegotiable’ demands as hostage talks slated to restart

Herzog: An ‘absolute majority’ of the nation supports a hostage deal

IDF launches new operation in Gaza City, troops raid UNRWA compound used by Hamas

Israel to reportedly try creating Hamas-free ‘bubble’ zones in northern Gaza

UK’s Starmer to Netanyahu: There is ‘urgent need’ for Gaza ceasefire

Election of Iran’s Pezeshkian raises prospects of new nuclear talks with the West

IDF officers invoked defunct ‘Hannibal Protocol’ during Oct. 7 fighting – report

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: People protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and call for the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by the Hamas, in Jerusalem, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode marking nine months of war.

A 28-year-old Israeli man was seriously wounded this morning as Hezbollah fired some 20 rockets at Lower Galilee. The attack was in response to the killing of a prominent member of the Hezbollah terror group’s air defense unit, who was targeted in an Israeli drone strike in northeastern Lebanon on Saturday. Fabian fills us in.

Seven Palestinian gunmen, including members of a cell behind a deadly roadside bombing attack last week, were killed in a drone strike and in clashes with troops in the northern West Bank city of Jenin on Friday morning, the Israeli military said. Fabian describes new tactics being used in the West Bank over the past year.

Fabian describes an upswing in Hamas use of "civilian buildings" that are targeted by the IDF: The Khan Younis municipality building in the southern Gaza Strip was hit by a drone strike overnight. This comes after The IDF yesterday confirmed carrying out an airstrike at a United Nations-run school in the central Gaza Strip, saying the facility was used by Hamas operatives as a command center.

Nine months into the war, anti-government protesters blocked highways and gathered at interchanges across the country in a call for elections and hostage deal as part of a “day of disruption.” Fabian breaks down what are the IDF's achievements during the war and describes the struggle facing Israelis who don't want the hundreds of lives lost to be in vain.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF kills key member of Hezbollah air defense in strike deep inside Lebanon

IDF says it struck UNRWA school in Gaza used by Hamas as command center

IDF: 7 Palestinian gunmen killed, including cell behind roadside bomb, in Jenin raid

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: IDF soldiers operate in Gaza in a handout photo published July 7, 2024 (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

In a special episode, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Rick Jacobs joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in The Times of Israel's Jerusalem offices.

Life for most Jews around the world shifted after the October 7 Hamas massacre. Jacobs speaks about the sharply rising antisemitism versus the rise of Jews who are reaching out and strengthening their affiliations and connections to organized Judaism.

We hear about what Jacobs has witnessed on college campuses in the past nine months and his thoughts on how progressive Judaism may need a rebalancing between the values of universalism and particularism.

He sees the young anti-Zionist Jews taking part in the anti-Israel protests and an opportunity for engagement, but worries about the safety of their visibly Jewish colleagues who are increasingly uncomfortable on campuses.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: President of the Union for Reform Judaism Rabbi Rick Jacobs at The Times of Israel's Jerusalem office, July 4, 2024. (Amanda Borschel-Dan/ToI)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Magid discusses the late Thursday phone call between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and what is being discussed regarding certain clauses in the hostage deal and possible ceasefire under discussion between Israel, Hamas and their mediators, with movement from a first ceasefire into another over the course of at least six weeks.

He talks about the currently hardline Israeli government and cabinet and how Netanyahu's coalition partners will demand more in response to the hostage deal and the prime minister may be hampering the negotiations because he has to pay more attention to his hardline base.

Magid also looks at the discussions about the 'day after' in Gaza, and the fact that Netanyahu is quietly considering allowing lower-level Palestinian Authority employees, vetted by the Shin Bet and PA intelligence agencies as a civil administration for the Gaza Strip, the solution that the Biden administration has been hoping for throughout the last months.

Finally, Magid talks about Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who finally released three months of funding to the Palestinian Authority that he has been withholding while demanding more settlements or outposts legalized and more steps against the Palestinian Authority, which he has said he would like to collapse.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel sends delegation to renewed hostage-truce talks in Doha on Hamas proposal

Israel says it’s studying latest Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

Netanyahu privately showing openness to PA involvement in postwar Gaza — officials

US nods at Smotrich’s steps to ease PA financial crisis, but calls them insufficient

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Demonstrators call for the release of Hamas hostages outside Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry compound on July 4, 2024. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

A source in Hezbollah tells Al Jazeera that the terror group launched more than 200 rockets and some 20 drones at military bases in northern Israel on Thursday midday. What do we know about any damage?

Israel said Wednesday evening that it had received Hamas’s response to the latest truce-hostage deal outline, and would evaluate the document before replying. What do we know about any new changes or shifts in position?

The Shin Bet security service has reportedly reprimanded the senior official who was responsible for signing off on the release of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya from Israeli prison earlier this week. Horovitz unravels this knotty situation.

It’s an election long weekend with the UK, France and Iran going to the polls. Horovitz discusses each nation separately.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Senior Hezbollah commander killed in IDF strike in southern Lebanon

Israel says it’s studying latest Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

Shin Bet said to reprimand agent who signed off on Shifa director’s release to Gaza

Dangerous incompetents at the heart of government are subverting Israel’s war on Hamas

Labour tipped for historic win as UK voters head to the polls

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Britain's opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes at a polling station in London on July 4, 2024, as Britain holds a general election. (Paul Ellis / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

On Monday, the IDF called on Palestinians in eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to evacuate the area and head toward the designated “humanitarian zone,” likely preceding a renewed ground offensive in the southern Gaza city. What moves has the IDF taken since?

Yesterday, work began on an Israeli-Palestinian cooperative project to boost electric power to a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to allow it to produce more water for civilians in a designated “humanitarian zone” where the vast majority of the Gazan population is residing. Which Israeli official was pushing for this and why does he feel it is crucial?

The military carried out a drone strike late Tuesday against a cell of terror operatives in the West Bank’s Nur Shams, with the Palestinians reporting four killed in the attack. This use of underground explosives is a tactic we’ve recently seen against IDF troops. Fabian tells us more.

Over the weekend Lidor witnessed hundreds of residents of Avdon, a Western Galilee moshav, returning after a months-long absence from their homes, situated about 3.5 kilometers (two miles) from the border with Lebanon. Why didn't the government evacuate them along with their neighbors?

For the first time in over a century, Israel’s Jews officially have no chief rabbi after the terms of both ended on Monday. There are delays in the succession process, in part due to alleged nepotism and internal power struggles, but also due to the role of women in the state religious authorities. We hear what is -- and isn't -- going on.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF tells Gazans to evacuate some Khan Younis neighborhoods in wake of rocket attack

Israel boosts power to Gaza desalination plant in bid to avert humanitarian crisis

IDF drone hits cell planting roadside bomb in West Bank, killing 4 terror operatives

Israelis from town 2 miles from Lebanon forced to return home after running out of funds

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

IMAGE: Boys walk with jerrycans to fill up from a water truck in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 25, 2024. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Legal reporter Jeremy Sharon joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Sharon first discusses how the IDF will go about recruiting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students following the High Court ruling ordering the state to begin conscripting tens of thousands of eligible young men.

He lists the various possibilities, including a more random lottery, or the option of the IDF following up with what he terms "the low-hanging fruit," those young Haredi men who do not attend the more elite yeshivas but have received some secular academic education and whose parents are part of the workforce.

Sharon then speaks about a High Court ban of the Jordan Valley settlement council from seizing stray Palestinian livestock, as part of an ongoing situation in which the court aims to avoid a de facto annexation of land belonging to the local Palestinian population.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

The army must soon begin enlisting ultra-Orthodox men. How will that work?

High Court bans settlement council from seizing stray Palestinian livestock

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: Police clash with ultra-Orthodox demonstrators during a protest against the recruitment of Haredim to the IDF, in Jerusalem, June 30, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted during a visit to southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday that Hamas is unable to recover from the pressure applied by Israeli operations and, choked off from its weapons supply, is a broken force running out of time. At the same time, we’re seeing a large rocket barrage and other fighting on the ground. Fabian weighs in.

The director of Shifa Hospital, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who was arrested by IDF troops in November on suspicion of allowing the hospital to be used by Hamas as an operations center, was released. Fabian delves into some potential reasons why and the backlash to Abu Salmiya's release.

Eighteen Israeli soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel on Sunday. We learn about this attack and discuss the asymmetrical nature of the fighting in the north and the lack of clear goals.

An Israeli drone strike on Sunday killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander and wounded five in the Nur Shams camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Fabian explains the significance of this commander.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Gallant: IDF’s Rafah campaign choking Hamas by blocking crossing, destroying tunnels

IDF says at least 40 Hamas operatives killed as it advances in Gaza’s Shejaiya

18 troops hurt, one seriously, in Hezbollah drone strike in north

Islamic Jihad commander killed, 5 hurt in Israeli drone strike in Tulkarem

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: The Israel Defense Forces operate in Gaza, in a handout photo published June 30, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan from ToI's Jerusalem offices.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Friday that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon against Hezbollah, “an obliterating war will ensue.” This came a day before Iran’s sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili qualified for a runoff presidential election, which will be held on Friday. Who are these two candidates and what does either candidate mean for Israel and the region?

US President Joe Biden’s halting debate performance has led some in his own party to question whether he should be replaced on the ballot before November. At the same time, many in Israel began to wonder, is Biden really up to being the man holding the wheel on the war in Gaza? Berman weighs in.

Even while IDF drones struck dozens of Hamas sites in Gaza City’s Shejaiya over the past day and troops located weapons, raided Hamas combat complexes — some of which were booby-trapped — and killed several gunmen, Berman proposes that the IDF is still far from reaching its two war goals. What does this mean for the ongoing Gaza War -- and a looming war in the north.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Hardliner, moderate to face off in 2nd-ever Iranian runoff, after record low turnout

Iran’s UN mission threatens ‘obliterating war’ if Israel launches Lebanon offensive

PM warns visiting former US officers Iran seeks to conquer Jordan, Saudi Arabia

As poor debate showing roils Democrats, Bidens implore donors to stay course

Rafah operation and Gaza war are winding down; Israel is no closer to its goals

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: US President Joe Biden speaks about the protests over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza that have roiled US college campuses, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2024. (Drew Angerer / AFP)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's special episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World.

Ultra-Orthodox men of military age have been able to avoid being conscripted to the IDF for decades by enrolling in yeshivas for Torah study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the age of military exemption.

This week, a historic High Court ruling — which found that there is no legal basis for excluding Haredi men from the military draft -- brought the need for a true Haredi draft law into focus. 

So when Likud MK and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein delayed a vote on a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law” due to what he said was a failure to reach a “broad consensus” on the matter, political pundits paid attention.

Likewise, polls indicated this week that a "fantasy" political party of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman, New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar and former Mossad director Yossi Cohen would be the largest faction in the Knesset if elections were held today, winning 25 seats.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Illustrative image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for the Israeli parliamentary elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem, March. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing, your 20-minute audio update on what's happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Magid first tackles the first debate between US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump in a faceoff that included Trump's statements about not having let Hamas attack if he was in office, while Biden defended his actions since October 7. Both countered one another on antisemitism regarding the 2017 Charlottesville rally versus the campus protests of last spring.

Magid also reviews Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's trip to Washington this week, in which Gallant tackled the arms shipment brouhaha that heated up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's involvement. The meetings were very effective, said Magid, with the shipments ironed out for arms shipments that could be more effective against Hezbollah, if needed.

Magid refers to another topic discussed during Gallant's visit, regarding whether fighting with Hezbollah could be halted as battles in Rafah slow down as an "off-ramp" to avoid war.

He discusses the post-war Gaza plan discussed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his meetings in the region last week, with possible participation by future Palestinian Authority security forces, and peacekeeping forces from the UAE and Egypt amid a future pathway to a Palestinian state.

Magid concludes with an in-depth look at the Jamal Bowman race against George Latimer in the New York Democratic primary as Bowman's views on Israel which brought strong AIPAC financial support for Latimer, ultimately helping him sweep the election.

For more updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Trump calls Biden ‘a bad Palestinian’ as president’s halting debate showing rattles Dems

Gallant, US declare progress on expediting arms delivery, but bomb shipment still frozen

US, Israel see easing of Gaza fighting as Hezbollah ‘off-ramp’ to avoid war

Egypt, UAE prepared to participate in postwar Gaza security force — officials

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP/Gerald Herbert)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.