Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing: Your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Today’s panel comprises our diplomacy reporter Lazar Berman and United States correspondent Jacob Magid, along with host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

US President Joe Biden is signaling a change in the relationship with Saudia Arabia, with a mixed message of cracking down on human rights violations, alongside continued military support. How does this influence Israel?

US State Department Spokesman Ned Price said in a briefing this week that the country is open to helping the Saudis forge "a historic peace with Israel." Magid explains the conditions and Berman updates on current back-channel Israel-Saudi cooperation.

Last Thursday, in a Mission Impossible-like mission, an Israeli-owned vessel in the Gulf of Oman was attacked in a stealth operation that planted explosives on the MV Helios Ray, leaving four holes just above the water line. Berman posits there is nothing new under the sun here.

Magid suggests it's "not a good look" that, after intense international pressure on Israel to release more vaccinations to the Palestinian Authority, some of the PA's scant vaccines earmarked for frontline health workers were dispersed to the PA soccer team -- and Jordan's royal court.

Finally, we weigh in on the announcement that six of Dr. Seuss's children's books will no longer be printed due to racist imagery.

Discussed articles include:

As Biden weighs human rights and security in Mideast, some see peril for Israel

US says it wants to push Israel-Saudi pact, but only if Riyadh honors its values

Israel urges UN Security Council to censure Iran for blast on Israeli-owned ship

Israel said to hit Iranian targets in Syria after Tehran blamed for ship blast

Netanyahu: Iran clearly behind blast that hit Israeli-owned ship in Gulf

PA admits some of its 1st vaccines went to gov’t officials, soccer stars, Jordan

6 Dr. Seuss books will no longer be published over racist images

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PHOTO: In this Nov. 21, 2020 handout image provided by Saudi Royal Palace, Saudi King Salman gives his opening remarks at a virtual G20 summit hosted by Saudi Arabia and held over video conference amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP)

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