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.

Editor David Horovitz and health reporter Nathan Jeffay join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's episode.

Before the serious talk, Borschel-Dan mentions that ahead of the nominations for Best Foreign Film for the Academy Awards, on December 6 at Jerusalem’s Yes Planet, The Times of Israel is holding a screening of “Cinema Sabaya,” which swept Israel’s Ophir Awards in September, and culture editor Jessica Steinberg is speaking with its creator, Orit Fouks Rotem.

Turning to Horovitz, we hear why it is problematic to world Jewry that Avi Maoz, the single lawmaker of the fringe Noam party, will be appointed as a deputy minister and head a to-be-created authority for Jewish identity, which will be housed under the Prime Minister’s Office.

In another contentious appointment, Otzma Yehudit leader Itamar Ben Gvir is set to be the newly created role of national security minister in the upcoming government. The brand new National Security Ministry's planned portfolio will include overseeing the police and, potentially, Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Jeffay reports on a recent peer-reviewed study that tells us about the currently available COVID booster's safety.

We hear about a new company, Wisdome Wearables, that may soon blow the paper mask idea away. What’s their great, peer-reviewed idea?

Another new Israeli med-tech start up claims it can use voice analysis techniques through a phone app they’re calling HearO to sound the alarm before the onset of congestive heart failure.

And finally, four South Sudanese children who have waited over two and a half years for heart surgery should be soon going under the knife in Holon. How did they, and their guardians, finally get the green light?

Discussed articles include:

TICKETS HERE: English screening of Israel’s Oscar pick ‘Cinema Sabaya’ + director interview

Netanyahu puts extremist homophobic politician in charge of Israel’s Jewish identity

‘Insanity, unreal’: Netanyahu slammed over deal with anti-pluralistic, homophobic MK

Ben Gvir: Security forces should be able to shoot anyone holding stones or firebombs

Israeli data provides ‘safety assurances’ to world on fourth COVID shots — study

Israeli scientists invent face mask made of thin air, which blows virus away

Israeli app sounds alarm before heart failure — just by analyzing your voice

In first, 4 children from South Sudan to get life-saving heart surgery in Israel

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IMAGE: MK Avi Maoz attends a discussion at Jerusalem's Knesset, the assembly hall of the Israeli parliament, on November 22, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

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