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.

Today is Day 125 of the war. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Three press conferences were held Wednesday night with differing messages. We begin by looking at strong statements made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who said among other things, "Israelis were dehumanized in the most horrific way on October 7th. The hostages have been dehumanized every day since. But that cannot be a license to dehumanize others."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's press conference was in response to a Hamas "ceasefire" proposal, which he called, “delusional.” He stated that Israel is “within touching distance of absolute victory,” and that Hamas’s defeat will be the “victory of the entire free world.”

And finally, five women released from captivity in Gaza during a weeklong truce in late November made an emotional plea, calling on the government to do everything necessary to secure the release of the remaining 136 hostages, saying only that would represent an “absolute victory” for Israel.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 8, 2024

Israel cannot use Oct. 7 as ‘license to dehumanize others,’ Blinken warns in Tel Aviv

Don’t ‘dehumanize others’: Full text of presser from Blinken’s 7th wartime Israel visit

PM: Absolute victory within reach; surrender to Hamas demands would bring disaster

Released hostages tell PM: Only saving remaining captives will be ‘absolute victory’

With IDF hamstrung and Hamas scenting a way out, Netanyahu dodges strategic decisions

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

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Image: File - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken give a press statement after their meeting at the Prime Minister Office in Jerusalem, on January 30, 2023. (Yoav Ari Dudkevitch/POOL)

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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 is Day 124 of the war. Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and health reporter Renee Ghert-Zand join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

In response to a proposal sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators that was backed by the United States and Israel, Hamas has proposed a three-phase ceasefire plan that lead to an end to the war. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly declared that the war will not end without total victory over Hamas. We hear about the plan and how Israel may respond.

Weeks after medicine was delivered to the Gaza Strip for hostages held in Gaza, the countries involved in the complex operation still do not know whether the drugs eventually reached the captives. What is being done and by whom to discover what happened?

Argentinian President Javier Milei landed in Israel yesterday to much fanfare and made a bombshell announcement of moving the embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. What else is on his schedule?

New research indicates that a quarter of Israelis are experiencing dreams so scary and vivid that they are waking us up in the middle of the night. What else did Ghert-Zand learn from Dr. Udi Bonshtein, chief psychologist at Galilee Medical Center in Nahariya?

This war has seen dozens of war widows, many of whom are pregnant. Ahead of Family Day in Israel on Friday, Ghert-Zand looked into a new support organization.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 7, 2024

Hamas proposes 3-stage 135-day truce and hostage deal, leading to war’s end – reports

France seeking ‘verifiable proof’ that medicines reached hostages in Gaza

In first bilateral visit, Argentina’s Milei says he will move embassy to Jerusalem

Trying to get a good night’s sleep has been a nightmare for many Israelis since Oct. 7

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: Yahya Sinwar, Hamas's leader in Gaza, gestures on stage during a rally in Gaza City, on May 24, 2021. (Mahmud Hams/ AFP/ File)

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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 is Day 123 of the war. Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren and education reporter Gavriel Fiske join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to fly to Egypt today as part of a Middle East crisis tour seeking a new truce and “an enduring end” to the Israel-Hamas war. However, a political campaign against any deal is getting huge pushback from within Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. 

Opposition leader Yair Lapid reiterated his offer to enter the government to replace the ultranationalist wing to secure backing for a deal to free hostages still captive in Gaza. Goren explains why this isn't a realistic option for Netanyahu. 

At the same time, rumors of increasingly strained relations between the prime minister and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are increasingly disturbing. Goren describes why.

The Israel Defense Forces will hold an early recruitment round in March of some 1,300 Israelis currently enrolled in pre-army, yeshiva, and community service programs. A new grassroots protest movement of mostly mothers is speaking out against the lack of parity between the secular and religious conscripts being called up. Fiske tells us more.

Out of some 360,000 reservists called up to the war by the IDF, an estimated 100,000 were enrolled in one of Israel’s major universities — accounting for around 30 percent of all students enrolled for the current academic year. Now that many are released from service, how are they reintegrating?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 6, 2024

Netanyahu pressured on hostage deal, as Ben Gvir, Smotrich lash out at US

IDF confirms 1,300 to be recruited early from pre-army programs

Released IDF reservists head back to school, but not everything is a matter of course

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: FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 28, 2023. (Abir Sultan/Pool Photo via AP, File)

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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 is Day 122 of the war. Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

US special envoy Amos Hochstein was in Israel this weekend for talks with Israeli officials on a developing framework to push Lebanese terror group Hezbollah from Israel’s northern borders amid roiling tensions and daily exchanges of fire. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also meant to arrive. Is there a real potential for a deal?

Israel’s stated goals for the war against Hamas in Gaza have long been to topple the terror regime and to bring back the hostages. Would a pause in fighting for the release of the hostages undermine the goal of defanging Hamas?

According to The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state. But would either the Palestinians or the Israelis be on board?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 5, 2024

In Israel, US envoy said to report progress in talks to remove Hezbollah from border

A hostage deal would put goal of toppling Hamas at risk — but not out of reach

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine

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.

Check out the previous Daily Briefing episode:

https://omny.fm/shows/the-daily-briefing/day-121-anatomy-of-the-fraying-israel-egypt-allian

IMAGE: Soldiers operate in Gaza in an image published February 5, 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.

Today is Day 121 of the war. Arab affairs reporter Luca Pacchiani and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

In 2005, Egypt and Israel signed the “Philadelphi agreement,” which stipulated that Egypt was responsible for securing the 14 km of the axis with 750 soldiers. A slew of Israeli diplomatic faux-pas is causing Egypt to question its relationship with Israel. Pacchiani explains why.

According to the Wall Street Journal, internal divisions among Hamas leaders are preventing the Palestinian terror group from backing a proposed hostage release deal that would include a pause to the fighting in the Gaza Strip. The stances of the leaders have also flip-flopped. Pacchiani picks at this knot.

Lidor recently spent time on Kibbutz Kfar Aza with Shahar Shnorman and his wife Ayelet Cohen, the first two kibbutznikim to move back there. We hear what life is like there for the couple.

Soldiers, mostly reservists, have been moved by the starving animals they’re seeing in Gaza and have “rescued” some. But rescue is in the eye of the beholder, especially when it comes to animals that may have monetary value. We hear more.

Two French celebrities’ online row over the Israel-Hamas war has taken an unusual turn, attracting extensive media coverage. This story has almost every cultural trend in it — class warfare, gender issues, ageism and of course, antisemitism. We hear how it's playing out.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 4, 2024

Egypt expert warns: Israel cannot afford to take Cairo’s cooperation for granted

Hamas leaders at odds over proposed hostage release deal — report

Resilience amid ruins: Kfar Aza’s first two returnees hope to forge a path of renewal

Israeli troops’ rescue of animals in Gaza fuels pro-Palestinian ‘looting’ charges

In France, a celebrity flame war about Israel highlights shifting attitudes

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Palestinians in the Gaza Strip sit next to the border fence with Egypt in Rafah, January 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

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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 is Day 120 of the war. US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The US is advancing a “contact group” with Middle East allies aimed at coalescing around a united policy for managing the Gaza Strip after the Israel-Hamas war. Which countries and what are the aims?

US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on Thursday declaring a national emergency that allows him to implement new measures to combat settler violence, including sanctions concurrently announced against four Israeli extremists who carried out acts of violence in the West Bank. What’s the impetus?

The Chicago City Council on Wednesday narrowly adopted a resolution calling for ceasefire in Gaza, becoming the largest municipal body in the US to pass such a measure. Who brought the proposal and what was the scene there?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 3, 2024

US advances ‘contact group’ with Mideast allies to plan for postwar Gaza — officials

With unprecedented executive order, US sanctions settlers behind ‘intolerable’ violence

Chicago adopts Gaza ceasefire resolution after mayor casts tie-breaking vote

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Image: Palestinians line up for free food distribution in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, February 2, 2024. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

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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 is Day 119 of the war. Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Fabian was in Khan Younis this week. What was he shown and how does that correspond with recent statements from Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who among other things said Israel will maintain military control of the Gaza Strip once the war against Hamas is over.

The IDF Home Front Command on Thursday eased restrictions in most communities near the Gaza Strip border for the first time since the war began on October 7. What's happening here?

In a scene that could have been thought up in Hollywood, on Tuesday morning, Israeli commandos killed three members of an armed Hamas cell hiding inside a hospital in the northern West Bank city of Jenin. What took place there?

On Tuesday, the IDF announced that it had been flooding some tunnels in the Gaza Strip with seawater, confirming what had been an open secret for several weeks. What is the scope of the flush operations?

Israeli leaders have also signaled that they would like to establish a buffer zone as a defensive measure and satellite photos show new demolition along a 1-kilometer-deep path on the Gaza Strip’s border with Israel. What is the army publicly stating about this?

Turning to the north, on Wednesday, the IDF said that fighter jets carried out strikes overnight against Syrian Army positions in the Daraa area in southern Syria, in response to a rocket attack on the Golan Heights the previous evening. What else is happening along the border?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 2, 2024

Defense minister vows IDF will push south to Rafah as Khan Younis offensive wraps up

As Khan Younis battles intensify, Gallant says IDF will maintain control of Gaza

IDF says it killed 3 terrorists planning Oct. 7-like attack hiding in Jenin hospital

Satellite photos show new demolition within Israeli buffer zone in Gaza

IDF confirms flooding Hamas tunnels in Gaza with seawater

Reports say IDF soldiers have torched hundreds of buildings in Gaza

US, Israel believe up to 80% of Hamas tunnels intact after 114 days of war – report

IDF says jets struck Syrian Army positions in response to rocket attack

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: An Israeli soldier stands guard during the ground offensive on the Gaza Strip in Khan Younis, January 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil)

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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 is Day 118 of the war. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Last night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with hostage families amid a flurry of reports on a potential deal being examined by Israel and Hamas to free the hostages. What do we know about the contours so far — and who is making the decisions on the Hamas side?

According to a Tuesday television poll, 50 percent of Israelis would oppose a deal that sees Hamas return 35 hostages to Israel in exchange for a 45-day pause in fighting and thousands of freed Palestinian terrorists. The same poll found 38% of Israelis are in favor of reestablishing settlements in the Gaza Strip and 51% are against. Horovitz weighs in.

In what would be a major shift in American policy, the US State Department is reportedly exploring the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state following the end of the Gaza war. And, on Monday, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said the UK is considering recognizing a Palestinian state as a way to apply pressure on Israel to accept a two-state solution after a ceasefire in Gaza. Why are these statements coming now?

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog February 1, 2024

PM to families: I won’t OK deal that harms security; 35 hostages for 35-day truce mooted

Is there a way to bring the hostages home without derailing the war against Hamas?

Almost 4 in 10 Israelis back a revival of Jewish settlements in Gaza, poll finds

State Department downplays report US weighing recognition of Palestinian state

Cameron says Britain is mulling recognition of Palestinian state

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Flags of Israel and the Palestinian Authority wave behind barbed wire (Bartolomiej Pietrzyk/Shutterstock.com)

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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 is Day 117 of the war. Political correspondent Sam Sokol and news editor Amy Spiro join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Members of the Knesset House Committee overwhelmingly supported a motion to expel Hadash-Ta’al party lawmaker Ofer Cassif on Tuesday. Sokol was at the 14-2 vote to advance MK Ofer Cassif’s impeachment to the Knesset plenum after two days of contentious debate and fills us in.

In a recently released report, Tel Aviv University’s Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry argued that the Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry was established for “petty political reasons,” “lacks vision and substance” and has “promoted few initiatives.” So should the ministry be shuttered?

Spiro, head of the Those We Have Lost series that aims to commemorate all who fell in the Israel-Hamas War, updates us on the 400 posts that represent some 485 of 1,200 victims. We hear about several trends noted by Spiro, including the popularity of tattoos among mourners as a way of becoming a living memorial.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog January 31, 2024

Panel votes 14-2 to expel MK Cassif for Gaza genocide claims; now Knesset will vote

An MK accused Israel of ‘genocide.’ Now he may be expelled from the Knesset

Damning Tel Aviv University report calls to shutter Diaspora Ministry

Chief Warrant Officer Ido ‘Crido’ Rosenthal, 45: A habitual hero

Cpl. Noam Avramovich, 19: Soldier was a ‘once-in-a-lifetime leader’

Eitan Ziv, 74, Tami Peleg Ziv, 72: Lives entwined with nation’s history

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: MK Ofer Cassif speaks during a press conference, at the Knesset, the Israeli parliament in Jerusalem, on January 30, 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.

Today is Day 116 of the war. Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren and Arab affairs reporter Luca Pacchiani join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

This morning, activists and relatives of hostages again arrived near the Kerem Shalom border crossing with the Gaza Strip, aiming to block trucks with humanitarian aid from entering as long as the Hamas terror group continues to hold 136 hostages and deny them their basic rights. Goren explains who the varied protestors are and what they represent.

The White House on Monday slammed a conference on Sunday night in Jerusalem aimed at encouraging the reestablishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, which was attended by nearly one-third of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. We hear what this far-right conference means in the context of the war and the ongoing genocide case.

According to a Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research (PCPSR) survey published last month, over 90 percent of Palestinians polled believe that “Hamas did not commit the atrocities seen in the videos” on October 7, referring to attacks on civilians. That number rises to a whopping 97% when only including West Bank residents, compared to 83% of Gazans. Pacchiani explains how this is possible.

According to a report last week, Hamas leaders, hunkered down in subterranean bunkers in the Gaza Strip, are reportedly communicating with each other using handwritten notes carried around the war-torn territory by runners. We hear more.

For the latest updates, please look at The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Live blog January 30, 2024

Video: A stop to the trucks

US, France blast Israeli confab on Gaza resettlement attended by PM’s allies

For most Palestinians, October 7’s savagery is literally unbelievable. Blame the TV news?

Hamas leaders reportedly communicating using handwritten notes carried by runners

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 iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Image: File - Rally marking four years since the disengagement from Gush Katif, near the Kissufim Crossing just outside the Gaza Strip, July 28, 2009. (Edi israel/Flash 90)

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