The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

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.

Political correspondent Tal Schneider and real estate writer Danielle Nagler join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Schneider talks about the building quarrel between Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding her supposed plans to order him to take a leave of absence because of  conflict of interest. Schneider offers some background information about Baharav-Miara as the first female attorney general, her role and why the prime minister sees her as a threat.

She also discusses Culture Minister Miki Zohar and the brouhaha over his statement Saturday, saying he intends to shut down cultural activities funded by the government taking place in the upper Galilee on Shabbat, and the prime minister's comments pedaling back Zohar's statements.

Nagler takes a look at housing prices across Israel that haven't fallen yet as expected and are up some 19% compared to previous years. Meanwhile, rental prices are also up, compounding the issue for those finding it hard to buy.

Nagler also discusses a survey looking at the best places to live in Israel, placing Rishon Lezion at the top of the list with the best quality of life followed by other central locations, including Ramat Gan and Kfar Saba with Jerusalem scoring low on the list.

Discussed articles include:

Coalition warns AG any move to suspend Netanyahu akin to coup; she denies weighing it

New Culture Minister Zohar vows to withdraw funding for art that ‘defames Israel’

Rise in housing prices slows but still up almost 19% from 2021

First of Zion: Rishon is Israel’s best city to live in, statistics bureau finds

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IMAGE: Newly appointed Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara seen during a welcome ceremony for her in Jerusalem on February 8, 2022. (Courtesy Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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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.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman and health and science writer Nathan Jeffay join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Berman discusses plan for Foreign Minister Eli Cohen to visit Kyiv, 11 months after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, possibly signaling new direction for Israel-Ukraine relations.

Jeffay explains the components of a new robot, made with the antenna of a locust and intended to replace sniffer dogs and high resolution cameras in the future.

Berman talks about the visit of US envoy Jake Sullivan last week, the first opportunity of the Biden administration to discuss aspects of the new Netanyahu government as well as Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Jeffay looks at new research on medical clowning, a well-known aspect of hospital life in Israel, but looking at better collaboration between doctors and clowns.

Discussed articles include:

FM Cohen to visit Ukraine, most senior Israeli official to do so since war began

Israeli robot fitted with locust antenna gains scent superpowers

Meeting US national security adviser, Netanyahu stresses bid to build Saudi ties

Science of silliness: Israeli study deconstructs medical clowning so MDs use it more

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IMAGE: Foreign Affairs minister Eli Cohen at the Foreign Affairs ministry in Jerusalem, January 2, 2023 (Courtesy Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

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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.

Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur and Knesset correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's episode.

Keller-Lynn reported from the rallies in Tel Aviv last night where some 110-150,000 protesters gathered. We hear some highlights of the event.

The media is rife with rumors and reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be ordered by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to step down for a leave of absence. We hear whether this is within the scope of her purview.

Rettig Gur delves into how Shas head Aryeh Deri's 1993 corruption scandal helped launch the current campaign against the High Court’s expansive powers.

Discussed articles include:

‘Night is descending on Israel’: Over 100,000 rally in Tel Aviv; largest protest yet

‘A gun to the head’: Likud MKs decry reports AG could order Netanyahu to step down

AG: Netanyahu still bound by conflict of interest rules set up for his graft trial

Netanyahu expected to dismiss Shas’s Deri during Sunday’s cabinet meeting

How 3 decades of Deri’s legal troubles now see Israeli judicial independence at risk

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IMAGE: Minister of Health and Internal Affairs Aryeh Deri seen outside his home in Jerusalem on January 19, 2023.  (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

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Is Israeli democracy in danger? A proposed High Court override clause has many concerned about a possible tyranny of the majority. Join us as a diverse set of legal experts discuss with ToI editors what’s currently at stake.

In this fourth episode, Dr. Tamar Hostovsky Brandes argues that undermining the powers of the courts is a common tactic adopted by regimes that seek to restrain democratic rights.

Brandes teaches and researches in the areas of international and constitutional law, focusing on the intersection between international law, constitutional law, and political theory. Her work in these areas has been published in leading law reviews and collections. Her article, “The diminishing status of international law in the decisions of the Israeli Supreme Court concerning the Occupied Territories” won the 2021 International Journal of Constitutional Law Best Article award.

Brandes spoke at a Times of Israel live-streamed event on December 15 at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem on the topic of judicial reform.

Times of Israel editor David Horovitz introduces Brandes and asks some follow-up questions.

IMAGE: Dr. Tamar Hostovsky Brandes of the Ono Academic College Faculty of Law at a ToI Live event in Jerusalem’s Israel Democracy Institute, December 15, 2022. (Oded Antman/IDI)

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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.

Legal affairs reporter Jeremy Sharon and US correspondent Jacob Magid join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Sharon discusses the bombshell High Court ruling that bans Shas leader Aryeh Deri from serving as a minister, reviewing what brought Deri back to court after his criminal conviction last year.

He also looks at how this latest event with Deri could play out in prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government, given the sweeping changes the coalition aims to make with its reform package and whether the government's effort to severely restrict judicial review over Knesset legislation could lead to a constitutional crisis.

Magid then talks about a delegation of US senators who arrived in Israel on Tuesday and asked not to meet with far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir or any members of their hardline factions, and what that means, if anything, for US president Joe Biden's current attitude toward Israel.

He also discusses US envoy Jake Sullivan's short trip to the region this week, including the envoy's meetings with President Isaac Herzog and prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas.

Discussed articles include:

In bombshell ruling, High Court nixes Shas head Deri from serving as minister

As coalition looks to radically rebalance power, a messy constitutional crisis looms

Delegation of visiting US senators asks not to meet with Smotrich and Ben Gvir

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IMAGE: Health and interior minister Aryeh Deri outside his home in Jerusalem on January 18, 2023 (Courtesy Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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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.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman and health reporter Nathan Jeffay join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Jordan’s ambassador to Israel Ghassan Majali’s visit to the Temple Mount on Tuesday caused a mini-diplomatic incident. How does this relate to the idea of the status quo?

On Monday, Hamas released a video taken of, it claims, Israeli prisoner Avera Mengistu, whose identity was seemingly verified by his family and confirmed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In terms of Hamas’s geopolitical strategy, why would the terror group release the video now?

A Bar Ilan University-produced peptide just may eventually stop tumors causing secondary cancer. Jeffay breaks it down for us.

The New York Times has reported that the United States is moving stockpiles of some 300,000 artillery shells from Israel to Ukraine. Could this affect Israel’s relations with Russia?

And finally, we hear about the science of silliness. Israel is a leader in medical clowning and a new study documents the method behind the madness.

Discussed articles include:

Diplomatic flurry as Jordan envoy briefly delayed at Temple Mount entrance

Jordan unveils new 50-dinar banknote featuring Temple Mount in Jerusalem

Mom of Gaza captive Mengistu: ‘His voice is different, I want to look into his eyes’

Netanyahu says Gaza captive Mengistu ‘is alive,’ Hamas responsible for his fate

Israeli scientists say substance prevents cancer’s spread in mice with 90% success

US quietly shipping ammo to Ukraine from massive stockpile in Israel — report

Science of silliness: Israeli study deconstructs medical clowning so MDs use it more

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IMAGE: The Dome of the Rock Mosque is reflected in rainwater as worshippers gather for Friday prayers on a cold, rainy day at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in the Old City of Jerusalem, January 6, 2023. (AP Photo/ Mahmoud Illean)

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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.

Political correspondent Tal Schneider and Knesset correspondent Carrie Keller Lynn join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, thousands of students in more than a dozen university and college campuses around the country held a one-hour coordinated “strike” Monday afternoon against the new government’s plan to overhaul the judiciary, saying they were fighting for their futures. Schneider explains when previous protests have changed governments.

Blue and White head Benny Gantz is willing to collaborate on bills pushing for a judicial overhaul. But why should Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need or even want Gantz’s cooperation? Both guests weigh in.

Schneider recently spoke with Rushan Abbas and her husband Abdulhakim Idris, two Sunni Muslims from China’s far-northwestern Xinjiang province. Why were they here in Israel?

And finally, Borschel-Dan speaks about previously unpublished photographs taken by a Polish firefighter of the aftermath of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Revolt that were released today by POLIN: Museum of the History of Polish Jews ahead of an April exhibition.

Discussed articles include:

‘This is an emergency’: Thousands of students rally against judicial makeover plan

PM says protests won’t deter judicial push as Gantz presses for compromise talks

Netanyahu trial boosted backing for judicial overhaul push, justice minister says

She exposed China’s crimes against the Uighurs; now she needs the world to save them

21 never-published photos of Warsaw Ghetto Revolt’s aftermath found in Poland attic

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IMAGE: Jews being deported from the Warsaw Ghetto following the revolt, April-May 1943 (Z. L. Grzywaczewski / from the family archive of Maciej Grzywaczewski, POLIN Museum)

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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 senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's episode.

The Annual Israel Democracy Index showed that Israelis as a whole mistrust the country’s governing and adjuring institutions. The survey was conducted mostly in the summer, with some polling in October. Our guests weigh in on whether the findings would be different today?

We then discuss what has been the response from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition so far to the widespread protests against the government's judicial reform bills.

Rettig Gur talks about a proposed reform that even right-wing politicians and thinkers are wary about.

Finally, we hear about a new 25-part short animated series The Times of Israel is hosting on the website called, “Whispered in Gaza.”

Discussed articles include:

Israelis deeply split on courts and rights, but united in gloom, distrust — poll

Netanyahu shrugs off protest, says millions of voters demanded judicial overhaul

Battle over High Court exposes frailty of Israel’s piecemeal system of government

Introducing ‘Whispered in Gaza’ — 25 short, animated interviews on life under Hamas

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IMAGE: Israeli lawyers protest against the expected changes in the legal system, outside the Supreme Court in Jerusalem, January 12, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

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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.

Military correspondent Emmanuel Fabian and reporter Michael Horovitz join host Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Horovitz describes scene of massive Tel Aviv protest Saturday night demonstrating against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new government and the coalition's planned judicial overhaul.

Fabian discusses recent spate of West Bank clashes amidst plans by finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and public security minister Itamar Ben Gvir to change defense and policing systems in the region.

Fabian also dissects some of the comments made by outgoing IDF chief of staff Aviv Kohavi regarding Smotrich's West Bank powers and why the IDF should only report to the defense minister.

Steinberg comments on a new documentary, "The Narrow Bridge," making rounds of film festivals, created by Australian trauma psychologist Esther Takac about healing process of four people grieving from tragic losses due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Discussed articles include:

‘A plan to change Israel’s DNA’: 80,000 rally in Tel Aviv against judicial overhaul

Palestinian shot dead by IDF troops in West Bank amid apparent scuffle

Army chief spurns Smotrich’s W. Bank powers: IDF reports only to defense minister

Documentary places lens on transformation from grief to reconciliation

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IMAGE: More than 80,000 protest against the current Israeli government at Tel Aviv's Habima Square on January 14, 2023 (Courtesy Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

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Is Israeli democracy in danger? A proposed High Court override clause has many concerned about a possible tyranny of the majority. Join us as a diverse set of legal experts discuss with ToI editors what’s currently at stake.

In this second episode, Prof. Amichai Cohen gives an overview of the historical balance of power of Israel’s judiciary.

Cohen is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute's Center for Security and Democracy.  He is a member of the Faculty of Law at Ono Academic College and previously served as its Dean. Cohen has written numerous books, including his 2020 work on Israel’s Supreme Court entitled: "The Constitutional Revolution and Counter-Revolution," where he explained the changing role of the High Court of Justice in maintaining the checks and balances of Israeli democracy.

Cohen spoke at a Times of Israel live-streamed event on December 15 at the IDI in Jerusalem on the topic of judicial reform.

Times of Israel editor David Horovitz introduces Cohen and asks some follow-up questions after his remarks.

IMAGE: Prof. Amichai Cohen at a ToI Live event in Jerusalem’s Israel Democracy Institute, December 15, 2022. (Oded Antman/IDI)

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