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

We start the program by discussing the complicated relations between Israel and Hungary vis a vis the Bennett government. What's on the horizon?

We then move to the made-for-reality-tv lawsuit of a libel case against former prime minister Ehud Olmert brought by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family. In May, Netanyahu’s family filed a defamation lawsuit against Olmert for calling the then-prime minister, his wife Sara, and eldest son Yair “mentally ill” in interviews. We explore why it's not an easy case to judge.

The second half of the program is devoted to a scoop brought by Schneider in which she discovered that the Central Bureau of Statistics is changing its categorization of almost half a million Israelis from "other" to a new "extended Jewish" category. What does this mean?

Discussed articles include:

Two former PMs clash in court, as Netanyahus sue Olmert for calling them crazy

Israel to begin classifying non-Arab gentile citizens as ‘extended Jewish’

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Image: Former prime minister Ehud Olmert in the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court, January 10, 2022, during a preliminary hearing in a defamation lawsuit brought by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family. (Avshalom Sassoni/Pool Photo via AP)

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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 news editor Amy Spiro join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's packed episode. Also included at the end of the program is a brief excerpt from a previous 2020 podcast with President Isaac Herzog in which he speaks about his mother Aura Herzog, who died Sunday night aged 97.

We begin our conversation with an update from Spiro about the Western Wall compromise and where it stands today. What recent changes have brought it to the news, and will anything move forward under the new government?

Next, Berman sheds light on a little-known Alabama-based Christian group called the United States-Israel Education Association. With a small staff of only 10 paid employees, the group has been instrumental in shaping US policy and budgeting on several key defense measures, as well as a new push for pharma in the MidEast.

We then hear about the bizarrely convoluted race to replace Herzog as head of the Jewish Agency. What has gone awry and what do four of the front-runners stand for?

Finally, Spiro speaks about Israel's Winter Olympics figure skating hopeful, Hailey Kops. The American-born Orthodox immigrant has paired up with Israeli veteran Evgeni Krasnopolski to become one of 19 couples to qualify for the Olympics.

Discussed articles include:

Will the Western Wall compromise deal ever be realized?

From Iron Dome to supply chains, US Christian group quietly shaping US-Israel ties

As process stalls, candidates to lead Jewish Agency warn of urgent world challenges

Orthodox New Jersey teen is Israel’s newest Olympic skating hope

Aura Herzog, wife and mother to two Israeli presidents, dies at 97

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Image: 2019 Congressional Tour on the steps of the Tomb of the Patriarchs 

In the photo (left to right): General Charles Krulak, Corene McMorris, Olivia Hnat Shields senior staffer to Rep. McMorris Rodgers, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Chad Carlough CfS for Rep. Byrne, Clarinda Roe, Rep. Phil Roe, Rep. Bradley Byrne, Rep. Ann Wagner, Ray Wagner, Heather Johnston, Julie Escue (USIEA Director of Tours), Ari Sacher, Rabbi Simcha Hochbaum (courtesy)

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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.

Founding editor David Horovitz and US correspondent Jacob Magid join host Jessica Steinberg.

Horovitz looks at the rising numbers of those infected with the Omicron variant in Israel, with 200 serious cases so far, and how that is affecting Israelis and the country's approach to the ongoing pandemic.

He also discusses the tragic death of the four-year-old Arab child shot dead by a stray bullet in a playground, and whether that portends any change for the government's approach to dealing with the ongoing wave of Arab violence.

Magid spoke about his recent interview with Israel's new consul general in New York, Asaf Zamir, and their conversation about the lack of good responses to tough questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as well as Zamir's plan to work closely with college students.

Magid also looks at Israel's resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial, with lobbying prior to the upcoming vote before the United Nations General Assembly, ahead of International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27.

Discussed articles include:

Number of seriously ill COVID patients jumps past 200 as pandemic surges

Who can travel to Israel and how, as country reopens to visitors on Sunday

Thousands at funeral of Arab child shot dead in north, president expresses ‘horror’

Arab communities shattered, as organized crime fuels a skyrocketing murder rate

Israel advancing UN General Assembly resolution aimed at combating Holocaust denial

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IMAGE: An MDA health worker take test samples of Israelis at a testing center in Jerusalem, on January 09, 2022 (Photo by Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

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Hi Daily Briefing listeners! We’ll be back on Sunday to give you the latest news from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world. But for today, here is a special episode of Times Will Tell, our weekly feature that drops every Friday.

This week we're speaking with author and journalist Andrew Lawler, who recently published the fabulous “Under Jerusalem: The Buried History of the World’s Most Contested City.”

Host Amanda Borschel-Dan absolutely devoured the book and highly recommends it to anyone interested in Holy Land history, archaeology, or even just tales of unbelievable, but real characters. It’s a real trip along the timeline of Jerusalem archaeologists, spanning from the 1860s through today.

We get a sense of the crazy people behind the digs, government involvement and the sparks of geopolitical conflict that still simmer.

Image: Author Andrew Lawler (Samir Al-Sharif)

Times Will Tell podcasts are available for download on iTunes, TuneIn, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, PlayerFM or wherever you get your podcasts.

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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 documentary filmmaker Natan Odenheimer join host Jessica Steinberg on today's podcast.

Schneider takes a deeper look at the arguments that broke out during Wednesday's Knesset session, regarding a bill that would allow thousands of illegally built homes, mostly in Arab communities and in Jewish settlements in the West Bank as well, to connect to the power grid.

Likud politicians accused prime minister Naftali Bennett of caving to the Islamic Ra'am party in his coalition, causing Bennett to lose his cool. Schneider discusses the pressures Bennett is experiencing, and the fact that his predecessor, former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, was heading for the same power grid agreement.

Odenheimer, one of the two creators behind The State of Jerusalem production company, discusses the third in the series of three shorts about Jerusalem. This one looks at the Israelization of Palestinians in Jerusalems, and why more Arabs living in Jerusalem are suddenly learning Hebrew and studying in Jewish Israeli institutions.

Discussed articles include:

Power struggle: Bill to hook up illegal Arab homes to grid passes in stormy session

State of Jerusalem: The Maqdasyin

State of Jerusalem: The Christian Community

State of Jerusalem: The ‘Secular’ Struggle

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: MK Mansour Abbas, leading of the Islamist Ra'am party, speaks during a plenum session in the assembly hall of the Knesset in Jerusalem, January 5, 2022. (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.

United States correspondent Jacob Magid and reporter Carrie Keller-Lynn join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

Magid brings us an update on the ongoing saga surrounding the US consulate in Jerusalem. While reporting from Ramallah, Magid was warned by a senior official that the Palestinian Authority will refuse to meet key US demands for reforms unless Washington follows through on its own commitments to fully restore ties with Ramallah. But does the PA have any leverage?

We then speak with Keller-Lynn about her in-depth piece on abortion in Israel. She explains what are the facts on the ground today and what women's organizations would like to see changed to create a more humane and supportive process. What is the groups' looming reform and what are its chances of success today under secular Health Minister Nitzan Horovitz of the progressive Meretz party.

We give a brief update on the recent rampant cases of alleged sexual abuse among three top gynecologists.

And finally, popular television presenter Jon Stewart recently called out author J.K. Rowling for her allegedly antisemitic portrayal of the goblins who run Gringott's Bank for wizards. We weigh in.

Discussed articles include:

‘It’s a two-way street’: PA warns of fallout from US holdup of consulate reopening

Easy to access, but hard to stomach, ‘humiliating’ abortion process may soon change

Senior gynecologist arrested after 15 women accuse him of rape, harassment

Top doctor held on suspicion of sexual assault of women, girl during treatments

Jon Stewart says J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter’ goblin characters clearly antisemitic

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Image: Illustrative: This June 19, 2014 file photo shows animatronic bank tellers at Gringotts Bank, part of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter - Diagon Alley at Universal Orlando. (AP Photo/John Raoux, File)

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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 for today's episode, marking one year to the Daily Briefing.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a press conference early this week announcing the availability of a fourth coronavirus vaccine dose for those 60 and older. Why has opposition head Benjamin Netanyahu held off criticizing this policy -- as opposed to coalition member and Health Minister Nitzan Horovitz. Also, what is currently happening in schools across the nation?

We then hear about an in-depth interview Rettig Gur conducted with Michael Kaplan, an American-Israeli former NASA engineer who worked on the James Webb telescope, which was launched on December 25. Rettig Gur gets nerdy explaining the tech behind the challenging telescope mission and brings forward the unsurmountable professional obstacles Kaplan faced when attempting immigration to Israel in 2015.

We finish the program looking back at our first Daily Briefing episode, which hit ears a year ago.

Discussed articles include:

Two pilots killed in IDF helicopter crash off Haifa coast

Tens of thousands race for fourth COVID shot as Israeli campaign blazes ahead

Top health official says Israel has ‘no control’ over Omicron as cases keep surging

Health minister pans ‘apocalyptic scenarios’ after PM predicts 50k daily COVID cases

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: (above) FILE - This 2020 electron microscope image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases - Rocky Mountain Laboratories shows SARS-CoV-2 virus particles which cause COVID-19. (NIAID-RML via AP) This photo provided by NASA, the James Webb Space Telescope is separated in space on Saturday, December 25, 2021. (NASA via AP)

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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.

Tech Israel editor Ricky Ben David and health and science correspondent Nathan Jeffay join host Jessica Steinberg.

Jeffay offers an update about Omicron and the public policy of herd immunity, as well as the likelihood of many Israelis getting the virus within the next several weeks. He explores the difficulties of taking data from other countries regarding Omicron and Israel's experience so far.

He also discusses the situation of flu and corona, as well as the growing number of cases of avian flu which affects only birds, and the concerns about it.

Ben-David speaks about Israel’s need for a national food tech plan in order to stay ahead of other countries, looking at the three different areas of food technology currently being worked on by various start-ups and laboratories.

Discussed articles include:

What a herd immunity policy would look like, and why it may be premature for Israel

Up to a third of Israelis predicted to get COVID in next 3 weeks; tests running out

First patients in Israel receive Pfizer’s coronavirus-fighting pill

Avian flu killing birds in Israel could jump to humans, warns epidemiologist

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: An Israeli health worker administers a dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine to a child at the Clalit Health Services in the central Israeli city of Modiin on January 2, 2022. (Photo by GIL COHEN-MAGEN / AFP)

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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 Judah Ari Gross and Arab Affairs reporter Aaron Boxerman join host Jessica Steinberg.

Gross and Boxerman discuss the events and possible reasons as to why two rockets were fired from Gaza, landing off the Tel Aviv coast on Saturday morning, followed by retaliatory airstrikes in Gaza late Saturday night by the IDF and further retaliation from Gazan terrorists targeting Israeli military helicopters early Sunday morning.

The two talk about Israel and Hamas relations, seven months after the events of last May, the current ceasefire and the possible role of the Palestinian prisoner who has been on a hunger strike for 137 days.

Discussed articles include:

Israel carries out airstrikes in Gaza in response to rockets off Tel Aviv coast

Anti-aircraft missiles fired at IDF helicopters during Gaza strike, but miss

Islamic Jihad, PA demand release of hunger-striking Palestinian detainee

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts.

IMAGE: Smoke and fireball rises following an airstrike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, early on January 2, 2022. (SAID KHATIB / AFP)

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Welcome to Times Will Tell, the weekly podcast from The Times of Israel.

This week, we're speaking to Danna Stern, the managing director of Yes Studios.

This is the studio that brought us "Fauda" and "Shtisel," "On the Spectrum" and "Your Honor," and many hours of viewing pleasure in this new era of streaming platforms and often shorter, sharper series.

We discuss what makes a successful Israeli show and when it can be 'translated' into success abroad, such as Kan 11's grocery store mockumentary "Checkout," being distributed by Yes.

Stern feels that Netflix's recently canceled "Hit and Run," from the "Fauda" team, can be considered a success, given the parameters that brought it about, and waxes poetic over her own recent viewing favorites, "Squid Game" and Apple TV's "Ted Lasso."

IMAGE: Yes Studios' Danna Stern (right), with Niv Majar (middle) and Naomi Levov of 'On the Spectrum,' during a 2019 awards ceremony in Monte Carlo (Courtesy Yes Studios)

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