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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to convene a limited security meeting today to discuss military plans for Gaza. According to reports based on leaked information, following yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Netanyahu told ministers he intends to seek cabinet approval for a full re-occupation of the Gaza Strip. Horovitz delves into the pushback from several sectors of Israeli society -- including hostage families and security officials past and present -- and raises the possibility that this plan could be a negotiating lever to bring Hamas to the table.

This idea to conquer and/or occupy the entire Gaza Strip comes as a report released Monday by the Hostages and Missing states that the 20 living hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are at an “immediate risk of death” due to starvation. The terrible conundrum of whether it is possible to simultaneously defeat Hamas and still get the hostages out alive has become increasingly more acute as the war continues. With this new leaked potential plan, Borschel-Dan wonders, has Netanyahu given up on the hostages? Horovitz responds.

The government voted unanimously on Monday to dismiss Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara from office, following months of confrontation between the two sides, in a decision that will have deep legal and political reverberations given the government’s long-running efforts to weaken the judiciary. The move was then frozen by the High Court until the justices can rule on its legality. Horovitz gives three scenarios explaining why the government moved forward -- during the Knesset recess -- with this controversial step.

Also on Monday afternoon, lawmakers on the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee voted 9-7 to appoint Likud MK Boaz Bismuth as their chairman, officially pushing out former chairman Yuli Edelstein in a move designed to end an impasse over legislation on military draft exemptions for the ultra-Orthodox community. What makes Bismuth a better candidate to push legislation forward?

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Netanyahu said set to order full takeover of Gaza, despite IDF qualms, risk to hostages

Medical report: Hostages face ‘immediate risk of death’ from ‘systematic starvation’

‘On the precipice of defeat’: 19 former defense chiefs demand end to Gaza war

Government fires attorney general; High Court immediately freezes her dismissal

MK Bismuth elected to head key defense panel, push through Haredi draft exemption law

Edelstein shares Haredi draft proposal, hours before vote on his ouster as panel head

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Illustrative: Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sits in a military vehicle in the southern city of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, July 18, 2024. (Avi Ohayon/Israel Prime Minister's Office via AP)

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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.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

A record 3,500-plus Jewish pilgrims were said to visit the Temple Mount over the course of the Tisha B’Av fast day. Among them was far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who led a group of Jewish worshipers in prayer. It was the first time that a government minister was recorded overtly worshipped at the flashpoint site in violation of the status quo. What has been the response so far?

US special envoy Steve Witkoff was finally deployed to the Mideast this past weekend. We hear an update on the current stalemate in the hostage release-ceasefire negotiations and discuss what Witkoff and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee tweeted after entering the Gaza Strip on Friday to tour one of the joint US-Israel humanitarian distribution sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. We also hear how US President Donald Trump currently views the situation on the ground in Gaza.

And finally, Magid relays portions of conversations held recently with three men living in different parts of Gaza about how they daily face life-threatening danger to find food for their families.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

In first, Ben Gvir openly leads prayers on Temple Mount, in violation of status quo

Witkoff, Huckabee tour Gaza, assess humanitarian situation, to help Trump craft aid plan

PM said seeking ‘decisive military victory’ in Gaza, putting hostage families on edge

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: US special envoy Steve Witkoff (2nd left) and US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee (3rd left) tour a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution site on August 1, 2025. (Mike Huckabee/X)

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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.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group on Thursday published a propaganda video of hostage Rom Braslavski, whom it is holding captive in the Gaza Strip. A second propaganda video, from Hamas, was released Friday, showing hostage Evyatar David. We hear how the two young men look and what was said in the David video.

The Israel Defense Forces declared yesterday that it had defeated Hamas’s Beit Hanoun battalion. It is the fifth time that the IDF is operating in the town of Beit Hanoun, which is located on the northeastern edge of the Gaza Strip, just across from Israel’s southern city of Sderot. Fabian describes what he saw and was told last week while in this area.

While visiting southern Lebanon last week, Fabian was told that the IDF assesses that its achievements against Hezbollah since a November ceasefire could potentially bring the Lebanese terror group to complete disarmament. We hear why.

The military announced last week that it will commute the sentences of three soldiers of the Nahal Infantry Brigade who were disciplined for insubordination after refusing to return to fight in Gaza. Fabian weighs in on whether this incident is just the tip of the iceberg and if the IDF is taking enough preventative steps to protect its fighters' mental health.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

In video, Hamas forces hostage Evyatar David to dig what he fears will be his own grave

Islamic Jihad airs video of hostage Rom Braslavski; ‘They broke him,’ family says

IDF declares defeat of Hamas battalion in Beit Hanoun, as operatives shown surrendering

In Beit Hanoun for 5th time, officers say Hamas battalion to be destroyed ‘within a week’

IDF assesses successes against Hezbollah since ceasefire could lead to it disarming

IDF commutes jail time for three soldiers who refused to return to Gaza combat

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: A woman holds photos of top Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur, left, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike, Hezbollah's former leader Hassan Nasrallah, right, and his cousin and successor, Hashem Safieddine, center, during a commemoration marking the first anniversary of Shukur's death in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, July 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

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Welcome to The Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. Today, we have a special episode that we pulled from our archives.

Just ahead of this year's observance of Tisha B’Av on Sunday, which commemorates the destruction of the First and Second Temples, we are replaying an episode of our former weekly podcast, Times Will Tell, in which we went onsite in Jerusalem to the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

We speak with archaeologist Zachi Dvira, who is the co-director of the project. He’ll explain its controversial genesis and continuing struggle. At the end of our conversation, you'll hear as we wet-sift a bucket of earth taken from the Temple Mount.

Founded in 2004 near the Mount of Olives, it’s now at a location called Mitzpe Hamasuot, near the Hebrew University. The site is easily accessible and has an auditorium and a shady picnic grove, which was made possible with the help of American Friends of Beit Orot.

Dvira calls for all who have not been to help sift through thousands of years of Temple Mount history to "hurry up!"

IMAGE: Visitors sifting buckets of earth from the Temple Mount at the relaunch of the Temple Mount Sifting Project, June 2, 2019. (Yosef Huri)

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Ahead of the holiday of Tisha B'Av, we bring you this special What Matters Now podcast:

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author Daniel Taub.

Taub is an Israeli diplomat, international lawyer and author born in Britain in 1962. He moved to Israel in 1989, later serving in the IDF as a combat medic and as a reserve officer in the international law division. He started his path in diplomacy in the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1991 where he held many legal and diplomatic posts, including as  Israeli Ambassador to the United Kingdom from 2011 to 2015.

In his new book, "Beyond Dispute: Rediscovering the Jewish Art of Constructive Disagreement," Taub synthesizes his years spent at negotiating tables as a diplomat with his lifelong learning of Talmud. 

Drawing on techniques from both spheres, Taub argues that disagreement can be even more constructive than easy consensus -- and is necessary for treaties to last.

We begin the program speaking about the Tisha B'Av holiday marked this weekend and how Israeli society today -- specifically, the painful ongoing debate over universal draft -- is coming close to the senseless hatred that tradition ascribes as a reason for the fall of the Temples. 

We then hear how one must pick a ripe time for negotiations, and how Taub's experiences on negotiation teams with Palestinians and Syrians make him think that Israelis, at the very least, are not ready to discuss a practical peace -- yet.

And so this week, we ask Daniel Taub, what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Author Daniel Taub (courtesy) / Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man pray as they gather for the mourning ritual of Tisha B'Av, in the Old City of Jerusalem, August 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

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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.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

With Canada announcing that it will recognize a Palestinian state in September, Magid discusses that Canada is conditioning its plan on Palestinian Authority reforms. 

Magid also looks at the latest vote in the Senate to block arms sales to Israel, as an extension of distrust of Netanyahu government. The resolution proposed by progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders didn't pass again, but a majority of Democrats voted against it, a first that shows the distrust of the Netanyahu government, says Magid.

As US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff makes his way to the region, Magid says that Gaza humanitarian aid is the main issue he'll presumably discuss with Netanyahu, with clear prioritization on how to aid the Gazans.

Magid also talks about the alleged shooting of a prominent Palestinian activist by a known Jewish settler and the clear differences in how the suspected settler, Yinon Levi, was treated by Israeli civilian law as opposed to the Palestinian suspects involved in the case, who are being handled by the Israeli military legal system.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Following France and UK, Canada says it will recognize Palestinian state in September

Israel said to warn Hamas it will annex parts of Gaza if no hostage deal reached

As Trump promises new Gaza aid plan, White House says details forthcoming

IDF court extends Palestinians’ remand after Israeli in same incident freed to house arrest

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Palestinians carry food supplies they received from the US aid center in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 30, 2025. (Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/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.

Political reporter Tal Schneider and diplomatic reporter Nava Freiberg join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday that the UK would recognize a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the war and humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip, and meets several other conditions, including recommitting to a viable peace process. This is happening while, for the past several days, high-level representatives at a UN conference have urged Israel to commit to a Palestinian state. We discuss fallout to Starmer's announcement, the “New York Declaration” and which other states may follow suit in potentially recognizing Palestine this fall.

In his announcement, Starmer said that Israel could forestall the recognition by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza, making clear that it will not annex the West Bank (or Gaza), and committing to a peace process that results in a two-state solution. This comes as there are increased rumors of plans to annex parts of the Gaza Strip. But are these rumors just a negotiation tactic? Schneider weighs in.

At the NY two-state solution conference this week, Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, Jordan and Turkey, signed a declaration condemning for the first time Hamas’s onslaught of October 7, 2023, and calling on the Palestinian terror group to release all the hostages it is holding, disarm and end its rule of Gaza, in a bid to end the devastating war in the Strip. Schneider and Freiberg explain that all may not be as laudable it seems.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

UK to recognize Palestinian state in Sept. unless Israel ends Gaza war, commits to peace

PM says ‘obstinate’ Hamas blocking hostage deal, as he weighs annexing parts of Gaza

In 1st, entire Arab League condemns Oct. 7, urges Hamas to disarm, at 2-state solution confab

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer delivers a statement inside No. 10 Downing Street after the cabinet was recalled to discuss the situation in Gaza, in London, July 29, 2025. (Toby Melville, Pool Photo via AP)

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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.

Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg for today’s episode.

The situation in Gaza remains incredibly problematic and unclear, says Horovitz, with a lack of independent journalism in Gaza, complicating the narrative. For the moment, Israel has reversed its policy regarding aid to Gaza, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didn’t invite his two far-right coalition members, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the cabinet meeting discussing an increase of aid to Gaza.

Horovitz discusses the mixed signals and strategic incoherence from the current government on this mix of issues. There is talk about getting aid into Gaza at the same time as unsourced reports that the army has proposed a tightened siege in the Strip, and held discussions of annexation or occupation in Gaza, offering a great deal of contradictory information, says Horovitz.

Horovitz also discusses the wave of recommendations about excluding Israel from academic projects alongside instances of Israeli tourists requiring security assistance in various EU locations, amid the rising tide of criticism against Israel. People feel deeply troubled by what they are seeing and hearing about Gaza, he notes.

Israeli negotiators are no longer in Doha for the ceasefire talks, although the terrorist organization Hamas has said it is trying to make this current proposal work. Horovitz says that Israel’s strategy is hard to fathom, given its insistence on military pressure in Gaza and Netanyahu’s continued endorsement of US President Donald Trump’s initial idea of helping Gazans leave, something that the US leader isn’t saying that any longer.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

PM says Israel will ensure lots of Gaza aid; ministers said to mull occupation, annexation

‘You can’t fake that’: Trump sees ‘real starvation’ in Gaza, says Israel must do more

Image of Gazan child with genetic illness being used to falsely smear Israel, COGAT charges

Smotrich signals he won’t bolt coalition despite objecting to Gaza humanitarian aid

EU proposes cutting Israeli access to research funds over Gaza humanitarian crisis

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Palestinians at the site of an Israeli air strike, at the Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, on July 29, 2025. (Ali Hassan/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.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Yesterday, aircraft from Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan airdropped dozens of pallets of humanitarian aid in the northern and southern Gaza Strip. This morning, Israel says more than 120 truckloads of food aid were distributed by the UN and aid agencies in the Gaza Strip on the first day of a partial pause in fighting. Berman explores how Israel's currently softened position is playing out on the global stage and compares it to previous cycles in which Israel allowed more aid into the Strip.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to press US President Donald Trump on ending “the unspeakable suffering” in Gaza when they meet at the US president’s golf resort in Scotland today, according to a Downing Street spokesperson says. The meeting at Turnberry, southwestern Scotland, comes as European countries express growing alarm at the situation in Gaza. What is Trump currently saying about the war in Gaza?

Foreign Ministry director general Eden Bar-Tal summoned France’s deputy ambassador Mikaël Griffon for a reprimand at ministry headquarters in Jerusalem yesterday, over French President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement last week that Paris would recognize a Palestinian state. During the dressing down, he accused France of undermining talks for a hostage release deal with Hamas, as well as future negotiations with the Palestinian Authority. Berman delves into the idea that all the pressure on Israel to end the war -- and this "prize" of a state to the Palestinian people -- could harm the ceasefire negotiations and drag out the war with an emboldened Hamas. And we ask, is the UK set to follow France's example?

And finally, the home of a Chabad rabbi in Dnipro was hit during a deadly Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city early Saturday. We learn about the "Shabbat miracle" that saved his family and hear what is happening with the Jewish community in Ukraine as the war marks some 1250 days.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Once again, Israel tried to restrict Gaza aid. Once again, it failed miserably

Trump: Israel will ‘have to make decision’ on Gaza war, images of starvation ‘terrible’

Hundreds of rabbis demand Israel stop ‘using starvation as a weapon of war’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: An Israeli soldier stands next to a truck at the Kerem Shalom crossing between southern Israel and the Gaza Strip on July 27, 2025. (Carlos REYES / AFP)

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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.

Military correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Israel carried out its first airdrop of humanitarian aid into Gaza early Sunday since the start of the ongoing war against Hamas, and pledged to halt fighting in certain parts of the Strip in 10-hour stints and create safe passages for the United Nations to distribute goods to the Palestinian population. We learn what has been airdropped so far, what's on the horizon and how much aid awaits distribution along the border.

Fabian reports back on his trip late last week with the IDF to Gaza City. We learn that the troops are largely "fighting infrastructure" -- tunnels and booby-trapped buildings -- and that the Hamas battalion is largely defeated. Fabian wonders if this approach will indeed lead to the release of the Israeli hostages.

Law enforcement on Saturday arrested a man suspected of carrying out a car-ramming attack in central Israel last week that wounded eight IDF soldiers. Police said the suspect, named earlier as Arkan Khaled, a 27-year-old Israeli resident of Taybeh, was caught while hiding at a construction site in the town of Kfar Yona close to the Beit Lid junction where the attack occurred.

Israeli forces took over a pro-Palestinian activists' boat, Handala, that was attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday night, and towed it toward the Ashdod Port. Handala is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which also dispatched the previous boat and was carrying 19 activists and two Al Jazeera journalists.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Two IDF soldiers killed when armored vehicle hit by explosive in Khan Younis

IDF reservist succumbs to wounds sustained last week in roadside explosion in Gaza

IDF airdrops aid into Gaza for 1st time, vows to implement ‘pauses’ for UN deliveries

Back in Gaza City again, IDF finds itself fighting ‘infrastructure,’ not terrorists

Suspect in Thursday car-ramming caught at central Israel construction site

IDF takes over pro-Palestinian activist boat attempting to break Gaza blockade

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.

IMAGE: Israeli Air Force staff prepare boxes of humanitarian aid ahead of an airdrop in the Gaza Strip, July 26, 2025. (IDF)

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