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.

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

As Israel continued to bombard parts of the Gaza Strip for the second night in a row, Magid discusses the full-throttled support for Israel from the US. He comments that the Trump administration believes that Hamas is at fault, and the terror organization could have released hostages but refused and chose war instead. Magid comments on the shift from the Biden administration and the fact that US President Donald Trump hasn't yet commented on the military pressure.

Magid looks at the latest with hostage envoy Adam Boehler after his unsuccessful attempts to negotiate directly with Hamas, a move that angered Israel. It appears that Steve Witkoff is back in charge of the US negotiating efforts for Israel. Boehler spent the week in Montana, says Jacob, hosting a summit at his home with participants from several countries, part of a collaboration to ensure that the act of hostage-taking around the world is eradicated.

Magid also discusses the latest in the US funding of Palestinian Authority security forces in the West Bank, as PA President Mahmoud Abbas canceled legislation that conditioned welfare payments to Palestinian security prisoners on the length of their sentences in Israeli jails. Instead, the PA will be basing payments to all Palestinians strictly on financial need.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Israel resumes Gaza strikes, says Hamas collapsed truce by refusing to free hostages

US envoy to UN says blame for renewed Gaza fighting ‘lies solely with Hamas’

Embattled US hostage envoy hosts summit for global counterparts in Big Sky, Montana

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: Israelis marching for hostages and efforts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try and fire Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, on Road 1 outside Jerusalem, March 18, 2025. (Photo by Yonatan SIndel/Flash90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed early this morning after roughly two months, as the Israel Defense Forces launched dozens of strikes throughout Gaza and issued evacuation orders for parts of the Strip. We work through what brought Israel to the renewal of more intensive fighting.

Yesterday, US President Donald Trump declared he would hold Iran directly responsible for any future attacks by Yemen’s Tehran-backed Houthi rebels, who recently claimed to have targeted a US aircraft carrier and other foreign ships in the Red Sea. Berman weighs in on this new approach by the Trump administration, which has widely vowed to "end wars, not start them."

CBS News reported on Monday that Israel and the United States are interested in resettling Gazans in Syria. The report came as Israel is working quietly to advance a controversial plan proposed by Trump, in which Gaza’s more than 2 million people would be permanently — or even temporarily — sent elsewhere. But does Israel want the Gazans sent to another volatile border nation?

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Trump said to ‘green-light’ renewal of Gaza strikes, as world laments truce collapse

Israel resumes Gaza strikes, says Hamas collapsed truce by refusing to free hostages

After deadlock in Doha hostage talks, Israeli team heads to Cairo in search of results

US, Israel see Syria as possible home for relocated Gazans, says report

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 army soldier signals for the driver of a Merkava battle tank attempting to park at a position in southern Israel along the northern Gaza Strip on March 18, 2025. (Menahem Kahana / AFP)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed on Monday to have twice attacked an American aircraft carrier group within 24 hours, calling it retaliation for deadly US strikes. How is Israel preparing for any retaliation as well?

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar for an urgent meeting in his office yesterday evening and informed him that the cabinet would vote for his dismissal later in the week. The role of Shin Bet chief is one of the most important for Israel’s security. Fabian weighs in on how the upcoming dismissal could potentially shake the country’s deterrence or security standing and we hear who may be in the running to replace Bar.

The Israel Defense Forces on Sunday detailed the identities of six Palestinian terror operatives it said were killed in airstrikes in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya on Saturday, including a terrorist who participated in the October 7, 2023, onslaught. According to Palestinian media, the strikes killed nine, including journalists. What is the IDF saying about these allegations?

Israeli soldiers shot dead two suspects who crossed into Israel from Jordan near the northern town of Beit She’an shortly after midnight between Thursday and Friday. The two suspects were part of a group of at least eight who were trying to cross into Israel together. We hear what we know about the group's intentions in entering Israel.

Amid the unrest in Syria, Israeli fighter jets on Thursday struck a residential building that the military said served as a Damascus headquarters for Palestinian Islamic Jihad to plan and carry out terror activities. Fabian delves into the IDF's current approach to nipping Palestinian terror groups in the bud in tumultuous Syria.

The IDF has taken a platoon of reservists out of the Gaza Strip after a video posted to social media showed the troops opening fire during the reading of the Book of Esther. Yesterday, the reservists were sentenced. Does the punishment fit the crime?

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Houthis claim 2 attacks on USS Truman; US strikes said to target seized Israel-linked ship

Air Force on high alert for resumption of Houthi missile, drone attacks on Israel

Netanyahu says he’ll fire Shin Bet chief Bar; AG says he can’t before legal review

IDF: Oct. 7 terrorist and others ‘operating under guise of journalists’ killed in Gaza

IDF troops shoot dead two suspects trying to cross into Israel from Jordan

IDF strikes alleged Islamic Jihad nerve center in Damascus, said to be leader’s house

IDF removes reservists from Gaza over video of them shooting during Purim scroll reading

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: Ronen Bar, chief of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency, attends a ceremony marking Memorial Day for fallen soldiers of Israel's wars and victims of attacks at Jerusalem's Mount Herzl military cemetery, May 13, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen/Pool photo via AP)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing.

As the IDF faces problems recruiting reserve troops after more than 15 months of war and mounting anger against the ultra-Orthodox for not shouldering the burden, Sokol discusses the latest in the Haredi draft issue, coming to a head in the current budget debates.

Sokol says the various ultra-Orthodox parties are playing this issue differently, although they all appear to want the same thing: exemptions for yeshiva students and will use different tactics to achieve their goals.

He also describes his ongoing investigation into the growing number of Haredi organizations offering advice to yeshiva students and families about how to dodge draft notices. Sokol is investigating the pattern of behavior that's emerging, the illegalities involved in advising someone to avoid the draft, and the security apparatus's reticence to take action on this growing trend.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

AG, police silent in face of growing ecosystem of Haredi evasion organizations

Hasidic MKs tell Netanyahu they’ll oppose budget if draft exemption law not passed

Haredi lawmakers split on approach to budget, which must pass this month or gov’t falls

‘Do not cooperate’: Nonprofit linked to top Haredi rabbis encourages draft dodging

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: Haredi Jews clash with police during a protest against the ultra-Orthodox draft on Road 4 outside Bnei Brak on March 2, 2025 (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Public intellectual Micah Goodman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, a bonus episode of ToI's weekly podcast series, What Matters Now.

As 24 living hostages languish in Gaza, Israel finds itself at a crossroads: Will the nation sign a deal with the terrorist group the Jewish state is bent on destroying or return to war against Hamas to apply pressure for the captives' release?

Goodman explains how both sides of this argument see their position as protecting the nation. We hear, however, how the twin quests for national security and solidarity may appear to be in conflict with each other -- and how to overcome that paradox.

And as Goodman pushes for Israel to sign a deal to release the hostages -- living and dead -- he explains how we must trust Hamas "to give Israel 17 reasons to restart the war." He cautions it must be a war that is launched at Israel's discretion, backed by national consensus and with the determination to realize the goal of destroying Hamas.

And so this week, we ask Micah Goodman, what matters now.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

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: A Palestinian boy carries a toy gun while standing with members of Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, during a rally in Gaza City on May 24, 2021. (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Daily Briefing.

Children across the Diaspora came to school wearing Batman costumes in honor of the slain Bibas boys, Kfir and Ariel. And last night, thousands came to Tel Aviv's Hostages Square for the Purim eve reading of the Book of Esther. The gathering, which includes Israelis from different communities, sectors and denominations, included a call for the return of the 59 remaining hostages in one release. But that doesn’t appear to be the proposal on the table, currently.

We discuss reports out of Doha, which indicate a revision to a previously suggested proposal from US envoy Steve Witkoff of 10 living hostages for 60 days of ceasefire. What is the new outline to extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and how are Israel -- and Hamas -- responding to it?

Mahmoud Abbas may be the last Palestinian leader who believes in a two-state solution and opposes violence as a means for bringing it about, a potential successor to the PA president, Jibril Rajoub, told Magid in a recent interview. So what’s the alternative?

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Jewish kids in Israel and beyond dress up as Batman for Purim to honor the Bibas boys

Witkoff reportedly presents new proposal for Gaza truce extension to Israel, Hamas

Boehler to continue supporting Witkoff’s efforts in Mideast amid reports of sidelining

Abbas may be the last PA leader who believes in two states, warns potential successor

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 man reads a scroll in front of a clock counting the time Israeli hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip since the October 2023 attacks by Hamas terrorists have spent in captivity, during the reading of the Scrolls of Esther at the start of the feast of Purim at Hostages' Square in Tel Aviv on March 13, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Daily Briefing.

As Israel’s hostage negotiating team remained in Doha, Qatar overnight, Horovitz reviews the latest in the ceasefire situation and the sense that US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff appears to be the only person who can push Israel toward a second phase of a hostage deal. Horovitz discusses how it was Witkoff who pushed Israel toward the first stage of the deal that brought 33 hostages home, eight of them no longer living.

Horovitz also notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition are on a two-week deadline to pass the budget by March 31, and if they fail, his government will fall. Horovitz notes that Netanyahu has to mollify coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to leave if Israel doesn't return to war in Gaza, as well as the ultra-Orthodox, who want a permanent IDF exemption for Haredi yeshiva students.

Another deadline looming for the prime minister's coalition is pushing through laws that will neuter the Supreme Court and give the political echelon control over how Israel's judges are selected.

Horovitz also talks about US President Donald Trump's statements about the future for Gazans, as he softened some of his previous comments regarding their relocation, underlining how complicated the entire topic is for all of the countries involved.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Steve Witkoff, Israel looks to you

Meet Adam Boehler, Trump’s complacent, confused and dangerously naive hostage envoy

Coalition to drive forward budget, judicial appointments bills in intense Knesset push

Trump says ‘nobody’s expelling any Palestinians,’ in apparent softening of Gaza plan

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: Singer Kobi Oz and the Teapacks band perform for Einav Zangauker and Ilana Gritzewsky, mother and girlfriend of hostage Matan Zangauker on March 13, 2025 at the hostage family tent encampment on Tel Aviv's Begin Road outside the Defense Ministry (Credit Amir Yaacobi)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

New York reporter Luke Tress and NY stringer Cathryn J. Prince join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.

US federal authorities on Friday announced the cancellation of $400 million in grants and contracts with New York’s Columbia University due to campus antisemitism. The cuts marked the most significant action yet taken by the Trump administration in its planned crackdown on anti-Jewish discrimination at universities. We discuss the White House's new efforts to stop antisemitism on campuses.

On Monday, President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform, “ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas student on the campus of Columbia University…This is the first arrest of many to come.” Khalil was born and raised in Syria, however his grandparents were originally from Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee.

The arrest this week of Khalil, who is one of the main faces of the pro-Palestinian protests that have at points brought Columbia to a standstill, has set off a maelstrom of responses and support -- including from high-profile Jewish leaders.

According to a CNN report, a federal judge in New York has blocked any efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport Mahmoud Khalil until a conference today. We learn about the allegations that led to Khalil's detention and hear how widespread the dissemination of Hamas propaganda may be at Columbia.

We also speak about the past year and a half of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests on campuses and some of their surprising repercussions.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Deportation of anti-Israel Palestinian Columbia activist to be challenged in federal court

Protesters call for campus takeovers as Columbia activist threatened with deportation

Trump administration cuts $400 million to Columbia University due to antisemitism

NYPD clears anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College after bomb threat

Anti-Israel activists show their true face at Columbia as students mark year since Oct. 7

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: Demonstrators raise a sign depicting President Donald Trump as Adolf Hitler during a protest in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, March 10, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing.

Yesterday, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that deadlines were needed on a deal for the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and that “all things are on the table” if the terror group agrees to demilitarize and leaving the Gaza Strip. We discuss who is in Doha right now and the so-called Witkoff outline, a framework would see Hamas release 10 living hostages, including American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in exchange for a further 60 days of ceasefire.

Israel received more clarity over US President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s direct dealings with Hamas officials on the release of hostages in Gaza when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they were a “one-off situation” that as of now “hasn’t borne fruit.” We delve into what Boehler has said about the talks in many media interviews and discuss what we know about the hostage envoy.

Berman recently published an analysis asking: If Trump could turn on Ukraine, not to mention close American allies like Canada, Colombia, and Jordan, then who says he won’t do the same to Israel? Berman weighs in.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Ahead of Doha talks, Witkoff says ‘deadlines’ key for deal on ceasefire’s next phase

US envoy Boehler’s Hamas meetings were a ‘one-off’ that ‘hasn’t borne fruit,’ Rubio says

Trump envoy defends his direct talks with Hamas, says US ‘not an agent of Israel’

After Trump turns against Zelensky and other allies, could Israel be next in line?

Meet Adam Boehler, Trump’s complacent, confused and dangerously naive hostage envoy

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.

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: President Donald Trump listens as Adam Boehler in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.

Tech Israel editor Sharon Wrobel and health editor Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing.

As Israel's two largest banks, Bank Hapoalim and Discount Bank, posted massive financial gains for 2023, Wrobel discusses how Israel's banks achieved increases during months of war. She notes that Israelis may have ignored banking issues and statements while serving prolonged reserve duty and dealing with more heightened personal issues during the height of the war.

Bletter delves into her investigative piece of the allegations pointed at Israel, regarding whether IDF troops targeted Gazan children during the war. She looks in particular at the allegations made in two essays printed in The New York Times and The Guardian, discussing her interview with an American urban warfare expert, the lack of forensic evidence and the long history of Hamas of exploiting and harming minors and adult civilians to advance its political goals.

As Israir becomes the third Israeli airline to join the Tel Aviv-New York route, offering more competition to carriers El Al and Arkia, Wrobel discusses what it will take for Israir to gain customers, as travelers seek better deals. Wrobel also talks about Israelis booking cruises, as they seek some relief from war and October 7 trauma, and a secure vacation given anti-Israel sentiment worldwide and the high prices of airline tickets.

With thousands of residents of the Western Galilee heading home last week, Bletter visited Arab al-Aramshe — the only non-Jewish community evacuated in Israel for the war, a Bedouin village whose residents were holed up in hotels and other communities for the last months.

Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Israeli banks rake in record profits as their war-battered customers drown in debt

After doctors accuse Israel of shooting Gazan kids, experts see need for a second opinion

Israir set to become third Israeli carrier serving New York route, with lower airfare

As war brings spikes in airfare and antisemitism, cruise ships see a new wave of Israelis

Bedouin and Jewish residents who evacuated from north return home to mourn and rebuild

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: Parked airplanes belonging to Israir and  El Al at the Ben Gurion International Airport, August 8, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.