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.

Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Sokol discusses the fiery start of the Knesset fall session this week, as young women dressed to resemble hostage Naama Levy and her bloodstained clothing and hands when she was taken captive on October 7, were in attendance at the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, along with many members of hostage families.

He reports on the fierce arguments in the Knesset plenum, as opposition leader Yair Lapid took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to task, and a screaming match between several lawmakers before a vote on a bill that would allow the government to deport the family members of terrorists who are Israeli citizens. 

Sokol also reviews the Knesset vote on the UNRWA bill that would bar the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees and their descendants from operating in Israel, and a bill barring new foreign consulates in Jerusalem, also aimed at preventing consular offices that serve Palestinians.

Finally, Sokol turns to the draft law, and how one ultra-Orthodox party backed down from its threat to overthrow the budget over the IDF exemption bill.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

With blood-red hands, Gaza hostage supporters make their mark on the opening of Knesset

Following stormy debate, lawmakers advance measure to deport terrorists’ relatives

Knesset approves laws barring UNRWA from Israel, limiting it in Gaza and West Bank

Knesset passes law banning establishment of new foreign consulates in Jerusalem

Ministers back bill denying the PA a path to petition the High Court of Justice

Ultra-Orthodox party backs down from threat to tank budget over IDF exemption bill

Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes on Iran destroyed ‘industrial factories of death’

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: Shira Albag, mother of hostage Liri Albag, far left, with other hostage family members and supporters sit on floor of Knesset on October 28, 2024 holding signs that read, 'This is how they urinate in the tunnels,' referring to the bottles full of urine found in the Gaza tunnels (Courtesy Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

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 on today's episode.

Two bills overwhelmingly passed through final votes last night, which ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and bar Israeli authorities from any contact with the agency. We discuss how Israel or the international community will fill the vacuum this would leave in Gaza even as condemnations pour in.

Senior Israeli officials told Ynet this morning that there is progress on an agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon. Berman explains what appears to be on the table, including enforcement of the resolution, with Hezbollah prevented from having a presence near the border.

We’re hearing various reports of varied hostage release deals. But yesterday Mossad chief David Barnea returned to Israel on Monday from a 24-hour trip to Qatar to discuss proposals for a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu projected pessimism over the restarted negotiations. Berman weighs in.

Finally, we were told yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a fiery address at the opening of the Knesset winter legislative session that Israel hit key Iranian sites hard in its airstrikes on Saturday. We hear Berman's thoughts.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Knesset approves laws barring UNRWA from Israel, limiting it in Gaza and West Bank

US urges Israel to rethink anti-UNRWA laws, warning millions at risk of ‘catastrophe’

PM ‘not certain’ negotiations can progress as Mossad chief returns from Qatar talks

Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes on Iran destroyed ‘industrial factories of death’

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 Palestinian woman walks past a damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba / 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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today’s episode.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet today to debate Israel’s strikes on Iran. Horovitz discusses how Saturday’s strikes were received by Israel’s international supporters — and detractors.

Almost immediately following reports of Israel’s strikes on Iran, Israeli politicians began criticizing their limited nature. Horovitz weighs in on the thin tightrope Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks to appease his international and coalition partners.

Due to “security concerns,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet will not meet in the Prime Minister’s Office or IDF headquarters. We hear what may have motivated this decision and how it was received.

Yesterday, official Israel marked the Hebrew date to commemorate the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel and the massacre of 1,200 people, which sparked the ongoing war. Horovitz was at the site of the Nova outdoor music festival on Simhat Torah and shared his observations.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel’s strike on Iran was ‘historic,’ but it’s not ‘the end’ of anything

Iran says it had advance notice of IDF strikes; UN Security Council to meet Monday

IDF chief on Israel’s attack in Iran: ‘We have the ability to do much more’

Gallant said to tell Netanyahu management of war directionless, goals need updating

Afula’s largest high school marks official day of mourning with somber yet hopeful ceremony

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: Commuters drive past a billboard bearing pictures of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Joe Biden in Vali-Asr Square in Tehran on October 27, 2024. (Atta Kenare / 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 on today's episode.

This morning, according to initial reports of a truck-ramming incident being classified as a suspected terror attack near the Glilot Army Base, 35 victims have been taken to hospitals, including six in serious condition, five in moderate condition, 20 who are lightly hurt, and another four suffering acute anxiety, according to Magen David Adom. Fabian updates us on what we know so far.

We speak about new information being gleaned about Israel's strikes on Iran, following our in-depth conversation yesterday for the Daily Briefing.

Israel has suffered heavy losses in or on the border with southern Lebanon over the past several days, with 13 soldiers and two civilians being killed. Fabian brings us perspective from the over year-long campaign.

Yesterday, much of northern Israel received an earthquake alert after the IDF blew up a tunnel complex that included a full-on Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon. Fabian visited the site last week in the dead of night and gives us a full report.

We turn to Gaza, where three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed Friday during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip’s Jabaliya as the military pushed ahead with an offensive in the neighborhood, including taking control of the area’s last functioning hospital in pursuit of Hamas operatives. We discuss what we know about the humanitarian zone and whether it is likely in the near future that Gazans may be able to return to the Strip's cities.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Iran said ‘alarmed’ as IDF cripples its missile production, disables key air defenses

Four IDF reservists killed, 14 wounded in battle with Hezbollah in south Lebanon

2 killed, 7 hurt as Hezbollah rocket hits minimarket in northern town of Majd al-Krum

Hezbollah bombards north with rockets and drones as IDF targets launchers in Lebanon

Under a Lebanese border village, IDF finds huge Hezbollah base primed for invasion

3 soldiers killed in north Gaza as troops raid hospital in pursuit of Hamas operatives

IDF says it struck Hamas command center in Gaza City, expands ‘humanitarian zone’

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: Soldiers are seen in a Hezbollah tunnel in southern Lebanon, late October 21, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

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 on today's episode.

Early this morning, Israel launched Days of Repentance, its long-awaited retaliatory strike against Iran, almost a month after the Islamic Republic’s October 1 massive barrage of some 200 ballistic missiles.

Fabian explains the timeline and goals of the Israeli Air Force’s targeting of strategic military sites near Teheran and other parts of Iran in several waves of operations.

The Iranian Air Force reportedly has only a few dozen working strike aircraft, including Russian jets and aging US models acquired before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. We hear about Iran’s aerial defense and offense capabilities ahead of a potential escalation between Iran and Israel.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF launches strikes on military sites throughout Iran, weeks after missile attack

What Iran and Israel would wield in any long-range air 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: Illustrative: An Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft flies over Haifa on September 24, 2024. (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.

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

Magid discusses Mossad chief David Barnea heading to Doha again for hostage negotiations, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahyu's recent meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The negotiations are the first in two months, and follow the death last week of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

He also talks about the effects of a possible Donald Trump win in the upcoming US election, a victory that would offer Netanyahu more leeway in maintaining his hardline government and in the ongoing war in Gaza, but there is also a possible clash as Trump keeps saying, "End the war very quickly."

Magid reviews the latest proposal for getting aid into Gaza through an Israeli-American businessman who hopes his company will be chosen for the subcontracting job, with a plan for constructing gated communities in Gaza run by outside security forces.

Magid reviews the October 31 deadline for renewing the bank agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a process that involves Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Mossad chief heads to Qatar Sunday to try to restart Gaza talks; Hamas team in Cairo

Blinken pushes Israel to publicly say it’s not aiming to besiege north Gaza; PM demurs

If Trump wins, Israeli officials fear clash over inability to quickly end Gaza war

As Israel weighs subcontracting Gaza aid delivery, a philanthropist makes his pitch

US official: PA has met Israeli requirements for Smotrich to extend banking deal

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 calling for the release of Israeli hostages outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on October 24, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/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.

In this special Simhat Torah holiday episode, host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaks with Rabbi Avi Poupko, who is currently serving in reserve duty as part of the IDF rabbinate along the northern border.

Simhat Torah is an annual celebration of the completion -- and restarting -- of the Shabbat Torah-reading cycle. Usually a day of joyous prayer, singing and dancing, the observance of this holiday is forever intertwined with last year's Hamas massacre of 1,200 and the hostage-taking of another 251 to Gaza.

Poupko talks about observing the Sukkot holiday while listening to rocket fire overhead and gives historical context to how Jews have always adapted to tragedy and carried on "doing Jewish."

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

How Israeli Jews face the Simhat Torah holiday, forever marred by Oct. 7 massacre

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: A Jewish man carries a Torah scroll during Simhat Torah celebrations at Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, on October 21, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/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.

Reporters Sue Surkes and Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Surkes discusses the funerals of Druze commander Ehsan Daqsa, one of the most senior officers killed in Gaza, and Elishai Young, 19, a combat soldier from the Hebrew Israelites community in Dimona, both members of minority populations in Israel that grapple with societal acceptance yet gave their lives to Israel.

Bletter speaks about recent scientific research that looks at the effects of alcohol intake as opposed to psychedelics on Nova survivors suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder from the rave massacre on October 7.

She also talks about a visit to Klil, a northern hippie hamlet that isn't connected to the country's electricity grid, and therefore doesn't hear sirens warning of incoming rocket attacks.

Surkes reviews her report on planned budget cuts to the Agriculture Ministry, even as the ministry had plans to invest in Israel's food security, as war has exposed need for food independence without reliance on imports.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Druze IDF colonel Ehsan Daqsa, slain in Gaza, remembered as a ‘natural leader’

Death of soldier reopens debate about citizenship for non-Jewish Hebrew Israelites

Study: Nova survivors who drank alcohol before Hamas attack more likely to suffer PTSD

An off-the-grid hippie hamlet in Israel’s north struggles for survival under rocket fire

Plans to ensure food security threatened by Treasury bid to slash agriculture funds

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: The funeral of Colonel Ehsan Daqsa in Druze community Daliyat al-Karmel on October 21, 2024 (Photo by Michael Giladi/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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in ToI's Jerusalem office for today's episode.

Yesterday, prosecutors announced that seven Israeli citizens were arrested last month on suspicion of spying for Iran for as long as two years, carrying out hundreds of tasks at the behest of the Islamic Republic. This morning, another Iranian espionage case was announced in which seven East Jerusalem residents have been arrested on suspicion of planning attacks in Israel, including the assassination of an Israeli nuclear scientist and a mayor in central Israel. Horovitz discusses these incidents and other similar Iranian efforts.

The IDFs on Monday declassified intelligence on the Hezbollah terror group’s finance hub, including a bunker hidden underneath a hospital in south Beirut that it said contains hundreds of millions of dollars in cash and gold. We observe the way this cynical use of a hospital played out in international media.

The Israel Aviation Authority briefly halted and then resumed takeoffs at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport yesterday around the time in which the IDF said that helicopters and fighter jets intercepted and shot down five drones over the Mediterranean Sea, before they entered Israeli airspace. Horovitz speaks about Israel's increased isolation during this time of war.

Almost a week after the elimination of Hamas head Yahya Sinwar, Horovitz weighs in on leaders' predictions that this is a turning point in the war.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Seven Jewish Israelis arrested for spying for Iran on security figures, IDF bases

Air Force pounds Hezbollah’s Beirut stronghold after civilians told to evacuate area

IDF: Hezbollah hiding $500 million in gold, cash in bunker under Beirut hospital

Ben Gurion briefly halts takeoffs as drones downed over sea; rocket lands near Tel Aviv

British Airways suspends all Israel flights until March 2025 amid escalation fears

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: Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei listens to a speaker in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, October 2, 2024. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader 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.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in ToI's Jerusalem office for today's episode.

The commander of the Israel Defense Force’s 401st Armored Brigade, Col. Ehsan Daqsa, was killed during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip on Sunday. We hear about Daqsa, 41, from the Druze town of Daliyat al-Karmel, who was one of the most senior officers to have been killed in the fighting in Gaza.

Yesterday, Fabian spent several hours in Rafah, where he was debriefed by Col. Sivan Bloch -- the head of Bislamach, the School for Infantry Corps Professions and Squad Commanders -- who stressed that the elimination of Yahya Sinwar by a patrol under his command was “not a stroke of luck.” We hear why.

The IDF said jets hit dozens of sites overnight that are linked to an organization that funds the Hezbollah terror group in Beirut and south Lebanon. We learn about the strikes' targets: branches of an unlicensed gray-market bank seen as one of the group’s main sources of cash.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Commander of IDF’s 401st Armored Brigade killed in battle in northern Gaza

At site of Sinwar’s slaying, IDF commander says incident was ‘not a fluke’

Blasts rock Beirut as Israeli sorties target financial group helping fund Hezbollah

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: The house where Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed by troops, in southern Gaza’s Rafah, October 20, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.