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.

Those We Have Lost project coordinator Amy Spiro joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Today, we’re dedicating the daily podcast's time to stories of civilians and soldiers who have fallen since October 7. We’ve each chosen eight individuals to focus on and we’ll explain why they moved us.

We also hear updates from Spiro on how many of the over 1,600 individuals who were killed on or after October 7 during this war with Hamas that we have been able to write memorials for.

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

Discussed articles include:

Michal Zarbailov, 60: Daycare worker was on her way to Dead Sea

Hava Ben Ami, 78: Walked to pre-state Israel by foot from Syria

Kobi Shmaya, 47 & Sgt. Osher Shmaya, 19: Father & son slain together

Sgt. 1st Class Shay Pizem, 23: Had only 2 weeks with his daughter

Roland and Ronit Sultan, 68 & 55: Immigrant couple built kibbutz life

Staff Sgt. Adi Baruch, 23: Boyfriend proposed to her at her funeral

Bnayahu Bitton, 22: Musician who always had a guitar at hand

Maj. Sagi Golan, 30: Killed 13 days before wedding to his boyfriend

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: Friends and family members mourn near graves of Israeli soldiers killed on October 7, at Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem, on May 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/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 reporter Lazar Berman and US bureau chief Jacob Magid join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

US Vice President Kamala Harris just accepted the presidential nomination and she addressed the war in Gaza very directly and clearly in her speech from the podium. Magid reports from Chicago on this and other aspects of Jewish or Israeli interest, including the moving speech by Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, at the Democratic National Convention.

Chances for an immediate breakthrough appear increasingly remote even as Israel sends a team headed by Mossad chief David Barnea, and including Maj. Gen. Eliezer Toledano, head of the IDF General Staff Strategy and Third-Circle Directorate. Berman assesses the status of the talks and weighs in on the role the US has played in bringing them to this point.

The bodies of the six hostages recovered by the IDF from southern Gaza’s Khan Younis this week all have signs of gunshot wounds, according to initial autopsy findings released Thursday. What does it potentially mean that Alex Dancyg, Yagev Buchshtav, Chaim Peri, Yoram Metzger, Nadav Popplewell, and Avraham Munder were killed by gunfire?

Sgt. Ori Ashkenazi Nechemya, 19, was killed during fighting in southern Gaza on Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces announced, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip. Berman lays out where the fighting is currently, and where it may be going.

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

Discussed articles include:

Israeli negotiators fly to Cairo amid deep disagreements over Philadelphi Corridor

Bullet wounds in bodies of all 6 hostages from Gaza suggest they were killed by captors

Soldier killed by anti-tank fire in Rafah, as IDF presses on with operations in Gaza

Emhoff pledges to continue fighting against antisemitism ‘when I’m first gentleman’

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

IMAGE: US Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her husband US Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff wave from the stage on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024. (Charly Triballeau / 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 reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Four Israeli settlers, including one minor, were detained overnight by police over their suspected involvement in an attack on the Palestinian West Bank village of Jit last week. According to a joint statement issued by police and the Shin Bet, the four are suspected of terrorism against Palestinians in several incidents, including the attack on Jit. We explore how rare this accusation is.

The army announced it was operating at “peak readiness” three weeks ago, following the dual assassinations in Teheran and Beirut, and was able to immediately pivot to try to avert any attack from Iran and Hezbollah. Fabian assesses whether this is still the case amid the continuing conflict along the northern border.

More than 150 tunnels have been demolished along Gaza’s southern border, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced Wednesday while speaking with soldiers at the Philadelphi Corridor, as the army said it destroyed some 30 terror sites and killed dozens of gunmen in airstrikes across the enclave over the past day. We hear what else is happening on the ground.

Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva, in his last speech as head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, said Wednesday that he was responsible for not providing a warning ahead of Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught. He also seemed to indicate that others who are responsible for the failure should likewise take responsibility and leave the IDF. But where would he stop?

Amid a persistent manpower shortage caused by the ongoing war in Gaza, the defense establishment has started recalling to duty some 15,000 previously exempted reservists. We hear who is affected by this recall to reserves even as only seven ultra-Orthodox men report for duty yesterday -- and 70 in the past month -- amid riots.

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

Discussed articles include:

Gallant: IDF razed 150 tunnels on Egypt-Gaza border, defeated Hamas’s Rafah Brigade

Israeli hurt in rocket barrage on Golan; Fatah official tied to Iran killed in Sidon strike

Outgoing IDF intel chief Haliva says he failed to warn of Oct. 7, urges state probe

Amid troop shortage, IDF begins calling up 15,000 previously released reservists

IDF: Only some 70 Haredi men have reported to induction centers since High Court ruling

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

IMAGE: A man stands in front of burnt cars, a day after an attack by Jewish settlers on the village of Jit near Nablus in the occupied West Bank that left a 23-year-old man dead and others with critical gunshot wounds, on August 16, 2024. (Jaafar Ashtiyeh / 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.

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

Talks to bring about a ceasefire and hostages-for-prisoners are “on the brink of collapsing,” according to a Politico report, citing two unnamed US officials and one unnamed Israeli official. Magid explains the significance of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's nixed audience with Qatar’s Emir Tamim Al-Thani after sitting down with top leaders in Israel and Egypt and weighs in on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's mixed messaging with the families of slain soldiers and Hamas hostages.

The Democratic National Convention began Monday in Chicago. After his speech, US President Joe Biden made a statement regarding the hostage release negotiations in which he accused Hamas of “backing away” from a hostage deal with Israel that would halt the ongoing fighting in Gaza. We hear of the statement's strategic purpose, as well as disturbances during Biden's speech.

The first two days of the convention spotlighted a number of well-known Jews. Magid highlights their speeches and discusses the Hostage Square exhibit set up near the convention center.

Finally, we learn about what anti-Israel demonstrations have taken place so far -- and what may be on the horizon.

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

Discussed articles include:

Blinken urges ‘maximum flexibility’ from Israel and Hamas in hostage-ceasefire talks

Biden says Hamas ‘backing away’ from hostage-ceasefire deal, as Blinken heads to Egypt

Israel activists erect ‘Hostage Square’ in Chicago on sidelines of Democratic convention

Anti-Israel protests fail to overshadow first day of Democratic Party confab

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators charge police line outside Israeli consulate in Chicago

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

IMAGE: Former President Barack Obama speaks during the Democratic National Convention August 20, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

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

The Israel Defense Forces confirms that it has recovered the bodies of six Israeli hostages during an overnight operation in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The hostages are Alex Dancyg, 75, Yagev Buchshtav, 35, Chaim Peri, 79, Yoram Metzger, 80, Nadav Popplewell, 51, and Avraham Munder, 78. Fabian debriefs us on what we know so far.

An Israeli officer was killed and several others were wounded by a failed airstrike in southern Gaza on Monday morning, the military said, as troops pressed on with operations across the Strip. The soldier was named as Lt. Shahar Ben Nun, 21, a team commander in the Paratroopers Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Petah Tikva. We learn about the tragic technical failure and are updated on the number of soldiers killed in accidents and "friendly fire" during the war in Gaza.

A noncommissioned officer in the IDF was killed and another soldier was seriously wounded in a Hezbollah explosive drone attack in northern Israel on Monday morning. The slain NCO was named as Chief Warrant Officer Mahmood Amaria, 45, a tracker in the 300th “Baram” Regional Brigade, from the northern Bedouin village of Ibtin. Fabian fills us in on the continued deadly tit-for-tat conflict along the northern border.

The Hamas terror group on Monday claimed responsibility for an explosion in Tel Aviv the day before, saying it was a suicide bombing conducted as a joint operation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and vowing further such attacks. Fabian explains what we know -- and don't -- about the incident.

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

Discussed articles include:

IDF recovers bodies of 6 hostages from Gaza, including one previously presumed alive

IDF officer killed in failed Israeli airstrike in Gaza’s Khan Younis

Soldier killed, another seriously hurt in Hezbollah drone attack on Western Galilee

IDF strikes Hezbollah weapons depots deep in Lebanon after deadly drone attack

Hezbollah fires 75 rockets at Israel after IDF hits weapons depots in eastern Lebanon

Police, Shin Bet said to believe Iran, Hezbollah may be behind failed Tel Aviv attack

Hamas claims Tel Aviv blast as attempted suicide bombing, vows to carry out more

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

IMAGE: IDF troops seen operating in the Gaza Strip in this handout photo published on August 19, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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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.

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

As Hamas again rejects the current hostage-release deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to try to bridge gaps. Horovitz weighs in on where negotiations stand now and what is at stake with them in terms of the broader regional picture. He also compares the current process with the 2011 Gilad Schalit release deal.

State Attorney Amit Aisman announced on Sunday that he will oversee an investigation into Thursday’s rioting by extremist settlers in the Palestinian village of Jit during which 23-year-old Rasheed Seda was killed and homes and vehicles were set ablaze. No suspects have been arrested yet over Jit yet, however, police detained two more Israeli settlers suspected of assaulting four Arab Israeli women, including a three-year-old, in the West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen earlier this month. Are these signs that official Israel is taking these incidents seriously?

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

Discussed articles include:

Hamas rejects US hostage-ceasefire proposal as PM said to warn chance for deal ‘not high’

A hostage deal that also averts regional war should be a no-brainer for Netanyahu. But…

State Attorney Amit Aisman to oversee investigation into Jit settler rampage

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

IMAGE: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) shakes hands with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a meeting in Jerusalem, August 19, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)

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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 reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today's episode.

The Israel Defense Forces said Thursday that more than 50 tunnels discovered along the Philadelphi Corridor, along the Egypt-Gaza border area, have been demolished by combat engineers over the past week. Fabian drills down into the strategic importance of the corridor, one of the sticking points in the hostage negotiations currently being conducted in Cairo.

Two Israeli reservists were killed by a roadside bomb in central Gaza on Saturday afternoon, the IDF announced, as fighting continued across the Strip. We hear about the deadly incident and about the Netzarim Corridor in central Gaza, which has turned into IDF staging grounds and the launch pad for humanitarian aid.

Hezbollah launched a barrage of some 55 rockets at a northern Israeli kibbutz on Saturday in what it said was a response to an Israeli airstrike overnight that killed at least 10 people and wounded five others. We learn about the incident that prompted this barrage as well as other strikes on both sides of the northern border.

Two senior Hamas terrorists were killed in an Israeli drone strike in the West Bank city of Jenin on Saturday evening, the IDF and Shin Bet security agency said. The pair of Hamas operatives were involved in planning a shooting attack in the Jordan Valley last week, in which 23-year-old Yonatan Deutsch was killed and another civilian was wounded. Fabian explains the unusual way in which the IDF announced how their whereabouts were discovered.

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

Discussed articles include:

IDF: Dozens of tunnels razed on Gaza-Egypt border, 17,000 terror operatives killed in war

2 IDF reservists killed by bomb during logistics supply mission in central Gaza

55 rockets launched at north after IDF strike on Hezbollah arms depot said to kill 10

Two senior Hamas operatives killed in IDF drone strike in West Bank city of Jenin

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

IMAGE: View of the Philadelphi Corridor between the southern Gaza Strip and Egypt, on July 15, 2024. (Oren Cohen/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.

Author Yossi Klein Halevi joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode, a bonus replay of our What Matters Now weekly podcast.

This week, we turn to Klein Halevi for a deeply intense probe into what it means to be part of the existential Israeli struggle.

We discuss how, as the war in Gaza continues, the different forces in Israeli society are caught up in a destructive push-pull dance even as Israel is losing its moral capital during this long war.

During this time of existential schism in the Jewish state, we also hear how to weave threads of unity.

So this week, we ask best-selling author Yossi Klein Halevi, what matters now.

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

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

IMAGE: Author Yossi Klein Halevi. (Shalom Hartman Institute)

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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.

As potentially fateful talks for a hostage and ceasefire deal are underway in Qatar, 10 hardliners from the ruling Likud party issued a public letter addressed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, detailing four “red lines as members of the Likud movement and as members of the coalition.” Magid fills us in on what are we hearing after the first day of talks, including communications from Qatar to Iran.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told a special session of the Turkish parliament on Thursday that he would travel to the Gaza Strip as a statement of solidarity with his people under war. Magid weighs in on some potential obstacles to the visit.

Dozens of masked settlers participated in the riot through the northern West Bank village of Jit, with the Palestinian Authority health ministry reporting that a 23-year-old local was killed by “settlers’ bullets.” Israeli security sources said it was unclear who shot him. Magid explores the forces in the coalition that have ties to these extremist elements.

Former US president Donald Trump said yesterday that he counseled Netanyahu when they met last month to swiftly “get your victory” because the “killing has to stop” in Gaza. Magid unpacks Trump's statements on this and about a potential future Democrat State Department.

Magid recounts how Biden’s big hostage-release deal speech from the White House State Dining Room on May 31 was initially supposed to be a different speech altogether.

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

Discussed articles include:

Gaza truce talks in Doha get off to ‘promising start,’ set to continue Friday

In Turkey, Abbas declares he’ll go to Gaza ‘even if it costs my life,’ mourns Haniyeh

Palestinian killed as settlers torch homes and cars in West Bank village

Trump: I told Netanyahu ‘get your victory quickly’ because ‘the killing has to stop’

A Biden speech urging national Israeli reckoning was shelved at the last minute. Here’s why

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

IMAGE: A car torched by masked settlers in the Palestinian town of Jit in the West Bank, August 15, 2024. (Screenshot: X; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

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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 reporter Emanuel Fabian and Arab Affairs reporter Luca Pacchiani join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Netanyahu adviser Ophir Falk were sent to Doha to participate in two days of hostage release negotiations. We hear how the Arab press is covering their chances of success.

On Tuesday, Hamas launched rockets toward Tel Aviv for the first time in months. Fabian discusses what we know about the conflict on the ground as well as what this recent rocket attack could symbolize. And as Hezbollah projectiles continue to batter the north, Fabian updates.

Yesterday, five Palestinian gunmen were killed in a 12-hour Israeli counter-terrorism raid in the northern West Bank and four soldiers were also wounded during the operation after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle. Fabian debriefs on how the IDF is carrying out a long-term strategy with this type of operation.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken okayed the sale of fighter jets and other arms to Israel in deals worth over $20 billion, the Pentagon said Tuesday. What is expected and when?

On April 13, Amina Hassouna, a 7-year old Bedouin girl, was the sole victim of the Iran attack and was seriously wounded in the head by shrapnel from an intercepted ballistic missile. We hear how her unrecognized Bedouin community in the Negev, Al-Fura, and many others still lack basic infrastructure, but also sirens, rocket shelters and cover from the Iron Dome missile defense system.

As Israelis wait in uncertainty and trepidation for an Iranian attack that may or may not materialize in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, some media outlets in the Arab world have begun to ridicule Tehran’s perceived empty threats and grandstanding. Pacchiani describes a few.

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

Discussed articles include:

Israel sending high-level team to Doha talks, seen as possible last chance for deal

Hamas fires rockets at Tel Aviv, a first since May, as IDF advances in Khan Younis

5 Palestinian gunmen killed, four troops hurt in West Bank raid

US approves $20 billion in weapons sales to Israel, including 50 fighter jets

As Iranian retaliation looms, thousands of Bedouins still vulnerable to rockets 

Satirical cartoons in the Arab press lampoon Iran for delaying attack on Israel

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

IMAGE: Jordanian cartoonist Emad Hajjaj, who regularly publishes in the Qatari-owned Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, draws an Iranian tank carries a gigantic missile launcher, which only ends up ejecting a small drone carrying a miniature rocket, August 10, 2024. (screenshot, used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

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