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 episode.

Magid discusses the late Thursday phone call between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and what is being discussed regarding certain clauses in the hostage deal and possible ceasefire under discussion between Israel, Hamas and their mediators, with movement from a first ceasefire into another over the course of at least six weeks.

He talks about the currently hardline Israeli government and cabinet and how Netanyahu's coalition partners will demand more in response to the hostage deal and the prime minister may be hampering the negotiations because he has to pay more attention to his hardline base.

Magid also looks at the discussions about the 'day after' in Gaza, and the fact that Netanyahu is quietly considering allowing lower-level Palestinian Authority employees, vetted by the Shin Bet and PA intelligence agencies as a civil administration for the Gaza Strip, the solution that the Biden administration has been hoping for throughout the last months.

Finally, Magid talks about Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich who finally released three months of funding to the Palestinian Authority that he has been withholding while demanding more settlements or outposts legalized and more steps against the Palestinian Authority, which he has said he would like to collapse.

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

Discussed articles include:

Israel sends delegation to renewed hostage-truce talks in Doha on Hamas proposal

Israel says it’s studying latest Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

Netanyahu privately showing openness to PA involvement in postwar Gaza — officials

US nods at Smotrich’s steps to ease PA financial crisis, but calls them insufficient

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

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 call for the release of Hamas hostages outside Tel Aviv's Defense Ministry compound on July 4, 2024. (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/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.

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

A source in Hezbollah tells Al Jazeera that the terror group launched more than 200 rockets and some 20 drones at military bases in northern Israel on Thursday midday. What do we know about any damage?

Israel said Wednesday evening that it had received Hamas’s response to the latest truce-hostage deal outline, and would evaluate the document before replying. What do we know about any new changes or shifts in position?

The Shin Bet security service has reportedly reprimanded the senior official who was responsible for signing off on the release of Gaza City’s Shifa Hospital director Mohammad Abu Salmiya from Israeli prison earlier this week. Horovitz unravels this knotty situation.

It’s an election long weekend with the UK, France and Iran going to the polls. Horovitz discusses each nation separately.

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

Discussed articles include:

Senior Hezbollah commander killed in IDF strike in southern Lebanon

Israel says it’s studying latest Hamas response to Gaza ceasefire-hostage deal

Shin Bet said to reprimand agent who signed off on Shifa director’s release to Gaza

Dangerous incompetents at the heart of government are subverting Israel’s war on Hamas

Labour tipped for historic win as UK voters head to the polls

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

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 opposition Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrive to cast their votes at a polling station in London on July 4, 2024, as Britain holds a general election. (Paul Ellis / 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 and reporter Canaan Lidor join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

On Monday, the IDF called on Palestinians in eastern neighborhoods of Khan Younis to evacuate the area and head toward the designated “humanitarian zone,” likely preceding a renewed ground offensive in the southern Gaza city. What moves has the IDF taken since?

Yesterday, work began on an Israeli-Palestinian cooperative project to boost electric power to a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip to allow it to produce more water for civilians in a designated “humanitarian zone” where the vast majority of the Gazan population is residing. Which Israeli official was pushing for this and why does he feel it is crucial?

The military carried out a drone strike late Tuesday against a cell of terror operatives in the West Bank’s Nur Shams, with the Palestinians reporting four killed in the attack. This use of underground explosives is a tactic we’ve recently seen against IDF troops. Fabian tells us more.

Over the weekend Lidor witnessed hundreds of residents of Avdon, a Western Galilee moshav, returning after a months-long absence from their homes, situated about 3.5 kilometers (two miles) from the border with Lebanon. Why didn't the government evacuate them along with their neighbors?

For the first time in over a century, Israel’s Jews officially have no chief rabbi after the terms of both ended on Monday. There are delays in the succession process, in part due to alleged nepotism and internal power struggles, but also due to the role of women in the state religious authorities. We hear what is -- and isn't -- going on.

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

Discussed articles include:

IDF tells Gazans to evacuate some Khan Younis neighborhoods in wake of rocket attack

Israel boosts power to Gaza desalination plant in bid to avert humanitarian crisis

IDF drone hits cell planting roadside bomb in West Bank, killing 4 terror operatives

Israelis from town 2 miles from Lebanon forced to return home after running out of funds

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

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: Boys walk with jerrycans to fill up from a water truck in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on June 25, 2024. (Eyad Baba / 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.

Legal reporter Jeremy Sharon joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Sharon first discusses how the IDF will go about recruiting ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students following the High Court ruling ordering the state to begin conscripting tens of thousands of eligible young men.

He lists the various possibilities, including a more random lottery, or the option of the IDF following up with what he terms "the low-hanging fruit," those young Haredi men who do not attend the more elite yeshivas but have received some secular academic education and whose parents are part of the workforce.

Sharon then speaks about a High Court ban of the Jordan Valley settlement council from seizing stray Palestinian livestock, as part of an ongoing situation in which the court aims to avoid a de facto annexation of land belonging to the local Palestinian population.

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

Discussed articles include:

The army must soon begin enlisting ultra-Orthodox men. How will that work?

High Court bans settlement council from seizing stray Palestinian livestock

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: Police clash with ultra-Orthodox demonstrators during a protest against the recruitment of Haredim to the IDF, in Jerusalem, June 30, 2024. (Photo by 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.

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

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted during a visit to southern Gaza’s Rafah on Sunday that Hamas is unable to recover from the pressure applied by Israeli operations and, choked off from its weapons supply, is a broken force running out of time. At the same time, we’re seeing a large rocket barrage and other fighting on the ground. Fabian weighs in.

The director of Shifa Hospital, Mohammad Abu Salmiya, who was arrested by IDF troops in November on suspicion of allowing the hospital to be used by Hamas as an operations center, was released. Fabian delves into some potential reasons why and the backlash to Abu Salmiya's release.

Eighteen Israeli soldiers were wounded, including one seriously, in a Hezbollah drone attack in northern Israel on Sunday. We learn about this attack and discuss the asymmetrical nature of the fighting in the north and the lack of clear goals.

An Israeli drone strike on Sunday killed a Palestinian Islamic Jihad commander and wounded five in the Nur Shams camp in the West Bank city of Tulkarem. Fabian explains the significance of this commander.

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

Discussed articles include:

Gallant: IDF’s Rafah campaign choking Hamas by blocking crossing, destroying tunnels

IDF says at least 40 Hamas operatives killed as it advances in Gaza’s Shejaiya

18 troops hurt, one seriously, in Hezbollah drone strike in north

Islamic Jihad commander killed, 5 hurt in Israeli drone strike in Tulkarem

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: The Israel Defense Forces operate in Gaza, in a handout photo published June 30, 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.

Diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan from ToI's Jerusalem offices.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Friday that if Israel embarks on a “full-scale military aggression” in Lebanon against Hezbollah, “an obliterating war will ensue.” This came a day before Iran’s sole reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian and ultraconservative Saeed Jalili qualified for a runoff presidential election, which will be held on Friday. Who are these two candidates and what does either candidate mean for Israel and the region?

US President Joe Biden’s halting debate performance has led some in his own party to question whether he should be replaced on the ballot before November. At the same time, many in Israel began to wonder, is Biden really up to being the man holding the wheel on the war in Gaza? Berman weighs in.

Even while IDF drones struck dozens of Hamas sites in Gaza City’s Shejaiya over the past day and troops located weapons, raided Hamas combat complexes — some of which were booby-trapped — and killed several gunmen, Berman proposes that the IDF is still far from reaching its two war goals. What does this mean for the ongoing Gaza War -- and a looming war in the north.

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

Discussed articles include:

Hardliner, moderate to face off in 2nd-ever Iranian runoff, after record low turnout

Iran’s UN mission threatens ‘obliterating war’ if Israel launches Lebanon offensive

PM warns visiting former US officers Iran seeks to conquer Jordan, Saudi Arabia

As poor debate showing roils Democrats, Bidens implore donors to stay course

Rafah operation and Gaza war are winding down; Israel is no closer to its goals

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: US President Joe Biden speaks about the protests over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza that have roiled US college campuses, in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 2, 2024. (Drew Angerer / 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.

ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's special episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring one key issue currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World.

Ultra-Orthodox men of military age have been able to avoid being conscripted to the IDF for decades by enrolling in yeshivas for Torah study and obtaining repeated one-year service deferrals until they reach the age of military exemption.

This week, a historic High Court ruling — which found that there is no legal basis for excluding Haredi men from the military draft -- brought the need for a true Haredi draft law into focus. 

So when Likud MK and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein delayed a vote on a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law” due to what he said was a failure to reach a “broad consensus” on the matter, political pundits paid attention.

Likewise, polls indicated this week that a "fantasy" political party of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, Yisrael Beytenu party leader Avigdor Liberman, New Hope head Gideon Sa’ar and former Mossad director Yossi Cohen would be the largest faction in the Knesset if elections were held today, winning 25 seats.

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Illustrative image: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waves to his supporters after the first exit poll results for the Israeli parliamentary elections at his Likud party's headquarters in Jerusalem, March. 24, 2021. (AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo)

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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.

Magid first tackles the first debate between US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump in a faceoff that included Trump's statements about not having let Hamas attack if he was in office, while Biden defended his actions since October 7. Both countered one another on antisemitism regarding the 2017 Charlottesville rally versus the campus protests of last spring.

Magid also reviews Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's trip to Washington this week, in which Gallant tackled the arms shipment brouhaha that heated up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's involvement. The meetings were very effective, said Magid, with the shipments ironed out for arms shipments that could be more effective against Hezbollah, if needed.

Magid refers to another topic discussed during Gallant's visit, regarding whether fighting with Hezbollah could be halted as battles in Rafah slow down as an "off-ramp" to avoid war.

He discusses the post-war Gaza plan discussed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his meetings in the region last week, with possible participation by future Palestinian Authority security forces, and peacekeeping forces from the UAE and Egypt amid a future pathway to a Palestinian state.

Magid concludes with an in-depth look at the Jamal Bowman race against George Latimer in the New York Democratic primary as Bowman's views on Israel which brought strong AIPAC financial support for Latimer, ultimately helping him sweep the election.

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

Discussed articles include:

Trump calls Biden ‘a bad Palestinian’ as president’s halting debate showing rattles Dems

Gallant, US declare progress on expediting arms delivery, but bomb shipment still frozen

US, Israel see easing of Gaza fighting as Hezbollah ‘off-ramp’ to avoid war

Egypt, UAE prepared to participate in postwar Gaza security force — officials

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: This combination of photos shows Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, left, and President Joe Biden during a presidential debate hosted by CNN, Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP/Gerald Herbert)

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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 for today's episode.

Following Tuesday morning’s landmark High Court ruling which found that there is no legal basis for excluding Haredi men from the military draft, yesterday, Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Chairman Yuli Edelstein delayed a vote on a Defense Ministry-backed “draft Security Service Law” due to what he said was a failure to reach a “broad consensus” on the matter. What should we make of this breaking of Likud party ranks?

Yesterday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and US President Joe Biden’s administration announced that progress had been made toward resolving what Jerusalem considers to be an insufficient flow of arms from the United States to Israel. Horovitz breaks down the situation as we know it and describes how this may affect a potential war with Hezbollah.

Tonight, US President Joe Biden and former US president Donald Trump will meet in Atlanta for a debate moderated by CNN’s Dana Bash and Jake Tapper. What could be on the table?

Horovitz weighs in on the upcoming July 4 British elections in which Labour leader Keir Starmer is projected to win a vast parliamentary majority.

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

Discussed articles include:

Edelstein delays IDF reservists law amidst growing coalition tensions over draft

PM meets Edelstein over remarks on Haredi draft bill seen as imperiling coalition

Gallant, US declare progress on expediting arms delivery, but bomb shipment still frozen

Evading national service in the Jewish state is the opposite of authentic Judaism

From antisemitism to Israel: The Jewish topics to watch for in the Biden-Trump debate

10 contests for Israel supporters to watch in the UK’s July 4 general election

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: Likud MK Yuli Edelstein leads a Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem on June 26, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/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.

Legal correspondent Jeremy Sharon and environmental reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Sharon discusses the landmark decision by the High Court Tuesday determining that ultra-Orthodox men are obligated to perform military service, and the immediate draft of 3,000 yeshiva students starting July 1, as he looks at the legal issues that led to the decision.

He also talks about the new report by the United Nations-linked Integrated Food Security Phase Classification organization, showing that there is no famine in Gaza, despite previous predictions to the contrary.

Surkes explains the latest concerns about Israel’s power grid and its susceptibility to a possible attack by Hezbollah, with Israel's electricity companies taking a more urgent look at what can be done to offset an all-out blackout in case of war.

She also mentions a high-tech, AI-powered 'weed wacker,' designed to bypass pricey human labor for crops and agricultural fields.

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

Discussed articles include:

After court ruling, AG tells IDF to immediately start drafting 3,000 Haredi students

In historic ruling, High Court says government must draft Haredi men into IDF

Key food security org finds no famine in Gaza, says previous assumptions wrong

As war with Hezbollah looms, concerns over vulnerability of power grid generate unease

Confab shows off startups, from AI-driven weeders and tree tubes to alternative fats

THOSE WE HAVE LOST: Civilians and soldiers killed in Hamas's onslaught on Israel

THOSE WE ARE MISSING: The hostages and victims whose fate is still unknown

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. 

IMAGE: An Israeli soldier and ultra-Orthodox Jews at the Western Wall on June 25, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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