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 and Arab affairs reporter Gianluca Pacchiani join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Sokol discusses what led to the fierce debate in the Knesset Monday, after a commission that was looking into earlier defense purchases, sent letters of inquiry to several officials, including Prime MInister Benjamin Netanyahu. Opposition leader Yair Lapid used the opportunity to attack the prime minister in his faction's weekly meeting, joined by New Hope party leader Gideon Sa'ar as the prime minister defended his actions.

Sokol notes that the debate concluded with a first vote on legislation regarding extending reservists' age while legislation is still pending regarding lowering the ages of exemptions for ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students.

Pacchiani talks about an interview with Palestinian laborers who have been mostly out of work for the last eight months, part of the work force of some 200,000 people who work mostly in construction and agriculture. He says it appears to be more of a political decision to push the Palestinian Authority toward bankruptcy, along with higher unemployment.

He also mentions press reports about a "fishy" organized foreign press tour of the Beirut airport, as the Lebanese government attempted to prove they're not hiding weapons imported from Iran.

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

Discussed articles include:

‘Submarine affair’ inquiry finds Netanyahu’s decisions compromised national security

Knesset to vote this week on bill extending retirement age for IDF reservists

West Bank Palestinian laborers in despair after eight months without jobs in Israel

Reporters denied access to Beirut airport area where weapons suspected to be stored

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: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a debate in the Knesset on June 24, 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.

Diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Berman discusses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's first Hebrew-language media interview since October 7 on the pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 network, in which the prime minister spoke about the end of intense fighting in Gaza, his willingness to agree to a partial hostage deal, while insisting that battles would continue.

He also speaks about Netanyahu's comments regarding the north and the prime minister's hopes for a diplomatic solution, as well as how the prime minister deftly pointed fingers at his opponents in the government in order to firmly position himself as the country's ultimate leader.

Berman turns to the Biden administration and its ongoing spat with Netanyahu over what the prime minister's claims regarding a slowdown in shipments of US arms. Berman suggests the low-level disagreement may all be about politics as the prime minister does not want Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, currently visiting in DC, to lay claim on any diplomatic successes during his visit.

Berman concludes with a look at the terror attack in two communities in Russia's Dagestan, bordering Azerbaijan, a mostly Moslem region that has experienced Moslem Jihadist terrorism in the past and was the focal point of a near-pogrom after October 7, when locals attempted to target Israeli passengers on a flight.

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

Discussed articles include:

PM says open to partial pause and hostage deal but war won’t end until Hamas destroyed

EU’s Borrell warns war in Middle East on the brink of expanding

Netanyahu says US arms supplies fell away 4 months ago; he went public as last resort

US hasn’t withheld weapons for Israel, but it’s done fast-tracking them — official

Over 15 Russian cops, civilians killed in attacks on synagogues, churches in Dagestan

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: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to Channel 14 in the first interview he's given to an Israeli news outlet since October 7, on June 23, 2024. (Screenshot, Channel 14, 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 joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant headed to Washington this morning for a meeting that he calls “critical for the future of the war.” What are the main goals?

The IDF confirmed that it shot down an apparent Hezbollah drone over the Lower Galilee. It was shot down by air defenses in an area that houses a major factory belonging to the Rafael defense contractor. Also overnight, Israeli fighter jets shot down a drone heading toward Israel from the eastern direction. The announcement comes after the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched a drone at Israel’s southernmost city of Eilat early this morning.

On Saturday, the IDF struck several targets, including a Hamas military site in Gaza City’s Shati neighborhood. Reports in Hebrew and Arabic media said the Shati attack targeted senior Hamas commander Raad Saad, head of Hamas operations. We hear who he is and the status of the fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Also on Saturday, Israel said it had killed a top Hamas operative in Lebanon, Ayman Ghatma, who was responsible for supplying weapons to Hamas in Lebanon as well as to the al-Jama’a al-Islamiyya terror group. We hear about the tangled Lebanon-based overlap between Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.

An Israeli civilian Amnon Muchtar, 67, of Petah Tikva was shot in his vehicle by unknown gunmen in the West Bank city of Qalqilya on Saturday and later died of his wounds. Fabian describes the incident, which is being labeled as a terror attack, and puts it into context with other recent conflicts in the area.

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

Discussed articles include:

Heading to US, Gallant says meetings ‘critical for the future of the war’

Israeli strike said to target Hamas operations chief Raad Saad in Gaza; unclear if he died

IDF kills top Hamas man in Lebanon; US said to promise Israel full support if war erupts

Israeli man shot and killed in his car in West Bank’s Qalqilya in apparent terror

IDF says it is investigating soldiers who tied Palestinian detainee to hood of car

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: Israel Defense Forces operating in Gaza, June 22, 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.

In this special episode, host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaks with news editor Amy Spiro, who heads up our Those We Have Lost project.

Since a few days after the October 7 murderous Hamas onslaught on southern Israel that massacred some 1,200 people -- mostly civilians -- and saw 251 hostages taken to Gaza, Spiro has worked to memorialize the slain individuals by bringing their stories to the English-speaking world.

Spiro imbues each post with the individual's character and life from publically available information, including funeral eulogies, social media posts, and memorial websites.

In this episode, Spiro and Borschel-Dan share the stories of eight of the fallen, including lone soldiers, a newly pregnant couple, a beloved grandmother and a Thai worker who never got to meet his child.

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

Discussed articles include:

Staff Sgt. Shlomo Reshetnikov, 20: Lone soldier from Russia

Raz Mizrahi, 21: Wounded in 2021 attack, recovered and slain at party

Keshet Casarotti-Kalfa, 21: Pirate-loving partygoer ‘a ball of light’

Sgt. David Mittelman, 20: Ex-Haredi who hovered between worlds

Yehudit Itzchaki, 76: Doting grandma, child of Holocaust survivors

Lidor Levi and Nitzan Rahoum, 28: Slain couple were expecting first baby

Nitikorn Sae Wang, 26: Thai worker who never got to meet his son

Staff Sgt. Yonatan Chaim, 25: Lone soldier who converted, made aliyah

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. 

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE: Family and friends of Israeli soldier Sergeant Almog Shalom attend his funeral at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery in Jerusalem on June 11, 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.

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

Magid discusses the latest visit to the US by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, amid the current kerfuffle between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the US administration.

Dermer and Hanegbi were meeting with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Secretary of State Antony Blinken , and "received an earful" from US officials regarding the video that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made earlier in the week with accusations about the delay of US arms shipments to Israel.

Magid discusses whether Netanyahu is making comments now because Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is going to DC next week and perhaps doesn't want him receiving the credit for solving any issues regarding arms during his trip.

Magid also talks about the ongoing US consideration to set sanctions against Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, given his longtime efforst to withhold funds from the Palestinian Authority, thereby destabilizing the Palestinian government.

Magid also looks at the possibility of US sanctions against the far-right Tzav 9 group, which has organized efforts to halt and wreak havoc with US aid convoys making their way into Gaza.

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

Discussed articles include:

US hosts PM’s aides amid concern full-on war with Hezbollah would overwhelm Iron Dome

US vexed, disappointed by Netanyahu claim of arms holdup: ‘No one has done more for him’

US sanctions far-right Israeli group behind attacks on aid convoys bound for Gaza

Is the US poised to sanction an Israeli minister for the first time?

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: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message issued June 19, 2024. (Screenshot/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.

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

Facing a growing number of high-profile spats involving members of his coalition, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Wednesday for his political partners to “get a grip” and abandon “petty politics.” Horovitz unwinds the insults and accusations that were thrown about yesterday and assesses the stability of the coalition even as some members of Likud are showing signs of discontent.

IDF Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Channel 13 last night, “This business of destroying Hamas, making Hamas disappear — it’s simply throwing sand in the eyes of the public.” Horovitz discusses how Israel's internal political strife may be affecting its prosecution of the war.

The Wall Street Journal reported today that US officials estimate that of the 116 hostages believed to be held by Hamas in Gaza, just 50 are still alive. The assessment is based on a combination of Israeli and US intelligence and puts the number of deceased hostages at 66, a far higher number than Israel has publicly confirmed. As hostage negotiation talks seem to be at a stalemate, Horovitz speaks to the international pressure being placed on Hamas and why it's likely not enough.

Last night the head of Lebanon’s Hezbollah terror group Hasan Nasrallah commented on the escalating conflict with the Jewish state, and said the Shiite terror group does not want “total war,” is only acting in support of Hamas, but in the case of full-blown war, “The enemy knows well that we have prepared ourselves for the worst… and that no place… will be spared from our rockets.” Why this announcement right now?

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

Discussed articles include:

As war winds down, diplomacy is paramount, but Netanyahu has other priorities

Amid multiplying spats, Netanyahu urges coalition partners to ‘get a grip’

IDF spokesman says Hamas can’t be destroyed, drawing retort from PM: ‘That’s war’s goal’

Nasrallah says ‘no place’ in Israel would be safe in war, threatens to target Cyprus

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: Economy Minister Nir Barkat attends a plenum session at the assembly hall of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem on May 29, 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.

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

Fabian is just back from the Yabna neighborhood of Rafah in the Gaza Strip where he was embedded with troops from the Givati Infantry Brigade. We hear what he saw and then dive into the current status of fighting in the Strip.

Just after Hezbollah brazenly published aerial drone footage of Israel yesterday, top IDF generals approved plans for war in Lebanon. What do we know about the plans and what is happening along the border now?

Annual Israeli arms sales reached a new record in 2023, for the third consecutive year, amounting to nearly double the value of exports compared to five years ago, according to Defense Ministry figures released Monday. How can war-time Israel be exporting so many arms?

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

Discussed articles include:

In Rafah, IDF focuses on tunnels, with aim of destroying Hamas brigade within a month

IDF says half of Hamas’s forces in Rafah dismantled, at least 550 gunmen killed

Top Israeli generals approve Lebanon offensive battle plans, army says

In open threat, Hezbollah publishes drone footage of sites in northern Israel

IDF kills Hezbollah rocket specialist amid rare 3-day lull in terror group’s fire

Israeli arms sales break record for 3rd year in row, reaching $13 billion in 2023

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: Troops of the IDF's Givati Brigade operate in the Yabna camp of southern Gaza's Rafah, June 18, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

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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 for today's episode.

After last week’s escalation along the northern border, US special envoy Amos Hochstein is in the country to try to head off a war with Hezbollah and advance efforts to rein in hostilities along the “Blue Line” between Israel and Lebanon. What are his chances?

An unnamed senior Israeli negotiator told AFP yesterday that dozens of hostages are still alive and that the Israeli negotiating team had green-lit the Biden plan and is waiting for Hamas's answer. Berman brings up an idea that is slowly gaining support, that Israel must change the paradigm of the war in Gaza and consider it as just a first step in taking on all the Iranian proxies that make up the hydra-like monster that is Iran.  

A document by the IDF’s Gaza Division warning of a potential attack by Hamas and en masse hostage-taking that was internally circulated on September 19 and reportedly brought to the attention of at least some senior intelligence officials, was ignored. Berman explores the report and discusses some reasons why -- tragically -- this intel wasn't acted upon.

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

Discussed articles include:

Top Biden aide in Israel to try to head off war with Hezbollah

Gantz tells visiting US envoy ‘time is running out’ for deal to calm northern border

Dozens of hostages are alive ‘with certainty’ — top Israeli negotiator

Netanyahu officially disbands war cabinet after Gantz’s departure from government

3 weeks before Oct. 7, IDF Gaza Division warned of Hamas plan to attack, take 250 hostages

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 Ben Wallick. 

IMAGE: Relatives and supporters of hostages held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas terrorists since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, take part in a demonstration calling for their release in Tel Aviv on June 15, 2024. (Jack Guez / 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.

Political correspondent Sam Sokol and environmental reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Sokol speaks about the Knesset voting on a bill to extend reservists' service, in order to keep reservists keep serving because of exigencies of the war, and an ongoing manpower shortage.

Sokol discusses how this bill feeds into the ongoing ultra-Orthodox draft issue, generating a backlash of anger as it backs into what is sometimes called an evasion law for the ultra-Orthodox draft, allowing exemptions for young yeshiva students while the burden falls on other parts of Israeli society.

He also looks at another bill that would allow the government to appoint hundreds of new state-funded rabbinical posts in towns and local councils, creating a kind of jobs program for members of the coalition's religious parties. The bill was stalled during the earlier months of the war, is now being pushed by the coalition partners and Sokol said that a major political scrap could emerge from these two controversial issues on the docket.

Surkes talks about a pilot program for the children of migrants and refugees that integrates them into mixed classes in other neighborhoods, offering more hope for the future but not solving the many issues facing  this beleaguered population.

She also describes the rescue of a Nubian ibex that fell into a deep sinkhole near Kibbutz Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea.

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

Discussed articles include:

Far-right ministers blast ‘delusional’ daily pauses in fighting to secure Gaza aid

Knesset revives bill expanding Chief Rabbinate’s influence over local authorities

Government backs new extension to IDF reservists’ service despite backlash

Nubian ibex rescued from 10-meter-deep sinkhole

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: Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against the drafting of Haredim to the IDF, June 2, 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.

The deaths of 11 soldiers were announced over the past day. We begin with the group of 8 who were killed in Rafah in the IDF’s deadliest incident in the past six months. Two reservists were killed when their tank came under attack in northern Gaza over the weekend, the military also announced Sunday. And finally, Fabian describes the incident involving a further soldier, Sgt. Yair Roitman, 19, of the Givati Brigade’s reconnaissance unit, from Karnei Shomron, who succumbed to his wounds from Monday over the weekend.

The IDF announced this morning a new daily 11-hour tactical pause of military activity along a key road in the southern Gaza Strip. What is the purpose of this?

At the same time, the United States military is preparing to temporarily remove its humanitarian pier off the coast of Gaza because of anticipated sea conditions, a US official said on Friday.

And finally, footage circulating on social media on Thursday showed Israeli soldiers using a kind of a catapult to launch incendiaries at Lebanon, to spark fires on the other side of the border. What was the official IDF response to this?

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

Discussed articles include:

Eight troops killed in Rafah explosion, in deadliest incident for IDF in 6 months

Two reservists killed in north Gaza, as soldiers slain in Rafah blast named

IDF announces daily pause in fighting along key south Gaza road to increase aid flow

US to temporarily remove aid pier from Gaza coast again due to bad weather

Troops use trebuchet to launch incendiaries at Lebanon

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: Troops of the Commando Brigade operate in southern Gaza's Rafah, in a handout photo published June 15, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)

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