The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

Available Episodes

5 of 202

Day 697 - Lapid dips into election rhetoric, appeals for unity
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 tech reporter Sharon Wrobel join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. As deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel said she won't follow foreign minister and New Hope party head Gideon Sa'ar into a merger with the Likud party, Sokol discusses Haskel's position on the front lines of Israel's information battle and her concerns about Likud's representation of moderate voters. Opposition leader Yair Lapid warned of the end of Zionism if Netanyahu's coalition wins the next election, which Sokol calls Lapid's election rhetoric, consistent with how Lapid has been speaking for the last few years. Sokol analyzes rising tensions between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Haredi parties and Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Boaz Bismuth's new approach to Haredi conscription law. Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air plans to establish a base in Israel, notes Wrobel, offering it advantages in the Israeli air transportation market. Wrobel also discusses milk shortages in Israel due to production issues and consumer panic. IMAGE: Yesh Atid chairman MK Yair Lapid attends a Yesh Atid party conference in Tel Aviv, September 1, 2025 (Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
22:17
--------
22:17
Day 696 - Would Trump seriously consider Gaza relocation plan?
Political correspondent Tal Schneider and reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. The security cabinet met for some six hours on Sunday night, but didn't raise the current hostage deal during last night's lengthy meeting, according to Schneider. There was reportedly a discussion of extending Israeli sovereignty to the West Bank, as a possible response to the expected announcements of a Palestinian state later this month. Schneider also mentions the disagreements among security officials regarding the planned military incursion in Gaza, pointing out that any final decision is by the security cabinet, and the military has to comply with their decision. As President Trump reportedly considers a plan to evacuate Palestinians as part of a postwar Gaza plan, Schneider analyzes that it appears to be planned by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, the organization handling the food distribution in the Gaza Strip. The plan includes having a portion of the population leave and setting up enclaves inside Gaza for those who remain, a plan that Schneider says seems far-fetched. Two surveys issued in the run-up to the new school year highlight persistent socio-economic gaps between schoolchildren, says Surkes, pointing to a lack of funds in low-income families for afterschool activities and the struggle to afford certain kinds of healthier foods. The legendary Nahal military group that once primarily served agricultural communities is returning to its roots, according to Surkes, with pre-army volunteers serving in the kibbutz communities along the Gaza and northern borders. Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Security cabinet meets, reportedly discusses West Bank annexation but not hostage deal Trump said weighing plan to pay Gazans to leave, put Strip under US-run trusteeship As children go back to school, two reports detail vast socio-economic gaps From Sept. 1, the storied Nahal military group will return to its agricultural roots Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Adina Karpuj. IMAGE: Palestinians carry food parcels and supplies from a GHF aid distribution point in central Gaza, August 5, 2025. (Photo by Ali Hassan/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
18:39
--------
18:39
Day 695 - On the ground in Gaza City
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. The government's weekly cabinet meeting was held in a secure location on Sunday, Berman notes, after the IDF announced it killed the prime minister of Yemen’s Houthi government and several other ministers, and the Houthis pledged to retaliate. Following a Channel 12 report that said three of Israel's top security officials are expected to argue that Israel should cancel its imminent operation to capture Gaza City and accept the phased hostage-ceasefire deal currently on the table, Berman believes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will ignore them. Instead, he says, Netanyahu will likely continue to demand a comprehensive deal under which all hostages are released at once and the war ends on terms acceptable to Israel, in line with his demands in recent weeks and backing, thus far, from US President Donald Trump. Berman discusses his interviews on the outskirts of Gaza City with members of the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade, six of whose members are held hostage -- two of them alive and four whose bodies are held. He also analyzes the prime minister's recent remarks recognizing the Armenian genocide committed by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century, suggesting it was presumably timed as a way of getting back at Turkey for its aggressive stance and policies against Israel throughout the war. Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Houthis, IDF confirm group’s prime minister, other top officials killed in Israeli strike Body of slain hostage Idan Shtivi identified days after recovery from Gaza ‘A wild gamble on hostages’ lives’: Defense chiefs to urge cabinet to eschew Gaza op, take deal For IDF’s 7th Brigade, return to Gaza City is personal: Six of its crew are held hostage In first, Netanyahu says he recognizes Armenian genocide Israeli airlines say they’re still traversing Turkish airspace despite declared closure Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves. IMAGE: Lt. Col. G., commander of the 77th Armored Battalion, in Zeitoun, Gaza, August 28, 2025 (Lazar Berman/The Times of Israel)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
17:53
--------
17:53
Day 694 - Legal expert Menachem Rosensaft: Israel is not committing genocide
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with legal expert on genocide Menachem Rosensaft. Rosensaft is an adjunct professor of law at Cornell Law School and lecturer-in-law at Columbia Law School, where he teaches the law of genocide -- since 2008 at Cornell and since 2011 at Columbia. A dedicated pro-Israel US Jewish leader, Rosensaft is the general counsel emeritus of the World Jewish Congress and has been part of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, most notably sitting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat alongside four other American Jewish leaders in 1988, after which Arafat said he recognized the State of Israel's right to exist. Rosensaft discusses the important legal and rhetorical distinction between genocide and crimes against humanity or war crimes, feeling that the definition's precision is being diluted in popular use. We learn about the history and evolution of Raphael Lemkin's definition of genocide and the ripple effect it has caused. He emphasizes that Israel cannot be held out as the sole villain in the ongoing war, and explains how Hamas exhibits genocidal intent and ideology. However, the statements from a handful of far-right Israeli politicians is making South Africa's December 2023 legal case accusing the Jewish state of genocide much harder to win. Finally, he rails against the Israeli government's weaponization of the word "antisemitism" for all dissent against the Jewish state, but doubles down on the need for an ongoing peace process leading to a Palestinian state. And so this week, we ask genocide legal expert Menachem Rosensaft, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Menachem Rosensaft (courtesy) / Palestinians stand on the edge of a crater after Israeli military strikes in a tent camp for displaced people near Al-Aqsa Hospital, in Deir al-Balah, August 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
47:08
--------
47:08
Day 693 - Yossi Klein Halevi: Worse than Disengagement is a one-state 'dissolution'
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus. Each Friday, join host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. This Friday, we present a fourth and final installment of our August mini-series centering on the 2005 Disengagement from Gaza. We launched the series with a zoom-out conversation with public intellectual Dr. Micah Goodman, followed by a personal account of life in Gush Katif by former Nezer Hazani resident Anita Tucker and last week, we heard from Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, who shared the perspective of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip and the ripple effect felt after the Disengagement. This week, we speak with author and thinker Yossi Klein Halevi from his Jerusalem home. The Shalom Hartman Institute senior fellow begins by explaining why he and so many other Israelis supported Disengagement. He describes how the promises of security from the right and peace from the left failed, and so many Israelis were eager to try the "centrist" approach of unilateralism. Klein Halevi describes the zeitgeist of the time and compares it with the renewed global interest in a Palestinian state -- despite the Hamas massacre of 1,200 on October 7, 2023, and the continued captivity of another 20 living hostages and 30 dead. In the context of the ongoing war, when asked whether the two-state solution is dead, Klein Halevi's answer may surprise. Friday Focus can be found on all podcast platforms. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Yossi Klein Halevi (courtesy)/ Former prime minister Ariel Sharon speaking to students on the first day of classes in the West Bank Jewish settlement of Maaleh Adumim, Sept. 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
45:24
--------
45:24