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.
Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
Dozens of world leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, received an invitation over the past week to sit on US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. The US is aiming to hold the board’s first meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. In the meantime, various countries have reacted to their invitations to Thursday’s signing ceremony in Davos, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Horovitz fills us in on international responses, including shades of daylight between Netanyahu and Trump.
In the hours after two babies lost their lives in an unlicensed and massively overcrowded daycare in the ultra-Orthodox Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday, Haredi leaders blamed the tragedy on the state and the legislative efforts to draft young men of the community. Two infants died and 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in the incident. We speak about the avoidable nature of the tragedy, which, because of the prevalence of unsupervised daycare, could occur in any Israeli community at any time.
And finally, regular listeners of The Daily Briefing will have missed their weekly dose of David Horovitz, who is just back from a three-week trip in Japan. We hear observations.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Trump to hold Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos, but participants may be limited
PM vows no Qatari, Turkish troops in Gaza after countries given role on oversight body
Smotrich calls to shutter US-led Gaza coordination center, resettle Strip
Netanyahu invited to Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace alongside European, Mideast leaders
Haredi leaders blame babies’ deaths on state’s push to draft ultra-Orthodox men
2 babies die in incident at unlicensed Jerusalem daycare; 3 caregivers detained
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: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest sparked by the deaths of two babies in an unauthorized daycare in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (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.
As the Trump administration sends invitations to world leaders to join the Board of Peace overseeing Gaza, Magid discusses the various committees led by the board, which is headed by US President Donald Trump and is considered the oversight group for Gaza and all conflicts, a move that may also try and usurp the role of the United Nations.
While other Board of Peace committees are being formed, Magid discusses Israel’s discomfort with planned representation from Turkey and Qatar, while the Trump administration views those countries as critical to getting Hamas on board for the ceasefire, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu openly opposed to their involvement.
Menwhile, the appointed Palestinian technocrats on the NCAG, the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, are currently sitting around in Cairo, reports Magid, awaiting civil servants approved by Israel.
Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Gaza Palestinian technocratic committee says it will pursue ‘peace, democracy, justice’
Full text: Charter of Trump’s Board of Peace
Overboard: Making sense of the various Gaza oversight committees created by Trump
Netanyahu fumes at Gaza oversight panel makeup as Trump invites Erdogan to peace board
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Pod-Waves.
IMAGE:A man holds two mannequins depicting U.S. President Donald Trump and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a rally in support of the Iranian government, in Istanbul, Turkey on January 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
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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 Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
An Iranian official said this morning that authorities verified at least 5,000 people had been killed in protests in Iran, including about 500 security personnel, since December 28. According to a Sunday Times report citing an account put together by a network of Iranian doctors, the toll is more than 16,500 dead -- most under 30 -- and at least 330,000 people injured. Berman delves into the conflicting reports and updates us on what US President Donald Trump said Saturday.
The Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet on Saturday revealed the identities of several Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad operatives killed in strikes across the Gaza Strip earlier in the week, which Israel said were carried out in response to a “blatant violation” of the ceasefire in western Rafah when gunmen opened fire at troops. With both sides claiming ceasefire violations, Berman reviews what a ceasefire entails. We also learn how Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to reports that the executive board for Trump’s Board of Peace includes senior officials from Qatar and Turkey.
Syria’s army took control of swathes of the country’s north over the weekend, dislodging Kurdish forces from territory over which they had held effective autonomy for more than a decade. President Ahmed al-Sharaa issued a decree declaring Kurdish a “national language” and granting the minority group official recognition. All this comes before the president is meant to speak with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday, as Germany seeks to step up deportations of Syrians. Is this the start of a great return to Syria?
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
In first, Trump appears to call for end of ‘sick man’ Khamenei’s rule in Iran
Deadly crackdown appears to have quashed Iran protests, residents say
Iranian doctors put death toll in suppressed uprising at over 16,500 — report
Hamas operative behind 1995 terror attack among those killed in Gaza strikes, says IDF
Netanyahu fumes at Gaza oversight panel makeup as Trump invites Erdogan to peace board
Syrian army extends hold over north, capturing areas held by Kurds for over a decade
Sharaa to meet with German chancellor as Berlin seeks to deport Syrian refugees
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 and Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: A protester has her face painted to resemble bullet holes during a rally in support of the Iranian people in Rome, January 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
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Welcome to The Reel Schmooze with ToI film reviewer Jordan Hoffman and host Amanda Borschel-Dan, where we bring you all the entertainment news and film reviews a Jew can use.
The "Schmoovie" of the week is "Holding Liat," a remarkable documentary that charts the struggle of one Israeli-American family to return its loved ones who were taken hostage to Gaza during the Hamas murderous onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Short-listed for an Oscar for Best Documentary, "Holding Liat" is now playing at art theaters, including in New York and Los Angeles.
Produced by Hollywood filmmaker Darren Aronofsky and created by brothers Brandon and Lance Kramer, we learn in the film that during the siege on Kibbutz Nir Oz, educator Liat Beinin Atzili and her husband, artist and mechanic Aviv Atzili, were separately captured by the Hamas gunmen.
The film follows American-born couple Yehuda and Chaya Beinin, kibbutznikim who immigrated to Israel in the 1970s, their daughter Tal, who emigrated from Israel to Portland a decade ago, and their grandchildren, primarily Netta, who barely survived the rampage at Nir Oz.
The filmmakers, cousins to the Beinin family, begin charting their relatives two weeks after the couple's capture. Through updates from the IDF, we understand that there are disturbing findings related to Aviv, but that Liat is thought to be relatively secure.
Yehuda, Tal and Netta journey to Washington, DC, to attempt to sway US politicians' hearts and minds to fight for their cause, but quickly see how each generation frames the conflict and its potential resolution.
Upon the joyous return of Liat during the 2023 temporary truce that saw 97 hostages freed, we learn that Aviv was slaughtered by the terrorists. However, Liat resumes her activism, pushing for a two-state solution to the ongoing conflict.
Hear the conflicted reactions the intense, but nuanced film evokes in this week's The Reel Schmooze.
The Reel Schmooze is produced by Ari Schlacht and can be found wherever you get your podcasts.
Image: Still from 'Holding Liat' (courtesy)
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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 Israel Story producer Mitch Ginsburg.
On February 20, 1979, the last 33 Israelis returned from Tehran upon the forced closure of the Israeli embassy. After the rise of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khoumeini's new regime, the Israeli trade mission's location was given over to the Palestine Liberation Organization, whose supporters immediately stormed the building.
In today's episode, we relay the untold saga of the derring-do that saw these final Israeli officials back to the Jewish state.
A story of four chapters, Ginsburg narrates the tale through the eyes of the Tehran embassy's military attache, Brigadier General Itzik Segev.
Hear how they walk the plank, assume false identities and eventually meet up with the American delegation, which was also fleeing the country.
Our conversation is followed by the complete episode of Ginsburg's recent Israel Story installment, "Frankly, My Deer," which tells the tale of the final and frantic days of the Shah’s regime, when an unlikely Israeli envoy — a cross between David Attenborough and Jason Bourne — landed in Tehran. His secret mission was to bring back something certain powerful people in Israel sorely wanted.
And so this week, we ask Mitch Ginsburg 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: In this December 10, 1978 file picture, demonstrators hold up a poster of exiled Muslim leader Ayatollah Khomeini during an anti-shah demonstration in Tehran at the Shayah monument which was built to commemorate the monarch's rule and symbol of his power. (AP Photo/Michel Lipchitz)
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