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.
Following this week's MEAD conference in Washington, DC, Magid reports on a conversation with a Board of Peace official who says that cooperation with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Gaza was mostly positive, until the Israeli leader entered campaign mode and wants to avoid any notion that he is acquiescing to Hamas.
On the topic of Gaza, Magid discusses another Board of Peace matter: the stalled training of 283,000 Palestinian police, as Israel currently won't allow the vetted applicants to leave Gaza to train in Egypt.
Magid reports on a conversation at MEAD with the president of Somaliland, the self-declared republic that broke from Somalia in 1991 and which Israel recognized in December 2025, and the president's discussion about sending troops to Gaza.
On the topic of Gaza, Magid discusses another Board of Peace matter: the stalled training of 283,000 Palestinian police, as Israel currently won’t allow the vetted applicants to leave Gaza to train in Egypt.
Magid also reports on a conversation at MEAD with the president of Somaliland — the self-declared republic that broke from Somalia in 1991 and that Israel recognized in December 2025 — about sending troops to Gaza.
Following US President Donald Trump’s recent messaging regarding the United Kingdom’s far-reaching sanctions on the West Bank, Magid notes that the US leader said mildly that he wanted to discuss the matter further with Israel. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio notably did not condemn the British move, and said the US wants to see more stability in the West Bank.
Magid also discusses efforts in the Palestinian Authority to try and obtain a travel visa for President Mahmoud Abbas to speak at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, after the US said it is planning to bar him due to its ongoing frustration with the PA.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Board of Peace official: We won’t have leverage over Netanyahu until after election
Israel barring recruits it vetted for Gaza police from leaving Strip for training
Trump, briefed in advance, didn’t ask UK to wait with settlement sanctions — official
PA submits US entry applications, testing plan to ban Abbas from UN confab — officials
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Ari Schlacht produced this episode.
IMAGE: US bureau chief Jacob Magid appears on the Daily Briefing with host Jessica Steinberg (Courtesy)
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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.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday announced a ban on all dealings with West Bank settlements, as well as sweeping sanctions and a range of other punitive measures. His speech in the House of Commons featured Britain’s strongest-ever criticism of the settlement enterprise and Israel’s “unlawful occupation.” We delve into the various allegations leveled at Israel and how Miliband leverages his Jewish background to make them.
Some 10 days before Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was personally warned by the leader of the United Arab Emirates that Hamas was planning a major offensive move against Israel, but he did not update Israeli security leaders and did nothing with the information, according to a report on Tuesday that was verified by our US bureau chief Jacob Magid. Why are these charges being made now?
Many in Israel heard booms last night as Iranian missiles were shot down over Jordan. This comes after the US military on Tuesday said it destroyed five oil tankers in Iran’s so-called shadow fleet following a pair of attempted Iranian ballistic missile attacks targeting an American warship the previous day. Berman updates us on the current status of the US-Iran war and speaks about how it is influencing Israel's neighborhood.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Denouncing ‘ethnic cleansing’ in West Bank, UK announces ban on all dealings with settlements
Full speech: Ed Miliband says entire occupation unlawful, slams ‘settler terrorists’ and Israeli government that indulges them
Trump, briefed in advance, didn’t ask UK to wait with settlement sanctions — official
Days before Oct. 7, UAE leader warned Netanyahu Hamas was planning war, but PM did nothing with info – report
US hits Iranian oil tankers after attempted missile attacks on American Navy
Touting improved ballistic missile, Iran vows preemptive action against threats
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Yitzhak Ledee filmed and edited this episode.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 reporter Luke Tress joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
For the past several years, Tress has noted an uptick in hateful rhetoric and flyers that are attributing housing disputes in New York City to Israel or “Zionists.” The rhetoric appears to mark a growing new front in anti-Zionist activism in the city. We delve into a history of disputes between Jews and their neighbors, including about housing, and what makes this new iteration different.
Security spending for US Jewish communities has surpassed an estimated $1.05 billion per year, a new record, the Jewish Federations of North America said on Thursday. The 2025 average annual security expenditure for a Jewish institution was around $225,000, the federations said, adding that the total cost could be used to provide Jewish day school tuition to around 44,000 children. Tress explains what legislation Jewish leaders are now pushing US lawmakers to pass.
Tress reports on a group of non-Jewish Ukrainian university students who are studying Yiddish in a class at The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, part of a new program between the university and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. What brings these young adults to this wacky extracurricular?
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
In protests and politics, ‘Zionists’ are being blamed for NYC housing woes
US Jewish community security costs surpass $1 billion per year — study
War-weary Ukrainian students learn Yiddish to reclaim a Jewish past nearly erased at home
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Yitzchak Ledee.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.
Environmental reporter Sue Surkes joins host Gabriella Jacobs for today's episode.
We open by diving into the unprecedented shutdown of five of Israel’s six desalination plants last week. Surkes reports that the closures have exposed a growing strategic vulnerability: the country’s near-total dependence on large coastal facilities for drinking water.
Surkes explains that the plants, all along the southern Mediterranean coast, were forced offline by microalgae swept north by waves from the Nile Delta. While the majority of plants are back online, reduced output continues as of publication.
We pivot to focus on the pollution clogging up the Hebron Stream. She explains how raw sewage, construction byproducts, and illegal dumping are contaminating the waterway and threatening one of the region’s important natural water sources. She also speaks about why efforts to address the issue have stalled thus far.
We close the episode with a brief survey of Israeli-led sustainable food science initiatives that have progressed over the summer, including Weizmann scientists on the path to creating food from air and Hebrew University researchers extracting milk proteins from safflower plants.
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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.
News editor Ben Sales joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
After US Ambassador Mike Huckabee met with Palestinians on Saturday and called for severe consequences for violent settlers, Sales notes the American diplomat is trying to say two things, continuing his longtime support of the settlement enterprise in the West Bank alongside the need to deal with Jewish terrorists.
Sales then turns to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, questioning whether the upcoming election will be the first time the longtime leader will possibly lose, given that he has enemies among some of the new centrist parties who say they don't want to sit with him in any government.
Finally, Sales looks at the commonalities between Michigan's Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed and his friendship with anti-Israel podcaster Hasan Piker, and US Vice President JD Vance and his friendship with right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson, discussing the antisemitic similarities on opposite sides of the political spectrum.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Huckabee, in West Bank, urges severe consequences for settler violence: ‘Terror is terror’
One-hit wonders keep saving Netanyahu. This time, he might be played out
El-Sayed and Vance call each other ‘evil,’ while both handling antisemitism the same way
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: News editor Ben Sales appears on the Daily Briefing with podcast host Jessica Steinberg (Flash 90)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.