The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

Available Episodes

5 of 100

Day 524 - Is Steve Witkoff the only hope for a hostage deal?
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. Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing. As Israel’s hostage negotiating team remained in Doha, Qatar overnight, Horovitz reviews the latest in the ceasefire situation and the sense that US Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff appears to be the only person who can push Israel toward a second phase of a hostage deal. Horovitz discusses how it was Witkoff who pushed Israel toward the first stage of the deal that brought 33 hostages home, eight of them no longer living. Horovitz also notes that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his coalition are on a two-week deadline to pass the budget by March 31, and if they fail, his government will fall. Horovitz notes that Netanyahu has to mollify coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich, who has threatened to leave if Israel doesn't return to war in Gaza, as well as the ultra-Orthodox, who want a permanent IDF exemption for Haredi yeshiva students. Another deadline looming for the prime minister's coalition is pushing through laws that will neuter the Supreme Court and give the political echelon control over how Israel's judges are selected. Horovitz also talks about US President Donald Trump's statements about the future for Gazans, as he softened some of his previous comments regarding their relocation, underlining how complicated the entire topic is for all of the countries involved. Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Steve Witkoff, Israel looks to you Meet Adam Boehler, Trump’s complacent, confused and dangerously naive hostage envoy Coalition to drive forward budget, judicial appointments bills in intense Knesset push Trump says ‘nobody’s expelling any Palestinians,’ in apparent softening of Gaza plan 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: Singer Kobi Oz and the Teapacks band perform for Einav Zangauker and Ilana Gritzewsky, mother and girlfriend of hostage Matan Zangauker on March 13, 2025 at the hostage family tent encampment on Tel Aviv's Begin Road outside the Defense Ministry (Credit Amir Yaacobi)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
23:20
Day 523 - Columbia anti-Israel activist's arrest makes some US Jews uneasy
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. New York reporter Luke Tress and NY stringer Cathryn J. Prince join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing. US federal authorities on Friday announced the cancellation of $400 million in grants and contracts with New York’s Columbia University due to campus antisemitism. The cuts marked the most significant action yet taken by the Trump administration in its planned crackdown on anti-Jewish discrimination at universities. We discuss the White House's new efforts to stop antisemitism on campuses. On Monday, President Donald Trump announced on his Truth Social platform, “ICE proudly apprehended and detained Mahmoud Khalil, a Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas student on the campus of Columbia University…This is the first arrest of many to come.” Khalil was born and raised in Syria, however his grandparents were originally from Tiberias near the Sea of Galilee. The arrest this week of Khalil, who is one of the main faces of the pro-Palestinian protests that have at points brought Columbia to a standstill, has set off a maelstrom of responses and support -- including from high-profile Jewish leaders. According to a CNN report, a federal judge in New York has blocked any efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to deport Mahmoud Khalil until a conference today. We learn about the allegations that led to Khalil's detention and hear how widespread the dissemination of Hamas propaganda may be at Columbia. We also speak about the past year and a half of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel protests on campuses and some of their surprising repercussions. Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Deportation of anti-Israel Palestinian Columbia activist to be challenged in federal court Protesters call for campus takeovers as Columbia activist threatened with deportation Trump administration cuts $400 million to Columbia University due to antisemitism NYPD clears anti-Israel protesters at Barnard College after bomb threat Anti-Israel activists show their true face at Columbia as students mark year since Oct. 7 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 raise a sign depicting President Donald Trump as Adolf Hitler during a protest in support of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil, March 10, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
20:30
Day 522 - Gaza talks proceed as Israel smarts from US-Hamas meetups
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 Daily Briefing. Yesterday, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said that deadlines were needed on a deal for the next phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas and that “all things are on the table” if the terror group agrees to demilitarize and leaving the Gaza Strip. We discuss who is in Doha right now and the so-called Witkoff outline, a framework would see Hamas release 10 living hostages, including American-Israeli Edan Alexander, in exchange for a further 60 days of ceasefire. Israel received more clarity over US President Donald Trump’s hostage envoy Adam Boehler’s direct dealings with Hamas officials on the release of hostages in Gaza when US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said they were a “one-off situation” that as of now “hasn’t borne fruit.” We delve into what Boehler has said about the talks in many media interviews and discuss what we know about the hostage envoy. Berman recently published an analysis asking: If Trump could turn on Ukraine, not to mention close American allies like Canada, Colombia, and Jordan, then who says he won’t do the same to Israel? Berman weighs in.Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Ahead of Doha talks, Witkoff says ‘deadlines’ key for deal on ceasefire’s next phase US envoy Boehler’s Hamas meetings were a ‘one-off’ that ‘hasn’t borne fruit,’ Rubio says Trump envoy defends his direct talks with Hamas, says US ‘not an agent of Israel’ After Trump turns against Zelensky and other allies, could Israel be next in line? Meet Adam Boehler, Trump’s complacent, confused and dangerously naive hostage envoy 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: President Donald Trump listens as Adam Boehler in the Rose Garden of the White House, April 14, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
25:19
Day 521 - Israeli banks gain in war, El Al's competition on NY route
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. Tech Israel editor Sharon Wrobel and health editor Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's Daily Briefing. As Israel's two largest banks, Bank Hapoalim and Discount Bank, posted massive financial gains for 2023, Wrobel discusses how Israel's banks achieved increases during months of war. She notes that Israelis may have ignored banking issues and statements while serving prolonged reserve duty and dealing with more heightened personal issues during the height of the war. Bletter delves into her investigative piece of the allegations pointed at Israel, regarding whether IDF troops targeted Gazan children during the war. She looks in particular at the allegations made in two essays printed in The New York Times and The Guardian, discussing her interview with an American urban warfare expert, the lack of forensic evidence and the long history of Hamas of exploiting and harming minors and adult civilians to advance its political goals. As Israir becomes the third Israeli airline to join the Tel Aviv-New York route, offering more competition to carriers El Al and Arkia, Wrobel discusses what it will take for Israir to gain customers, as travelers seek better deals. Wrobel also talks about Israelis booking cruises, as they seek some relief from war and October 7 trauma, and a secure vacation given anti-Israel sentiment worldwide and the high prices of airline tickets. With thousands of residents of the Western Galilee heading home last week, Bletter visited Arab al-Aramshe — the only non-Jewish community evacuated in Israel for the war, a Bedouin village whose residents were holed up in hotels and other communities for the last months. Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: Israeli banks rake in record profits as their war-battered customers drown in debt After doctors accuse Israel of shooting Gazan kids, experts see need for a second opinion Israir set to become third Israeli carrier serving New York route, with lower airfare As war brings spikes in airfare and antisemitism, cruise ships see a new wave of Israelis Bedouin and Jewish residents who evacuated from north return home to mourn and rebuild 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: Illustrative: Parked airplanes belonging to Israir and El Al at the Ben Gurion International Airport, August 8, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/FLASH90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
23:09
Day 520 - As Gaza ceasefire reaches day 50, no sign of IDF pullout
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 Daily Briefing. Tomorrow marks day 50 of the ceasefire agreement. Fabian explains where the IDF is currently operating in the Gaza Strip and how quickly it could reassemble into war footing. A Syria war monitor reported on Saturday that over 745 civilians from the Alawite minority had been killed in recent days by security forces and their allies, as authorities clash with militants loyal to the former government of Bashar al-Assad. Coincidentally or not, the IDF said troops captured and destroyed numerous weapons during missions in southern Syria. Is this publication of the IDF's Syria mission a message to the new government there? Hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews were escorted by the military on Friday to the traditionally considered burial place of a Babylonian scholar on the Lebanon border, after weeks of illegal attempts to reach the site. Later on Friday, the IDF carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon, saying it targeted Hezbollah military sites. We learn about the IDF's current operations in Lebanon during the ceasefire. The Israel Defense Force’s chief spokesman, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, is to end his role in the coming weeks and retire from the military, the IDF announced on Friday. Many have seen this step as a de facto dismissal, as Hagari was not given a promotion for his work as IDF spokesman during the war. Fabian weighs in. Marking International Women's Day, Fabian and Borschel-Dan have a brief conversation about the role of women in IDF leadership. As women are slowly rising in the ranks in combat roles, could we see a female chief of staff in the next 20 years? Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: 745 civilians killed in clashes between Syrian regime and pro-Assad forces, says watchdog IDF says it seized, destroyed weapons in ‘targeted raids’ in southern Syria IDF says it struck terror targets in Lebanon and Gaza amid ceasefires IDF escorts hundreds of ultra-Orthodox Jews to pray at tomb straddling Lebanon border IDF spokesman Hagari to retire from military, in move widely seen as dismissal 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: Israeli soldiers operating inside the northern Gaza Strip, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, on February 9, 2025. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
--------
25:34