Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus . Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. Just back from reserve duty, Berman has written an in-depth look at the war in Gaza and the questions it raises in Israeli society. For today's episode, we take a look at Berman's op-ed, " For now, victory is still within reach: 10 truths about the Gaza war, 20 months ...
Jun 06, 2025•47 min
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 Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation banning travel from certain countries, citing national security concerns — and pointedly, the DIY flamethrower attack on Sunday in Boulder, Colorado. Magid explains which nations are -- and are not -- affected, and discuss...
Jun 05, 2025•27 min
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 and reporter Ariela Karmel join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. As hostage family members met with members of the Trump administration in the White House on Tuesday, Berman discusses the latest developments in the hostage negotiations, as Hamas continues to leverage the remaining living hostages for pol...
Jun 04, 2025•24 min
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 joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Twelve people were wounded Sunday in Boulder, Colorado — including at least one person in critical condition — when activists rallying for the release of the Israeli hostages in Gaza were attacked by a man shouting “end Zionists,” who fired a makeshift flamethrower and thr...
Jun 03, 2025•18 min
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. Religions reporter Rossella Tercatin joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. Nearly two years after the ancient, nearly complete Codex Sassoon bible was first introduced at the Anu Museum, days before the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, the book of Torah is inaugurated at the museum, in the presence of released hostage Agam Berger, in a moving,...
Jun 02, 2025•29 min
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 IDF confirmed last night that an Israeli airstrike earlier this month killed top Hamas leader Muhammad Sinwar while he was in a tunnel underneath a hospital in the southern Gaza Strip. What information is the IDF basing the confirmation on? The IDF claims that Hama...
Jun 01, 2025•20 min
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Hebrew University Prof. Elie Podeh. Podeh, the Bamberger and Fuld professor in the History of the Muslim Peoples, recently published a research article, "Israel’s 2005 Disengagement from Gaza: A Multilateral Move Under Unilateral Façade." In the article, we learn that while the Gaza Disengagement was a unilateral decision, it was carried ou...
May 31, 2025•32 min
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus . Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. In this episode, American Jewish Committee head Ted Deutch fills in for Berman, who is on reserve duty. On May 21, Sarah Milgrim and her boyfriend, Yaron Lischinsky, were shot to death outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, where the victims had just atte...
May 30, 2025•29 min
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 military reporter Jacob Magid joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. US special envoy to the Mideast Steve Witkoff says he has “some very good feelings” about the chances for reaching a temporary ceasefire that leads to a long-term resolution to the conflict in Gaza. Magid explains what could be on the table and why Witkoff is expressin...
May 29, 2025•26 min
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. On this 600th day since the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, we do a zoomed-out update on all seven fronts of the war and where they stand today. Fabian begins the program by updating us on new humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip and cha...
May 28, 2025•31 min
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. Legal correspondent Jeremy Sharon and health editor Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. The controversy over the appointment of a Shin Bet chief continues, says Sharon, discussing the implications of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara's instructions to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues to disregard the instru...
May 27, 2025•22 min
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. Currently, the IDF holds about 40% of the Gaza Strip. In a briefing yesterday, Fabian learned that the new plan is to almost double those holdings within two months. As of yet, the groundwork is still being laid ahead of a massive ground operation with over 200 airstri...
May 26, 2025•23 min
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 reports of nine children killed from one family by an Israeli strike, Magid discusses the recent toll on Gazan children and the need to carefully weigh statements from Gaza Health Ministry, and the international headlines about this loss. Magid also reviews statemen...
May 25, 2025•20 min
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur . Last week, US President Donald Trump completed a four-day trip to the Middle East, his first official state visit of his second term. He struck economic deals in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates and, in lifting sanctions against Syria, made a bold move that could reboot the wartorn count...
May 24, 2025•32 min
Welcome to The Times of Israel's newest podcast series, Friday Focus . Each Friday, join diplomatic reporter Lazar Berman and host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. This week, political correspondent Sam Sokol steps in for Berman. This week, we learned that only 1,212, or five percent, of the 24,000 ultra-Orthodox men who have received initial draft notices since July 2024 have begun the enlistment process. Some 70,000-80,000 Hare...
May 23, 2025•31 min
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 Tal Schneider and legal reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. Following the tragic shooting of two Israeli embassy staffers at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, DC, Schneider reviews what we know about the victims and the shooter, as well as security at public Jewish institutions in the U...
May 22, 2025•21 min
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. Two Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza over the past two days. Fabian describes the situations that led to the deaths of Staff Sgt. Danilo Mocanu, 20, and Sgt. Yosef Yehuda Chirak, 22. Even as Israel has begun to allow humanitarian aid trucks into the Gaza Strip, the...
May 21, 2025•18 min
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. The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada issued a joint statement Monday condemning Israel’s handling of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and calling on the Jewish state to immediately halt military action in the enclave and allow in more aid, threatening “further c...
May 20, 2025•23 min
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 Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Dozens of airstrikes were reported overnight and IDF spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, in a press statement from the Gaza border, says five divisions are now operating inside the Strip in the new offensive aimed at defeating Hamas. The ramped-up operation and Israel’s app...
May 19, 2025•21 min
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. A new round of negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal between Hamas and Israel began in Qatar on Saturday after the Israeli military launched its new expanded offensive in the Gaza Strip, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots,” that will seek to “seize strategic areas”...
May 18, 2025•21 min
