The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

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 The Times of Israel's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur . On Sunday, former prime ministers Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid announced a joint run for this year's Israeli elections.  Immediately, polling showed that the combined electoral sl...

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. E nvironmental reporter Sue Surkes joins host Gabriella Jacobs for today's episode. We open the episode with a recent annual national monitoring report, carried out on behalf of the Energy and Environmental Protection ministries, on the state of the Medi...

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. It's no more Mr. Nice Guy for US President Donald Trump on Iran. At the same time, Trump said on Wednesday that talks with Iran have been taking place over th...

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. With the lack of progress in the negotiations between the United States and Iran, US intelligence agencies are studying how Iran would respond if US President Donald Tr...

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. Mideast and Russia expert Ksenia Svetlova joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode. Former MK Svetlova is the executive director of ROPES (Regional Organization for Peace, Economics & Security) and a senior non-resident fellow at the Atlant...

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 correspondents Sam Sokol and Ariela Karmal join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. Sokol reports on the Sunday announcement of a joint campaign and list for former prime minister Naftali Bennett and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid ahead o...

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 correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins  host Jessica Steinberg  for today's episode. WATCH the full episode here: Fabian notes that the Iranian ceasefire still stands, although the IDF and air force are ready to return to fighting if neces...

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. This week, before diving into the nuts and bolts of the iconic epic Hollywood adventure, we learn how the 1960 film "Exodus" is part of Hoffman's genesis story. Hoffman lays out the film's plot, which is based on a 1958 Leon...

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus . Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. The world, and most Israelis, were horrified this week as a photo of an IDF soldier smashing a statue of Jesus in Lebanon spread across social media. The act was roundly condemned by the army and by Israel's leaders. Yet, it h...

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. Lebanese and Israeli representatives are set to meet in Washington, DC, today. It was reported yesterday that Lebanon was hoping to extend the shaky ceasefire between H...

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. US President Donald Trump unexpectedly announces an extension of the truce with Iran hours before the April 22 deadline, reports Magid, adding that the president's...

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with author Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Rachel Goldberg-Polin began writing her new book, "When We See You Again ," as a way of finding some relief from her pain after she buried her son, 23-year-old Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was executed by his Hamas ca...

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 editor Sharon Wrobel joins  host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. As the shekel crossed the below-3-to-the-dollar threshold, its strongest level in 30 years, Wrobel notes that the shekel's strength against the dollar shows its resilience...

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 correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan  for today's episode. On Sunday, for the first time since hostilities with Hezbollah escalated last month during the Iran war — when the terror group resumed rocket and drone...

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. A damning Wall Street Journal report depicts US President Donald Trump as making key decisions about the war in Iran in a slapdash manner without input from h...

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. We start the program with a "Jangle" -- a Jewish angle -- on this week's entertainment news. Hoffman brings a tale of our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, who defends three Israelis in Times Square who are being attacked by...

Welcome to The Times of Israel's  Lazar Focus . Each Friday, join host diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. The shorthand term "Gulf states" doesn't describe a monolith. The Arab states along the Persian Gulf -- Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain -- all have unique internal dynamics, and approach their rel...

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 made headlines this morning by announcing that Israeli and Lebanese "leaders" were set to speak to each other directly today. It was later ann...

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. Health reporter Diana Bletter  joins  host Amanda Borschel-Dan  for today's episode. Israel and Lebanon held a historic summit on Tuesday in Washington, DC, as envoys for the two nations met with the hopes of reaching a peace deal that wou...

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. ToI founding editor David Horovitz joins  host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. As Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, Horovitz discusses comments made by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his pre-recorded speech at Yad Vashem, in which...

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. The IDF is reportedly gearing up for renewed conflict with Iran as the ceasefire talks between the United States and the Islamic Republic collapsed over the w...

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 correspondent Emanuel Fabian joins  host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode. During the fragile ceasefire with Iran, Fabian reports on the 40-day war in numbers, including 80 to 90 Iranian missile strikes during the first day, decreasing...

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host Jessica Steinberg speaking with comic Shahar Cohen. Comedian Shahar Cohen, raised in Jerusalem and living in Tel Aviv, spoofs Israeli life and society. He dons wigs and plays a cast of mostly female characters who represent the range of Israeli society. In a wide-ranging inte...

Welcome to The Times of Israel's Lazar Focus . Each Friday, join host  diplomatic correspondent Lazar Berman for a deep dive into what's behind the news that spins the globe. The fledgling ceasefire between the US and Israel on the one hand, and Iran on the other, is holding. Even before it went into effect, a pointed debate began over who won, and whether US President Donald Trump and Prime...

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. On Tuesday night, US President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire between the US, Israel and Iran. By Wednesday, he renewed his threat to use unprecedente...