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 episode.

This morning, the Foreign Ministry officially informed the United Nations that Israel is withdrawing from the 1967 agreement recognizing the Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA after the Knesset passed legislation to severely limit the operations of the agency in Israel and in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. We hear about practical implications.

A round of talks between Hamas and Fatah officials in Cairo ended with an agreement to establish a technocratic committee composed of independent Palestinian figures to manage the Gaza Strip, according to an unnamed Hamas source quoted by the Qatari-owned paper Al-Araby al-Jadeed. Berman weighs in on the chances of this agreement coming to fruition.

Eli Feldstein, a spokesperson working with the Prime Minister’s Office, is accused of divulging top-secret information with national security implications to European media outlets, according to a ruling published Sunday evening by Rishon Lezion Magistrate Court head Menahem Mizrahi. The names of three other suspects remain gagged by the court, but it confirmed that they were connected to the defense establishment. Berman examines what we know about the case and how serious the charges are.

Touring the northern border on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that whether via a negotiated settlement or military force, Israel will achieve the conditions it needs to restore security to the area and keep the Hezbollah terror group at bay. Relatedly, we’re hearing that Iran’s president said a potential ceasefire between Israel and its allies Hamas and Hezbollah “could affect the intensity” of Tehran’s threatened attack. Could this added pressure see a ceasefire agreement solidify?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel informs UN that 1967 agreement recognizing UNRWA is void

PM spokesman Eli Feldstein suspected of leaking intel that may have hurt hostage efforts

Visiting border, PM vows to restore security in north ‘with or without an agreement’

Iran said planning to use more powerful weapons in next attack on Israel

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: Released hostages and their family members seen after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, outside the Prime Minister's office in Jerusalem, August 23, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/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.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Top Hamas official Izz al-Din Kassab was killed Friday in an airstrike in the southern Gaza Strip, the IDF and Shin Bet announced. Kasab was one of the last remaining members of Hamas’s political bureau, where he served as head of national relations. Fabian weighs in on how functional Hamas is as an entity in the Gaza Strip right now.

Attack drones have emerged as one of the most potent threats to Israel’s home front since the beginning of the year. Yesterday, an Israel Air Force attack helicopter was filmed intercepting a Hezbollah drone in the Binyamina area, south of Haifa, after the drone set off sirens in area communities. Fabian speaks about how the IDF is adjusting how it takes down drones as the war progresses.

Israeli naval commandos captured a Hezbollah official in a raid in northern Lebanon late Friday, the military confirmed on Saturday night, marking an unusual operation both in its nature and location deep inside the country. We hear about the daring mission and what its goals were.

A reprisal attack from Iran is still on the horizon. We hear what preparations the IDF is taking.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Three soldiers killed in north Gaza; IDF says 900 terror operatives dead in Jabalia op

IDF says it killed one of the last remaining Hamas politburo members still in Gaza

130 rockets, 10 drones fired at Israel Saturday; helicopter downs drone south of Haifa

Israeli commandos nab top Hezbollah naval operative in north Lebanon raid

Khamenei threatens Israel and US with ‘a crushing response’ to Israel’s airstrikes

US said to warn Iran it won’t be able to restrain Israel if Tehran attacks again

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: A building, left, in Batroun, northern Lebanon, November 2, 2024, where a Hezbollah ship captain was taken away by IDF commandos who landed on a coast north of Beirut. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

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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.

Today, we bring you a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World. This episode features host Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.

The United States is electing its next president on November 5 and according to a poll published this week, Israelis massively favor Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris.

So ahead of next week’s results, we take a closer look at exactly how Israelis are polling, which candidate they favor — and some reasons why. We also learn how the current polling matches previous surveys of Israelis ahead of past US elections and who was actually elected in the end.

We also hear from Rettig Gur, who has been touring Jewish communities over the past week, what concerns he’s gathered about both candidates from the American Jews he’s spoken with.

And finally, we look at the recently published AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey of Americans which, among other things, drills down into the US population’s partisan divide on all things Israel and the Middle East.

So this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now?

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Poll shows Israelis massively favor Trump over Harris in US election

Poll: Democrats, Republicans split on Israel’s responsibility for war’s escalation

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: This combination of pictures shows US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris (L) speaking during a Get Out the Vote rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 30, 2024; and former US president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking at a campaign rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania, on October 29, 2024. (Angela Weiss/AFP)

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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 on today's episode.

Magid discusses the latest ceasefire negotiations and the US administration's decision to first pursue calm in Lebanon, given the signals received from Hezbollah and the hope that a ceasefire could then spread to Gaza. He also offers an update on the ceasefire and hostage negotiations regarding Gaza, and the complications resulting from Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death, which has left a gap in the terrorist group's leadership.

Magid talks about statements made by former US president Donald Trump regarding Gaza if he wins next week's election and comments made by Trump running mate JD Vance regarding US interests vis a vis Iran.

Finally, Magid discusses the deadly IDF strike in Gaza that reportedly killed more than 90 people, including 20 children, and what that could mean regarding the US 30-day deadline for Israel about aid and continued American security assistance.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Inverting its approach, US pursues calm in Lebanon that will then spread to Gaza

In warning, Qatar and Egypt tell US hostage talks complicated by killing of Sinwar

Trump told Netanyahu he wants Gaza war over by time he enters office — sources

Vance: US and Israeli interests won’t always overlap; we don’t want war with Iran

US presses Israel to explain ‘horrific’ Gaza strike in which over 20 kids said killed

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: U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein leaves after attending a news conference in Beirut, Lebanon, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

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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 reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Yesterday, Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said he was striving for a ceasefire between Israel and the Hezbollah terror group within the coming days, after a hopeful conversation with US special envoy Amos Hochstein and as reports emerged with details of a US-backed ceasefire proposal. We discuss a leaked draft of the deal and also Berman relays a sense of the Lebanese Armed Forces and their ability to control Hezbollah.

The IDF said yesterday that it is launching a new eastern regional division, a decision made following an examination of the military’s “operational needs and defense capabilities in the area, in accordance with the planning of the IDF’s force build-up." We hear what would be the new division’s purview and how ultra-Orthodox soldiers could be a strategic bolstering force.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Lebanese PM says hoping for ceasefire in coming days; US-drafted truce deal leaks

US mediators jet to Israel for talks on 60-day truce with Hezbollah

New Hezbollah chief threatens Netanyahu, but opens door for ceasefire in first speech

IDF announces formation of new division to defend Israel’s border with Jordan

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: Israelis protest in Tel Aviv, calling for equal military service, March 14, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/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.

Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg on today's episode.

Sokol discusses the fiery start of the Knesset fall session this week, as young women dressed to resemble hostage Naama Levy and her bloodstained clothing and hands when she was taken captive on October 7, were in attendance at the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, along with many members of hostage families.

He reports on the fierce arguments in the Knesset plenum, as opposition leader Yair Lapid took Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to task, and a screaming match between several lawmakers before a vote on a bill that would allow the government to deport the family members of terrorists who are Israeli citizens. 

Sokol also reviews the Knesset vote on the UNRWA bill that would bar the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees and their descendants from operating in Israel, and a bill barring new foreign consulates in Jerusalem, also aimed at preventing consular offices that serve Palestinians.

Finally, Sokol turns to the draft law, and how one ultra-Orthodox party backed down from its threat to overthrow the budget over the IDF exemption bill.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

With blood-red hands, Gaza hostage supporters make their mark on the opening of Knesset

Following stormy debate, lawmakers advance measure to deport terrorists’ relatives

Knesset approves laws barring UNRWA from Israel, limiting it in Gaza and West Bank

Knesset passes law banning establishment of new foreign consulates in Jerusalem

Ministers back bill denying the PA a path to petition the High Court of Justice

Ultra-Orthodox party backs down from threat to tank budget over IDF exemption bill

Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes on Iran destroyed ‘industrial factories of death’

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: Shira Albag, mother of hostage Liri Albag, far left, with other hostage family members and supporters sit on floor of Knesset on October 28, 2024 holding signs that read, 'This is how they urinate in the tunnels,' referring to the bottles full of urine found in the Gaza tunnels (Courtesy Hostages and Missing Families Forum)

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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 reporter Lazar Berman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Two bills overwhelmingly passed through final votes last night, which ban UNRWA from operating in Israeli territory and bar Israeli authorities from any contact with the agency. We discuss how Israel or the international community will fill the vacuum this would leave in Gaza even as condemnations pour in.

Senior Israeli officials told Ynet this morning that there is progress on an agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon. Berman explains what appears to be on the table, including enforcement of the resolution, with Hezbollah prevented from having a presence near the border.

We’re hearing various reports of varied hostage release deals. But yesterday Mossad chief David Barnea returned to Israel on Monday from a 24-hour trip to Qatar to discuss proposals for a hostage and ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu projected pessimism over the restarted negotiations. Berman weighs in.

Finally, we were told yesterday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during a fiery address at the opening of the Knesset winter legislative session that Israel hit key Iranian sites hard in its airstrikes on Saturday. We hear Berman's thoughts.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Knesset approves laws barring UNRWA from Israel, limiting it in Gaza and West Bank

US urges Israel to rethink anti-UNRWA laws, warning millions at risk of ‘catastrophe’

PM ‘not certain’ negotiations can progress as Mossad chief returns from Qatar talks

Netanyahu says Israel’s strikes on Iran destroyed ‘industrial factories of death’

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: A Palestinian woman walks past a damaged wall bearing the UNRWA logo at a camp for internally displaced people in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on May 28, 2024. (Eyad Baba / AFP)

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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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today’s episode.

The United Nations Security Council is expected to meet today to debate Israel’s strikes on Iran. Horovitz discusses how Saturday’s strikes were received by Israel’s international supporters — and detractors.

Almost immediately following reports of Israel’s strikes on Iran, Israeli politicians began criticizing their limited nature. Horovitz weighs in on the thin tightrope Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walks to appease his international and coalition partners.

Due to “security concerns,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet will not meet in the Prime Minister’s Office or IDF headquarters. We hear what may have motivated this decision and how it was received.

Yesterday, official Israel marked the Hebrew date to commemorate the Hamas onslaught on southern Israel and the massacre of 1,200 people, which sparked the ongoing war. Horovitz was at the site of the Nova outdoor music festival on Simhat Torah and shared his observations.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Israel’s strike on Iran was ‘historic,’ but it’s not ‘the end’ of anything

Iran says it had advance notice of IDF strikes; UN Security Council to meet Monday

IDF chief on Israel’s attack in Iran: ‘We have the ability to do much more’

Gallant said to tell Netanyahu management of war directionless, goals need updating

Afula’s largest high school marks official day of mourning with somber yet hopeful ceremony

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: Commuters drive past a billboard bearing pictures of Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and US President Joe Biden in Vali-Asr Square in Tehran on October 27, 2024. (Atta Kenare / AFP)

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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.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

This morning, according to initial reports of a truck-ramming incident being classified as a suspected terror attack near the Glilot Army Base, 35 victims have been taken to hospitals, including six in serious condition, five in moderate condition, 20 who are lightly hurt, and another four suffering acute anxiety, according to Magen David Adom. Fabian updates us on what we know so far.

We speak about new information being gleaned about Israel's strikes on Iran, following our in-depth conversation yesterday for the Daily Briefing.

Israel has suffered heavy losses in or on the border with southern Lebanon over the past several days, with 13 soldiers and two civilians being killed. Fabian brings us perspective from the over year-long campaign.

Yesterday, much of northern Israel received an earthquake alert after the IDF blew up a tunnel complex that included a full-on Hezbollah base in southern Lebanon. Fabian visited the site last week in the dead of night and gives us a full report.

We turn to Gaza, where three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed Friday during fighting in the northern Gaza Strip’s Jabaliya as the military pushed ahead with an offensive in the neighborhood, including taking control of the area’s last functioning hospital in pursuit of Hamas operatives. We discuss what we know about the humanitarian zone and whether it is likely in the near future that Gazans may be able to return to the Strip's cities.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Iran said ‘alarmed’ as IDF cripples its missile production, disables key air defenses

Four IDF reservists killed, 14 wounded in battle with Hezbollah in south Lebanon

2 killed, 7 hurt as Hezbollah rocket hits minimarket in northern town of Majd al-Krum

Hezbollah bombards north with rockets and drones as IDF targets launchers in Lebanon

Under a Lebanese border village, IDF finds huge Hezbollah base primed for invasion

3 soldiers killed in north Gaza as troops raid hospital in pursuit of Hamas operatives

IDF says it struck Hamas command center in Gaza City, expands ‘humanitarian zone’

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: Soldiers are seen in a Hezbollah tunnel in southern Lebanon, late October 21, 2024. (Emanuel Fabian/Times of Israel)

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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.

Military reporter Emanuel Fabian joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's episode.

Early this morning, Israel launched Days of Repentance, its long-awaited retaliatory strike against Iran, almost a month after the Islamic Republic’s October 1 massive barrage of some 200 ballistic missiles.

Fabian explains the timeline and goals of the Israeli Air Force’s targeting of strategic military sites near Teheran and other parts of Iran in several waves of operations.

The Iranian Air Force reportedly has only a few dozen working strike aircraft, including Russian jets and aging US models acquired before the country’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. We hear about Iran’s aerial defense and offense capabilities ahead of a potential escalation between Iran and Israel.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

IDF launches strikes on military sites throughout Iran, weeks after missile attack

What Iran and Israel would wield in any long-range air war

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: An Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagle fighter aircraft flies over Haifa on September 24, 2024. (Jack Guez / AFP)

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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 Jessica Steinberg for today's podcast.

Magid discusses Mossad chief David Barnea heading to Doha again for hostage negotiations, as well as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahyu's recent meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The negotiations are the first in two months, and follow the death last week of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

He also talks about the effects of a possible Donald Trump win in the upcoming US election, a victory that would offer Netanyahu more leeway in maintaining his hardline government and in the ongoing war in Gaza, but there is also a possible clash as Trump keeps saying, "End the war very quickly."

Magid reviews the latest proposal for getting aid into Gaza through an Israeli-American businessman who hopes his company will be chosen for the subcontracting job, with a plan for constructing gated communities in Gaza run by outside security forces.

Magid reviews the October 31 deadline for renewing the bank agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, a process that involves Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Mossad chief heads to Qatar Sunday to try to restart Gaza talks; Hamas team in Cairo

Blinken pushes Israel to publicly say it’s not aiming to besiege north Gaza; PM demurs

If Trump wins, Israeli officials fear clash over inability to quickly end Gaza war

As Israel weighs subcontracting Gaza aid delivery, a philanthropist makes his pitch

US official: PA has met Israeli requirements for Smotrich to extend banking deal

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 calling for the release of Israeli hostages outside the home of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on October 24, 2024. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

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