Podcasts about what matters now

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 out in partnership with the United States, Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. Among other revelations in the paper, we hear about the committees formed among the partners and their work on arrangements for border control, economic transition, and security cooperation. All elements were negotiated behind the scenes, especially under the guidance of American envoys and Egyptian mediators. Podeh weighs in on prime minister Ariel Sharon's decision not to allow the PA to take credit for any part of the diplomatic cooperation and the question of whether delegitimizing the PA's authority in Gaza may have contributed to the Hamas takeover in 2007. We speak about -- today, as the IDF is poised to retake the Gaza Strip, what the reasons were for the Disengagement 20 years ago -- and, in Podeh's opinion, why the Strip shouldn't be resettled by Israel. And so this week, we ask Prof. Elie Podeh, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 country. On May 13, Trump delivered an almost hour-long speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that gives deep insight into his plan for the Middle East and beyond. Rettig Gur examines this speech and explains its significance. We hear how it reflects Trump's diplomacy, which in many ways harkens back to an earlier style of US policy. And we hear how, while the speech only names Israel once, it is actually a leitmotif. And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. IMAGE: US President Donald Trump speaks during the Saudi-US investment forum at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join us in this insightful episode as we welcome back Gary Hamel, author of 'What Matters Now: How to Win in a World of Relentless Change, Ferocious Competition, and Unstoppable Innovation.' In this episode, Gary discusses his latest book, which provides an agenda for building resilient organizations amidst dynamic global challenges. The conversation delves into the importance of core values such as stewardship, accountability, and equity. Gary also reflects on the 2008 financial crisis and its lessons on ethical leadership and innovation. Tune in to explore how businesses can rehumanize their approach, foster a culture of innovation, and retain a sense of purpose and moral high ground.   00:00 Introduction to the Book and Author 01:22 Dedication and Personal Insights 02:13 Book Structure and Context 03:29 The Importance of Values 04:02 Capitalism and Ethical Challenges 10:50 Learning from the Financial Crisis 16:53 Rediscovering Farmer Values 21:19 Renouncing Capitalism's Conceits 29:16 Reclaiming the Noble in Business 38:07 The Importance of Innovation 45:07 Conclusion and Contact Information     Gary Hamel, What Matters Now, Reinventing Management, Future of Work, Innovation Culture, Organizational Change, Capitalism Reform, Moral Leadership, Business Ethics, Corporate Accountability, Management Strategy, Values in Business, Adaptive Organizations, Leadership Innovation, Future-Ready Companies, Strategic Agility, Purpose-Driven Leadership, Post-Crisis Management, Employee Empowerment, Organizational Renewal

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 Eurovision mega-fan Tal Dahan, straight from Basel. Dahan is a volunteer reporter with the Hebrew-language EuroMix website, which has been the number one source for Israelis about the Eurovision for decades. This year marks Israel's 47th time participating in the Eurovision, a song contest that was established 69 years ago to unite Europe through music. We are recording just after the first semi-final and ahead of Israel's participation in the second semi-final on Thursday night. It is expected that Israel's candidate, Yuval Raphael, will make it to the finals on Saturday night with her song, "New Day Will Rise." Dahan talks about the betting favorites going into Saturday's final and also discusses the politics of the competition. And so this week, we ask Tal Dahan, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Eurovision mega-fan Tal Dahan, straight from Basel. Dahan is a volunteer reporter with the Hebrew-language EuroMix website, which has been the number one source for Israelis about the Eurovision for decades. This year marks Israel's 47th time participating in the Eurovision, a song contest that was established 69 years ago to unite Europe through music. We are recording just after the first semi-final and ahead of Israel's participation in the second semi-final on Thursday night. It is expected that Israel's candidate, Yuval Raphael, will make it to the finals on Saturday night with her song, "New Day Will Rise." Dahan talks about the betting favorites going into Saturday's final and also discusses the politics of the competition. And so this week, we ask Tal Dahan, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Elana Kaminka, peace activist and bereaved mother. On October 7, 2023, Elana's firstborn son, Lt. Yannai Kaminka, 20, a commander in the Home Front Command, was killed battling against Hamas at the Zikim IDF training base. His efforts and those of his fellow officers there saved the lives of almost 100 recruits, as charted in a recently released IDF probe into the failures on and leading up to October 7. In a frank and open discussion about what it means to choose a path of peace after losing her first child to terrorists bent on destroying her nation, Kaminka speaks with The Times of Israel just after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down in refusing to hold a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 disasters. Kaminka made aliya from California as a lone soldier at age 18 and later married Eyal with whom she had four children. Prior to October 7, she was already active in groups committed to fostering empathetic, respectful and nuanced dialogue. After losing her son, she redoubled her efforts to promote engagement between Israeli Jews and Palestinians -- and to protest the Netanyahu government, which she holds accountable for her son's death. She is an active member of Tag Meir and the Parents Circle Families Forum and speaks tirelessly about the need to counter extremism and develop empathy and compassion among all levels of Israeli society. While advocating for a future of dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike in the Land of Israel, she is also a mother of three additional children, including her son who was conscripted to a paramedics unit a mere six weeks following his older brother's death. And so this week, we ask Elana Kaminka, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Elana Kaminka, peace activist and bereaved mother. On October 7, 2023, Elana's firstborn son, Lt. Yannai Kaminka, 20, a commander in the Home Front Command, was killed battling against Hamas at the Zikim IDF training base. His efforts and those of his fellow officers there saved the lives of almost 100 recruits, as charted in a recently released IDF probe into the failures on and leading up to October 7. In a frank and open discussion about what it means to choose a path of peace after losing her first child to terrorists bent on destroying her nation, Kaminka speaks with The Times of Israel just after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down in refusing to hold a state commission of inquiry into the October 7 disasters. Kaminka made aliya from California as a lone soldier at age 18 and later married Eyal with whom she had four children. Prior to October 7, she was already active in groups committed to fostering empathetic, respectful and nuanced dialogue. After losing her son, she redoubled her efforts to promote engagement between Israeli Jews and Palestinians -- and to protest the Netanyahu government, which she holds accountable for her son's death. She is an active member of Tag Meir and the Parents Circle Families Forum and speaks tirelessly about the need to counter extremism and develop empathy and compassion among all levels of Israeli society. While advocating for a future of dignity and security for Palestinians and Israelis alike in the Land of Israel, she is also a mother of three additional children, including her son who was conscripted to a paramedics unit a mere six weeks following his older brother's death. And so this week, we ask Elana Kaminka, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 coordinator of The Times of Israel's Those We Have Lost project, Amy Spiro, for this special episode in honor of Israel's Memorial Day to Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. We explain about the genesis of our Those We Have Lost project, and how we aim to tell the stories of individuals slain in Hamas's brutal attack on October 7, 2023. The first entry was written on October 11, 2023, when the number of the murdered was still unclear and funerals were held around the clock. Today, with 1,100 individual entries covering almost every single person killed by Hamas, our Those We Have Lost project paints a picture of each of their lives and the ongoing ripple effects of their deaths. Spiro speaks to the challenges she's faced -- including the mundane issue of how to write names in Latin letters -- and where she draws her information from. The Those We Have Lost project works to ensure that despite the massive scale of the loss, no one is forgotten. On behalf of The Times of Israel, Borschel-Dan urges listeners to visit the project's home page this week and keep the fallen's memories alive. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 coordinator of The Times of Israel's Those We Have Lost project, Amy Spiro, for this special episode in honor of Israel's Memorial Day to Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. We explain about the genesis of our Those We Have Lost project, and how we aim to tell the stories of individuals slain in Hamas's brutal attack on October 7, 2023. The first entry was written on October 11, 2023, when the number of the murdered was still unclear and funerals were held around the clock. Today, with 1,100 individual entries covering almost every single person killed by Hamas, our Those We Have Lost project paints a picture of each of their lives and the ongoing ripple effects of their deaths. Spiro speaks to the challenges she's faced -- including the mundane issue of how to write names in Latin letters -- and where she draws her information from. The Those We Have Lost project works to ensure that despite the massive scale of the loss, no one is forgotten. On behalf of The Times of Israel, Borschel-Dan urges listeners to visit the project's home page this Memorial Day and keep the fallen's memories alive. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves and video edited by Thomas Girsch. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Prof. Manuela Consonni, director of Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Consonni, a leading scholar of Holocaust memory, gender, and post-war European culture, decided to mark Yom Hashoah, Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, with an exhibition at the Mount Scopus campus called, "Faces of Women's Resistance." The exhibition looks at how women -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- resisted the Nazi regime. Like men, many were fighters, partisans and rescuers, but also the sheer survival of their family was put on the shoulders of many mothers. We discuss definitions of resistance and what means were available to women during the Nazi regime. And finally, we delve into the use of Holocaust language when discussing the hostages kept by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023. So this week, we ask Prof. Manuela Consonni, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Two young women who managed to survive over a year in the concentration camp at Belsen, Germany, are shown, April 30, 1945. (AP Photo)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Prof. Manuela Consonni, director of Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. Consonni, a leading scholar of Holocaust memory, gender, and post-war European culture, decided to mark Yom Hashoah, Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day, with an exhibition at the Mount Scopus campus called, "Faces of Women's Resistance." The exhibition looks at how women -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- resisted the Nazi regime. Like men, many were fighters, partisans and rescuers, but also the sheer survival of their family was put on the shoulders of many mothers. We discuss definitions of resistance and what means were available to women during the Nazi regime. And finally, we delve into the use of Holocaust language when discussing the hostages kept by Hamas in Gaza since October 7, 2023. So this week, we ask Prof. Manuela Consonni, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Two young women who managed to survive over a year in the concentration camp at Belsen, Germany, are shown, April 30, 1945. (AP Photo)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Mitch Ginsburg, a producer at the Israel Story podcast. Ginsburg, a former military reporter for The Times of Israel, brings us a special episode from Israel's flagship podcast series, called The Hebrew Hobbit: A Passover Special. In it, Ginsburg charts the tale of a number of Israeli POWs who took upon themselves the unlikely task of translating JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit" while imprisoned together in an Egyptian jail. In a vivid soundscape, Ginsburg brings a 360-degree account of life before, during and after their detention -- for the soldiers and those they left behind. This Passover holiday, we hear the improbable story of a group of Israeli men who formed a mini-kibbutz in the heart of an enemy country's prison and what happened after their exodus from Egypt. So this week, we ask Israel Story's Mitch Ginsburg, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: An undated photo of the POW group who together translated 'The Hobbit' into Hebrew prior to their release from an Egyptian prison in November 1973. (courtesy)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 Mitch Ginsburg, a producer at the Israel Story podcast. Ginsburg, a former military reporter for The Times of Israel, brings us a special episode from Israel's flagship podcast series, called The Hebrew Hobbit: A Passover Special. In it, Ginsburg charts the tale of a number of Israeli POWs who took upon themselves the unlikely task of translating JRR Tolkien's "The Hobbit" while imprisoned together in an Egyptian jail. In a vivid soundscape, Ginsburg brings a 360-degree account of life before, during and after their detention -- for the soldiers and those they left behind. This Passover holiday, we hear the improbable story of a group of Israeli men who formed a mini-kibbutz in the heart of an enemy country's prison and what happened after their exodus from Egypt. So this week, we ask Israel Story's Mitch Ginsburg, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: An undated photo of the POW group who together translated 'The Hobbit' into Hebrew prior to their release from an Egyptian prison in November 1973. (courtesy)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host arts and culture editor Jessica Steinberg speaking with Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel. Ohel talks about her son, who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, from the Nova music festival. Ohel discusses what she knows about the injuries sustained by Alon on October 7, including shrapnel in his eye, and she firmly demands that he receive medical attention. She says she deeply believes that despite his injuries and captivity, he is surviving and will continue to do so until he's released home. She explains what she's heard from released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, who were kept captive with Alon, and we hear how Alon endures, playing imaginary piano on his chest as a musician, whistling favorite songs and talking about his family. Ohel says that her son, like her, has always meditated, and she assumes he is still doing so as one of the many methods that has allowed him to survive so many months underground. She discusses what it's like to mark another Passover without her son, and the need for the entire country and Jewish nation to rally behind the remaining hostages, in order to push the government toward an extension of the hostage deal. So this week, we ask hostage mother Idit Ohel, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, speaks during a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host arts and culture editor Jessica Steinberg speaking with Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel. Ohel talks about her son, who was taken captive by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, from the Nova music festival. Ohel discusses what she knows about the injuries sustained by Alon on October 7, including shrapnel in his eye, and she firmly demands that he receive medical attention. She says she deeply believes that despite his injuries and captivity, he is surviving and will continue to do so until he's released home. She explains what she's heard from released hostages Eli Sharabi, Or Levy and Eliya Cohen, who were kept captive with Alon, and we hear how Alon endures, playing imaginery piano on his chest as a musician, whistling favorite songs and talking about his family. Ohel says that her son, like her, has always meditated, and she assumes he is still doing so as one of the many methods that has allowed him to survive so many months underground. She discusses what it's like to mark another Passover without her son, and the need for the entire country and Jewish nation to rally behind the remaining hostages, in order to push the government toward an extension of the hostage deal. So this week, we ask hostage mother Idit Ohel, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Idit Ohel, mother of hostage Alon Ohel, speaks during a rally calling for the release of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza, at Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, March 8, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)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. Today we bring you an episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan, speaking with author and scholar Dara Horn. Horn is the author of novels and non-fiction, including “People Love Dead Jews,” “Eternal Life,” “A Guide for the Perplexed,” and now her first book for young readers, “One Little Goat.” A graphic novel, "One Little Goat," was dreamed up by a young Horn and written decades later alongside the uniquely grungy illustrations of Theo Ellsworth. The program's first half delves into the book's trippy storyline and how she arrived at it. As Horn remarks on her website, "'One Little Goat' is a quirky, dryly funny, Passover-themed graphic novel, featuring a lost matzah, a never-ending seder, and a time-traveling talking goat." In the second half of the program, we hear some about the ideas Horn proposed in her bestselling work, "People Love Dead Jews," and she speaks about her new education initiative, Mosaic Persuasion, which is bent on teaching American schoolchildren about real, living Jews, and Jewish culture. We hear about how the Hamas massacre of some 1,200 in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has -- and has not -- shifted American discourse. And Horn points out the Jews' driving counter-culture DNA that has been passed down from generation to generation, much like the rituals of the Passover seder. And so, this week, we ask author Dara Horn, what matters now? Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. 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: Dara Horn (Michael Priest)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with author and scholar Dara Horn. Horn is the author of novels and non-fiction, including “People Love Dead Jews,” “Eternal Life,” “A Guide for the Perplexed,” and now her first book for young readers, “One Little Goat.” A graphic novel, "One Little Goat," was dreamed up by a young Horn and written decades later alongside the uniquely grungy illustrations of Theo Ellsworth. The program's first half delves into the book's trippy storyline and how she arrived at it. As Horn remarks on her website, "'One Little Goat' is a quirky, dryly funny, Passover-themed graphic novel featuring a lost matzah, a never-ending seder and a time-traveling talking goat." In the second half of the program, we hear some about the ideas Horn proposed in her bestselling work, "People Love Dead Jews," and she speaks about her new education initiative, Mosaic Persuasion, which is bent on teaching American schoolchildren about real, living Jews and Jewish culture. We hear about how the Hamas massacre of 1,200 in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, has -- and has not -- shifted American discourse. And Horn points out the Jews' driving counter-culture DNA that has been passed down from generation to generation, much like the rituals of the Passover seder. And so this week, we ask author Dara Horn, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 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. Today's we're bringing you an episode of What Matters Now, our weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World. This installment is hosted by arts and culture editor Jessica Steinberg, who is speaking with Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen. Dekel-Chen, a dual Israeli-American citizen, was a vocal and visible hostage parent throughout the months of his son’s captivity. Sagui Dekel-Chen was taken hostage on October 7, 2023, from Kibbutz Nir Oz, while his pregnant wife and two young daughters hid in their safe room. Dekel-Chen discusses the relief he and the family experienced upon seeing his son released home to Israel, the challenges that Sagui, the family and the Nir Oz community still face, and the sense of rebirth that Sagui feels post-captivity. For 496 days, Sagui didn’t know the fate of his nuclear family, as well as what happened to extended members of his family and friends. Dekel-Chen also reflects on the sense of abandonment felt by many hostage families from the Israeli government throughout the months of the war, and particularly now, since the army returned to fighting in Gaza, leaving 59 hostages still in captivity. He speaks about the tremendous support he and other hostage families received from the US government, both from the Biden and Trump administrations, and his surprise to learn that American Jewish organizations didn’t band together to support the hostage families. So this week, we ask history professor Jonathan Dekel-Chen, what matters now? Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. 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: Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen with his father Jonathan aboard an IDF helicopter en route to the hospital soon after his release from 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025 (IDF)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with arts and culture editor Jessica Steinberg hosting and speaking with Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of released hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen. Dekel-Chen, a dual Israeli-American citizen, was a vocal and visible hostage parent throughout the months of his son's captivity. Sagui Dekel-Chen was taken hostage on October 7, 2023 from Kibbutz Nir Oz, while his pregnant wife and two young daughters were hiding in their safe room. He talks about the relief that he and the family felt upon seeing Sagui released home to Israel, the challenges that Sagui and the rest of the family and Nir Oz community still face, and the sense of rebirth that Sagui feels post-captivity. For 496 days, Sagui didn't know if his own family had survived, as well as extended members of his family and friends. Dekel-Chen also reflects on the sense of abandonment felt by many hostage families from the Israeli government throughout the months of the war, and particularly now, as the army has returned to fighting in Gaza, leaving 59 hostages still in captivity. He speaks about the tremendous support he and the other hostage families received from the US government, from both the Biden and Trump administrations and his surprise that American Jewish organizations didn't join together to support the hostage families. And so this week, we ask history professor Jonathan Dekel-Chen, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Freed hostage Sagui Dekel-Chen with his father Jonathan aboard an IDF helicopter en route to the hospital soon after his release from 498 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza, February 15, 2025 (IDF)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. Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, which is a bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now series. Recording at noon on Thursday in ToI's Jerusalem office ahead of a planned fateful cabinet vote on the firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar tonight, Horovitz attempts to summarize this fraught Israeli moment. As Israel Defense Forces troops are again entering the Gaza Strip for ground operations, fears of a crumbling Israeli democracy are bringing thousands to the streets, alongside others who reject the notion of a renewed war in Gaza without a hostage deal first. Horovitz takes us through a litany of issues fueling the domestic strife and assesses how Israel again finds itself at a crossroads. "All of us want Israel to survive and to thrive and we have two things simultaneously: We have terrible threats from without and we have tremendous division from within," says Horovitz. "This is extremely dangerous for Israel." And so this week, we ask ToI editor David Horovitz, what matters now? Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. For further reading: For Israel, everything will not be okay 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 march in a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his plans to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, in Jerusalem on March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel editor David Horovitz. Recording at noon in ToI's Jerusalem office ahead of a planned fateful cabinet vote on the firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar tonight, Horovitz attempts to summarize this fraught Israeli moment. As the Israel Defense Forces troops are again entering the Gaza Strip for ground operations, fears of a crumbling Israeli democracy are bringing thousands to the streets, alongside others who reject the notion of a renewed war in Gaza without a hostage deal first. Horovitz takes us through a litany of issues fueling the domestic strife and assesses how Israel again finds itself at a crossroads. "All of us want Israel to survive and to thrive and we have two things simultaneously: We have terrible threats from without and we have tremendous division from within," says Horovitz. "This is extremely dangerous for Israel." And so this week, we ask ToI editor David Horovitz, what matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Israelis march in a protest against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his plans to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet internal security service, in Jerusalem on March 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) 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. Public intellectual Micah Goodman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, a bonus episode of ToI's weekly podcast series, What Matters Now. As 24 living hostages languish in Gaza, Israel finds itself at a crossroads: Will the nation sign a deal with the terrorist group the Jewish state is bent on destroying or return to war against Hamas to apply pressure for the captives' release? Goodman explains how both sides of this argument see their position as protecting the nation. We hear, however, how the twin quests for national security and solidarity may appear to be in conflict with each other -- and how to overcome that paradox. And as Goodman pushes for Israel to sign a deal to release the hostages -- living and dead -- he explains how we must trust Hamas "to give Israel 17 reasons to restart the war." He cautions it must be a war that is launched at Israel's discretion, backed by national consensus and with the determination to realize the goal of destroying Hamas. And so this week, we ask Micah Goodman, what matters now. Please see today's ongoing liveblog for more updates. 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: A Palestinian boy carries a toy gun while standing with members of Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, during a rally in Gaza City on May 24, 2021. (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with philosopher and author Dr. Micah Goodman. As 24 living hostages languish in Gaza, Israel finds itself at a crossroads: Will the nation sign a deal with the terrorist group the Jewish state is bent on destroying or return to war against Hamas to apply pressure for the captives' release? Goodman explains how both sides of this dilemma see their arguments as protecting the nation. We hear, however, how the quests for national security and solidarity may appear to be in conflict with each other -- and how to overcome that paradox. And as Goodman pushes for Israel to sign a deal to release the hostages -- living and dead -- he explains how we must trust Hamas "to give Israel 17 reasons to restart the war." He cautions it must be a war that is launched at Israel's discretion, backed by national consensus and with the determination to realize the goal of destroying Hamas. And so this week, we ask Micah Goodman, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. Illustrative: A Palestinian boy carries a toy gun while standing with members of Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, during a rally in Gaza City on May 24, 2021. (AFP / Emmanuel DUNAND)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. Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, which is a bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now podcast series. At a Cairo summit of Arab leaders on Tuesday, a consensus of states adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave -- in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision. The over 100-page “Early Recovery, Reconstruction, Development of Gaza” plan envisions a Gaza Administration Committee, made up of independent technocrats, to manage an initial six-month transitional phase. It also urges elections in all Palestinian areas within a year, if conditions support such a move. The rub? The plan doesn’t explicitly tackle the issue of Hamas and how the terror group will be disarmed -- if at all. It also pushes for a Palestinian state before addressing any of the armed Palestinian factions. Rettig Gur dissects elements of the plan and weighs in on its seriousness. 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: In this photo provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Arab leaders pose during the emergency Arab summit at Egypt's New Administrative Capital, just outside Cairo, March 4, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI's senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. At a Cairo summit of Arab leaders on Tuesday, a consensus of states adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave -- in contrast to US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision. The over 100-page “Early Recovery, Reconstruction, Development of Gaza” plan envisions a Gaza Administration Committee, made up of independent technocrats, to manage an initial six-month transitional phase. It also urges elections in all Palestinian areas within a year, if conditions support such a move. The rub? The plan doesn’t explicitly tackle the issue of Hamas and how the terror group will be disarming -- if at all. It also pushes for a Palestinian state before addressing any of the armed Palestinian factions. Rettig Gur dissects elements of the plan and weighs in on its seriousness. And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: In this photo provided by Egypt's presidency media office, Arab leaders pose during the emergency Arab summit at Egypt's New Administrative Capital, just outside Cairo, March 4, 2025. (Egyptian Presidency Media Office via AP)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. Film critic Jordan Hoffman joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's Daily Briefing, a bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now podcast series. Ahead of the 2025 Academy Awards on Sunday night, The Times of Israel’s film critic gives his predictions on which of the five films related to Israel or the Jews will have any chance of taking home a statue. We hear about how the ongoing war in Gaza is creating off-screen drama for a film, “September 5,” that has nothing to do with the current conflict but dares to show Israel as a victim after the country’s athletes were massacred in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Hoffman weighs in on the merits of “A Real Pain” and pronounces it an excellent addition to the pantheon of Jewish film. About “The Brutalist,” he has some reservations, although he applauds the film overall. We learn how the Bob Dylan biopic may not have anything really overtly Jewish about it, but that it’s not a slam to Members of the Tribe. And finally, Hoffman discusses the Palestinian/Jewish Israeli co-production that is hardly a coexistence project, but rather a “From the River to the Sea” production. And so this week, we ask Jordan Hoffman what matters now. Please see today's ongoing live blog for more updates. 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: Adrien Brody, left, and Guy Pearce in a scene from 'The Brutalist.' (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with film critic Jordan Hoffman. Ahead of the 2025 Academy Awards on Sunday night, The Times of Israel's film critic gives his predictions on which of the five films related to Israel or the Jews will have any chance of taking home a statue. We hear about how the ongoing war in Gaza is creating off-screen drama for a film, "September 5," that has nothing to do with the current conflict but dares to show Israel as a victim after the country's athletes were massacred in the 1972 Munich Olympics. Hoffman weighs in on the merits of "A Real Pain" and pronounces it an excellent addition to the pantheon of Jewish film. About "The Brutalist," he has some reservations, although he applauds the film overall. We learn how the Bob Dylan bio-pic may not have anything really overtly Jewish about it, but that it's not a slam to Members of the Tribe. And finally, Hoffman discusses the Palestinian/Jewish Israeli co-production that is hardly a coexistence project, but rather a "From the River to the Sea" production. And so this week, we ask Jordan Hoffman, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: This image released by A24 shows Adrien Brody, left, and Guy Pearce in a scene from 'The Brutalist.' (Lol Crawley/A24 via AP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. Ahead of a fateful day for Israelis in which Hamas for the first time will release the bodies of hostages who died on October 7, 2023, or in captivity, including potentially the Bibas family, Rettig Gur discusses how the iconic little red-haired boys have entered all Israelis' heart to become everyone's children. We hear how the series of staged hostage-release ceremonies are a way for the terrorists to mock Israelis and show Gazans who is in charge. He wonders what could make Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continue with this farce into a second phase of the hostage release-ceasefire deal. We hear about a recent poll from the Israel Democracy Institute on support for proceeding to the second stage of the ceasefire agreement and learn that an overwhelming majority of Arab respondents -- and a large majority of Jewish respondents -- support continuing with the second stage if the first stage is completed as agreed. But for a prime minister who wants to remain in power, is the will of the people enough for him to take a step that is unpopular with his coalition? What could be on the horizon that is a grand enough gesture to secure the next election? And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Graffiti of Shiri and Yarden Bibas and their sons, Ariel, left, and Kfir, right, who were taken captive by Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 19, 2025. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. On February 4, 2025, US President Donald Trump made a bombshell proposal to resettle the population of Gaza. The announcement caught the world by surprise and over a week later, no one is entirely sure what Trump intends beyond restarting and resetting the discussion of Gaza after the war. We discuss Israeli comedian Reshef Levy's biting Hebrew-language assessment of politicians' responses and how they reflect the ambivalence the plan has aroused in the Israeli public. We wonder if the Trump proposal is based on previous historic plans such as the 1947 United Nations Partition Plan. And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Displaced Palestinians wait at a security checkpoint in the Netzarim corridor while traveling from central Gaza to their homes in the northern Gaza Strip, February 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. This week, we answer a slew of listeners' responses to our conversation last week, "Excruciating dilemmas as murderers set to be released," about the painful issue of the release of Palestinian security prisoners as part of the hostage release-ceasefire deal. We received dozens of emails from listeners who asked how an Israeli implementation of the death penalty for mass murderers may shift future terrible negotiations as the nation currently reels from the reality that terrorists with blood on their hands are being freed. We speak about the two cases in which Nazis were sentenced with the death penalty and one case in which an Israeli IDF officer was executed by a firing squad in 1948 after being falsely accused of treason. The death penalty is still on the books in Israel, ostensibly. If it were enacted for terrorists who are serving multiple life sentences, could it reduce the "exchange value" for Israeli hostages? And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Zakaria Zubeidi, 49, a Palestinian prisoner and former a top commander in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades who was released by Israel, waves a Palestinian flag as he is cheered by people after arriving in Ramallah aboard buses of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), on January 30, 2025. (AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Dayan is leading Yad Vashem's delegation to Auschwitz to observe the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death camp's liberation on January 27, 2025, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Ahead of his trip, Borschel-Dan sat with Dayan in his Jerusalem office to speak about the role of the institution in the past 15 months, following the murderous Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Following the massacre of 1,200 and hostage-taking of another 251, Dayan quickly experienced a betrayal from leaders he once considered "friends," such as António Guterres, the current Secretary-General of the United Nations, and Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine, with whom he had previously felt a warm rapport. This week, Dayan came out against Elon Musk for comments he made to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in which he said there is “too much focus on past guilt” in Germany. “Contrary to Elon Musk’s advice, the remembrance and acknowledgment of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society,” Dayan wrote on X on Sunday, the day before the world marked the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. In our recent conversation, Dayan explained when he feels it is appropriate to take a public stance, and when there is likely less chance that his message will be heard. We also speak about new global political realities -- especially in Europe -- and why Yad Vashem is set on opening its first satellite campus in Berlin. And so on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we ask Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Chairman of Yad Vashem Dani Dayan at Auschwitz to observe the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death camp's liberation, January 27, 2025, International Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Yad Vashem)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with comedian/filmmaker Adir Miller and his mother Marianne Miller, a child Holocaust survivor. On January 27, Marianne -- a well-known Israeli speaker and educator -- will address the United Nations General Assembly on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Born in wartime Budapest, Marianne will speak in New York about her survival story, surrounded by three generations of her family, as she was last year while leading a March of the Living delegation from the city of her birth to Auschwitz. As a baby, Marianne was saved by her mother, who tore off her yellow star and, holding her daughter, ran away from a transport for mothers and children to certain death. They evaded capture after Marianne's mother bribed an Arrow Cross Hungarian Nazi soldier with a simple golden ring. Son Adir, one of Israel's most celebrated comedians and artists, used his mother's stunning survival story as the basis of his recent movie, "The Ring," which he wrote, directed and starred in. "The Ring" is playing now in Israeli theaters with some 240,000 viewers so far. It will be screened in New York on January 28 at a special screening hosted by the Israeli-American Council (IAC). This year marks 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz, where over 1.2 million people, including 400,000 Hungarian Jews, were murdered. So this week, we ask Adir and Marianne Miller, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's senior analyst, Haviv Rettig Gur. When this podcast conversation was recorded, the deal between Israel and Hamas for a hostage release and temporary ceasefire in Gaza had not actually been signed and sealed. Despite jubilant announcements by mediators on Wednesday night, by Thursday morning, claims of last-minute demands from Hamas had prevented a formal announcement. Whether or not the deal will go through, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's new flexibility on several previously immovable points is noteworthy. In our conversation, Rettig Gur postulates that there’s a reason Netanyahu seems to be struggling to speak clearly to his coalition partners and the electorate about his reasons for supporting the deal — and about what’s going on in the talks. Much of it may have to do with a potentially watershed moment -- the Trump inauguration on January 20 -- or maybe there is a secret second deal that Trump is already forwarding. Hamas's very survival is its victory, acknowledges Rettig Gur, who mourns the tragic fate that awaits Gazans as the agents of destruction again return to power. So this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur: What matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: People celebrate along a street in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15, 2025, as news spread that a ceasefire and hostage release deal had been reached between Israel and Hamas, aimed at ending more than 15 months of war in the Palestinian territory. (BASHAR TALEB / AFP)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. Senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for a bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now series. This week, a committee appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine defense spending and IDF military force design for the future announced that the election of Donald Trump as US president offers an unprecedented opportunity to remove the threat Israel faces from Iran. Trump’s return to the White House, said the Nagel Committee on Monday, “creates, for the first time, the potential for a fundamental change, and the removal or meaningful reduction of the Iranian threat.” Likewise this week, incoming US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff announced that he would travel to Doha, saying a hostage deal being mediated by Qatar is on the verge of completion, as Trump again warned “all hell will break loose” in the region if an agreement between Israel and Hamas is not reached by his January 20 inauguration. We all know that Trump is one to talk tough, but the question is -- how much of this rhetoric will translate into action? And will he aid Israel in its effort to prevent a nuclear Iran? For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. 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: US President Donald Trump (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, May 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's senior analyst, Haviv Rettig Gur. This week, a committee appointed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to examine defense spending and IDF military force design for the future announced that the election of Donald Trump as US president offers an unprecedented opportunity to remove the threat Israel faces from Iran.the Trump’s return to the White House, said the Nagel Committee on Monday, “creates, for the first time, the potential for a fundamental change, and the removal or meaningful reduction of the Iranian threat.” Likewise this week, the incoming US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff announced that he would travel to Doha, saying a hostage deal being mediated by Qatar is on the verge of completion, as US President-elect Donald Trump again warned “all hell will break loose” in the region if an agreement between Israel and Hamas is not reached by his January 20 inauguration. We all know that Trump is one to talk tough, but the question is -- how much of this rhetoric will translate into action? And will he aid Israel in its aid to prevent a nuclear Iran? So this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur: What matters now? What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: US President Donald Trump (left) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, May 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner, File)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. Founding editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's show, a bonus episode from our weekly What Matters Now podcast. Five years ago this week, The Times of Israel launched its Daily Briefing podcast to keep listeners updated on the latest news out of Israel and the region, from Sunday through Thursday. Starting from October 7, 2023, the podcast has moved to seven days a week in an effort to broadcast fair and accurate news and analysis from Israel every day during wartime. We discuss the locations of some of the podcast's more unexpected listenership. Horovitz then delves into ongoing efforts on the part of the government to limit the freedom of the press, from the banning of Al Jazeera to halting government ads in a left-wing daily to trying to close down the irritating state broadcaster. He explains the "gentleman's agreement" that is the basis of the relationship of the Israeli press with the military censor -- and how frustrating it can be. We also hear about the inescapable blindsides in reporting a war in which often unverifiable narratives pour out of Gaza and are widely presented as solid truths. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. 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: Newspapers and magazines for sale at a shop in the center of Jerusalem. November 10, 2013. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with The Times of Israel's founding editor David Horovitz. Five years ago this week, The Times of Israel launched its Daily Briefing podcast to keep listeners updated on the latest news out of Israel and the region, from Sunday through Thursday. Starting from October 7, 2023, the podcast has moved to seven days a week in an effort to broadcast fair and accurate news from Israel during wartime. We discuss the locations of some of the podcast's more unusual listenership. Horovitz delves into ongoing efforts on the part of the government to limit the freedom of the press, from the banning of Al Jazeera to halting paid ads in Haaretz. He explains the "gentleman's agreement" that is the nature of the relationship of Israeli press with the military censor -- and how frustrating it can be. We learn about the inescapable blindsides in reporting this war that see unverifiable narratives out of Gaza be taken as truths, and how dangerous this situation is. So this week, we ask editor David Horovitz, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: Newspapers and magazines for sale at a shop in the center of Jerusalem. November 10, 2013. (Nati Shohat/FLASH90)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. Stand-up comedian Yochay Sponder joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today's show, a bonus episode from our weekly What Matters Now podcast. After the 2012 Gaza war, comedian Sponder began using his talent to make people laugh as a tool for pro-Israel advocacy in his heavily Hebrew-flavored English. This work has only ramped up since the October 7, 2023, murderous Hamas onslaught, where thousands of terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage to Gaza. Initially after the attack, Sponder, whose soldier cousin fell in battle on October 7, thought it may be inappropriate to take to the stage and make people laugh. Today, he considers it his reserve duty and Sponder uses his brand of truth-telling to remind the world who started this ongoing war and that Israelis still hope for peace. With a personal genetic background that would put a Benetton poster to shame, Sponder uses a brusque uber-Israeli persona to counter politically correct norms and spotlight hypocrisy. Sponder has toured his English-language show, "Self-Loving Jew," extensively this year. In our conversation, he discusses a performance in the United States in which a group of pro-Palestine activists showed up. The result was not what he expected. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. 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: Stand-up comedian/Israel advocate Yochay Sponder. (Limor Azran Garfinkle)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with stand-up comedian Yochay Sponder. After the 2012 Gaza War, the comedian began using his talent to make people laugh as a tool for pro-Israel advocacy in his heavily Hebrew-flavored English. This work has only ramped up since the October 7, 2023, murderous Hamas onslaught, where thousands of terrorists infiltrated southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking another 251 hostage to Gaza. Initially after the attack, Sponder, whose soldier cousin fell in battle on October 7, thought it may be inappropriate to take to the stage and make people laugh. Today, he considers it his reserve duty and Sponder uses his brand of truth-telling to remind the world who started this ongoing war and that Israelis still hope for peace. With a personal genetic background that would put a Benetton poster to shame, Sponder uses a brusque uber-Israeli persona to counter politically correct norms and spotlight hypocrisy. Sponder has toured his English-language show, "Self-Loving Jew," extensively this year. In our conversation, he discusses a performance in the United States in which a group of pro-Palestine activists showed up. The result was not what he expected. So this week, we ask Israeli comedian Yochay Sponder, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. Check out the previous What Matters Now episode: https://omny.fm/shows/times-will-tell/wmn-what-matters-now-to-andrew-fox-cynical-use-of IMAGE: Stand-up comedian/Israel advocate Yochay Sponder. (Limor Azran Garfinkle)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. Today, we bring you a bonus episode of Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Andrew Fox. Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, served in the British Army from 2005 to 2021, completing three tours in Afghanistan, including one attached to the US Army Special Forces. At the transatlantic think tank, he specializes in Defense, the Middle East, and disinformation. He holds degrees in Law and Politics, Modern War Studies and Psychology. This week, Fox and a team of researchers published a report that made international headlines titled, "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza." According to the report, the Palestinian death toll for the Gaza war appears to include thousands of people who died of natural causes as well as incorrect figures — partly in an effort to inflate the toll of women and children. Worse, international media outlets are too quick to accept the figures from terror group Hamas -- usually without the scrutiny and rigor that are applied when reporting numbers supplied by Israel. The Hamas-run Health Ministry's figures, the report claims, are being manipulated for propaganda needs. [caption id="attachment_3442530" align="alignright" width="300"] Andrew Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, on a research trip in the Gaza Strip, summer 2024. (courtesy)[/caption] The Gaza health ministry, under Hamas, “has systematically inflated the death toll by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children and even including individuals who died before the conflict began,” the report said. We discuss the report and hear Fox's assessment of how the IDF's operations in Gaza have played out, as well as the one arena Israel has neglected -- the fight for world opinion. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: UK think tank: Gaza death toll inflated to defame Israel for targeting civilians 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.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Andrew Fox. Fox, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, served in the British Army from 2005 to 2021, completing three tours in Afghanistan, including one attached to the US Army Special Forces. At the transatlantic think tank, he specializes in Defense, the Middle East, and disinformation. He holds degrees in Law and Politics, Modern War Studies and Psychology. This week, Fox and a team of researchers published a report that made international headlines titled, "Questionable Counting: Analysing the Death Toll from the Hamas-Run Ministry of Health in Gaza." According to the report, the Palestinian death toll for the Gaza war appears to include thousands of people who died of natural causes as well as incorrect figures — partly in an effort to inflate the toll of women and children. Worse, international media outlets are too quick to accept the figures from terror group Hamas -- usually without the scrutiny and rigor that are applied when reporting numbers supplied by Israel. The Hamas-run Health Ministry's figures, the report claims, are being manipulated for propaganda needs. The Gaza health ministry, under Hamas, “has systematically inflated the death toll by failing to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, over-reporting fatalities among women and children and even including individuals who died before the conflict began,” the report said. We discuss the report and hear Fox's assessment of how the IDF's operations in Gaza have played out, as well as the one arena Israel has neglected -- the fight for world opinion. So this week, we ask London-based defense analyst Andrew Fox, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: The IDF operates in the southern Gaza Strip's Rafah in this hand out image from December 16, 2024. (IDF)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. Today we're bringing you a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Middle East expert Ksenia Svetlova. As the rebel factions in Syria continue to fight to wrest control -- from the fallen Assad regime as well as from each other -- one of the ways to measure how the country will emerge is to look at the factions' treatment of women: On Tuesday, for example, the Biden administration said it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women. In 2020, Svetlova published a Hebrew-language book, "On Heels in the Middle East," depicting her travels throughout the Middle East as a female (and sometimes overtly Jewish) journalist. Born in Moscow, Svetlova immigrated to Israel at the age of 14. She is a journalist and analyst and was a member of the 20th Knesset for the Zionist Union party. Today she is the executive director of ROPES, which works to connect "forward-thinking Israeli and Palestinian emerging leaders with like-minded peers from across the Middle East and North Africa." In our conversation, she draws on her experiences reporting from inside the region's Islamic countries to evaluate and rank their women's rights and freedoms. We discuss which country most supports women's rights -- Tunisia -- and the many countries that vie for the least free. Later, we hear Svetlova's thoughts on future Russian influence in Syria and the region. So this week, as all eyes are on Syria and the rebels that hope to rule it, we ask Ksenia Svetlova, what matters now. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog. 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 woman holding a rifle borrowed from a Syrian opposition fighter poses for a picture, next to a government forces tank that was left on a street, at the Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, December 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Middle East expert Ksenia Svetlova. As the rebel factions in Syria continue to fight to wrest control -- from the fallen Assad regime as well as from each other -- one of the ways to measure how the country will emerge is to look at the factions' treatment of women: On Tuesday, for example, the Biden administration said it will recognize and support a new Syrian government that renounces terrorism, destroys chemical weapons stocks and protects the rights of minorities and women. In 2020, Svetlova published a Hebrew-language book, "On Heels in the Middle East," depicting her travels throughout the Middle East as a female (and sometimes overtly Jewish) journalist. Born in Moscow, Svetlova immigrated to Israel at the age of 14. She is a journalist and analyst and was a member of the 20th Knesset for the Zionist Union party. Today she is the executive director of ROPES, which works to connect "forward-thinking Israeli and Palestinian emerging leaders with like-minded peers from across the Middle East and North Africa." In our conversation, she draws on her experiences reporting from inside the region's Islamic countries to evaluate and rank their women's rights and freedoms. We discuss which country most supports women's rights -- Tunisia -- and the many countries that vie for the least free. Later, we hear Svetlova's thoughts on future Russian influence in Syria and the region. So this week, as all eyes are on Syria and the rebels that hope to rule it, we ask Ksenia Svetlova, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. IMAGE: A woman holding a rifle borrowed from a Syrian opposition fighter poses for a picture, next to a government forces tank that was left on a street, at the Umayyad Square in Damascus, Syria, December 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)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. In today's episode, ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for a special bonus episode of our weekly What Matters Now podcast. Former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, an Iranian career diplomat who participated in the previous round of nuclear talks, has been Iran's vice president for strategic affairs since August. In that role, he wrote an op-ed in the bimonthly Foreign Affairs journal. The century-old magazine focuses on international relations and policy and can serve as a platform to float ideas and hear reasoned responses. In Zarif's article, "How Iran Sees the Path to Peace," among the arguments raised was the idea of a "referendum" voting on the governance of the territory that largely includes the Jewish state. "Iran can continue to play a constructive role in ending the current humanitarian nightmare in Gaza and work with the international community to pursue a lasting and democratic solution to the conflict," writes Zarif. "Iran will agree to any solution acceptable to Palestinians, but our government believes that the best way out of this century-long ordeal would be a referendum in which everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — Muslims, Christians, and Jews — and Palestinians driven to diaspora in the twentieth century (along with their descendants) would be able to determine a viable future system of governance. This is in line with international law and would build on the success of South Africa, where an apartheid system was transformed into a viable democratic state." To Rettig Gur, Zarif's op-ed -- filled with posturing and warnings to the Western world -- is a sign of Iran's faltering regime and he explains why. So this week, we discuss this new era of Iranian potential weakness and how the West needs to handle it wisely, as Haviv Rettig Gur weighs in on what matters now. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. Discussed articles include: IAEA chief: Iran poised to ‘dramatically' increase stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium US deepens sanctions on Iranian oil as smuggling said to rake in billions for Tehran 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: Masoud Pezeshkian, center, flashes a victory sign after casting his vote in Iran's presidential election as he is accompanied by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, at a polling station in Shahr-e-Qods near Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2024. (AP/Vahid Salemi)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with ToI senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur. Former Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, an Iranian career diplomat who participated in the previous round of nuclear talks, is currently Iran's Vice President for Strategic Affairs since August 2024. In that role, he wrote an op-ed in the bi-monthly Foreign Affairs journal. The century-old magazine focuses on international relations and policy and can serve as a platform to float ideas and hear reasoned responses. In Zarif's article, "How Iran Sees the Path to Peace," among the arguments raised was the idea of a "referendum" voting on the governance of the territory that largely includes the Jewish state. "Iran can continue to play a constructive role in ending the current humanitarian nightmare in Gaza and work with the international community to pursue a lasting and democratic solution to the conflict," writes Zarif. "Iran will agree to any solution acceptable to Palestinians, but our government believes that the best way out of this century-long ordeal would be a referendum in which everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — Muslims, Christians, and Jews — and Palestinians driven to diaspora in the twentieth century (along with their descendants) would be able to determine a viable future system of governance. This is in line with international law and would build on the success of South Africa, where an apartheid system was transformed into a viable democratic state." To Rettig Gur, Zarif's op-ed -- filled with posturing and warnings to the Western world -- is a sign of Iran's faltering regime and he explains why. So this week, we discuss this new era of Iranian potential weakness and how the West needs to handle it wisely, as Haviv Rettig Gur weighs in on what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.  IMAGE: Masoud Pezeshkian, center, flashes a victory sign after casting his vote in Iran's presidential election as he is accompanied by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, left, at a polling station in Shahr-e-Qods near Tehran, Iran, July 5, 2024. (AP/Vahid Salemi)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. Times of Israel blogger Tuvia Book joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's bonus What Matters Now episode. Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan. Tuvia Book was honorably discharged as a combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces following the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Like most Israeli reservists, however, he stashed a uniform in his basement, "just in case." That emergency occurred on October 7, 2023, when Book, learning of the Hamas murderous onslaught on southern Israel, pulled out that uniform and, hearing a rumor that some units based in the south were lacking combat medics, packed his car and drove. He arrived, without enlistment papers and no longer registered in the draconian IDF bureaucracy. He was accepted into the Palmar Asaf Medical Extraction Unit and fought his way back into the IDF system. Book, who in "real life" is a Times of Israel blogger, a tour guide, author and Jewish educator," has served in the reserves for the past 12 out of 14 months of war. At the end of November, the Medical Corps reported that some 5,300 wounded soldiers had been treated amid the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and another 700 in Lebanon. Book describes his unique reservists unit, and how a combination of speed, professionalism and technology is resulting in a vastly lower case fatality rate — the proportion of wounded who end up dying -- than in any previous war. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. 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: Reservist Tuvia Book, a combat medic in the Palmar Asaf Medical Extraction Unit, on a Gazan beach, 2024. (courtesy)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan. Tuvia Book was honorably discharged as a combat medic in the Israel Defense Forces following the 2006 Second Lebanon War. Like most Israeli reservists, however, he stashed a uniform in his basement, "just in case." That emergency occurred on October 7, 2023, when Book, learning of the Hamas murderous onslaught on southern Israel, pulled out that uniform and, hearing a rumor that some units based in the south were lacking combat medics, packed his car and drove. He arrived, without enlistment papers and no longer even registered in the draconian IDF bureaucracy. He was accepted into the Palmar Asaf Medical Extraction Unit and fought his way back into the IDF system. Book, who in "real life" is a Times of Israel blogger, a tour guide, author and Jewish educator," has served in the reserves for the past 12 out of 14 months of war. At the end of November, the Medical Corps reported that some 5,300 wounded soldiers had been treated amid the ground offensive in the Gaza Strip and another 700 in Lebanon. Book describes his unique reservists unit, and how a combination of speed, professionalism and technology is resulting in a vastly lower case fatality rate — the proportion of wounded who end up dying -- than in any previous war. So this week, we ask Tuvia Book, what matters now. What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.  IMAGE: Reservist Tuvia Book, a combat medic in the Palmar Asaf Medical Extraction Unit, in Gaza, 2024. (courtesy)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. 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 week, we hand the mic over to Yossi Klein Halevi, a senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute and an author, thinker and writer for The Times of Israel and many other outlets. Recently, Klein Halevi shared with us his longtime interest in interviewing Rabbi Irving Yitz Greenberg, whom he called one of this generation's most important Jewish theologians. Greenberg has been a central figure in the creation of a post-Holocaust Jewish identity and in establishing Holocaust commemoration projects like the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. He is a leader in inter-denominational Jewish pluralism and in Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue. Now, at age 91, Greenberg has published his magnum opus, “The Triumph of Life,” which, according to Klein Halevi, offers a brilliant and original argument for a new understanding of Judaism. So this week, we ask both Yossi Klein Halevi and Rabbi Yitz Greenberg, what matters now. For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel's ongoing live blog. 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: Left to right: Author Yossi Klein Halevi. (Shalom Hartman Institute); Rabbi Irving (Yitz) Greenberg. (Courtesy)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. 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)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. Today, we bring you a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World hosted by deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan. This week we speak with the editors of a new prayerbook -- "Az Nashir - We Will Sing Again: Women's Prayers for Our Time of Need" --  written by women, for women, in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel. The anthology was compiled and edited by Shira Lankin Sheps, Anne Gordon and Rachel Sharansky Danziger, and it was published by The Layers Press, an imprint of The SHVILLI Center. The three editors join Borschel-Dan in The Times of Israel's Jerusalem office this week and explain their impetus to tackle such an ambitious project and the decisions they made while putting it together, such as the inclusion of "visual prayer" -- 30 colorful illustrations by female artists. According to the editors, the Hebrew-English tome is a prayer book companion that emulates a long tradition of Jewish women writing prayers, supplications and liturgical poems in their own mother tongues. So this week, we ask Shira Lankin Sheps, Anne Gordon and Rachel Sharansky Danziger what matters now. 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: The editors of 'Az Nashir - We Will Sing Again: Women's Prayers for Our Time of Need,' (from left to right): Anne Gordon, Rachel Sharansky Danziger and Shira Lankin Sheps. (courtesy): See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.