Daily Briefing Aug. 16 – Could Miri Regev be Israel’s Barack Obama?

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East, and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Today’s panel comprises political correspondent Tal Schneider and senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur, along with host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

On today’s show, we start with a look at the recent headline-drawing comments by Likud MK Miri Regev.

The opposition lawmaker, who has previously spoken of her hopes to be prime minister one day, slammed the fact that many senior roles in Israel have never been held by a Mizrahi (or “Eastern”) Jew, despite the majority of Likud party members belonging to the community. Is it a fair criticism?

With coronavirus cases continuing to rise, we assess Naftali Bennett’s pre-premiership view of how to beat the pandemic versus his current outlook from the prime minister’s office. What has he learned and what has he failed to learn?

And, viewing the collapse of Afghanistan from afar, we ponder how Israelis see the US failure in the country and what lessons they, and the West, are taking from the saga.

Discussed articles include:

Likud’s Miri Regev faces backlash over claims ‘white DNA’ rules the party

Serious COVID cases pass 500 for 1st time since March as outbreak surges

Bennett says ‘tough days’ ahead as Tel Aviv hospitals send patients to Jerusalem

Taliban sweep into Kabul presidential palace, capping shock Afghanistan takeover

Chaos in Kabul as Westerners, Afghans attempt to flee Taliban rout

As Afghan army routed, officials say Pentagon vastly overestimated its power

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