Daily Briefing Aug. 19: Day 318 – As Blinken pushes deal, PM stresses right to resume war

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 in our Jerusalem offices for today’s episode.

As Hamas again rejects the current hostage-release deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in the region to try to bridge gaps. Horovitz weighs in on where negotiations stand now and what is at stake in terms of the broader regional picture. He also looks at the current process in the context of the 2011 Gilad Shalit release deal.

State Attorney Amit Aisman announced on Sunday that he will oversee an investigation into Thursday’s rioting by extremist settlers in the Palestinian village of Jit during which 23-year-old Rasheed Seda was killed and homes and vehicles were set ablaze. No suspects have been arrested yet. But in a different case, police detained two more Israeli settlers suspected of assaulting four Arab Israeli women, plus a 3-year-old, in the West Bank outpost of Givat Ronen earlier this month. Is this a sign that official Israel is taking these incidents seriously?

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

Discussed articles include:

Hamas rejects US hostage-ceasefire proposal as PM said to warn chance for deal ‘not high’

A hostage deal that also averts regional war should be a no-brainer for Netanyahu. But…

State Attorney Amit Aisman to oversee investigation into Jit settler rampage

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ben Wallick. 

Check out yesterday’s Daily Briefing episode here: