Daily Briefing August 3: Netanyahu pivots to the economy, stupid

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.

Political correspondent Tal Schneider and legal affairs reporter Jeremy Sharon join host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

Former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a pre-recorded statement this morning. What did he announce?

Schneider held an on-stage interview with Ra’am head Mansour Abbas this weekend in which he said he hopes that the former coalition will again take power following the November 1 elections.

Far-right Otzma Yehudit and the slightly less far-right Religious Zionism parties are talking about merging. What’s happening here?

Last week, in a reversal of a decision from two years ago, the High Court of Justice ruled that the Mitzpe Kramim settlement outpost that is built on private Palestinian land can remain in place. The court said that the outpost did not need to be evacuated because the land was allocated by the government to the settlers in good faith. What kind of ripple effect could this have?

For the first time in Israel’s history, a woman entered the role of military secretary to the president’s office, Brig. Gen. Naama Rosen-Grimberg.