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.
Arab affairs correspondent Gianluca Pacchiani and tech editor Sharon Wrobel join host Jessica Steinberg on today’s show.
Pacchiani discusses the latest on Hamas’s ostensible list of hostages — actually an Israeli list — that provides no information on their well-being.
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Pacchiani also reviews the status of Hezbollah in Lebanon as the 60-day ceasefire with Israel draws to an end, with expectations that the terror group will do its utmost to recover and rearm in preparation for a possible renewal of fighting in the future, and what it all means for the balance of power in Lebanon’s complicated political mosaic.
Wrobel talks about comments made by the Bank of Israel governor at the start of the new year, with some cautious optimism for the economy and a look at the costs borne by the country for the ongoing war.
She also discusses the emergency grants offered to evacuated families to return to the north from March.
And she dives into consumer legislation being considered by the government to reduce flight compensation for passengers, as part of an effort to ease the financial costs to airlines and help bring foreign carriers back to Israeli skies.
For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.
Discussed articles include:
Hamas purports to name 34 hostages to be freed; Israel: Meaningless; it’s our list from July
Central bank sees economy improving but warns of continued geopolitical uncertainty
Israel lays out NIS 3.4 billion plan to get northerners back home in March
Israel to cut travelers’ flight cancellation compensation to woo back foreign airlines
Who’s afraid of the Houthis? Iran’s last proxy standing is proving no pushover for Israel
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Nomi Studios.