Daily Briefing Jul 16: Elite IDF unit that spawned three PMs faces off with Netanyahu

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.

Health reporter Renee Ghert-Zand and military reporter Emanuel Fabian join host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

A 35-year-old Israeli man was shot and seriously wounded, and his two daughters were lightly wounded, in a terror shooting attack in the West Bank near the settlement of Tekoa on Sunday morning. Fabian briefs us on what is known so far.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remained overnight Saturday-Sunday at the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan for observation. Ghert-Zand explains what we know about his diagnosis, including new information from this morning about a heart monitor.

In yet another overt provocation on Israel’s northern border, yesterday morning a group of Lebanese, including a parliamentarian, crossed the border into Israeli sovereign territory before being chased back to Lebanon by Israel Defense Forces troops who fired warning shots. Fabian describes how far they got past the so-called “Blue Line” and what has happened there in the past week.

After 28 weeks of anti-judicial overhaul protests, some 170 active reservists in the army’s top special forces unit say they will no longer volunteer for service. How vital are they to IDF operations?

A pertussis outbreak in Jerusalem that began earlier this year spread to the north of the country last week. While the Health Ministry’s June campaign raised awareness of the illness commonly known as whooping cough, Ghert-Zand brings some explanations for why it’s on the rise.

Discussed articles include:

Israeli man seriously injured, 2 daughters lightly hurt in West Bank terror shooting

Netanyahu remains in hospital overnight, set to be released Sunday

Lebanese lawmaker leads group across Israeli border; IDF fires warning shots

Hezbollah members seen stealing Israeli surveillance tech from border tower

Elite commando reservists said to refuse volunteer duty as overhaul protest widens

Whooping cough outbreak spreads to north with new case in town near Nahariya

Raz Hershko tops women’s international judo rankings, in historic first for Israeli

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