Daily Briefing June 8: Opposition unites on judicial panel pick, but does it matter?

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.

Knesset correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn and health reporter Renee Ghert-Zand join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today’s episode.

A 10-week-old infant in Jerusalem has died of whooping cough and there’s been a 12-fold increase of whooping cough cases in 2023 over the same period in 2022. What is the Health Ministry recommending?

The Judicial Selection Committee is the current focus of political angst, with Justice Minister Yariv Levin addressing the issue yesterday from the podium. What did he say?

Also yesterday, opposition parties got behind Yesh Atid MK Karine Elharrar as their candidate in a June 14 vote on selecting two lawmakers to serve on the judicial appointments panel. But in the coalition, we’re not seeing complete alignment. What’s the deeper story here?

For those who are contemplating immigrating to Israel, this week the interior minister got one step closer to being able to withhold a passport from a new immigrant who arrived under the Law of Return until that immigrant has proven that their center of life is in Israel. We hear some reasons behind this change.

The first known case of the genetic disease progeria, commonly called Benjamin Button disease, was reported yesterday in Israel. What is this disease?

Some good news for a change: Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have developed a new bio-sensing technology that predicts cancer patients’ response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) immunotherapy. Ghert-Zand explains how it works.

Discussed articles include:

10-week-old infant dies of whooping cough in Jerusalem

Levin calls current judge selection process ‘invalid’ and ‘unworthy’ of a democracy

Ending squabble, opposition aligns behind Yesh Atid’s Elharrar for judicial panel

Wrangling over nominations for judicial selection panel strains overhaul talks

Government moves to reinstate 1-year residency requirement for passports

Israel sees its first-ever case of rare rapid aging ‘Benjamin Button’ disease

New Israeli technology improves prediction of patient response to immunotherapy

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