Daily Briefing May 22: At UN, PA head Abbas reveals his most rejectionist face yet

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.

Editor David Horovitz and senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur join host Amanda Borschel-Dan in today’s episode.

Following a visit by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir to the Temple Mount yesterday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said the White House is “concerned by today’s provocative visit to the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif in Jerusalem and the accompanying inflammatory rhetoric,” adding, “This holy space should not be used for political purposes, and we call on all parties to respect its sanctity.” Why are Israeli MKs and ministers increasingly ascending the Mount?

Rettig Gur drills down into the failure of Israeli and ultra-Orthodox to create a self-sustaining Haredi culture. He explains how, by caving to Haredi leadership’s demands in the budget, the coalition is creating an increasingly fractured Israeli society.

Last week, the United Nations General Assembly marked Nakba Day for the first time, including a keynote address by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Horovitz explains what was remarkable about Abbas’s speech.

Discussed articles include:

US flogs Ben Gvir for ‘provocative, inflammatory’ tour on tense Temple Mount

On the way up to the Temple Mount, Likud is becoming Otzma Yehudit

Ad-libbed at the General Assembly, Mahmoud Abbas’s full-blown rejectionism

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