Daily Briefing Oct. 26 – Why the delay in reopening Jerusalem’s US consulate?

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.

US correspondent Jacob Magid and environmental reporter Sue Surkes are on today’s podcast, hosted by Jessica Steinberg.

Magid discusses the reopening of the US consulate in Jerusalem, considered the de facto mission to the Palestinians and closed by the Trump administration. While Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in May that the US would be reopening it, little progress has been made, a situation examined by Magid in a recent analysis piece.

Magid looks at why Israel didn’t sign a joint statement at the United Nations last week expressing concern over Beijing’s treatment of its Muslim Uighurs.

He also examines a statement by a senior Sudanese diplomat, saying that the military’s takeover of that country is not expected to dramatically affect the normalization process with Israel.

Surkes talks about Israel’s 120-strong delegation to Glasgow climate talks at the end of the month, which she will be joining.

She also discusses the highlights of her recent feature about why Israel is taking so long to move ahead with solar power, and the decision by the UAE to distance itself from a controversial plan to channel oil from the Gulf to Europe via an overland pipeline through Israel.

Discussed articles include:

Dragging out consulate reopening, Biden does Israel a favor, but not himself

In effort to placate China, Israel refrains from signing UN statement on Uighurs

Sudanese diplomat to Israeli TV: Coup won’t dramatically impact normalization

Israel sending 120-strong delegation to Glasgow climate talks

UAE says nixing pipeline agreement won’t damage ties with Israel

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