Daily Briefing Sept. 16: Day 711 – IDF’s ground operation in Gaza City begins

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.

Zman Yisrael editor Biranit Goren joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.

Two IDF divisions, made up of tens of thousands of troops, began expanded ground operations in Gaza City overnight as the army launches a “new stage” of its offensive against Hamas. The early stages of the offensive, dubbed “Gideon’s Chariots B” began several weeks ago with increased strikes on Hamas targets, including high-rise towers, and ground operations on the outskirts of Gaza City and in several neighborhoods in the city. We learn what is happening on the ground in Gaza City so far and the responses from the families of the 48 Israeli hostages held in the Strip, 20 of whom are presumed alive.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while en route to Doha from Tel Aviv, announced that Qatar and the United States are on the verge of finalizing an enhanced defense cooperation agreement, after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week drew widespread condemnation. He also called for Qatar to continue its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas on a ceasefire in the Gaza war. Goren discusses what we’re hearing from the Trump White House and how Israel could be connected to this finalized defense agreement.

In a speech yesterday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel is facing increasing isolation on the world stage and will have to become more self-reliant in the years to come. He said, “We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics,” he said, using the term for economic self-sufficiency. Describing the ongoing war and its effects, he said, “We are Athens and Sparta. But we’re going to be Athens and super-Sparta,” he said. “There’s no choice; in the coming years, at least, we will have to deal with these attempts to isolate us.” Goren gives context and weighs in.

Check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

IDF begins major Gaza City ground offensive targeting Hamas; dozens of Gazans said killed

Hostage families camp outside PM’s home amid rumored start to Gaza City ground op

Alongside Rubio, Netanyahu claims Qatar strike succeeded because it sent a ‘message’

Netanyahu admits Israel is economically isolated, will need to become self-reliant

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Read the full transcript of today’s podcast below:

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Welcome to the Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, today is Tuesday, September 16, day 711 of the war.

Amanda Borschel-Dan here with our Hebrew sister site, Zman Israel, editor, Biranit Goren.

Hi, Biranit. Thanks so much for joining me again on The Daily Briefing.

Biranit Goren: Hi, Amanda. Thank you for having me.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Today Israel has begun an intensive operation in Gaza City. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this morning, confirming earlier IDF [Israel Defense Forces] statements. US [United States] Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on his way to Qatar. We’ll learn more about statements made during his Israel trip and comments from the White House. Netanyahu yesterday told Israelis that in the face of increasing isolation, the country must become a super Sparta. We’ll hear more about the speech and the ripples it has left so far. All of this and more when we’re back.

I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan here with our Zman Israel editor, Biranit Gorin. Two IDF divisions made up of tens of thousands of troops began expanded ground operations in Gaza City overnight as the army has launched a new stage of its offensive against Hamas. Bira, tell us what you know about what’s happening on the ground so far.

Biranit Goren: Okay, so overnight we know that the Air Force has actually carried out some air bombings in Gaza City to provide cover for two divisions, tens of thousands of soldiers, as you said, that have moved into, on ground, have moved into the city. And they started the operation, they call it the Chariots of Gideon Part Two, as if it was a movie, you know, so we’re in the sequel. And they’re going into grounds that the IDF hasn’t covered before.

According to the IDF, they’re already holding approximately half of Gaza City with tens of thousands of Palestinians fleeing. We had approximately 350,000 Palestinians adhering to the IDF’s warning, advance warning, and leaving the city in time. And then, you know, the rest were seen fleeing. A lot of them were seen fleeing overnight and this morning southwards to the humanitarian zones in the middle and the south of the Gaza Strip. So, yeah, I mean, right now what we know is that the army is actually operating with the goal of destroying the Hamas infrastructure and in the hope of a push towards freeing the hostages. The Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Strip has reported that at least 16 people were killed this morning. Some of them are children and more than 90 injured. And we know that the humanitarian crisis is worsening because we’ve got a lot of civilians trapped in what was the overnight bombing and bringing down another six-story building. And we know that some tent shelters that were in the area also caught fire. So there’s obviously a heightened situation now in Gaza City. And the rhetoric is, you know, Gaza is burning.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: And also on the streets of Jerusalem, some of the hostage families have been protesting outside the prime minister’s residence. What are you seeing in terms of concern for the 20 presumed living hostages in Gaza?

Biranit Goren: Well, we have 48 hostages. Out of them, 20 are presumed alive. We don’t know their situation. And as soon as, close to midnight last night, as soon as the operation began and the word came out that the part two of Chariots of Gideon is going into effect, there was a sense of urgency among the hostages’ families. Anat Angrest, who’s the mother of Matan Angrest, who’s held in Gaza since October 7, said that she knows her son is in that area. So she and other family members and their supporters went to Jerusalem to protest in front of Netanyahu’s official home. We know that there’s a lot of, there’s many reports about the families feeling that this is a point where the hostages are seriously put at risk. So even if they survived this far for 711 or 10 days, then this may well kill them, you know, this operation. There’s a sense that Hamas is probably using them and leaving them in the Gaza Strip sort of as a human shield, if you will. (US) President (Donald) Trump referred to that late last night and he said if it’s found out that indeed this is what they’re doing, then, quote, “all bets are off,” unquote. So there’s a major concern about the hostages’ situation.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: All of this is occurring, of course, as I mentioned, as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is, he finished up his Israel leg of his Middle East tour and he’s now en route or in Doha, just landing in Doha. And he announced before he got on the plane that Qatar and the United States are on the verge of finalizing an enhanced defense cooperation agreement. This comes, of course, after Israel’s attack targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar last week drew widespread condemnation. So in remarks that he made this morning, Rubio called for Qatar to continue its role as a mediator between Israel and Hamas to reach a ceasefire in the Gaza war. At the same time, echoing US President Donald Trump’s statements, Rubio warned that Hamas has only days to accept a ceasefire deal as Israel is, of course, going forward with the ground invasion in Gaza City.

I wonder, Bira, in your assessment right now, as the ground invasion is taking place, do you feel like there is still hope for some kind of negotiated deal?

Biranit Goren: Wow, that’s a loaded question. Objectively, there’s always hope. The fact is, Hamas has, for the most part, kept those people alive for 711 days. He’s using it as a bargaining chip. If he didn’t think, or if the organization didn’t think that there was something to bargain for, then obviously he would have gotten rid of them. So the very fact that they’re still alive provides hope.Now, the question is, will time do its course? They’re held in the worst possible conditions. We’ve seen videos, we’ve seen the hostages that were released. Some of them looked like they were days away from dying of starvation. And God forbid anything happened. It’s been 200 and something days since they were released.So God forbid maybe something has happened to any other hostages. So we have to cling to hope. There’s no other option other than to hope that both sides do want to have a ceasefire and release the hostages. It’s just that they want it in different terms. So the question is, are we hopeful that they will find a common ground? And are we thinking that it can be done in the shortest time possible? There I’m not so hopeful. I think there is no question that Qatar will continue to play a part. I think the assassination attempt, I’m saying attempt because we don’t know the outcome, it seems from all hints and statements we hear from Israel that it failed, that the Hamas chiefs weren’t there and they weren’t killed. Maybe they were injured.
We don’t know. We haven’t seen them. But the outcome of it was twofold. One is that Trump immediately said that he’s moving forward and urging his cabinet to move forward with the enhanced security defense agreement or however it’s called. It’s a word, it’s a mouthful. And we don’t really know what that includes. One of the things that it could include is, for example, selling Qatar [Lockheed Martin] F-35s (Lightning II), which is akin to what he’s done with the United Arab Emirates [UAE] in 2020 when he brought them to the table to sign the Abraham Accords. And we found out that part of that incentive of doing that for them, part of the incentive he threw at them to sign the Abraham Accords was a deal to sell them F-35s, which to this point, there was almost, I think there’s an agreement that Israel has a priority as far as that they don’t sell F-35s to other countries in the Middle East in order to maintain Israel’s advantage or Israel’s defense advantage. So it made quite a, it was quite a shock when we found out that he agreed to sell United Arab Emirates F-35s. There was a lot of criticism about it. In the end, that never happened because the Biden administration came in, the United Arab Emirates bought, they decided it was too expensive, they were looking at other opportunities, nevermind. But now there’s a very good possibility that part of the new agreement and what Trump has promised or is promising Qatar is that they will sell them F-35s, which is very coveted in this area.So that could backfire against Israel. We should be worried. We don’t know what that entails. But there’s no question that the message that Trump and Rubio has been sending loud and clear to the Israeli government is Qatar is precious to us. We have vested interest in that country. We see them as an ally and we will not have you treat our ally that way. So it, you know, Qatar has always been controversial for years. I mean, and there was discussions whether it should be declared a terrorist state, a terror state, an enemy state, et cetera. And this is actually the operation in Doha actually in a way backfired in Israel and limits its ability to treat Qatar as a terrorist state and as an enemy state because Trump threw the line. And that was one of the most emphatic messages that also came from Secretary Rubio in his visit. Qatar is an ally. They’re important to us. And also they should be important to Israel because they have the ability to negotiate or they have the ability to intermediate negotiations with Hamas. Having said that, I do have to say that the one thing we do know is that there’s only so much Egypt and Qatar can do other than move offers to one side or another because Hamas in Gaza is not, you know, it’s not a single person. It’s not, there isn’t a Yahya Sinwar-like figure there nowadays that you could just talk to him or through an intermediary or whatever and close a deal and whatever he says will hold. It’s a militia, it’s a fractioned militia. Hamas in Gaza City is not the same as Hamas in Rafah (Gaza). They all have their own regional commanders who are people who up to a year ago were, I don’t know, maybe they were the cooks, you know, of the battalion or whatever. So they’re not that experienced. So we don’t know, to be honest, where this goes. They’ve always been clear that the only thing that they want is that the war will be over and the IDF will withdraw from Gaza altogether, from the Strip, and then they’ll free the hostages. And we’ve been always clear that, you know, Netanyahu has always been clear that he will not stop until Hamas is obliterated or at least surrenders, demilitarizes the Strip altogether and that Israel will stay in a certain capacity like we do with the West Bank, if you will, and will continue to operate like we do. So is there a middle ground between them? I don’t know. We’ve been, it’s been more than a year since discussions have begun about the day after, so to speak, within the confines of how to end this war. And they have never reached any middle ground. So I’m not very optimistic, unfortunately.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Okay, let’s get to a short break.

And we’re back.

I’m Amanda Borschel-Dan here with our Zman Israel editor, Biranit Goren. So yesterday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a really stunning speech in which he admitted that Israel is facing increasing isolation on the world stage and will have to become more self-reliant in the years to come. I’m going to give you a couple highlights from the speech. We will increasingly need to adapt to an economy with autarkic characteristics, he said, calling the term for economic self-sufficiency closed off from global trade. It is the word I most hate, he said, autarkic. That was a new vocab word for many of us here in Israel. Israel must quickly establish the capacity to produce everything it needs militarily without depending on foreign trade, Netanyahu continued. He said, we are Athens and Sparta, but we’re going to be Athens and super Sparta. There’s no choice in the coming years, at least. We will have to deal with these attempts to isolate us.

So, Bira, his comments were, of course, delivered as European countries have called for arms embargoes and sanctions against Israel during the war in Gaza. We quickly heard pushback here and many, I would say, clarifications, shall we say, from Netanyahu himself. Take us through what you heard from this speech, Bira, first of all, and then we’ll talk about the pushback.

Biranit Goren: All right. Well, you know, when you read this and we already know all the clarifications and everything, there’s almost something that makes sense in what Netanyahu said. To his defense, I think he meant to emphasize the issue of arms sales and imports and knowing that that day that he was talking, Spain canceled a very large deal with the air industries, the air force industries. So I think he was mainly referring to that, that it will be a lot harder for us to buy submarines from Germany and get, you know, elements from Spain and France, etc. But for the layman and for the most, you know, most people heard the speech a lot differently than how you read it. You know, it’s got intonations in it. It’s got whatever words you emphasize, etc. And what it sounded more than anything was Netanyahu saying, we are facing isolation and we will need to live like an autarkic economy, which means we need to be completely self-reliant and we will be a super Sparta. That’s he said, you know, if people know a little bit of history, you know what Sparta means, etc.

It’s a very closed off community. It’s a very closed off civilization that in the case of Sparta, the one thing that it excelled at was war. You know, they were all soldiers and and the fall of Sparta was bloody and tragic. So that is probably the most the darkest prophecy or promise that a leader could tell his people. And somebody compared it, I think quite rightly. Somebody said they think that Netanyahu felt that he was delivering the I have all I can promise you is blood, sweat and tears. Famous (Winston) Churchill [former prime minister of the United Kingdom (UK)] speech in World War II to the British people, which was actually seen as a remarkable speech because it was telling the people we have to embrace what’s coming and I’m being truthful with you. And I think Netanyahu tried to emulate that, saying we have to face what’s coming and being truthful with you. But this is not a situation where we’re being isolated. You know, we’re not isolated by a force of nature. This is not about somebody telling us the Germans are coming and we have to prepare. You know, this is a person who has contributed greatly to this isolation and, you know, and has it within grasp and within the hands to solve this issue and to solve this isolation. I’m not going to go with you into a discussion of how, but there’s certainly a big amount of control that is within his grasp of the situation. So to come to the Israeli people and tell them, you know, I ruined your house and you’re going to have to get used to living in the cold. Okay, so to speak, that’s not inspiring. That’s actually really depressing. And the markets reacted as such. I mean, the first thing that happened as soon as the speech was done, the stock market in Tel Aviv, which was actually on the up, immediately fell down. It was like looking at the graph. It’s like a cliff, you know, now by the end and the dollar strengthened against the shekel for the first time in a very long time. So initially, you know, that kind of evened out by the end of trade today. And, but this morning they already started again with downfalls. So there’s no question that this has completely upset the market. In fact, the business, the Israeli business forum that represents the vast majority of the private sector workers in about 200 of Israel’s largest company, they said that what Netanyahu was saying is dangerous and, quote, “dangerous and unprecedented economic and political crisis”, and said that, again, quote, “We are not Sparta. This vision will make it harder for us to survive in a global world. We are heading toward a political, economic and social abyss,” And they called Netanyahu to stop, you know, to stop the war immediately. So there’s no question that this really alarmed the Israelis. I mean, if you look, you know, a lot of conversations yesterday were, do we know an autarkic economy that is successful? The only example that anybody could bring up is North Korea, which is mostly autarkic. It still uses China, imports from China. It’s mostly autarkic. Do we want to be North Korea? I mean, are those the examples that, you know, that we can draw on? So definitely that really shook the country. Netanyahu twice tried to clarify this, you know, saying, you know, he’s talking about military and military industries and being self-reliant as far as that goes. And also saying that, don’t forget, we’ll always have the United States. And that also bothers people, because what does this mean that we’re going to be 100 percent reliant on the United States as far as because Israel relies on imports for food, for energy, such as about new defense?And if we’re going to be 100 percent self-reliant, sorry, we can’t be 100 percent self-reliant.

So if we’re going to be 100 percent reliant on the United States, what happens when we have a president that isn’t as amenable to us as Trump is? You know, what happens when we have somebody who thinks that Israel has committed war crimes and wants nothing to do with it or whatever? So this is a very, very bleak and risky move that he did. I’m not even sure that he understood or that he foresaw. It’s very unlike Netanyahu. But I’m not sure that he foresaw the way that this will be taken in Israel and in the world, I guess. I think, again, for the most part, he thought he was doing a Churchillian move. I think he was showing off his historical knowledge, being the son of a historian. And he was playing a part. You know, he was looking at himself as this big leader talking to the audience and not really weighing the outcome and understanding the effect that this will have immediately on the markets.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Yeah. When I heard super Sparta, of course, there’s the warlike aspect. But I took it to mean that Israelis are going to have to tighten their belts because, of course, the idea of being Spartan, you know, to get rid of your luxuries and not to have all the kinds of, you know, extraneous stuff that Israelis and every human person likes to have if they’re able to afford it. But another part of the speech that I thought was really interesting is when he’s kind of speaking to the latent racism that some in the audience hearing it may have. And that’s where he’s just, you know, addressing demographic changes in Europe, where limitless migration has resulted in Muslims becoming a significant majority or minority, you know, things of this nature where he’s talking about how antisemitism is on the rise because of the Muslim citizens, things like that. And then the other part that I also pulled out is when he’s playing on the, you know, the global fears of Israel against the world.

And he’s talking about how China and Qatar are organizing an attack on Israel through social media. And the attack on Israel is also an attack on the Western world in general. So there is a lot to pull out from that speech. But I would agree with you, Bira, that I don’t think Netanyahu expected it to be taken in the manner that it has been, especially since, you know, immediately after October 7, there was a lot of talk and positive talk about bringing more of the arms industry domestically, meaning having the factories reopen in Israel and not to let Israel be so vulnerable to the, you know, the whims of the nations based on their support for Israel or lack of support. So, yeah, I would agree with you with that. And what do you see moving forward? Do you think there will be any further ripple effect to the speech?

Biranit Goren: I think the sad reality of it is that whatever he meant to say, the reality of it is that we are walking towards complete isolation. I mean, Israel, everybody kept talking for years. I remember this whenever I visited the United States or other countries. I’m talking like decades ago. So they always refer to Israel as a miracle. You know, the idea that a country that was established so few years ago, that is so young, is that successful and that effective in so many fields and culture, you know, Nobel Prize winners in mathematics, in science, in health, in so many fields. That was like a major feat of a very, very small country where the size of New Jersey, as everybody keeps saying, there’s only 10 million citizens in Israel. It’s a really young state, a small state, and it’s punching well above its weight all those years. But this happened because we were a global country. We wouldn’t be so strong in high tech had it not been for the global globalization and our ability to bring in investments from outside and export and import technology. We wouldn’t have Nobel Prize professors in sciences and mathematics and physics had it not been for this global academia, really embracing and pushing and being affected by the Israeli academia. Every single area that you look at for us, there is no way Israel can survive being self-reliant. It can’t. It needs the globalization to maintain its advantage in science, to maintain its advantage in defense, to maintain its advantage in industries, high tech certainly. So the sad part of it is that regardless of what Netanyahu meant to say yesterday, we’re seeing this happen. There’s already a major academia ban, not even formally, but Israeli professors are being, they’re not being invited or they’re not being given tenure or they’re not part of researches. We already see this in culture. Talking about Israel, it will not be a part of, for the first time in 50 years, I think Israel will not be a part of the, possibly will not be a part of the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Bands and musicians are saying and telling how they’re being kicked out of festivals, etc. We’re seeing this again in the industries as far as the defense industry goes with contracts being canceled, countries not wanting to buy from us, or sell to us, we’re seeing this happening. So regardless of what he meant to do, he ended up telling us the truth. And it’s a very bleak one. And he ended up telling us the most crucial part, which is, you’re going to have to get used to it. I’m not going to do anything about it. I’m not here to tell you how I’m going to solve it. I’m going to tell you that you’re going to have to get used to it. And that’s a major thing because Israelis love this country. We love this country. We don’t want to leave it. And I don’t think that, you know, everybody keeps saying, if this person wins, I’m leaving the United States. If this person wins, you always say that and you don’t really do it. You do, but you don’t really do it. But the facts are, A, that in 2024, for the first time in decades, there was more Israelis or Jews leaving Israel than there were Jews coming in. The Times of Israel had a feature about it with that. That’s fact number one. Fact number two is that we have more doctors, scientists and high tech personnel leaving Israel than ever before because they have no future here. People leave. The number one reason people leave is economy. It’s not really ideology. The number one reason people leave is because they want a better life that will be more, that their income will be bigger, that their spendings will be lower, that their kids will have better education, et cetera. So it’s almost a vote of, it’s not almost, it’s a vote of no confidence when somebody that you need, somebody who’s excellent in his field decides that there’s no future in Israel and comes and leaves. And that is something that we need to look at. And at the end of the day, it’s not just about the fact that we love Israel. At the end of the day, it’s the question of, do we love our life? At the end of the day, when you close the door, are you happy? Are you content with what you get and what you do? And part of that is being able to go to and buy in Gap stores or Zara. And part of that is seeing the Rolling Stones in Tel Aviv. And part of that is being able to buy books or whatever it is and have shipments from Amazon and get yourself a nice L’Oreal lipstick from the shop or whatever it is. We cannot be self-sustained.Israel is not built for that. Israel is not Sparta. And saying that we are going to be super Sparta is actually telling people, start looking elsewhere.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Biranit, thank you so much for all of this today.

Biranit Goren: Thank you, Amanda.

Amanda Borschel-Dan: Thanks for listening to the Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing. Please check out another installment tomorrow. This episode was produced by The Podwaves. If you have any questions or comments about this or any other episode, please drop us an email to podcast@timesofisrael.com. Until tomorrow. Shalom.

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