Daily Briefing Sept. 19: Day 349 - North heats up with 2nd wave of exploding devices

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.

Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz joins host Jessica Steinberg on today’s episode.

Horovitz discusses the latest escalation in the north, after two successive waves of explosions of Hezbollah communications devices and the decision to send more IDF troops to the northern border.

He also describes the Shin Bet’s arrest of a Jewish Israeli man in his seventies who traveled to Iran in a plot to assassinate the prime minister, defense minister or Shin Bet head.

Horovitz reviews Channel 12’s Wednesday night report alleging that the prime minister has worked since December to torpedo a possible hostage deal for political reasons, and delves into its revelations about the collapse of the November truce.

He also discusses why Netanyahu would want to swap his current defense minister, Yoav Gallant, during a war, for an overt political foe, MK Gideon Sa’ar, who has no defense background.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

Discussed articles include:

Gallant says IDF diverting resources to northern border in ‘new phase’ of war

20 killed, 450 wounded as Lebanon hit by 2nd wave of Hezbollah device explosions

Hungary: Exploding pagers weren’t made here, linked firm acted as trade intermediary

Will the pager operation deter Hezbollah and Iran, and is Israel prepared for war if not?

Israeli recruited by Iran in plot to kill Netanyahu, Gallant or Shin Bet head Bar

Ex-defense minister Ya’alon was target of Hezbollah bomb attack in Tel Aviv last year

Report: Nov. truce collapsed because Hamas falsely claimed women set for release were dead

Netanyahu, don’t fire Gallant again: The first was a tragedy, the second could be worse

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