Times of Israel Podcast

Podcast: Daily Briefing Mar. 7 — Israel returns to ‘normalcy,’ chaotically

Tune in Sunday through Thursday to hear ToI editors and reporters quickly catch you up on what’s important today

By ToI Staff 7 March 2021, 2:29 pm

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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.

Today’s panel comprises Times of Israel founding editor David Horovitz and United States correspondent Jacob Magid, along with host Amanda Borschel-Dan.

With ministers having approved the reopening of many businesses, the return of more citizens from abroad and the resumption of classroom studies for grades 7-10, we open the show by asking if the virus is really “behind us,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently said.

We then look at a pair of interviews conducted by Horovitz with Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid and with Blue and White chair Benny Ganz. What is each of their criticisms of the current government, and how are they proposing to remedy the problems?

Last week’s High Court ruling on non-Orthodox conversions for purposes of citizenship continues to send shockwaves. We look at the continued disparaging of Reform and Conservative Jews by ultra-Orthodox politicians and some rabbis, and ask what it will take for a more tolerant dialogue.

And finally, we hear Pope Francis’s message to President Rivlin as he crossed Israeli airspace on the way to Abraham’s birthplace in Iraq.