Join our Community

Support ToI and remove all ads

Learn more

English
Français
עברית

Get The Daily Edition
Account
Sign In
- Sign in
- Join our Community

Open Search form

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Video
Newsletters
Partners

Input search

English
Français
עברית

Latest Articles
Latest Alerts
Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
Podcasts
Video
Newsletters
Partners
Community
- Join our community
- Sign in
- About The Times of Israel
- Advertise on The Times of Israel
- Contact us
- Download our App
  - For IOS users
  - For Android users
- Get the Daily Edition
- Follow us
- © 2026 The Times of Israel , All Rights Reserved
  
  Terms and conditions Privacy policy

Input search

The Daily Edition

What Matters Most On Thursday, May 15, 2025

Facebook
Twitter

View previous edition

View next edition

The scene of a Palestinian terror shooting attack on Route 446 between the Bruchin and Pedu'el settlements on May 14, 2025. Inset: Tzeela Gez, who was killed in the attack (Magen David Adom; courtesy)

Wrote after Oct. 7: All I want is to be active, spread light

Israeli mother en route to hospital to give birth killed in West Bank terror shooting

By Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Tzeela Gez succumbs to wounds after doctors perform emergency C-section to deliver baby who is in serious condition; husband, who was driving, lightly wounded; gunman sought; Hamas praises ‘heroic’ act

Left to right: US President Donald Trump takes questions outside the West Wing of White House in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2025. (Jim WATSON / AFP); Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa listens during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, May 7, 2025. (Stephanie Lecocq/Pool via AP)

Live updates (closed)

May 15: Meeting Syrian FM, Rubio welcomes Damascus calls for peace with Israel

‘Troubled’ by Gaza humanitarian situation, Rubio says he spoke with Netanyahu * After meeting with PM, Lapid says Israel is ‘one cabinet decision away from hostage deal’

8:35 pm

Israel's Yuval Raphael performs at Eurovision Song Contest semifinal
8:30 pm

Brother-in-law of govt. hostage point man suspected to be behind X account slandering hostage families, spreading Oct. 7 conspiracies
7:50 pm

PM says he spoke to Witkoff today, credits release of hostages to 'heroic' IDF

US President Donald Trump attends a breakfast with business leaders in Doha on May 15, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

They're not going to make what I call 'nuclear dust' - Trump

Trump says US ‘getting close to maybe doing’ Iran deal, Tehran ‘sort of’ agreed to terms

By Agencies and ToI Staff

Adviser to Iran’s supreme leader says Islamic Republic would curb enrichment, promise not to pursue nuclear weapons, and allow inspectors — if the US lifted sanctions ‘immediately’

US President Donald Trump (L) speaks with Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani at the start of a state dinner at the Lusail Palace in Doha on May 14, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Trump, in Qatar, announces ‘record’ deals with Gulf State for US planes, drone tech

By Agencies and ToI Staff

From our sponsor

Summer in Jerusalem filled with Hebrew Ulpan, Torah, and volunteering

Spend this summer improving your Hebrew, immersing yourself in age-old questions and contemporary issues, and doing impactful volunteer work in the heart of Jerusalem.

Relatives and supporters of the Gaza hostages call for the US to intervene for their release, at a protest in front of the US embassy branch office in Tel Aviv, on May 13, 2025, (Jack Guez/AFP)

Hostage talks kick off in Doha, but PM’s insistence on not ending war curbs optimism

By Jacob Magid, ToI Staff and Nava Freiberg

Witkoff holds two-hour call with Netanyahu, but fails to extract major compromise; US pressure on parties expected to ramp up in next 48 hours; Hamas showing flexibility on disarmament

US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, right, and freed hostage Edan Alexander, second right, speak by phone to US President Donald Trump, alongside Alexander's family from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center on May 13, 2025. (Office of the Special Envoy to the Middle East/X)

Edan Alexander’s conditions improved after Trump returned to office, says family

US President Donald Trump during a business roundtable, in Doha, Qatar, May 15, 2025. (Alex Brandon/AP)

Trump: US should take Gaza, ‘make it a freedom zone’; Oct. 7 ‘one of worst days in history’

By Agencies and ToI Staff

US president, in Qatar, says Hamas ‘is going to have to be dealt with’; terror group says Israel is not serious on hostage talks

US President Donald Trump (left) speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during a gathering of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 14, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

Trump says Israel is not sidelined by his Gulf trip: ‘This is very good for Israel’

Visiting Riyadh and Doha, president claims that if it weren’t for the US, ‘probably none of the hostages would be living right now,’ says the remainder will be freed ‘step by step’

US President Donald Trump (left) speaks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman before posing for a family picture with Gulf leaders during a gathering of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in Riyadh on May 14, 2025. (Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

ToI podcastDaily Briefing May 15: Day 587 – Trump embraces his ‘strongest’ Mideast partner. It’s not Israel

By Amanda Borschel-Dan and David Horovitz

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani (R) and US President Donald Trump sit side by side at the Royal Palace in Doha on May 14, 2025. (Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP)

More than just a plane: Gift to Trump highlights Qatar’s multi-billion US influence campaign

By Leon Kraiem and Agencies

Tiny Gulf state is largest foreign funder of American universities, contributed over $6b in last 15 years, employs dozens of DC lobbying firms, has cultivated ties with Trump’s inner circle for years

US President Donald Trump arrives for the group photo with Gulf Cooperation Council leaders during the GCC Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump’s Mideast visit comes as his family deepens business, crypto ties in region

By Will Weissert

New aid group: We’ll start Gaza operations by June; Israel to lift blockade in interim

Organization says Israel will establish more distribution sites throughout Strip after initially only agreeing to 4 in the south; US still working to secure key backing from other NGOs

Palestinians wait for donated food at a distribution center in Beit Lahiya, northern Gaza, March 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana,File)

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, center, speaks with supporters at the New York City District Council of Carpenters while campaigning for mayor of New York City, March 2, 2025. (AP/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Interview'My position is 100% supportive of Israel'

NYC mayoral frontrunner Cuomo calls vote a ‘litmus test’ on far-left foes of Israel

Former governor makes combating antisemitism a focus of campaign in visits to synagogues, frames next month’s primary as a choice between the party’s centrists and leftists

NYC penalizes organizers of community garden that required members to oppose Zionism

By Grace Gilson

Outraged at raids targeting circumcision? Take a step back

Amid the understandable anxiety, we should also reflect on a more fundamental question: What rights do children have in all of this?

It’s Trump’s Middle East now

Israel’s leaders have failed to understand who they’re dealing with: The US president sees Netanyahu as an obstacle to progress

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez delivers a speech at Las Cortes Congress of Deputies in Madrid on May 7, 2025. (Thomas Coex/AFP)

Spanish PM calls Israel ‘genocidal state,’ sparking anger from Foreign Ministry

By Nava Freiberg, Agencies and ToI Staff

Spain’s envoy is summoned for reprimand; Italian PM Meloni calls Gaza blockade ‘unjustifiable,’ and Germany’s Merz stresses ‘famine must be averted,’ ceasefire must be reached

Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court looks up prior to a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, July 3, 2023. (Peter Dejong/AP)

Trump’s sanctions on ICC prosecutor said to have halted tribunal’s work

By AP and ToI Staff

Analysis

Israel may have killed Muhammad Sinwar, but he was likely never in the driver’s seat

With little evidence the top commander had the same sway his brother Yahya did in Hamas’s decision making, it’s doubtful his death will have much impact on hostage-ceasefire talks

A screenshot of an undated video released by the Israel Defense Forces on December 17, 2023, shows Hamas commander Muhammad Sinwar, right, riding in a car traveling through a tunnel under the Gaza Strip. (Screenshot: Israel Defense Forces)

A man walks past a bus inside a crater in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on May 14, 2025. (Photo by Eyad BABA / AFP)

Gazans report new strikes at site where IDF targeted Sinwar, whose fate is still unclear

By Agencies, Emanuel Fabian and ToI Staff

Haredi Jews celebrate Lag B'Omer at Mount Meron on May 8, 2023. (David Cohen/ Flash90)

Major transit shakeups, closures enforced ahead of Lag B’Omer pilgrimage to Mount Meron

By Charlie Summers

Police said set to allow 63,000 celebrants at a time for Thursday’s event at the site, where 45 died in 2021 crowd crush

ToI podcast

What Matters Now to Eurovision mega-fan Tal Dahan: Politics, protests and camp in Basel

By Amanda Borschel-Dan

With an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Eurovision Song Contest, Dahan is onsite to support Israel’s contestant Yuval Raphael — and report back to the Hebrew-language EuroMix fan site

Join The Times of Israel Community!

Help support our journalism and enjoy the site ADS FREE - for as little as $6 a month

JOIN US

Then-US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks about countering antisemitism to a group of prominent Jewish supporters in Washington, on September 19, 2024. (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

Half of US Jewish voters believe Trump is antisemitic, poll finds

By Grace Gilson

Survey also finds share of Jewish voters who feel attached to Israel dropped from 82% to 69% after Oct. 7, and 61% have unfavorable views of Netanyahu

Illustrative: Shelves of books seen at a public library in Eagle, Idaho, Feb. 5, 2024. (AP /Rebecca Boone)

Ohio man checked out books on Jewish history from Cleveland library, then burned them

By Andrew Lapin

FILE - US Senator Jacky Rosen, a Democrat from Nevada, speaks at the Capitol in Washington, January 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, file)

Las Vegas man sentenced to 4 years for threats against Jewish senator

By AP

From the documentary film 'Home is the Ocean' being screened at the DocAviv film festival, May 22-31, 2025 (Credit Ican Films)

Hostages, flamingos and the politics of Jerusalem stone to feature at DocAviv fest

By Jessica Steinberg

Annual documentary film festival hosted at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque will screen dozens of movies about Israel and the world

More Headlines

Family members of Israeli hostages march during the annual Israel Day Parade on Fifth Avenue on June 2, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Former Gaza hostages to march in annual Israel parade in New York City

Pvt. Arthur Gasner (Courtesy)

IDF determines soldier killed in 1949 was buried in Rehovot grave with comrades

By Emanuel Fabian

Illustrative photo of a ritual circumcision (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Belgium’s Jewish community on edge after police raids on illegal circumcisions

United Torah Judaism MK Ya'akov Tessler sits in the Knesset plenum, June 6, 2022. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Coalition bills removed from agenda as Haredi boycott continues for second week

Israeli-founded online trading platform eToro lists on the Nasdaq exchange, May 14, 2025. (Wachiwit/hapabapa via iStock)

Israeli-founded eToro debuts on Nasdaq at $4.3 billion valuation in long-awaited IPO

By Sharon Wrobel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives at court in Tel Aviv on May 12, 2025. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

PM appoints Foreign Ministry director general as temporary Civil Service commissioner

By Jeremy Sharon

Gary Lineker, former England soccer great turned sports TV presenter for BBC, arrives at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, central England on March 11, 2023. (Darren Staples/AFP)

BBC’s main soccer presenter issues apology after antisemitic social media post

Teachers protest as they demand better pay and working conditions at Habima Square in Tel Aviv on May 14, 2025. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

Hundreds of teachers protest for fair pay, better conditions in Tel Aviv

Florida Panthers skates players skate by the team bench and celebrates a goal with teammates during the second period in Game Five of the Second Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 14, 2025. (Claus Andersen/Getty Images/AFP)

US hockey team owner suspended after social media spat with fan over Gaza war

By JTA and ToI Staff

Protesters demonstrate against Israel's war in Gaza on the campus of DePaul University, April 30, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, file)

Chicago theater cancels showing of Oct. 7 documentary, citing ‘safety and well-being’

By Grace Gilson

View Edition by Date

April	May 2025					June
Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa	Su
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31

The Times of Israel

Daily Edition

Free to Your Inbox

The email is either missing or invalid.

By signing up, you agree to our terms You hereby accept The Times of Israel Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, and you agree to receive the latest news & offers from The Times of Israel and its partners or ad sponsors.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Israel & the Region
Jewish Times
Israel Inside
Tech Israel
Real Estate Israel
The Blogs
podcasts
video

terms and conditions
privacy policy
about us
advertise with us
Jobs at The Times of Israel
contact us

Community

Join our community
Sign in

Get the Daily Edition

Enter your email address

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram Follow us on Whatsapp Follow us on X Follow us on Youtube Follow us on Telegram Follow us on Threads Follow us on Bluesky

© 2026 The Times of Israel, all rights reserved

Concept, design & development by

Developed by

Powered by

Never miss breaking news on Israel

Get notifications to stay updated

You're subscribed

Register for free
and continue reading

Registering allows you to manage your newsletters and alerts and helps us improve your experience. It takes just a few seconds.
Already registered? Enter your email to sign in.

Email address

Please use the following structure: example@domain.com

Or Continue with

By registering you agree to the terms and conditions. Once registered, you’ll receive our Daily Edition email for free.

Send me The Times of Israel Daily Edition

Register to continue

Email address

Or Continue with

Log in to continue

Email address

Something went wrong.
Please try again in a few minutes..

Sign in or Register

Email address * Password *

Incorrect password. Please try again or choose an option below.

I forgot my password / Send me a sign in link

Or Continue with

check your email

Check your email

We sent an email to you at .

It has a link that will sign you in.

Click the link in that email to complete your registration.