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ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 616

Sam Sokol

Sam Sokol

Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Rabbi Kalman Ber attends a vote for the new Chief Ashkenazi rabbi, at the Chief Rabbinate headquarters in Jerusalem, October 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
June 13, 2025, 1:50 pm
Chief rabbis call on public to adhere to IDF guidelines, stay home from synagogues
Shas party’s ruling Council of Torah Sages calls on Israelis to pray and for yeshiva students to increase their Torah study, without specifying if people should adhere to rules
By Rossella Tercatin and Sam Sokol
Defense Minister Israel Katz (left) and Shas chairman Aryeh Deri speak in the Knesset, December 31, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
June 13, 2025, 5:29 am
Why did the Haredim agree to an enlistment plan containing sanctions?
Shas, Degel Hatorah chose to support new outline containing scaled back sanctions in an effort to ‘buy time’ in the face of a pending wave of IDF conscription orders, say experts
By Sam Sokol
United Torah Judaism chairman Yitzchak Goldknopf attends a faction meeting in the Knesset, May 19 , 2025. (Oren Ben Hakoon/Flash90)
June 12, 2025, 5:21 pm
UTJ’s Goldknopf resigns from cabinet after Knesset fails to pass dissolution bill
Chairman of ultra-Orthodox party says enlistment compromise fails to live up to PM’s promises, says he can ‘no longer take part as a member of this government’
By Sam Sokol
UTJ lawmakers Ya'akov Tessler and Moshe Gafni attend a vote on the proposal to dissolve the Knesset, Jerusalem, June 12, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
June 12, 2025, 12:36 pm
After compromise, Haredi parties back off threat to dissolve Knesset and trigger elections
Opposition goes ahead with doomed vote in bid to strip leverage from Shas and UTJ, who had warned they would support toppling of government unless it backed friendly IDF draft bill
By Sam Sokol and Stuart Winer
Argentinian President Javier Milei laughs as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a special Knesset plenum session in honor of the visiting South American leader, June 11, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 11, 2025, 10:16 pm
Milei, visiting Knesset, says Argentina to move its embassy to Jerusalem in 2026
Argentinian president warmly welcomed by Netanyahu, Ohana and Lapid, who all praise his pro-Israel stance, welcome him as a ‘true friend’
By Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
Knesset member Aryeh Deri looks at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a vote on the state budget at the Knesset in Jerusalem, March 13, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
June 11, 2025, 5:51 pm
Coalition scrambles for deal with Haredim ahead of preliminary vote to dissolve Knesset
Shas said to be pressuring Degel Hatorah to give Netanyahu more time; no agreement has been reached yet, says Knesset legal adviser Sagit Afik
By Sam Sokol
MK Yuli Edelstein, chair of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, in the Knesset, Jerusalem, on June 4, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 11, 2025, 10:32 am
Knesset passes law requiring government to set a national security policy
Bipartisan legislation mandates formulation of strategy in consultation with ministries, intelligence agencies and other government bureaus, saying lack of doctrine helped enable Oct. 7
By Sam Sokol
United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni speaks with Shas chairman Aryeh Deri in the Knesset plenum, June 11, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 10, 2025, 8:15 pm
Despite harsh rhetoric, Shas still seeks to avoid dissolution of Knesset
Ultra-Orthodox party’s chairman, Aryeh Deri, hopes last-minute talks with Netanyahu and Edelstein will yield enough progress to convince rabbis ‘to request a postponement’
By Sam Sokol
Religious Zionism party party chief Bezalel Smotrich (right) and Otzma Yehudit party chief Itamar Ben Gvir are seen during a vote at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on December 28, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
June 10, 2025, 7:36 pm
UK, Canada and 3 other nations sanction Ben Gvir and Smotrich over settler violence
Far-right ministers slam travel ban, assets freeze by UK, Canada, Australia, Norway, New Zealand; FM calls measures ‘outrageous’
By Lazar Berman, Sam Sokol, ToI Staff and Jacob Magid
Shas party chairman and Interior Affairs Minister, Aryeh Deri, casts his ballot at a voting station in Jerusalem, during the Knesset Elections, on March 02, 2020 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 9, 2025, 9:28 pm
How likely are the Haredim to actually topple the government — and what comes next?
With Shas and UTJ using the threat of elections to pressure Netanyahu for concessions on enlistment issue, coalition insider puts chances of Knesset dissolving during summer session at 20%
By Sam Sokol
From left to right: Labor MK Gilad Kariv at the Knesset, in Jerusalem, on June 9, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) and Likud MK Galit Distel Atbaryan at the Knesset on July 17, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 9, 2025, 9:08 pm
‘The Jews here want to continue’: Likud MK kicks Reform rabbi out of Knesset hearing
Labor MK Gilad Kariv states women can wrap tefillin, prompting outrage from Distel Atbaryan, who appears to compare act to giving dog a bar mitzvah
By Michael Horovitz, Sam Sokol and ToI Staff
The entrance to the Shas party offices in Jerusalem on June 4, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
June 9, 2025, 4:13 pm
Shas to back preliminary vote to dissolve Knesset, citing stalled draft exemption law
Spokesperson for ultra-Orthodox party says it’s ‘disappointed with Netanyahu,’ as its rabbinical leaders insist no community members be conscripted into army
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
Shas party leader Aryeh Deri and spiritual leader Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef visit the scene of suspected arson and vandalism at a Jerusalem synagogue on June 8, 2025. (Photo by Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 9, 2025, 3:12 pm
Daily Briefing June 9: Day 612 – Will Shas bring down the coalition?
Political correspondent Sam Sokol on Haredi parties’ bids for draft exemptions threatening the government; archaeology reporter Rossella Tercatin on new studies on the Bible and Dead Sea Scrolls
By Jessica Steinberg, Sam Sokol and Rossella Tercatin
Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen attends a menorah-lighting ceremony on the sixth night of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, at the Great Synagogue in Tel Aviv, December 30, 2024. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)
June 8, 2025, 7:20 pm
Ex-Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said considering forming new party before next election
Cohen reportedly received offers to join existing factions but is inclined to go his own way; ex-PM Bennett, ahead in polls, completes registration for new party
By ToI Staff and Sam Sokol
L: MK Gadi Eisenkot attends a National Unity faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 26, 2025. (Noam Revkin Fenton/Flash90); R: National Unity Party Leader MK Benny Gantz leads a faction meeting at the Knesset in Jerusalem, on May 5, 2025. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
June 8, 2025, 7:20 pm
Gantz’s National Unity to hold primaries in coming months, as support down in polls
Announcement comes days ahead of possible preliminary vote to dissolve the Knesset, and as surveys show support for Gantz’s number two, Gadi Eisenkot, to take party helm
By Sam Sokol
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