Day 465 - Israel anxiously awaits possible hostage deal news
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 13 January 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
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.
Political correspondent Tal Schneider and reporter Diana Bletter join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
Tensions are high in Israel over the possibility of a proposed hostage deal. Schneider discusses the Sunday phone conversation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden regarding the negotiations. She also reviews which Israeli officials are currently in Doha, along with Steve Witkoff, President-elect Donald Trump's Middle East envoy.
Schneider says Netanyahu met with coalition leaders Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, as the prime minister needs those two powerful coalition partners on board to approve any hostage deal.
Bletter talks about her visits to two northern kibbutz communities where residents have been evacuated for more than a year and now have to decide what the future holds for them.
She also discusses a Weizmann Institute study about ants, and their ability to work well as a team, unlike their human counterparts.
For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.
Discussed articles include:
Biden stresses ‘immediate need’ for hostage-truce deal in call with Netanyahu
Netanyahu dispatches top negotiators to Qatar talks amid push to seal hostage deal
PM to meet with Smotrich to gauge support for a potential hostage deal — report
Inside the Lebanon-border closed military zone, kibbutz members prepare to start over
Ants have more ‘group smarts’ than humans, Israeli study finds
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Podwaves.
IMAGE: People walking next to a poster of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, 'We won't stop until they're all released!' in Jerusalem, January 12, 2025 ( Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Monday, January 13th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with political correspondent Tal Schneider and reporter and health editor, Diana Bledder. Hi, good morning. |
| 0:18.5 | Good morning, Jessica. Hi, Jessica. Hi there. It is day 465 of the war. |
| 0:25.2 | To the north of Israel, the IDF said it struck several Chzbollah targets last night as part of its |
| 0:30.1 | efforts to remove any threats to Israel. And meanwhile, over in Lebanon, the new Lebanese president is |
| 0:36.4 | working on naming a new prime |
| 0:38.0 | minister. We'll talk about what life could look like or looks like right now for evacuees |
| 0:43.8 | from the north, and also reviews the very latest in the possibly pending hostage deal as |
| 0:49.8 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with outgoing President Joe Biden yesterday. Those and several |
| 0:56.2 | other details, all after a quick break. So stay with us. |
| 1:02.6 | What if we could protect Israel with autonomous airborne devices, lasers, robots, and cyber |
| 1:08.8 | technologies? We can, because of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, |
| 1:14.5 | the Technion empowers brilliant innovators to make technological discoveries that keep Israel safe. |
| 1:20.3 | From the Iron Dome to the soon-to-come Iron Beam, to vital cybersecurity, |
| 1:25.3 | Technion alumni are leading projects that protect Israelis and will reestablish |
| 1:29.7 | the country's military deterrence. Be part of Israel's future at ats.org slash what if. That is |
| 1:34.3 | ats.org slash what if. |
| 1:40.3 | Okay, so tell, let's get started on the hostage deal front. We've got the countdown to January 20th |
| 1:47.7 | in one week, very tense, as everyone considers the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, |
| 1:55.5 | who said that there will be, quote, held to pay if there's no hostage deal by the time of his |
| 2:00.5 | assuming the presidency. And so pay if there's no hostage deal by the time of his assuming the presidency. |
| 2:02.6 | And so meanwhile, there's these ongoing negotiations, and Netanyahu and Biden had what is presumably their final call of Biden's presidency, |
| 2:12.1 | and more pointedly, spoke about progress or presumed progress in the hostage deal negotiations. What are you hearing, |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from The Times of Israel, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of The Times of Israel and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.