Day 496 - Likud lawmakers push together for Haredi draft
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 February 2025
⏱️ 21 minutes
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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 Sam Sokol and environmental reporter Sue Surkes join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
Sokol looks at the coalition's struggle over ultra-Orthodox army service exemptions, between those who want to minimize exemptions and those who want to use legislation to create a gradual increase leading to universal enlistment. He discusses a recent Likud lawmaker conference on the subject, that called for a more universal Haredi draft and sanctions on draft dodgers.
In honor of Tu B'Shvat, the Jewish holiday of the trees, Surkes reports on the new Jewish Climate Trust, with heavy involvement from philanthropist Steven Bronfman, of the Canadian Bronfman family. The fund, which is launching next month, will be the first to focus specifically on climate, aiming to help Jewish and Israeli climate organizations build interfaith bridges and regional bridges in the Middle East.
Surkes also speaks about several moshav communities in the south that were attacked by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023. Two are located just outside the designated zone of the Gaza Envelope and are therefore not eligible for the funding necessary to rebuild after the October 7, 2023 attacks.
Please see today's ongoing live blog for more updates.
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
For further reading:
Likud lawmakers hold conference calling for Haredi draft, sanctions on dodgers
Budding climate fund seeks to guide Jewish response to era’s greatest threat
Just 138 yards too far from the Gaza border, towns are denied post-Oct. 7 state support
IMAGE: Haredi men protest and clash with police against the ultra-Orthodox draft on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It's Thursday, February 13th, and I'm |
| 0:09.8 | Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with political correspondent Sam Sokol and environmental |
| 0:14.9 | reporters who Cirks. Hi, good morning to you both. Morning, Jessica. Good morning. Good morning. |
| 0:20.4 | It is day 496 of the war. |
| 0:23.4 | After some flip-flopping on the next steps in the stalled ceasefire, |
| 0:27.6 | Israel told Hamas that the ceasefire can continue if three hostages are freed on Saturday, |
| 0:33.5 | continuing the process of the last weeks. |
| 0:36.1 | Over the last few days, particularly yesterday, Wednesday, |
| 0:39.8 | at least 10 hostage families have received signs of life of their loved ones. That's through the |
| 0:46.3 | three most recently released hostages. But only one of those 10 hostages is on the list of 33 captives |
| 0:52.9 | that Hamas is supposed to release in this |
| 0:55.6 | current first stage of the deal. This morning, protesters are calling for the completion of the |
| 1:00.9 | hostage deal, blocking Tel Aviv's Ayalone Highway, holding up pictures of the skeletal gaunt images |
| 1:07.7 | of the three men released last Saturday in order to demonstrate the urgency of |
| 1:12.7 | continuing and completing every stage of the hostage deal. We'll talk about the latest with |
| 1:19.7 | the Haredi army enlistment issue, what rebuilding looks like in the Gaza envelope area, |
| 1:27.1 | and as it's Chubeshvat, the holiday of the trees, |
| 1:30.4 | some work on the Jewish Climate Trust. Stay with us. We'll be back in a moment. |
| 1:38.6 | We understand the public sentiment. We don't refute it. |
| 1:44.6 | We live within those communities where we operate. |
| 1:47.6 | But at the same time, we always have to balance what's at stake, and that's our ability |
| 1:52.6 | to provide assistance to people. |
... |
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