Day 587 - Trump embraces his 'strongest' Mideast partner. It's not Israel
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2025
⏱️ 24 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.
Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today’s episode.
US President Donald Trump is still in the region and is visiting the United Arab Emirates today. After landmark deals in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, we discuss what may come out of the UAE trip — and the entire trip’s resonance for Israel, including Trump’s new relationship with Syria.
We begin by discussing a half-hour meetup in Riyadh with Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump announced the US was lifting sanctions on the country the previous day and urged Syria to join the Abraham Accords normalizing relations with Israel. It was the first encounter between leaders of the countries in 25 years. We hear how Israel views this budding relationship.
In Qatar, Trump signed an agreement with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that will “generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion,” the White House said. The announcement came as negotiations kicked off in Doha over a potential hostage-ceasefire deal with the Hamas terror group. Horovitz describes how Israel was not apart of the Trump visit, yet Israeli representatives are currently in the country in a renewed US push to negotiate an end to the war.
To end the program, we speak about Israel’s approaching participation in tonight’s Eurovision semifinal. Horovitz describes the antipathy already experienced by Yuval Raphael, Israel’s 2025 contestant, who survived the Nova festival massacre on October 7, 2023.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Woman en route to hospital to give birth killed in West Bank terror shooting
Hailing Syria, arming Saudis, dealing with Iran and Houthis, Trump relegates Israeli concerns
Trump puts an American First, and Israel rejoices
Trump urges Syria’s Sharaa to join Abraham Accords, praises him as ‘attractive, tough guy’
Hostage talks kick off in Doha, but PM’s insistence on not ending war curbs optimism
Trump, in Qatar, announces ‘record’ deals with Gulf State for US planes, drone tech
Trump says Israel is not sidelined by his Gulf trip: ‘This is very good for Israel’
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 and video edited by Thomas Girsch.
IMAGE: US President Donald Trump 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)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. Today is Thursday, May 15th, day 587 of the war. I'm Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our editor, David Horowitz, in our Jerusalem office. Hi, David. Thanks for joining me today. |
| 0:17.4 | Hey, Amanda. |
| 0:18.1 | U.S. President Donald Trump is still in the region and on his way to the United Arab Emirates |
| 0:23.8 | today. |
| 0:24.5 | We will discuss what has been happening in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar and how all of this reflects |
| 0:29.6 | Israel. |
| 0:30.7 | We are the times of Israel, after all. |
| 0:32.8 | After that, we will discuss what is happening currently with the hostage release, ceasefire |
| 0:37.1 | negotiations, and more when we're back. |
| 0:44.6 | Hey everyone, it's Jonathan Schwab, host of Jewish history nerds with my friend and colleague, Yal Steiner. |
| 0:50.4 | We are so excited to announce that we're back for our fourth season. Every week, we nerd out on a fascinating topic from Jewish history. |
| 0:57.8 | We're not historians, but we are fired up about learning. |
| 1:01.0 | This season, we're focusing on symbols and objects, all with amazing stories and meaning. |
| 1:05.9 | So join us for new episodes every Thursday. |
| 1:08.4 | Subscribe to Jewish History Nerds wherever you get your podcast and check out |
| 1:12.2 | unpacked.media. |
| 1:17.9 | A Palestinian terrorist opened fire on Israeli vehicles last night in the Northern West Bank, |
| 1:24.1 | striking a pregnant woman who was en route to hospital to give birth. Her baby was |
| 1:29.5 | born via a cesarean section and is now in immediate intensive care, and the woman, unfortunately, |
| 1:36.2 | Ceela Gez, a 30-year-old, was killed. Let's move on to U.S. President Donald Trump, who is now in |
| 1:42.9 | the region. He landed in Saudi Arabia to |
| 1:45.7 | much fanfare, and indeed he has been greeted by fanfare wherever he's gone, and I'm sure he will |
... |
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