Day 615 - Will France declare Palestinian state to please Saudis?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.4 • 864 Ratings
🗓️ 12 June 2025
⏱️ 23 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.
US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
Magid offers the latest on the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, with recent reports of staffers killed and perhaps taken captive by Hamas terrorists, as well as the possibility of some 25 Palestinians killed at one of the aid sites. Magid reviews the latest Hamas claims and GHF responses, discussing the confusion in this ongoing initiative.
As the French and Saudis host a UN conference next week advancing a two-state solution, Magid says there is speculation whether France will use it as an opportunity to declare a Palestinian state, making it the most prominent country in the West to do so, while remaining an ally of Israel. Magid says there is still much indecision about the unilateral step, which could interfere with the ongoing hostage negotiations and with concerns about how Israel would react.
Talks with Iran continue, with US President Donald Trump publicly criticizing the Iranian republic for not negotiating seriously. Magid looks at some of the serious steps being taken by the US to shield US personnel in the Middle East, possibly indicating that an attack is coming, either by the US or Israel.
Following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent video statement about possible progress in hostage talks, which was dismissed by others, Magid notes that the recent phone conversation between Trump and Netanyahu points to the US president's intention that the war in Gaza needs to end, despite the Israeli government's interest in contining the military pressure in Gaza.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Gaza aid group says Hamas killed at least 5 local staffers, possibly abducted others
Palestinians say 25 killed near Gaza aid site; IDF says troops fired at threats
MBS attendance at 2-state confab to signal that France will recognize Palestinian state
US slams UN conference on Israel-Palestinian issue, warns of consequences
US begins evacuating Mideast embassies, army bases as Iran nuclear talks come to a head
Trump said to have told Netanyahu to end Gaza war, attacking Iran off limits for now
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: French President Emmanuel Macron, right, speaks with Saudi Arabia's Prime Minister and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud prior to a group photo at an EU-Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Brussels, Belgium, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. It is Thursday, June 12th, and I'm Jessica |
| 0:07.1 | Steinberg. I am speaking today with U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid. Hi, Jacob. Good morning. |
| 0:13.0 | Hey, Jessica. Good to be with you again. Good to be here together with you. It is day 615 of the war. |
| 0:19.9 | The bodies of Yere Ya'iakov and another slain hostage, also from Kupits-N-Nir-Os, were recovered |
| 0:25.4 | by the IDF from Khan Yunus in Gaza yesterday. |
| 0:28.9 | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims significant progress in hostage talks. |
| 0:32.9 | Jacob will talk about that. |
| 0:34.8 | And one of the latest pieces of news is that the opposition bill to disperse |
| 0:39.1 | the Knesset failed to pass its preliminary plenum reading after most of the Haredi, most of the |
| 0:45.5 | ultra-Orthodox lawmakers agreed not to support the proposal. That means that the opposition now |
| 0:51.3 | cannot bring any bills to disperse the Knesset for another six months. |
| 0:56.2 | We will talk about a host of other issues, including the ongoing issues of aid in Gaza, |
| 1:04.1 | recognizing a Palestinian state, as well as what is happening with the talks with Iran, |
| 1:10.0 | and some updates about what is happening with the talks with Iran and some updates about what is happening |
| 1:13.8 | with the hostage talks. Stay with us. |
| 1:20.6 | Tolkien's trilogy was a perfect book to send to a POW W. Very well-defined good and evil, and it was a great escape from the |
| 1:31.7 | physical environment that we were in. It's November 16, 1973, and we're at the military section |
| 1:38.2 | of the Lode airport. A red and white, DC-6 passenger plane lands, and out of it comes a stream of young men. |
| 1:45.4 | Ten men known collectively as Shvuyay Milchameta Atasha, the POWs of the War of Attrition. |
| 1:52.6 | All of them had been held, most of the time together, in an Egyptian prison for more than three |
| 1:57.6 | and a half years. |
| 1:58.7 | So it was very much a kibbutz. |
... |
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