Day 622 - Iran hits Israeli hospital, will US join the fray?

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

News

4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2025

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ 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.

US bureau chief Jacob Magid joins host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.

Following the early morning Iranian rocket attack that directly hit Beersheba's Soroka Medical Center and buildings in Ramat Gan and Holon, Magid discusses the likelihood of the US getting involved in the Israel-Iran conflict. He notes that the stance of US President Donald Trump regarding US involvement has shifted dramatically in recent days, moving from very unlikely to highly possible.

Magid also discusses how Republican support for Israel is divided on the issue of the US intervention in the Iranian conflict, with some Republican politicians making it clear that they support the steps that Israel has taken, while others are against the US getting involved in a conflict far from US soil.

As 85 trucks of humanitarian aid entered Gaza on Wednesday, Magid discusses the ongoing challenges of aid distribution being handled by the Israeli-US Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

He also talks about the latest offer for hostage negotiations, as Egypt offers to host representatives of Israel and Hamas in Sharm el-Sheikh, which is accessible for the Israeli team, given the closure of Israel's airports during the Iran conflict.

Israel believes that its strikes against Iran will help in talks with Hamas to reach a ceasefire deal, says Magid.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

‘Nobody knows what I’m going to do’: Trump won’t say whether he’ll strike Iran

Trump speaks with Netanyahu and advisers as he weighs strike on Iran

Trump demands Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender,’ says US won’t kill Khamenei ‘for now’

Netanyahu says Israel won’t rule out killing Khamenei: It would ‘end the conflict’

US embassy working on plans to evacuate citizens seeking to leave Israel

Egypt pushing to host hostage talks, but Israel holding off 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.

IMAGE: Smoke rises from where a ballistic missile fired from Iran hit Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, June 19, 2025 (Credit: Dudu Greenspan/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 Visual's Daily Briefing. It's Thursday, June 19th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. I'm speaking today with U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid. Hi, Jacob.
0:11.8	Hey, Jessica. Good to be with you again. Glad we're here together. It is day 622 of the war. We started recording this about 50 minutes ago and an Iranian missile attack spread sirens
0:24.7	across Israel. That early morning, rocket attack included a direct hit on Soroka Hospital in
0:30.3	Bersheva and in Tel Aviv, and obviously we'll keep on following what happened in those two
0:36.1	spots. This morning, the IDF is telling Iranians to evacuate the area of the Iraq reactor as it carries out strikes on Tehran.
0:44.8	We'll discuss the U.S. role in all of this, as well as reactions in the U.S., including President Donald Trump's Iranian policy.
0:53.1	The Republicans split on Iran, the Democrats' interest in all of this,
0:57.1	as well as what is happening with the ongoing aid situation in Gaza, and hostage talks.
1:02.9	Stay with us.
1:10.4	Nothing has given me such delight as the proposal to establish a Hebrew university in Jerusalem.
1:16.0	More than a century has passed since Albert Einstein wrote this in his diary.
1:20.6	A century of cutting-edge research and innovation at Israel's leading academic institution
1:25.5	that Einstein, alongside many other luminaries, helped
1:29.3	establish. Join me, Gilad Halpern, for The View from Mount Scopus, a podcast series exploring
1:35.2	the past, present and future of the Hebrew University. The View from Mount Scopus, available
1:40.7	wherever you get your podcasts.
1:53.3	Music available wherever you get your podcasts Okay, so Jacob rewind to where we were a little while ago.
1:57.5	We were discussing the headline on our front page yelling,
2:00.0	nobody knows what I'm going to do,
2:02.5	Trump's words on whether he will strike Iran,
2:08.0	whether the U.S. will enter the fray. What are you hearing? So I would say we're heading in the direction of a direct U.S. intervention if you take President Trump at its, at his word.
2:15.2	And we've seen quite a remarkable shift in the past week but also if
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 13 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

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.