Day 685 - The surreal timing of nations' recognition of Palestine

The Times of Israel Daily Briefing

The Times of Israel

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4.4 • 864 Ratings

🗓️ 21 August 2025

⏱️ 28 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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

This morning, Hamas released a statement saying that Israel’s military plans to conquer Gaza City show its “blatant disregard” for efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the nearly two-year conflict. As Israel continues to weigh the partial, phased truce proposal accepted by the terror group on Sunday, we hear about the various forms of backlash faced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu -- for both the Gaza City op and for the possibility of ending the war without achieving all war goals.

As a slew of nations announce their potential readiness to recognize a Palestinian state in September, a recent poll found that 58 percent of Americans believe that every country in the United Nations should recognize Palestine as a nation. The issue of a “two-state solution” couldn’t be farther from most Israelis’ minds. Horovitz delves into why the flirting with recognizing Palestine — now, during this war — is drawing such passion from the Israeli leadership, notably Netanyahu in his dealings with his Australian counterpart.

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

For further reading:

As Egypt presses Israel on truce proposal, PM pushes ahead with Gaza City operation

Trump’s moment: How the US president can help Netanyahu make the wise choice on Gaza

Poll shows most Americans back Palestine recognition, view Israel’s Gaza war as excessive

Australia pans Netanyahu: ‘Strength not measured by how many people you can blow up’

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Adina Karpuj.

Members of the Global Movement for Palestine wave a giant Palestine flag during a rally against Israel and the ongoing food shortages in the Gaza Strip, in Mexico City on August 17, 2025. (Yuri CORTEZ / AFP)

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. Today's Thursday, August 21st, day 685 of the war.
0:14.2	Amanda Borsel, Dan here with our editor, David Horowitz, in our Jerusalem offices. Thanks for joining me, David.
0:19.5	Hey, Amanda.
0:20.0	Israel is reportedly still weighing the phased hostage-release deal accepted by Hamas on Sunday.
0:26.9	David will fill us in on what is happening in terms of political backing and backlash,
0:31.6	even as Israel seems set to continue with the Gaza city takeover.
0:36.6	Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is escalating.
0:39.4	The personal attacks on his Australian counterpart.
0:42.4	We'll hear about Israel's sinking relationship with Down Under.
0:46.6	All of this and more when we're back.
0:58.0	I'm Amanda Borchelle Don here with our editor, David Horvitz. Hamas said this morning that Israel's military plans to conquer Gaza City show its blatant
1:03.7	disregard for efforts to broker a ceasefire and hostage-release deal.
1:08.6	The announcement, quote, by the terrorist occupation army of the start
1:12.6	of an operation against Gaza City and its nearly 1 million residents in displaced persons
1:18.4	displays a blatant disregard for the efforts made by the mediators. So far, Israel is said to be
1:25.2	weighing the truth's proposal. And in the meantime, what kind of backlash is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing?
1:32.9	Well, there's a huge debate in Israel and a huge disagreement in Israel about whether the insistence to date on going ahead with this security cabinet approved expansion of the war invasion of
1:46.4	Gaza City is a good idea or not. The chief of staff of the Army, not publicly but privately
1:52.7	opposed it, is concerned that going into Gaza City puts the lives of the hostages at
1:58.8	risk and at risk and will cost soldiers lives as well,
2:03.3	but has raised his objections behind closed doors in the appropriate forum and having been
2:09.6	overruled, essentially, entirely legitimately is gearing up for this operation, tens of thousands
	...

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