Day 708 - Haviv Rettig Gur: Did Israel 'break the rules' in Qatar strike
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 13 September 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with senior analyst Haviv Rettig Gur.
There are still lots of questions and not a lot of answers after a bold Israeli airstrike targeted a meeting of Hamas’s top leaders in Qatar’s capital, Doha, on Tuesday. According to some reports, the leadership had gathered to discuss a new US-sponsored hostage-ceasefire proposal aimed at ending the war in Gaza. At publication, reports still differ as to whether the attack was successful.
And just before recording on Wednesday, the IDF confirmed it had carried out strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, saying it struck military camps where operatives were gathered, the headquarters of the terror group’s propaganda division, and a fuel depot, in both Sanaa and in the al-Jawf area north of the capital.
Borschel-Dan asks Rettig Gur: Is Israel acting like an unpredictable "Middle Easterner" to restore deterrence on all fronts?
In a quick-take conversation, we hear why Rettig Gur doesn't put much weight into diplomatic theatrics as Israel fights its existential war against the Hamas terror group that launched the war on October 7, 2023.
We ask: What does it mean to fail in a daring op? Has Israel burned all of its allies' goodwill?
And so this week, we ask Haviv Rettig Gur, what matters now?
What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.
Illustrative image: The Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Astana, Kazakhstan, October 13, 2022. (Vyacheslav Prokofyev, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's What Matters Now, a weekly dive into one topic affecting Israel and the Jewish world right now. |
| 0:11.3 | I'm your host, deputy editor Amanda Borschal Dan, here with our senior analyst Chaviv Rettigur. |
| 0:17.2 | Chaviv, it's been a long time since we've been together on the podcast and I've missed you so. How are you doing, my friend? Good. Yeah, as the kids say, it's been a minute. I'm good. I'm actually traveling at the moment, so it's, you know, tired and jet lagged and all that. But things are okay. Things that we're trying to understand what the heck's happening in Qatar. What the heck is happening in Qatar and elsewhere? |
| 0:39.7 | And really, there are a lot of questions and still not a lot of answers after what happened |
| 0:45.2 | yesterday, which was a bold airstrike targeting a meeting of Hamas's top leaders in Doha. |
| 0:51.9 | And according to some reports, the leadership had gathered to discuss a new |
| 0:57.2 | U.S.-sponsored ceasefire slash hostage-release negotiated deal. And the proposal was aimed at ending |
| 1:04.9 | the war in Gaza. At recording time, reports still differ as to whether the attack was even successful. |
| 1:12.6 | We know that some were killed. |
| 1:13.9 | We don't know exactly who. |
| 1:16.1 | And to muddy the waters even further, just before we began recording, the IDF confirmed |
| 1:22.1 | that it had carried out strikes against the Houthis, yet again in Yemen, |
| 1:27.1 | saying that it struck military camps |
| 1:28.8 | where operatives were gathered at the headquarters of the troops' propaganda division. |
| 1:34.9 | So I think the main thrust of all my questions to you today, Kaviv, which we will discuss |
| 1:41.3 | after the break is, are Israelis finally acting like Middle Easterners? |
| 1:47.3 | So we're going to talk about all of this and more when we're back. |
| 1:56.5 | Looking to make your high holidays more meaningful? |
| 1:59.7 | This September, join Lamdanudanu's free, online Zoom classes, open to women and men at |
| 2:06.4 | lambdanil.org and explore the holiday prayers and Torah readings with top teachers from all over the world. |
| 2:13.1 | And don't miss our daily classes all year round. |
| 2:16.4 | Every Monday, dive into Saffabray shit with Dean Rachel Friedman, and jump into Torah commentators |
... |
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