Day 790 - Israel and Lebanon hold rare direct talks as conflict heads toward brink
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 18 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.
After Israel and Lebanon held direct talks on Wednesday in the presence of US envoy Morgan Ortagus, Magid remarks on the rare contact between the two countries. The US aims to prevent the expansion of Israeli operations in Lebanon during the ongoing ceasefire, while Israel wants to ensure that Hezbollah is not able to rearm.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reportedly weighed in on Jewish settler violence against Palestinian villagers, and Magid notes the premier's insistence on redirecting the so-called hilltop youth's criminal tendencies via educational efforts rather than using security measures or imprisonment. Netanyahu also discussed legalizing certain West Bank outposts in light of their role in preventing Palestinian land grabs in Area C.
Last month, the Trump administration shelved the idea of sanctions on Palestinian Authority leaders, after PA Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas fired his finance minister when it was discovered that illicit "pay to slay" payments were still being made to Palestinian security prisoners. Magid talks about the White House decision, and its sense of satisfaction with the development.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Officials from Israel and Lebanon hold first direct talks in decades in Naqoura
Netanyahu said to back recognition of illegal farming outposts in West Bank
Social equality minister roundly panned for plan to divert Arab economic development funds
US shelved sanctions on PA leaders after Abbas fired minister over prisoner payments
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IMAGE: FILE - A helicopter flies over a base of the U.N. peacekeeping force, in the southern town of Naqoura, Lebanon on Oct. 14, 2020. The French oil giant Total said Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022 it will soon launch exploration activities in search for gas in the Mediterranean off Lebanon's coast following last month's historic deal between Lebanon and Israel on their maritime border. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein, File)
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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, December 4th, and I'm Jessica Steinberg. |
| 0:09.3 | I'm speaking today with U.S. Bureau Chief Jacob Magid. How you doing, Jacob? Hi, Jessica. Good to be with you again. |
| 0:14.8 | Always good to be with you often on Thursdays. It is day 789 of the war. As we record today's podcast, five soldiers were reported |
| 0:25.4 | wounded in Rafa and Gaza, once seriously. We are also awaiting the final identification of the |
| 0:33.3 | body of an apparent hostage body that was returned to Israel on Wednesday evening to determine |
| 0:40.2 | if it is indeed Ron Gvili or Suthysak Renzalek. And obviously we'll keep on reporting on that |
| 0:48.4 | if it is one of them. In the meantime, we'll talk about the first direct talks in decades between |
| 0:54.1 | Israel and Lebanon, |
| 0:55.8 | the Prime Minister's support for illegal outposts in the West Bank, and the latest on U.S. |
| 1:03.1 | shelving sanctions for the Palestinian Authority, with a scoop from Jacob on that, so stay with us. |
| 1:16.6 | Thank you. from Jacob on that, so stay with us. Okay, on Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon had their first direct talks in decades. |
| 1:23.3 | Israel was represented. |
| 1:24.8 | The U.S. also had a special representative, Morgan Ortegis, the U.S. |
| 1:29.9 | Special Representative for Lebanon, heading the U.S. delegation. And Lebanon was represented by former |
| 1:36.1 | ambassador to the U.S. Simon Karam. This was all unfolding on Wednesday, Jacob. |
| 1:42.9 | And, you know, there was this insistence that it is certainly not peace talks, |
| 1:46.9 | that it is just essentially direct talks. Tell us what that's all about, please. |
| 1:52.0 | Right. So you have on the one side, Israel, who is always trying to advance the Abraham Accords, |
| 1:58.4 | even if it's just in name only, by talking about that this is the start |
| 2:03.1 | of a process with Lebanon. And on the Lebanese side, of course, the Prime Minister in Noaf Salam |
| 2:08.9 | tries to argue no. This is just very far from diplomatic normalization. We're just trying to |
| 2:14.6 | implement the terms of the ceasefire. The mechanism that's been in place has been a bit shaky. |
... |
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