Day 814 - Will $35 billion gas deal with Egypt hike electricity costs?
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 28 December 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.
Tech editor Sharon Wrobel and archaeology reporter Rossella Tercatin join host Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.
After Israel signed a $35 billion gas deal with Egypt this month, Wrobel discusses the geopolitical and business pressures that brought about the agreement, including pressure to lower domestic electricity prices during the upcoming election year, with the possibility that the deal will bring about a shortage of natural gas and eventually, higher prices within a decade.
Tercatin discusses an archaeological finding of a mold used to manufacture tiny flasks 1,500 years ago, the first time a mold of that kind has been found in Israel.
She also discusses scholarly research regarding whether there was an Israelite kingdom, combining archaeological discoveries with biblical scholarship.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
As major Egypt gas deal burns through reserves, public will end up paying the price
Forget keychains, Byzantine pilgrims took home ‘souvenir’ flasks, newly found mold shows
Despite academic battle royal, a new book returns David’s kingdom to its place in history
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IMAGE: Israel's Leviathan gas field gas processing rig as seen from Dor Habonim Beach Nature Reserve, on January 1, 2020. (Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, welcome to the Times of Israel's Daily Briefing. Today is Sunday, December 28th, and I'm Jessica |
| 0:09.8 | Steinberg. I'm speaking today with our tech editor Sharon Robel and archaeology reporter Rosela Turkotin. |
| 0:17.9 | Hello, good morning, Chavua Tov to both. |
| 0:20.8 | Shavuto. Good morning, Chuatov. Hi there. It is day 814 of the war. As Prime Minister |
| 0:28.3 | Benjamin Netanyahu departs for the U.S. to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump in his |
| 0:33.2 | Florida Mar-Alogo estate, the Iranian and Q Katarian foreign ministers spoke and called for a pressure |
| 0:40.0 | on Israel over alleged Israeli ceasefire violations in Lebanon and Gaza. In other news, an extremist |
| 0:48.2 | ultra-Orthodox group says it will hold a nationwide protest today on Sunday afternoon, |
| 0:53.5 | demonstrating against the Qaridi Sunday afternoon, demonstrating against the |
| 0:54.9 | Qaridi military draft, and on the weatherfront, there are very heavy downpours across Israel, |
| 1:01.1 | causing flash flooding in some parts of the south. We, however, will look at some other headlines |
| 1:06.6 | today, including the 35 billion gas deal that Israel signed with Egypt earlier this month, |
| 1:13.8 | as well as Byzantine pilgrims and the Kingdom of David. So stay with us. |
| 1:25.1 | This episode is brought to you by the Jewish Communal Fund, the largest and most active Jewish donor-advised fund in the country. |
| 1:33.5 | What is a donor-advised fund? Think of it as a personal, charitable investment account. |
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| 1:59.0 | In fact, JCP fundholders granted over $1 billion to charities they |
| 2:04.8 | care about in 2025 alone. With new tax legislation on the horizon for 2026, now is the optimal |
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