Day 837 - Tragic deaths of 2 Haredi babies fuels fury against IDF draft
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 January 2026
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ 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.
Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
Dozens of world leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin, received an invitation over the past week to sit on US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. The US is aiming to hold the board’s first meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. In the meantime, various countries have reacted to their invitations to Thursday’s signing ceremony in Davos, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron. Horovitz fills us in on international responses, including shades of daylight between Netanyahu and Trump.
In the hours after two babies lost their lives in an unlicensed and massively overcrowded daycare in the ultra-Orthodox Romema neighborhood of Jerusalem on Monday, Haredi leaders blamed the tragedy on the state and the legislative efforts to draft young men of the community. Two infants died and 53 babies and toddlers were injured to varying degrees in the incident. We speak about the avoidable nature of the tragedy, which, because of the prevalence of unsupervised daycare, could occur in any Israeli community at any time.
And finally, regular listeners of The Daily Briefing will have missed their weekly dose of David Horovitz, who is just back from a three-week trip in Japan. We hear observations.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Trump to hold Board of Peace signing ceremony in Davos, but participants may be limited
PM vows no Qatari, Turkish troops in Gaza after countries given role on oversight body
Smotrich calls to shutter US-led Gaza coordination center, resettle Strip
Netanyahu invited to Trump’s Gaza Board of Peace alongside European, Mideast leaders
Haredi leaders blame babies’ deaths on state’s push to draft ultra-Orthodox men
2 babies die in incident at unlicensed Jerusalem daycare; 3 caregivers detained
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IMAGE: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men block a road and clash with police during a protest sparked by the deaths of two babies in an unauthorized daycare in Jerusalem, January 19, 2026. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. |
| 0:06.4 | Today is Tuesday, January 20th, day 837 of the war. |
| 0:11.8 | I'm Amanda Borchelle Dan here with our editor, David Horowitz. |
| 0:15.8 | David, thank you so much for joining me today for my Jerusalem office. |
| 0:19.4 | Hey, Amanda, how you doing? |
| 0:20.5 | I'm well. |
| 0:21.9 | In Jerusalem yesterday, two infants and dozens were injured in an incident in an unsupervised |
| 0:28.4 | daycare facility in a Haredi neighborhood. |
| 0:31.9 | We'll discuss what led up to this unsupervised facility operating and the aftermath of the tragedy. |
| 0:40.0 | On Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump is set to hold a signing ceremony for his Board of |
| 0:45.9 | Peace. Dozens of invitations were sent out with the task of Bring Your Own Billion to the |
| 0:51.9 | party, and we'll hear which countries are set to appear. |
| 0:55.7 | And finally, regular listeners of the daily briefing will have noticed that our editor, |
| 1:00.1 | David Horowitz, did not give his weekly dose of wisdom over the past several weeks. |
| 1:05.3 | He was in Japan, and we will hear observations. |
| 1:08.8 | All of this and more when we're back. |
| 1:15.3 | This is Israel's story. |
| 1:18.6 | He could feel the ticking of the clock. |
| 1:21.4 | On their nightly debrief calls, |
| 1:23.2 | General Segev, the military at Dishay, |
| 1:25.3 | was sounding increasingly anxious. |
| 1:28.4 | Both men knew that with each passing day, the window of opportunity was closing. |
... |
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