Israel moves to take over biblical sites in West Bank
The Times of Israel Daily Briefing
The Times of Israel
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 36 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.
Settlements reporter Jeremy Sharon and religion reporter Rossella Tercatin join host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.
On Sunday, the cabinet approved the opening of a new land registration process for Area C in the West Bank, some 60 percent of the territory, which it and critics said would enable the state to declare large swaths of land in the territory as available for public development, meaning the creation and expansion of settlements and settlement infrastructure.
Sharon weighs in on the trend of increasing Israeli civilian control of the territory, or de facto annexation, and Tercatin brings the example of legislation that would give the State of Israel control of archaeological sites in territory currently administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, for the first time in three years, representatives of the state and the Jerusalem municipality explained to the High Court why there is a delay in implementing a 2016 government-mandated upgrade to the egalitarian prayer section at the Western Wall and restoring its direct access to the wall itself.
Tercatin updates us on the ongoing saga and Sharon weighs in with the potential legal outcomes.
We finish the program with a new reading of the New Testament's cleansing of the Temple, which brings out Jesus's more human aspects.
Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.
For further reading:
Cabinet OKs new West Bank land registration process, critics decry ‘de-facto annexation’
Local and state government trade blame over delays upgrading Western Wall egalitarian plaza
Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by Ari Schlacht.
IMAGE: Palestinians visit the Roman historical site in the West Bank town of Sebastia, November 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Times of Israel's daily briefing. Today is Wednesday, February 18th. I'm your host, Amanda Borschelle Dan, here in a Jerusalem studio with Settlements reporter Jeremy Sharon and religions reporter Rosela Terkatin. Thank you so much, both of you, for joining me today. Thank you. It's great to be |
| 0:22.5 | here in this beautiful studio. Thank you. And those of you who usually just listen, please check out |
| 0:27.9 | our YouTube and Spotify videos. Jeremy, thanks for gracing us with your presence in our Jerusalem |
| 0:33.5 | studio. Absolutely. It's always good to be on the podcast and even more special to be in this |
| 0:38.2 | brand new studio. Well, welcome, welcome. And today we are going to discuss several topics, |
| 0:43.0 | including Jeremy's new analysis of the de facto steps that our government is taking to annex the |
| 0:50.1 | West Bank. Then we'll hear from Brussels and actually do a little bit of the time warp and go back to a 2017 |
| 0:56.1 | government decision |
| 0:57.9 | to create a permanent |
| 1:00.0 | egalitarian prayer platform |
| 1:02.4 | at the Western Wall. |
| 1:04.5 | And then finally we're going to hear |
| 1:06.2 | what happens when Jesus |
| 1:08.0 | Christ gets hungry. All of this |
| 1:10.6 | and more when we're back. |
| 1:17.0 | This is Israel's story. He could feel the ticking of the clock. On their nightly debrief calls, |
| 1:25.0 | General Segev, the military attaché, was sounding increasingly anxious. |
| 1:30.1 | Both men knew that with each passing day, the window of opportunity was closing. |
| 1:34.9 | The Shah's regime was crumbling, and El Al flights were having ever more trouble landing. |
| 1:39.3 | And then suddenly, Avramkotafonk from Iran. |
| 1:43.3 | It was the prince himself, who said, I'm in a vonkkel from Iran. It was the prince himself who said, |
| 1:45.9 | I'm in a few days leaving the country because there is a revolution here. |
... |
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