Day 493 - Netanyahu has Trump's support but what's his game plan?

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.


Times of Israel founding editor David
Horovitz joins host
Jessica Steinberg for today's episode.


With the return to Israel of the three most recently released
hostages, several hostage families are receiving the first signs
of life from their loved ones, including hostage Alon Ohel.
Horovitz discusses the heartbreaking descriptions shared by Idit
Ohel, Alon Ohel's mother, on the Sunday night news. Ohel broke
down crying as she described her son's injuries and abuses, now
known by the family as Ohel was held until Saturday with released
hostages Or Levy and Eli Sharabi.


Horovitz talks about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's return
home to Israel, where he and his cabinet summarily postponed the
discussion of convening a state commission of inquiry into the
failures that led to the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack, a
commission that would presumably cause his government to fall.


Horovitz also reviews Netanyahu's reactions to US President
Donald Trump's ideas about the Gaza Strip, a plan that the prime
minister seemingly didn't know about before arriving in the US
last week, and how Trump's support of Israel is pushing Netanyahu
forward on his goals in Gaza.


Please see today's ongoing live blog for more
updates.


Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on Apple
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podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves.


For further reading:


Pleading for his release, mother says hostage Alon Ohel
is wounded, chained in Hamas tunnels


At rowdy meeting, cabinet delays for 3 months decision on
state inquiry into Gaza war


PM returns to court for criminal trial testimony, says he
faces medical ‘challenges’


Trump’s ‘Extreme Makeover: Gaza Edition’ has many flaws.
One of the worst is its absent morality


IMAGE: In Kfar Saba in February 2025, a protestor holding images
of hostages, Tsahi Idan, left, included in the first stage of the
exchange, while hostage Alon Ohel, right, is not (Credit: Danor
Aharon)


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