Daily Briefing June 30: 11th-hour drama as the Knesset officially disbands, finally

Welcome to The Times of Israel’s Daily Briefing, your 15-minute audio update on what’s happening in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, from Sunday through Thursday.

Political correspondent Carrie Keller-Lynn and religion reporter Judah Ari Gross join host Amanda Borschel-Dan on today’s episode.

By recording time Thursday morning, the 24th Knesset has just finished voting to disband. When is Israel set to vote?

There were a few outstanding issues that held up the breakup of the government and led to last-minute drama during the voting. Which pieces of legislation got left out in the cold?

Foreign Minister Yair Lapid will officially become prime minister at midnight tonight. What does the future hold for Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and his Yamina party?

The Maccabiah Games will be held across Israel from July 12 to 26. Some 10,000 Jewish athletes from about 60 countries are expected to compete in dozens of sports. Gross explains which countries will not be sending official delegations and why.

In a way to bring Judaism to the masses, Ruthy Leviev, the daughter of Russian billionaire diamond merchant Lev Leviev, reportedly paid secular Israeli female social media stars tens of thousands of shekels each to promote Jewish ritual purity laws that relate to menstruation. Gross delves into the fallout.

Discussed articles include:

Knesset disbands, sets elections for November 1; Lapid to become PM at midnight

Russians will compete in this year’s Maccabiah Games, but Russia won’t

Billionaire’s daughter pays ‘influencers’ to tout Jewish menstruation laws

TICKETS HERE for the LIVE EVENT: Hi-tech archaeology reveals secrets of ancient Jerusalem’s destructions

Subscribe to The Times of Israel Daily Briefing on iTunes, Spotify, PlayerFM, Google Playor wherever you get your podcasts.

Check out yesterday’s Daily Briefing episode:


It’s not (only) about you.

Supporting The Times of Israel isn’t a transaction for an online service, like subscribing to Netflix. The ToI Community is for people like you who care about a common good: ensuring that balanced, responsible coverage of Israel continues to be available to millions across the world, for free.

Sure, we’ll remove all ads from your page and you’ll gain access to some amazing Community-only content. But your support gives you something more profound than that: the pride of joining something that really matters.


Join the Times of Israel Community


Join our Community

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this


You’re a dedicated reader

That’s why we started the Times of Israel ten years ago – to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.

So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.

For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREEas well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel


Join Our Community


Join Our Community

Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this