Hourly Roundup 13:00 Israel · 20 May 2026
Stories in this hour
- Post-October 7 hostility is making diaspora more Jewish, says leading demographerThere is also less clarity about Israel’s relationship with the global kehillah, says Professor Sergio DellaPergola
- Drama at Knesset as coalition plows ahead with legislationWelcome 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. Political correspondent Ariela Karmel and reporter Amy Spiro join host Jessica…
- WATCH: Israeli children duck for cover as sirens interrupt Shavuot celebrationsShavuot celebrations at an elementary school in the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Shmona were abruptly interrupted on Wednesday morning as air raid sirens warned of an incoming drone from Lebanon. Footage aired by the…
- Exposing Hezbollah’s tunnels triggers debate in the Arab world - interviewYehia Kassem's rare on-the-ground reporting in Arabic from an area controlled by Hezbollah for decades caught attention across the Arab world
- High Court rejects challenge to Israel's aid organization vetting systemIsrael’s High Court of Justice on Monday rejected a petition filed by an umbrella organization of international non-governmental aid organizations operating in Gaza and Judea and Samaria, after the organizations refused to provide Israel with…
- Jews used to conjure spirits and snakes in Belarusianדעם 26סטן מײַ עפֿנט זיך אין ייִוואָ די אויסשטעלונג „ייִדן זענען מאַגיע‟ וועגן דעם ייִדישן אָקולטיזם. נישט לאַנג צוריק האָב איך אָנגעזאַמלט אַן אייגענעם מין ווירטועלע „אויסשטעלונג‟ פֿאַר זיך אַליין אויף דער דאָזיקער טעמע און…
- IDF forces hit Hezbollah observation equipment concealed in a civilian structure in southern Lebanon yesterday. The surveillance tools were used to monitor and guide activity ag…IDF forces hit Hezbollah observation equipment concealed in a civilian structure in southern Lebanon yesterday. The surveillance tools were used to monitor and guide activity against IDF troops. Separately, a Hezbollah operative was eliminated at…
- 🎯DISMANTLED: A Hamas weapons storage facility in central Gaza.The weapons stored within the facility were intended to target IDF soldiers operating near the Yellow Line & Israeli civilians.
- George Orwell’s ‘Antisemitism in Britain’ has sadly aged very wellAnti-Jewish sentiment in this country has long carried a distinctly middle-class sense of virtue
- ‘Vandalism’ at Glasgow cemetery turns out to be routine maintenanceFears of antisemitic vandalism at Garnethill Jewish Cemetery arose yesterday when a video showing the stones went viral
- The IRGC issued a statement claiming Iran did not use all its capabilities in the last round of fighting, while the U.S. and Israel allegedly used all of theirs. The statement w…The IRGC issued a statement claiming Iran did not use all its capabilities in the last round of fighting, while the U.S. and Israel allegedly used all of theirs. The statement warned that any future…
- Smart Shooter to supply drone-intercept systemsThe defense-tech company will supply the Defense Ministry with SMASH HOPPER systems to intercept ground and aerial threats, including drones
Torah perspective
Shavuot celebrates the moment the Jewish people stood at Sinai and received the Torah, a day of pure joy. Yet here, children in white are forced to the ground by a siren warning of an incoming drone. The contrast is stark but deeply revealing. Our tradition teaches that the Torah was given in the wilderness, a place of exposure and vulnerability, precisely to show that God's word sustains us even where there is no protection. The children studying Torah in Kiryat Shmona, then taking cover, then returning to their learning, are living that paradox. The Torah does not promise a life without sirens. It promises something more enduring: a covenant that holds even when the ground shakes, and a joy that the enemy cannot ultimately take away.