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.

Political correspondent Sam Sokol joins host Jessica Steinberg on today’s show.

Sokol discusses the political machinations in the Knesset as voting over the 2025 budget leads National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and several ultra-Orthodox parties to threaten to oppose the bill.

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While Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have banded together in the past, the two have been at odds for some time — which could possibly lead to a fissure in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition, explains Sokol.

Sokol reviews the further political dramas that played out on Tuesday in the Knesset as Netanyahu, recovering from prostate removal surgery at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, was forced to leave his hospital bed and head to the Knesset in order to thwart Ben Gvir by casting the decisive vote on a crucial budget-related law.

Another Knesset member, Likud MK Boaz Bismuth, who was in the midst of the seven-day mourning period for his mother, was also pushed to leave the shiva house and come to the Knesset to vote for the bill.

Sokol also provides a brief description of large fragment of a Houthi missile that landed in his Beit Shemesh neighborhood late Monday night.

For news updates, please check out The Times of Israel’s ongoing live blog.

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