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.

Editor David Horovitz joins host Amanda Borschel-Dan for today's episode.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition on Wednesday submitted a bill to dissolve the Knesset and trigger elections, as the government competed with the opposition to control the process of disbanding parliament and determining when voters will go to the ballot box. The bill did not specify an election date. Horovitz weighs in on the complexities and delves into the timing of the upcoming elections.

Netanyahu announced yesterday that he had made a secretive visit to the United Arab Emirates and met with its leader, President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, during the US-Israeli war with Iran earlier this year. For its part, the UAE has strongly denied that this visit took place. What's happening here?

The Board of Peace’s Gaza envoy Nickolay Mladenov said at a briefing with foreign reporters in Jerusalem yesterday that Hamas is consolidating its power in the Strip, while dragging its feet in agreeing to a US-backed framework for handing over its weapons that has led to the stalling of plans to rebuild the war-damaged enclave. Horovitz explores these harsh truths.

The New York Times published an opinion piece that alleged widespread rape of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including by dogs. Backlash, calling the entire article a "blood libel," has noted that Nicholas Kristof's article relied on sources that have alleged ties to the Hamas terror group or have praised it. Horovitz discusses the multi-layered issues surrounding this oped and how The Times of Israel has covered the allegations in it.

To close out the program, we hear about The Times of Israel's policy on labeling the territories occupied by Israel since 1967 as the "West Bank," versus Judea and Samaria.

Check out The Times of Israel's ongoing liveblog for more updates.

For further reading:

Bring it on? Why the ultra-Orthodox, the opposition, and maybe Netanyahu think earlier elections will work for them

Coalition files bill to dissolve Knesset, doesn’t set an election date

Netanyahu says he secretly visited the UAE during the Iran war, hails ‘historic breakthrough’

Accused of ‘blood libel,’ NYT defends column alleging Israeli rape of Palestinian inmates

‘Blood libel’: Israel rejects NYT column alleging widespread rape of Palestinian inmates

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