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- [00:04]
A
You are listening to an art media podcast.
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B
It's Wednesday, june 10th. This episode was recorded at 9:00pm new york time on Tuesday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arc news daily. The United States struck Iran yesterday. US Central Command confirmed several attacks near the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for Iran shooting down a U.S. apache helicopter Monday night. Iranian officials say they didn't deliberately target the helicopter. They have been firing drones at commercial ships moving through the strait. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the US had to respond.
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A
We lament that that has become necessary, and the reason it did, as you all know, is because Iran struck US Assets and personnel. We can't allow that and so we're going to have to take care of this business.
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B
The helicopter incident set off a race to find two American crew members who were on board. They were soon rescued by an unmanned drone boat in what is being described as a first of its kind operation. Where this leaves the rest of the war and negotiations is anyone's guess. But the attacks come as President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been divided on how to move forward. Up to this point, Trump has been reluctant to escalate. Last week, he reportedly cursed Netanyahu out on a phone call. Days later, he told Netanyahu not to retaliate to an earlier Iranian attack out of concern it would kill a deal to end the war, according to Israeli reporting. Netanyahu agreed, but then struck Iran anyway and only told the US as the missiles were already in the air. Trump then warned Netanyahu again, according to Axios. He said something along the lines of bibi, you better be careful or you will be on your own very soon. It all played out in the media and there are different ways to interpret it, one analyst told the Financial Times. There's a political dimension. In some ways, it serves both men. Aside from the attack yesterday, it let Trump show he's trying to keep the US out of the war. And Netanyahu is showing his voters he can stand up to Trump. But on a deeper level, the dispute highlights the contrast between the US And Israel's goals in the war. Israel ultimately wants full regime change and to destroy Iran's proxies. The US just has one main goal, which Vice President J.D. vance discussed on Fox News yesterday.
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C
The United States main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. Now, Israel may like that, they may not like that, but fundamentally we think this is in the best interest of the United States of America.
- [02:53]
B
If a deal comes together on American terms, terms it will present Netanyahu with a difficult choice, which he addressed in a Cabinet meeting on Monday. He reportedly said, it could be that we'll reach a situation where we have to confront the Iranians alone, without backing from the US with all its costs involved, Israel's war with Iran does not look like it's ending soon. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir says Israel is ready for, quote, a much more significant and severe blow. But after the recent US strike on Iran, perhaps the Americans and Israelis are realigning. Western governments are under pressure from two directions at once. Jewish communities are demanding protection from rising antisemitic attacks. But the broader public wants to see a harder stance on Israel. Through it all, the line between criticizing the Israeli government and targeting Jews has gotten really blurry. In the UK Officials announced a new law targeting proximity of hostile states, specifically Iran. It goes into effect next month, and it gives the UK Government the power to prosecute anyone acting on behalf of a foreign government. In a statement, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, quote, we will not tolerate hostile actors paying petty criminals to do their dirty work. The law is a response to a series of attacks on Jewish sites across London. Police are investigating suspected links to Iran. And MI5 says the number of investigations into foreign government plots rose 35% last year, including 20 potentially lethal plans by Iran during the trial for one of these crimes, a UK prosecutor said. Since 2005, the Islamic Republic has turned less to its own operatives and increasingly to proxies such as criminal gangs to carry out their violence. A recent report from the US State Department also backs up the conclusion that Iran, along with Russia and China, are deliberately weaponizing antisemitism. The report says these governments are using bots, propaganda and antisemitic symbols to, quote, provoke fear and outrage, polarize societies, and erode public trust. The report accuses Iran's Revolutionary Guards specifically of running social media campaigns to amplify antisemitic narratives. At the same time, the UK also joined France, Canada, Australia and Norway in sanctioning what they called extremist settlers in the West Bank. They're accusing several groups and individuals of financing violence against Palestinians. France also banned Finance Minister Batsal Al Smotry from entering the country. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the sanctions disgraceful. It said they only served to fuel antisemitism and that the countries announcing them have a resounding failure to combat the anti Semitism that is rampant in their own countries. The settler violence those sanctions are responding to is real and documented. A Times of Israel investigation published yesterday, found that IDF reserve units have been harassing Palestinians, using their military authority to do it. These units, known as Hagmar units, are staffed by settlers who live in the same west bank communities they're supposed to be policing. IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir has called the behavior morally and ethically unacceptable. The perpetrators of violence are a radicalized fringe, and they get political cover from the far right ministers who control west bank policy. But that fringe group is often conflated with all Israelis and all Jews. According to the State Department, foreign governments are actively exploiting that conflation by amplifying every incident of settler violence to stoke hatred of Jews more broadly. The challenge for governments is they have to be able to credibly protect Jewish communities and at the same time condemn specific acts of violence without one undermining the other. I'm Deborah Pardes, and this is Ark News Daily. See you tomorrow.
- [07:17]
D
Hi, I'm Dan Senor, host of the Call Me Back podcast. These past few years have asked a lot of the Jewish world. We've been wrestling with pain, disagreement and dilemmas. The war in Gaza, the war with Iran, the pressure on Jewish communities in diaspora societies, and the upcoming Israeli elections, which may bring many of these tensions to a head. These are not simple stories, and in a moment filled with bad information and overly simplistic answers, it can be hard to know who to trust. At CallMeBack, we know that trust has to be earned, and we know your time is valuable, so when you spend it with us, we take that seriously. We don't claim to have all the answers, but we do try to ask better questions with honesty and humility. And maybe that is where hope begins. Not in pretending this moment is simple, but in believing, at a minimum, we must face it together. You can find Call me back on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you there.