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You are listening to an art media podcast.
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It's Tuesday, may 5th. This episode was recorded at 6pm new york time on Monday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arc news daily. For months, the Strait of Hormuz has been a standoff with dueling blockades by the US And Iran and hundreds of ships sitting in the Persian Gulf. Yesterday, that standoff turned into something else. The US Launched an operation called Project Freedom. The goal escort neutral commercial ships trapped in the Gulf safely out through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump announced it over the weekend, calling it a humanitarian gesture. Some ships have been stuck for weeks, and many are running low on food and water. US Central Command sent in massive destroyer ships, more than 100 aircraft, and 15,000 service members to back it up. Iran's response came before a single ship moved. A senior Iranian general warned that any U.S. forces entering the strait would be targeted. And then Iran started shooting. The United Arab Emirates, a US Ally, said two Iranian drones struck one of its oil tankers. The ship was empty and no crew were injured. But the the UAE's foreign ministry called it a flagrant violation of international law. The US Fought back. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said American forces destroyed six Iranian boats that were targeting commercial ships and shot down Iranian missiles and drones during the operation.
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We defended both ourselves and consistent with our commitment, we defended all the commercial
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ships, according to Axios. Before this operation, Trump was briefed by Admiral Cooper on two other more aggressive military options, including a wave of strikes on Iranian infrastructure and a special forces raid to seize Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium. Trump reportedly passed on both. When asked about the briefing over the weekend, Trump said there are still essentially two options.
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I mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of him and finish him forever, or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options. Do you want to go blast the hell out of him? I'd prefer not. On a human basis, I prefer not.
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As things stand now, it's unclear if the war has entered a new phase of military escalation. Iran has not yet struck American or Israeli targets, and Washington has signaled those are the red lines that would trigger a much larger response. So the off ramp is still technically open. Both sides could still pull back to the negotiating table. Iran's Foreign Ministry confirmed It's reviewing a U.S. proposal. Trump has also continued to express optimism about a deal. He said the Iranians are showing flexibility in talks and are, quote, much more malleable in the face of the US Blockade. Of Iranian ports. For now, the situation in Hormuz is as precarious as ever. Australia has long been considered one of the safest Jewish diasporas in the world. But that's no longer how its own community describes it. Public hearings on an investigation into the Bondi beach attack opened in Sydney yesterday. Witness after witness told the Royal Commission the same thing. They are thinking about leaving. The first was Shana Gutnik, the daughter of one of the victims. She told the commission that antisemitism in Australia has been, quote, allowed to come into the open. The next witness testified anonymously. She said her family is moving to Israel by year's end.
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We never expected Jews to be hunted on Bondi Beach. We really didn't expect this sort of thing in this country. This was the safest place in the world for Jews and it was golden. And it is not anymore.
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For the older witnesses, the fear has a specific historical resonance. An 86 year old Holocaust survivor told the commission that what he sees in Australia now reminds him of Europe in the 1930s.
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I have lived through the worst of what hatred can do to people. And I have also experienced the best of what an open, tolerant society can offer. What is happening in Australia today is not a faint echo of a distant past for those of us who lived through the 1930s and 1940s. It is something we recognize and that recognition is frightening and cause for alarm.
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ARC Media contributor Tal Becker grew up in Melbourne. He said the Australian Jewish community feels both under siege. And he said he used to tell people that this generation was different because Jews finally had somewhere to go. But now he feels he can't say that anymore.
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And this is a country, it's such a beautiful country, so much bounty and promise. And yet what has happened here in terms of the surge of anti Semitism for a community that loves Australia, that found in Australia a home has been really devastating.
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The hearings run through May 15. The commission will next examine what intelligence agencies knew before the attack. Then it will turn to the role of social media in radicalizing the attackers. The question we're left with is one the witnesses themselves raised how many Australian Jews will leave. And is this the beginning of an exodus? In Israeli politics, the race to replace Benjamin Netanyahu just got a new wild card. A week after opposition leaders Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid joined forces to take on Netanyahu, two of their biggest rivals in the anti Netanyahu camp are in talks to do the same. That's according to a YNET report yesterday. It said former military Chief of Staff Gotti Eisenkot and former Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman are weighing a joint run. The reporting says talks are still preliminary and the two are expected to meet this week. If it happens, it would be a major blow to Bennett. As we covered last week, the concern with Bennett's move was that by aligning with secular centrist Lapid, he risked pushing away the right leaning who might otherwise have considered him over Netanyahu. That is what Bennett himself reportedly told his people in private in a leaked tape. Bennett and Lapid had spent months courting Eisencot to join them. But according to ynet, sources in his camp said Bennett and Lapid had held secret negotiations between themselves and assumed Eisencot would fall in line soon after they announced. Eisenhower's people saw that as a non starter. He doesn't want to be pressured to join their alliance on their terms. So instead of joining Bennett's bloc, he is looking to build a rival one. Lieberman would be a powerful ally. He's considered a kingmaker in Israeli politics. He was once a Netanyahu ally and a fixture of the Israeli right. Over time, he became one of Netanyahu's sharpest critics. He brought down Netanyahu's government in 20, and he tipped the scale toward Benny Gantz in 2020. It's not yet clear if the new merger will actually happen, but what is clear is this could be turning into the race Bennett feared. On a recent episode of Call Me Back, ARC media contributor Nadav Eyal laid out the nightmare scenario from Bennett's perspective.
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His theory of the race is, first of all, I need the entire bloc to unite around me. If the block is not going to unite around me and we're going to run with every party in the bloc, Lieber and Eisenhower, running as though they might be the Prime Minister, then we're going to lose the election.
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At this point, nothing has been officially decided in this new alliance, including the key question about who would lead a joint ticket. But the fact that the conversations are happening suggests the anti Netanyahu field is still very much in motion. All these moves could cost Bennett and maybe even hand Netanyahu the election. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. See you tomorrow.