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- [00:04]
Podcast Host
You are listening to an art media podcast.
- [00:13]
Deborah Pardes
It's Friday, may 29th. This episode was recorded at 6pm new york time on Thursday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arknews daily.
- [00:27]
Israeli Government Official / Pro-Israel Commentator
The decision to blacklist Israel and accuse us of using sexual violence as a weapon of war is an outrageous decision.
- [00:37]
Deborah Pardes
Israel is cutting ties with the United Nations. The announcement came yesterday from Israel's ambassador to the un, Danny Danon. He said he's stopping contact with the office of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres for the rest of his term, which ends in December. Why? Because the UN added the Israeli prison service to its annual blacklist of parties suspected of using sexual violence as a weapon of war. The same list includes groups like Hamas and isis. Hamas was added last year after the UN found reasonable grounds that it committed rape and sexual violence during the October 7th massacre and in captivity. The UN is also considering adding other Israeli authorities to the blacklist. In an interview with i24 News, Danan said Israel cooperated fully with the UN. They provided documents and invited UN personnel to visit and examine the claims, dinan said. They declined.
- [01:39]
Israeli Government Official / Pro-Israel Commentator
We all remember that was the deal of October 7, the brutality of Hamas and how to actually blame Israel for doing that because there were few reports in the media or the New York Times put an article about it with no basis, we cannot accept it.
- [01:56]
Deborah Pardes
In particular, Danan was referring to a recent New York Times column that accused Israel of widespread sexual abuse. Israel's Foreign Ministry called the article part of a false and well orchestrated anti Israel campaign aimed at placing Israel on the UN Secretary General's blacklist. In response to Danon's announcement, a spokesman for Guterres said only that his door remains open. The incident is the latest hit to Israel's deteriorating relationship with the UN. In 2024, Israel passed legislation banning one UN agency from operating on its territor. It alleged some staff members participated in the October 7th attacks. And this month in the US 25 Republican senators sent Trump a letter urging him to dismantle the agency entirely, arguing that funding it amounted to funding hamas. The full 2026 blacklist has not been made official yet. It comes out in August, but Dinan says he was called by the UN directly and informed of the news. He says he will not work with Guterres until he leaves, but that Israel will continue to cooperate with the rest of the un. The question of where the line is between criticism of Israel and antisemitism isn't going away. If anything, it's getting louder, especially in New York. On Tuesday, the Park Slope Food Co Op in Brooklyn voted to boycott Israeli products. The list included Bamba, tahini and persimmons. The co op is a prominent institution in Brooklyn with about 17,000 members. The Jewish establishment responded fast. The UJA Federation of New York, the city's largest Jewish charity, announced it had bought 20,000 bags of Bamba. In response, Jewish members of the co op also organized against the vote and called it discriminatory. New York's Mayor Zoram Hamdaami is himself a lightning rod in the debate. He's condemned antisemitism, but he said he he doesn't consider anti Zionist rhetoric discriminatory, and he's not attending this week's annual Israel Parade in Manhattan. Citing his opposition to the Israeli government, 1400 Jewish New Yorkers signed an open letter demanding Mamdami take a stronger stance. In particular, they're demanding concrete action on antisemitism, such as condemning the slogan Globalize the Intifada and recognizing that targeting Zionist Jews is discrimination. Rabbi Amiel Hirsch spoke to the divide at a recent conference. He's with the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue and one of Reformed Judaism's most prominent voices. He called anti Zionism an ideology of
- [04:50]
Conservative Political Commentator / Trump Supporter
destruction, a diaspora community that disengages from Israel where half of the remnants of our people lives has no future. Such a community will eventually wither away and at best constitute a footnote in the annals of Jewish civilization.
- [05:09]
Deborah Pardes
American Jews are relatively united in the view that anti Zionism is a form of antisemitism. And they are saying so more publicly in more places as actual attacks on Jews are surging. A poll from the Jewish People Policy Institute found more than 70% of American Jews believe anti Zionism is antisemitism. But that consensus does not hold among liberal Jews. Only 44% of strong liberals say they agree the Democratic Party is navigating this in real time. Maryland Governor Wes Moore is a likely 2028 presidential contender. On POLITICO's podcast last week, he wouldn't say whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, but he called Netanyahu a war criminal.
- [05:57]
Military Expert / Analyst
I know what I know, and I know as a military person that you cannot use food as a negotiating tool. That is a war crime. And I think Bibi Netanyahu has committed war crimes.
- [06:07]
Deborah Pardes
Two years ago, that kind of criticism of Israel might have been a fringe view. Today, it's becoming part of the mainstream of the Democratic Party. The US and Iran are closing in on a deal. But in a war where updates change by the minute, it appears all sides are still hedging their bets. Yesterday, American and Iranian negotiators supposedly agreed on a 60 day memorandum of under understanding, a framework that would open the Strait of Hormuz, stop the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and launch formal attacks on Iran's nuclear program. But nobody has signed anything yet. Trump hasn't given final approval. Neither has Iran. All the while, the fighting has escalated. Iran launched five attack drones on ships trying to cross the Strait of Hormuz yesterday. American forces shot them down and hit a ground control station in southern Iran. Iran then retaliated against a US Base in Kuwait, where air defenses intercepted the attack. It was the third and most serious exchange since the ceasefire began in April. A U.S. official told Reuters the strikes were measured purely defensive and intended to maintain the ceasefire. Iran's Revolutionary Guard said they have a legitimate and definitive right to respond. Israel has also been ramping up its attacks. It struck Beirut for the first time in three weeks, targeting a leader of an Iranian linked militia. Israeli forces have been pushing deeper into southern Lebanon, and Netanyahu said yesterday he has ordered the army to expand Israeli control of Gaza from 60 to 70%, well beyond the lines agreed under the current ceasefire with Hamas. So why is everybody still fighting if a deal is this close? One reason is the clause about stopping the Israel Hezbollah hostilities. Israel is striking now because once those limits kick in, its operational freedom in Lebanon could disappear. Iran may be firing to show it won't be pushed around, and the US Says it's just defending itself. At a press conference yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant said the US Is being patient, but that patience has limits.
- [08:29]
Conservative Political Commentator / Trump Supporter
President Trump always prefers a peace deal. So everything we have thus far has been defensive and at present that is what we will continue doing. But if President Trump doesn't think he can get a peace deal, then Connecticut is back.
- [08:44]
Deborah Pardes
Underneath it all, there are strong reservations about the deal. The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Roger Wicker, said a 60 day ceasefire would be a disaster and that everything accomplished by Operation Epic Fury would be for naught. One analysis in the Times of Israel said the reported terms of the Iran deal would confirm the war was an epochal failure and that it highlights the diverging priorities of the US And Israel. The US wants the Strait of Hormuz open and the shooting stopped. That's the deal on the table. Reopen the strait now, talk about the nuclear program later. Israel wants much more. It went into this war with 3 collapse the Iranian regime, dismantle its nuclear program, destroy its ballistic missiles, and with those questions pushed off for later. Many worry it's just more time for Iran to rebuild. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. If you find the show helpful, please consider sharing. Have a good weekend.
- [09:57]
Israeli Government Official / Pro-Israel Commentator
It.