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You are listening to an art media podcast. It's Tuesday, april 14, 2026. This episode was recorded at 6pm new york time on Monday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arknews daily. Yesterday, Israel reported progress in its military campaign campaign in Lebanon. Defying international pressure to pause the offensive, the Israeli military announced it had surrounded and nearly captured a key Hezbollah stronghold in southern Lebanon. They've killed more than 100 terrorists so far. In the process, the military released an image showing it had destroyed a stadium in the city. It's a symbolic sight. The stadium is the same place where former Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000. He called the Jewish state, quote, weaker than a spiderweb. In a statement to troops, an Israeli division commander noted the symbolism. He said, quote, today that man no longer exists. The stadium is gone, and his words are worth nothing. Throughout the day yesterday, Israel struck about 150 Hezbollah targets in Lebanon and blew up another one of the group's tunnel to the military. Fighting also continued near the Israeli border. Eight soldiers were wounded in a Hezbollah drone attack. Meanwhile, the terrorist group kept up its bombardments of communities in northern Israel, causing at least one injury. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel is expanding a security zone it controls in southern Lebanon. He said the zone, quote, prevents the danger of invasion and keeps the threat of terrorism away. Israel has brushed off international calls to pause the fighting in Lebanon as part of the ceasefire with Iran. Even President Donald Trump asked Netanyahu to dial back the campaign against Hezbollah. But as the fighting continued, the first ever direct peace talks between Lebanon and Israel were set to start Today in Washington D.C. these are separate from the U. S. Iran negotiations over the wider war. Lebanon's foreign minister indicated yesterday that that's as it should be. He said, quote, the Lebanese state alone holds the authority to negotiate on behalf of Lebanon, not Iran's proxy Hezbollah, which has long dominated the country. Last week, Hezbollah supporters held street protests against the talks. They burned pictures of Lebanon's prime minister dressed as a Jewish rabbi and called him a Zionist and traitor a. The following day, he nixed his plans to fly to Washington, citing internal circumstances. Also yesterday, Hezbollah's new leader demanded the government cancel the negotiations with Israel. Lebanon has promised for years to disarm Hezbollah, but has never seriously confronted the group. Israel isn't counting on a different outcome this time. The next stage of the showdown over the Strait of Hormuz has officially begun. American military forces started blockading all traffic to and from Iranian ports. On Monday, it was Trump's latest attempt to reverse the stranglehold Iran has had over the strait on Truth Social. Trump warned that any ship approaching the blockade would be immediately eliminated. Iran's military called the blockade an act of piracy and warned that if Iranian ports are threatened, quote, unquote, no port in the Persian Gulf will be safe. Iran has shown little willingness to meet us demands, even after 40 days of intense attacks by the United States and Israel. So what is Trump hoping to accomplish with the blockade? According to analysts, he may be seeking to drive a wedge between Iran and China, which is one of the regime's main backers. China relies on cheap oil imports to fuel its economy, including from Iran. Before the war, nearly all of Iran's oil exports went to China. China played a key role in bringing Iran to the negotiating table last week and might put even more pressure on Iran if it faces a full blown energy crisis. In response to the US Blockade, China called for unimpeded access through the Strait of Hormuz, along with an end to the war. China also denied reports that it plans to send weapons to Iran. Of course, the oil shock won't just affect Iran and its backers. US Allies are also feeling the pain. In Asia, some factories have been forced to slash production and airlines are cutting back due to possible fuel shortages. Even in the relatively energy independent United States, gas prices are climbing. It seems the dueling US And Iranian blockades of the Strip are shaping up to be another contest over which side can endure the most pain. Trump has lately signaled that he's ready to suffer the political consequences. On Sunday, he told Fox News that he didn't expect gas prices to drop before the midterm elections in November. He said that they might even be, quote, a little bit higher. Polls show that the price of gas is America's top concern about the war. As for Iran and China, it could be months before they feel the full economic effects of the blockade. According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran already has ships floating outside the Gulf that are holding about 160 million barrels of oil. That's enough to keep up the usual flow of Iranian oil to China through mid July. This morning, a different kind of siren will sound across Israel. Instead of running to bomb shelters, Israelis will stand in silence for two minutes to commemorate the Holocaust. The national observance of Yom Hashoah began last night with a televised ceremony. It was pre recorded this year due to the security situation. Speaking on stage in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said Israel was fighting Iran to prevent A second Holocaust. He listed the names of Iranian nuclear sites, followed by those of Nazi death camps. Netanyahu said if Israel hadn't acted against Iran, quote, the names Natanz, Fordo, Isfahan and Parchin would likely have been remembered with eternal dread, precisely like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor. He argued that Israel, along with the United States, was defending not just itself, but the entire world that includes Europe, which he said, quote, has forgotten so much since the Holocaust. Netanyahu, of course, does not speak for all Jews, and something he didn't mention is that Jews around the world have also been on the defensive. A report published yesterday by Tel Aviv University found that in 2025, more Diaspora Jews were murdered in antisemitic attacks than during any other year. Over the past three decades. Fifteen Jews were killed in the Hanukkah massacre at Bondi beach in Sydney. Two Israeli Embassy staffers were gunned down outside the Capitol Jewish Museum in Washington. And two Jews were killed in an attack on the Heaton Park Synagogue in Manchester, England, on Yom Kippur. In every Western country included in the report, the number of anti Semitic incidents has risen by double digits since 2022. The year before the October 7 massacre, Australia and Canada recorded their highest numbers ever. And in Britain, antisemitic incidents actually rose after the Israel Hamas ceasefire in October. The head of Tel Aviv University's Anti Semitism Research center accused governments of allowing Jew hatred to become normalized and increasingly violent. He said, quote, when law enforcement authorities are indifferent to small crimes, the result is big crimes. Antisemitic violence has shown little sign of abating in 2026. In just the past week, arsonists set fire to a synagogue in North Macedonia. Attackers firebombed an Israeli restaurant in Munich. And three gunmen opened fire near the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, killing three people. So while Yom Hashoah is a uniquely Israeli day of remembrance, Jews everywhere have reason to reflect. Even here's hoping for a strong and peaceful Jewish future. I'm Deborah Pardes, and this is Ark News Daily. See you tomorrow.