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You are listening to an art media podcast. It's Wednesday, may 20th. This episode was recorded at 7:00pm new york time on Tuesday. I'm deborah pardes, and this is arc news daily. Finance Minister But Salal Smotrich announced yesterday that the International Criminal Court is seeking an arrest warrant for him. Reporting from multiple outlets said the warrant is related to alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the west bank settlement expansion. Smotrich has been one of the driving forces behind the expansion. He's been explicit about his goals, saying publicly that his aim is to make settlement expansion irreversible and that every approval is a step toward that. The ICC is apparently looking at that record. Smotrich is escalating. In return, he announced at a press conference yesterday he was signing an order to evacuate Khan al Ahmar, a Palestinian Bedouin community east of Jerusalem. Khan al Ahmar has been the subject of prolonged legal battles, and its evacuation has been repeatedly challenged in Israeli courts and condemned by international bodies. The west bank as a whole has become an international pressure point. Multiple governments have called settlement expansion a violation of international law. And while the ICC warrant was a signal of that international pressure, Smotrich instead used it as a launching pad. He announced the evacuation not despite the warrant, but because of it. He's essentially saying, the more you come after me, the more I'll do. Now there are a few important caveats. The ICC denied that any new warrants had been issued, but it did not deny that a prosecutor had requested them. That's a quirky legal distinction. The ICC process often begins confidentially. Prosecutors request warrants, and then judges decide whether to issue them. So Smotrich may be disclosing something real about what the prosecutor has requested, even if no warrant has formally been issued yet. There's also some important background on the court itself. The ICC's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, has been on leave for nearly a year while facing sexual misconduct allegations. And last year, the Wall Street Journal reported that a Qatari official told Khan that he would be looked after if he pursued warrants against Israeli leaders. Both Khan and Qatar denied the report. The ICC issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav gallant back in 2024. Those were made after allegations of war crimes in Gaza during the Israel Hamas war. 19 European countries have said they would arrest Netanyahu if he enters their territory. What happens next depends on whether ICC judges act on the prosecutor's request. Based on precedent, we may not know that outcome for months. The question ahead is whether this legal pressure actually changes anyone's behavior, or whether in this political environment it only hardens it. Israel's ambassador to the United States is calling out J Street, the liberal Zionist advocacy and lobby group. Speaking at an event for the National Task Force to Combat Antisemitism in Washington, Ambassador Yahiel Leiter called J Street a cancer within the Jewish community and duplicitous. He asked, how can you be pro Israel and advocate for an arms embargo on a state that's fighting a seven front war against Iranian proxies? The comments came in response to J Street calling for a gradual end to direct US Military subsidies to Israel, including the funding of Iron Dome. J Street says Israel should still be able to buy Iron Dome components. It just shouldn't get them for free. J Street President Jeremy Ben Ami pushed back on Leider. He said the ambassador should engage with the group rather than attack it. He added that J Street represents a large and growing segment of American Jews who care deeply about Israel but oppose policies they believe are making it less secure and more isolated. J Street was founded in 2008 as a left leaning alternative to AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. It positioned itself as the pro Israel home for liberal Democrats. But the ground under J Street's position has been shifting. In April, nearly all of the 47 Democrats in the US Senate voted to block at least one arms sale to Israel. Among them were senators who have long been considered pro Israel moderates and several who are already positioning themselves for a presidential run in 2028. Mainstream Democrats who used to defend the U S Israel relationship now frame their position around oppos to Israel's elected government. Candidates to their left are campaigning against AIPAC and in some cases against Israel's existence as a Jewish state. The next test is the 2026 primary cycle. J Street and AIPAC are spending against each other in House and Senate races from New York to Illinois. The primaries will be another test case on where the Democratic Party's center of gravity continues to move. There were two attacks on houses of worship this week in two different countries with two very different perpetrators. But together they're driving a push in Washington for more federal money to protect religious communities. On Monday, three men were killed outside a mosque in San Diego. Two teenage gunmen opened fire at the Islamic center of San Diego, the largest mosque in the county. The dead include the mosque's security guard, who was a father of eight. The two suspects were found dead by self inflicted gunshot wounds. Nearby, police are investigating it as a hate crime. They found SS stickers at the scene referring to the Nazi paramilitary group and a suicide note that referenced racial pride. There were also anti Islamic writings in their car. Taha Hassan is the director of the Islamic Center. He said places of worship, no matter the religion, should always be protected.
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It is extremely outrageous to target a place of worship. People come to the Islamic center to pray, to celebrate, to learn. Not only Muslims, but we have people from all walks of life.
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The same night in London's Golders green neighborhood, a 22 year old Israeli was attacked by several men. They heard him speaking Hebrew and asked if he was Jewish as they beat him. The injuries were bad enough to send him to the hospital. GB News in London interviewed the victim, Shalev Ben Yakar.
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It's not just about that. It kicked me. It feels like dark time in 1940. Some people attack Jewish people.
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The Metropolitan Police are treating the attack as an anti Semitic hate crime. Golders Green is the most visibly Jewish neighborhood in the city and it's seen multiple hate crimes committed against Jews in the past few months. Incidents like these are driving a push for increased security in Europe, Canada, Australia and the U.S. that effort includes a bill introduced this week by a bipartisan group of senators to fight antisemitism. It's called the Jewish American Security act and authorizes $1 billion in security funds for at risk houses of worship and other nonprofits. It would also force social media sites to be more transparent in how they handle antisemitic content on their platform. The bill is backed by nearly every major Jewish organization, including the Anti Defamation League, Jewish Council for Public affairs, and Union for reform Judaism. The $1 billion figure is in the bill, but whether Congress actually funds it is a separate fight that gets decided in the annual appropriations process. This week gave advocates two more reasons to make the case. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. See you tomorrow.