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You are listening to an art media podcast. It's Tuesday, may 19th. This episode was recorded at 6pm new york time on Monday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arc news daily. We were getting ready to do a very major attack.
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I put it off for a little
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while, hopefully forever, but possibly for a little while. We've had very big discussions with Iran and we'll see what they amount to. There was supposed to be a military strike on Iran today. And then the phone rang. The leaders of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates called President Trump and asked him to hold off. Trump listened. The Arab leaders told him that in their view, serious negotiations are now underway and that a deal is within reach. In response, Trump said he instructed instructed military leaders to suspend the attack plans but to be ready with, quote, a full large scale assault on a moment's notice. So the guns are down, but they're not put away. Trump has stepped back from escalation multiple times since the conflict began. Each time the pattern is roughly the same. Escalating pressure, a deadline, a last minute reprieve and a return to the negotiating table. What's notable is that it was America's Gulf allies who made the ask this time. For most of the war, the Trump administration has run its pressure campaign largely on its own terms, setting deadlines, extending them and deciding when to escalate. The Gulf states have been supportive, but mostly in the background. It's become clear over the last few weeks that that dynamic is shifting. The Gulf states are taking a more active role in shaping the conflict and not just watching it unfold. The fact that listened and publicly credited them by name suggests he sees value in keeping them on his side. In New York, Mayor Zoran Mamdani has appointed an anti Zionist rabbi to serve as one of his main liaisons to the Jewish community. Jewish Insider reported that Mamdani has tapped Rabbi Miriam Grossman. She'll step into a taxpayer funded role in his new Office of Mass Engagement. Grossman is a Brooklyn rabbi. Mamdani's campaign. She previously served on the Rabbinical Council of Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that supports boycotts of Israel. She has described herself as someone who no longer considers herself a Zionist. Mamdani is the mayor of the city with the largest Jewish population outside of Israel. An analysis by Israel's Institute for National Security Studies argued that he is not just a local politician. He represents a younger Democratic faction that is more critical of Israel, aligned with the Palestinian cause and less constrained by the party's old pro Israel consensus. And While Mamdani has promised to protect and engage Jewish New Yorkers, the Jewish voices he is elevating inside City hall are the ones already aligned with his politics on Israel. Those politics were on display days before Grossman's appointment, when Mamdani used official city accounts to post a video commemorating Nakba Day.
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I was nine years old, it was
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nighttime and my father came into our bedroom. Nakba is the Arab word for catastrophe. It refers to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during Israel's 1948 war of independence. Mamdani's video featured a Palestinian New Yorker describing her family's displacement. It also described the Nakba as the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians. But it did not explain the broader complexity of this event, the Arab rejection of the UN partition plan, the war launched against the new state of Israel, or The more than 800,000 Jews who were expelled from Arab countries in the same period. Jewish leaders reacted sharply. UJA Federation of New York noted that Mamdani posted the video as Jewish New Yorkers were preparing to light Shabbat candles. Their statement said, we noticed. Mamdani did not back down. Asked about the criticism yesterday, he said
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this I was proud to commemorate Nakba Day, which is an annual day on May 15, and I firmly believe that acknowledging anyone's people pain does not preclude you from the acknowledgement of another people's.
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Major Jewish groups also declined to attend a Jewish Heritage Month event Mamdani hosted Monday night. UJA Federation said its leadership would not participate in an event hosted by a mayor who, in their words, denies a core pillar of Jewish heritage, the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. What's notable here isn't whether Mamdani will meet with Jews he will. But which Jews he invites into his administration further highlights his stance on Israel and points to where the broader Democratic Party is heading.
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You know I'm a huge admirer of the innovation coming out of Israel, honestly. I think objectively true that Israel punches far above its weight for population.
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On Monday, Elon Musk addressed the Smart Mobility Summit in Tel Aviv.
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My hat is off to Israel for just how much incredible innovation. I say innovation per capita. Israel must be number one by far in the world.
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Musk is a controversial figure these days, including in Israel in 2023. He was accused of stoking antisemitism by promoting anti Jewish hate on his social media platform X. He later met with Israeli leaders to discuss the issue and posted during his visit that actions speak louder than words. His visit to the summit however was focused on Israel's booming tech scene. Musk talked about autonomous driving, humanoid robots and the future of transportation. He also said Tesla's full self driving technology is expected to arrive in Israel soon. His optimism about Israeli tech landed the same weekend Israel reported that its economy shrank in the first quarter of the year. GDP contracted by about 3% but the contraction was smaller than economists had feared. The bank of Israel still predicts growth this year assuming the ceasefire holds. The Shekel is near a 33 year high and Israeli tech companies raised about $3 billion in the first quarter. That's up 34% from the same period last year and that includes during active fighting. Musk's message in Tel Aviv points to that contrast. Even under wartime conditions, investors are still betting on Israel's future. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ARC News Daily. If you find the show helpful please consider sharing with family and friends. See you tomorrow. Sat.