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- [00:04]
Podcast Host
You are listening to an art media podcast.
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Deborah Pardes
It's Monday, july 27th. This episode was recorded at 8pm new york time on Sunday. I'm deborah pardes and this is arc news daily. Despite fears that the US Would launch a major strike on Iran this weekend, it never came to pass. In fact, both sides held off. Iran halted its attacks against its neighbors and American bases in the region, and the US Took a pause after nearly two consecutive weeks of action. So why is Trump holding off on the massive campaign he'd been threatening? There are a few possible reasons. Officials from Oman flew to Tehran Friday for talks on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. According to cbs, the strikes were paused specifically so as to not interfere with that diplomacy. Another reason for the pause is that the Hormuz bombing campaign had simply run out of targets worth hitting. That's according to the top US Commander in the Middle East, Admiral Brad Cooper, and reported by Axios. And there's also a more uncomfortable reason surfaced by the New York Times over the weekend. It reported that Trump's advisors are worried about running low on Patriot interceptors that are needed to defend US Forces and allies if the war continues to escalate. Though some U.S. officials deny.
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Mike Waltz
I want to be crystal clear.
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Deborah Pardes
This is U.N. ambassador Mike Waltz on CBS.
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Mike Waltz
Yesterday, the U.S. military, and I've verified this every which Way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be. And I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail.
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Deborah Pardes
He agreed that the US Pause was meant to give diplomacy a little bit of time. But he also said that more troops and military assets are moving into the region and that all oper are on the table. Trump kept his threats up, too. He posted AI generated images on Truth Social this weekend, including one appearing to show a strike on Iran's Kharg island oil hub. And Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered his own warning on Fox News.
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Benjamin Netanyahu
If Iran attacks Israel, either directly or through proxies, it will make a terrible mistake because our response is Israel's response will be very, very forceful.
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Deborah Pardes
Netanyahu will meet with Trump tomorrow, where he's expected to bring the latest intelligence on Iran's effort to rebuild its nuclear program. The situation in the west bank has become more volatile than it's been in months after two Israelis and four Palestinians are dead following a shooting near Nablus on Friday. It started in the morning when a group of 25 to 30 armed Israeli civilians walked into the Palestinian village of Tel Eyewitnesses say they'd come to show support for the nearby Havat Gilad outpost after a string of recent fires in the area. The IDF says the group crossed into Palestinian Authority controlled territory without military authorization. A video from the scene captures how fast it turned violent. You could hear the shouting and than the gunfire itself. In the footage, a settler is seen striking a Palestinian in the head with the butt of his rifle. That same Palestinian then grabbed the weapon of a member of Havat Gilad civilian security squad and shot him and a 32 year old named Biniyahu Melet who died shortly after. A gunfight followed that killed 27 year old IDF officer Major Yuval Ezra and three other Palestinians. An IDF soldier killed the original shooter. The IDF is treating it as a terror attack. It also ordered the homes of the two Palestinians involved sealed and marked for demolition. The investigation is still open and Khan11 reported yesterday that the army is examining whether Ezra may have been hit by IDF fire rather than the attackers. In response, settlers torched two mosques. They spray painted graffiti in Hebrew that read Jewish Blood is not free. Homes and vehicles were set on fire in several other villages too. ARC Media contributor Nadav Eiyal framed the bigger picture on the most recent episode of Call Me Back.
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Nadav Eiyal
Friction is extremely high. One of the things that the government did do in its four years of term, it changed completely what's happening in the West Bank. We see a lot of taking over lands with agricultural farms. We see that the Palestinian Authority is corrupt and very unpopular and doesn't hold the territory well in terms of security. And we see increased attempts by Hamas to rebuild itself across the west bank. And we see Iran trying to send weapons to the west bank. And at the same time we see far right terrorist violence against Palestinians. And this all boils up and is continuing to boil up.
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Deborah Pardes
Avi Blut, head of IDF Central Command, has reportedly warned that lenient government policy has left him with limited options to actually fight nationalist crime. IDF officers also describe feeling boxed in, redirecting manpower toward outposts and settler incidents at the expense of counterterrorism. And anonymous officials cited by Channel 12 have voiced concern about diverting forces from other fronts. According to Channel 13, back in March, Netanyahu's cabinet quietly approved a plan to rein in that violence after Netanyahu reportedly described it in private as a metastasizing cancer. The report said that plan and Netanyahu's own language were kept out of the public eye for political reasons. Nedaveyal says a massive armed confrontation between the IDF and Palestinians could play well for Netanyahu's right wing base ahead of October's elections. A link to that full episode is in the show. Notes Last week's stabbings in New York are galvanizing leaders of the Jewish community who say they were a predictable result of the May mayor's anti Israel rhetoric.
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Mark Traeger
Words matter. Leadership matters. The climate we create matters.
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Deborah Pardes
On Friday, a day after the attacks, New York political leaders and members of the Jewish community held a press conference outside the Jewish center on West 86th street, just blocks from where both victims were stabbed. They stopped short of accusing Zoram Mamdani of directly inciting violence, but they said his language is fueling a climate where it is more common.
- [07:11]
Mark Traeger
No elected official is responsible for every act of hate, but every leader is responsible for helping shape the climate in which we all live.
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Deborah Pardes
That was Mark Traeger, who runs the Jewish Community Relations Council in New York. New York City Council Speaker Julie Menon echoed his comments and said she worries for her kids.
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Julie Menon
My daughter wears a Jewish star and the conversations I've had with my husband about is this the right thing to do? Should she not wear the Jewish star? Is it safe for her to wear a Jewish star? Is it safe for our sons to wear a yarmulke? It's just heartbreaking and it's shocking and it's unacceptable.
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Deborah Pardes
What we know so far is that the stabbing suspect is 51 year old Raul Morales. Police say he shouted Alu Akbar before he stabbed two people, an Asian man named Chok Song and a Jewish man, Moshe Grunhaus, who had just finished praying at a nearby synagogue. Mamdani has rejected accusations that his rhetoric is putting Jewish New Yorkers at risk. In an interview with cbs, he said,
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Zoram Mamdani
we have to root out anti Semitism from across the five boroughs and that's because this is a city that is one that has no room for hate or bigotry of any kind. And when we make criticisms of a nation state or policies, we have to remember that those are criticisms of exactly that. Never of a people, never of a faith.
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Deborah Pardes
Democratic congressional candidate Brad Lander defended the mayor. Lander recently won his primary race in New York in part due to his alignment with Mamdani and his own criticism of the Israeli government. The progressive rabbi group Teruah took a similar stance. In a statement, they said, we refuse to believe that Jewish safety requires silence about the Israeli government's actions. A narrative that public criticism of Israel causes antisemitism and therefore must be censored is not only overly simplist, but dangerous to Jews, Palestinians, and our democratic values. The suspect has since been charged with attempted murder and assault, and both stabbings are being investigated as potential hate crimes. Whatever happens in this case, it won't resolve the argument over the mayor and the debate over where legitimate criticism of Israel ends and antisemitism begins. I'm Deborah Pardes and this is ArkNews Daily. See you tomorrow.
- [09:42]
Dan Sinor
Hi, it's Dan Sinor. Israel is heading into one of its most consequential election, and this time the whole world is watching closely. Hot takes and daily noise are pretty much guaranteed to populate your media diet. But as with any election, there's a deeper story about identity, religion, democracy, and what kind of country Israelis want to live in. That's why ARC Media launched Israel Votes, a special initiative across Call Me Back for Heaven's sake and Ark News Daily. You'll hear from the leading candidates shaping the race, along with analysis and reporting from two of Israel's leading political analysts, ARC Media contributors Nadavael and Amit Segal. Join us. For Israel Votes, your front row seat to the election that could define Israel's Future, go to arcmedia.org votes to watch and listen. See you there.