Israel’s High-Stakes Election, and How Illegal Gold Is Getting Into the Global Market

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

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Will Jarvis (0:17)

From the New York Times, it's The Headlines. I'm Will Jarvis, in for Tracy Mumford. Today's Monday, October 19th. Here's what we're covering. President Trump has endorsed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, throwing his weight behind the Israeli leader ahead of key elections there next week. Relations between the two leaders have become increasingly tense in recent months over their country's joint war in Iran. But in his endorsement message, Trump had only praise for Netanyahu, calling him strong, brave and brilliant.

In response, Netanyahu, who is locked in a razor-tight race with opposition parties, thanked Trump, and in a video released last night, told Israelis to listen carefully to the US. President.

Isabel Kershner (1:09)

For many, many Israelis, this really is one of, if not the most, consequential elections in the country's eight-decade history.

Will Jarvis (1:18)

Isabel KershnerA covers Israel for The Times. She says the upcoming elections are the first there since the Hamas-led attacks on October 7, 2023 And one of the key issues is whether there should be an independent investigation into security failures leading up to that day.

The opposition has been pushing for that, saying Netanyahu's government has failed to take responsibility for what happened. Netanyahu has blocked efforts to get an investigation underway.

Isabel Kershner (1:44)

But beyond that, this is also a major referendum on Prime Minister Netanyahu himself. He's Israel's longest serving Prime Minister.

And in the last four years, he's headed the most far right and religiously conservative government the country has known. Netanyahu, after the October 7th attack, took Israel to war against Hamas in Gaza. And then that spread to Hezbollah in Lebanon and two campaigns in Iran. And none of these have really been completed. And Netanyahu says, you know, he needs to be there to finish the job.

Many people here now feel that this is an election essentially over the future character of Israel. Is it going to continue along a very hawkish, hardline path where we've seen this government trying to institute judicial overhaul laws that would curb the independence of the Supreme Court and continue settling the occupied West Bank and sealing Israel's control there? Or is the opposition going to prevail? And although they're very diverse and the opposition includes right wing parties, some of whom support settlement in the West Bank, for example, but they're offering a more liberal outlook where they say they would start to try to heal the country and also preserve Israel's democratic values.

Will Jarvis (3:24)

Now to France.

Catherine Porter (3:25)

What we saw this weekend was really two things. It was like a split screen.

On one side were these peaceful, really large protests. In Paris, they unfurled through the city with people singing, chanting, quite joyful. And then on the other side was these scenes of total destruction.

Will Jarvis (3:51)

Catherine Porter covers France for The Times. She says that this weekend, organizers across the country planned demonstrations that were designed to bring together different groups demanding change. Students who've been protesting for weeks over poor conditions in schools, and a broader coalition of people who are upset about the cost of living and other social and economic issues. But even as the peaceful anti-government protesters took to the streets, others stoked chaos, helping set off some of the country's worst riots in decades.

Catherine Porter (4:21)

They were masked people in black, attacking the police, picking up cobblestones to hurl them, and then smashing not only storefronts, but also particularly state buildings. People broke in to the city hall in Marseille, also in Lille, in one case in the town of Limoges. They not only broke in, but they burnt it down.

So the reaction to all this was horror and shock and sadness. France is a country that's renowned for protests, is really used to it. But this kind of pillaging was at a new level that people had not seen. And right away, a blame game started. We saw the Minister of Interior and the Prime Minister blame the far left, saying that they had instigated this and members of the far left movement had been the ones who had been doing the breaking in, at least at first before delinquents joined in. And then you saw the far left on their side, saying it really was the state that lost control and they were looking for someone else to blame. It was ridiculous. And then you had the far right step in, in campaign mode and say, look, there's an election in six months. We are the ones who will clearly bring back order to this country.