of hello and welcome to spotlight. commander of the irgc rudsforce says the united states and of israel have been incapable of defeating palestinian fighters in gaza, which have only been supported by the resistance front. brigadier general ismail gauni says, resistance front power and steadfastness has humiliated the us and israel. this comes as the israeli regime has not achieved any of its war objectives including the annihilation of the palestinian resistance. and releasing

its captives held in gaza after 84 days of asymmetrical war and incessant bombing of palestinians in gaza. joining us tonight's spotlight, we have journalist author and activist fra hughes who's joining us from belfast, and also from houston texas we have human rights activist mr. mohsen nagbi. gentlemen, welcome to the program. let's uh start off with the mr. nagvi uh, excuse me, let's start off with mr. frius from belfast and we'll get to mr. navy in just moment. now, since the beginning of the onslot on palestinians, the israeli regime has sought to dismantle the resistance groups in gaza. however, 84 days of lethal and deadly attacks, the palestinian resistance groups are fighting back. along both inside and

outside of gaza, the commander of the irgc force, general has also said that the united states and israel have been incapable of defeating palestinian fighters uh in gaza, so uh instead apart from just murdering innocent women and children, being a record holder for killing children, what have the israelies achieved? well it depends on what you believes the true objective of the war on gaza, they have stated that they are going to use their military mate, to force hamas and the various resistance groups to release the captives, but what they are doing in the fact is collective punishment, they are making northern gaza uh uninhabitable, they are forcing people through bombs and through starvation to move from northern gaza and indeed central gaza uh further south. towards

rapa, they're trying to corral 2.4 million people into a space that is probably one-third of the original size of gaza, so they're not fighting hamas, what they're doing is destroying the civilian uh infrastructure and the civilian population inside gaza, now this started on the 17th of october and people can go back to 1948, but what is obvious is that soundly this was always going to happen if the zannis want to create their uh creater israeli project then they were always going to try to expel the people of gaza uh into the sun so what they have really feeled is that hamas uh is standing firm hamas is a strong today as it was on the very first day of this uh military carpet bombing. and military uh intervention

by the zist regime into gaza and the troops they are losing uh every day and the equipment is testimony to the strength, the steadfastness and the resilience of the resistance, and any palestinians who i have seen, you have been named or have had family members uh dessimuted by the uh this unconstionable israeli attack, all seem to be... standing firmly behind the resistance and all seem determined to stay in gaza for of as long as it takes to outlast this current round of uh forturism from uh tel aviv and from naru. mon the palestinian resistance fighters, they've carried out retaliatory operations uh against the israeli regime across the gaza strip since the onset of the israeli ground operation which started on october 17th, the regime says it is lost. 167

troops in the gaza strip, but hamas says a number of fatalities is much higher. also, scores of israeli armored vehicles, including the much towted mirkava tanks have been destroyed in. and israeli skylark two spy drone was also down by the resistance fighters, what do these figures say about uh the uh the firm stance of the resistance in gaza? it clearly states that the resistance is still alive, even though 2000 civilians have been killed by the zionist regime, the resistance is still alive, the resistance really hasn't taken any kind of hit, whereas the zionist regime has shown how weak they are with the vulnerability that we have seen the zin regime on ground. you see, even though mainstream media is not telling us or is not informing their audiences about the success of the operations that palestinian

resistance fighters have had on ground. we have different sources now on telegram and other media outlets where we find an outlets like press tv where we are told the... sesses that hammas and other resistance fighters have had on ground in gaza, especially when comes out and gives these official statements where he tells the audience the kind of damage that they have imposed upon the zion regime, the the fact that they have managed to attack their their their their tanks, the fact that they were able to ambush. many of many of hammas's brigades, the fact that the gullani brigade was also targeted, which is an elite brigade of the zionist regime that they were forced to retreat, are all signs that the that the that the resistance forces in palestine are able and very much capable

of defending themselves. the only way that the zionist regime can have full control over gaza is if they are able. to exterminate and defeat hammas on ground, and we can clearly see that that seems like an impossibility if they weren't able to do this in the since the war started in october 7th, they won't be able to do it in the future, and from what we see right now that all all resistance fighters have not yet engaged the zionist regime in full contact, we see hisbullah engaging from the from the northern side, we see... indirectly targeting us, us sides because us is deeply involved, is a direct party in this war. we see the yemanies performing beautifully by controlling the sea, but there are many other factions, there are many other resistance groups that can

fully involve themselves in this conflict, but they are waiting for the right time. hammas has performed more than the the muslim ummah expect. from them and they are true, there's there is no doubt that hammas has become a source of honor for every single group that fights against oppression and especially muslims throughout the world. frau, let's go back in the timeline a little bit, the israeli regime, it increased its deadly acts of aggression against palestinian since late december 2022, when the ultra right-wing cabinet took office, senior hamas leader yahya sinwar had warned that the gaza-based. resistance groups should be fully prepared for the quote unquote big battle for al-aks mosk if israel does not cease it's aggression at uh at the uh the holy site now sarwar he held firm on his promise as he is known to be the mastermind of the alaxa flood

operations. sinua recently issued a statement proving that he's alive and well that the israelies will suffer on the ground in gaza. all this shows that the resistance is prepared to stand. and go to toe with the occupiers, yes, they've always wanted to bring the israelis into close contact in order to uh go mine uh toward the tool uh is really soldiers are used to uh they're used to bombing civilians, they're used to using artillery under ships ander airpians, they're used to reading uh civilian refugee camps and taking away men and young boys and the wears the morning. they are not true soldiers and the many of them are appear to be kind of cycle paths in uniform. many of them follow the israelelist kind of mata that all a

palestinian belongs to them, it was given to them by god. i have seen a video of an israeli soldier who is also an israeli comedian on the beach and gaza uh stripping down to his underwer and getting into the water and saying this is ours, this is our land. we've heard netanyahu tell the settlers that they are going to build settlements. in gaza and also there was a comment directed towards elon musk when netanyahu said that gaza would need to be rebuilt, he doesn't intend to rebuild gaza for palestinians, he intends to rebuild gaza for settler expansion colonial experiment that is is really apartate still, we have seen through the resistance that uh what was happening in alaska. mosk uh, that was going to slowly day by day, week by week, month by month, be

taken over by the settler movement, we'll seen them, we seen the attacks by the jerusalem police and army on the worshippers on fridays and alexa mosk, and we've seen the settlers storming the mosk, i mean the overall plan is for the israelis and for the settlers, i believe that some stage in the future fully occupy the outsa mosque. similar to what they have done in the ibrahimi mosk and alkali and hebron, so i think the resistance moved before the opportunity no longer existed to defend axa and it is the right of the palestinians to choose the path of resistance in order to protect their holy sates, to protect their families, to protect their land, protect our homes and protect their futures. moving analysis by us intelligence agencies has shown that hamasa's credibility and influence has grown dramatically in a month since uh the october

seven operations and the onset of israel's war on gaza, is this another aspect of the war that the israelis have failed in? well, i don't think we should rely much on us intelligencia because of their bias, but having said that, this intelligence report is clearly correct, but i think the us have used this for their own benefit, meaning they us this as a pretext to not vote for seas fire that with this spread of fame of hamas, that is inherent threat to so-called peace in the region, that's the kind of pretext that the us want to use, and on the other hand they also want to use this intelligence report to kind of impose upon the zionist regime as well that hey, stop fighting, because because of your bombardment on gaza, hamas is gaining popularity, but in in in in the facts... on ground are that there is no doubt that hammas has gained massive popularity not just within

the west bank or in gaza, obviously in gaza they've always been a majority political uh party, but they have they have managed to gain popularity throughout the world as well, in countries in in in different muslim countries, hammas are seem to be the flag bearers of resistance against the zionist regime right now and are very well respected amongst all sects of islam and amongst all resistance groups that are fighting for liberation in their own in their own regions so that's one another um another reason why i feel israel has failed in driving the narrative is because what narratives have has the israelies always um given to the world number one that they're undestructible no one can fight them no one has the ability to fight them clearly has proven them wrong, obviously hisbullah had proven them wrong in 2000 and 2006, but clearly hamas has also

managed to proven them wrong, they haven't been able to achieve any of their military objectives in gaza as of now. secondly, the intelligentia, they've always been so proud about the strong intelligence that the israelies have had, clearly that that idol has broken now, there is no respect for the mosad anymore, there is no respect for is... israeli intelligence anymore, the october 7th resistance by hamas was huge failure of of israeli intelligentia, and so that idol has also been clearly been broken, also the the narrative that the world is with israel, that the world supports israel, the kind of protests that we've seen across the globe, throughout the arab world, throughout the muslim world, throughout south asia, throughout north america and south america,

this is unprecedented, meaning even if there are governments who are restraining from from from voicing the atrocities that the zionist regime are committing, we see that people, citizens of those countries are coming out in the millions to call out for seas fire, and clearly there's a shift of narrative in which resistance seems like legitimate option now, and any so-called serious group that tries to undermine the significance of resistance of palestinian freedom fighters against the zianist regime, they cannot be taken serious. anymore, because what else does nation do when their kids are killed in the thousands, when the women are killed in the thousands, so clearly the the the whatever narrative that the israeli regime has proposed or given to the world, that is clearly been shattered after october 7th, for hus in belfast, according to gaz officials, 90% of the

population in gaza has been displaced since the onset of the war, the israeli prime minister benyamin netanyahu has um on various occasions admitted he's pushing for the expulsion of gaza's population under the term voluntary migration. now as almost all of buildings in northern gaza have been flattened by voluntary uh what do the israelies mean? voluntary that if you leave you leave and if you stay you'll either starve or you'll be incinerated. yes. weaponized hunger is part of this ongoing murder campaign in gaza, and what they hope to do, i would imagine is if you warm enough people, if you starve enough people, let's just take an example of two parents who have survived so far, maybe with their children and maybe with otherly relatives, they have a choice of trying to find drinkable water

every day or trying to find food, i have friends and can... uh that i was chatting to just the other day, you told me that there is no food and can't us and what the israel regime is hoping to do is starve the palestinian people to survive their murderous onswaught into submission, but if you have young family and you're watching your children starve and somebody opened a rafa border and said, there there is help, there are refugee tents, there is food, there is water, whether or not the egyptians would agree to that and... is separate issue, but i think if people were given the option, i think parents would vote to vote with their feet, the way they have voted to leave parts of northern gaza for the so-called saved areas uh which don't exist in southern gaza in order to save the families, and that is what the israel is mean by voluntary relocation, you voluntarily leave, you won't

get to come back, but you've left voluntarily, so they cannot be accused of having uh displaced the... people through force of arms, but that is indeed what they're doing on the ground as we speak. i'm staying with you, mr. hughes, hamas has reacted, excuse me, has rejected the israeli claim that post war gaza will not be governed by the resistance group or by any palestinian group. the relentless air strikes and shelling have destroyed two-thirds of all structures in northern gaza and a quarter in the south. are the israelis ensuring uh that there is nothing. left of gaza to govern at all, the bombing of gaza, which has been equivalent to the nuclear bombs dropped by the us in japan, has been so intense that gaza is already being deemed as unlivable. i think the uh, i think it was onra or somebody reported several years ago that by 2020 or by 2021, gaza would be unhabitable because of

the problems with water and the... problems with the economy and the number of people unemployed and the pressure that was already being exerted on the health service and before the war, that's before the sucious campaign by this regime, and the worst case scenario, if they were to force the gazans into the sani, then you would have hamas continuing to try to liberate palestinian land from egypt hold the egyptians accountable for the actions of hamas and the resistance groups if they were in the same, so who governs uh gaza when this uh attrucious onslot finally comes to an end and the sooner that happens the better, if the palestinians are still stadfast and are still there, you will still have some form of

social governmental bodies in order to help uh facilitate food, shelter, education. and health cars, so there will be, there will defacto be a government of source in gaza, but if nahu is implying that there will be no gazans in gaza, so there will be no palestinians to have a government over that small track of land over that onclear that is 26 miles by five miles, then that is what he intends and well or not he uh achieves that goal uh remains to be seen. when we're talking about the resistance, there's two aspects, one would be the palestinian resistance, then it's the overall resistance front in the region, how important? has the unified response been from uh the resistance in the region, lebanon's hezbollah, yemen's ansar resistance moving in the armed forces the country, resistance groups in syria have

also carried out operations against israel and the us positions in iraq and islamic resistance group uh last week carried out attack a major israeli port in retaliation for the war on gaza, are the israelis and washington not considering the repercussions of a coordinated and unified response from all resistance fronts in the region? they are definitely considering this dynamic and i think hammas has really told the world the importance of the actions by other resistance fighters or other resistance groups that have taken place in that region. there is no doubt that it has created um pressure on western imperialistic powers like the us, the uk, france, they really haven't been able to do anything against the ansarulah, the ansarulah have stated their unequical policy against

any kind of breach in the red sea, against any kind of support from the ratsi to the zience regime by any western power, they are very clear in their stance, we see hizbullah being praised by hammas for the for for the stands that they have taken, for the attacks that they have made on. the northern front because of which we see a diversion of israel's military power towards the northern border. it it's quite apparent that israel is surrounded from all sides. it is quite apparent that the us sees the unification of the resistance forces in the region of west asia and they they definitely see themselves weaken in this region. not only have they been have they been expelled from afghanistan, but now... the expulsion from iraq has also become very very close and we see um the us weakening in this region and this is something that was no one could have

could have even imagined that the us could lose power could lose its military progres in in in the west asia region and remember when shaid qasim suleymani was was murdered all resistance forces said one thing and one thing only, they said that a mere bomb blast will not be revenge ofmani's death, but it will be the expulsion of the us military from the region of west asia, and so with this attack on october 7th and with the imposed war by the zianist regime on palestine, we see this dream of a independent sovereign west asia. region of an of a unified islamic arab un union is becoming real by the day, sure we seeing the zinest regime weakening

every day and its allies weakening in this region with the unification of different different resistance forces and the us and israel definitely definitely know this and they're seeing this. thanks lot gentlemen uh human rights activist joining us from houston texas. thanks to journal sother and activist frau hughes speaking to us from belfast and also a special thanks to our viewers for staying with us on tonight spotlight. it's good night for now and see you next time. as the us israel genocidal war in gaza enters its third month and the death doll continues. rise, israel's economy is also paying heavy price. the labor shortage in high-tech is especially worrying since that sector accounts for nearly 20% of israel's gross

domestic product, gdp. 20% of the israeli workers are part of the reserve army and they are not functioning. in this edition of economic divide we have special guest alice frothchild, author of broken promises and broken dreams and member of the jewish voice for peace who says the book problem needs to be solved, so the root causes of this crisis are the ongoing occupation of the occupied territories and the siege of gaza. this year there will be no christmas in the city of jerusalem al quds that is synonymous with the birth of jesus christ located in the zinist israeli occupied west bank last month palestinian leaders of

christian. nations in al-quds came together and citing the devastating genocidal war on gaza made a unanimous decision to cancel public celebrations. there's no christmas tree or sparkling lights in manger square or along the cobblestone streets that should be bustling with foreign tourists this time of year. there will be no christmas parade with musicians and no santas on street corners dalling out joy to children. instead, the main square is a simple parking lot without a hint of holiday decoration to be seen because gaza. is suffering, no christmas in palestine, this week on the meast stream.

news in brief for this hour, the commander of the iirg force says the united states and israel have been incapable of defeating palestinian fighters in gaza, brigadier general. ismal khani said, the resistance front has humiliated the us and israel through his power and steadfastness. israel's fresh attacks have killed dozens of people in different areas of gaza, they include the southern city of rafa as well as several refugee camps near the city of dairal balah. the total death toll since october the 7th is more than 21,500.