hello and welcome to press tv spotlight, i'm marza hashimy, thanks so much for being with us, well as the fatalities of palestinians now are over 27, in the continuence of israeli genocide on gaza. the united states congress is set to vote to increase washington support for the regime. next week, the house of representatives will vote on advancing more than 14 billion. more dollars

in military aid to the zionist regime, so is it that washington's answer to the zionist genocide? it's to up the anti and give the regime more weapons and support in order to kill more palestinians? well, we will look at this and other questions on this spotlight. i'd like to welcome my guest to the program. peter, former british ambassador to syria out of manchester. and charlotte cats, international coordinator of samadun palestinian prisoner solidarity network out of vancouver. well, i'd like to start off with charlotte. thanks so much for being with us. now charlotte, nearly 27,500 palestinians have been murdered since october, with many instances of massacers, torture and crimes against humanity. it's so mindboggling that this genes. side is continuing: your thoughts

on why the world has failed to stop this genocide? one of the things that's been very clear since october 7th and beyond is that the imperialist powers like the united states, britain, france, germany, canada, are lined up arm in arm to prevent the palestinian people and their resistance and the resistance forces in the... from realizing their goals of the liberation of palestine and the liberation of the region from us imperialism and that they see in the growing strength of the resistance forces an existential threat to this regime of plunder, domination and subjugation, which they've imposed upon the entire region for decades and indeed centuries, and so when we talk when we are saying this, we're not just seeing like a failure on the part of world agencies, we're seeing very explicit and

deliberate genocide being carried out by the zionist regime in league with these with these states, with these countries that are fully complicit in this ongoing genocide and are doing everything possible to make it last longer and be worse for the palestinian people. i mean, this is why we're seeing the united states and its allies bombing yemen, iraq and syria. this is why we're seeing the the united states talking about shipping $14 billion dollars of new weapons to the so-called. regime top of the four billion dollars that they already send on annual basis. um, but now, on the other hand, what we're seeing is an unprecedented level of resistance, involvement from forces in the region, and we're also seeing an unprecedented level of popular support for the palestinian people, an absolute abhorrance of this genocide being conducted by the zionist regime. i think more people than ever around the world recognize today that zionism is racism and are willing to go out and... the streets are willing to take

risks, to get arrested, to protest, to organize, to face down um zionist intimidation and smear campaigns, because people cannot sit by and allow a genocide to take place, especially in their name and with their tax dollars. yes indeed, and and you you talked about uh with the united states and giving more weapons, what you say in reality that it's the united states which is actually at war with the palestinians? w you know, yes, the united states is at war with the palestinian people and it has been, i mean, for over 75 years, the us has always uh backed and supported the zionist colonization of palestine, um, it took over as the primary sponsor of the zionist colonial project in the region, and it has armed and funded it since that time. i mean, us officials have, routinely referred to the zitist regime is essentially an aircraft carrier for the united states in the region, said if there isn't an israel, we'd have to create... it um

and and why, why would you have to create it in order to serve the interests of the united states, to divide the arab people from one another, to divide the peoples and nations of the region from one another, and to impose, this essentially this military garrison in occupied palestine in the heart of the region, and so this has always been a u.s. war on the palestinian people. um, this has always been an imperialist war on the palestinian people, and that's why it's the us's weapons that are causing the destruction and devastation that we see today, and it's also the us's weapons that are being destroyed by the palestinian resistance. now hopefully our other guest, peter will be able to join us, so far we don't have him, but i'm... stay with you charlotte, you you talked about on the one hand, oh well, hopefully we join, peter will join us in in a minute, he's just coming in and hopefully everything will be okay, we'll test the audio and everything, but uh staying with you a bit more, charlotte, you had talked about actually uh that you've seen - on the one

hand we talked about uh the united states and what is doing, on the other hand you talked about the resistance and how you haven't seen uh so much uh as far as people becoming more aware of the palestinian. situation, i want to talk about your personal experience because you are an activist in canada and what you have seen since october 7th there. well, what we've seen is a really sustained mobilization and just a really large scale um anger and commitment to continue to act and a real outrage at the canadian government, at uh, canadian officials and institutions that continue to behave. in mechanism that is completely complicit with the genocide, while the vast majority of people here are demanding that they stop doing it. mean, the time after time, pull after poll show that the majority of canadians, the very least want a cease fire in the us and israel to stop bombing and attacking gaza, so what does

the canadian government do? instead, it goes and and participates in the us-uk assault on yemen, um, goes about defunding unra, these are not... things that are supported by people on the ground and that's why every single weekend and for that matter every single day there are demonstrations of thousands of people in all of the major cities and hundreds of people in many towns um throughout canada, people fundamentally are appalled by the very reality that they see of what zionism is. okay, especially in the cold of the of canada right now that's actually quite impressive. well peter, i'm glad you... join us and peter, in november congress allocated $14.5 billion dollars more for the israeli genocide and now set to vote to give even more uh money to the israeli regime. i mean, why is this the case when the us itself has a growing poverty problem and a

crumbling infrastructure, and their own people are definitely under pressure, so your thoughts on that side of things? it's a very good question and... many americans themselves are asking that question, why is america funding israel to the tune of the billions and billions of dollars to carry out the genocide, while folks back home in america hardly have enough to to live on, and the infrastructure is crumbling, um, and the answer of course is politics and money, um, especially an an election year, the bottom line is that biden and all all the leading candidates dependent on the pro israel lobby, if the pro israel lobby turns against them,

they are finished, and so it it goes on time after time, this is not about american interests, it's about israeli interests ' "the ordinary people don't get a say, especially when the the mass media, the mainstream media are so one-sided, just today, new evidence has emerged of how biased cnn is, from the very top, ordinary cnn journalists are protesting because they're not allowed to report in partially, but they get orders from the very top of cnn to present only the..." israeli point of view, so it's no wonder that american support for israel is so one-sided. well, let me just jump in here, peter, you said something interestingly, interesting, that because it's an election year, well one would think because it's an election year, then actually if the people really had power to elect who

they wanted, that the genocide would be stopped immediately, since the majority of people are not pro-genocide, and that because it's an election year, they would move... priityty, the politicians would try to appease the people more, but what you have said about the israeli lobby, um, do you think that that just really says who controls not only the elections? but washington politics in general uh, well when all the candidates are pro- pro israel, the people have no choice. the choice is being pro israeli, very pro israeli or most pro israeli, you can't be pro- palestinian in in the us presidential and congressional elections. um, it's very simple, the the ordinary people have... no choice, but the the polls show that many younger people in

particular, and in particular, people who would lean towards the democrats are disgusted by biden's effective support for for genocide, and it may well be the case that they will simply abstain, that they will vote with their feet by staying at home, and this is something that even biden. has to pay attention to, and this is why america pretends, pretends to be concerned about palestinin lives, pretends to be supporting a palestinian state, that is just to appease those young democrats who are not going to vote for for baiden, but it's all uh, well, charlotte, if the mentality in the west is to support. genicide, is there a middleground that people in west asia and the global south can have with this perspective or basically

are we a continuous crash course with the rulers of western hegemany and the global south? well we're on a crash course with imperialism and zionism and it's really clear that you know, but but one of the things that's actually hopeful is that we're seeing these very large numbers of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions of people in the heart of the imperial core saying, no, we stand with the global south, not only saying, we want to cease fire now, but we support the palestinian resistance, and this is something that's increasingly clear, and what that means is that it's not possible for these states to for too long sustain this ongoing war machine targeting the palestinian people and targeting everyone in the... but the fact is is that these imperialist forces have shown time and time again that rather than

you know attempting to sort of preserve some form of minimal peace in the region um we no where they engage in pressure campaigns but they sort of pull back the attack dogs of the zionist regime from like this extreme genocide, they're not doing that, they've had months and months and months to do that, and rather than do that they're passing bill to send $14 billion. more weapons to continue the genocide more effectively with more bombs and bullets and destructive force, so there's no mechanism by which these forces become supporters of peace and justice and a future for people in the region, instead they have to be defeated and they're on the road to being defeated. well, peter, it is not only gaza, but also the occupied west bank which is experiencing extreme violence from the zionist. young and old, male and female, arrested, tortured and killed by the regime. now with this type of entity and this type of

violence against the people, what option does the palestinians have except resistance against this apartite regime? how do you see it? personally, i feel they are being given no option other than on uh resistance. um, i myself when i was a diplomat in the british foreign office, worked on the middle east peace process in the early days and high hopes were alive then and and for number of years afterwards, but for at least the last 10 years it has been obvious that peace talks, the middle east peace process is just theater, just a sharad, not serious, in fact it's just a cover for the israelis to increase their their land graps and and to

absorb more and more of the west bank, you cannot blame the palestinians for concluding in these circumstances that talks about two state solution is just a cover for the israelis to grab more land for the settlers to come in ever greater number. and and talk of going to international courts, it's good in a way, but it's not going to deliver palestinian rights. um, so you can't blame palestinians if they feel they have no recourse but to take up arms or to support resistance groups like hamad. you said, peter, staying with you, you said that uh, it's been the last 10 years specifically that you haven't believed that the the goal is actually peace. what about from the very beginning of the peace talks? so you think from the very beginning it was a plot by the

regime and just to delay the inevitable, which was for them to ste more israeli property, well historians will argue about this, certainly i had the impression being heavily personally involved right at the beginning that it was serious that on the side of the israelis at that time, in particular rabin, there was a serious intention to move forward towards allowing a palestinian state. to come into existence, but we know what happened to rabin, he was assassinated by israeli fanatics, who then more or less altered the peace process and made it eventually into just a cover story while they got on with occupying and annexing

quietly annexing the the west bank, but in first few years there was i think genuine... but those days are long gone, there is nobody like that today, there is no partner for peace in israel today. okay, well charlot, do you think the israeli regime can recover from this genocide? it has committed and it's total military failure in gaza, where none of its goals have been met. in the long run, no, absolutely not. mean, this genocide that's being carried out as part of the deathnell of the zionist. project in occupied palestine, and we're seeing this also in the way that while palestinians have come together, united, forged a strong, very strong sense of national unity, um, uniting around the resistance, standing together against the genocide, what we see on the zianocide are every politician for themselves, every

political figure scrambling for influence and power, um, we see the blatant fascis ben... and smotric uh, you proudly declaring how they're planning to steal more palestinian land in the next days, we see netanyahu determined to kill as many palestinians as possible so that he remains in power and out of jail. um, we are seeing this, and the absolute exposure of the reality of what zionism is and what colonialism in palestine means everyone around the world. for so long, the zionist regime has maintained this... illusion of the impenetrability and the strength of its army and its military that it can't be defeated, but what we're seeing right now is that the palestinian resistance um under siege for over 17 years with weapons that they've manufactured themselves um defeating this so-called uh undefeetable

army, instead all that the zionists are able to do is drop bombs and kill civilians and and that's a reality of dying project, settler colonial project that is failing and coming to its end. well, peter, uh, do you think with the us supported genocide that not only has washington lost credibility worldwide, but it is being scrutinized more by its own citizens as they question the country's militarism can and could ultimately cause the more pressure inside of the united states itself. uh, i'm not optimistic, i have to say because of the the deep forces which control us politics, um, i mean, congress is the the best parliament that that you can buy, senators, congressmen, it is well known,

are easily bought, and this situation is not going to change. um, whatever the people want is secondary to the forces that support militarism, and of course the the arms manufacturers play a huge role here, and this this this complex was identified by president eisenhouer 70, 80 years ago when he spoke about the the military, industrial... complex which americans had to beware of, well it's still there today, only it's extended to include the media, a big high high tech. and and academy universities. yes, indeed, indeed. well, charlotte, there are no sanctions on israel and no fly zones that

have been implemented to stop his genocide. what the regime has is the total support of the western front of hegemmany. when this is the reality, what would you say is the responsibility of the anti-genocide front? the responsibility of the anti-genocide front in all of. its forms and all of its places, whether that is the resistance that's fighting on the ground, whether that are states that are working to hold the zionist regime accountable at international courts and whether that's our popular movement on the streets around the world is to do everything possible to bring this genocide to an end and to support the liberation of palestine from the river to the sea, and that means confronting not only uh the zionist regime for its direct genocide on gaza, but united states, britain, germany, france, canada, and all of the partners in the attacks on yemen, on the attacks on iraq and syria on the attempts to fundamentally

destroy the region's ability to stand together and stand for itself and be free of colonialism, hegemony and external domination, and this is a responsibility of all of us, that means building our boycott campaigns, that means getting in the streets, that means confronting arms manufacturers like palestine. action is doing, every single person can play a role in a united front against genocide that spans across the globe and stands together with the palestinian people and their resistance on the front lines of struggle. well, thank you both for being with me on this spotlight. peter ford, a former british ambassador to syria out of manchester, charlotte kates, international coordinator samadun palestinian prisoner solidarity network out of vancouver, and thank you viewers for being with us on another spotlight, i'm. me thanking you for myself and other crew right here in tehran, hope to see you right here next time, goodbye.

the demand for independence encapsulated in the principles of resistance and steadfastness against arregance and colonization was one of the outcomes of the islamic. revolution in iran. 45 years into the blessed victory, the message of the revolution and it's slogan spread and reached people around the world and especially in west asia against cyanis and american dominance and hegemany. meanwhile, the apparatus of arrogance fears it spread and has taken various measures after the revolution to confront it including military cous, direct military intervention by the us army and causing chaos to undermine the stability of west asian countries. none of these measures has achieved the desired result from revolution to resistance this week on the media stream.

we must not become part of south africa's problem, we must remain part of their solution. we must not aim to impose ourselves our solutions, our favorites in south africa. damn it, we have favorites in south africa. the favorites in south africa are the... people who are being repressed by that ugly white regime, we have favorites. i also want to say a word about the situation in israel, the more we learned about the attack, the more horrifying it becomes. more than one thous, 1, innocent lives lost including at least 27 americans. these guys make, they make al-qaeda look pure, they're pure, they're pure evil. i said from the beginning,

the united states make no mistake about it, stands with israel, united states stands with israel.

the headline samas's response to a truice proposal reportedly includes a three-phase deal 45 days each to secure personer. swaps eight into gaza reconstruction among other issues as well. us israali genocidal war on gaza is now in its fifth month with the un warning against attacks on rafa where half of the gaza population is taking shelter and the three and rather the us army acknowledges missile attacks on two ships off yemon while the british frigate has been replaced due to damage by mr. strikes.