when it comes to the west israely genocidal war, the world has been exposed to the israeli atrocities on occupied palestinian territories. the two colors of have been

exposed as apartide regime from human rights violations, the destruction of properties, illegal settlements and most notably the right of palestinians for self-determination. in this edition of the program we will look at some of these violations that have taken place with the full backing of the us and how the icj, the international court of justice has helped bring these issues to the four, issues which have been outwide rejected by the israeli regime. first let me introduce our guests for this edition of the program. paulodi is a co-founder of the free palestine movements and a former us government advisor who joins us from berkeley, california. also joining us is peter ford, he's a former british amb ambassador to syria who joins us from manchester. gentlemen, welcome to you both. if you can set the stage for us, paulo rudy, um, how operation allox a flood uh was uh in many ways a result of the violations of palestinians by the israeli regime in the gaza strip that has happened. throughout the

years and decades and how it built up to the uh fact that you had then had palestinians in of the gaza strip to be under a full blockade for 17 years and then that was one of the reasons for this operation to have been executed. yes, that's correct, the the isolation of the palestinians, especially the palestinians in gaza has been increasing over the years, it used to... be that right after the 67 war it was possible for palestinians in gaza and the west bank and in israel itself, the to move relatively freely between all these different places. it was an opportunity which hadn't existed since 1948 and this was although israel was controlling

everything, it was in effect this fact that permitted contacts between palestinians who hadn't seen each other since 1948, but gradually they started implement greater restrictions, building the wall for example on the west bank and the same thing around gaza, and then when ' when hamas won the elections in 2000 and seven uh or was it six? in any case the it was - i think they were installed in january of 2007 and in in uh june of 2007 israel basically cut off. all uh

relations with the the gaza strip and they evacuated their settlements and uh it became a um a concentration camp, a uh an open air concentration. all right, well peter ford, so here we have the icj where it has convened for the second time, the first time was uh the case that was brought against uh the of israel regime by south. africa and then we're having this, which is different even though it's the icj, but 52 countries in attendance, three international organizations, but the focus is, not the focus, but the theme actually is on the fact that you have the occupation, so it's questioning the israel regime all together, how big deal is that? well, what's happening this week at the icj is very important and very... interesting,

it's amazing to think that for decades, the legal position has not been clear with regard to the legality of the israel. occupation of of the west bank and and gaza, and now belatedly, thankfully, the icj um is waking up and has been asked to give an opinion, not a ruling which would force israel to comply, but an opinion on the legal aspects of the israeli occupation, now this has thrown the israelis very much onto the defensive along with their us allies, it's intensely embarrassing for them, because the opinion can only go in one direction and to which is to confirm the complete illegality of the

israeli presence on the west bank and and gaza and in particular the illegality of the settlements which israel has been building for decades in in the the west bank and therefore they are throwing everything into attempts to discredit the icj, to throw sand in the eyes of the judges, but they are being shown up as being isolated. 52 countries are speaking in the course of the week, and only three, the united states is... and curiously fiji are going to in any way defend the israeli position, so their isolation is absolutely clear to the world. and and do you get the feeling poll that rudy that this time around uh not that the first time when icj

conven didn't do it, but it just appears that there's a refresh button that has been pressed where even when you take a look at the core slogan, not slogan, but the the issues. be covered, quote, occupation, settlement and annexation, as well as policies aimed at altering the demographic composition character and status of al-quds, that's what the the website states that that refresh button has been now pushed and that's what's being discussed. well, the situation of jerusalem also becoming off limits to more and more palestinians and of gaza, the as well... the genocide and so forth is attempt uh by israel to go do more than just refresh what its statements in the past, it's to move to another level where it um it moves the the

territories and the the sovereignty such as that exists among palestinians, it usurps it and decides... to assert its own sovereignty over palestinian areas, so this is this is just going even farther than than ever before, and this is part of uh the gradual, the the creeping annexation and alteration, it's kind of like going to new planet, let's say mars and terraforming it. making it suitable, making it like the earth, what they're doing now is to take a country, people and a land of palestine, and over the the decades it has been israel has been

increasing its judaization, its zionization - and completely transforming the the places over which it has taken... complete control, that's what all this is about, that's what the genocide is about, and it it's always been a genocide for more than hundred years a creeping genocide which was declared officially by this the newly formed zionist congress in 1897, that's the way it's been ever since then, that's that's the direction that they're going in. well, there's a lot of recurring statements that have been made. forard and of course many that have been repeated, but one of the ones that stands out amongst the few is uh this uh denial of israel on palestinian's right to self-determination. can you please tell us why that is so important? um, well, the palestinians are about the last people uh

left in in the world who were colonized. every other uh ex colony has seen the exercise. of self-determination, so everywhere in the world, except in the case of palestine, it's very embarrassing for israelis to be reminded. uh that they are effectively a western colony which has been planted in the middle east and they are in the same position as those white south africans were before mandela came along and helped to achieve proper self determination for south africans, so it self determination is is the strongest argument that the palestinians have. and it it it's impossible to argue against it on on legal grounds. this

is why the united states this week in in the h has been arguing that the the court should leave on one side the legal arguments and consider only the practical consequences of the occupation and the need for negotiations under the ages and the security council and this brings us back to the law, if if it's just the powerful countries which are going to decide, then there is no point in having an icj or international law. taking a look at the us role since our guess are mentioned that, paula rudy, um, i'm going to refer to the veto that has taken place on the ceasefire resolution, um, it's only country. have done that uh, so you would think that the us realizes now how isolated really is, i mean that that speaks for itself, but while

that has happened, which is on the third occasion, the first one to be on october 18, at that point there were only few thousand palestinians that have been killed, from october 18 up to now, we're looking at almost 30,00, doesn't that speak for itself in terms of what the us is done, yes, and i think the the us is quite - um comfortable, let's say the us government at least, is quite comfortable with that. what it says is, we can do what we like, we can do it anywhere we like, we can do it as much as we like, and therefore you need to adjust to that and to obey us, because we can destroy you, and see how we're destroying others through through israel, i mean israel, it's really an extension of... the united states or or vice versa, and so the the united states doesn't

mind the isolation as long as they have the power, and that's they're trying to impress the rest of the world with their power, it's very, they're saying, we're very dangerous, so be careful what you say and do, and it's pressing it for all it's worth everywhere in the... world, but right now, especially in palestine, but don't you think that this time, peter ford, that maybe because of the depth and the scale of the genocide that has taken place and the us support for it in turn, that maybe it's not going to be as simple as uh the us claiming the superiority that it has over the rest of the world, if you agree with what a guess there said, that's right, um, we're seeing the importance of military power. here, but this time it's not just us military power, it's the power of

the access of resistance, and in the end, this is what will decide the outcome of the present crisis, the pressure from the north, from hizballah, the pressure from the south, from ansar allah, which is creating enormous economic ab in israel, the israeli economy is... thinking at annual rate of 20%, this is this is even worse than during the time of the covid crisis, it's dramatic for israel, there are for the first time in israel's history, it's coming under serious economic pressure, and it's getting taste of the sanctions which the americans have enjoyed applying to israel's enemies, this is where... that ultimately the crisis will be resolved, not in the court of the hague,

unfortunately, although the outcome there will be useful, but it will be decided by a combination of military power, resistance and the resistance of the people in gaza and the the economic crisis that israel is now experiencing ' it's very interesting, paula rudi that you mention the fact that the u.s. likes to be singled out that way in terms of being the sole country that is actually uh use that veto. i'm curious as to why then they would go ahead and make a presentation the... un for a ceasefire um when it has vetoed one, it of course it does have a precondition there for the release of the captives, but what do you make of that move by the us, um, is it trying to put a show in a matter of speaking uh, because all of this comes on the what is said to be this uh imminence either you call it a ground invasion or the slaughter of palestinians in

rafa, i mean what do you make of the us move there? well, in part the, actions of the the us in the united nations are the means of saying what i pointed out before, it's a means of saying, look, we have the power, we have the power not only on the ground wherever we care to go with more than 800 bases and military installations throughout the world, we also have the power in the united nations, we have veto power and we can twist arms. other countries uh in the un, so this is this is the forum in in which the the united states uses its power. it's also, as you pointed out, a place where they can say, see, we are willing to be part of an international community and and do things,

but we have our limitations, and we... "we have our red lines, and you need to abide by, we have to stay within those red lines in order to achieve anything supposedly together, actually it's being imposed by the the united states, that's that's what it gets from working in the united nations, i'm sure you know that the united states has said that it is, after vetoing the resolution." proposed by algeria, it it says it's now working a ceasefire resolution, which would be a temporary cease fire and under conditions that are unlikely to be acceptable to the resistance, so from that to the i'm

not too sure what to call it peter ford, would you call it piece stocks, true stock? things which are completely incompatible, on the one hand, it wants to spare the civilian population, or at least to appear to be trying to spare the civilian population, but at the same time it wants israel to be allowed to go in and totally crush, obliterate, destroy the resistance, these

things cannot be reconciled, but it and it it comes down to the issue of the hostages, at the end of the day, the sensible thing would be deal, hostages for peace, but this cannot be achieved except in stages, but if the resistance hand over all the hostages now, which is what israel and america and britain are demanding, then israel has no incentive. to comply with a cease fire, on the contrary, israel would then have then have every incentive just to weid into gaza and to hell with the the consequences, the only way forward, if there is to be any kind of deal over the hostages, is one which is faised, so

that there there will be fire, partial return the hostages and then after period... of few months, the remaining hostages would be allowed to return to israel, but based a palestinian statehood that the us has suggested along with this allies paul larudi, which the israely prime minister has said not on my watch, another one of the ministers says that's suicide, and i forget what the other extreme minister said about this, but they're totally against oh, that it's a gift to hamas after operation of loss of flood, yes, i mean, israel has said that it wants to eliminate, what a requirement is to eliminate hamas, that's absurd, hamas is... basically it's a it's a party uh it's a a part of the resistance it's an idea in uh in the minds of people who are seeking freedom and liberation

and independence and that's not going to go away uh hamas is going to exist no matter what in effect israel is is seeking a pretext for uh for committing genocide, i think its real objective is demographic change, it uh, right now, the number of israeli jews and the number of palestinians in the territories controlled by by israel are roughly equal, and they they don't want that, because they want to annex these territories, perhaps bit by bit. and sometimes in bigger chunks as in in gaza, but in order to do that, they need to get rid of the population. i think their real objective is to is to get rid of the

palestinians, to to get them into another area or to wipe them off the face of the earth, or a little bit of both, but i think that that they're not, they're disingenuous when they talk about eliminating hamas, they know they can't do that. yeah, i must say uh on the issue of palestinian uh statehood peter that iran's leader uh has said that the solution to the palestinian issue is resistance until the referendum becomes possible, but moving beyond that, let's uh look at the mere fact that you have the countries at the icj that have come out and uh pretty much all in cores have uh blasted israel for the um apartide practices that it has exercised on the occupied palestinian lands, but uh it's a bit hypocritical for them. to do that, but yet throughout the years and decades when they have been aware these violations, they have done and conducted business with israel, doesn't that

the contribution that that gives to israel to keep doing what it's doing a bit hypocritical from from these countries? um, well, of course the western countries are completely hypocritical, and when they express support for two state. that is the height of cynicism because these same countries has have absolutely no intention whatsoever of putting any pressure on israel so that it would concede a tooth state solution. if they cannot even force israel to stop a genocide, how can anyone possibly believe for second that they will force the israelis to... up the the west bank or or to to demolish even a single one of their their settlements. now all this talk of of two-state solution is

just pie in the sky, it's just meant for domestic consumption, to keep european and north american populations quiet and to perhaps salve the consciences of the the western politicians, but the wiser. palestinians do not believe a word of it, and this is why they are more and more turning against the two state solution, and they're looking more and more at one state, between the mediterranean and the dead sea. thank you very much, peter ford, former british ambassador to syria. paul rudy, thank you, co-founder of free palestine movement and former us government advisor, thank you to you both. with that we come to an end for this edition of the spotlight from the team. goodbye. alexander dugin challenges the

western capitalism and the unipolar world. he says the world has moved away from the western subjugation and countries like iran, russia, china and turkey have stood up against the domination. listen to the russian political philosophers arguments in this documentary.

in this week's episode of iran tech we're finally stepping inside the tehran research react. we've already featured some of the radio isotopes that have been produced here, but now we're taking a closer look at what happens inside the core of the reactor and how we procure the fuel for the reactor. don't miss it!

first to be headlines this hour, the who chief expresses grave concerns about what he calls the inhumane situation of palestinians in the gaza spread. on the third day of the icj hearings of the hag, most countries emphasized the palestinian's right of self-determination and an end to the israeli occupation. and in several european countries, farmers continue protesting high costs and cheap imports among other issues.