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tv   SPOTLIGHT  PRESSTV  July 16, 2024 6:02am-6:30am IRST

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hello and welcome, you're watching the spotlight on press tv. i met the israeli genocide in gaza, the death toll continues to rise with over 80 palestinians killed in the past day alone. israeli air strikes, artillery, fire and ground operations have devastated civilian areas, including un shelters and schools, while properties have
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been destroyed and tensions remain high across gaza, the situation remains dire for the palestinians in the west bank as well, with nearly 10,00 palestinians detained since october 7, some 600 people, including over 130 children killed and more than 5,350 others injured by the israeli army. in the session of spotlight, we will discuss the different dimensions of the recent developments in the occupied territory. and to so we are joined by jamal wakim, professor of international relations from the lebanese university of beirot, also we have with us eve angler, author and political activist joining us live from montreal. thank you very much to both of you gentlemen, let's... in
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with mr. jamal wakim who's joining us from beirot, how do the latest israeli military operations in gaza and the west bank compared to the previous escalations? well, the israelis are trying to enforce uh new reality in the west bank by trying to take over more land for settlement uh for illegal settlements and at the same time uh this is a way for that. to make the living of the palestinians in the west bank unbearable as part of their plan to cause the mass exhaudus of the palestinians towards jordan. this is what they are also doing in gaza by the way, because they want to transfer the palestinian people out of their land towards sinai on one hand and jordan on the other hand in order implement the the the original plan of the science to impose a jewish state in palestine on all of the lands of the historical
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palestine, so even your opinion, what is what are the key drivers behind this surge and violence? well, i was asking our guest from montreal, i'm sorry, well i think that the mean the drivers are the you know fanatical uh zionist regime, netan, i think specifically the the the recent massacers in gaz. uh killing 90 people claiming they were seeking out a mass official that was designed sabotage the negotiations uh which netanyahu doesn't want anything to do with, he wants to prolong the the the the fighting and the killing. um now in the you know in the west bank i think the dynamics a little bit different, i think that the point there is of course to just steal more and more land and uh and they you crush any any uh any pestiny resistance, but i think that the yeah the macro the... drivers are this a, a regime, a
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colonial project that wants as few palestinians and as much of their land as as possible. okay, so back to beirot, mr. waakim, you just heard our other guest if drawing a line between the drivers in the west bank and those in gaza, do you agree with what he said? yeah, i agree with what he said, because this is part of a colonization plan, this is the policy of the sciences ever since they established their project in palestine, and the the gen'. that is being committed by the israelis the in gaza strip and in the west bank are part of fulfilling this aim of establishing this quote and quote jewish state in palestine and render it as base for israeli and us hegemony in the
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middle okay so eve considering the fact that you pointed to the motivation of land grab as the main in the west bank, do you believe that the international community has turned a blind eye on what's happening to the west bank because of the atrocities that are happening in gaza? i wouldn't, i don't like the word blind eye here, because i think that and and got to break down the international community, i think everything israel does, it is being massively assisted by the us, obviously giving them weapons, giving them intelligence, giving them all kinds of charitable donation. the horrors in gaza take most of the attention and so that kind of gives a little bit of opportunity for the,
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the small dritches and the the really hard line zionists to to steal even more land even more quickly than they have been doing in in recent years or recent decades. that's what we're seeing with the you know new decision to make a whole bunch of palestinan land uh israeli state land and stuff like that um but but i think that the you know it's it's it's it's something much more than you know turning a blind eye it's it's direct involvement now the canadian government claims and the us government to slight lesser extent they claim that settlements are are undermine the peace process or they'll say they're contraving uh international law um but practice they don't do anything uh they don't or they do the absolute minimum of a couple fanatic settlers will be canada sanction like for fanatic settlers and and stuff like that um but but they basically they enable they enable the israeli state and there's all kinds of ways of stuff mean there
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like there's thousands of canadians for instance that are like living in settlements in the west bank you have you these these uh real estate here in manchael where i a few months ago there was a real estate fair where they were selling uh homes. to to jewish canadians or israelies in in montreal in the west bank right, so that you'll have them come and do like first to sell off, illegal colonies to sell off the land in these illegal colonies right in front everyone's eyes and similar dynamics have been taking place in us cities um so there's a a um direct uh complicity enabling um and yes the the horrors and gaza i think have kind of put the west bank dynamic a little bit uh off of the media. attention, but it's um, that's mostly what we're talking about. okay, so eve, uh, the reason why i use the phrase turn a blind eye, is basically because we do have uh legal proceedings underway in the icc and in the icj, which is specifically with
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respect to what's happening in gaza, the genocide there, and the humanitarian situation there. however, we do know that all settlements are illegal in the occupied territories, according to, a un resolution, still there are no legal proceedings there, this is basically why i use the word turn a blind eye to these uh land grabs, do you still believe that it's not the proper phrase to use? i do, i do, i still, i think like the canadian government, there was um decision or the general assembly about year and a bit ago, year and a half ago uh put forward a resolution calling on the international court of justice before the you and gaza over the past nine or 10 months. uh calling on the international court of justice to render an opinion about state's responsibility, responsibilities visa v israel's illegal colonies, war crimes in the west bank. the canadian government went and uh actually sent a letter to the icj requesting that the icj
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uh refuses to fulfill what the general assembly of the un voted by the vast majority of member states to render its legal opinion on state. possibility so like the level of of um complicity of a country like canada in in these in these war crimes is is startling also you look at if you look at back in 2020. the international criminal court, the the previous chief prosecutor began looking at israel's uh war crimes, which of course include the settlements in in the west bank, and the king government's reaction was to send letter to the icc uh uh with a basically a threat that canada is a big funder to the icc and maybe will cut your money if you start investigating israel's uh israel's war crimes, so so the role of a country like canada, us is even even greater, also there's all these registered charities in canada. that are supporting uh projects in the occupied uh uh west bank uh so they getting
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financed the subsidized but they can government when individuals give donations to these or these groups they're being they're receiving tax credit so being subsidized by the canadian state um so there's all these just different ways in which uh we're facilitating this is this is a more than hundred year process you look back historically look back at the role of things like the jewish national fund of canada that was set up in 1910 to raise funds for colonization and this is something we've been doing uh for a long time it's the the intensity is ebbed and flowed and slightly different dynamics over the past century plus, but but basically you know canada has been uh participant in israel's crass violation of international law uh in the west bank for you 60 years okay so mr. wakim uh our guest. from montreal did extensively explain to us canada's position regarding the
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situation, particularly in the west bank. in your opinion, how has the biden administration's approach uh to uh the whole issue impacted the situation? well, the biden administration uh has been one of the most supportive administrations, us administrations to to israel. and it turned a blind eye to all claim by the palestinian people forbidding them from having their rights of stato and national sovereignty and the biden administration didn't start talking about as two states solution for example except after the eruption of the 7th of october attack by hamas. against ag settlements, so and so far the ban
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administration has been support of israel by giving it full political support and at the same time providing it with all that it needs in terms of ammunition and economic support, so the biden administration has been one of the most supportive administrations in the history of the united states to israel, they... with this regard to the hostility, the personal hostility between biden and netanyahu, and that's why i don't believe that the palestinians can count on administration, but all they could count on is their strength, the the their resistance and of course the support that is given to them by the other resistance group such as the hes and... lebanon, syrian government and iran and the iraqi, mr. wakim, well there
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seems to be some technical difficulties there, so if in your opinion, i'm telling sorry, the the internet is is so bad, okay, please continue, please continue, yeah, yeah, can you hear, well once again, let's bring in eve from montreal uh, our guest from beirot did point to the regional aspects of uh this genocidal war that is ongoing now, what are the potential regional implications in your opinion of this conflict, particularly considering the tensions in southern lebanon? yeah, first thing i just want to say to add to my colleague who is describing the americans indifference to the settlement expansion, they it was i think... i believe it was jake sullivan, the security advisor for biden that like four days before october
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7th published this piece, maybe it was two days uh in foreign affairs and prestigious establishment uh foreign policy journal where he he talks about the quiet and says nothing about palestine and then he actually has to like change the article uh few days later after what happened so the americans until hamas uh launched their operation october 7th they were happy to just see israel stealing more and more palestinian land and oh it's quote unquote quiet and and that's good for us and the like now with regards to uh the regional implication i think the regional implications are really serious mean i think this still has the... possibility of leading to a you know regional war and and it's you know there's obviously fighting uh with against yemen, the americans are bombing and there's that which is completely tied to israel's uh holocaust in gaza. also there's of course the um the on the lebanese front uh there is you know i think 550 lebanese have
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been killed over the past uh nine or 10 months uh there's i don't exact number of israelis but dozens and dozens of israel. that have been killed, there's 60, 90, 100 thous people on both sides that have been have been displaced, and that fighting is is picking up, you have these crazy statements from israeli officials about we can you know turn uh beirot into the back to the stone age and stuff like that uh which galant made when he was in washington dc two or three weeks ago um so that fighting uh can very well pick up and and um i i think the netanyahu government. does want to just continue the fighting uh, of course they've been trying enusly to draw the us into a war with iran, there was effort back in april, of course, blowing up iranian diplomatic compound in damascus, um, and but i think with regards to uh, hezbolah, hezbolah of course has the ability to, you know, hurt israel in a very
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significant way, much, much, much greater than than hamas has or any palestinian resistance, and and then and then israel would probably uh you know ramp things up and you be spiral uh uh you know out of control, but you know the hezbil has been pretty clear that that they're uh they're willing to stop if israel puts a stop to its horrors and gaza, but it refuses to do that, it wants to you know blow up unr schools and unre facilities like they just did in recent hours and and the head of unra you know denounced uh israel for doing that and they just you know continue to destroy. more stuff across uh uh gaza and and this is this is the history though, i mean realistically this is the history of zinism, the history of zionism is is not just stealing palestinian land and and you know killing palestinians and that, it's it's causing mayham across the region and bombing, they bomb pretty much every country in the region, they you destabilized countries in the region, they've they've been
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this out post of of uh european north american power in the middle east, and and i think... you know the the situation with regards to lebanon is just more of of that, which is that israel's reaction to everything is is violence and more violence, and so long as the us is delivering these 500 pound or two thousand pound bombs, give them to israel, um, it's likely that israel is going to keep uh keep with its violent habits. okay, so it seems that we have mr. jamal waki back on the phone with us, mr. if you could please tell us in your opinion uh if you could please tell us uh the potential regional implications were explained by uh our from montreal in your opinion is there any possible negotiation for a cease fire are there any doors that remain open for any kind of settlement? well i believe that from the
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palestinian side there is a the door is open for. however, it's mainly benim netanyahu that is obstructing all possibility for settlement, because he he represents the extreme right wing in the zinest entity on one hand and he wants to achievectory which is which he is far from doing so far, so that's why he keeps trying, he has failed in all his declared objectives and this is the reason why he is trying. to uh to pressure the resist through what he considered as soft by which is targeting civilians and he wants to continue his attack and his genocidal war counting on the election of donald trump in few months thinking that he would fair better
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with donald trump and that's why i believe that we are facing a dilemma here because uh "the israelis, the majority of israelis want to see fire, the resistance is ready to see spire if it fulfills its prerequisites, which is sustained spire on hand, the the the liberation of the patinian prisons of war in in the presence of the zinst occupation and at the same time to rebuild the the gaza strip, this is something that" yahu doesn't want to do, he wants to targeting the the resistance on one hand, he wants to pressure the civilian population to leave the gaza strip and at the same time. wants to forbid them from returning mainly to their homes in northern gaza while maintaining a certain status go where he could control the gaza
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strip without having to occupy it uh so all this makes us face dead lock and this is why the negotiations are still dragging on okay thank you very much ev just wrapped this up and we have less than a minute left so a quick answer to this question you expect anything to come out from the uh palestine meeting on the 17th of july in two days? i don't, i don't, buse because so long as the us keeps giving the bombs and countries like canada uh keep uh all its different forms of support, i don't i don't think that there's going to be any uh fundamental uh change the dynamic unless of course if there's some popular up rising within israel and finally the uh the israeli public starts seeing palestinians as human beings. um, but so long as the they're giving the all weapons and all this support from the world's hegemon, um, there's nothing significant that's going to change. thank you very much. now that was eve
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angler, author and political activist to joined us from montreal. we also had with us, professor of international relations from the lebanese university in beirot, and with that we come to the end of this edition of spotlight. thank you for watching. "all options are on the table, we are not taking any options off the table, no options off the table, i'm considering all options, somebody is killing iranian nuclear scientists, but نمیدونستم انقدر زود." عمده این ترور ها ناشی از تبانی امریکا و رژیم صهیونیستی. maximum coordination with the
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israelis. united states is manufacturing a false premise for confronting iran. for what reason? regime changing. up and history turns of page, the truth is shining bright in every heart and every age, the resistance look more stronger, with
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courage and with might send up forwards right in the darkest of the night, they say it's self-defense for the ruthless gold regime, but the ones to fight for freedom are the ones they all extreme, in my stage are the tides are turning. new fate to unfold, he's conscience rising as the truth starts to be told, from american universe to upr, your professor stand with you against the unjust eye, find comfort in the solidarity through the pressures you face, empathize with your hearts in this chase, the command's lessons nire us in humanities fight.
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your headlines on press the israel's unrelenting military strikes kill and injure over 320 palestinians in gaza during 48 hours raising the genocide of war's death toll to nearly 38,700. palestinian officials in gaza say israel is forced to use unconventional and internationally banned weapons to attack civils across the territory and the yemani army hits two israeli link ships in the and targets another ship in the mediterranean sea in cooperation with the iraki resistance.
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