hello and welcome to spotlight. israeli war of planes continue to hover over the gaza strip, dropping more american bombs on residential areas, schools, hospitals and refugee camps. death and devastation gripped the palestinian terror. story uh, every waking moment so far,

nearly 39, 200 palestinians have lost their lives, most of whom are women and children. this is while the uh so-called champions of human rights in the west, particularly the united states, not only fail to end this genocide against palestinians, but even uh welcome the war criminal banning netanyahu of like hero and withstanding ovations. joining us on tonight spotlight we have isabella zadan, academic and political analyst joining us from damascus and we also have sied khan, director of global studies at wayne state university joining us from detroit. welcome to the program to the both of you. let's start off with miss zaydon in damascus. more

palestinian civilians are being slaughtered as the israeli attacks across gaza continue, almost 40,000 people, mostly women and children have been killed in cold blood since last october, and what is really horrendous is that there's still not been any global intervention to prevent more innocent deaths and all the condemnations have fallen short of any action. yeah, actually this is, it's not new that... let not limit the all problem of palestine just to october the 7, let's just not pretend that this problem started only october the 7, it started long time ago, even before 1948, and we are used to the of genocidal act here in the region, in the middle east, we are used to the genocidal acts and horrendous atrocities committed by the israelis against our fellow. palestinians

a lot of massacers happen and concerning the international law and international community, not taking action toward these horrendous action, towards these horrendous of acts, this is nothing new, this is something we all are used to being the like the west would support the genocide of a committed genocide after a genocide after a genocide committed by the israelis along with the great. friends america who is who is patronizing the israelis while they are committing their their genocides against the israel the palestinians and to be honest we shouldn't be surprised when we see violence apprizing in the in the region because this is very it's an expected result you would like mean when people are being suppressed

and attacked like the way the palestinian people are being attacked by the israelis and then no one's taken action, of course the the ultimate result or the very expected result would be the the violence we are seeing and i don't, i don't like to call it what the westerns like to call it uh, i would like to call it resistance, it's a resistance and it's a rightful act. for the palestinian people uh to defend themselves, it's not, it's not like what the israelis are pretending to do that, we have the right to defend ourselves, it's like they are, the israelis what they are doing is like we have the right to commit genocide against the palestinians, while the west is refusing the right of the palestinians to defend themselves, however, however, the only good point here is that... what the west and

america has been supporting for the past 80 years is now more exposed to the world and now the world and the region are more well. the genocidal acts and the horrendous regime that the west and the americans are supporting. said khan in detroit, a renowned american surgeon recently made shocking revelations about the israeli genocide in gaza saying that the regime's forces deliberately kill palestinian children with sniper fire. mark philmutter said never in his life had he seen children mutilated and injured the way that they were in gaza. he said the... situation there reflects the intensity of targeted violence against innocent children, describing it as an intolerable crime against humanity, so what's clear now more than ever is that the israeli onslot and massacre is not just against the resistance, but it's a genocide against all the people in gaza, do you see it in that

light as well? not only was this uh something that is on on display, but in fact it's something even felt by prime minister netanyahu when in front of the joint session of congress, he then uh brought forth this this this rather odious statement by saying that there were no uh there were there were no civilian deaths in in in arafa which indicates for him that he doesn't see any palestinian as being a civilian and sees them as being a legitimate target and so if that is then the mindset and the policy on behalf the israeli government and the israeli military it's uh it's no uh it's wonder then that the physician uh then was seeing uh what are the atrocities occurring? mean, he mentioned that these were not accidental or unintended targets, these children, two shots to the head by what are supposed to be

trained and professional snipers, is not a coincidence and it's and it's not a mistake, but i think what the physician was also affirming was a statistic that is also very... important to recognize, lanset, the very prestigious british medical journal estimates that the death toll is actually somewhere above 186, since october the 7th, we will never know what the actual count is, because the israeli military, it's been reported, are in fact hiding bodies, bulldozing bodies, burying bodies, essentially concealing the evidence. that along with uh the press embargo or the targeting of journalists uh indicates that this is a far more nefarious campaign uh of a crime against humanity and as the international courts of justice has indicated a plausible genocide underway. back to miss

zidon, pro-palestinian protesters have gathered near the white house and washington dc as israeli prime minister benyamin now visits the us, this came as addressed american lawmakers and sought more financial and military support. in response to that, hamos condemned na speech saying, it proves washington's full partnership in israel's heinous crimes. how do you view uh netanyahu's address at the us congress, many have echoed that instead of having this opportunity to speak there, netanyahu should have been arrested for being a war criminal? yeah, of course, uh, first of all, let me just mention one thing, when i saw netanyahu addressing the congress yesterday, i just when he was begging for for military support, i just remembered zelinski when he was standing there and also begging for military support and the for for the war in ukraine or

let's say for the military of russian military operation in ukraine and the arrogance of the west that they just... "it seems like they would, they they're always ready to support violence, whether in ukraine, whether in palestine, however, in palestine, it is not the same, we don't have to to equal, i mean it's there is huge amount of disproportion of power between the palestinians and the the temporal regime of israel, people there are being suppressed, and just yesterday families." families like whole families like mothers, fathers and their children were killed in massacre in khanus, just yesterday while he was addressing the congress, the american congress other genocides were being committed at the very same time in khan unis where the

israelis ask the palestinians to move uh for as to move to this place as safe haven, so let's just not pin hopes or... let's just give it up any speech that would be giving in the congress, not only the speech by netanyahu, any speech that would be giving there, of course lot of democrats they didn't support. this let's say honoring of a criminal war criminal like netanyahu, but i mean in in a in a democratic nation or democratic states like the united states or what they like to pretend or to call themselves as democratic state, you would see the the head of the congress would threaten the member parliaments and the senators, if you do not attend, if you boycott the speech being addressed by netanyahu. 'you will be sanctioned or you will be punished, which is the toy that the americans would like to play

with all the time, this is a first, and second, the the the speech was was very, let's say, i mean, if if if we would listen to the to the times, how many times netanyahu said iran during his speech addressing the congress, it would be really definitely why why'. 'iran is being harassed by the western power and the us, it is just because they are standing stills with the palestinians and whoever whoever not, whoever wouldn't play the game with the west and with the us and support the atrocities of the israeli regime would be an enemy, direct enemy of the americans. right, so so what, yeah, yeah, about us complicity in this gen'. side uh, it's been said that washington has given israel a blank check signed in palestinian

blood, the standing ovation benyamin nahu received at congress even further exposes that, given all the demonstrations inside and outside of the us, there has to be point where even the staunchest of supporters of israel has to say enough is enough, and i think we have reached that point, if you see some of the different events that have happened, even within... the last 72 hours uh it seems to indicate that number one uh presumptive nominee uh for the democratic ticket vice president camela harris uh indicated uh that uh in private uh that she was actually speaking uh in a far more balanced tone than we've heard from the biden administration so far uh it was also rather telling that when netanyahu landed in washington uh no high-level uh diplomat. uh or official of the government was there to receive him, not president biden, not vice

president harris, not secretary of state, anthony blincan, despite the procorded close relationship between the united states and israel, this was definitely a rebuke of netanyahu, it's important to remember that it was the republicans really out of partisan politics that invited netanyahu to speak before congress, but as was indicated before by miss z many democrats in fact not only avoided the the event, but vice president harris who is by the constitution, the head the senate, she was not present either. the other issue is dealing with the united kingdom that it has now decided to unblock the sanction on what was being prepared by the conservative party to contest the arrest warrants by the international criminal courts against netanyahu and other israeli officials, so now that the united kingdom is

not going to block that from going forward, that is quite telling, and then finally the international courts of justice that laid out very, very definitive decision and determination that in fact israel is in violation of international law with its prolonged occupation, this was by far the most specific description of this, so the idea then that israel is further plunging into being a paraya state, into being rogue state, and reaching then even testing the patients of stallward allies like the uk and the us, seems to be now occurring, despite the fact that it's an election year and harris uh could very well have risked her political capital by even showing some kind of sympathy for gaza uh, these are definitely uh changes that need to be noted. right, mr.

khan, i'm going to stay with you uh for the next question. i think it's very fitting that address this because the olympics have just started. anti-israel activists gathered in the french capital to protest against the ongoing uh genocide in gaz and demanded a ban on the regime's participation in the paris olympics, a global campaign of course was launched to ban israel from the 20. 24 games with activists using social media to try and pressure the organizers, there were also demonstration held in several european countries, including france and switzerland demanding israel's exclusion, however, the ioc, it refused to ban israeli athletes from participating in the event. i want you to explain this hypocrisy that we're seeing given the treatment that russian and belarussian athletes have received specifically at the olympics. well, i think your question, in fact then answers your question, because it is self evident that

this is hypocrisy, that the politicization of the olympics now is... in in full exposure uh south africa uh and south african athletes were subject to uh sanctions and and exclusion uh during the uh years of apartide. you see uh now again russia and interestingly belarus which is not a direct participant in the ukraine conflict also having its athletes band. but there is the exception when it comes to israel uh it's always interesting to uh hear uh israeli government and officials talk about how israel is subject to double standard, well, it is subject to double standard, but one that benefits it, because it seems as though it is exempted from, as you have rightly pointed out, the way that other countries and their athletes have been subject to punitive measures. this of course is also very much a function of corporatism,

the fact that the kinds of pressures that come from corporate sponsors for the... olympics uh is not something that is taken lightly by the ioc uh there are really no corporate sponsors from russia or belarus nor were there from the republic of south africa but those that certainly benefit from profit from uh the current situation with israel uh would no doubt then place enough pressure on the ioc uh a time when of course it uh can ill afford to have its budget threat uh to then go ahead and make this exception. israela zeidon, um, how big of a failure has this war been for israel and its murderous far right cabinet, the resistance in gaza is still fighting, uh, the resistance in the region is uh, united. netanyahu claimed this war would make israel safer. we see that the exact opposite has happened. uh, so uh, it appears that the sands of time are running

low for netanyahu and most notably following last week's drone attack on tel aviv. "the projected or of in israeli invincibility is also evaporated in thin air. first of all, it's i mean the let's let's say one the most important thing is that this war or let's say this disproportionate war has exposed how weak israel is and that what what they like to call the deterrance weapon where where they would brag about prevent'. any of the surrounding region or countries to be to attack them, they failed, like does not exist anymore, this deterrance weapon the they keep talking and bragging about in all of the media platforms or all of the let's say their officials that would brag about in all of the platforms that would accept them to talk on, however also the war like in gaza when they

when the operation started what they like to call the... operation, we like to call it the genocide, when it started, they said they had targets, they said some military targets, none of these were achieved, nothing, hamas is is still there, the the hostages are not, mean they haven't brought back all of their hostages, what they like to call hostages also, however if if we focus a little and if we go back in time in a very short term memory, "we would still see that israel has failed every single attempt for a cease fire, for a peace deal, and why? just they just want to hide their failure there. also, it mean, the the the longer, the longer this war on gaza takes, the weaker israel looks and

the stronger the axis of resistance throughout the region would get. now we have people..." in iraq, we have resistance in iraq, in yemen, in lebanon, and now they are more united than ever, and if if if we would if we would see like what's happening, nothing is a coincidence, what's happening in yemen, iraq and hizballah, and just as you mentioned sir, when talking about the vincibility of the uh, like the israeli sky and the... israeli land, it's pretty obvious, like they, mean it's not one october the 7, it seems like every day they have on october the 7, one in land, one on the sky, so they they... just failed, they just failed, and the longer it takes, the weaker that they would look, and uh, the reason, the reason

that israel, the temporal regime of israel is continuing, or let's say the occupation entity, the reason that they just keep going with this arrogance, it is just that the support and they get from the us and the west, and they can, they don't know that this is als affecting them, it's affecting the reputation of what is the us and west have always have always braged about, which is the reputation of the human rights, democracy, humanity and so on. just yesterday we had a speech addressed by the un secretary general gutieresh when he said that he he he state, he clearly stated that you, i mean, humanitarian aid missions to gaza have been directly attacked by the israeli, let's say the so-called israeli defense army, it's not

a defense army, but they like to call it defense army so that they would give the impression to the world that they are always in the state of defending themselves. okay, however, it's been stated by guitarish that they the the the humanitarian aid missions have been attacked by the israelis, although, although there had been some coordination, they they already have informed the the the israeli army to that there there some aid missions would be there how and yet they attacked it and what and what does that make the israelis look like uh more like a monster so the longer the war it takes the weaker israel gets the stronger the resistance. yes and gets and the most and most horrendous with israel look to the whole world, which the whole world now is well aware of what really israel is. said khan, final thought

from you. we're talking about uh the uh the resistance and we have to bring up yemen, just days ago israel launched air strikes on the yemenyport city of hodaida targeting fuel storage facilities there uh and this happened of course after the israelis were shaken to the core by the yemini drone attack. on tel aviv just recently, i want to get your thoughts on uh that attack that was carried out by the uh by the israelida and also uh yemeny protesters today once again poured out onto the streets and fresh nationwide rallies in support of the palestinians, but today it was some of the biggest rally scene in the past months. what message are the yemenese sending to the us, to the uk and the israeli regime. with these massive rallies? i think the most important message that they're that they're demonstrating is that they stand in solidarity with with the palestinians, but

beyond that, i think it's also a message that they're sending to some of their neighbors, who of course are far more prosperous and affluent, and some might even argue complicit with the the violence that's being perpetrated on gaza, the fact that the hutis are ' demonstrating and the yemen people as a whole demonstrating kind of solidarity that you don't see from other countries in the arabian peninsula, and some would argue are actively operating against the interests of palestinians, is is a line of demarcation that the yemenes are showing to others around the world, that even a destitute country and one with very few resources like yemen, is going to claim a moral rectitude. uh compared to uh many of those who profess to speak in the terms of morality, which then of course does not does not hold much water as we're

seeing unfur today. all right, thanks lot, that's all the time we have for tonight's show. thanks to academic and political analyst isabella zaydan joining us from damascus and thank you said khan director of global studies at wayne state university, joining us from detroit. and also special thanks to you our viewers for. staying with us tonight spotlight, it's goodnight for now and see you next time. this regime's nine months of genocide against palestinians is spilling the blood of palestinians, but it is also hemoraging as well, badly, maybe even more than palestinian themselves. "the economy is tanking. one of the dimensions of the israely economic crisis, which is deepening, is that reports came in today through here and the jerusalem post, rising inflation that continues to rise

with..." hope is it coming down join us in this edition of economic divide with special guest frank wright, he's a writer and geopolitical analyst. he writes about foreign affairs on his substack at frankright.substack.com. also joining us is lamprini toma, she is a journalist and international correspondent of the main greek independent media, the press project.gr. the guoring gaza is not only a genocide against the palestinian people, is also a murder of the israeli economy. the designers lobby plays down the amount it spends on influencing policy in the united states, so in today's show we'll be laying bear the reality. nicely went up to senator federmanho's a democrat who um, i actually supported at one time and i i said that... he

should consider supporting a ceasefire because of all the deaths that have been uh caused by israel in gaza and you know half of them children and before talking for very long he had me thrown out of the venue that i had a ticket for by the way is not the israel lobby it's one organization in a nexus of other organizations and they of course coordinate with each other they raise funds with each other and it doesn't mean that they they have to declare that money to the federal. regulators because of course it's not, it's not even their spending, but nevertheless they are, they are raising this money, significant sums of money, which people don't don't have any any clear understanding is part of what they do.

your headlines on press tv: israel intensifies strikes on gaza's seven city of gan unis as a death sold from the regime's genocide in the territory approaches 39,200. israel confirms the death of another of his forces in the gaza strip as palestinian resistance fighters mount retalitary operations against the invading forces and yemenes hold fresh nationwide rallies in show the unwavering support for the palestinian people.