hello and welcome to this edition of the spotlight. in the wake of the assassination of hamas leader ismail hania in tehran, iran and various resistance groups in the region have vowed to retaliate, emphasizing that avenging hannah's blood is a duty. brigadier general ismail kaani, commander of the quds force, issued a star. warning to israel

declaring that iran's response will hasten the regime's downfall. in this edition of spotlight, we will explore the different dimensions of this retaliation and its implications. and in order to do so, we are joined by alicia macneer, journalist and political analys joining us from brussels. and charlotte cates, international coordinator of the samidun palestine prisoner solidarity network from vancouver. thank you very much to both of you for joining us on this edition of the spotlight. let's start with alicia. in your opinion, how serious are these threats? are these threats that the israelies are worried about? are they uh now preparing themselves for this retaliatory attack? which has been vowed not just from

the part of iran but also other access of resistance, including hisballah. thank you for having me. israel uh bombed at hudaida in yemen, bombed beirot and killing a high ranking commander in hispalah and attacked tehran and kill this guest the police bureau chief of hamas. therefore israel is prepared for the retaliation from at least three fronts, we cannot exclude even iraq that was attacked by the us forces, which are the israeli allies in baghdad and shabi suffered of several casualties. now it is serious because of we have seen in israel where shelters have been prepared, garages under the ground have been trans form into hospitals, we've seen a

stock pile of food and medicine, we have seen also thousands of generators that the israelis have distributed to many institutions and also to the hospitals, to the police, to various different places so they can contact with the... leadership in case of a general attack that hit tel aviv and haifa or tel aviv or haifa, therefore we see also the prices of goods and food has doubled, we've seen the total panic as according to the israeli media that is overwhelming israel, now it is the habit of of prime minister benyamin netanyahu to go and attack and violate international laws and car

about target assassination and then runs to the us asking for support and asking for help, which is he is getting this help, because the united states has never gathered so many forces since 2003 in the middle east in support of israel, so that is due because the israelis are afraid of the retaliation and they are trying to insinuate. that actually they are serious in negotiating a peace deal with hamas and perhaps this peace deal is better than a retaliation from iran and hizbullah, but we have seen a hizbullah of secretary general who vowed to retaliate, because israel cannot be left without accountability, otherwise it will carry out another attack tomorrow or in a week or in two weeks, and it's same the same thing for.

you're absolutely right, and we've heard this sentence so often these days that this cannot uh remain without an answer, actually israel needs to have. response and definitely a harsh one, otherwise it will have more serious implications, so let's bring in charlotte uh into the discussion, now we just heard alicia uh explaining to us how the israeli public has panicked and they're preparing themselves for uh retaliatory attacks, but what about the uh israelis uh the israeli military uh do are they preparing themselves in any particular way? have you been monitoring media or any diplomatic? strategies in response to that retaliation, any allies that uh alliances that are being formed? well, it's very obvious that the zionist military is in fact quite concerned about the retaliatory response that is forthcoming from iran and from the resistance

camp in the region. this is apparent through everything that the zionist regime is doing not only a military level in terms of where they're planning to... shift their forces, how they're openly discussing this as well as you know through these various leaks and reports, but also how they're seeking to engage the imperialist powers and forces in order to try to prevent or undermine or minimize such retaliation, so for example we've seen multiple countries um, you know, both the reactionary arrow regimes that work hand in hand with the united states and its partners as well as the us, britain, france, germany, etc., basically fundamentally demanding that iran, that hazballah, that yemen, just allow themselves to be attacked and assassinated at the whim of the zionist regime, and you, declaring that any kind of

retaliation to these attacks is going to, you know, pose the threat of war, but then doing absolutely nothing to stop the zaidist regime from engaging exactly these kind of... attacks in fact it's very obvious that uh netanyahu returned from his trip to the united states and boldend to launch series of assassinations and to violate the sovereignty of lebanon, to violate the sovereignty of iran, to violate the sovereignty of yemen, to violate the sovereignty of syria. we've seen this time and time again and it's very obvious now, i mean we've seen the us go and attack the iraqi resistance in the middle of all of this. we are seeing the us moving its aircraft carriers once again in attempt to frighten and demobilize the resistance and prevent a response, but it's also very clear that these kinds of uh machinations are going to fail to achieve uh the goals that that they're seeking to achieve, the they're not going to get what they want and they're not

going to get uh the peoples and nations of the region to relinquish their sovereignty, their self-determination and their right to respond to an ongoing series of zionist assassinations bombings and attacks by engaging in either back channel so-called diplomacy or out and out threats. okay, so alicia, charlotte did point out how important the situation is right now, and your opinion, how significant is hezbulah's involvement in this promise retaliation in particular? this is very good question, for hisbollah, it is not a question of retaliating, it's a question of... how to retaliate in a way that israel will be detaired, will not repeat the attack, first on beirut, second against a high ranking commander, and third attack that cannot trigger and all out war, because the

objective is to support gaza and not to divert the attention away from the palestinian cause, that is the center of the cause that the... whole world is supporting everywhere today, from university to people in the street, academia, journalist, everybody, so it is important to keep the focus on the palestinian cause and the massacre that the israelis are committing against the palestinian people and to reach seasfire in gaza, and not to divert the attack between israel and lebanon, where they will both come out. with very serious wound, this is why hisbollah needs to be very carefully uh looking at specific target to the point to deter the israely so they can't do it again, but at the same time it is a military objective, even if there will be

casualty, because there were casualty in lebanon, there were seven people who were killed in 85 wounded apart from the military commander, so it is up to israel to accept. uh collateral damage on casualty if that exist, but i think hizbullah is undoubtedly going ahead and the next uh, i don't know, 42s. 48 72 hours and then the target is going to most probably be a military target that is significant military target that will cause some pain to benyamin netanyahu and indicate that he cannot defend himself without the support of the us and nato and this is why he's calling upon all the forces and the support that charlotte mentioned now just because israel is inc. of fighting on different front, but not even a gaza front, because we've seen how the palestini

resistance is capable of renewing itself, and israel has failed to achieve any of it is military objectives. exactly, and as you mentioned, on the 15th of august, the state has been designated by the mediators who are seeking to come up with some kind of peace. plan, so charlotte, how do you think these are retaliatory uh attacks will affect that peace and negociation? as alicia just mentioned, um, those who want to retaliate will be treading a very fine line here, because uh, it should not in any way jeopardize uh, bringing peace for the people of gaza.in time and time again is that the zionist regime is not seriously interested in, ceasefire negotiations, even though it's becoming increasingly obvious that their military is incapable of handling uh the

palestinian resistance, incapable of handling the lebanese resistance, incapable of handling the yemini resistance, and certainly incapable of handling iran. nevertheless, what we continue to see is this pursuit of mass slaughter and genocide against the palestinian people in gaza. i mean, the zinist regime showed how interested it is in cease fire talks, when they assassinated ismael hania. uh the lead palestinian negotiator who was uh corresponding with mediators regarding a potential ceasefire agreement in gaza and so i mean that was very much indicated their position on this issue. right now they simply want seemingly to forestall a retaliation for their ongoing crimes, they want to be able to continue the genocide and not have to pay a significant military price for that, and that's something that you know... "the resistance forces and the alliance of resistance in the region has consistently prevented them from being able

to do over the past 10 months um and and for that matter the palestinian resistance in gaza, every single day from gaza we are seeing um report after report, video after video of successful military actions undertaken by the palestinian resistance, targeting the tanks, the personnel carriers and the equipment of the zidis regime, fundamentally there" relying on their air power provided by the united states in order to engage in a genocidal assault on the palestinian people in gaza as a whole, and one, it's it's been very obvious that all of the forces in the resistance front in the region have placed the needs of the palestinian people first and foremost, i mean, despite the fact that hezballah and the lebanese resistance are also... still fighting for the liberation of uh areas of lebanese occupied land, they've made clear

that the that achieving an end to the genocide in gaza is like their primary goal in these ongoing and the ongoing operations that have been taking place since the 8th of october from the south of lebanon, which have been successful in clearing the north of palestine of many of its occupation soldiers and settlers, the there's no there is no mechanism in which the retaliation and the response of the resistance forces in the region is going to stop path towards peace. um, in fact, it's a matter of holding the zionist regime accountable, and it's also very clear that the zionist regime is never going to stop its attacks until and unless it is held fully accountable, and and and mean fundamentally in the end until it is dismantled once and for all, but certainly in this moment until it is held accountable, "there is not uh, this is the thing that puts pressure on the regime to actually bring its

genocide to an end, because what we see consistently, from so-called international agencies and institutions, despite the well-meaning reports of many special reporters and others in the un system, is a complete lack of meaningful action to hold designist regime accountable for the ongoing crime of genocide. obviously there are countries and nations pursuing legal cases and efforts." to, but even this is is taking kind of a glacial pace while over 4000 palestinians have been slaughtered by the zionist regime, and it's the resistance forces in the region stretching from. palestine, to lebanon, to yemen, to iraq, to syria, and certainly to iran, that are actually taking meaningful action to impose accountability on the zionist regime when these institutions are failing to do so, and when the imperialist powers, the us, uk, germany, france, britain, canada, etc., are not just failing to impose consequences, but

are actually encouraging, arming and funding the ongoing genocide in pales. very good, so alicia, can you draw parallels between the situation and previous instances of retaliation uh, because as charlotte mentioned, the resistance group is quite prepared and it has shown time and again in its attacks on the israeli military that it is prepared for a harsh response. indeed, the resistance is prepared, we've seen how and yemen managed to engage against the... two of the strongest navies in the world, that is the american and the british, and they are also supported by the french navy. all of that is only to intercept the missiles and the drones coming from yemen, and that is costing the americans, according to what they are telling us, more than one billion dollars of taxpayers monthly, so the americans

preferred to invest all this money, but not to impose his fire. on benyamin netanyahu and engi genocide in gaza. also in with hisbollah we have seen how more than 100 to 200 thousand israeli settlers have fled all the northern front is because hizbullah is destroying all of the houses that they have built illegally a palestinian land and they fled and they are living today in hotels and in other houses and many of these have fled the the place because this is not the promise they were giving given by the israeli government and army that they're going to protect them and top of that we see news coming from israel that they are preparing a city of tents in the negef desert. this is

unheard of since 1948 when israel was recognized as a nation by the united states. united nations, so today there is society in israel that is transformed more slowly but surely into refugees, internally displaced refugees and all that because of the action the resistance in support of gaza, we've seen also the israeli going in and out of gaza numerous time in the north in the in the middle and in the south, once they go to hanyunis then they turn into... jabali on the north and then they return to it several times and still gaza is still capable of firing uh rockets 40 kilometers away in places where they have never been reached in the last 10 month that shows that there is capability of the resistance and the harmony with other fronts that are supporting the

gaza and the palestinians in this murder. that the are they are submitted to by a war crime criminal like benjamin netanyahu, nevertheless, we have to understand that there is capability of the resistance that doesn't match the israeli air force for example, but that was compensated by the soul the fighters who are capable of inflicting serious damage on the israelis destroy their tanks to the... point that the israeli chief of staff harivi said we don't have any more tanks and we don't have trainers, that shows the power of the resistance that manufacture is weapon domestically and how they are managing to really destroy the myth of the strongest army in the middle east or one of the strongest in the world that was referred

to the israeli army, so even with the air force superiority, israelis need over the us help and nato, it's because they cannot match the resistance. okay, and that is exactly why brigadier general ismal gaani, the commander the gots force, warned israel declaring that iran's response will, and i'm quoting him, hasten the regime's downfall. charlotte, how do you think this retaliation can redefine the political equations of the region? what we saw on the 7th of october 2023 changed the world and changed the political equation in the region once and for all and what that what happened was that the palestinian resistance, particularly the palestinian... armed resistance made it clear that it was not merely a dream or a wish to see a palestine that was free of zionism and a region that was free of imperialism but an achievable reality. now since that time what

we have seen is the absolute um panic, outrage and destructiveness of the wounded beast of the zionist project, and certainly its imperialist partners, backers, funders and armors from the us to germany. need to britain and france etc. a the response of the resistance is absolutely capable and necessary of becoming another page forward, another significant page forward in terms of making it clear and really bringing to an end once and for all this myth of zionist deterrence uh the 7th of october brought to an end the myth of kind of zionist all-knowingness or um you know ability to know everything that the palestinian resistance is doing, to stop it in advance,

to have such advanced intelligence capacities and techniques, and what they've been engaging since that time has been this kind of genocidal assault that is meant to create terror simply through the mass killing of civilians uh because they continue to be incapable of effectively target. the resistance and they're capable only of causing mass mass death among palestinian civilians by targeting schools, musks, hospitals, refugee camps, residential buildings, these are the targets of the zionist of the zionist military in gaza. the response of the resistance can reshape once and for all the future of the region by eliminating this idea of the deterrance capacity. the zionist regime and the idea that it cannot be, the idea that it it can kind of, it has the freedom and ability to bomb syria when it would like, it has the

freedom and ability to carry out assassinations in beirot or in iran when it decides to do so, eliminating that capacity to engage in extraterritorial warfare any moment, and that ability to... kind of strike fear or concern is a key step toward bringing the zionist project to an end in the region once and for all. it relies on air power, it relies on certain levels of technological access that it has, especially due to its partnership with the united states, but one the things that's been very clear is the tremendous uh technical and advanced military capacities of the resistance forces in the region. "they have there's been kind of an unequal uh battle that has been been being fought for liberation and i think it's going to be clearer more than ever that the battle

is more equal than it has been presumed to be in the past and that the zionist regime will no longer be able to hold this threat of deterrence and what the other factor is is that it's really going to uh it has the potential to really fundamentally put the nail in the coffin of all of these normalization. efforts that are seeking to impose the zionist regime as normal part of the region to engage in trade and regular relations with arab countries at the same time that it's an illegitimate setler colonial project built on the disposession of palestinian uh people and the theft of palestinian land. this is um this is the next step forward after the 7th of october towards liberation for palestine and frankly towards liberation of the region. thank you very much charlotte cates, international coordinator. the samidun palestinian prisoner solidarity network from vancouver and mr. alicia magnier, journalist and political analyst from brussels. thank you so much for sharing

your thoughts and views with us on this edition of spotlight. and thanks to all of you viewers for watching this edition. "what kind of people do they think we are? is it possible? they do not realize that we shall never cease to persevere against them until they have been taught a lesson which they and the world will never forget. now i am become death. we now have a name..." for the disease and it is covid-19, a statewide order for people to stay at home, that's why

comes from china. really deeply, that if people are sharing more, then the world will be more open place where people can understand what's going on with the people around them, and that's really what we want to get towards. did you appear on the on the um and give a presentation to the launch of leave.eu? yes, did. air pollution. is serious cause of concern, but exporting the pollution to poor nations is even worse. watch in this documentary how places like akra fall victim to the greedy nation's environmental policies.

when someone mentions caves, what do you think of? if you simply think of the hole in the ground, you're dead wrong. this is a journey to cave nahjir, a 70 million years old cave inside the islamic republic of iran, picturesk guide that takes you one step closer to the center of planet earth.

your headlines on press tv, israel keeps bombing schools, refugee camps and civilian infrastructure in the gaza strip, taking the lives of more innocent palestinian. the yemani people hold another friday of mass nationwide valleys in support of the palestinian people and resistance and the iran's islamic revolution garz core has unveiled surveillance footage of american warships in the persian gulf.