the question is, will the us listen to any of this? uh, we we know, look, netanyahu is doing this, i would say to save his position, he was on the way out, remember just few weeks ago, there were hundreds of thousands of israelis demonstrating against him in the streets, because of his so-called judicial reforms, there are israeli newspapers with calls for his resignation, although they now are saying after the war. so the question is, how do you take the the intentions of people like putin and sergey lavrov to have a ceasefire, how do you actualize it? and this is the same problem that exists in terms of ukraine. there's a grouping in the west, which is committed to war, committed to continuing a colonial policy, and and i would argue what israel has done with the palestinians is one of the worst examples of an imperial colonial oppression of people's dignity and right. and until that attitude is

defeated, and that's going to have to be defeated by the people in these countries, and so it's so important for americans and europeans to see that there are people in the street, that the so-called arab street is not supporting and tolerating this kind of israeli policy. as i mentioned, there were hundreds of of jewish demonstrators in the capital building in washington who are protesting, but these protests have to be much bigger, much louder. because otherwise they're not going to go anywhere. uh, mr. schlanger, i also want to get your perspective on the widespread um demonstrations and rallies that are taking place across uh across the world. we've got live images uh from the jordanian capital alman, earlier, demonstrations and rileys taking place in the south green capital. soul, of course, let's not forget the demonstrations that have been taking place across iranian cities, most notably. one in

the iranian capital, tehran, how significant is it, these uh, these rallies that we're seeing right now, and would you say that there is increased uh level of global awareness with regards to the palestinian cause, is to a certain extent what your correspondent was saying is that many of the governments in the arab world seem to have been willing to put the palestinian question under the rug, to not bring it up and to look for a way of of... establishing a modus vende with israel, i think that has now been defeated by this uh israeli reaction, and i think that these demonstrations are very important for that, for the people to not just express their anger, but their insistence that there be a change in policy. now i can tell you in europe, was in berlin a couple days this week, and there's a very heavy police and military presence in the train stations and on the streets, because

media in the in the west and the north is saying that there's a danger of arab terrorism in response to what's happening in what what the israelis are doing, so our our approach is that you have to find a solution above revenge, and the idea that the western governments would would somehow accept the idea that that killing palestinian children could end terrorism, when in fact it's the opposite, you just increase the s of revenge and until that's become clear because of the of demonstrations not just in the arab world, but worldwide, until that's clear, we're going to have more of this, and it could easily spread to a wider war, especially if the the us fleet in the eastern mediterranean is deployed against hezballah or possibly against iran or syria, so we're looking at the danger of a wider war, and for what reason to protect?

which is ethnic cleansing policy and so until there's a much broader reaction there's going to be support for that. where should that broader reaction start in your opinion? well, in terms of the united states people getting out into the streets, we have governments that are completely unpopular, the german coalition government, the three parties in it are now at about 34% in the polls, biden is only at about 40% in the polls, there's an anti-war sentiment among the people, because billions of dollars are going into these wars, while the economies in the western countries are collapsing, there people living under bridges, people can't afford housing or food. and so somehow we have to connect in

the minds of people the fact that their circumstances are getting worse, while the us is funding with hundreds of billions of dollars these kinds of force to oppress people in other countries such as the palestinians, so i think it it requires a clarity and a boldness and a strategy for peace, and and this strategy for peace means that there must be security for all people, that there can't be separate idea that the israeli deserve security, but the palestinians don't. right, well, the pro- palestinian protest are in full swing. across the globe amid growing anti israel sentiments uh as the regime continues its steady war on the bloccated gaza strip uh live images from around the world um are being shown here on press tv from uh amon and jordan all the way

all the way to the iranian capital tehran and uh the uh northeastern city of mashad uh we also earlier had images of uh at rally taking place in the south green capital so uh as well. mr. schlanger, this support that uh we're seeing the likes of the united states giving to the to the palestinians. many experts would say that this support for the israely onslot in itself is in defiance of international law, isn't it? i mean, the if you take seriously the idea of international law, you don't give a pass to a country like israel, you don't. say, well, you have a justifiable right to vengeance, no, they don't, governments should be instruments of representing the wellbeing of their populations, and you could make the argument very easily, that this israeli assault on the

palestinians is going to blow back against the people of israel, and have debilit debilitating effect on so-called israeli democracy, so so this idea that somehow you can have a war like this and accept it is not just violation of international law, but violation of human conscience, and that's what we have to touch, we have to inspire in people around the world, not just empathy with the palestinians, but with the idea that everyone deserves a right to security, and that includes economic policy and a policy of self-representation, which has been. them and i think it's important to note that when you look at the situation that in the israeli press there are articles about how netanyahu's policy has been to support hamas as a counter to the palestinian authority to try and divide the palestinians which is a

classic case of divide and conquer and that's something that i think the uh people should recognize that that if israel really wants to fight terrorism they should remove netanyahu. thanks lot, spokesman of the international schiller institute, harley schlanger joining us from potsdam, germany, the pro-palestinian rallies are now picking up steam, as we can see uh, a uh another rally has also started uh uh in support of the palestinians in daka and bangladesh, also uh jordan uh and the jordanian capital aman has been the scene of uh constant anti-israeli demonstrations and uh rileys in support. the palestinians ever since uh the uh war started on the besiege gaza strip on october the 7th uh and once again earlier images uh from demonstration that's taking place in the iranian capital tehran uh as well. we're now bringing an

international lawyer barry grossman joining us from bali indonesia mr. grosson welcome to the program uh give us your thoughts on this international uh response the international rallies that we're seeing in support of palestinians and also uh condemning the uh israeli crimes and onslot against the defenses people of ghaza? well it's certainly reassuring and no doubt um particularly reassuring to the people in gaza who are at the receiving end of this latest barrage of of war crimes and directed specifically at them as as civilians under the pretense of fighting hamas. i guess one of the things i find unfortunate is that when it comes to the response from either side, if we can look this as at this as two-sided equation. um, is

not really looking at the incillary question of what to make out of hamas and we're seeing - lot of uh... very nasty accusations being leveled at hamas in particular by the us, which in a political act is already chosen some years back to characterize him as as a terrorist organization, and we're not really seeing any rebuttle of that claim from those people who are supporting palestin, palestinians and the palestinian resistance, and i find that unfortunate, because you know, it's quite easy for people to find out what hamas stands for, it's covenant, it's founding charters available for everyone to read. and unfortunately those media pundants were critical palestinians most of the time

find it very easy to read that covenant and make the quite absurd claim that it sets out as hamas's primary aim the killing of all jews on earth and i think these are issues which need to be discussed in a coherent way uh by people that are... bringing to it already a closed mind and ideological political bias against both palestinians and and hamas. having said all of that, the the the response from ordinary people around the world is is has been overwhelming and is no doubt greatly appreciated. unfortunately we're living in a time where in so-called democracies, those people elected to govern. do not see their primary loyalty is being to their constituency and to their electors so

much as to the corporate sector and other allied interests abroad, in this case israel, so they feel quite entitled and quite safe in ignoring what the people have to say, for example, in the united states there's very little to separate the democratic party position. on palestine from the republican party position on palestine, nor uh to separate their policies when it comes to israel's latest series of war crimes and hostilities directed at the palestinian people ostensibly under the guise of fighting hamas and this distinction seems to be lost across the board. the fact of the matter is even president "ho is seen by many people as not being up to the task anymore because of

his advanced years, has acknowledge that hamas doesn't in any way represent most or even a majority of palestinians, in fact there's a relatively small percentage of palestinians that are in any way directly associated with hamas, that being the case by definition, the the action being taken by. the occupation against all palestinians in gaza is collective punishment and that collective punishment is taking the form of actions which any view or war crimes, all part of what is generally considered to be a crime against humanity, namely ethnic cleansing, and it's it's very hard to listen to president biden speak, when in the same breath, he acknowledges that hamas doesn't represent palestinians, but then uh gives his unqualified support to the occupation and

bring the fight to all of gaza, and it's equally objectionable that he conceeds the events involved in the bombing of the palestinian hospital on tuesday need to be investigated, but no sooner says that than uh adds commentary which... indicates he already has a closed mind on the question, so on the one hand, he's saying there will be investigation, but he's already made up his mind that it's the other team as he put it that's responsible, so having said all of that, it's in no way surprising to see otherwise right-minded people around the world uh come out in support of palestinians who are at the losing end of the stick, no matter, no matter what happened. and when i say to losing into the stick, i don't mean overall, i have no doubt that palestinians

will ultimately prevail, but certainly they're at the losing end of the stick in terms of these hostilities, their homes are being targeted and bombed, their infrastructure, their streets, they're being starved, they're being deprived even of drinking water, water to wash with, medicine, all the essentials of life are being withheld by the occupation. with absolutely no justification and in clear violation of the requirements set by the international law of arm conflicts, yes well, i mean, i'm probably not the best person to ask, because i i always find that somewhat lauffable. let's not forget that this entity that we've come to recognize as israel started, um, as a

result of terrorist pressure brought to bear by illegal zist immigrants from europe. during and even before world war one, ultimately, during the mandate that followed after the british, took control of palestine, they targeted their terrorist efforts against the british, and as the mandate was coming to an end, the the the position that had been supported very strongly by americans, to to to support a un sponsored. partition plan was actually abandoned by the americans momentarily who reverted to calling for palestine to be made an international protector because they could see that nothing but bloodshed would follow from a partition, that having been the position taken by the americans at the last minute, as the security council was looking at that question, the

mandate came to an end and these terrorists and illegal zionist immigrants unilaterally declared the existence of this so-called zionist state, and then they further lied their way into un recognition and membership, by assuring the international community that they would respect the borders that were had been planned by the partition plan, would recognize the palestinian right of return, would respect the the special status to be accorded to uh jerusalem number of other matters, but no sooner were they admitted to the un than they were negged in all of those undertakings and there's never been any consequences, whatever they do, it's simply whitewashed, because the us ultimately enjoys almost complete power along with the united kingdom and indeed all five members of of the

security council, but is most often misused and abused. by the united states and the united kingdom, typically to support the illegal occupation of palestine, so for for with that short recap of history in mind, for people residing on occupied territories to claim there are the victims is quite absurd, if they want to learn about victimhood, perhaps they actually should take take a closer look at how palestinian people are forced to live in their name, how palestinian people are treated by the heavily militarized security forces uh that continue to to to fight any opposition to the further occupation of palestinian and there i sayid

syrian and jordanian and other and lebanese lands too, in fact israel is the only country in the world which has international recognition but refuses to define its borders, what could that possibly be, other than a clear indication that they have far greater conquests in mind than just taking over all of palestine, right? so we're covering live images of taking place around the world uh all the way from aman jordan uh to cities across india in the iranian capital at tehran the south green capital saul uh the pro-palestinian rallies uh are are taking place and they're gaining momentum specifically uh we can see the uh the

increase of of the steam behind these demonstrations after the israelis targeted hospital in uh in central gaza on on tuesday. uh, mr. grossman, uh, let's also uh, if you may talk to us about some of the violations that are being carried out by the israelis under international law, it's the targeting of schools, hospitals, residential areas, the use of white phosphorus uh, which has could be, which has been confirmed on numerous occasions, not just in in this war, but in previous wars that the israels have carried out. against the gazans uh as well, there's the uh evacuation order which was forcing the displacement of around million palestinians, which is in itself as... been condemned and has been described as a breach of international law, the forceable transfer of civilians, so walk us through what these raities uh are doing right now? well, just

about every war crime you can imagine, and the few crimes against humanity to put are being committed by the by the israelis, there's as you pointed out, you know, the the forced displacement of vast amounts of people. from somewhere to nowhere, um, there's the deprivation of the raw, the basic essential to life, food and water and medicine, and safe accommodation, there's the mistreatment of prisoners, um, and on and on it goes, and then as we move up the scale, we get to collective punishment, and as we move further up the scale, you, we get to the crime against humanity of ethnic cleansing, which is really. a form of uh drawing out um um sorry i'm losing the word um but like

they're out to exterminate the entire palestinian race so there's really no question that they're constantly violating their international obligations for their part they take the position that they weren't signataries to the rome uh statutes and therefore the iccc, for example has no jurisdiction over them, well the icc has ruled differently, and quite apart from that issue, the un embraces those same international laws and requires all member states to respect those international laws and the un is more than capable of taking its own action with or without approval from the from the... security council, indeed, i've long argued that when the security council fails to discharge its primary obligations under the un charter to deal with these

crises as they emerge in a way calculated to preserve regional peace and safety for everybody else and protect the human rights of individuals, that the the the general assembly can step in and take charge of the matter to the exclusion of the security council. now in the past we've seen the united nations insert itself uh into conflicts and uh start war crimes tribunals um through ad-hock courts that are set up in in the un's name uh even though the players in question weren't signataries to the rome's the rome statutes either so it's a bit of a red hearing in my estimation. and that israel maintains a position that it didn't sign up on the rome statutes and therefore somehow is exempt from all international laws which

define what crimes against humanity are and what what war crimes are. that's simply not the case and of course the icc itself has ruled against palestine. what's rather tragic though is that the american and israeli response has been to threaten. very existence the icc, and the icc for its part seems to be dragging its feet in moving forward with the case put forward by the palestinian authority, among others, uh, they certainly didn't drag their feet when it came to um issuing arrest warrants and making findings targeting the russians for their actions uh in the ukraine uh so... "i think it leaves most people wondering what the hold up is when it comes really to the much more aggrigios and much more urgent problem of the

occupation of palestine, but to be perfectly clear, there's really no room for any that. we can get into a debate about any violations of international law that may or may not have been committed by palestinians and groups like hamas, but it's it's it's obviously it's very clear that the occupation, it's standard mode is operanda involves war crimes and collective punishment, because their aim is not to defeat palestinians in in in battle, their aim is to eliminate all palestinians from all palestinian land and to annex that land into part of what they considered to be a... much larger jewish and only jewish state. live images also we're getting from

demonstration that's taking place and in the egyptian capital cairo at the al-azar university uh, we can see that the pro-palestinian demonstrations are gaining steam. mr. grossman, when we're looking at demonstrations taking place, for example in a place like cairo and egypt, the demonstrators basically are out there uh, not just uh expressing their support for the palestinian cause, but they they're basically uh putting pressure on their government uh to take action. egypt is one of those countries that has been criticized for... reluctance in opening the rafat border crossing uh talk to us about that aspect as well why uh the reluctance in opening the rafa crossing uh ease some of the suffering of of the gazons and also give us your perspective your thoughts on the significance of these demonstrations that are taking place in a place like cairo, well in fairness to the egyptians, the the rafa crossing is equally

under the control of the... occupation and so the egyptian position is that they can't humalally open the border crossing unless the occupation agrees to allow vehicles to pass through it. having said that, when it comes to protest by the egyptian people, let's not forget that they're dealing with a government established through cuda supported by the united states and which is entered into... an agreement with the occupy of palestion to essentially put israel's security interest above their own and to share intelligence to help protect israel from uh hamas, which this agreement characterizes as a terrorist organization, so so the... the problem is

that the egyptian government led by alsy right now is far more amable to the position put forward by the occupation than the righteous position put forward by the palestinian people and others who support the palestinian people including the citizens of of egypt so the first line of resistance as it were comes from their own government which is we we should all remember wasted no time as they came to power by this through this contrived protest and an accompaning kudeita holding trials where they sentenced 100, 200 and sometimes 300 people to death in a 10-minute trial, this is not what we would call an idealist regime, so so that's a huge problem and we have the same.