hello and welcome to press tv's spotlight. i'm marsia hashimi, thanks so much for being with us. four days of a ceasfire have passed in a two-day extension has been announced. this after 48 days of an israeli genocide on palestinians in gaza. hamas and the israeli regime have agreed to release more hostages and hamas has announced that it is willing to release all of the captives. if israel releases all of its palestinian hostages, which of course israel calls prisoners, there are up to 10,000 palestinian. and prisoners

or hostages currently being held in israeli of prisons. this is a reality for palestinians living under an occupying force. whether we look at gaza or the occupied territory, the regime tries to create hell for the native palestinian population. is there any choice besides resistance? i'd like to welcome my guests to the spotlight. george, research fellow global policy institute, metropolitan university at budapest harley schlinger spokesman la rush organization out of germany. thank you both for being with me. i'll startted off with george. now the ceasefire has been extended for two days. i want to start here. i want to get your opinion about the fact that there is even a discussion about if and when this genocide will continue. i mean, how can there even be debate. why isn't israel just told it's over,

no more, it won't be allowed? well, ideally, that's what um should happen, there's only one power in the world that can do that, that can that has any influence and sway over israel, and that of course is the united states, the united states is not willing to do that, but the united states is willing to exert some pressure. um as face saving um exercise, because ultimately this is huge embarrassment for the united states, there is revulsion throughout the world um about what israel is doing and revulsion particularly among america's european allies, so um given that this the anger that is being directed at israel is being now directed at the united states. as israel's enabler, the biden

administration has to do something, it has to uh come up with a uh formula, face saving formula, whereby he can be seen to be uh on the side of the good guys, on the side of the victims, the innocents while at the same time, enabling israel, so it's a very delicate and of course a dishonest fine line that united states is drawing, but um that's uh... the situation, so this these um kind of extensions of the ceasefire, they are being uh facilitated and enabled by the united of states. well, harley, i mean looking at this onslot that took place as genocide that took place in gaza, what did israel get out of it, what has it accomplished? well, first of all i have to realize that netanyahu has a commitment beyond. getting back the hostages.

netanyahu's commitment is the ethnic cleansing of gaza. netanyahu is a greater israel fanatic, and his intention is not to stop and to allow these pauses, because he's under enormous pressure internationally, and even within israel, but he said and he's made clear he's going to intend to continue the war as soon as the seasfire or the temporary true ends. he said the other day. when he was asked about this kind of image of israel, he said history does not favor jesus christ over gengas khan, history favors the strong, so his view is that he's going to be strong, he's going to carry this out, now what your other guests said is absolutely true, the us could stop this, i just wrote an article about how eisenhouer intervened in 1956 in the suez crisis when israel, england and france invaded egypt. and isenhower

threatened to use the economic power of the united states against the british, threatening to dump the us holdings of pound sterling bonds if the british didn't end this invasion. and within 24 hours the brits, the french and the israelis pulled back, so the us does have the power. the question is, how do you overcome the insanity in the us congress, which is largely controlled by the military, industrial complex which wants more wars and we have to have a bigger mobilization in the united states to put pressure on the congress and on biden. okay, well - george, um, do you think that the israelis have dis credited themselves in so many ways, i mean if we look at from a military perspective, we're talking about the fourth powerful, most powerful military in the world allegedly, and and this regime has been up against resistance force, which has

no air force, it has no navy, no sophisticated weapons, yes israel has inflicted lot of pain on the civilians, but that doesn't take much um um military expertise to to drop these bombs on civilians, but from that military perspective, uh, why have they really and not been effective? well, probably because israel isn't militarily particularly effective, and its intelligence services are not particularly effective, the israeli mith has been assiduously cultivated by obviously the israeli. government, the israeli propaganda machine and the israel lobby in the united states and so they've been basking in this glory of what happened in 1967, which is now almost 60 years ago, and but ever since 1967, none of israel's military venture have been

particularly successful, they've gone from one fiasco after another in or the several wars in in lebanon, and then of course. you you had you war in uh several wars in gaza and they never um come to any successful conclusion and of course we know about their intelligence failures the vaunted massad which supposedly can get any terrorist anywhere they almost always miss they almost always kill innocents and claim oh we've got the plo terrorist they never do it um so israel just isn't that um powerful what israel is very good at doing is at propaganda, i mean he's very, very good at controlling uh the narrative, it's very good at controlling uh the political debate in the united states. i mean, it takes some doing, when you look at the polls, some 70% of americans want to sease fire, and about five% of congress wants to cease fire, that takes

some doing, and that you have to say, no one other than israel can pull something like that off. right, what about that hartle, let's let's talk about that narrative that george said, because has israel's forte has been hasbar um controlling that narrative, but it does seem that in this uh during this genocide we have seen massive demonstrations across the world and uh unbelievable amount sharing information as if people and many of them were, it was the first time that they had heard about the roots of the israeli regime, what this is all about that palestine is occupied, um, your take on on this part of it. and how significant is it? i'm living in germany now and i see how they're playing this in germany, that israel was the victims the nazis and it can never happen be allowed to happen again, and therefore germany should be providing weapons for israel along with the united states. this is the narrative of

victimology, but if you look at the actual situation in palestine, you see who the victims have been, the palestinian civilian population. and the ability to function as national entity, the israelis won't allow it. now in the united states, most of the major media is controlled by a group of five companies, basically a cartel, which is very much influenced by the money coming in from american zionists, although i will say that there there is beginning to be a little bit of a shift in that. even the washington post and a couple of other pro war publications have had to for to report that israel did not prove the case that there were tunnels in a command center under the al shifa hospital, even that's beginning to crack, look, there

have been large demonstrations, there were 10 to 20,0 people marching in berlin on saturday, i think the key is the fighting to get the true story out of what happened after 1967, after the un resolution 242, and effort after effort for revolve, resolving the situation has been sabotaged by israel, which of course says that it's the palestinians who have sabotaged it. well, george, in your perspective, i want to look at your idea of uh, globally, uh, we're talking more about governments and even a lot of the people, how israel was looked at prior to october the 7th, and since that time, what has changed? well, of course, there has been a global consensus. pretty much since 1967 as to the outline of a lasting middle east settlement,

which is the two state solution, and the palestinian state would constitute the west bank and gaza, which uh was only 20% of the historic palestine, the british mandated palestine, so it would be very substantial concession on the part of the palestinians, but nonetheless that was the glow. consensus that was shared by the soviet union, that was shared by most of um europe, and of course asia and africa. the united states has supposedly gone along with this, you know, it supported resolution 24:2 in public, but in actual fact it has uh basic turned a blind eye and has generally supported. that um israel's undermining of resolution 242 which began immediately after the end of the sixth

day war with the building of the settlements just went on and on and on 56 years of settlement building the united states could have put an end to it any time it choose not to so that was the view before october the 7th what october the 7th has shown is such savagery on the part of israel i mean if one looks at the let's say the casualties let's say 1400 dead in gaza and we know it's at least 40% children, so if we assume that of the rest of the, so if they're children, that means they innocent by definition, they had nothing to do with october the 7th, then if you look at the the remaining 60%, if you say that of that number 50% of hamas fighters, i don't think it's anything like that, but nonetheless let's just assume that's the case, that means 70% of the deaths that israel has committed are civilians, are innocents, 70% are innocents, that is a

staggering number, and i think that has really shaken the public opinion in in countries, i mean certainly even in the united states, but definitely in europe, that's that of course is different so the governments, the governments are a different matter, because the governments like to keep in with the americans, that you know that that's that's another issue, but that you know, but that, but as far as the public opinion is goes. that has been very very uh impactful, well - harley, when we look at this situation, um, with the of course this genocide and the one hand taking place in gaza, the regime also had to handle the southern border uh or it's northern border dealing um with hazbullah and then of course the southern border uh dealing with hamas and the situation, i mean this is something that the regime hadn't faced in this way before. "what type of role do you think that having a double front played in uh adding frustration

to the regime? well, i think you also have to consider the west bank where we see settlers running wild uh, attacking innocent palestinian civilians there, but i think look, if if the us sent the fleet, the large fleet, the two aircraft carrier strike groups and and other ships, with the idea that this was. to deter iran, it makes no sense, the the us show of force is not going to stop hezbollah or hamas, because the in fact the these ships may become sitting ducks for hezbollah if they decided to to fight them, so what we're facing is the danger of an expanded war, which comes largely from israel, and from the united states foolishly saying we'll support israel uh to the... a sense the same thing says about supporting ukraine to the end, the americans are

discredited internationally, look at the global south, look at the united nations general assembly, 120 nations voted for a ceasefire and only 14 against it, so we're looking at an overwhelming part of the world which has chosen to defend the rights of the palestinians over the greed of the israelis to grab all the land, so the... only question that that really remains and by the way, netanyahu may extend a truce a couple of days, but he's not going to stop his blood thirsty attack on the palestinians, that does have... to come from the outside and it's going to have to come from the united states, in the short term, it's not going to happen because of the congress, but in the longer term biden's up for re-election, he's facing catastrophe in ukraine and a public relations catastrophe with the israel gaza situation, so there is a chance that this can be turned around, but it's going to depend on the

american people showing a little bit of gut and grit and going out and and learning what the the real story is in in palestine and taking that into the street and against the warhawks in washington. well, george, how has this genocide not only revealed the truth of the israeli regime for those who didn't know, but but also the the whole uh western hegemonic front, that silence for so long, um, not only silence, we saw uh western leaders uh going to israel and giving their support, thumbs up to netanyahu in the middle the genocide. that was quite remarkable. um, biden, who notoriously didn't go to east palestine uh, after the uh train derailment and which was huge environmental catastrophe, he just didn't even bother to go visit. there

was a horrific uh fire in hawaii, he didn't go, couldn't be bothered to. um interrupt his holiday to go, i mean finally, after several weeks, he decided to show up for few hours, um, yet when he came to israel, he just rushed off and gave a bear hug to uh netanyahu, and he's now given, i don't, how many addresses to the american people on the subject of israel, again he seems to be taking the plight of israel and... what israel is enduring as far more important for him than uh what americans are enduring and that you know it's a reflection of um america's political lead. now in the case of europe, europe is now so totally subordinate to the united states, i mean they're now essentially just the vassels of the americans, the european union is just simply

an appendage of nato, so whatever their personal feelings may be, and emmanuel, the french president has blurted out in a number of interviews, how how disgusted he is by what israel is doing, nonetheless, publicly he follows the americans, the german case is very interesting, i mean they are as my colleague pointed out, they they saying, oh, we have a special responsibility towards israel because of the holocaus, well you can argue it the other way. which is that um the palestinians have had to suffer as a result of what the germans did, i mean it was, it wasn't, it is actually quite mindboggling, it's quite mindboggling when we look at this, okay, so all right, it started, well, we can say it started with the british or whatever, but with the germans doing what they did, so the palestinians have had to pay the price,

and then we see the way germany has stood steadfast with the israeli regime. against the palestinian it is absolutely mindbockly, and while we are in germany, let me cross back over to harley, i mean harley, the germans are just a whole different case, i mean, it's it's quite really, it is quite mindbockling to see the reaction coming out of germany to all of this, when basically the palestinians had nothing to do with this to begin with, but they're the ones suffering. well, there's been a real brainwashing done on the german people around the nazi per'. period, the idea that that all germans are guilty and therefore germany must never assert itself as national, sovereign nation, but just in the last days, the the german council on foreign relations has called for a massive increase in military production in germany, a massive increase in the numbers of people in the bundesvare, the german army, and a change in the mentality of the german

people to become quote, war ready, unquote, now as - just said, what's mindboggling about this is that germany is not threatened by anyone, a realistic assessment of the situation, if they had it, the germans would be very responsive to what's happening to the palestinians and and many of them are upset about it, but they're terrified by the reaction from the united states and so they're continuing to send weapons in the ukraine, and by the way, you talk about iron eats, the germans are supporting a government in ukraine which has nazis in its defense and security uh uh positions, yeah, there there's just lot of things going on with germany, i mean you guys couldn't even protect yourself with the northstream, it's it's a mind box like. so so now what's what's key now because

we only have like a minute left and going back to the subject at hand when we see the europeans the way they're reacting, we see the the whole western hegemonic front and and the way they're acting, what needs to happen not only to have a permanent ceasefire, but really to end this siege and to end the occupation. well, the only thing that could make a difference is uh, a change in attitude uh on the part of washington. we haven't seen any um evidence of this, but you know, biden knows that much of his base, you know, his kind of leftish progressive base, is very unhappy about this, he's doing terribly in the polls, um, he's facing a very difficult re-election next year, he can't afford to... have anyone staying home sitting on their hands and this might have some effect, i think it is having some effect on biden, you in putting pressure on israel just to bring

this thing to to an end, because the longer it goes on, the more difficult is going to be for me, because biden and the americans are being blamed for this, with very good justification, so i think um, that's you, in the in the short term, that's one thing that could change if uh the americans really start putting pressure on netanyahu, knock it off. remember, ronald reagan did this with manahin began during the 1982 invasion of lebanon, there was a point at which reagan said, enough is enough, i got on the phone to begin and said, knock it off, and begin knocked it off. there haven't been too many presidents uh since then have been ready to do that with israel. all right, and on that note, thank you both. for being with me, george samoulier, research fellow, global policy institute, london, metropolitan university budapest. harley steiner, spokesman of the rus organization, postam germany, and thank you viewers for being with us for another spotlight. i'm signing out for myself and all

the crew right here in tehran. hope to see you right here next time.

غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه قاطع عشان غزه الحمد لله يا جماعه ان الله ثقنا من

ماء المطرين يا جماعه الله عرفت انه احنا بنعيني ونزللنا ميه من عندنا ميه حلوه ابنك تخيل هذا المشهد الامر صعب حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل لا يمكن وصف المشاهد داخل مستشفى الاندوني حساب اسرائييله ديمقراطيه ودبلوماسيه والديمقراطيه والديمقراطيه حرام عليكم والديي ووالدتي واخوايا اخويا واختي والله اخويا عريسي يا الله عريس عليك ابنه ابنه ابني صغير طفل يا

الله اتفل بس العزبي الله عليهم اخوان اللي منظوبتشادوا فينا امتنا الناس امتنا انت وين من وين نازحين الشمال الشمال انت انا ريفي ايش اسمك انت و عمرك احكي لي اسم اناده ابويا صار شهيد الساعه س وكلكم اخواتي وكلهم انا.

palestinian resistance moving hamas confirms the extension of the seas fire with israel for two more days. under the existing terms. european union's clamps as appalling, israel's plan to build new settlements in the occupied westbank a mid the regime's war on gaza. andy roll calls for a probe into the use of chemical weapons by israel during the gaza war saying that the regime has committed the four core international crimes.