of hello, welcome to the spotlight. i'm cobit. the us islaly genocidal war has passed the a grim milestone of over 20,000 deaths, yet the us is postponing a un session for a possible ceasefire over semantics. this is what the israeli prime minister has threatened again that the genocidal war will not stop until hamas is eliminated. now in this edition of the spotlight we will look at where this war is heading. whether the us is worried that

israel's loss will reflect negatively actually its own power in the face of the resistance groups in west asia such as hezballah. first let me introduce our guests. paula rudy, co-founder of the free palestine movement joins us from berkeley. also joining us is eve zangler, author and political activist from montreal. welcome to both paul and rudy, i'll first start with you, we're looking at the third time that the us has rejected this resolution uh, the last time i checked uh, thursday has started in new york, i don't what time it is where you are, but i think it's where new york has to get together and for them to actually go through this, i'm looking at how every minute counts when it comes to this genocidal war, at the same time we're looking at semantics here, i think it's over cessation, that is the problem for the us, they are opting for. suspension uh, do

you think, how do you view and assess the way that the us is uh positioning itself here when it comes to uh the un, which could result maybe in a possible cease fire? temporary one of that? well, i'm not sure it's just about the semantics, it's also i think from what i've heard about the question of distribution and who supervises it and who controls it? and um it the the the ones who proposed this, the the uae and the other nations that are involved in drafting it, want the united nations to be responsible for this, and i suspect that israel wants more control over where the aid goes and specifically they don't want it to uh to go of to... gaza uh whereas whereas the drafters of

the resolution and the palestinians are saying no, it must be open to all of gaza, so the that there may be more to it than than we know, we're not, we can't possibly be told everything about the negotiations that are happening behind happening behind the scenes, well from the statements that are coming from israel, it may somewhat be confusing, uh, because we have, for example, isaac hertz who has said that uh, they are ready and prepared for another cease fire, but at the same time, uh, the israeli prime minister netanyahu is that the war would not end while hamas controls gaza, and there's no uh talk of reducing the intensity, at least not in the coming weeks. uh, what is your view about uh, first of all, this uh, even the notion of sease fire, given that israel last time around, once it ended, killed so many palestinians, "and this time around based on

the way that uh we're seeing that for for for it to have not happened already, but the way the prime minister netan is talking about it. yeah, well i would presume that israel is is uh being preparing itself or preparing to try a similar type quote unquote cease fire or humanitarian pause or whatever we want to call what happened few weeks ago um and they're under lot of..." pressure internally to get more of the hostages back and they're also under pressure internationally to allow humanitarian aid in and also to to slow down in the in the killing so that's what i think the israelis you know are sort of preparing for and they're trying to of course get the best deal they can make with you giving up giving up his few. palestinians as they've

they've kidnapped in exchange for those that hamas has in gaza, but i think the broader issue here is is that or when yahu is speaking to, is that uh the the the murderous uh uh forces in in charge of israel i want to be able to keep killing palestinians, so whether whether that stops for a week and then continues for many months after or uh some or just continues on without stopping uh for you even a couple days um that's clearly what netanyahu wants uh it's all framed as uh you know ending hamas or or destroying. hamas um that may be, i think they would probably like that in some sort of theoretical sense of obviously killing as many hamas officials and getting as many high high officials of hamas as possible, but really this is this is about um, this is about destroying

palestinian life in in gaza, and and hamas is is just a sort of justification for this effort at destroying palestinian life in gaza. hopefully from zinis perspective, ethnically cleansing palestinians and and they know of course that this level of killing that they're doing is is just making palestinians even more um angry and hateful towards israel, and so the, you even if they were to destroy hamas, there's going to be much more hostile uh resistance that's going to develop uh over the over the coming years, well i mean we we're looking. at about 75 days of this war to have transpired so far, paul rudy, if you were to take a look at the accomplishments on the israely side when it comes to the battlefield, i'm not too sure what they can show for it, one of the things that stands out obviously at the top of the list, which is not an accomplishment is the fact that uh 20,00 plus palestinians have

been murdered, so if it if the purpose is to defeat hamas, it this this is going to take a long time, i mean i'm no military analyst, but is that, i think israel knows that that's... not going to happen, but it's still selling that notion. who are the buyers? um, very few people, i think, buy the idea that they're fighting hamas, they're fighting the palestinian people, and they want to see the palestinian people disappear, as eve has alluded to, and they are, they want to see them disappear at least from the uh, the land where they are, if they go to other countries, that's fine with the... with the israelis, but actually i think the they would prefer to see them disappear from the face of the earth. this is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing, and i think that actually the the death toll is far greater than what is commonly broadcast. it's much more than uh

20,00, there may be between five and 10 th00 that are not counted because they don't have the names, uh. hamas, the hamas government in gaza, the the health ministry is keeping names of all all them so that they can show that the they are in fact 20,00 of them, but there are so many for whom they don't have the names because they're buried underneath the the rubble, and they they were children were trapped underneath the rubble, maybe maybe staying alive for a while, but then then dying in in terror and and and pain, and and we don't hear about those, but what about also the ones that are dying as a result of the sealing of of the borders and the lack of food and the lack of medication and the disease that's happening because of his real facts, we don't even get statistics on on

people who are dying of diseases and starvation that we we don't see, so the the the number. are much greater than that and and it it will become much greater if they don't get food and medical care youvan the national security advisor of the us visited israel recently i'm sure you're well aware of that uh one of the things that uh he uh said uh is the fact that uh israel's israel needs to transition uh from high intensity to low intensity um which uh is uh quite startling given the fact that uh both entil uh israeli, i'm sorry, palestinians to be killed and murdered, but another thing that he said based on an israeli official uh is that uh sullivan uh said there was no pressure from sullivan to end the fighting, but that he he was concerned about the displacement of palestinians and civilian casualties, so that

does really show that the us wants this war to continue uh, but why do you think the us is so keen on that? well the... i mean the us is whether they say whatever they say to some extent doesn't matter much considering they continue provide the weapons, you new shipments of weapons a almost sort of... multi-day basis to to israel, so if they want to restrict uh the killing, it's pretty simple to just stop either giving or selling weapons to israel, so um, yes, us is absolutely completely complicit in in in this genocide. um, now what explains the us uh policy on this? i think that's a bit complicated. in terms of, i mean, i think there's everything from the us arms industry

loves killing and love wars, that just is, that's market, and this has been a market for their weapons and and so that from that standpoint, um, i think the us obviously sees israel as geostrategic - ally in the region that divides the region and you bombs syria. really and bombs other countries in the region. i also think there's a very powerful israel lobby in within the us, there's a a christian zionist element to it, and then there's a a well-organized uh jewish pro israel uh network. joe biden has long close connections to the israel lobby um so i think that that's the um the you know the explanation is is that... "this mix of arms industry, geostrategic thinking, and and this

powerful lobby uh pushes the us government to to basically support israel uh almost almost no matter what. uh, we need to figure out if you can help us, paulorudy, as to what it is that will uh spell out an endgame here. now whatuh the us has said again out in the open is uh not what israel wants." the us wants what it calls a recalibrated, reformed of pa, i'm not too sure what a recalibrated or reform pa would look like, but for that is what the option the us seems to be leaning on, because that's what they're envisioning, where the israel is saying we want to handle the security, um, what what do you think it is that uh either are going to, i guess agree on, because they both seem to, well both israel obviously has a say and us is putting its two cents in there uh and i'm saying that

taking into account that hamas cannot be defeated as we spoke earlier about that, so if you can put that into the equation for us and explain to us what's what may happen? yes, this is not about an agreement, if you're talking about how to end the the fighting and the resistance, it's not about an agreement between the united states and and israel, or between israel, united states and the rest of the world, it's about the palestinians, the palestinians must must have a their voice, they must be satisfied, they are not going to go back to a the the situation as it was before, hamas has clearly declared that, and it seems to me that they are doing very well in pursuing. their strategy and they can probably hold out for very, very long time, i'm not sure that

israel can hold out for very long time, their economy is is is in the trash, and a half million israelis have already left the country, a large percentage of their population is not living in the places where they used to live in the south and in the north, and "they're very dissatisfied with what the government is doing, i don't think israel can last that long, and and hamas is is is counting on that, so it's about hamas and they will not go back to the situation where they are living in a an open air concentration camp and where their government, their existing government is taken away from them and and some ' you know slave government is is is put in place to

control them so that the the israelis have total more control in the future than they they've had until now, that's not going to happen, so if you want looking for an end of it, the end of it coincides with the end of the zionist state where there's one state for for for everyone with equal rights, that's it, that's that's the only... uh peace terms that that is going to uh end this situation, well uh one thing that is uh definitely, guess propelling and increasing the chances of israel's economy. uh taking a even larger hit is uh a front perhaps that was not anticipated e zangler uh and that is the one with yemen of which we have seen what they have done when it comes to the maritime transit in the red sea where at this point any israel linked vessel i'm sure you're well aware of it is being targeted uh we just had in our news what was confirmed uh 80 to 85%

the port of aelot uh has seized uh to function in terms of uh the little amount that they did. "at the same time uh some are reporting that there's really no chance of any uh type of vessel going there, and there are other countries that are uh suffering as result of this, and uh the militarization of this red sea area by the us and the so-called coalition is adding more worry economically. do you think that this uh angle or part of this uh us genocidal, us-israely genocidal war may lead to the end of the war where israel needs to put up the white flag? oh, there's no doubt that this puts pressure on israel, the the that the hoothis definitely uh, they have they have uh ramped up the pressure, obviously there's also some pressure with regards to hezballah, um, but yes, i think that is the case, i think that's

this, it's it's clearly scared lot of uh the global uh capitalist uh world. uh there's major um shipping companies that have said they don't they won't be taking israeli products uh there's others that have decided to take different routes which cost lot more the us is clearly very scared my government the canadian government has has formally joined this coalition that's basically uh countries that are not from the region uh militarily intervening guess they have bay. as a little bit of cover um, but uh, but this is this is definitely um one of the things the us was trying to avoid when it when it you know green lit the uh the just genocidal policies in gaza back in mid-october uh that's why the us was sending more naval vessels was trying to uh pressure any other

forces in the region to not um to not to you know defend uh defend palestinians um where this all could go, obviously this has the possibility of of escalating um even further and drawing in other other other countries and and and a wider war. um, but this is it's it's the the demand that the general assembly made of the vast majority of general assembly for sease fire, mean that's the way to go uh to, israel has to stop its killing. and uh and then uh that will lead to uh less problems with regards to shipping um but of course the us is going to do everything it can to uh make sure that there's um not there isn't that type of pressure on israel both both economically within israel and kind of

more broadly that flows from the uh disruption of uh of shipping so when we talk about other fronts, there's one that has been escalating, albeit a controlled manner, but it's still increasing in its uh intensity, and that is the one with lebanon, what is going on there, do you think, what will happen, paula rudy? we know um, well here again, we're looking at two different scenarios that's put out there, uh, one uh, israel saying no, we don't want this to uh expand with the hezbollah, but then you have other officials saying, no, we need to go after hezbollah, we need to purge that, area out, the us says it does not want to also have this to elevate into that phase, what is the deal there, what do you think uh they want from that? well, hezball has also said that they um don't want escalate it in any further, but both sides are saying that they're willing escalate it. i think

escalation would be a bigger problem for for israel than it would be for. will face some internal problems in lebanon as a result of escalation, but they can do it, and with the proper provocation from israel, which israel seems willing to give them, then they can justify it to the to the rest of lebanon, so nobody really knows, the israelis don't... the the uh lebanese don't know uh where where this is leading, but it could definitely lead to an expansion, and we don't know how big an expansion even beyond the borders of... lebanon and israel, and uh, my final question goes to you, um, here, we're taking a look at the uh way that israel standing has uh pretty much been decimated uh, not to mention the us

uh, that has uh, israel has brought the us down with it in this genocidal war. uh, has israel lost legitimacy on the world stage when it comes to the way that countries are going to be dealing with israel, whether it's through trade or through diplomatic means. "certainly in terms of popular opinion, um, popular opinion around the world, it's pretty clear, is is very hostile to what what israel is doing, even in a country like canada, that's the case, um, but uh, whether it leads to long-term ramifications on trade and stuff like that, um, the us is still very powerful, nato is still very powerful, they back israel." uh it's going to this has clearly been very damaging for uh us uh standing within the middle east and uh and i think

more generally i mean you keep the statements coming from south african leader about this being a genocide uh so probably large swats of africa as well uh to a certain extent in latin america uh but whether this leads to uh you know long-term effects on um trade and things like that, i think that comes back to you, whether there are um the forces that you know care about human beings and opposed genocide uh in the in europe, in the middle east, in north america, whether those forces keep mobilizing and keep denouncing what israel's done, you know, even months after the the worst of the killing ends, um, so you israel's powerful country, let's not, let's be clear. that it is powerful country, it has its own internal uh divisions and i think when all is said and done, those divisions in you, the current phase of killing, i think those divisions are going to be worse,

they're going to be further exacerbated within within israel, um, but uh, how that plays out in the uh kind of medium term, um, i don't know, it's clear that that israel has lost um here in north america in the belly of the beast. israel has lost uh the younger generation, that's absolutely clear, public opinion has turned overwhelmingly, and public opinion in the middle east was always hostile to israel, and it's just become much more hostile, it's going to be harder for the different governments to normalize uh, but how you know the longer term ramifications, i don't know at this point. all right, we'll leave it there. thank you, evengler, author and political activist from montreal, paulo rudy, a pleasure, co-founder of free palestine movement from berkeley. with that, we come to an end for this edition. the spotlight from the team, it's goodbye.

almost a decade ago, the islamic republic of iran did its best to pass its proposal duped as world against violence and extremism at the united nations. but why should tehran insist on it and does it have anything to do with what's unfolding in palestine? these and more on this edition of iran today.

your headlines on press tv, the world health organization says there are no more functional. hospitals in north gaza as death toll from israel's genocide now tops 20,000. the rights advocacy organization says israel's onslaught in gaza is the most dangerous situation for journalists with most journalists killed in a single year in one location. and the islamic resistance in iraq says it has targeted major port in the occupied palestinian territories in response the israel.