knows who was uh in or how many people uh were under were in those buildings uh, even if those there are civilians that had left the southern suburbs of beirot, i know many people, many families who come back every while and then to get some some of their things, their personal belongings uh, maybe their official papers and so on uh from the from their houses uh just before they had to somewhere safer um because in the beginning from monday until wednesday, it was very difficult for people to move around because of the traffic jam, because uh they are in a state of chaos, and so we we know that there are a lot of families or at least maybe one member of the family that was going back to their house uh in order to try to retrieve or to get some of their personal belongings uh so that could probably mean that there are a lot of people who went to those uh buildings specifically um... but like i said the number

is extremely difficult to know at this point in time okay so we know oh there's there's a statement which says that there will not be a statement so uh i guess this is what we have right now so we'll be in touch with you again uh mariam in the meantime uh let's talk to mr robert fontina author and journalist who's joining us live from ontario to get his analysis of the situation robert were you expecting us attack of this scale uh from the part of israelies a time when uh where there were talks of a ceasefire again, well uh netanyahu once again proved that uh he can be very unpredictable when it comes escalating tensions and in uh this particular case definitely changing the equations of the ongoing war between israel and lebanon. yes, i was not expecting this, i did think that...

he would uh he would do some aggression toward lebanon then and then back off as israel has done a number of times prior to this, but the extent of this, the destruction that uh israel is perpetrating, and also the the constant violation of international laws, as your uh reporter moment ago said that israel had had uh targeted a medical center and killed uh at least dozens of medical personnel, this is of course is a... war crime, but israel is has been committing war crimes for decades and has just accelerated the rate at which they're committing them in the last in the last year. now few days ago at the un, many world leaders spoke about the need for for everyone to follow international law, for no impunity from international law, and said that israel, they stated clear that israel has has been granted impunity and that that compromises international law for.

everybody and we'll notice that when president joe biden of the united states was speaking, he talked about international law of and how russia needs to abide by it, but he didn't say anything about israel's violations, so israel has been emboldened to to go into lebanon in this major way, the same way it was embolden to go into uh to gaza for the last year, because it knows that the united states will continue to to send it in the weapons it needs to... provided with diplomatic cover, and the united states will even violate its own laws. uh, few months ago, secretary of state, uh, anthony blincon told congress that it there was no evidence that israel was was preventing humanitarian aid from entering gaza, and yet one - senior official in the state department resigned saying that was nonsense. uh, it's been reported lately that two independent state department organizations, uh, contradicted

what he said and that he knew in advance of his speech that israel was preventing humanitarian aid from from getting into gaza, so what we're seeing in beirut now is just an extension of of israel being uh knowing that it can do whatever it wants on the international stage, the united states will support it and protect it. it's good to know that, as your report moment ago mentioned that uh britain is not going to is is not going to starts sending some weapons again because it feels they will be used in violations of international law, and all the countries in the world, if they expect any country to adhere to international law, they themselves must do so, and they are not doing that by supporting the ongoing genocide of the palestinians and now of lebanese people, this brutal onslaught, which is barbaric in every possible way, targeting uh residents, in residential... facilities uh, as i mentioned

moment ago, medical facilities, this is the same model that it has been using in gaza for the last year, and it's the same thing that the united states continues to... to support and as was also earlier mentioned, the exploding pegers and and walkie talkies were done usad and the cia. united states is the largest terrorist organization in the world and it is uh exporting its terror now to lebanon through israel, and of course it's been it's been exporting terror uh to palestine through israel for decades, but this is a tragic and horrific situation, we're seeing in... or see in gaza and who knows where it will be next, will it be iran next or yemen or syria? where will where will will israel go next and what will it take to stop israel? well, that is very good question, robert, and we've heard this from

many other people that have been um sharing their thoughts and views with us on our uh special coverage of the recent. developments and interestingly robert, everyone points to the fact that this level of unpredictability only signifies that hezbollah has to respond in kind. now hezbollah has the proven that it takes a very measured steps and of course it also waits for the right time and with the right strategy, so we're expecting something within those... lines to happen, we will be in touch with our correspondent to get more details. eve angler, activist and commentator from montreal is also with us. eve, tell us what was your first uh reaction to uh, this piece of news? i think israel clearly wants

to licit a whole regional war. i now, i didn't think so before, but i doubt do think they are planning a ground invasion, which seems... like a pretty uh uh kind of wild escalation and very uh frought for israel um uh and and and and and honestly i don't see an israeli ground invasion not leading to thousands, tens of thousands of people being killed, i mean i just think everything is going in that direction and that's uh that seems remarkable to me that they would um they would consider that considering i think it there's a very good chance that israel will get bogged down in something. they can't uh win uh, but they will cause incredible level of destruction uh if they do so. um, they're already causing incredible level of destruction of course uh, but i but i think that um, i don't i the us, canada, other countries have provided all the support that

is enabled all of these crimes in gaza and uh and in uh in lebanon. i don't think though, i don't think that the biden administration wants uh this right now just before the election, this is going to this is going to likely harm the democrats and i think what netanyahu is trying to do here and clearly the israeli public is behind him on, he's gotten a boost in the polls and clearly a big chunk of the uh military establishment in israel is also on board for this. i think uh what neno was trying to do is to try to draw a regional war that where the us ends up a war with with iran. i i don't i mean... that this this level of escalation and this level of of um criminality uh you know blowing up a whole block in bayroot i don't you don't know what has actually led to and how many people have been killed and stuff like that but this this means that israel is clearly prepared to uh you know they've been saying it that

they're gonna do what do in beirout or do in lebanon what they've done in gaza uh but you sort of assume that's just um uh you know bombastic rhetoric uh um but but they seem now like they are um willing to willing to do that and with with um you know pushback from some important country now will us pushback be the pushback that's needed which is to uh stop the arms flow uh and and stop the intelligence uh support and stop the you know blocking of un resolutions that are hardline on israel etc etc uh probably not but um but uh israel's clear. trying to do everything it can to um force hesbollah to respond and i don't i don't see how hezbollah can't respond with bigger and bigger you know rocket firing and whatnot um obviously they have been quite successful and harming hesball over the past

uh week or 10 days and and i'm sure that is undermining hesball's ability to respond in the short term uh but i think that uh hez is a position where they're going to have to respond uh ever more forcefully, and and israel will then use that of course to justify its further escalation, but but i think big picture here, netanyahu, much of the israeli public. they want to push this uh you know all the way they believe in destroying hez that as a possibility and uh and um they they they're willing to roll the dice with being bocked down in a um potentially here bocked down in a um an occupation of further occupation of lebanese territory okay let's bring back uh mr robert fina to this discussion uh, robert, how do you think the united nations should uh react

to this level of atrocity being committed by the israeli regime now that everyone is present, this is a great opportunity for the united nations to finally uh show some strength and independence and try to make move, otherwise, as many of our pundits that uh share their thoughts with us today uh, they believe that the united nations is uh already um an organization that is not functioning properly and it should close down its doors. yes, and i think that's uh there would be little noticed if if it closed its doors, the uh the expression talk is cheap, certainly applies to the united nations. uh, world leader after world leader has got... up in the last several days and uh condemned israeli genocide, condemned the uh the the

the occupation uh spoken in support of international law, in support of the internet court court of justicces uh recent findings about or determination about the occupation and the need for israel to end the occupation immediately and the need for other countries in the world to stop supporting anything that's that that supports the occupation so uh "i don't think anything is going to happen now as far as uh from the un regarding uh regarding lebanon, the un sat back and watched and continues to watch what's happening in gaza uh, that is the un itself has deter or its bodies have determined this is genocide happening and the us is doing not, the un is doing nothing to prevent it or to stop it. now the general assembly has voted overwhelmingly in the past to support palas'. a variety of ways, but it is the security council which has the authority to

actually act, and due to the veto power that's wielded by the united states, security council cannot act, so as a result, nothing gets done and nothing will get done. it's interesting that united states, which professes itself as such beacon of freedom and democracy, it is not by any means uh is is running the least democratic. at uh entity within the united nations, which is of course the security council. very few members, some them have uh veto power, but that's that body that i mentioned that has authority to actually act. the uh, general assembly, which has close to 200 members, uh, and they might vote overwhelmingly to support palestine, but there's no authority act there. so where is the democratic process there? so the united nations has when it comes down to a real need a real a time when when genocide is actually

occurring in the world, the only body individual world body that could do anything to prevent it, to stop it, ideally uh is the united nations, and the united states can't or the united nations can't and won't do it, so what is the point of the united nations anymore? okay, let's see if we still have our correspondent mariam salh with us for more updates. mariam, are you there? okay so mariam is not there in her absence okay okay so let's bring back mr. eve angler from montreal to continue uh this uh discussion uh well uh there have been some uh reactions from the iranian embassy in beirot also iran has slammed as quote blatant israeli war crime, these attacks in beirot saying that

uh, the us is definitely accomplice of uh attack of this magnitude, could you please elaborate on how the us provides the logistics and the information that um the israelis need when they want to uh conduct such attacks or... uh, in what way do they use us uh support other than uh the military equipment that they receive? oh, i mean, i think... "there's an endless stream of different forms of us support from the fact that there's all these charities in the us that are subsized by the government that send billions of dollars to israel annually to the fact that israel gets special special economic accords with the us to relations like that um there's all these these

municipalities and states in the us that buy israel bonds to subsidize basically the israeli treasury." to help assist israeli treasury, so there there's a endless stream of ways in which the us supports israel, now the most important ones though of course are in the context of this this criminality we're seeing is the the constant flow of weapons, the constant flow of and and that constant flow as of that was about a month ago now where over 500 uh planes full of weapons that were delivered to uh to israel um the all the intelligence, the these the americans provided israel with all kinds of vital intelligence on lebanon, on gaza uh on the rest of the region, on the world um so it's an endless uh uh stream of different forms of support uh uh for israel and and um it's uh

it's it's the it's the reason why and obviously the diplomatic cover is is is centrally important and and also i should say like the media cover right, the fact that the us is is is in alignment um means that israel's the me, you us is so powerful in the global media spheres, particularly in english language but in other languages as well um that they it gives a real sort of pressure on the media to cover uh israel in a sympathetic light and to and to downplay or minimize or or just ignore its crimes um so so you know it's a since 1967 israel has really been a a outpost of of us uh power in the region now is is this does that mean that all of israel's actions are something that israel the us supports i'm skeptical again i repeat that i'm skeptical the biden administration

is is uh is keen on on this um this level of of of escalation. "now are they going to do what they need to do to restrain it? that's a different question um and it's not that difficult to restrain, mean even just you know putting some stop to new shipments right? there's a story yesterday was reading about you know huge new shipment new huge new us commitment of arms were just announced um in the last 24 uh 36 hours uh so while um the're the're uh escalating in in in lebanon, the the americans are sort of saying, oh, we don't really want this, but we're going to uh give you give you new weapons to do this, so it obviously makes no sense. um, now biden, i think is is boxed in domestically uh, by uh, republican party, the israel lobby, different uh, different factors in terms of of

fundraising, the democratic party, the prominent uh jewish zianist donors are quite quite important. within democratic party get fundraising structure um so he has boxed in in all kinds of different ways and he's obviously committed zionist himself um but i don't think having said that i still don't think that they they they would like to see netanyahu restrained in its onslot on on lebanon um without having to do uh you know into a political tussel around um actually withdrawing the arms uh um to israel which is most important form of us support in the uh in the current moment. okay, so let's bring back mr. robert fontina to discuss that more. robert, were you listening to even, what are your thoughts regarding with the comments that he made that the united states will do

anything that israel wants it to do, even if it's not in the u.s.'s best interest, as he mentioned, the uh the pro israel lobbies in the united states are very important to the elected officials, the lobbies donate millions upon millions of dollars through reelection campaigns, and this is they don't want to give that up, so the idea of international law, human rights, these sorts of things take second uh place to these elected officials holding to their their jobs in in washington dc. now if the united states, if biden really does approve what's happening, but doesn't want to harm democrats chances in the next in the upcoming election by withholding armaments uh from israel he could certainly pressure other countries to do just that, he could the other countries, including canada, uh, germany, france, other countries that supply weapons to to israel

could be uh made to to stop that, the united states is not above bribing countries to do what it wants, think of the normalization of several countries with israel, those countries received huge amounts of financial benefits from the united states. for for doing that, for normalizing with israel, and despite the fact that israel is slaughtering arabs at an unprecedented rate, and has been for the last year, those countries rely on the the continued uh bribes, i'll call it that, from the united states to to maintain those ties with israel, so the we look at at things here where the elected officials of united states. their powerful positions and

okay, so mr. fantina, by claiming that sasan nastrolah was the target, israel is signaling the onset of a full-scale regional war, don't you think? hezballah is very powerful. organization within lebanon and by deciding to to attack and quote eliminate hezballah, there's no way they can do that without a regional war, because lebanon and hezballah have closed ties with many other nations, yemen, syria and perhaps significantly iran, so uh attack on lebanon is definitely going to draw in those other countries in one way or another, might be just diplomatically, but it will probably militarily, so this will... cause a regional war, it will expand far beyond uh israel and lebanon and palestine into the rest of the middle east. now this plays into what uh netnyahu and his extremely

radical right-wing cabinet want, which is as uh your other commentator mentioned uh dragging iran into the war, giving the united states excuse, an illegitimate excuse certainly, but excuse to uh to attack and bomb iran, it will say that iran is attacking one of its uh, it its chief ally in the middle east, israel, and therefore the united states go to its protection, but the amount of destruction that this going to cause throughout the middle east, the amount of lives that are going to be lost, and the possibility of the united states actually sending uh soldiers into the middle east, which has been raised as a possibility within the united states, is just going to be horrific situation. situation uh more death, more destruction, the the amount of that's going to take to rebuild these these areas that are being destroyed is going to be just

astronomical, it's going to set the region back by years and there are going to be no winners in in such a war. okay, thank you, mr. fontina, let's ask another question from eve angler before i let you go uh, the world is once again witnessing genocidal violence, now how can we explain the indifference and the deafining silence of uh world leaders in this in response to this type of escalation? well, i don't think there's silence, i think i i saw images from the general assembly where when then youow speaking that dozens and dozens of diplomats um left the room. israel organized a little like a cheering party up at the top where it's like the delegations and the they tried to make lots of noise acting like it was there was lots of support, but i saw large numbers of diplomats

from around the world leaving, so i don't think there's a silence, i don't think it's a lack of words, that's the problem, i think it's it's a power structure and that power structure of course at the center of it is the us and the us uh sponsoring israel's crimes and and um so... world opinion is is is against israel uh world opinion is against israel's genocide in gaza, it's against uh ramping this this uh escalation in in in lebanon um and so but but it's but it's how do we change that power structure how do we have this world where there's this us empire with its allies principally countries like canada britain that that um that you don't do its bidding around the world and control so much of the world's resources and have so much influence in every different sphere from

the... media to the diplomatic round, to the economy, to the to the military sphere, um, and and that's what it uh enables, now even even within the us and canada, if you actually look at people's opinions, even the publics in the two main, the center of of support for israel, the public is no longer uh supportive of israel, and that's been clear over the past months, there's been a demonstrations here, montreal's demonstrations. every weekend to a couple demonstrations every weekend and then last couple days emergency demonstrations during the week um there's all these actions every day almost every day there's some demonstration in montreal one of the universities walk out uh just protest the street protest against the minister uh for their support of a protest against the prime minister for their support for his support of of of israel um so so there is there is you know huge opposition uh but there's uh power

structure and the power structure comes comes first and foremost from the us empire and it trickles its way down all throughout um the the political sphere in in these countries and and has influence all around the world so so i i think the problem isn't that there's not uh opposition globally both that at governmental level and certainly a public opinion level to what israel's doing it's that the... most powerful governments uh are are are supportive and um and so uh israel keeps doing keep getting away with doing what it's doing. okay, thank you very much. we're also joined by uh professor muhammad marandi, university professor and political analyst who is joining us live from beirut. now, professor, you are right where everything is happening, so with today's terrorist attack in the yeah, israel has crossed every red

line, professor. what immediate actions must be taken in your opinion to help this madness and the relentless war mongering of israelis? well this has to work on, we have to think about this on different levels. first of all, it was a it was a carpet bombing, it was roughly a thous meters from where i was, number of... residential towers full of women and children were brought down and completely destroyed. it was a, it was a, it was the lebanese 9/11, but the west will continue to support this, they will support israel to the last palestinian to the last uh lebanese citizen, because the israeli regime is a ethno supremacist regime, even though they're not semi.