withdrawal there was no agreement with any israeli government about the israeli palestinian plan. yet you are right seeing that the right. leader of the right wing. need do is much more support to what gloria but is netanyahu the right man to do show i can see so throughout your career you have expressed solidarity with israel's enemies and been highly critical of the israeli government but many israelis would argue that the freedom of speech you have here is not a freedom that you would have if you were critical of an arab government and sitting in that government how do you respond to those claims this is a stupid comparison because israel is claiming that it is. democracy the control group and the comparison should be done with not only with france with shouldn with britain not with dictatorship in the middle east but if they are willing to compare themselves with dictatorships welcome to the club today being marked the day highlight the plight of the palestinian refugees according to the united nations we're talking today of some four point seven million refugees is it the int

many israelis are critical of israeli policies many israelis are. anti zionist even i have no problem with people challenging and critiquing zionism israel israeli policy i would never call a person who merely did that anti-semitic what pincus name does goes well beyond that. thank. you israel question whatever you feel about the justice or injustice of the establishment of the state of israel whatever you think about that that's a historical question there is now a current political question all of the palestinians are the palestinians and hobbled to their self their term in the nation there are two people living in doubt when one people have the full rights of statehood in any percent of the land and the people who occupied that land for several thousand years consecutively are being there not their right to self-determination in twenty percent of their homeland thank you thank you. i don't entirely agree with the previous speaker. this is the israeli palestinian conflict he says the israeli palestinian front all the out of this whole conflict the

in the past advances on the israeli palestinian crack were made right wing israeli governments were in power why do you think that it's white when governments that have been able to effect change you know in the palestinian issue this is not true still there was no. withdrawal there was no agreement with the israeli government about the israeli palestinian plan yet you are right saying that the right. leader of the right wing. need was much more support to withdraw and. is netanyahu the right man to do so. i can see so throughout your career you have expressed solidarity with israel's enemies and been highly critical of the israeli government but many israelis would argue that the freedom of speech you have here is not a freedom that you would have if you were critical of an arab government and sitting in that government how do you respond to those claims this is a stupid comparison because israel is claiming that. it is. democracy the control group and the comparison should be done with not only with france with shouldn with britain not with dictatorship in the middle east but if t

army vote they say that they had not heard of any injuries they say that the israeli army is nearly conducting routine operations inside gaza but certainly we do understand that the israeli army is still inside gaza where we speak now tensions in the area have been running high for several weeks now every few days one hears about rockets that are fired from gaza into southern israeli communities and every so often there is a flare up in rhetoric from the israeli signed in terms of warning the gazans that any israeli operation in the gaza strip might not be that far off in addition is all is building walls along its borders with its arab neighbors it's essentially barricading itself in according to many critics say it's been building a wall along its southern border with the sinai and with egypt it's also recently began building a wall in the north along the israeli lebanese border and this is in addition to the wall it's building in the palestinian west bank. a lonely house on a hilltop tells the whole story of palestinian plots of land passed down through the generations now under

. >>> a person in charge of the israeli consulate in the region are more less a branch of the israeli embassy in our region are consulate bases have cisco responsible for northern california and the northwestern united states considers his car for four years about to enter tour of duty. >>> the israel center is the department of the seven cisco federation established about 1516 years ago to be a bridge between israel and the bay area's jewish committee. the couple's of the death of been in the jewish community in the bay area for a good amount of time and am wondering what it's all of your observations about of the bay area understands the state of israel and the israeli culture and all the different ways in which israel functions in the world. >>> a divided it into a couple of things first jewish community here they area and the jewish community here is large and vibrant and deeply connected to israel will feel a great kinship israel as an unusual mission state and nation civil what people the jewish committee instinctively understands that and a connection between this is very stron

don't think i should speak on israeli attack on iran i think this is something israeli should not speak oh i'm sorry that some of my colleagues did speak of it or hinted to it i think it's a mistake and i from day one said don't speak of it it's far from thing we'll speak for i think the clear the clarity of the object is very poor the objective simple iran should not be there should stop the enrichment which stops the building of weapons mr that everything go to the and how we do it how we get it we need to be very. balanced and strong and sophisticated when i think we thought only israel it's all those countries we just did a report on how the israeli public is not ready for an attack by event that there aren't any kind of shelters or awareness to get gas masks which begs the question why is the israeli public not being prepared for an attack if there is so much was trick coming from the government if the countries of the world who are interested in stopping iran from becoming nuclear power is persistent as you are in asking me questions about this wolf when no the is there a clandest

primarily because we were sold a bill of goods by the israelis that the israelis needed to essentially destroy nasser, otherwise the american influence in the area would wane. and he thought that wasn't true and, in fact, one of the things in the book is, was also covered recently in a new york times article about mayor 'em met who was an israeli intelligence chief at the time and that johnson had secretly given him the go ahead by writing some cryptic parts of some letters. and that's covered in some detail. um, he also states in the book that king hussein wanted the truth written which meant that he was free to write the good and the bad, and he did. so he talk about how he thought that it was a mistake to place the jordanian army under egyptian command, and he describes how that occurred, and he also discusses as vernon said, the fact that king hussein, he advised king hussein that it was about to happen. and he did so because his job was to keep the king in power. and the ironic thing is that king hussein used that information but didn't tell nasser -- but did tell nasser, and then

>>> it's a person in charge of the israeli consulate in the region or less a branch of the israeli embassy and our region. responsible for northern california and the northwestern united states. >>> you've been here for four years and you're about to enter tour of duty. and what is the israel center. greatcoat the department of the center cisco federation. established about 15 or 16 years ago to be a bridge between israel and the bay area's jewish committee. >>> both of you've been in the jewish committee in the bay area for a good amount of time. i'm wondering what are some of your observations about how the bay area understands the state to visit israel and that is really a culture >>> i found i divided into a couple of things but first the jewish committee here in the bay area is a large and fibrinogen very deeply connected to israel. and we feel great kinship israel is the unusual nation state of the world people. the jewish committee instinctively understands that since the connection between us is very strong and here in the bay area have felt very good in the last four years the pol

components and with israeli concepts. i can't go too deeply into that, but trust me, they have all got israel inside of them. israel and the united states together have developed the most advanced anti-ballistic systems in the world. and they are multi level. they can take out short range, middle range, intercontinental missiles, joint programs. one of those systems, the iron dome, just this year became the first anti-ballistic system in history to prove effective in combat. sometimes you try them out, they're fine. have you ever tried to use them in war, it's a different situation. we've used them several times this year to take down dozens of rockets fired by hamas and islamic jihad in gaza. it works. one just scored a 100% hit rate. this is literally rocket science. it's getting two rockets going the speed of bullets to hit one another in middle air. and it can anticipate where that next rocket is going to fall. if it falls in an open field, we leave it alone. only if it hits a city do we shoot an interceptor at it. we

will control here too the israelis are building another tunnel. this one is so that omar's neighbors can reach a small family cemetery they'll be electrified fence and the local joke is that not only are the israelis separating palestinians from their land they're separating the living from the dead but with each tilt of the soil most families connection to the land is threatened to be even more polluted for emergency. what they can do just id term future in. this and this for you and this for my father. my grandfather. don't live in the future it's. like a future times against him and with every new brick it goes up the family's isolation is cemented policy r.t. the larger village thousand mexicans are packing up for home after finding less opportunity in the united states and with hope discovering a fragile economy a weak job market when illegal immigrants are heading back south of the border reversing a decades old trend within a culture that reports. three inhospitable terrain to trigger happy border guards crossing illegally from mexico into

for the israelis, if you want to put the israelis in a position where diplomacy is not a device that's going to be used to put them in a position where they lose their capacity to exercise military option, you have to stop the clock. so something that would really grab my attention, that would convince me that we are now in a kind of really new situation is one that stops the clock. and stopping the clock goes beyond the 20%. it really does mean you should down. it really does mean significant shippout. not only the 20%, but also of the 3.5%, with the kind of transparency measures that puts you in a position where you begin to have a level of confidence that you really are building kind of fire walls, and this is a transformative situation. and they are now prepared to accept what in a sense they claim. if what they want is civil nuclear power, that's something that they -- that you have several administrations be prepared to offer them. if that's what they want, there's a way for them to get that. and that, i think, is the key to having diplomacy work. >> you know, the history here is

classes break house between israeli police and arab protesters during rallies by palestinians marking now a day that saw the displacement of thousands of people when the state of israel was established in one nine hundred forty eight. hour a backlash activists and human rights groups vent their anger at the u.s. for resuming arms sales to the bahraini regime despite its continued crackdown on dissent. and some under house arrest during the sun brings us the latest edition of his talk show this time raising the subject of torture and the legal rendition. welcome to r.t. live from moscow at eight pm my name's kevin now in france where lands officially become france's new president he was sworn in for a five year term with the palace in a modest ceremony in central paris but just hours after his inauguration alarms know heading to berlin you'll have a welcome dinner with german chancellor angela merkel and hold a crucial meeting to discuss the eurozone crisis so she is later allowed is an avid campaigner for measures that stimulate growth once a promise so germany's focus on austerity th

so i think the israeli strategy frankly is working. if the israelis had a strike today, i think they would be hard pressed to justify it. zone of immunity or no zone of immunity, they would be hard pressed to justify it. so let it play out for the next several months. [ applause ] >> anyone else want to applaud? i always think it's unseemly -- [ applause ] i always think it's unseemly when countries play out their domestic politics on foreign soil. which is exactly what the israelis are doing. we've dint done it too, plenty of times. and we shouldn't look at this as a great philosophical debate. this is a great debate about who is in power in israel. and who did what to whom. i think your description is absolutely spot on and i'm very glad that you did it. i think the history is less well written. but of course this is also what happened in '07 when they said don't go there, you rotten leader, was in power and was told by the president of the united states don't do this. don't attack. and he chose to go forward despite objections from

in the end, it is israeli government. the obama administration has taken no negative actions against the israeli government, unlike the bush administration. what we have though is i think a much more effective way of defending them and the results are very clear. >> that's good. i want to point out for the record. it is wonderful to have barney frank defending yitzhak shamir, benjamin netanyahu and rick santorum. i applaud that. >> i was amraapplauding -- >> both of us prefer benjamin netanyahu to rick santorum. >> bill, let me begin the formal questioning with you. each election we hear that this -- this is the year that jews are going to shift their traditional democratic loyalty to the republican party. in, in ajcs just released survey of american jewish opinion, if the election was held today the jewish vote would split. about 61% for president obama. 28% for governor romney. remainder undecided. what do you make of the numbers? is, 2012, finally the year of the republicans? >> no. i think if you do the 61-28, allocat

will control here too the israelis are building another tunnel. this one is so that omar's neighbors can reach a small family cemetery they'll be electrified fence and the local joke is that not only are the israelis separating palestinians from their land they're separating the living from the dead but with each toll to the soil almost families connection to the land is threatened to be even more polluted for much of. what they can do just idle term future. this is. this for you and this for my father. my grandfather. don't live in the future it's. black a future times against him and with every new brick it goes up the families isolation is cemented policy r.t. the larger village. well the main news developments from around the world now this hour a group of suicide bombers attacked a compound in western afghanistan killing at least seven people and wounding twelve others one of the militants blew himself up at the gate of the governor's complex in the province as three others pushed their way inside a two hour gun battle with police. killing at

will control here too the israelis are building another tunnel. this one is so that omar's neighbors can reach a small family cemetery they'll be electrified fence and the local joke is that not only are the israelis separating palestinians from their lend they're separating the living from the dead but with each tilt of the soil most families connection to the land is threatened to be even more suited for much of. what they can do just id term future in. this and this for you and this money for. the future it's. like if you are two times against him and with every new brick it goes up the family's isolation is cemented policy r.t. will lodge a village the syrian government has released the names of alleged foreign terrorist it says it's captured on its soil twenty said to be arabs who have confessed to working for al qaeda analyst also includes french and british citizens let's get some reaction on this from u.k. based anti-war rebels don't broadcaster neil clark so how credible do you think this latest statement from damascus is and do you think

. >> now three israeli prisons open their doors to their cameras and we reveal unexpected sights inside♪ >>> located on the mediterranean coast, tel aviv is the israeli version of the city that never sleeps. it's the nation's financial capital and draws millions of tourists each year. 30 miles to northeast, however, is a considerably less popular landmark. rimoni, israel's largest maximum security prison. >> translator: the prison holds about 1,200 prisoners. here we have criminals convicted of murder, robbery, rape and many serious things. that makes it a difficult place to manage. >> while state terrorists are segregated in other facilities, rimonin only houses those convicted of violate crimes. as a result, security systems here are constantly evolving. >> translator: today we have the highest level of technology in israel, and the aim is to have the highest level in the whole world, and we are always improving and always progressing. >> rimonin's security system includes electrified fences, 700 surveillance cameras, a central system to control every door and gate in the prison, and

class of great house between israeli police and arab protesters during rallies by kind of sting and marking now a day that saw the displacement of thousands of people when the state of israel was established in one nine hundred forty eight. also bahrain backlash activists and human rights groups vent their anger of the u.s. for resuming arms sales to the bahraini regime despite its continued crackdown on dissent. and sit under house arrest today this brings us the latest addition of his talk show this time raising the subject of torture and illegal rendition. hello and welcome to r.t. live from moscow to levon pm with me kevin now in this hour sworn in as president then struck by lightning in the sky as bit of a meant to stay for the new leader of france from land he's now arrived for a key meeting in berlin at the second attempt after the original flight suffered a dramatic mid-air scare of a report from the german capital. well french president francois hollande has arrived here in for talks with angle merkel and it's been a very busy day for the new french president he was soon in power

clashes have broken out between protesters and israeli security forces as palestinians park nakba or catastrophe day they're remembering hundreds of thousands displaced after the creation of the state of israel in one nine hundred forty eight as good leaders from archy's policy or. last year it's not but they saw clashes that left a dozen dead what do you think we can expect today. one of reading so far we have seen a number of clashes breaking out in the west bank between palestinian protesters and israeli security forces there taking place at checkpoints the most volatile being the checkpoint of columbia between jerusalem and ramallah and the protesters have been throwing stones at israeli security forces who have been responding with water cannons and tear gas we're also hearing reports of molotov cocktails being thrown and tires being burned meanwhile in gaza thousands of protesters have participated in a rally just not far from the united nations building there and that is to commemorate the day in ramallah city itself protesters marched from the tomb of the format of the p.l.o.

this is not a man who instinctively and emotionally understands or bonds with israe israelis. he's much less sentimental, much less forgiving. netanyahu would describe him as bluntless. if he could, if he could, he would bring to bear an enormous amount of pressure. an effort to facilitate a solution. he may or may not have the chance. and finally, i'm writing a book have another great president. and i'll close with a phrase of the last president who had an emotional impact on me, jack kennedy, who described -- i was 12 when he was assassinated, described himself as an idealist without illusion. that's where america should be, never giving up on the possibility that the world can be made a better place. every religion has a concept for it. improving imperfect world. but as we go through this process of improvement, of reform, we better go through it with our eyes open because the cost and consequences of not having our eyes open have now back prohibitive. thank you very much. [ applause ]

he said the israeli bulldozers will have to bury him alive. some have already lost their livelihood. this was a palestinian restaurant near bethlehem. a few days after israeli forces flattened this, the owner showed me what was left. >> 12 years. >> finished. the israeli government says he did not have a permit to build here. >> people build restaurants without proper authorization and. they get a warning and democracy takes its time. >> israel said it also demolishes some illegal buildings put up by jews. while it is impossible for them to build on land like this, jewish settlements like this one continued to grow. just about every other country, apart from israel, says that is illegal under international law. the israeli settlement construction and demolition of palestinian homes is happening on land where the palestinian and israeli leaders should have said they want to build a future state of palestine. a state that many believe is becoming increasingly unlikely. >> they normally hang around urban parks for they perform heart dropping tric

of dialogue and coordination between the israeli and palestinian. is eroding. because the legitimacy of negotiations is not a road and if there are governments which are ready to pay the price they will find very big support in their people so there is no. in the numbers but there is an erosion in the in the belief that something like this can happen in this is something that can easily be fixed but the hope lives on in these families who believe that through their pain and through their example change can come policy r t tel aviv. when a website called me can find more news from the middle east including an israeli spy butterfly the country's about of the smallest surveillance drone in the world designed to make itself at home in anyone's house and the pentagon brands china hackers breeding ground calling it the significant threat to america's cyber security find out what this could lead to it will come. here the reindeer is everything for the herders. and when it suffers. people do their best to help. but the distances are. and the roads are. alive here in mo

in israel but does it really matter and what is the relationship connecting american jews and the israeli lobby. to cross-talk relations between american jews in israel i'm joined by norman finkelstein in new york he is a political analyst and author of the new book knowing too much why the american jewish love affair with israel is coming to an end in washington we have daniel pollack he is the co-director of government relations for design this organization of america and in amman we have rabbani he is a an independent writer an analyst specializing in policy in affairs and the arab israeli conflict all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want norman finkelstein you have a new book knowing too much why are american jews. falling out of love with the state of israel as you claim in your book. i think there are basically two reasons the long term factor is that american jews are basically liberal since nine hundred since the 1930's for example american jews have consistently voted democratic in the us presidential elections and for example in t

classes break house between israeli police and arab protesters during rallies by palestinians marking not the day that saw the displacement of thousands of people when the state of israel was established in one nine hundred forty eight. hour a backlash activists and human rights groups spent their anger at the us presuming arm sales to the bahraini regime despite its continued crackdown on dissent. and still under house arrest during this santa brings us the latest edition of his talk show this time raising the subject of torture and illegal rendition. welcome to our team live from moscow at nine pm my name is kevin irwin with our top stories for you tonight and sworn in as president first offered and then struck by lightning in the sky it's been a momentous day for a new french leader francoise alarmed he is now on his way to a key meeting in berlin second time round after his initial plane was forced to turn back after being hit by lightning earlier land was sworn in for a five year term in a ceremony at the only safe palace for months in germany even after you have a welcome dinner

protesters have been throwing stones at israeli security forces to have been desponding with cannons and tear gas forty hearing reports of molotov cocktails being thrown and tires being burned meanwhile in gaza thousands of protesters have participated in a rally just not fall from the united nations building there and that is to commemorate the day in the city itself protesters marched on the scene of the format of the p.l.o. yes arafat's to the palestinian authority government building but on the whole things ought really to be quiet certainly compared to last year when twelve people were killed when they try to storm the israeli lebanese and syrian borders but the police remain on a state of high alert because certainly the day is young and there is a fear that these commemorations could descend into violence as the day progresses let's pause we came to the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu sent to the palestinian president mahmoud abbas and in that recall israel's commitment to peace and restarting negotiations that was in response to later that a bus said netanyahu last

seven palestinians reportedly injured in israeli strike in northern gaza the army claims no knowledge of it included. three pm in moscow i match reza good to have you with us here on r.t. our top story washington is helping coordinate arms to the syrian opposition through gulf arab states qatar and saudi arabia reports have surfaced in the washington post from unnamed american officials has recently been an influx of arms who are abroad to fight the syrian regime anti-war activists brian becker with the answer coalition says the u.s. and nato still want to side out. sony arabia qatar they have their own interests in terms of reorganizing the middle east principally of weakening syria weakening iran changing the relationship of forces in lebanon but behind qatar and saudi arabia and even turkey which has its own regional ambitions is the united states is the nato countries the former colonizers of syria and the region who are committed to overthrowing the assad government and who i believe have crossed the rubicon now in terms of preparing for the all out intervention including militar

the israelis are more nervous. mubarak was the linchpin of their regional strategy for 30 years that has given israel peace. i keep focusing on economics. i think it's key. if you think how much israel spent on military spending, servicing of the debt, that was about 40% of its gnp. today it's 9%. if you look at the back of the envelope that's a $60 billion , b, bill, savings in one year. think of all the jewish philanthropy organizations you know. maybe they give a billion and a half, they don't give $60 billion, that's for sure. no matter how cold of a peace it is, it has had a dramatic impact on israel. that's why israel feels that it's a march into the unknown. it's whitewater rafting so to speak with a new egyptian government that is going to the polls to vote for president this month. steve was charitable when he said it would be a bumpy right. whitewater rafting might be more like it. so i would say in summary that that there's differing views on where we are and what this means going forward. israel fears t