this religion forces are pressing further into ruffa, where over 1 million palestinians of comprising roughly half of the territories population are currently taken refuge. despite staunch opposition, including from his closest sally the us, israel persists in his plans for a ground offensive. all israel claims to have evacuation plans in place for the palestinians, critics argue there are no. viable options available, in this edition of the spotlight we exploy whether rafa is on the brink of a large scale genocide, or if a fragile truth proposal rejected by israel thus far, could offer a reprieve. first let me introduce our guests for this edition of the spotlight. is a palestinian academic and activist joining us from dublin. also joining us is harley schlanger, spokesman at the international shiller institute. who joins us

from potstam, germany. welcome to you both. i'll first start with you. if i may, we're looking at this uh uh raffa ground invasion, which has been uh compared to a slaughter to take place if it's not prevented. the prime minister is defined. netanhou says we're going to go ahead with it. it has disregarded any of the warnings and it says that uh we have evacuation plans. now the eu foreign policy chief says they're going to evacuate where to. the moon, where are they going to evacuate these people? isn't that a viable point that joseph is making, where can these people go? first, let me congratulate the great iranian revolution its anniversary, and to pray god to shower his peace and blessings upon the great leader khumin. i think israel

has been committing a genocide for the last now four and now we are entering the fifth month and israel is killing and over killing and over killing and murdering even incubator babies children men women destroying everything and launching god supported of course by the west and by america and by eu and by the weakness. the arab and muslim world and the weakness of the world as a whole, they are launching genocidal war, starvation war, propaganda war, economic war, ecological war and another war on honora, now the plan of israel is ethnic cleansing, the ethnic cleansing, if they say now that they are going to evacuate them, probably they are going to take them to the death of angel, the angel, the death angel. to kill them all or

to force them through the palestine egyptian crossing or to kill and kill and you know because nobody cares and they were given a green light by the americans by the europeans and so now if we analyze the situation and israel you see that we have religious zionism and we have kalbal bint on the utter destruction and elimination of the palestinian people and they wouldn't care for anybody because they say we do not care for what gentile say we care for what the the zionists do and this is what they are doing they are going to clear genocide which they started you know four months ago and now see

the genocide as matter of fact is continuing, now four or almost 5% of the total population of gaza are either dead or injured or buried under the rubble, and this is addition of course to thousand and thousands of prisoners and you know the situation is is miserable, catastrophic, it has never happened any. in the world and they are noting the palestinian people, they are killing the humanity, democracy, human rights and they are exposing those slogans in the west human rights and democracy after their through colors and they shows how hypocritical the word is indeed, well let's look at the us role here harley steinger trying to figure it out and when you have um the us president joe bidon saying of that is military action was over the top at the same time you have the us approving this $14 billion aid on the one hand, on the other

hand, you have all this military support that the us has given israel, i mean uh, i hate to just refer to barrel here, uh, he said, well, if you believe that too many people are being killed, maybe you should... provide less arms in order to prevent so many people having been killed. our guest there talks about the us and the european green light. is the us saying something out in public but in private giving the green light to the israeli regime? forget what they're saying. biden is saying that the, mean he apparently called netanyahu nasty name. they leak that to the press, they said there must be efforts to protect the civilians. you want to protect the civilians? stop the money, stop the arms, stop the diplomatic protection, when the us had a chance to do something to get a ceasefire at the un security council, they vetoed it, so anyone who thinks that biden is trying to hold back netanyahu, doesn't understand

anything about who's actually running the policy, biden is just the the puppet behind an operation which includes the international banks, the the defense sector, the military, industrial, financial complex, as we call it, and the us is working hand in hand with the british on this, if you look back at the history, you know that the british were the ones who set this whole divide and conquer situation up to use the palestinians as essentially a punching bag for the zionist movement, so i think the important thing for people to realize is that biden is not necessarily speaking for the american people, the... christian, but they they support netanyahu in the war, but the tide is turning against them, including in the circles around biden, but the problem is the military industrial complex has enormous power in the

united states and they're supporting this idea that israel must be the dominant superpower in the region as an extension of us interests and so that's why when biden says, go easy, we want to protect the civilians, it's meaningless, it's just babble, it's like tony blinken, when he says it, he's heartbroken at looking at these children who are being killed, if you're heartbroken, stop it, the us could stop it with a phone call, well again uh, it's um, it's quite perplexing however when you take a look at uh asad abu shark, the way that the us is conducting itself, um, and and i like to put this in the context. the arms one more time, you have uh the fact that the israeli regime um is conducting bombing campaign that is unprecedented in history in terms of the land mass, the amount of ammunition, which is said equal four times what was dropped on

hiroshima, in terms of the tons and the volume, which has led many to conclude it wants to make gaza unlivable, the arms are provided by the us, so does that mean the... us also wants to make gaza uninhabitable and that is actually the goal of both the us and israel, yes, i think so, because you know this war is not lead by the israelis alone, it was lit by biden by the eu, and from the very first few days of the war when biden jitted off with you, many european leaders to occupy... palestine to appartide israel and you know he gave them a green light to you know finish of the palestinian people and even all those runners for presidents in america they say are the finish of the palestinian people or kill them all or so and

so forth you these are unscrupulous ingenuous um chameleon deceptive chameleon political chameleans and they do not care, as i say for the palestinian, for the life of the palestinians, they care only for their own interest, and this is why for example, look to the contradiction in in what they do, they gave for example ukraine will over 55 billion to defend itself, this is what they say against russia, and they gave israel well over 14 billion to attack and to ethnically cleansed and to wipe out. palestinian people, this is the duplicity, this is their human right, this is their what they call democracy, so on so forth, so i think the west and the americans are doing their best in order to they invest in israel actually,

because they they consider that israel protects their own interest, which is not of course, this is totally wrong, and at the expense of course they are doing that, all that at the expense of the... palestinian people, thinking that this relationship between the two colonial power, zionism and imperialism and or european colonialism, western colonialism. you know will be fruitful, but at the end of the day, i can tell you the palestinians are there, and these are european zionists who came across overseas and they must be returned to europe, to russia, to england, to france to, these are european signs, these are planters, these are settlers, they have no future in palestine, palestine is for the palestinian people, and the palestinian people. are quite determined to defend their own land, to resist the occupiers, they resist before or

all all types of occupiers and colonialist, and now they are they will do their best to resist, and think i don't think that any power on air can vanquish, can defeat, can defeat the the resistance of a whole people, it is the palestinian people who are fighting, who are defenting themselves, who are in their own land and i don't think that even if the whole world conspired against the palestinian people, this is going to cause of course massacers, but at the end of the day i think and i advise the americans and europeans, you should call for suis fire for the withdrawal of israel, and to call back all european citizens to their homelands in europe, this is better for. in order to have better future and good relations with the arab and the muslim world and that part of

the world. okay, so um, i'm gathering from both of you that the u.s. is just um, i don't want to say just lying, but basically is not telling the truth, and it is given the green light. i'm understanding that from both of you. if that is the case, then what is the deal with these so-called peace talks then or trust talks or pause? i'm not too sure what name you'd like to call it, where it was rejected by netanyahu the first time around, and now we're in the second round. where netanyahu still has rejected in the second round, but the talks are ongoing for the next few days at as it has been reported, is that just passing time? some are saying it's the buy time in order for israel to continue this rough ground operation and in his in the vision of israel to try to defeat hamas? well, i think the point here is that if the us was concerned about civilian casualties, it could do something about it. yesterday at the state department briefing the press was challenging the state department briefers

when they said, well we're advising israel to to be used caution to limit civilian casualties, and the reporters were saying, well, if that's what you're doing, it's not working, are you going to do more? and they said, no, we have faith in the israeli defense forces and the government, they're listening to us, this is public relations, they're trying to cover for the fact that the u.s. policy is to support israel in its plan to ethnically cleanse gaza, to drive the palestinians out. look, and it's clear in terms of the attack on rafa, you, you said it at the beginning of the uh discussion, where can people go now? there's other place on in palestine for them to go, they're being driven so that unless egypt accepts them, which the egyptians are not going to do, because they're not going to be a party to ethnic cleansing. 'there are people who are being slaughtered by the idf. now i just want

to make one other point here, because it's not simply a plot for genocide and and so on, it's also attempt to destroy the potential to break out of the so-called unipolar order. what the us is doing is using israel to attack the idea of an anti-colonial movement, and the palestinian people are part of an anti-colonial'. movement uh that we see now in the global south as a whole, particularly south africa raising the question of genocide at the international court of justice, that the the global south is speaking out against imperialism, it needs to do more, we need to have in the imperial countries in in europe, i'm here in germany, the german government's terrible on this, they're committing another genocide by supporting israel, but we we see people in germany. in france and italy and the united states in the streets, including some jewish people who are anti-zionis, so we

have to build movement that demands a ceasefire and demands that the israelis get rid of netanyahu and his hardcore israeli expansion is bengavir and and schmotric who have said their goal is to wipe out the palestinian people, not just hamas, but the palestinians. okay, and so i think people have to... get over the illusion that the united states is trying to be an honest broker here, indeed, and talk about wiping out, that is one of the goals that israel has had when it comes. to hamas, but just this past week he has, you've even had us intelligence officials who have said to members of congress that israel uh had maybe put a dent into hamas's military force, but is not able, not even close to eliminate this group based on what they have even uh come up with, the conclusion they have made, and

therefore that this uh puts out the question, then what is israel after, does that pretty much solidify the? fact that israel is not after defeating hamas, knows that it can't, but wants to displace the palestinians a war crime in itself. you see, israel cannot defeat the palestinian people, because the palestinian people, you know live in their own land and they resist, there is resistance from all the palestinian people everywhere, you see inside and outside palestine, and then the the israelis are wasting their time by trying to commit more massacers, something like that, and may. exploiting the total support or the plan support of the united states of america and europe, so don't forget of course even within the israeli war cabinet there are divisions and and netanyahu, corrupt netanyaho in particular is interested in continuing war, because once the war is ended, he will be taken to jail because of

you know accusations of corruption so on and so forth against him, so addition to those fanatic persons religious dionist rich and gavir and nitiahu himself, because in israel there is no left lift, you have right-wing parties who are pint in the destruction of the palestinian people, and i think it is the responsibility of america to call for sess fire and to work for sess fire, and the americans can do that if they if they want just in in one click, but the... and the europeans are not interested in that because they are interested in their own you know interest and don't forget there is gas worth billions and billions of dollars of of sure of gaza and they are interested in gaza and they are interested in in having israel as their military pays in order to thinking that

israel can ter and can terrorize that part of the world but i think now there is... resistance movement and excess of resistance that can resist and will not accept and i think i advise the europeans and the americans to stop their manipulation of minds and their false of propaganda and to to come to reality and to ask israel to occupation of palestine, take them back to europe and give the palestins their right to self determination, right of return and implement all you and resolutions which give us all our rights as as endorsed by the international community, well slanger, you talk about how there needs to be movement that needs to stop um israel along with it's accomplish the us from doing what it's doing, now if you want to slowly look at people power in terms of uh protests that have come out, yes there has been huge protests that have happened uh somewhat unprecedented if you if you take a

look at the numbers and how many countries were involved, but there are other movements that are doing that, one of them is uh yemen's ancerlo movement in which the yemeni army has done what it can in terms of its focus being the red sea of which is being blasted where it says you want us to stop stop the genocidal war uh you have also hisbullah another resistance part of this resistance i guess movements in this region who is doing what it's doing and of course you have uh countries like iran, syria and um and iraq in its own way uh what do you suggest? well first of all i think the... "the people of yemen are owed a great dead of gratitude from the world because they're showing that you don't have to lie down and get run over by these imperial forces. similarly hezballah. the problem is that the way it's being portrayed in the us is that this is really a war of iran against western interests, because there are people in the us

who want to destroy iran, and this goes back to the the bolton, john bolton, it goes back to..." the bush era, neocons and so on, that are not just concerned with the palestinians, they're trying to reshape the middle east as a part of the imperial power of the united states and europe. now what's interesting in these demonstrations, i've been to a couple them in berlin, is there are a lot of courageous palestinians who are out in the streets, but there are a lot of germans who are joining them and who are saying: that your fight is our fight, the same people are opposing the german support for ukraine against russia, so we're seeing an potential end to this empire, the empire. the dollar, dedollarization, and so the resistance coming from the people of yemen, from the the huti movement, from the hezballah, is fine, but

there needs to be more coming from the rest the arab world, and this would include the saudis and and others, basically saying they're not going to tolerate this, the one hope that i have is that the new motion before the international court of justice declaring israel's attacks as genocide will be heard. this week and it's possible that the international court of justice will conclude that this is genocide and must be stopped in which security council assembly and the vast majority of countries will vote against the united states and this is where the people of these countries have to come in. do we wish to see our government? children and women, non combatants in palestine, is that what the west is is reduced to, and that's why this question of nazi genocide is so important, sure, because

the fact that the israelis supposedly representing the survivors of the nazi holocaust are enacting a policy that mimics what the nazis did to the jews to what they're doing the palestinians, that's something that's a shame and has to be at. center of of the discussion at the un and in every national parliament, well taking a look at the role that the arab countries have played or not uh we're looking a very disturbing fact where you have on the one hand for example what yemen has done targeting us, uk and israely bound uh and linked vessels where it has dented israels economy, but any of arab countries that have actually um increased their imports from israel countries morocco, uh, the uae, egypt, jordan and bahrain, morocco leading the pack at 128% increase, and also countries like

saudi arabia, the uae who have allowed uh and jordan, have allowed on the land route to replace the red sea region, i mean this is a stab in the back of the palestinians while israel is committing the genocide against the palestinians, so there's no hopes that really can be pinned there, can there? "you see the arab countries have been betraying the palestinians ever since 1948, unfortunately, they did the same when the israel is invaded lebanon in 1982, the israelis were committing massacers against the palestinians and the lebaneses and you know the arab regimes were just watching the olympiad and they did nothing and all they did is to evacuate the palestinians, they are..." doing the same now, for example, when the arabs are imposing strict starvation, strict bessege on the gaza

strip with the starvation of women, men, children and everything, they are providing the zionist apartide state with food, with tomatoes, with cucumbers, with whatever, and they also established a land route from united arab emirates to saudi arabia, to jordan, they are you know providing them with food, whereas they prevent food from going to gaza strip and they cannot force just a bottle of water into the gaza strip from the egyptian border, also egypt also you know send you food to the zionist entity, so the and the morocco so... the arabs can do lot, because for example if they stop at least their relations with israel, if they use their financial power, if they use their political relations with the west, so and so

forth, they are not doing, they they actually stab the palestinian people in their, and unfortunately the arab masses are headlisted and couldn't do anything, all right, we're going to unfortunately have to end there, thank you very much, assad palestinian academic and activist from dublin, harley schlanger, thank you, spoke. the international shiller institute who spoke to us from pot stamp, germany. with that we come to an end for this edition of the spotlight from the team, this goodbye.

the headlines this hour, the us israel genocidal war in gaza enters 132nd day, the death doll tops 200 and or i'm sorry 28,60, mostly women and children. israel's prime minister defies all international warnings, pushes for. invasion into gaza's most populated city, rufa, and yemen's asarlavida underscores the pivotal role of the us in israely bombings of gaza, unleashing devastation, equivalent to the power of four atomic bombs.