Assalamualaikum, peace be upon you and welcome to eye on islam, the show where we look at Current Affairs through an islamic lens. Each week we consider a trending new story and we break it down from an islamic perspective. This week were bringing you very special show in the wake of the declaration of the alaxa flood operation waged by numerous palestinian groups in gazza. The attack was a multiprongued effort that saw attacks launched. Via a combination of vectors including land, sea and air, lets have look through the events of that historical first day of operations. At about 6 30 am local time on saturday, the 7th of october, hamas fired a huge barrage of rockets into southern israel with sirens heard as far away as tel aviv and bershiba. Hamas said it launched 5,00 rockets in its initial round of strikes. While israels military said half that number of rockets were fired. About an hour later, multitudes of palestinian fighters crossed into the occupied interior of palestine or israel, either by breaking through the barriers, separating gaza, or by flying over by motorized hang lighters. A number also infiltrated via sea with the use of motor boats. At a quarter to 10, israel began its air strikes on gaza while clashes took place on the ground with. Palestinian fighters penetrating israeli bases, including the ziem base and the Gaza Division headquarters at reem. The days have passed, the intense fighting has continued with israel launching indiscriminated attacks on densely populated civilian targets in gaza, while palestinian groups have continued to launch rocket attacks on israel, while yoaf galand openly declared israel would be committing war crimes and enforcing a brutal and indiscriminate siege. On gaza. We are imposing a complete siege on gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly. Latest figures suggest that over 900 palestinians have been murdered and a thousand israelis have died. Joining us today to talk about the latest developments in the studio. Our two very special guests. Dr. Hossain shahrastani is the former deputy Prime Minister and former Energy Minister of iraq and is a distinguished Nuclear Scientist and joining us on skype is karem ali, the civil rights advocate with legal background and a deep interest in the affairs and conflicts of the global south. Thank you very much both for joining. Dr. Shahrastani, i of would like to begin with the first question, do you believe that the current global attention on palestine is . Is due in some part to its status as being a holy land, not just of course for islam, but the other abraham religions of. Of course, thats a major part of it. Palestine is um, holy and significant to the muslims, not because of sentiments or uh, but it is in the quran itself, that god says he has made his mercy baraka uh on masjid aqsa and the surrounding which is which is palestine in the verse thats very well known the verse of. Subhana minmassa, glory be to him, ho took his servant by night from masjid haram in makkah to masjid aqsa, so it is very very important place to the muslims, as it is to other um religions, judaism and the christianity, but thats not the only reason. I mean the atrocities that has been committed the Palestinian People in the last 100 years, its not just the last six days, has really raised awareness of the of the world, i mean, yes we are talking from london, we are in in the west now, but the overwhelming majority the world which is not in the. West have a great concerns simply because of their human you know human concern for what is going on in palestine and we can see people demonstrating all over the place and asking for the rights of the palestinians to be recognized. And i want to come to you kariem and uh this operation, its uh just been launched in the past few days, why now and why . Do you think those palestinian groups have gone so heavy and so fast . Thank you isa. Well, must say it is surprising. I dont think many expected it, whether you are in the region or in the west. The multiprong sophisticated nature of it is very telling of current competencies and capabilities. Especially the blindsiding of american and Israeli Intelligence it suggests that only very close circle was informed and also we can understand from that perhaps. That palestinans have acted independently in this instance, um, its important to understand that this is all part and parcel of a reaction to 75 plus years of brutal occupation, illegal under International Law, and from that perspective one begins to see the point of view from which they operated from. Now karim, i want to follow up on that, how is it that the most wellfunded and sophisticated Intelligence Agency . Uh mosad uh, which seems to have a great reputation over the last uh few decades, didnt see three to 5,000, an estimated 3 to 5,00 rockets and all these fighters coming into their territory over the course of those opening few hours, how did they not see that coming . At this point in time, mesa, i believe its quite unclear, we might have to wait for several answers, it may be the fact in the past, several attempts of operations have been thrawted by the intelligence community, and it may very well be, as i suggest earlier, that a closer circle was informed this time, and therefore that information was not able to be leaked and acted upon by mossad or indeed, american intelligence circles. Uh, it may also very well be that there was a knowledge and there was a decision not to act upon it, as suggested by some reports. I believe the egyptians uh made it clear a few days ago that uh the israelis had knowledge of this particular plan but decided not to do anything about it now the the implications of that are that it gives netanyahu and his murderous cronies the fire that they were looking for to put out um in very polite terms. Sure, dr. Sharazdani, now in the wake of this battle thats uh raging and of course weve been seeing the bombardment of gaza over the last few days, what should uh muslim governments be doing to support palestine and of course bearing in mind that uh religious scholars, the maraja have come out in support the cause of the Palestinian People . Its not only the duty of the muslim scholars and the muslim nations, but uh humanity as a whole. Because the crimes that are going against um the palestinians not only during the last six days but um throughout over 60 years now um have left them no choice the palestinians they started appealing to the un implement its resolutions it fell on deaf ears and theyve waited for their arab brothern to help them for 65 years they started they had no choice but to defend themselves by throwing stones till the um Islamic Republic has helped them to manufacture their own arms because nobody could really get them anything. Through the bloccade, so um, this is expected what, what whats going on, and it is really the responsibility of every decent human, not only muslims, to stand by them, stop this aggression, and recognize their rights and allow them to live in their homeland in peace and security, and and and and and allow them really to um, live their normal normal life, this has been deprived and they had no other choice but to defend themselves, any other human would have done the same. How do you uh characterize what some palestinians and others would say or or accused the arab leaders uh as being traiters for normalizing with israel and also maybe even the Palestinian Authority themselves, who mai, many say their role is to uh fulfill the israeli uh governmentts. Security concerns and to clamp down any resistance. I think this last battle has been an awakening call to everybody. Those arab regimes that started normalizing relations with israel should have headed to the calls of their own people who are refusing and rejecting this behavior, this political behavior, but um now uh they have really to open their eyes to the new realities. Um, the palestinians are not going to allow anybody to silence them, to uh shove their legit legitimate rights, under the table, and talk to the israelis as in as if life is normal, life is. Not normal in palestine and the sooner these leaders uh wake up to this new reality, the better chance they have to reconcile with their own people, its not only with the palestinians, its with the with their own people, otherwise they are just betting a losing horse that is not going to take them, israel had shown that it cannot even protect its how how is she going to protect um these regimes who are normalizing their relationship . Thank you um the war in palestine has led to large protests in the british capital with thousands gathering outside the Israeli Embassy in west london to slam the atrocities being perpetrated by the Israeli Military and islam spoke to some of those who attended we are very sad and what the British Government has done calling for u for israel who is an occupying power violating International Law and has put the people of palestinians under sie. We condem this in the strongest terms and we call upon them to resend their onesided support for israel and become an honest broker and try and bring the two sides together towards peace. I want to send my support to the palestinians who are still resisting and still uh occupying um territory in palestine and inspiring the world with whats possible, the uh success of palestiny resistance, um, is uh, its truly um, it makes me emotional even talk about, im so happy to be here and see so many other people who are similarly inspired. Palestine has a right to resist, it doesnt matter what they do, they have a right to resist, and anyone opposes that are either ignorant of International Law or are just bigoted . Its one rule for the oppressor and the occupier and another rule for the oppressed and and the occupied, so thats that as as far as im concerned, so then the question is, well what about people like rishi sunk, khan who are lighting up our government offices with the flag of the occupier . That is a political statement, thats a political move, and anything they say around that is just bluster. Muslims need to realize that if our opponents, the occupiers of the palestinian homes and lands, if theyre going to pull up move, muslims need to pull a political move as well, so what im here today inshallah is to help bring uh, just bring out people to uh help us with our campaign for the general election inshallah next year, we have to send a strong message to uh the whole world that the British Government doesnt speak for us, and we in the uk have to do everything in our power to disrupt this relationship, the um the British Government will willingness to stand by as israel calls for new waves of war crimes uh completely in violation of the geneva cours which both israel and the uk are signatories to is appalling, but right now is it time for celebration. The steadfast resistance has given us so much to be proud of and so much to aspire to in our own lives. We all have a duty to resist as fiercely as palestinians resist. Cuz i believe zinanism is wrong, im an antizionist and i believe the occupation of israel, the occupation of palestine isnt good. Dont cry, youll be free, youll be free one day, inshallah, now kariem, propaganda is a welldocumented tool any war, what do you make of the overwhelming push in the uk to paint Palestinian Civilians and resistance fighters as terrorists . I think uh the the equation of resistance with terrorism as well as the labeling of palest. As human animals for example is disgusting and deplorable, dehumanizing language that is deliberately used to justify acts of terror against the palestinians, whether its war crimes such as cutting off water, energy, Food Supplies to ghaza, as well as encouraging, as well as when when the occupiers take that stance, they encourage their allies to join them in that farreaching goal post, which at that point then gives israel the just and the support they need from the International Community to continue to act with impunity. Now um, do want to ask a question to yourself, doctor, and its in particular uh, you said that theres been a shift, now does this operation signify major shift in regards to history, you know going forward, are we going to look back on this and say this was major turning point in the occupation and also regionally as well, the balance of power, ive heard. Many people talk about, oh this is a change in the balance of power, is it uh, is it really going to see a change in the future . I believe it is, this battle have shown for the first time that the palestinians can stand up, fight for themselves and be victorious. All the previous battles have been either attacks on the palestinians. Without really being able to defend themselves, or it has been fought on behalf of the palestinians by the some arab states that has abandoned them at the end of the day when they regained their own territory, so this is the first time that the palestinians have been able to fight an army, is considered one of the strongest armies in the world after the superpowers and defeated and enter the. The uh occupied territories and uh we know all what has happened since then taking the uh prisoners of war and and some hostages and so on and inflicting such heavy loss on their enemy, so all this shows that there is really a change in the power in palestine itself. Israel can commit atrocities, can attack civilians in gaza, can deprive two and a quarter Million People of water and medicine and food, as they have declared their defense minister have declared, but none of this is going to change the fact that israel has been defeated by the palestinians themselves for the first time. Now we know that theres long been uh you know attempts to both conflate antizionism with antisemitism and at the same time dehumanize the Palestinian People and then as a result of that weve been seeing you know very onesided narratives coming forward in uh the west in the uk and elsewhere uh and in particular in the uk you know just in the past few days weve been seeing people being arrested just for waving palestinian flags on the order of the home secretary now what can uh muslims and others in the uk do in their professional and online capacities to support palestine, what kind of Legal Support can they get . Thank you, so to answer the question of what kind of Legal Support can propalestinian activists or professionals receive, its the moment that you understand or feel that you are being targeted, harassed or bullied, you should reach out for legal help, the Islamic Human Rights Commission is one such organization that provides this sort of advice. And assistance to individuals, i think, perhaps a broader scale, the Muslim Community and other pro palestinian uh communities, activist groups uh can come together for is legal fighting fund uh that will provide a war chest to repel accusations that are slanderous and lebellious and deffamatory with respect to um labels of antisemitism and so on and so forth. I just want to provide my own analysis at the at the moment as to what is going on in the uk regarding propalestinian censorship if i may uh its done in several ways in particular through three prongs from what i understand those are criminalization which weve touched upon, lawfare and policy, now theyre all very related, theyre all very much related, but theyre also interlinked with the with their own separate methodologies and priorities, so in the instance of criminalization for example, we have the idea of scare mongering uh ordinary citizens into the idea that showing support for palestine through a chant or indeed waving a flag is uh going to be a criminal offence that is uh ins governments uh estimation and understanding equal to terrorism or amounting to support for terrorism and this is only meant to be exercised in certain context, but when you have Police Officers who are the arbiters of that discretion of what uh of what is that context, then uh we really have to ask questions of are they really equipped here to deal with this sort of matter or is it, thats more. The attempt to try to silence uh, rather than actually arresting people, right . Its more to intimidate and to have a Chilling Effect on peoples free speech. Thats correct, and all, it can lead to arrest. As we saw yesterday, as you did mention, there was a young man in in manchester who stood near a pro israeli demonstration with a palestinian flag on his back and was removed and detained by police along with three others. In a now deleted tweet by Greater Manchester police they stated that. They were not arrested for flying the palestinian flag, but really it was a public order offense. That tweet as obviously as i mentioned been deleted and its very unclear as to what exactly happened and under which powers those individuals were brought to action. Um, moving forward if i may or if you have another question, eso then please i dont want to stop you. No, no, no, i was actually uh just about to say unfortunately thats all that we have time for today, but wanted to thank you. Kariem ali for your time and also of course dr. Hossain shahistani as well for joining us in the studio today for this really important and i think historical uh time in history as we look at what is happening in palestine again thank you as well to the viewers for watching you can join us again next week for another edition of ion islam asalamualaikum. This is for palestine. In this special edition of palestine declassified, were going to examine the extraordinary armed uprising of the Palestinian People against the zionist entity. Whats happened clearly has been a an operation planned for many, many. Months in gaza, and with other resistance factions across the territories, and its its taken them entirely by surprise, but also more importantly, it has inflicted an extremely significant military, intelligence and psychological defeat on this is going to understand that this is the first time in over 50 years where a senior military leader is in the hands of the resistance movements in the hands of the palestinians, he would be huge bargaining trip in order to get over 500 palestinians who have been languishing in israeli jails for for years. Im calling on fords Chicago Assembly plant to stand up and go on strike. The union has made it clear that one of his key. Demands is to end the two tier system, this state is very expensive, i love ron from, i love my community, i love to be a part of this community, however the going rate of a one. Room is 2,200. I am hoping that everyone will come on board with us and stand against this. The headlines at press tv, more than 2700 palestinians have been killed in israels onslot on the besige gaza strip with some 1,000 unaccounted for. Iran strongly slams as hypocritical the. Silence of the socalled western claimants of human rights on israels atrocities in gaza and a sixyearold palestinian american boy is brutally murdered in the us city of chicago after being stabbed 26 times by his landlord an apparent hate crime
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