Transcripts For CSPAN2 Book Discussion On The 51 Day War 20150926

Book has been vindicated as the Huckabee Palin win of the gop. The second book goliath was hell it heavily attacked. Since the analysis of Israeli Society and that book it has been well indicated and especially the warning of droves, arabs descending on polling places. Very reminiscent of figures of the american past. Now we are here to talk about the 51 day war. It really was a war. I have been criticized by supporters of palestinian rights for calling it a 51 day war. Not calling it an assault. Of course it was an assault, of course an assault, of course the violence was disproportionately wielded against one side, of course one of the parties in this conflict was the most sophisticated military in the middle east. The overall situation is not a conflict. In my my view it is a conquest. You will never hear me refer to it as the israel palestine conquests. I want to start by bringing you into the first day of war, the first day of combat. This is part military history which helps explain where both societies are going and how both are interacting with one another, particularly palestinians in the gaza strip. I call it the 51 day war because it gave begin on july 7, when hamas facilities were attacked by israeli airstrikes killing several members of the brigade that led to the First Authorized launch, by hamas and the brigades of rockets into israel. If we can do something about that sound that would be wonderful, less is just in my head. [laughter] just days after the operation protective head which translate into steep cliff in hebrew was authorized, the israeli troops invaded the gaza strip. They invaded the area which was the most densely populated on earth. It is an extension of gaza strip in the that halts at the 35050meter buffer zone that israel maintains between the gaza strip and the civilian population of gaza. It is a a no go zone. Anyone who enters the sound can be shot by for example, the spot and strike system and that is the first photograph in my book. It is a remotecontrolled machine go aimed into the strip operated by an all female unit of israeli cultures that can eliminate anyone entering the buffer zone by the click of a joystick. It is next to israel. It is been heavily reinforced militarily. Israeli troops invaded on july july 12 underestimating the capacity of the brigade and of the four or five other armed actions with fought alongside hamas military wing. To understand this battle you have to understand the history of the gaza strip, and of the brigade. When you think of the brigades and when we hear about them in our Mainstream Media and the west you think about one tactic, the suicide bomber. You think about the tax on soft israeli targets. It was implemented in 1994 after goldstein mowed down and massa curedthere is a memorial to him today. If you want to talk about terrace memorials. So the suicide bombing became a tactic that lasted through the second and tormented Israeli Society. It lasted until 2005. It didnt end with the construction of the separation wall. Was very easy to get through that wall. It ended with israeli disengagement of the gaza strip. Israel disengaged from the gaza strip removing 9000 settlers. The. The occupation of the gaza strip was transformed the way the west bank was transformed to drones and walls, through the naval sea that prevents fishermen from fishing more than 3 miles from sea. Within within the gaza strip to the Tunnel Network, the armed factions were able to import the kind of weapon that an normal Guerrilla Army would possess. For example, ak47s, ak47s, heavy machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. These were manufactured inside the gaza strip. The goal was to confront the military directly. Once that was launched, the suicide the suicide bombing went out of practice. This was achieved under mohammed which was general cmdr. It it was complemented by sophisticated Tunnel Network under the strip which was used for defensive purposes. The entry and exit of the tunnels were primarily inside the gaza strip. There were infiltrations into israel which i will talk about in a second. On july 12, the Israeli Military enters in the armed factions which were looking in tunnels, lured the Israeli Military into the neighborhood. As they began to occupy the neighborhood they fell under attack. An armored personnel carrier which was a vietnam era relic provided by israel as military surplus was a tactic by the brigade who essentially ran up to it and planted a homemade us blokes of on the personnel carrier, killing eight soldiers. One soldier was alive. He eventually would die of his wounds. He was taken and the goal of the brigade was to capture as many soldiers as possible and keep them alive to use them as collateral to get a better ceasefire agreement or to get palestinian prisoners out of jail. Israel had refused to do it that april under the u. S. Peace process. Panic spreads through the high command, the attack begins. Israeli finds itself, the goal on the brigade, some of the most highly trained forces by themselves under attack. They are being attacked through tactics that the brigades had learned from hezbollah which had kicked the is really military out of southern lebanon. They substantially defeated it in 2006 during the ground invasion. One of the tax it proved key. They approach the israel infantry and engaged in less than 15 meters away. This nullified the two strengths of the israeli male with terry. Airpower, you cant provide air support because youll kill your own soldiers and artillery. You cant do that because the fragmentation will kill your own soldiers. Israeli infantry meanwhile, there soldiers who are custom to fighting 12yearold stone throwers then to being challenged by highly motivated young men who are defending their own neighborhood with inferior weapons, but with more motivation. One of the most cowardly maneuvers in history was stage. This really military pulled back as many soldiers as possible, entered more advanced personnel carriers, with better armor protection. The Israeli Military had almost 50 of all it of its artillery pieces at the border prior to the battle. They open fire on the entire neighborhood. They blanket the neighbor as they make afor the border. About 7000 shells, 150 mm 150 millimeters shells fell on the densely populated civilian area leading to a massacre. Over 120120 people were killed and 24 hours. Many of the 18000 homes that israel does or destroyed partially were destroyed within 24 hours. Look at look at the cover of my book, it looks like world war ii. That is what it was after israel reduced it to rebel and about 24 hours. Now we have to understand the doctrine of the brigades and the doctrine of the Israeli Military. The prograde had endeavored to fight the military directly. Listen to the words of mohammed, the general commander who have survived for assassination attempts and would survive another one during the war. His entire Nuclear Family would be killed. We have prioritize killing the military at the checkpoints over attacking civilians. At a time when criminal enemy waves and civilian blood and commits massacres massacres and brings down the roof of homes, the more they attack civilians the more justified it becomes for us to kill their soldiers. That was mohammed in words that were completely ignored in the western media as well the statistic. 73 Israeli Citizens were killed during the 51 day war. Citizens. Of those 73 citizens. Of the 73 citizens, 68 were combat soldiers attacking the gaza strip. Meanwhile, 850 people, according to the Associated Press were killed at home, mostly at night in the gaza strip. 90 of whom were civilians, 25 of over the 2200 People Killed were killed at home. Who is at home in three to four story homes . Entire entire families. They live together in the gaza strip. When a new generation of. As the the father or grandfather will build another bubble. According to the israeli newspaper, 89 families were erased from the civil registry of the strip because they lost most or all members. This is the result of an openly stated military doctrine. It needs to be understood. In 2006 the israeli the Israeli Air Force destroyed the southern beirut neighborhood. It was a stronghold of Political Support of hezbollah. After this neighborhood was destroyed the northern commander of this gave an interview to one of the most influential newspapers in israel. Now he has been promoted since pioneering this doctrine, which explains as follows. We will apply what happened in the quarter of beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which israel has fired on. We would apply disproportionate force on it and cause great damage and destruction. From our standpoint these are not civilian villages, their military bases. This is not a recommendation, this is the plan and that has been approved. Two years later they produced a paper called disproportionate force. It ended with the following. Set to response to disproportionate response aims to inflicting damage to an extent that will demand long and expensive reconstruction processes. These attacks were aimed at civilians and civilian infrastructure. The point is that the military intelligence concluded it could not defeat hezbollah or hamas militarily so it would attack the civilian population to demoralize it and hopefully turn it against the Political Leadership is supported. It is a failed doctrine as we have seen, assault after assault comes in each time the violence could increases. It attacks more more of the civilian sector. Each time the sector unites behind the factors. During the assault on gaza last summer they refer to the salts as mowing the lawn. As a if Palestinian Civilians in the strip are little blades of grass that need to be brought down to size every two or three years. The day after the community was destroyed the military remained in the neighborhood. When i entered these homes after the military was gone i found force with bullets, homes destroyed, price take graffiti on the wall. The same graffiti you find in the west bank had been painted on the walls of some of these homes. The graffiti that settlers paid on mosques and churches and homes. And the infant who is burnt to death in the west bank was now being painted on walls with the sole authorization of the state of israel and its government. I found most depressing and tragically, scars of david on furniture. The symbol of the Faith Community i was raised in being represented by invading soldiers back to palestinians as a religion of hatred and violence. Which is a mock tribunal of Israeli Forces for atrocities committed in the gaza hideout former israeli combat soldiers who served during the invasion of gaza strip and dedicated his life to taking on the army on which he served. When a soldier is killed, and he heard this command when soldiers operating inside the gaza strip were authorized to establish a free fire zone to kill anyone who could be deemed a possible threat to their safety. You are familiar with the case of shumalshumali, we saw the si gaza, and replaced by richard angle. A vendor, 19yearold vendor wading into the neighborhood to look for his parents and brothers, escorted by International Solidarity movement, volunteers outside internationals wearing vests, humanitarian volunteers, street clothes, wanders in to where his home once stood as one of the volunteers was filming and is hit by at sniper, calls out for help and if it again, crumples to the ground. He says one last heard and this again and is executed on camera. After the war, interviewed three soldiers who told him they were told to establish a red line after they took up a civilian home and anyone who crossed the red line could or should be shocked because they were a potential threat to their safety and that is apparently what happened, he crossed the line. You can see this map reproduced in my book. These are war crimes the deserve to be prosecuted. Instead of just as they have been in and given antidepressant tells, told me they learned of their sons that when the youtube clip was email by friends, they knew him by his screams. This was relayed to me by so many people in the Border Regions of the gaza strip. I unfortunately wasnt able to meet members of the family, a city in the northern gaza strip, substantially destroyed by israeli artillery fire. Most of this area was leafleted by the Israeli Military, most people left, the casualties, the family was not allowed to leave, Israeli Soldiers used the base of operations and ordered the family to stay on the first floor for an entire week from july 19th to july 26th. The men were sorted out and taken the jeeps for interrogation and possible torture, the women and elderly were kept on the first floor of the home. To protect Israeli Soldiers operating in the home. On july 26th fed appeared a humanitarian ceasefire was coming into effect the Israeli Military left, if you leave we will shoot you, say in your home and ordered artillery strikes reducing the neighborhood to bring the roof of the house down on the family, killing as many as well members so when i arrived young men were picking through the rubble to find the names of twoyearolds. The body parts of the rest of the family had been found. One of many cases of human shielding that was relayed to me that i documented in this case confirmed by defense of children international, and as the israeli assault went on it became clear that ground troops, where rockets, and packed a psychological damage. On august 1st the ceasefire came into effect, humanitarian ceasefire, and according to secretary of state john kerry this is a very unusual ceasefire. In a ceasefire both sides are supposed to cease firing but according to john kerrys terms of the deal the military was allowed to to operate in the gaza strip. It lead to that next massacre known as black friday in the southernmost city in the gaza strip, in the eastern area, Yasser Arafat international airport, the Israeli Military destroyed, his runway was ravaged by bulldozers and scavengers in 2009 who needed to rebuild their homes and needed concrete. A small he and that, during a halfhour before the ceasefire was to take effect. This small unit was led by the second cousin once removed of the Israeli Defense minister, the golan sons of israel, they occupy al home, and springs out of a tunnel, attacks the soldiers with rocketpropelled grenade and opens fire with Light Weapons killing two and badly wounding golden who later died of his wounds. They add him to take golden all live. They want to and act a Prisoner Exchange and when they take him alive, this is the nightmare, a nightmare scenario not only for the Israeli Military but the Israeli Government. A right wing government his constituents he prisoner swaps, he releasing palestinians because many of these palestinians are charged with security crimes or attacking israelis. And to prevent this, animal, the Israeli Military radio, what is how animal . 1986 the military divides the semi secret military policy called the hannibal directive. The military is authorise not only to kill guerrillas and captured soldiers but kill the soldiers themselves and Israeli Citizens in order to prevent a prisoner swap and it has been enacted many times over the past and it was enacted in the case of golden who was Spirited Away into a tunnel. Massive firepower came down on the east. To kill a soldier who has been captured you have to attack the entire circumference of the area because you dont know where he is, he is moving around, theyre taking him somewhere, you have attack the entire area. Every mode of destruction, naval shelling, a tank shelling, 2,000 pound fragmentation missiles. 1,000 pound u. S. Made dumb bombs, started crashing under my feet just walking down a street the destruction was so comprehensive, when 9 that one of the families this kid can survive this attacked the killers many as 150 people in a very short time, their children were playing with friends mortar shells and the spend flare in the middle of the room they found in their yard. When they felt missiles falling, attempted to escape, filed out single file into the street as they watch their neighbors dropped like flies. When they reached the hospital the only functioning medical facility, the Israeli Military called the hospital with its intention to bomb at forcing all of the wounded, the dead and hospital staff to 4 out. The only medical staff that could treat people was not a hospital at all but a dental clinic. It was there that i met dr. Holmes who told me he was chief doctor in how he performed emergency amputations in the hallways, dental chairs, how one of his nurses came to work in a body bag with her body dissected by a german and her colleagues, the other nurses fainted and had revive them to get them to continue working. The carnage became so bad they had to call local shops to deliver icecream coolers to store the corpses of dead infants and the image which you can easily google right now of five dead infants wrapped in white shrouds in an icecream cooler was the defining image of the 51 day war and the assault on the gaza strip. Those children should have been eating ice cream. By august 14th the military produced an estimate of the munitions fired inside the gaza strip in order to receive funding and an increase in its budget. It fired 3 million bullets, almost two bullets for every resident of the gaza strip, three thousand tons of ammunition, 25,000 tank shells around 20,000 artillery shells which conventional armies fighting conventional armies. There is no conventional army in the gaza strip. The factions fired between 2,000 to 3,000 rockets into israel, those rockets cumulatively pack an explosive charge the same as 20 missiles the Israeli Military fired into the gaza strip. Of orting to the bomb disposal chief for the volunteer brigades who defused hundreds upon hundreds of bombs and munitions in civilian areas of the gaza strip and was himself killed this using one, the israeli map of terry deployed 18,000 tons of explosives in the gaza strip which is the same amount that the u. S. Used in one nuclear bomb dropped on hiroshima. This will the war ended with a series of assassinations and another cowardly act i would describe as state terror in which civilian residential highrises were deliberately brought down in targeted air strikes, home to the engineers, doctors, teachers, educator middleclass people of gaza city with no involvement in the conflict, so many were supporters of hamass political rivals and like hiroshima this area was considered pristine by the Israeli Military. It was brought down and 40 to 50 families were left homeless after being evacuated. Of 14 story residential highrise with no military value was brought to the ground and those families set up tents next door to their Apartment Building as palestinians of done since 1948. Next was the battalion compound home to 50 families days before the war was ending when a ceasefire was inevitable and the italian compound by an italian businessman in the 1960s also home to the educated middle class in central gaza city was destroyed by israeli missile strikes. Shopping mall was destroyed and finally if you talk to anyone from the gaza strip they will tell you the tower is as much a part of their memory as the twin towers are to and the new yorker. Is the largest civilian highrises, the oldest and home to the offices of gazas media where the media works in gaza. A stringer for bloomberg news, his office was there, the western correspondent when they come to work. The tower was brought down and targeted air strikes, a to inhabitants, its president s were evacuated. Abuilding that is about the same as the Thompson Reuters building in times square was targeted by a Foreign Military and brought down. The for an army bringing down the cnn tower in atlanta at. Almost like fanatical terrorists attacking a satirical magazine in paris 6 that none of you were asked to display solidarity for the journalists working there. None of you were compelled to declare or identify with the palestinian journalists who were covered the conflict and were not afforded the same protections i was and is because they are not worthy of victims. I was one of three International Reporters at the Memorial Ceremony for the palestinian journalists killed in the war who were killed by the Israeli Military. My colleagues dan cohen and Jesse Rosenfeld who are also my roommates in gaza city where there and in the little apartment we rented we considered putting a sign on the door and said the offices of bloom and fall, cohen and rosenthal but we decided against that. Is one of my friends, best friends brother in law was killed in the war whose cousin is imac in the rubble. Told me that their family members had been massacred, and teacher who is someone i identify with very much, just as a writer and someone who does similar work to me, a literature professor at Islamic University, i met him in berkeley when he was on a speaking tour for the book he edited called gaza of rights back with she is a compilation of as as and writings by gaza based writers. A really important moment in the u. S. He had grown up in the gaza strip, he had had his application to pursue his ph. D. In england blocked by the Israeli Military. His academic ambitions were blocked by the Israeli Military. In addition to having family members killed, this is blocked by a military in a state that identifies himself as the jewish state, claims to speak on behalf of all the worldss jews and told me freely when he lived in the gaza strip before he was able to leave and come to the u. S. He held what we consider is the antisemitic attitudes. It was his malcolm x moment, when malcolm x is in prison and he meets a member of the nation of islam who asked him to think about all the white people he had ever met in his life and ask himself have you ever have a positive experience with one of them . Have you ever met a white person who didnt seek to harm you or manipulate you and malcolm x then malcolm little concluded no. White people are the problem in my life. And fought of all the jews he had met, living under siege and occupation in the gaza strip who had denied him permits, attacked his neighbors, killed his family and he concluded no. The jews are the problem. Only when he was able to come to the United States and stay with jews who were resisting the occupation resisting zionism. Was able to think his way out of this mentality and understand theres a clear difference between judaism and zionism and there is no jewish consensus on supporting the state of israel, that we, jews, like any other community are extremely diverse and told competing views and we support the iran deal more than any other Demographic Group in the u. S. So clear the we are diverse in the way we think. When returned to the gaza strip he dedicated himself to helping his students understand the same thing, so he taught them but hebrew prophet who that actually could identify with which he taught them the merchant of venice by shakespeare and it was through the merchant of venice that he helped them identify with a very flawed figures living under an apartheid like regime and had to make very difficult choices and compromise himself in many ways. When his students were asked at the end of this class, when he asked to do you identify with more . Othello, the venetian general of arab descent, or shylock, the italian shoe, one after another unanimously day said they identified with shylock. One student produced a revision or pre purpose she wrote has not a palestinian eyes, has not a palestinian hands, organs, dimension, senses, affection, pensions heard with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases . Healed by the same means . Warmth and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a christian or jewish is a, a few purpose do we not bleed, if you tickle us do we not laugh, a few poisonous do we not die and if you wrong us shall we not revenge . Of that paper and all the papers students produced on the merchant of venice and stored away in his desk at the english see, the Islamic University like little treasures and on aug. Second the Israeli Military attacked the Islamic University and sent those papers up in flames leading his students to joke they had produced poems of mass destruction. This isnt a complicated situation. Dont let anyone tell you is complicated. Is not about good and evil, there is good and evil on both sides, is about justice and injustice, and issue of fairness and rights and it is an emergency situation. I will leave you with the captain of a fishing boat, took me out on the see after the ceasefire in order to test a new agreement that would allow his crew to sail six miles at sea to get closer to the coral reefs where most of the fish are to feed their families and of course three miles at sea, turned back by an Israeli Naval ship which threatened to open fire and arrest the crew. When we got back to the dock, the captain told me he lost 2,000 on the trip and had to somehow feed his crew who had to feed their families. Talking about Something Like 90 people who lost money and livelihood on this one boat and what do you want me to tell americans . What do you want me to tell people back in washington . He said it is really simple, dont send us your age, dont send us your charity, just t pressure on israel so they get out of our seas so we can feed our families again and have a livelihood. You have to ask yourself how you can do that if any of these stories resonated with you how that can be done and you have to consider it cant be done, any president ial candidate running in this race or through virtually anyone in congress so ask yourself what can you do . How can that be done . Thanks a lot. [applause] time for questions, please come to the microphone and keep your questions as brief so we can get to many people as possible. Thank you for writing this book and telling us the truth. We couldnt find out, figure out what the truth was when the events you describe it because the media in america and washington d. C. Where imf, a paper that i subscribe for 40 some years to not tell us the truth. And television stations did not tell us the truth, Public Television stations censored revenues even though we give themhave been air. My question is related to a book written by king husseins, a counsel to the king, newspaper person, Washington Post and what they said, the conclusion was the presumption of the middle east that existed in america is a lie, total why. My question to you is why is it a lie in america and . Supposed to be democracy. Since 1967, democracy fading slowly away. The american people, a version of those events, and occurred before and after words. Far from the truth. Lets take one more and i will answer both at the same time to get as many as possible. This is an easier question. There were several you in facilities, we got very mixed up stories about whether if they were attacked or identified and you havent mentioned them. If you could clear that up. I am not member we do what we can. It is an uphill battle. Thanks for your question. I will answer that one first because i was just on a panel, we can postpone until after. We will get to you. On amazon of panel with the spokesman for the United Nations Relief Agency in charge of palestinian refugees, and explained that he provided toward minutes of the un scores in the gaza strip where thousands of palestinians took shelter after their neighborhoods were destroyed to the Israeli Military as many as 30 times and yet the military still attacked. I visited one of these and found dried blood still in a courtyard, a dozen people had been killed in a targeted strike, which led to a rare condemnation of israeli disproportionate violence from the state department. Say they did nothing to stop and in fact after the assault the Obama Administration allowed israel to rihanna after the surplus of weapons the pentagon maintains in israel specifically to get more mortar rounds and artillery shells so what do they do with that . The question in the media is a broad question, so many reasons why and i think we all have the pretty sophisticated understanding that the media is not providing a balanced picture, very in balanced situation in which one side is been occupied for over 50 years but there was an Interesting Development during the assault on gaza and it started with the killing of a boxer boys the 4 young kids who were playing tag in the porch in gaza city right in front of the hotel where all the journalists say so they are playing tag with journalists about as close as i am to the end of this room, the israeli navy opened fire, killed the with naval shells in front of the International Press corps and for the first time a lot of these cellists were able to see this violence up close. I talked to reporters who covered it from the west bank for much of his career and he had gone to the gaza strip and told me how he visited the home of the botched family which was targeted because the father of the family was the head of gazas police so he is considered a military target and found figures on the ground and farms in the trees when he arrived so this is a radicalizing experience for much of the media and theres no way they couldnt support this kind of violence. The media went away, which james foleys be heading by isis they packed up and went to cover isis and gaza has been ignored ever since, the humanitarian crisis has only deepened and there is very little reporting on it so the pressure has to continue. The pressure should continue from jay street but instead jay street is obstructing the only grassroots mechanism for applying this pressure on israel which is the boycott sanctions movement. [applause] time to get out of the way and those, did get out of a way, dont do anything, stop obstructing it, stop joining white ring groups and christians zionists to obstruct the Grassroots Movement for human rights in churches and places where people want to do this. And let jewish voices for peace and students for justice in palestine do this work. That is what we are asking. [applause] you seem to equate zionism with occupation and when people and other people, do you think it is possible for the jewish state in the middle east and not have some of the host of negatives you have outlined obtain . Great question. We will take another one. First of all i want to say i am glad you talkedabout this, what america represents in this picture. That is important and starts in the beginning with 1948 but what i am really interested in is is there a way to get at a deeper analysis as to what is going on in this conflict here so to speak and what are the results as far as real estate in that area, where are the forces behind this type of aggression rather than talk about israel and palestine, who are the people, what is the organizational force that this type of behavior. As briefly as possible in order to have that jewish state in the middle east which is an area where most people are not jewish, most people are arab and muslim and the largest religious demographic is christian, you are talking about an exclusively jewish state, you have to maintain demographic majority of jews which means you have to identify the indigenous palestinian population as a demographic threat meaning of the birth of their children is a greater threat than rockets from hamas or hezbollah because they threaten to swamp you demographically and topple the jewish state. When you hear it people talk about destroying israel, is because they are talking about unravelling the ethnically exclusive foundations of a selfproclaimed jewish state which doesnt have the consent of most of the worlds jews in the first place. To do that you have to practice great violence, ghettoized palestinians, this is an happening since the second volley at. What we see with the gaza strip is an area, to understand the gaza strip, to understand what is happening you have to understand zionism and ethnically exclusive jewish state is maintained, 72 to 80 of the people who live in the gaza strip are refugees from what is now israel and they cant return to what is granted to them and resolution 194. It is no longer a jewish state. Apply that the reality as a liberal in the United States. How many africanamericans is too many, do we have a white stage in the u. S. . A White Christians a . There are some ethnic supremacists in the United States who want that but we demonize them incorrectly. There is no political space for them but even with a liberal circles it is legitimate to refer to palestinians as a demographic fred, to refer to the birth of their children as the threat and that is because zionism is still legitimized. To go back before political zionism was implemented there were alternatives streams of zionism like the kind introduced by ginsberg, cultural zionism, jews and have a place in israel palestine which is palestine, they have a spiritual connected to it, and the political state on the backs of the Indigenous People leading to an ending crisis, bloodshed and tragedy that would consume jewish life everywhere and he was kicked out of a zionist congress, he was on profit, and we need to go back to those to forge a path forward where jews and palestinians can live together and have equal rights to enjoy the same equality we are still fighting for here. My question is to are the people. I am not at your question yet. I am not like the guy who is going to pull back the current. Let me just if we hear a lot about the proisrael lobby, that is one important piece of analysis, got him attacked as an antisemite because of the debate around the iran deal, the proisrael lobby going overboard to stop it but theres another aspect here, to understand one of israels top three industries, taught two industries is weapons exports, a country that is the size of new jersey and one of the top seven weapons exporters in the world, it doesnt have the greatest weapons, the good weapons, but what it has over military is is it gets to test those weapons routinely on indigenous population so when you go to a weapons fair, you go to the israeli retailers, those weapons are field tested or tested in gaza, like the spike 4 missile which was exported after was used to kill dozens of Police Cadets at a Graduation Ceremony in the gaza strip in a mess cop killing. That is the advantage the military has, a really cozy relationship between the defense ministry, and one of israels in the company. And so being in charge of the assault on lebanon in 2006, gaza in 20082009, testing of the weapons that would benefit from and to move into the lobbyists, no surprise barack is one of the 100 wealthiest israeli is. Tom feldman, an israeli journalist who produce one of the best documentaries on Israeli Society ever made, 150,000 families subsist off of the israeli weapons export industry, that is not people, families, like the entire uppermiddleclass so what incentive does israel have to a comprehensive peace deal end this is an occupation, it doesnt have them. The occupation and these cells are incentivized and an economic boon to an elite sector of Israeli Society, jeff cow perhaps a public coming out about this, for electronic intifada and is the subject that needs to be explored and understanding why israel has been so obstinate dealing with palestinians in the arab worlds. Something mentioned in your book is uncovering evidence of a policy of summary execution of hebrew speakers. I wonder if you could talk more about that. Thank you for that question. How are you . The jewish voice for peace, you mentioned the jewish voice for peace and the fact that we are one of the organization that supports divestment sanctions and fought it would be hopeful if you could mention a battle but about why some organizations like ours focusing on the settlement products or products produced for companies to operate in occupied territories and that it is important to really focus on all israeli products, and those products produced in occupied territories and i would also like to mention the we are sponsoring actions, the movement is very international, we have something going on here, we are going to be launching a new campaign against hewlettpackard and you could say a few words about that too. I am not a member of jewish voice for peace, and chandler, the head of the l. A. Chapter, the Fastest Growing Jewish Organization in america. In other words, there are bigger organizations with much more money but they are not gaining membership be isnt geared jews care about social justice, they care about other people and i joining jewish voice for peace in droves including 51 day war joining jay street and finding that it obstructs on campus, i cant speak to what you are doing with hp, that is for you to speak to but i want to talk about your broader question about settlement products. You have to boycott the source of the settlements and it is the Israeli Government which is funding the settlements. The way it works is israel is one of the most unequal societies, one of the highest inequality rates, it is impossible right now, and with the Israeli Government does is take it slower middleclass and isnt cheap settlement units and put them on palestinian land, live in a settlement, you want a cellphone tower near you. Orange, the cellphone company has cellphone towers out there, supplies services to the settlement, read max, the company right here is selling homes in the occupied territories. Why would you just cackle one company that happens to operate in the occupied territories when the Israeli Government provided the funding for the radicals settlement or the person the Israeli Police arrested, and adventure is up product of the state, the same thing with the radical settlement where he was radicalized supported with hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Israeli Government and with a nonprofit in new york city called the special funds for israel, those need to be targeted as well. Beyond that you are not targetting them because you hate israelis or want to stick it to israeli is, i have sat on panels with the israelis, the question is when it comes to cultural and academic boycott when did they are coming as ambassadors for the state of israel and that is when there boycotted. This isnt about personally targeting people because of their nationality and the most important aspect of the movement is the cultural and academic aspect of it because it will help wake of 15 to 20 of Israeli Society the has empathy for palestinians but is under enormous pressure, the Central Coast will shave about of their super when they are denied concerns, denied the sense of normalcy they enjoy and academic sector is intimately intertwined with the Israeli Military, the person who designed vote israeli ethics code for the military which allows all this violence, with a professor of philosophy at Tel Aviv University and according to this code which allows soldiers essentially to shoot anyone they see as the threat in the gaza strip to we have seen horrific violence like a documented, the shooting of men over 50 who spoke hebrew, we spoke many situations and i documented many situations across gaza, several situations in which palestinians described being taken out of their home at night by soldiers, the soldiers would have to does anyone here is the keeper and if anyone and in the affirmative they would be shot. And was taken as a human shield who i read about, his father was shot for this reason, or he was shot. I dont know why. One theory is hebrew speakers and understand orders and are seen as a threat. Another theory is they are encouraging that by shooting hebrew speakers you are encouraging separation which is the official policy and telling them dont try to help us we dont want you. One of the most hideous incidents i documented was the killing of muhammed, emetic who was attempting to retrieve a body of a palestinian man lashed to a tree by Israeli Soldiers when the village was under a closed military order meaning of paramedics could enter and it was a hell hole and this group of paramedics from the Palestinian Red Crescent because the red cross would not go to this village because they coordinate with the Israeli Military, attempted to retrieve the body, the Israeli Military ordered him out of the car, out of his ambulance on july 26th, ordered them to take several steps forward, to hold a letter over his head and shoot him in the just killing him on the spot. This incident was described by two colleagues, i have their testimony on video and i interviewed one of the four authors of the goldstone report, the u. N. Factfinding mission in 20082009 and according to this code of ethics, People Holding mobile phones can be seen as a threat because they might be performing commandandcontrol for local armed factions and so the theory was he had documented cases in the goldstone report, men with mobile phones, soldiers ordered to hold the lighter over his head to justify killing him on the basis of they thought he was holding a mobile phone. The killings were well documented, sadistic killings need to be understood as part of a water policy. A couple more and i will talk to you guys after as much as you want. You talked about the lack of interest in the palestinian cause among american policymakers. We had a president who said we would forbid guarantees until you stop building settlements, george h. W. Bush. Today what is Hillary Clintons attitude on this . Is there a behindthescenes desire to advocate this cause . If not stated publicly . Another great question. You would be the last just hold the mic. You do this. Hold the mic. There you go. Dont speak for all jews, and i agree with you but you speak of the Israeli Government says it speaks i know those who dont support the government by very much weakened and friend, what if anything are they doing or saying and what can be done to strengthen and support them . Excellent questions. On hillary i fired off an email to her, and she wrote please print. That is a joke any members of the freebie can, dont understand humor. After george h. W. Bush called for momentary withholding of loans because of to demand a settlement freeze which was successful, we were heading towards a president ial race and bill clinton was raising money for the president ial race, he got in pretty good with an israeli american billionaire who earned his fortune from the mighty morphin Power Rangers enterprise and the main cause is israel. Doesnt care about any other causes in the u. S. The wishy attempted or considered buying the l. A. Times did change coverage on israel and addison works for the republicans on behalf of the proisrael lobby they openly law the idea of buying the New York Times which to me is not exactly an anti zionist passed in but democrats under bill clinton were consolidated as the base of perot israel supported heavily funded as such and Hillary Clinton represents that wing of the democratic party, supports the iran deal, but we have to understand the implications of the iran deal for palestinians, implications on the ground, barack obama represents this element of the democratic party. Obama claimed gold on my year was one of the great inspirations, this wonderful multicultural list his said palestinians dont exist in milwaukee accented hebrew. We see all sorts of pandering, because Hillary Clinton wants to support the iran deal she issue a personal letter probably written by some a pack oriented functionary, promising to take on the campaign trail land while president , to basically take on the speech of americans, to take on a grass roots humanrights movement, this is her concession. I dont know what she is going to do about it but in scotland i saw she has secretary of state attempting to apply pressure on a Film Festival in that refuse donations from proisrael interests. The iran deal is likely to have terrible implications, i support it completely for other reasons but i see proposals in congress to increase aid from 3 billion to 4. 5 billion a year. It is spent not on helping poor israelis but requiring them to buy weapons from texas and colorado to use against palestinians. Of the security guarantees israel is getting our for weapons to use against the gaza strip, of lebanon. On the defense ministry, very close ally of benjamin netanyahu, declared in a teleconference which is an israeli legal foundation, we will attack lebanon, hurt civilians including children. Those are his words and with weapons supplied by the u. S. And the actual bribery in israel and netanyahu was refusing security toward nation with the u. S. Until as long as this debate is going on, not like it is making any effect in jerusalem. I dont see any potential for lobbying Hillary Clinton on this issue. However i know the jewish voice for peace hired their first lobbyist in washington so they do see some opening their end meeting with Congressional Staff and obviously people in congress are pretty disgusted with benjamin netanyahu. The question is when are they going to be able to come out . I dont see that happening. That is why i emphasize the importance of bidi s because it gives you something to do as citizens, the final letter in the sanction to be applied by at government and i hope it doesnt have to come to that but for now is about but boycotts and divestment and it is because of the impossibility of gaining traction in the two party system because of the role of campaign finance. So thanks a lot and i will talk to you right after. [applause] thank you for coming. Back here. [inaudible conversations] is there a Nonfiction Author or boat you would like to see featured on booktv, send an email to booktv cspan. Org, tweet us at booktv or post on our wall facebook. Com booktv. Your other programs to watch this weekend. On afterwards bill oreilly and buchanan talk about the career of Ronald Reagan following the assassination attempt during his presidency. Political contrarian doug casey sat down with booktv at freedom fest, libertarian conference, talks about his latest book right on the money. 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