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"We Are TERRIFIED!" Israeli Settlers Rampage + Hamas Arms Deal | With Norman Finkelstein

59m 52s

"We Are TERRIFIED!" Israeli Settlers Rampage + Hamas Arms Deal | With Norman Finkelstein

The transcript presents a critical examination of Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, accusing both settlers and the Israeli state of ethnic cleansing and systematic violence. It highlights statements by figures like Daniela Weiss and Benny Morris that devalue Palestinian lives, framing them as ideologically rooted in Zionist expansionism. Palestinian voices, including a Christian pastor and activists, describe daily terror, including settler attacks, arson, and military protection of settlers, while emphasizing the displacement of Palestinians and the criminal nature of land seizures. The discussion includes a direct confrontation over whether Israeli actions constitute genocide, with critics arguing that Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank—despite using force—target civilians and violate international law. The debate also touches on Hamas's actions on October 7th, with some asserting that such violence was a crime, though others reject claims of sexualized warfare. Ultimately, the narrative positions Israel’s occupation and settlement expansion as morally and legally indefensible, challenging the legitimacy of both settler actions and the state’s refusal to acknowledge or end the occupation. An international legal precedent—ICJ rulings—supports the notion that Israel’s presence in Gaza and the West Bank is unlawful, and that any resolution must prioritize Palestinian rights and dignity.

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English
Are you and your supporters ethnically cleansing the West Bank? We want the Jewish state to be for Jews. From Daniello wise, at one end of the spectrum, to Danny Morris, at the other end of the spectrum. At the expulsion of the population in West Bank and in Gaza, it's deeply rooted in Zionist ideology. It sounds like a self-hating Jew, Norman Fingelstein. Danny Morris described the Palestinians as, quote, "a sick, psychotic people." The Palestinians certainly behaved in a psychotic way during the second day in Tifada. Unfortunately, it has become a nation of child killers. Israeli officials were quick to revel in Spain's embarrassed when it's tens of thousands of migrants pulled across the Moroccan border into his territory last week. Ambassador Danny Danon said, maybe before it continues, "lecturing this is time it explains to the world why it still maintains colonial enclaves in Africa." Or many people felt this was a pop-kettle black moment, Israel and the US both loudly back, the Moroccan claim to Western Sahara, where many indigenous groups say the Occupy Moroccans are, well, colonists. And the Israeli government has done little or nothing to stop the violent expansion of settlements in the West Bank, where a major crisis has been quietly unfolding for months. Security Minister Ben Gavir has encouraged the settlers. In fact, he says he wants Israelis to colonize Gaza next. The BBC recently visited the settlements and got a glimpse of why violence is taking over. Sounds like you're saying one Jewish life is worth hundreds or thousands of Palestinian lives. Not million. One Jewish life. It's 10 million, OK? That just sounds racist. Yes, I know. Well, Daniela Weiss, who's the founder of "Natula", is often called the "Godmother of Israeli settlers", and she joins me now. I welcome back to uncensored Daniela Weiss. We just saw a clip from the BBC report in the West Bank interviewing Yehuda Shimon, a lawyer with an organization that represents Israelis arrested for violence against Palestinians. Now, when a top Israeli lawyer says on camera to the BBC that one Jewish life is worth 10 million Palestinian lives and says he knows its racist to say that, it feels pretty outrageous to the rest of us watching. Were you outraged by what he said or did you agree with him? It's an expression that I did not use, so you should ask him about it. And I am responsible for my expressions. So this is not the kind of sentence that I would use. Would you say that a Jewish life is worth exactly the same as a Palestinian life? That one life is worth the same as another? I'm sorry, I didn't get the full sentence or the full question. Could you please ask it again? Would you say, therefore, that one Jewish life is worth the same as one Palestinian life? It's not, I mean, I just said it, but I'm ready to say it again. I know that according to my religion, human beings were created. The human being, the first Adam was created by God and all human beings were the result of this creation. So why do you bring me into this channel of comparing one to the other? I respect people of other nations, people of other religions. The only situation where things clash is when other religions, people of other religions or other nations clash with us, with Israel or with Jews. I don't see us attacking others or clashing with others unless they start. And I think it's a well-known thing. So I don't know what corner you are in now. I really don't understand. You know, I'm sorry, just to be clear. The Jewish religion. Just to be right, but just to be clear. Somebody else that follows your religion, Yehuda Shimon, who's a lawyer, with a big organization that represents Israelis arrested for violence because Palestinians, he is the one that said a Jewish life is worth 10 million Palestinian lives. I think it's interesting and notable that you don't agree with him, but I'm just asking you in the context of what he said. I didn't know about this. I didn't know that person. And if you wanted to dwell on this, it's your decision. I have so many things to talk about. No, no, no, I'm going to come to other issues. I guarantee you. This is not why we got you on the program, but it is a story that's happened in the last few days. It has caused a lot of outrage. I think it's notable that you don't agree with what he said, but I just want to be quite clear. I don't. Because you seem to want to give. But just to be. No, am I right in concluding that you believe a Jewish life is worth the same as a Palestinian life, and a Palestinian life is worth the same as a Jewish life. Do you agree with that statement? I tried to listen to the previous item of your program. It was about men and women. So what you're asking now about Jews and other people reminds me like comparing between a man and a woman. Each individual has his characteristics, his nature, and what is the point of this comparison? I am a woman. I don't understand why you can't just give me a strong answer. You're proud of what you are. A Jew is proud to be a Jew. And a Muslim is proud to be a Muslim. So what's this comparison? I'm sorry. And especially. Well, let me help you. Let me help you. Let me help you understand. Let me help you understand, because you're clearly struggling with this. I think my life is worth the same as your life, and your life is worth the same as mine. I'm a Catholic and Irish Catholic. You are an Israeli Jew, all right? I think we're both worth exactly the same. I've asked you twice, and I only ask you one more time, but would you agree that a Jewish life is worth the same as a Palestinian life? Yes or no? I know that you like, yes or no question, answers. Yeah. Sorry. Yes or no question? It's a very simple question. But I think that it is like a question that refers to differences between sexes. What is more woman or man? Say, yes or no? It's not that, is it? It's not that. One clear answer. I don't want to give a positive answer to your answer. It's not the same. It's not the same, because you're a woman, and I'm a man, but I think we're both worth exactly the same, right? A man is worth the same as a woman. A woman is worth the same as a man. So I'm just struggling to understand why you can't just say a Jewish life is worth the same as a Palestinian life. Would you agree with that? I think that all human beings, all human beings. No, I know, you've said that several times. But the point is, why. But the point is why you came to this point, why you're asking me this question. It's on the basis of some clear answer. You know why? I just told you why. So why? Daniela, why is. I told you why, because a senior Israeli lawyer says that a Jewish life is worth 10 million Palestinians. I told you why. I do not. I don't understand why you can't. I do not. You keep talking about gender and everything else. I'm like, look, it's a very simple question. Do you think a Jewish life is worth the same as a Palestinian life? Yes or no? You either deal or you don't. I think that all human beings were created by God. This. I know you do. You've said that many times. Many times, a Jewish life shows that all human beings are the same. So is a Jewish life worth the same as a Palestinian life? Yes or no? No, I will. You will ask the same question, and I will give the same answer. Why don't you want to say yes or no? In Hebrew we say, "The nature of our flesh and blood, the nature of this creation, is that it is God's creation. Why do you want me to extend on this? Because of clashes." I just want you to ask for a simple question, but look, I try three. With respect, I've asked you three times, a very simple question. You choose not to answer. That's your prerogative. You don't have to, but viewers can make their own minds up. Let's turn to what's happening on the West Bank. Amnesty International has accused Israel of orchestrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in the Occupy West Bank. It's in a report published in June. It claimed the force displacement was a result of deliberate state policy rather than actions of individual settlers. Are you and your supporters ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the West Bank? The thing that I do and people from my movement, Najala, and the activists and the settlers all over, what we do, we establish communities, many communities on government property, which is on millions of do-nams. And I can say with much satisfaction that in us two years more than a hundred new communities were established over Judea and Samaria. You call it Occupy the West Bank. It's the birthplace of my nation, of our nation. I am so proud to sit here and to say in your program that I am so happy that after the terrible massacre of the 7th of October and going so down in our history, we overcame and we really managed to create a situation in Judea and Samaria that the Oslo courts are over and Palestinian state is over. And this is really what pre-occupies my mind and not who is better and who is a Jew and who is not a Jew. What busy is my mind is the Jewish nation fulfills its vision in the heart of our homeland. This is where I am. And you know me already, it's not the first time that we like exchange thoughts and questions and answers. This is my one pre-occupation to fulfill the word of God that is said to Abraham, come, go on the high hill, see the land, walk through the land, and build the land. And this is what I do. All the other things are. No, I understand. The problem is you're seizing and taking land which, yeah, the trouble is you're seizing and taking properties belong to Palestinians. The United Nations data indicates that more than 100 West Bank. Let me finish my point. The UN data indicates that more than 100 West Bank villages were fully or partially emptied between January 2023 and April 2026. Last week, the UN's human rights office warned that violence in the West Bank is worsening. As of July, 18 Palestinians have died this year in attacks involving settlers. There were 190 attacks per month in the first four months of this year. If that trend continues, then it will lead to more than 2000 attacks by the end of the year. The number of settler attacks has increased each year since 2023, following October 7th, rising to 1835 last year. So it's very clear what's been going on. And that is that Israeli settlers have been rampaging around the West Bank, taking property that is occupied by Palestinians. And that is a crime, as you know, it is illegal and it is condemned by most of the rest of the world. So my question again to you is, is your intention to effectively cleanse Palestinians from the West Bank? If, as you say, this is your homeland, then presumably you would like to get rid of every Palestinian from the West Bank. You want the more gone, yes? I see we clash again in the way you express things and the way I express this, of course, from my point of view and from the point of view that you present a specific instant. What we do in the land of Israel and, of course, on the mountain ridge is returning from the diaspora after a long years of dispersion. And we are building the land that was wasteland at the end of the Ottoman Empire. This is what we do. And the things that you bring here, one number and another number, do not represent the positive, zionistic success of redeeming the land that was desolate when we were not here. This is the real history of modern Zionism. We came to a land that was deserted and we made it paradise. And the best proof for it is that Arabs from all over the Middle East want very much to come and to be part of this party. And this clashes sometimes with our vision and our plan to establish a state for the Jews and not for Arabs from all over the Middle East. Right, but you're pride in what you're doing. Yes, I disagree with you pride in what you're doing because actually what Israeli settlers are doing in the West. You disagree with what? I'm about to tell you that Israeli settlers are breaking the law by taking and rampaging through Palestinian homes and they are removing Palestinians from their homes. They are in some cases killing Palestinians, setting fire to their homes and they are seizing property and land that is not theirs. That is a crime. So you are perpetrating many, many crimes on the West Bank, which is an obscenity. We just speak so much on the program. Listen to me. We speak so much. I invite you to be with me. I'm a very good guide for Judean Samaria. You can see with your own eyes how the size of property that is still to establish settlements on plenty of government property. We do not have to cause any harm to any individual in order to build-- But you are causing harm. Building the Jewish-- You are causing harm. Come along. You will see-- But Daniela Wise. Daniela Wise. But Daniela Wise, you are causing enormous harm. 18 Palestinians have been killed. There are 190 attacks per month in the first four months of this year. You are attacking Palestinians almost every single day. So you are causing enormous harm to Palestinians in the West Bank and many people believe that your real plan is to get rid of all the Palestinians from the West Bank and ultimately-- No, it's a very interesting point. Can you tell me-- Can you tell me-- Can you tell me-- Would you like-- Would you like Palestinians to all be removed from the West Bank? No, this is not one of the-- this is not the attitude of my religion. As a Jew, I go by the Bible and I go by Joshua's the biggest settler ever by his laws. The people who live in Israel and accept Israeli sovereignty can live those who fight us, we fight. Those who do not accept the fact that in the land of Israel, the Jews are the only government, the only sovereign, they cannot stay. So either you accept our sovereignty, if you fight us, we fight. And if you do not accept it, you just your item before my interview with me was about Morocco coming to Spain, if I'm not mistaken, but it was a bit-- not clear, but this issue is going on. So every country wants every nation, wants her country to be country for the people of this nation. And I don't understand how you came to such a confusion about it. It is such an obvious, such a clear, such universal acceptance. So, okay. No, no, the problem is, the problem is, the problem is it's obvious to you, it's not obvious to the rest of the world who perceive what you're doing in the West Bank to be crimes. But we're going to leave it there, Daniela Weiss. Thank you for coming back on census. What do you want to me now is a Palestinian Christian pastor, Munta Isaac. Munta Isaac, welcome to Uncensored. Thank you for having me, of course. But what is your reaction to that interview with Daniela Weiss? Because from where I was sitting here listening to that, it seems to me pretty clear what her intentions are on the West Bank, but the problem with that is [BLANK_AUDIO] the Israeli settlers are rampaging around, grabbing any Palestinian homes that they can get their hands on, which is a crime. Yeah, don't listen to me. Listen to the settler leaders themselves, listen to being veiled and smoothing others. They've called it. We need to encourage Palestinians to leave. We need to encourage Palestinians to migrate. That has been the Zionist plan since the very beginning, and it has certainly accelerated since this government took over. But the building of settlements is not a new endeavor. What we're witnessing today is an unprecedented violence that takes several forms. Of course, you know, the death of Palestinians is what's being reported, but beyond that, it's our sense, it's burning homes, burning trees, uprooting trees, burning mosques, it's polluting water. They're doing everything they can to encourage Palestinians to leave these villages. And as you said, they managed to succeed to empty many communities. That's obviously the plan that they state. And unfortunately, because of the silence and impunity of Israel enjoys in the international community, the plan continues. And just to be clear, what they're doing is criminal. What they're doing is horrific. We're afraid for our lives. Every time I drive on outside of the Palestinian controlled areas, the cities, and of course, even within the Palestinian cities, I'm in Ramallah now and we see the Israeli military all the time. But whenever I drive with roads that we know settlers around, I'm afraid for my life, we live in constant fear from what they're doing. And Palestinians are defenders. We can't defend ourselves. And when Palestinians try to defend themselves, the settlers enjoy the protection of the Israeli military. And that's why I think we need to continue to emphasize that it's not the problem of radical settlers as if they are outlaws and the government can't control them. The military protects them. The military accompanies them. And they are helping implement the plan of the current government of Israel and many governments before that to annex more and more land from the West Bank. And when we say annexing the land, they want the land, the geography, but they don't want people in it. And that's why the government allows these attacks to happen with the hope that they succeed in pushing more and more Palestinians outside of the towns, their communities, their villages, while of course making empty statements to the international community that they condemn these attacks. But we know that they're doing nothing to stop them. Actually, they're protecting these settlers. Your previous guest invited you to come. I invite you to come and see the horror Palestinians and villages live in on every single day. And I invite you to come and listen to the stories of horror that has been well documented and that has been allowed to continue day after day after day. Yeah, well, I see the reports and I see the footage. I don't need to say it for myself. It's being widely reported. I think it's indisputable what's happening. You yourself have been quite a controversial figure. The Jewish insider described you as the high priest of anti-Semitic Christianity. After an interview you did with Tucker Carlson in 2024, they claimed that on October the 8th, they after the appalling terror attacks of October the 7th, you said in your sermon, what is happening is an embodiment of the injustice that has been fallen as Palestinians from the NACPA until now. Anyone following the events was not surprised by what happened yesterday. One of the scenes that left an impression on my mind yesterday, and there are many scenes, is the scene of the Israeli youth who were celebrating a concert in the open air, the Nova music festival, just outside the borders of Gaza and how they escaped. What a great contradiction between the besieged poor on the one hand and the wealthy people celebrating as if there was nothing behind the wall, Gaza exposes the hypocrisy of the world. And did you stand by those comments? Because many people felt that they were effectively trying to justify Hamas slaughtering 1200 Israelis, including hundreds of young people at the music festival. Yeah, thank you for asking me about that, Pierce. Because these words were said the day after the attacks when what was reported is that we didn't know the exact numbers. No one fathomed that 1200 people were killed. And we didn't know that a massacre took place in the music festival. I certainly condemned the killing of civilians, innocent civilians in their homes or the kidnapping of children. Nothing I said condones or justifies violence. I'm trying to explain what happens. And namely that the attacks happened as the aftermath of a brutal, brutal siege. In fact, please, if you look at my talks, my writings over the years, I've been consistent in believing in non-violence. And in believing that every life is worth the same, all lives are equal. Every life matters to God. All of us are created in God's image. And that's why I've never believed that violence solves things at the same time when we try to explain to people. You know, so much has been said about the horrific events of October 7th and their impact on the psyche of the Israeli society. Now, imagine how many October 7th did the Palestinians endure over their lives. And that's what I was trying to explain that the people of us have seen enough and all of a sudden we thought they were rebelling against their siege. But honestly, we didn't realize how much innocent people were killed that day. And we've been consistent in saying not just we believe in non-violence as Palestinian Christians myself, but also that, you know, even if you believe in resistance, you can't justify killing innocent civilians in their homes. And I hope that everyone agrees with us because that has been our cry since Israel's retaliation, the genocide, the war that happened since October 7th against the people of Gaza, which continues today. So would you unreservedly condemn what Hamas did on October 7th? When it comes to killing civilians and kidnapping children and families and going home to home and shooting or what happened in the music festivals, yes, I can't condone that as a man of faith, absolutely. But when it comes to Palestinians right to resist their acupires, that's what we as Palestinians emphasize. This is what the international law guarantees us, as long as, you know, we don't target civilians. And as they said, I'm even against. Right, but it's good to hear. I think that's what we need to hear people on all sides condemning the violence when it occurs and has been way too much violence, generally going on in that part of the world now for many, many, many years, decades. I appreciate you joining me. Thank you very much. Thank you, Pierce, thank you. But joining me to debate this is author and political scientist Norman Finkelstein and historian and professor Benny Morris. Well, welcome to both of you. Norman Finkelstein, welcome back to Uncensored. This whole issue of what is going on on the West Bank. You know, I've had Daniela Weiss saying that this is merely a case of Jewish people reclaiming their land, nothing to see here, nothing criminal, they're not doing harm to anybody. But we've just heard from, obviously, from a Palestinian Christian pastor who says the complete opposite. And certainly from the news footage we've seen, it's quite clear that Israeli settlers have been waging a campaign of terror on the West Bank now for a considerable period of time, which most of the international community views as criminal activity. What is your view of what is happening on the West Bank? My view in what's happening in the West Bank is basically this, that the expulsion of the population in the West Bank and in Gaza is deeply rooted in Zionist ideology, as Benny Morris himself wrote the idea of "transure," which is just a euphemism for expulsion. The idea of "transure" is inherent and inbuilt in the idea of Zionism. And as Benny Morris himself said, the problem with the Israelis or the problem with Ben-Gorean, David Ben-Gorean, Israel's first Prime Minister, the problem with him was that, quote, "he didn't complete the job." That's what Mr. Morris said. And also, Mr. Morris has written that that's a tiny spot of land, and there's no room. I'm quoting him. There's no room for two peoples in that land, and that there should be only one people there, one state, a Jewish state. So all of that is not new, but as your previous guest stated, there has been an escalation since October 7th, and that was pretty predictable, because as you know the cliche, every Christ This is also an opportunity. And the Israeli cabinet, not unlike by the way, my own American government after 9/11, they shed some salty tears here I refer both to my government and the Israeli government. They shed some salty tears after the massacres and then rubbed their palms in glee. Here is an opportunity in the case of my own government. The opportunity was first Afghanistan, then they thought Iraq, then they thought Syria, then they thought Iran, that was their plan to exploit to the maximum 9/11. In the same way Israel since October 7th, yes, salty tears were shed and then they rubbed their palms in glee. There is a unique opportunity and the unique opportunity was first to solve the Gaza question once and for all and the way they wanted to solve it was a massive expulsion. The means to achieve that massive expulsion was genocidal and then they proceeded to eliminate Hezbollah or they thought they eliminated Hezbollah. And now they're trying also in the West Bank and of course the big target was Iran. And there are two Ben-Imaris for years, literally every couple of years he would write an op-ed saying two things. Number one, Israel has to attack Iran. And number two, if the United States doesn't join in, Israel has no option except to use non-conventional, i.e. nuclear weapons. So the claims, the presumptions of Daniela Weiss are shared across the Israeli spectrum. Ben-Imaris described the Palestinians as quote "a sick, psychotic people" quoting him. So the presumptions, the assumptions of Daniela Weiss, they may sound radical to an American viewer, but they are typical of Israeli society from Daniela Weiss at one end of the spectrum to Ben-Imaris who was once Israel's leading historian at the other end of the spectrum. This one last word, if you look at the current UN report on the deliberate killing of Palestinian children, they describe many scenes of the settlers, a group of settlers urinating on a child, a group of settlers kidnapping a four and five-year-old child, brother and sister, and tying them to a tree, a bunch of Israeli soldiers, not settlers, soldiers attacking a sixteen-year-old who is hearing impaired and kicking him on the ground. And then the group of soldiers attacking a fellow, shooting him, he's on the ground pleading for help, the soldiers stand around laughing, filming the scene, and blocking any medical aid for him. The soldiers, remember Israel is a citizen army, the soldiers are representative of Israeli society just like Daniela Weiss at one end of the spectrum, and Ben-Imaris at the other end is representative of Israel's society. It is unfortunately, it has become a nation of child killers. Ben-Imaris, your response to that? Well, it sounds like a self-hating Jew, a Norman Finglestime, and the woman Daniela Weiss is obviously a religious, a messianic fanatic. I don't think either of them should represent anyone, and they certainly don't speak the truth about most Israelis as Finglestime would have it. The Israeli settlers in the West Bank, many of them, are behaving illegally, and the government is going along with them and protecting them in various ways, certainly not prosecuting them for committing these crimes more or less on a daily basis in the West Bank, because they ultimately support eventual annexation of the West Bank, and they believe that removing small communities of shepherds serves that purpose. This annexation is purpose, and I, of course, and I think at least half of the Israelis don't agree with this. It doesn't represent the Israeli public, as Miss Weiss, who's, as I say, a fanatic, doesn't as well. I did use the phrase psychotic, and the Palestinian certainly behaved in a psychotic way during the second day in Tifa, when they exploded bombs and buses in streets and killed over a thousand Israelis during that second in Tifa, that rebellion in 2001, 2002, 2003. But I wouldn't call the Palestinians in general psychotic, but they have behaved very poorly. They're very poorly led. They're divided between one fanatical movement, which is misogynist, the Hamas, misogynist, homosexual, anti-homosexual, homophobic, Jew-hating, they're anti-Semitic, and they hate the West in general, much like the rest of the Islamic-Islamist world. And here we have a problem, which Finkelstein doesn't seem to understand, that the war in Gaza was the first step in an Islamist pan-Islamic war against the Jewish state, dedicated to eradicating the Jewish state. The Hamas began on October 7th, the Chisbalal of Lebanon began the next day from Lebanon, and eventually the Houthis in Yemen and Iranians from Iran itself all attacked in a successively the Jewish state. And Israel is surrounded by the Islamists who want to destroy the Jewish state. The Jewish state, Israel doesn't say it wants to destroy the Islamic world or Iran or Lebanon, but this is the way it is, and Israel has basically been defending itself. I don't like the Israeli government, I don't like the way it defends. It defends Israel, it's done so incompetently. I don't believe, incidentally, in expulsion. I've never said that the country between the river and the sea belongs only to one people. That's not my position. There are two peoples there, both with claims to the land, and it should be, ideally, divided between the two peoples in two states. That's the ideal solution. The Palestinians have always rejected it. The Israeli government also rejects it, but most Israelis and many Israeli governments and the Zionist movement, since 1937, has always agreed to partition and to two states between the river and the sea. Unfortunately, the Palestinians have always said no to this. OK, Norman Fighustin, I want to play you a clip. This is from the Hamas spokesman, Garzi Hamad, who came on on-sensit on Monday. Middle of the news, let's take a look. Hamas as a liberation organization, we never commit to crimes. We never kill civilians. We try all the time to liberate our hunger from this country. Well, that's complete nonsense, Mr. Hamad. Sorry. I'm sorry. I have to interrupt there. When you say you don't commit crimes and you don't kill innocent civilians, we all saw what happened on October the 7th in 2023. You had 3,000 members of your organization, Hamas, pour over the Israeli border and commit a series of despicable crimes in which you massacred innocent civilians all over Israel. You then captured over 250 of them, including Holocaust survivors and a baby. So the idea you've not committed crimes is ridiculous. No. I say 100%. I'm confident that 100% we never commit to crimes and the civilians. Maybe it's a mistake, but it is not the police of Hamas. It is not the community. And there were mistakes. You've gone down innocent people. No, not at all. The moment, I mean, it is plainly ridiculous for the Hamas spokesman to try and pretend they didn't commit any crimes on October the 7th. I presume you would agree that's ridiculous. Yes. I've said on several occasions, and here I'll echo your previous speaker, Monter, I guess his name is. Is that correct, his name? I don't want to mispronounce it. Monter, yeah. I'm not sure quite how the local pronunciation is, yeah. Yeah. He said, when you quoted him from his sermon right after October 7th, he said he wasn't aware of the magnitude of what happened on October 7th, and as you know, I have said the same thing, but once it was clear the magnitude of what happened, it was clear that crimes of a significant magnitude, war crimes, I know some human rights organizations will also say crimes against humanity, so crimes of a significant magnitude occurred on October 7th. So there there is as far as I could tell no disagreement between us. I would say, however, some of the claims that were made about October 7th, for example, that Hamas had weaponized rape and sexual violence, I don't believe those claims have been borne out by the available evidence. If you allow me, Mr. Morris, you'll have your turn. You'll have your turn, Mr. Morris, allow me to have mine. Why are you lying? Why are you lying? Okay, Mr. Perris, you'll have to decide how to litigate at this point. Allow me my time, he will have his time. So as I said, there were crimes of a significant magnitude, okay, thank you so much. So on that point, there's no disagreement. The two issues as I see it between us, if you allow me, and you can of course disagree with me, because I'm interpreting you. The two issues between us are number one, the allocation of moral responsibility. I have said repeatedly that I refuse to condemn Hamas in the same way as my own country's abolitionists, those who oppose slavery, they refuse to condemn the largest and bloodiest slave rebellion led by Nat Turner. On the contrary, they said, speaking to white society, they said, we warned you, we warned you, we warned you. If you treat people this way, if you dehumanize them, if you exploit them, if you kill them, they would be surprised, if at some point there will be a bloody, and they acknowledged ugly slave rebellion. That is also my position on Gaza, that's number one. The second place where I believe we disagree, and here I consider it a significant disagreement, just as the first one is significant, where we secondly disagree is on your terminology. You describe what Israel has done as being disproportionate. You describe what Israel has done as being over the top, those are your expressions. But in fact, what Israel has done is very proportionate. It's proportionate to its goal. Its goal is to achieve an ethnic cleansing by use of genocidal means. If that's your means, then what Israel has executed is proportionate. It's not over the top. It would be over the top or disproportionate if it were a war, if you were trying to inflict a military defeat on the opposing army. That's not what's happening in Gaza. It's not what's happened since October 8th. The Prime Minister was very straightforward. He said, "Remember, Amalek, kill every man, woman, child, and other things." Or President Herzog, there are no civilians in Gaza. Or Defense Minister Galant. We're going to prohibit all food, fuel, water, and electricity from entering Gaza. This is pure nonsense. That's a formula. Pure nonsense. That's a formula for genocide. Okay. Now, let me ask you Norman. I want to ask you one last thing too. I just want to ask you, it struck me listening to Benny Morris, who will respond in a moment. It struck me in his first response to you. And he must have said a number of things in his response, which you would, if you were being fair-minded, agree with. So what did you agree with him about in terms of his overview? Well, here is the problem. Benny Morris, I'm speaking to him, not as somebody who knows him personally, though we've met. Benny Morris wears many hats. He wears one hat when he's speaking in Israel or in some of his writings. But when he's speaking to a Western audience like your program, he likes to appear to be humane, even a little bit impish, a little bit cherubic. He has a little smile and a laugh. So he is a moving target. I have asked him on several occasions. I have written more than 50 pages because I've read everything you've ever written multiple times. Just answer me in print. If I am misapprehending you, just, but any scholar does, you reply. He says he will answer me, right now he'll probably say, "Oh, of course I'll answer Finkelstein, but he never will." So finally, you have to pull down the facades and expose somebody who on all political and ideological issues is indistinguishable from Daniela Weiss. Okay, Benny Morris, respond to the wider point in a moment, but first of all, let's talk about this issue of whether Hamas weaponized rape and sexual abuse. Early this year, an independent Israeli investigation published details of systematic widespread sexual violence by Hamas on October the 7th. The Civil Commission silenced no more report, says in addition to interviews with survivors, it has more than 10,000 photographs and videos filmed by attackers. I have seen other reporting by people like Christina Lam, the Sunday Times in the UK, who is one of the best journalists I would argue in the world, and certainly not partisan in any sense, reporting extensively on the weaponization of rape and sexual assault by Hamas. And yet there are people like Norma Finklstein who are adamant, it never happened. What do you say to that? Well, as I said, it's nonsense like most of what Finkelstein talks and says. As you say, there were witnesses who ended up alive and saw a rape. There were lots of women who were raped and murdered and looked like they'd been raped and murdered. And there were also rape, incidentally, of Israeli hostages, women hostages. And I think at least of one case of a male hostage raped by their Hamas captors while they were held in Gaza after October 7th. So I think this is pure nonsense. I noticed that Finkelstein said that he doesn't condemn the Hamas attack on Israel because it came after a lot of Israeli oppression of the Palestinians over the years. And incidentally, that's the point I've made myself that that Israeli occupation since 1967. And if you like what happened in 1948, in some way explains how the Hamas did what it did on October 7th. But this doesn't justify what happened as Finkelstein was saying and as this priest was trying to say, who incidentally you asked him to condemn the Hamas invasion of October 7th. And he said, I don't condone it. He didn't say, I condemn it. He didn't say what you asked him to say. Yeah. I didn't know if you know. No, he didn't. But it. I did, yeah. Well, that's what happened. He didn't actually condemn it. But look, Finkelstein's take is ridiculous. I don't want to get into an academic dialogue with him. I've written what I believe is true of the history. And I've also written journalistic pieces regarding various things. The use of the word genocidal may go down well with a left-leaning or a delusioned Western academics. But that's not what happened in the Gaza Strip. There was a war there. Hamas took the first stage, started the war, launched the war, and Israel struck back. You can say that Israel may have struck back disproportionately. That's a question which is up to, I don't know, to decide whether it's disproportionate or not. But the Israeli counteroffensive wasn't against the population of Gaza. It was against the Hamas. The Hamas was embedded among the people there in the houses, in the residential buildings, in underground tunnels, under hospitals, under mosques, inside mosques, et cetera. And for the Israeli troops and the Air Force to get at the Hamas fighters, they ended up collaterally killing the people among whom they were embedded, who incidentally supported the Hamas, who are their children and brothers and fathers, et cetera. They're not divorced from the general Gaza population. This is an idealized version of what goes on in the Gaza Strip. But in any case, there was a war. Israel killed tens of thousands of people. in its counteroffensive, but told most of the civilians, in most places, get out of this district, that district, the next district, and even individual houses, call people up in their homes and said, we are about to attack this house because it contains Hamas positions or Hamas personnel. You have an hour to get out of here, we're bombing it, and they told people to leave. This isn't what people do in a genocide. Genocide years, what they do is they actually round up people and massacre them. Israelis didn't massacre anybody, didn't line up people on the wall and shoot them. They told the civilians, move aside, we want to get to the Hamas, and a lot of people were killed in this process because the Hamas, as they said, hid among them. The word genocide is an absurdity. I've actually studied the genocide, the genocide by the, let me add one sentence. I've actually studied thoroughly at one genocide, not the Holocaust, the killing by Turks, the Turkish Muslims of the Christians in Turkey over the years, 1894, 1924. I know exactly what a genocide looks like. You kill the men, you drive out the women, you kill the women, you rape the women, and you eventually kill as many people as you can. This isn't what happened in the Gaza Strip. OK, Danny Vigorstein, off the back of my interview with the Hamas Postman. Let me just talk about what we have. You can't, but Norman, I also just want to conclude the debate by looking slightly forward because there is supposedly a deal that's been proposed by the Americans where Hamas have apparently agreed if the Israelis leave Gaza that they will demilitarize. Do you think that is remotely likely to happen? Well, let's start with the basics. I usually start with international law, and you'll forgive me if it sounds pedantic, and as international law has become more and more marginalized, fewer and fewer people are believing in it, but I still believe in its basic precepts. In July 2025, the International Court of Justice, the Supreme Legal Body in the world ruled that Israel's occupation of Gaza, Israel's occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, are illegal under international law, and Israel has to leave as quickly, as rapidly as possible. That's the first precept for me, or foundation stone for me. The ICJ, the Israeli? Yes, you're right. Mr. Morris, this is not the West Bank. You're not answering his question. You have to carry on in the civilized fashion. Very difficult for you, but try. Okay, thank you. So the bottom line is Israel has no title to any of Gaza. Number two, under international law, there is no prohibition on a people using armed force to expel an occupying power. There is no prohibition on that. Number three, it's odd that we should discuss Hamas having to disarm. Hamas committed a crime of significant magnitude on October 7. Israel executed a genocide in Gaza and it continues in its aim of trying to expel the entire population. So why is it that Hamas has to disarm itself, but Israel, the genocidal state, also the state that has breached the prime precept of international law by launching an aggression, a brazen flagrant aggression, the most brazen, the most flagrant in the modern world against Iran. Why are we talking about Hamas having to disarm, but there's one last point. And this is the critical point. Yes, you've said enough. The critical point. There was no war in Gaza. Hamas is not armed. Pears ask yourself a simple question. Gaza has been hermetically sealed for three years. How can it possibly have any ammunition at this point? This whole Hamas disarmament is a red herring so as to enable Israel to finish up the job, it began on October 8th. And it has it. Here's, can I say something? Nikolai, Nikolai Bladinov, who gives, who gives vomit a bad name. Okay. Funny, Maurice. A final word to you. Israel wants to, the Hamas disarmed because it doesn't want a repetition of what Hamas did on October 7th against Israel's civilian population in the south of the country. We don't want a repetition and we don't want Hamas to do exactly the same thing. If you want to talk about Iran, you should mention that the Iranian regime slaughtered 30 to 40,000 of their own people, Muslims, Iranians, a few months ago. So I don't, I wouldn't call it a very innocent country or a very innocent regime. Israel is afraid that the Iranians are making for, are trying to get atomic weaponry. And they have said they want to destroy Israel and will use that weaponry to destroy Israel. And that's why Israel has launched its attacks against Iran last year and this year. And that's why America joined them incidentally because Trump, whatever is shortcomings, understands that atomic weaponry in the hands of fanatic Islamists in Tehran are a danger not just to Israel, but to the Middle East and perhaps the world itself. Okay, I'm going to leave it there. Thank you both. I'm going to leave it there. No one, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. No one, I'm sorry, we run out of time. I thank you both very much indeed for a very interesting debate. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you, Ajay Piyr. Peace Morgan Arts Centre is proudly independent. The only boss around here is me. If you enjoy our show, we ask for only one simple thing. Hit subscribe on YouTube and follow Peace Morgan Arts Centre on Spotify and Apple Podcast. And in return, we will continue our mission to inform, irritate and entertain and we'll do it all for free. Independent Uncensored media has never been more critical and we couldn't do it without you. [BLANK_AUDIO]

Podcast Summary

Key Points:

  1. Israeli settlers and government policies in the West Bank are accused of orchestrating a campaign of ethnic cleansing, including forced displacement, violence, and property seizures, with Amnesty International and international observers citing deliberate state-led displacement.
  2. Figures like Daniela Weiss and Benny Morris are criticized for promoting rhetoric that dehumanizes Palestinians, with statements such as "one Jewish life is worth 10 million Palestinian lives" deemed racist and ideologically rooted in Zionist ideology.
  3. Palestinian leaders and activists condemn settler violence, including attacks on civilians, destruction of homes, and systemic harassment, arguing that Israeli military and settler actions enable and protect these crimes.
  4. Norman Finkelstein and Benny Morris argue that the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank is a result of deep-seated Zionist ideology, with "transjuration" (expulsion) as a core principle, and that Israel's actions go beyond proportionality, resembling genocidal policy.
  5. Critics assert that Hamas's actions on October 7th were crimes, including war crimes and sexual violence, but also that the international response—especially the call for Hamas disarmament—ignores Israel’s own violations of international law and occupation policies.
  6. The international community, including the UN, has declared Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank illegal, and a 2025 ICJ ruling demands Israel withdraw from occupied territories.

Summary:

The transcript presents a critical examination of Israeli policies in the West Bank and Gaza, accusing both settlers and the Israeli state of ethnic cleansing and systematic violence. It highlights statements by figures like Daniela Weiss and Benny Morris that devalue Palestinian lives, framing them as ideologically rooted in Zionist expansionism. Palestinian voices, including a Christian pastor and activists, describe daily terror, including settler attacks, arson, and military protection of settlers, while emphasizing the displacement of Palestinians and the criminal nature of land seizures.

The discussion includes a direct confrontation over whether Israeli actions constitute genocide, with critics arguing that Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the West Bank—despite using force—target civilians and violate international law. The debate also touches on Hamas's actions on October 7th, with some asserting that such violence was a crime, though others reject claims of sexualized warfare. Ultimately, the narrative positions Israel’s occupation and settlement expansion as morally and legally indefensible, challenging the legitimacy of both settler actions and the state’s refusal to acknowledge or end the occupation.

An international legal precedent—ICJ rulings—supports the notion that Israel’s presence in Gaza and the West Bank is unlawful, and that any resolution must prioritize Palestinian rights and dignity.

FAQs

Amnesty International and multiple reports claim that Israeli settlers are systematically displacing Palestinians through violent attacks, property seizures, and settler violence, which many view as part of a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing. The UN has documented over 100 West Bank villages being partially or fully emptied since 2023.

Yes, Israeli security and government officials have encouraged settlement expansion, with Security Minister Ben-Gvir openly advocating for the colonization of Gaza. Settler activity has increased significantly since 2023, and the Israeli government has been criticized for failing to stop or prosecute these actions.

This statement, made by an Israeli lawyer, has been widely criticized as racist and dehumanizing. It contradicts the principles of equality and human dignity, and has sparked outrage among both international observers and Palestinian communities, who see it as evidence of a harmful and discriminatory mindset.

They often claim that the land is part of the Jewish homeland and that settlers are reclaiming ancestral territory. Some argue that Palestinians are not welcome in the land and that violence or displacement is necessary to establish a Jewish state. However, this view is widely rejected by international law and human rights organizations.

Yes, Israeli military forces have been observed accompanying settlers and providing protection during attacks on Palestinian communities. This has raised serious concerns about state complicity in settler violence and the lack of accountability for such actions.

The international community, including the United Nations, has condemned the actions of Israeli settlers and the Israeli government as illegal and discriminatory. Numerous reports highlight the use of violence, displacement, and property destruction, which violate international human rights law.

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