 As you know, we've got a situation in which Israel is preparing for a ground offensive going into Gaza. What are your thoughts on the military response that we've seen from Israel this past week? Elena, I must tell you that I'm not crying for my parents. I'm crying for those who are going to lose their life in this war. We must stop the war. You just heard from an Israeli man whose parents Bilhah and Yaqaf were killed last week by Hamas. But as you saw, he does not support Israel's war because he knows that that war is going to lead to a lot of innocent people who had nothing to do with his parents' deaths dying as a result. And he just doesn't support that. Now he goes on to say the following. The war is not the answer. And I beg you, I beg all the viewers and listeners to do everything in their power to put pressure over everyone that is relevant to stop the war immediately, to freeze the situation. In our family, we are not seeking revenge, revenge will just lead to more suffering and to more casualties. And even though it's the most horrible day, it was the most horrible loss in lives in Israel since the foundation of the country. I'm afraid that the numbers can be much bigger, an enormous number. And we must do everything to stop the war. His words are so incredibly important and I really commend him for saying this. Now thankfully, he is not the only one speaking out because a 19-year-old survivor of Hamas's attack echoed the same sentiment when she was interviewed. So for her, she experienced a terrifying event, but then it was over because she was able to evacuate. But in Gaza, the terror continues because there's nowhere to escape, nowhere for them to go. And she goes on later in that clip to condemn Netanyahu asking how many more people have to die for his ego. So we've heard from two people directly affected by Hamas's attack, but yet despite the trauma and the pain and the anger that they're probably feeling right now, they still haven't lost their humanity, unlike almost every world leader. Now over the weekend, we've witnessed Israel carry out a genocide in real time with the full support of the American political establishment and the Biden administration. On Thursday, we learned that Israel was giving 1.1 million Gazans just 24 hours to relocate to southern Gaza. And as Gazans tried to flee, like they were instructed to do, Israel bombed convoys transporting civilians, killing 70 and injuring hundreds more. And this disregard for civilians from Israel isn't surprising considering their admitted focus, quote, on damage and not on accuracy as their military spokesperson put it. And the last estimate that I saw put the Palestinian death toll at 2,670, double that of the death toll from Hamas's attack with nearly 10,000 injured. Now the Palestinian Health Ministry is reporting that entire bloodlines are being wiped out with every Gazan being affected in some way, shape or form. President Rafat Ala Reir, who we heard from last week, announced on Twitter that he's lost six relatives since. And he follows up by explaining how terrifying it is to wonder which of your relatives are currently living in agony, and he also alleges that families huddled together have been targeted by the Israeli military. And I just want to pause for a moment because 50% of Gazans are children. So based on the numbers that we're getting, it's reasonable to assume that around 1,300 of the 2,600 deaths thus far have been children. At least 1,000 have probably died. That is devastating. And with power cut off to hospitals, people not able to get dialysis or the care that they need or have their injuries treated, many who are injured currently might die. But even those who weren't injured are also at risk because remember, as the independence bell true reported, water ran out for 2 million Gazans with no humanitarian supplies being allowed in. And as a matter of fact, journalist Alan McLeod reported, an Israeli airstrike destroyed a United Nations relief depot in Central Gaza, meaning that any medical supplies, food or bottled water that could have been distributed was destroyed, at least at that center. And the effects of no water quickly set in, with AP reporting that Gazans are drinking so little water that they're only urinating once per day or every other day, with others resorting to drinking wastewater and even saltwater, which results in more dehydration. And if you drink wastewater, you could get sick. But thankfully, after receiving pressure from the Biden administration, Israel has reportedly turned water back on to southern Gaza. Now let me just pause for a moment and remind everyone that collective punishment is a war crime. The reason why they've tortured Palestinian civilians is largely because other governments are okay with it. The Biden administration has allowed them to do this. So the fact that Biden applied any pressure is genuinely shocking to me considering his administration's despicable response or lack thereof. White House press spokesperson Karin Jean-Pierre told reporters that calls for a ceasefire were quote, repugnant and also called it disgraceful. And to make matters worse, the State Department sent a memo to diplomats telling them to not call for de-escalation or an end to violence because, of course, that would make Israel look bad, which they don't want to do. Now unfortunately, this pressure from the Biden administration seems to be working because only a handful of progressives have called for a ceasefire. That includes Tlaib, Carson, Summer Lee, Ramirez, Bowman, Watson Coleman, Jesus Garcia, Jonathan Jackson, AOC, Omar Presley and Velazquez. And I think it's important to read out their names because this means every other lawmaker in this country, which includes all Republicans and the overwhelming majority of Democrats, are silent. They're silent as a genocide happens before our very eyes. So if your lawmaker isn't on that list, I would highly encourage you to call them and ask them why they have not condemned the indiscriminate killing of Palestinian children who had nothing to do with Hamas' attack. This injured little girl that you're seeing on screen is asking in Arabic why Israel is doing this to them. She's not old enough to understand why any of this is happening, but yet as innocent children like her suffer, politicians turn a blind eye. And I can't stress enough how little I respect the people who spinelessly remain silent. Their silence is deafening, especially when it's needed right now because we are seeing a genocide. It's a defining moment, and so many American politicians have demonstrated that they just don't care about Palestinians, they don't care about suffering. Because they know that if they speak up, it could have negative political ramifications for them. Despicable cowards, all of them. They just don't view Palestinians as human beings, or if they do, then they're just too afraid to speak up. It's just gross. And this toxic environment towards Palestinians has culminated in a Chicago landlord stabbing a six-year-old Palestinian American boy to death and severely injuring his mother. And they were targeted because they're Muslim. Now Politico reports that the Biden administration has expressed shock and was sickened by the little boy's death, but I have to ask, how is he shocked by this? How is this shocking? We knew that this would be the result. How is Biden of all people shocked, though, when his response cultivated this climate, this toxic climate that we're in, in the same way that Trump emboldened white supremacists in his administration? Biden is emboldening Islamophobes, because in the face of anti-Muslim hysteria comparable to the early post-911 days, Biden's administration has made it very clear that Palestinian lives don't matter. He is complicit as Israel's far-right fascist government indiscriminately slaughters Palestinian civilians. But all of a sudden, he's shocked that brutality against Muslims is being committed here at home as well. Why? Why would you be shocked by that? Because your administration is communicating to the American people that calling for an end to violence is repugnant. That's what your press secretary said. So when you do that, this is what happens, blood is on Biden's hands. And there is going to be an ongoing political cost for him. As Mehdi Hassan points out, Biden could lose Michigan if things continue in this way, because there's a huge Muslim population in Michigan, and if they choose to stay home in 2024 because they feel rightfully abandoned by the Biden administration, it could hurt him. While Biden may very well be working behind the scenes to ameliorate the situation to pressure Israel, they were likely going to launch a ground invasion within 24 hours that time has passed, so perhaps he got them to postpone it so Gazans can get out of the area where the warfare is going to take place. But what you say publicly during these times is really, really important. And Biden has absolutely not met the moment. And the political fallout is continuing because Jewish activists took to the streets in D.C. near the White House to call for the killings to stop. And on top of that, Biden's speech was disrupted by a Jewish activist who had a very clear message. Now the irony is that he was speaking at an event for the Human Rights Campaign, while completely ignoring the human rights abuses going on in Gaza, not condemning them publicly. Now you may be thinking that everyone is being too hard on Biden because, you know, he's not the one bombing Gaza, but you have to understand the dynamics at play here. Israel has only been able to maintain their state of apartheid and carry out war crimes specifically because it has U.S. support, which is unconditional. So if a U.S. president demands that they stop, that pressure is immense. If a U.S. president threatens to cut off aid if they don't stop bombing indiscriminately, that pressure makes a huge impact. And Biden has not done that. At this point they've supported Israel unequivocally, which is why Israel is doing what it's been doing. Israel knows that they don't want to piss off their number one ally. So imagine what Biden could accomplish if he demanded an immediate ceasefire and not ban the word from U.S. diplomats. I mean the fact that it hasn't happened tells us that he hasn't asked, which is why he's choosing to allow the carnage to continue. That's why people are exerting pressure on Biden, right? Now he showed how influential he is because they turned back on water to southern Gaza when he asked them to. Now with that being said, his rhetoric is slowly but surely shifting. In an interview with 60 Minutes he encouraged Israel to not quote occupy Gaza, which is a bit tone deaf considering how long the occupation has been going on. But I mean the mere inclination that Israel is in any way possibly wrong is a dramatic shift when the bar is this low. It's below the floor. So even that just saying maybe possibly Israel is in the wrong in some way, shape or form, that honestly is huge. Even if it doesn't seem like it, it's subtle, but it is huge. But obviously it's not enough. But despite complicity from politicians and pro-Israel propaganda from the media, what I am really heartened to see is how people around the world are not buying the bullshit anymore. A lot of people are starting to wake up. As Mint Press journalist Ellen McClod points out, protests have erupted across the United States in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Dearborn, Michigan, Seattle, and also in Europe. Protests have broken out in Madrid, Amsterdam, in central London where the Palestinian flag may soon be banned, in Paris defying Macron's ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations in Dublin and also in Berlin with demonstrators being brutalized by German police. But there's also central Stockholm and Glassglow and Copenhagen. And as much as my faith in humanity has been shaken by the responses we've seen from politicians over the course of the last couple of days, I think that seeing citizens across the world rise up to condemn this genocide in real time, it is something that is very encouraging. And understand that Western governments know that they're in the wrong, which is why they have to suppress free speech in order to defend Israel. But the cast out of the bag, and everyone can see what's going on, and world leaders are only making themselves look worse as they continue to defend the indefensible case in point. What's the view on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza this morning? There is no humanitarian crisis because there is no. Israel is in charge of the safety of the Israelis, Hamas is in charge of the safety of the Palestinians. We've been showing pictures this morning that would illustrate that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Can I ask you something? Yeah. Are you a mother? Yes. What would you think if your children would have been executed in front of your eyes? Would you expect your government to think about those Nazis committing those crimes and to say, wait a second, first of all, we need to protect the enemy, and then to protect my children. Your children come as priority to your prime minister. So we have been showing images this morning that illustrate that there is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. So blame Hamas and ask Hamas why they started those atrocities walking around. Seeing that knowledge that there is a humanitarian crisis. I'm saying there is no. Israel is working. So what do you think is happening? What is happening? There is a war in Gaza, a war that Hamas started by committing a horrible massacre on innocent Israelis. The world have seen it. What about the racial damage? Wait a second. They're innocent civilians. I just want to say and give a little bit of a context. Those people created crimes that are worse than ISIS. When the American started this fight of ISIS together with the coalition forces, over 100,000 civilians got caught in a crossfire. Israel is trying to prevent that. Israel is better than any other army in the world we are alerting. We are giving them the opportunity to have a shelter. We are doing things that no other Western army did in the past. Absolutely zero concern whatsoever about Palestinian suffering. And with a straight face claiming that there's no humanitarian crisis as Israel cuts off water, food, and power. And bombs convoys of Palestinian refugees trying to escape bombs. And it's not like Israel is doing this in secret. She's saying we're cutting off their electricity and their water. But she's saying there's no humanitarian crisis. It's just it feels like we're being gaslit and it's not okay. But that response, even though it's hard to watch, it's pretty common, right? Because the go-to method is to just deny, deny, deny. Whenever Israeli war crimes are brought up, you either deny them or you pivot back to Hamas as she did. It's what former Israeli Prime Minister Neftali Bennett did when he was interviewed by Sky News and they asked, what's going to happen to the babies and incubators if you cut off power, which will affect hospitals? Look at his response. And what about those Palestinians in hospital who are on life support and babies and incubators whose life support and incubator will have to be turned off because the Israelis have cut the power to Gaza? Are you seriously keep on asking me about Palestinian civilians? What's what's wrong with you? Have you not seen what happened? We're fighting Nazis. We don't target them. Now, the world can come and bring them anything they want. If you want to bring them electricity, I'm not going to feed electricity or water to my enemies. If anyone else wants, that's fine. We're not responsible for this is the point. You keep on. You know, I want to tell you, no, no, listen, you listen to me right now. I've heard you enough. No, no, I understand we're trying to have a conversation here. Listen, this is my program. This is my show and I am asking the questions. You're raising your voice and I've asked you and we've already we've already stopped, please. Let me finish. We've already distinguished between Hamas. I want to tell you shame on you. You're trying to speak over. We are not shame on you. It's nothing about we're trying to have a conversation about a very serious situation here. And you are refusing to address it. He was genuinely outraged that a reporter dared to ask him about Palestinian civilians. But notice the Freudian slip. I'm not going to feed electricity or water to my enemies. And first of all, you've cut off AIDS. So it's not true that other people can supply them with it. The Israeli military bombed a UN relief center. But what he said there was very important. He said he is not going to supply his enemies with food and water. Notice how when he said that statement, he didn't differentiate between Hamas and just regular Palestinians. And it's because all of them are indeed his enemies. That's how he views them. He views them all as guilty for the crimes of Hamas. And if you think that I'm being uncharitable, well, let's listen to what the Israeli president had to say about this very thing. We are working operating militarily according to rules of international law, period. Unequivocally, it's an entire nation out there that is responsible. It's not true. This rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved, it's absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime, which took over Gaza in a coup d'etat. But we are at war. We are at war. We are at war with our, we are defending our homes. We're protecting our homes. That's the truth. And then when a nation protects its home, it fights. And we will fight until we'll break their backbone. So the entire nation is responsible because they could have risen up and overthrown their government. I would like to see him ask that little girl we saw earlier crying why she didn't rise up and overthrow Hamas. I mean, I guess it's her fault. I guess she deserves the pain and suffering that she's feeling. It's just outrageous. The logic here is stunning, but it goes to show you that when it comes to Palestinians and Hamas, they think that they're one and the same. They're synonymous. Both their actions and their words indicate this. There's just no thought about the humanity of people who have nothing to do with this, including children, about 1,000 of which have been killed. But at least in an interview with CNN, Israel's ambassador to the UN pretended to be sad about the government's indiscriminate killing of Palestinian civilians. But even though he feigned sadness, he still trotted out the same justification to Jake Tapper, making it seem as if Hamas and Palestinians are one and the same. Sadly, it's very sad because I really feel sorry for the suffering of the people of Gaza, but we should all remember they elected Hamas 18 years ago. Hamas is the only one responsible for everything that is happening there. So in other words, they're all guilty because you get what you vote for. Stunningly dishonest, because again, 50% of the population in Gaza is under 18, meaning that half of them were not alive when the election took place, or they were children and didn't know what was going on. I don't think many children are politically active anywhere in the world. Furthermore, no mention there of Benjamin Netanyahu emboldening and wanting to fund Hamas to thwart Palestinian statehood. No mention of the Israeli government's apartheid regime, keeping Gazans in the world's largest open air prison, obviously going to foster desperation and inevitably lead to radicalization, but no mention there of that. But regardless, I'm honestly stunned that he even bothered to put on an act for CNN's audience because usually just straight up callousness is what we see, it's the norm. Take Israel's foreign minister, for example. So while he was being called out for war crimes in an interview with Marc Lamont Hill, look at the way that he reacts when Marc floats the idea of Israel accepting Gazan refugees themselves so that way they're not punished for the crimes of Hamas. He said that the humanitarian situation, quote, will only deteriorate exponentially and that crucial life-saving supplies, including fuel, food, and water, must be allowed into Gaza. So the UN is saying you must do this. You are saying you're not going to do this. How do you- No, we're not saying that. He's saying doing it immediately. What I'm saying is what you're doing. No, no. He's saying doing it immediately. Yeah. I got you. I'll tell you exactly what we're saying. I'm saying we will do everything for the Gazan people. Once and now we demand immediate surrender, unconditional surrender of Hamas. If Hamas people come out with their hands up and clear their weapons, believe me, everything will be restored to Gaza. It is Hamas in Hamas hands. Okay, now I understand. Thank you for clarifying that, sir. I think we're actually on the same page here. You're saying that once Hamas leaves, you'll grant the Gazan people food, shelter, fuel, electricity, hospitals, schooling. And if Hamas doesn't leave, then they'll continue to starve and die in hospitals. You are defining for the international community right now collective punishment. You're saying until Hamas acts differently, the two million people in Gaza are going to be treated this way. And once Hamas acts differently, these two million people in Gaza will be treated better. That is exactly what collective punishment is. You're holding them accountable for the actions of others. That is the definition, the textbook definition of collective punishment, sir. Now you may accept that that's what you want to do, but this is absolutely a contravention of international law. Well, I'll tell you exactly. No, had we pushed them to the wall, we're not pushing them to the wall. We want to open a humanitarian corridor so they can leave. But if Hamas- So that who can leave? So that who can leave? Citizens? You're saying civilians can leave but only through the Ra'fab border, correct? At this point? Yes, because where else? Your country! They can come into Israel! I'm telling you one more thing I want to say. I want you to address that point. Don't just smile, sir, respectfully. You're saying you're making a corridor. They can go to Egypt. You're bombing them. You say you want to save them, but they can't come in. First of all, I'm not smiling. I'm crying in my- unbelievable. He smiled at the idea that Israel dare admit some Ghazan refugees. Now, I also have to point out that that level of journalistic integrity and pushback is not very common. We almost never see that. And if you're wondering why we don't see that more often, it's because journalists are either ignorant or more likely they're scared into complicity. Because before he joined Al Jazeera, Mark LeMond Hill actually worked for CNN before he was fired for condemning Israeli apartheid. Now, this is pretty common. Others have had the same fate, like Jewish journalist Katie Halper, who was fired from the Hill for condemning Israeli apartheid. Even MSNBC, an outlet generally trusted by liberals, has quietly sidelined three prominent Muslim hosts, all of which have condemned Israeli apartheid. This includes Ali Velshi, Mehdi Hassan, and Ayman Moyeldin. Now, even though MSNBC vehemently denies that they've silenced their Muslim hosts, we have absolutely no reason to believe them at all, considering their history of silencing hosts who condemn wars. I'm of course talking about Phil Donahue. I'm talking about Jesse Ventura. So if you're wondering why reporting on this issue is so bad, why there's so much propaganda, that's why. It's because reporters risk losing everything if they do the bare minimum and condemn apartheid or genocide. And when pundits are bullied into silence and complicity and journalists also are struggling on the ground to get the news out due to a lack of electricity, well, it's easy for Israel to control the narrative. But even those who are trying to do their best on the ground, they struggle because there was one journalist who was reporting and during his live report, an Israeli police officer got on camera and threatened him all because he suspected negative coverage. Yeah. Yeah. just brazen. Now on top of that, because Al Jazeera, for example, is one of the few outlets with on-the-ground reporting and they're successful and they're able to cut through Israel's propaganda, well there's talks of them getting banned, at least this is what some Israeli cabinet members have floated. But despite censorship and attempts at censorship, ignorance is still no excuse because on-the-ground reporters are doing a great job, regardless of the circumstances. And even though it's more difficult, many of them are able to broadcast human rights abuses in 4K. And even though it's difficult to watch, I think that it's really important that we don't look away because we need to understand the gravity of this situation. And I want to show you an example of that. So BBC aired this report from a Gazan reporter. And even though it's disturbing, this needs to be seen because BBC, they've done some terrible reporting on this issue. Some of their pundits in particular have made very tone-deaf comments. But this right here is very important because you're seeing firsthand what it's like to live in Gaza. My name is Adnan El-Borj, a reporter for BBC Arabic and resident of Gaza. Here in Eshifa Hospital, bodies lay everywhere. The injured scream for help. You can never forget these sounds. Among the dead and wounded, my cameraman Mahmoud has seen his friend Malik. Malik has managed to survive. But his family have not. This is my local hospital. Inside are my friends, my neighbors. This is my community. Today has been one of the most difficult days in my career. I have seen things I can't never on say. This young girl's home was destroyed. Her relatives have been killed and she needs help. My daughter is the same age I want to give her a hug. In the kiosk, we try to understand what is going on. A mother called Um-Muhammad sits next to the bodies of her family. We were sleeping and they bombarded our house like everyone else. We don't have any resistance fighters in our building. All the building is full of residents. 120 people live there. The corridors of Eshifa Hospital are filled with bodies. The more can no longer come. The bodies of the dead have to be laid on the floor outside the hospital entrance. You never want to become the story. Yet in my city, I feel helpless. As the dead were given no dignity and the injured are left in pain. I've known it before, BBC News Gaza. Just a reminder here, Western governments know that this is happening. Both Democrats and Republicans, they know that this is the reality on the ground. But yet the overwhelming majority of them choose to remain silent. Silent in the face of genocide. The international community. Most Western governments also have chosen to remain silent. And in doing so, they failed Palestinians. I genuinely believe that this is going to be a moment in the future where we look back and we say, how did we let this happen? How were so many Western governments silent in the face of an entire group of people getting erased off the face of the earth? Ethnic cleansing, genocide, apartheid. How did we let this happen? It's despicable. Now the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, she has previously rightfully condemned collective punishment against civilians, specifically the shutting off of electricity when Russia did it. When they did it to Ukraine. But now, can you guess what she's saying about this? Nothing. Israel's doing the same to Gaza, but crickets. War crimes are perfectly... Okay, if it's being done to Palestinians, but anyone else? Not okay, we're going to condemn that. Now on Twitter, user Zsquirrel shared a video from December of last year of a member of Irish parliament, Richard Boyd Barrett, and he was confronting her over this hypocrisy. And I don't know anything else about his politics, but what I do know is that what he's saying here is really spot on. And I wish that more people would do what he's doing. Because this moment requires this boldness. So I'm going to leave you with his comments. I really have to wonder about the consistency of the ethics of EU foreign policy. It is utterly, utterly unconscionable that we can say on the one hand, we must and we must investigate the war crimes and atrocities of Vladimir Putin and remain silent. As you did when you spoke in June in Israel beside the Israeli Prime Minister, Naftali Bennett and did not say a word, not a word after we've had two devastating reports by Amnesty International, by Human Rights Watch of 70 years of ongoing crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, the siege of Gaza, a 15-year-long criminal action. Do we talk about investigating the war crimes of Israel? No. Do we sanction Israel for these crimes as we've sanctioned Russia? No. Instead, we continue to give them favoured trade status, import huge amounts of gas from Israel, deepen the relations, and engage in considerable military and defence trade with the state that is doing this to the Palestinians.