I was a guest alongside Rabbi Dovid Feldman and Dr. Zachary Foster to discuss the true nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
On May 15, I joined Alana Newman in an X Space as a guest speaker alongside Rabbi Dovid Feldman and historian Dr. Zachary Foster. The discussion has since been published as an episode of Newman’s podcast The Speaker Salon, so you can listen here:
Newman explained how she had always avoided this topic but was prompted to learn more about it by my free e-book A Brief History of Palestine: From Canaan through the Mandate Era, which dispels popular Zionist myths aiming to deny the Palestinians’ own ancient historical connection to the land.
First up was Rabbi Feldman from the Orthodox Jewish organization Neturei Karta. He explained exquisitely the critical distinction between Judaism and Zionism and why the secular political movement of Zionism is anathema to Judaism, and why equating anti-Zionism with “anti-Semitism” is perverse.
Indeed, from Rabbi Feldman’s perspective, Zionism is heretical—and while I have no religious beliefs myself, as someone who has studied the Hebrew Tanakh (the Christian “Old Testament”), I completely concur with the theological underpinnings of that argument.
Indeed, this is something I have been pointing out for many years with respect to the malevolent influence of Christian Zionism.
- Woe to you, Christian Zionists, hypocrites!
- Interview: The Peculiar Alliance Between Christian Zionism and Israel
- To End the Israel-Palestine Conflict, End Christian Zionism
Dr. Foster next explained how he was raised in a Zionist family but became unsettled once realizing that “the core tenet of the Zionist program was replacing Arabs with Jews”, which he felt was a project “born in sin.”
He talked about how Israel was created through ethnic cleansing and is now perpetrating genocide in Gaza, along with covering a broad range of critical background knowledge for understanding the conflict’s true nature.
During my turn in “the hot seat”, as Newman put it, I reiterated the point that Israel’s US-backed crimes against the Palestinians include war crimes and the crimes against humanity of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and now genocide.
- Benny Morris’s Untenable Denial of the Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine
- ICJ Hears Arguments on Illegality of Israel’s Occupation
- ICJ Declares Israel’s Occupation Illegal
- Interview: The ICJ Ruling on the Illegality of Israel’s Occupation
I explained how a ceasefire had finally been reached between Israel and Hamas earlier this year, but US President Donald Trump encouraged Israel to violate it and resume its genocide, so that’s exactly what Israel did.
I was next asked about the US “war on terrorism”, so I explained how it ties into the Palestine conflict and, indeed, how it was my inquiries into 9/11 that got me started doing journalism and led to my primary focus being this land struggle in the Middle East.
Next, I explained the requirements of international humanitarian law with respect to protections of civilian persons and objects, and how Israel systematically violates this body of law with intentionally indiscriminate attacks.
Later in the discussion, I covered some of the popular myths about the conflict that I debunked in my book Obstacle to Peace: The US Role in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, such as the myth that the UN created Israel.
I elucidated the critical distinction between the “two-state solution” grounded in the applicability of international law to the conflict and the alternative goal of the US-led so-called “peace process”.
As well, I provided examples from the New York Times about how the mainstream media deceive the American public, serving the propaganda function of manufacturing consent of the US government’s support for Israel’s crimes against the Palestinians.
Listen to the full conversation using the audio player above!
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