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14 Mar 2024 Lex Fridman Podcast #418 – Israel-Palestine Debate: Finkelstein, Destiny, M. Rabbani & Benny Morris

“I don’t think it’s engineered, I think that if the Hamas stopped shooting perhaps, or- Unfortunately, most- As I said, engineered.”

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Speaker unverified
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Not verified from this transcript
Claim type
belief
Recorded
14 Mar 2024
Publisher
Lex Fridman Podcast

Transcript context

…toxic slum, you think- It is a slum, of course it’s a slum, but it’s caused by the Hamas. … under international law, you think it’s legitimate- Forget the law. Hey, I know you want to forget the law. What about morality? Forget the law, what about morality? It’s what every Israeli fears the most. What? The law. No, no, no. As Tzipi Livni said, “I studied international law. I oppose international law.” Of course you don’t want to hear about the law. That has got nothing to do with anything. Okay, so here’s the thing. Then don’t complain about October 7th. Do you hear me complaining? I didn’t complain. If you want to say forget about the law- All I said was they acted like barbarians. … when there is no international humanitarian law, there’s no distinction between civilians and combatants- There should be, but it’s got nothing to do with the law. Now you’re doing what Mouin said, you’re becoming very selective about the law. If you want to forget about the law- People should be [inaudible 04:37:51]. Across the board. … Hamas had every right to do what it did. It had every right to do what it did according to you, not to me, because you want to forget the law. Do you still support the Houthis shooting random ships? Absolutely. Okay, that’s a violation of international law, so you play the same game. Absolutely. And were there are power during World War II who had the courage of the Houthis, were there are power that had that kind of courage- So courageous to be bombing merchant ships while tens of thousands of people die of actual starvation, not the starvation that exists in the Gaza Strip where people before October 7th don’t die of starvation. Not the concentration camp, as they say of the Gaza Strip. The Houthis. What about starvation in Yemen? Don’t that have something better to do? That was the Houthis. Yes, I know. Don’t they have anything better to do? That was the Houthis, and you know in three years they blew up 180,000 people. Shouldn’t they be feeding the Yemenis? You know, 60,000 Yemenis died in starvation? Why fight the western powers in Israel when you should be taking care of your problems at home, the Houthis. Often the only allies of the dispossessed are those who experience similar circumstances. Don’t you think that they should take care of the Yemeni problems? As I said- I’m very happy they’re helping out the Palestinians. It’s at the expense of the Yemenis. They’ll pay for it. Anybody who comes to the aid of those suffering the genocide- There’s no genocide. … half of whom are children… Yeah, according to the most current UN reports, as of today- There’s no genocide. … one quarter of the population of Gaza- Is starving. That means 500,000 children- Are starving, … are on the verge of famine. They keep saying on the verge of. On the verge of. Didn’t you quote that they said it was unlivable? I have not seen one Palestinian die of starvation in these last four months. Not one. There have been documented cases. They are always on the verge. They’re on the verge. There have been documented cases. I haven’t seen any. Yesterday Al Jazeera said six, and the day before that they said two, so those are the two. s. They are always on the verge. They’re on the verge. There have been documented cases. I haven’t seen any. Yesterday Al Jazeera said six, and the day before that they said two, so those are the two. That number probably dies in Israel of starvation also. I don’t think there’s famine in Israel. You’re so laid back, so blasé. There isn’t. There isn’t in the Gaza Strip either. It’s something which is produced for the Western- “I haven’t seen any starving children yet.” There are infants dying due to a engineered lack of access to food and nutrition. I don’t think it’s engineered, I think that if the Hamas stopped shooting perhaps, or- Unfortunately, most- As I said, engineered. I think Human Rights Watch called it using starvation as a weapon. That’s called engineering. That’s what they did, but you were pushed on this by Coleman Hughes to bring up an example of why is the Gaza Strip, by what metric are they starving? By what metric is it so behind the rest of the world? If we’re going to bring up- I want to hear an answer to that, because he didn’t answer it before. I’m happy to answer it. I just quoted you from the humanitarian organizations. They said one quarter of the population of Gaza is now verging on famine. Before October 7th. I’m not going before October 7th. But you used that as justification for Hamas fighting. You said the conditions were unlivable, they had to fight. I said to him- So my question is what made it unlivable prior to October 7th? What are the metrics that you’re using? There were about five, six or seven reports issued by UNCTAD, issued by the World Bank, issued by the International Monetary Fund, and they all said that’s why. Why? Why did they say that? That’s why The Economist, not a radical periodical, described Gaza as a human rubbish heap. So tell me by what metrics? If you’re a historian, if you do all this work to get to things, tell me what they said. Don’t just tell me a sentence, tell me by what metric. Mr. Bonnell. He’s not going to answer again. I don’t think I’ve avoided any of your questions- Of course you have, you’ve avoided every question. … except when they breached the threshold of complete imbecility. So you were about to tell me by what metric the Gaza Strip is a humanitarian crisis. I’m going to answer you. You remember what I said a moment ago, I said to Professor Morris, I defer to expertise? I look at what the organizations say. I look at what the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said. You’re saying in more words that you don’t know. You don’t know or you don’t care. And I don’t know. Okay, that’s fine. That’s what I said. Have you ever investigated how complicated is the metric for hunger, starvation, and famine? It is such a complicated metric they figured out, if you asked me to repeat it now, I couldn’t do it. And yet we have a Human Development Index where we rank countries, yet we can still measure infant mortality- Okay, you go and call the news programs. … life expectancy, we can measure all of these things. Mouin, I’m holding out for you here. You still didn’t answer the hope question. What gives you a source of hope about the region?…

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