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14 Mar 2024 Lex Fridman Podcast #418 – Israel-Palestine Debate: Finkelstein, Destiny, M. Rabbani & Benny Morris
“On the Arab side, and I know Mouin and I have disagreed on it, and we’re allowed to disagree, I think the Arab side, the lesson they learned from October 7th is Israelis aren’t as strong as we thought they were.”
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- 14 Mar 2024
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- Lex Fridman Podcast
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…What gives you hope? There is no hope, no. It’s an extreme… Hey, I’m not happy to say that. Of course you are. It’s a very bleak moment right now. That I agree with. I agree with that. Because Israel believes it has to restore what it calls its deterrence capability. I think you’ve written about it actually, I just realized. Israel has to restore its deterrence capability, and after the catastrophe of October 7th, restoring its deterrence capacity means… this part you didn’t write about… the annihilation of Gaza and then moving on to the Hezbollah. So the Israelis are dead set on restoring that deterrence capability. On the Arab side, and I know Mouin and I have disagreed on it, and we’re allowed to disagree, I think the Arab side, the lesson they learned from October 7th is Israelis aren’t as strong as we thought they were. That would be an unfortunate message if that’s really what the Arabs come to believe. And they think that there is a military option now. I think that it’s a zero-sum game at this point, and it’s very, very bleak, and I’m not going to lie about that. Now, I will admit my predictive capacities are not perfect- Are limited. … are limited, but for the moment it’s a very bleak situation- That I agree with. … and I don’t see right now a way out. However, at the very minimum, permanent ceasefire ended in human and illegal blockade of Gaza, and free the hostages. Why is it illegal? They were shooting rockets at Israel for 20 years. Why is that illegal to blockade Gaza? He thinks they’re bottle rockets, that’s what he calls them [inaudible 04:35:47]. Why is it illegal? I’ll tell you why. You don’t rocket your neighbor. You rocket your neighbor, expect consequences. I’ll tell you why. Expect consequences. But that works both ways. Yes. I know, and I accept that, it works both ways. Professor Morris. I’ll tell you why. Because every human rights, humanitarian and UN organization in the world- They’re all irrelevant. … has said that the blockade- You keep quoting them. Nobody cares about Amnesty. … is a form of collective punishment- Nobody cares about Amnesty. … which is illegal under international law. Forget illegal. The word illegal is… You think a blockade which- You don’t understand the way the world works. These things are irrelevant. And you think confining, because that’s the blockade- Yes, you don’t shoot rockets at your neighbor. … confining a million children- That’s the choice of Hamas. Children? That’s Hamas’ choice. Confining a million children in what The Economist calls a human rubbish heap- The Economist supported Israel in this war, and continues to support Israel. Okay. What International Committee of The Red Cross called a sinking ship, what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights called a 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. 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.…
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