09.10.24

Editorial Note

For two decades, IAM has repeatedly covered various anti-Israel Israeli professors teaching at British universities, including Ilan Pappe, the so-called New Historian, and Haim Bresheeth, a filmmaker, who pro-Palestinians have recruited them to bash Israel. 

Recently, both were interviewed on a TV program by Five Pillars, a UK-based news site covering current affairs related to Islam and Muslims. The message of the program claimed: “There is only one way this is going and that is the end of Zionism.” The program is titled “Al-Aqsa Flood, Gaza Genocide & The End of Zionism.” The written introduction states, “Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and filmmaker Haim Bresheeth reflect on the horrors Israel has inflicted upon the Palestinians since October 7, 2023, and explain how by showing its ugly face to the world Israel is sealing its own demise.”

Five Pillars journalist opened the interview by stating: “365 days of mechanized Slaughter yet 27,905 days of the continued Nakba five pillars spoke with Israeli historian Ilan Pappe and Israeli filmmaker and academic Haim Bresheeth to situate the last year in the grand timeline of the Nakba.” 

Bresheeth: “In many ways, the 7th of October, which people consider as Nakba two, is so much worse. In the first Nakba, about 15,000 Palestinians died. In this last year, since the 7th of October, 23, in all likelihood, around 300,000 Palestinians already died.” 

Pappe: “But what is more important, I think, is to understand that this is an attempt to complete what was incomplete. The present Israeli government believes it has an opportunity to complete the Nakba.” 

Bresheeth: “The other thing is, of course, in the first Nakba, 750,000 people left their homes. Now we’re talking about 2.3 million people.” 

Pappe: “So in that respect, we are in the same historical period, where you have an attempt to create by force a Jewish state in the middle of the Arab world against the will of the Palestinians.” 

Bresheeth: “And they have left their homes, but they can’t go back to them because the homes don’t exist, the schools don’t exist, the hospitals don’t exist, the mosques don’t exist, the universities have gone, so what we are talking about is a terrible event not just on the Palestinian timeline but in world global terms.” 

Five Pillars: “Just from the top of your memory, what are some of the worst atrocities and debacles that we’ve witnessed this past year? 

Pappe: “I think the worst is anything to do with toddlers and babies. I mean, seeing babies being operated without anesthetics, being left alone on a hospital corridor, being buried with the hands of their parents and grandparents tears your heart. If the power and hatred and ruthlessness of a state is directed against such a person, you understand we hit the bottom.” 

Bresheeth: “What really stands out for me are a few things. First of all, the great massacres in and around hospitals, so they not only bombed hospitals but they bombed them with one or two tons of bombs, which are actually the bombs that they used in Lebanon a week ago to kill Hassan Nasrallah. You know, we’re talking about a hole in the ground which is 20 meters deep, it’s never been used on any civilian population ever before, and let alone in a hospital. But I’m not just talking about that, I’m talking about the tens of thousands of people who were killed in safe areas that the Israelis sent them there, saying your house, your home, your room, your shop, is not safe anymore, we’re going to wipe it out, now go there and stay there because this is safe, and then they kill thousands of people in those areas, and Israel is lying as a matter of course, when they correct it after a day or after a month or after a year, most people don’t hear the corrections. People don’t know that half of the Israelis killed on the 7th of October were killed by the IDF. President Biden apparently has seen beheaded babies on television, I think he needs a technician to look at his television. What are we talking about, I think, the behavior of Israel is without precedent, and it’s not very surprising that the ICJ has already said that this is plausible genocide, meaning in English, they are committing genocide.” 

Five Pillars: “You mentioned, you know, the charges against Israel, do you think its reputation has been damaged?” 

Pappe: “The support for Palestine in the global civil society has increased dramatically.”

Bresheeth: “Basically what we see, billions of people, even in the West, an understanding that wasn’t there before.” 

Pappe: “And even more importantly, I think, is the fact that the institutions that represent international law, such as the ICJ, for the first time, adopted the language to describe Israeli actions either in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip in a way that reflects much better the reality compared to the language used by governments and mainstream media.” 

Bresheeth: “I consider it the South African moment of Palestine, you know, until a certain moment, in the case of the South African Apartheid, people didn’t understand that this needs to be wiped out, and then they understood, billions of people understood, people understood that things are not great in Palestine, but they did not understand how brutal and how inhumane the Israelis can be and now they understand it.” 

Pappe: “I think its International reputation has been severely damaged, in fact, anyone with a modicum of decency in them cannot support Israel.” 

Bresheeth: “But even in the UK, there are seven Jewish organizations supporting Palestine and most of them are anti-Zionist. This has never happened before, so there are little lights. For example, tomorrow in the European Parliament, Jews from all over Europe are going to celebrate the Jewish New Year for Palestine, they are going to speak to as many parliamentarians as possible as European Jews, saying to them, you cannot support this genocide.”

Five Pillars: “Where do you see all of this going five years from now?” 

Bresheeth: “There’s only one way it should go, and I think it’s going that way, and that is the end of Zionism.”

Pappe: “I distinguish between short-term and long-term processes. I’m afraid the short term doesn’t bring any good news. I think, I am optimistic about, I don’t know if it’s 5 years, or 7 years, or 8 years, but I think there are deeper processes in place, processes that are disintegrating the Israeli state from within, but we have to be patient, it will take a while.”

This is the end of the interview. From this program, it is evident that Pappe and Bresheeth wish for the demise of Israel. The odious descriptions of Israel have fueled the large-scale pro-Palestinian protests in the country, contributing to an alarming rise of antisemitic incidents.

Those who castigate Israel as alleged apartheid should note that their hateful words created a new reality, a need to protect Jews by segregating them from the general population.  The British government, which has firmly quashed attacks on minority migrants during the recent race riots should do more to prevent such attacks against Jews rather than resort to protective segregation. 

Over the decades, British universities have recruited numerous Israeli-bashing academics to escape the label of antisemitism. All these, despite the fact that Great Britain adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Definition of Antisemitism. 

REFERENCES:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/4Rayj4jCr2JTbXXg/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNub9OPvKMU

Al-Aqsa Flood, Gaza Genocide & The End of Zionism

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4,088 views Oct 7, 2024 #Palestine #Israel #GazaIsraeli historian Ilan Pappe and filmmaker Haim Bresheeth reflect on the horrors Israel has inflicted upon the Palestinians since October 7, 2023, and explain how by showing its ugly face to the world Israel is sealing its own demise. #Palestine#Israel#Gaza FOLLOW 5PILLARS ON: Website: https://5pillarsuk.com YouTube:    / @5pillars   Facebook:   / 5pillarsuk   Instagram:   / 5pillarsnews   X: https://x.com/5Pillarsuk Telegram: https://t.me/s/news5Pillars TikTok:   / 5pillarsnews