It Could Happen Here - The Latest Peace Deal, Part 2

Episode Date: June 14, 2024

Continuing the conversation from Part 1, Shereen discusses the history of Hamas and summarizes the previous peace deal attempts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline Podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into Tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami.

Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome back to It Could Happen Here. This is Shireen and today we are continuing our conversation from yesterday where we talked about the U.S. proposed peace deal for Hamas and Israel. That looks suspiciously like a deal Hamas had already agreed to just a few weeks before that and Israel did not agree to. We had ended part one talking about how the IOF literally killed their own hostages when they mistakenly thought they were threats. And I ended saying, speaking of threats, and I'm going to continue because that's what professionals do. So, since October

7th, Israel has described Hamas as an existential threat, saying that it needs to destroy the group and won't stop the violence in Gaza until it does so. But I would argue that most people who are pro-Israel or Western Zionists in general don't actually know anything about Hamas other than thinking they're this big bad evil that has to be eradicated by the quote, only democracy in the Middle East, which I hope by this point people realize is a sick joke. Hamas is suddenly being talked about on every news channel, and anything even remotely pro-Palestine is now labeled as pro-Hamas, when most people in this country I would argue most likely had never even heard of Hamas before October 7th. Labeling something as pro-Hamas truly just means nothing. As far as Israel is concerned, the UN is Hamas. In May, Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Erdan, said in an interview with Israel's army radio that the UN has, quote, turned into a collaborator with Hamas. Maybe even more than that, a terror organization unto itself.

Wow. Israeli leadership has just continued to one-up themselves when it comes to saying the most insane fucking shit. And then according to Zionists, the college campus protests that were calling for a literal end to in Virginia by a U.S. law firm and an Israeli legal group who have teamed up to sue two organizations involved in recent college campus protests, the American Muslims for Palestine and National Students for Justice in Palestine. to serve as their, quote, propaganda division in the U.S. Arson Avtrosky, the CEO of the International Legal Forum, who was working with this U.S. legal team of Greenberg-Tarrig and the National Jewish Advocacy Center, he called the American Muslims for Palestine and the National Students for Justice in Palestine, as well as all the protesters supporting Palestine, most of whom are students, as, quote, the foot soldiers of Hamas. If I was going to go through everything that Israel and Zionists have labeled as pro-Hamas, this episode

would never end. But I hope it's clear that this label and accusation isn't based on any real sort of evidence or proof, and it is only a way to scare people into blindly supporting Israel in, quote, defending itself, big quotes there, against this growing evil spreading across the globe and invading our campuses. When in reality, there would be no Hamas without Israel. Although Hamas eventually grew into being the most active armed resistance group in Gaza, it definitely didn't start that way, and it wouldn't have even had the power to grow the way it did if it weren't for intentional actions by Israeli leadership that started decades ago.

Before we get into a timeline of the recent Hamas peace deals that have led to this very similar deal that the U.S. proposed, all deals that again Israel has rejected, I want to make sure we at least have an understanding of what Hamas even is. Hamas, which is an Arabic acronym for Islamic Resistance Movement, would not exist today if it wasn't for Israel. American and Israeli politicians are always saying the same thing, how dangerous and evil Hamas is, without mentioning how Israel itself helped create Hamas. The TLDR of it all is that Israelis helped turn a bunch of fringe Palestinian Islamists in

the late 1970s into one of the world's most notorious militant groups. This isn't a conspiracy theory, it's a confirmed fact. Former Israeli officials such as Brigadier General Isaac Segev, who was the Israeli military governor in Gaza in the early 1980s, have openly spoken about this. After his tenure, Segev told a New York Times reporter that he had helped finance the Palestinian Islamist movement as a, quote, counterweight to secularists and leftists of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, aka the PLO, as well as the Fatah Party, which was led by Yasser Arafat. Arafat, too, referred to Hamas as, quote, a creature of Israel. Hamas was officially

founded in 1987 at the start of the first Palestinian intifada, or uprising, against the Israeli occupation. But its beginnings actually started much earlier. Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood had been repressed by Egyptians in Gaza prior to 1967, but once the Israelis invaded and occupied the Gaza Strip, they chose to encourage this group of extremist Islamists. The dominant Palestinian political force in Palestine at the time was the PLO, and it was deemed a threat to Israel, and so Israel sought to undermine its power. to Israel, and so Israel sought to undermine its power. The PLO is a nationalist coalition, which was centered around the secular Fatah party led by Yasser Arafat. By empowering Yassin and the Muslim Brotherhood, Israel thought they could divide the occupied Palestinian people and

eventually rule over them by playing them against each other. Secular Nationalists vs. Religious Islamists In 1978, Yassin wanted to officially register his Islamic Association, which was basically the precursor to present-day Hamas. The Israelis jumped on the opportunity to help make this happen. Yassin built and grew a network of Islamist social institutions across Gaza, funded largely by Israel. Avner Cohen is a former Israeli religious affairs official who worked in Gaza for more than two decades. In 2009, he told the Wall Street Journal, Hamas, to my great regret, is Israel's creation. Back in the mid-1980s, Cohen even wrote an official report to his superiors warning them not to play divide and rule in the occupied territories by backing Palestinian Islamists against the Palestinian secularists.

He wrote in his report, Clearly, his superiors did not listen to him, and Hamas was the result. To be clear, Israelis had helped build up a militant strain of extremist political Islam in the form of Hamas and its Muslim Brotherhood precursors and allowed it free reign in order to quiet any chance of progress in Palestine. And then, when it became convenient for their Zionist narrative, the Israelis tried to bomb, besiege, and blockade it out of existence. David Hashem, a former Arabs affairs expert in the Israeli military who was based in Gaza in the 1980s, said the, quote, original sin was Israel's support of Yassin in the 1970s. He said,

When I look back at the chain of events, I think we made a mistake, but at the time, nobody thought about the possible results. Yeah, no shit. The only American politician that I know of who has ever referenced how Israel is responsible for Hamas's creation is Ron Paul. In 2001, on the floor of the house, Ron Paul said, Hamas was encouraged and really started by Israel because they wanted Hamas to counteract Yasser Arafat. Speaking of Arafat, not only did he himself tell an Italian newspaper that Hamas is a creature of Israel, he also said that the former Israeli Prime Minister, Yassak Rabin, admitted this to him, calling it a, quote, fatal error. Yassin was eventually assassinated by an Israeli airstrike

in Gaza on March 22, 2004. Silvan Shalom, former Israeli Vice Prime Minister, said after Yassin's death that, quote, Sheikh Yassin and his organization Hamas are responsible for the killings of more than 400 Israelis, when actually, no, Israel is clearly largely responsible. David Long, a former Middle East expert in the U.S. State Department under Ronald Reagan, told journalist Robert Dreyfuss, I thought the Israelis were playing with fire. This, of course, is not a unique development, as there have been dozens of instances of unneeded and malignant U.S. intervention in other countries for its own gain. And since then, Hamas has killed far more Israelis than any secular Palestinian militant group.

Israel built up Yassin and Hamas as a rival to Arafat's Fatah. Then they killed Yassin. And then they doubled down in making Hamas Israel's worst enemy. An enemy it would use to justify to the entire world that it was not only okay but necessary to control and massacre millions of Palestinians in the process of destroying this threat. Israel spent more than 20 years helping build up Hamas, and then spent another 20 years trying to destroy it. All of this is to say that aside from the purposeful assistance from Israel in creating Hamas, that Hamas wouldn't even exist if it wasn't for the Israeli occupation. There would be no resistance, because without the ethnic

cleansing and forced violent occupation, there would be nothing to resist. where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout?

Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires.

From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, better offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology.

I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba.

He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian.

Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast

network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In the process of bolstering this militant group, Hamas also became the main armed force behind the Palestinian resistance, and many view Hamas as the only group even attempting to defend Palestinians in the face of Israeli occupation. And the organization itself has changed over the years, especially in the last decade. It seems like Hamas was and is increasingly trying to establish a more favorable status quo for the Palestinian people. Hamas's leaders were shaped by the hard realities of a brutal occupation, which was marked by mass arrests of Palestinians, the expropriation of Palestinian lands, and control of their resources. sources. More than half a million Palestinians were arrested and tried in Israel's military-run courts between 1967 and 1987, and over 1,500 Palestinian homes were demolished, and thousands of Palestinians were forcibly deported, aka ethnically cleansed. After Hamas won the 2006

elections in Gaza, its leader Haniyeh said the group accepted a state on the 1967 borders, as well as all the decisions taken by the PA and the PLO, but there were no takers. Hamas leaders also backed the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative that called for the following, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from territories occupied in 1967, the right of Palestinian refugees to return to the homes they had been forcibly displaced from since 1948, and the formation of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state in return for Arab recognition of Israel. But Hamas's offers were repeatedly dismissed by Israel and ignored by Israel's Western allies, including the U.S., despite

Washington's claims of playing the role of a, quote, honest broker in the conflict. Tariq Bakony, author of Hamas Contained, The Rise and Pacification of Palestinian Resistance, told Al Jazeera, Hamas has always said that they are ready to offer a truce and to stop targeting civilians if the Israeli occupation removes its settlers. At least 750,000 Israelis live in hundreds of fortified illegal settlements and outposts across the occupied Palestinian territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the vast majority of which are again built illegally, either entirely or partially, on private Palestinian land, and thus they violate international law. One of the more infuriating and frankly incredibly stupid talking

points that Zionists have when it comes to talking about Hamas is the 2006 election where Palestinians elected Hamas as their appointed leadership. I want to remind everyone of a few things. The Gaza Strip has a very young population. Most of the inhabitants in Gaza are under 15 years old. The largest population group in Gaza are children between the ages of five and nine years old. This population wasn't even born yet, let alone old enough to vote in 2006. And furthermore, leadership does not indicate your right to live a life, your right to not be killed. If you're in America and Trump is your elected president and you hate Trump and maybe other foreign entities hate Trump, do you deserve to die?

No, you don't. The resistance fighters in Hamas are not the ones who wrote the original charter. They're not the ones who established Hamas in the first place. They're young people that are joining the most active armed resistance to defend Palestine. It's their only option. armed resistance to defend Palestine. It's their only option. And Palestinians have tried other non-violent forms of resistance against this occupation. In 2018 to 2019, there was something called the Great March of Return. It started on March 30th, 2018 and ended December 27th of 2019. Every Friday for those years, Palestinians in Gaza demonstrated and protested along the border fence between Israel and Gaza for a right to return to their homes and to demand an end to the Israeli blockade in Gaza. During this time, the Israeli army killed a total of 223 people. Over 3,601,000 people, including nearly 8,800 children,

were injured. This is after a peaceful attempt at demonstrating, after a peaceful attempt at trying to resist occupation. They're still shot and killed. They're shot with the intention to kill. Expecting Palestinians to be pacifists when it comes to resisting a brutal, violent occupation that has been now almost a century long is very small-minded and entitled and frankly wrong. Palestinians have the right to resist. Armed resistance is legal under international law when it comes to resisting and occupying power. What does this mean? Maybe you've heard that train of thought before. Let me explain it to you. Let's go back in time a little bit. The General Assembly of the United

Nations, the UNGA, which was once described as the collective conscious of the world, noted the right of peoples to self-determination, independent, and human rights. As early as 1974, Resolution 3314 of the UNGA prohibited states from any military occupation, however temporary. Hmm, curious. Israel has been doing that for decades now. In the relevant part of the resolution, the resolution not only went on to affirm the right to self-determination, freedom, and independence of peoples forcibly deprived of that right, and particularly peoples under colonial and racist regimes or other forms of alien domination, but it also noted the right of the occupied to, quote, struggle and to seek and receive support in that effort. The term armed struggle was implied without precise definition in that resolution and many early other ones that upheld

the right of indigenous peoples to evict an occupier. Again, the right of a indigenous people to evict their occupier. But the imprecise language was changed on December 3, 1982. At that time, the WNGA Resolution 37-43 removed any doubt or debate over the lawful entitlement of occupied people to resist occupying forces by any and all lawful means. The resolution reaffirmed, quote, the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity, and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle. And although Israel has tried time and time again to recast this ambiguous intent of this precise resolution trying to place its now nearly century-long violent brutal occupation in the West Bank and Gaza beyond this resolution's application, the declaration itself proceeds to be very explicit in its language when it comes to Palestine. Section 21 of the resolution strongly condemned, quote, proceeds to be very explicit in its language when it comes to Palestine. Section 21 of the resolution strongly condemned, quote, the expansionist activities of Israel in the Middle East and the continual bombing of Palestinian civilians, which constitute a serious obstacle to the realization of self-determination and independence of the Palestinian people.

predetermination and independence of the Palestinian people. That's what I mean, and that's what many people mean when they say that Palestinians have the right to resist and armed resistance is illegal under international law. I want to bring that up because even if Hamas does not reflect the viewpoint of some Palestinians, Hamas is also the main armed resistance group that has been fighting against the IOF in defending Palestine, Gaza in particular, against Israel. And they have a right to do that. Clearly, as international law states. Regardless, let's go back to talk about the history of Hamas and how they amended their charter in 2017. In 2017, Hamas formally amended its original 1988 charter.

The new charter holds that armed resistance against an occupying power is justified under international law. And while the 1988 Hamas charter had been widely criticized for its anti-Semitism, the 2007 document states that Hamas's fight is widely criticized for its anti-Semitism, the 2007 document states that Hamas's fight is not with the Jewish people, but with the Zionist project. And as you should realize by now, anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. The new charter also announced once again that it would accept a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders. This would recognize, in effect, a two-state solution, and therefore the existence of Israel as a legitimate entity. This was proposed even as Israel continued to insist

that it can no longer allow Hamas to exist, and as Israeli politicians, led by Netanyahu, repeatedly ruled out a two-state solution. Hamas political leader Khaled Mashal said at the time, The Hamas thinking from the very start was clear. We are not facing a religious war. Hamas, ever since its inception, realizes the nature of the struggle against the Israeli occupier, that it is not a struggle because they are Jews, but because they are occupiers.

Israeli officials dismissed the new policy paper as lies. In a video, Netanyahu symbolically and dramatically threw the document into a trash bin, saying it was an attempt to deceive the world. Through its actions, which span across decades, Israel has not shown any interest in a political agreement, whether with Hamas or other Palestinian political parties, like Fatah, which governs the occupied West Bank. Sari Arabi, a Ramallah-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera, the issue is not about Gaza. It's also not about whether Israel or Hamas started the war. There are daily killings and assaults in the occupied West Bank. There are attacks on the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

There are prisoners and checkpoints. The people in Gaza are refugees. They were isolated and separated from the rest of the Palestinian people. And the vast majority of Gaza's population are refugees, who were forcibly expelled from their homes and villages in the 1948 Nakba by Zionist militias. Many political analysts also blame Israel for the failure of the Oslo Accords, signed in 1993 and 1995, between Israel and the PLO, which was representative of the Palestinian people at the time. The agreements led to the

formation of the PA, an interim five-year governing body meant to lead to an independent Palestinian state comprising of the occupied territory of East Jerusalem and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. However, 30 years into its existence, the PA has failed to create a state in the face of Israeli occupation, illegal land grabs, and settlements. And then Hamas took control of Gaza from the PA in 2007. While there was initial support for the Oslo Accords among Palestinians, the failure to reach a final peace agreement by 1999 and the growing settlement projects, particularly under Netanyahu, left many disappointed. In a leaked video in 2010, Netanyahu boasted about how he made sure the Oslo Accords did not succeed. The hopes of the Oslo Accords turned into despair as Israeli policies under successive governments continued to undermine the PA and its aspirations.

Today, the PA has limited administrative rule over pockets of the occupied West Bank, Today, the PA has limited administrative rule over pockets of the occupied West Bank, while Israeli settlements, which are again considered illegal under international law, have grown rapidly. The settler population in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem has grown from 250,000 Israelis in 1993 to more than 700,000 this year. to more than 700,000 this year. In his talk with Al Jazeera, author Tarek Barconi said, The Israelis wanted Oslo because that's how they maintain their colonization, by maintaining the facade of a peace process. Hamas was showing a mirror to the Israelis to say, if you're actually talking about the possibility of ending the occupation, then end it. That was their offer, instead of the 1993 Oslo Agreements, that they would stop armed resistance if Israel let

Palestinians be in the eastern side of Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. When we look into the history of Hamas, we see that its political leadership has over the years proposed numerous long-term truces or ceasefires to Israel in exchange for the realization of a sovereign, independent Palestinian state. But Israel has rejected those offers, arguing that Hamas could not be trusted to adhere to any long-term ceasefire, and insisting that any proposal for a short-term pause in fighting were insincere and strategically aimed only at helping the armed movement regroup from losses. I've said this before, but it bears

repeating. Every Zionist accusation is a confession. The reality is that Israel is the one who cannot be trusted to adhere to any long-term ceasefire, as we have seen time and time again. long-term ceasefire, as we have seen time and time again. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real inspiring stories from the people, you know, follow and admire join me every week for post run high. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to post run high on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts. chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, better offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough.

So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. radio app, Apple Podcasts,

wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez,

will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story,

as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Here is a summarized timeline of the most recent peace deal attempts that have been proposed since October 7th, since the genocide in Gaza started. been proposed since October 7th, since the genocide in Gaza started. In January 2024, Netanyahu rejected a Hamas proposal to end the war and release more than 100 captives held by the group in exchange for a withdrawal of Israeli forces, the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, and recognition of Hamas governance over Gaza. And then on May 6th, Hamas said it accepted a Gaza

ceasefire proposal, which was put forward by Egypt and Qatar. This deal would come in three stages that would see an initial halt in the fighting, leading to lasting calm and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory. It would also ensure the release of Israeli captives in Gaza, as well as an unspecified number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. The framework of the agreement, in brief, is the release of all Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip, civilians or military, alive or otherwise, from all periods, in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel as agreed upon, and a return to a sustainable calm that leads to a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces

from the Gaza Strip, as well as its reconstruction and the lifting of the siege. Hmm, it seems a little familiar, doesn't it? But Israel, unsurprisingly, did not agree to this proposal. Israel unsurprisingly did not agree to this proposal. Instead, it bombed Rafah. Which made the Israeli government's message clear. There will be no permanent ceasefire. Israel's bombing of Rafah was justified by Israel as a way to disband Hamas battalions and seize control of the Gaza-Egyptian crossing, which Israel accuses Hamas of using to smuggle weapons into Gaza. But humanitarian groups were quick to point out that a closure of such a crossing would only lead to further disastrous consequences for the more than 1 million Palestinians living in the Rafah, the majority of them displaced from other areas of Gaza, who fled to Rafah after being told by

Israel that it was a quote-unquote safe zone. Israel said at the time that the terms of the May Hamas ceasefire deal differed from previous proposals it had seen, but analysts believe that the wider issue is that Israel is not willing to agree to a permanent ceasefire even after Hamas releases all Israeli captives. Omar Rahman, an expert on Israel-Palestine with the Middle East Council for Global Affairs, spoke about this in May, saying, the last couple of days have proved that Israel was not really negotiating in good faith. The moment that Hamas agreed to a deal, Israel was willing to blow that up by commencing their assault on Rafah. The goal was to destroy Gaza in its totality. And then on May 31st, the U.S. announced its own ceasefire proposal

that Biden said would lead to a, quote, lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. He said the proposal involves three phases, the first of which would last six weeks and would include a full and complete ceasefire, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza. Again, this peace plan is almost indistinguishable from the one that Hamas agreed to on May 6th. A quick reminder that only 25 days before this announcement on May 6th, Hamas had agreed to a ceasefire proposal by Egypt and Qatar

that is almost identical to the one Biden announced on May 31st, and Israeli leaders rejected that initiative. On June 7th, Israel rejected the UN's resolution of its own hostage deal offer, which was a permanent ceasefire in exchange for release of all hostages. A reminder that the only mass release of hostages has come through ceasefire exchanges, and that a ceasefire deal means freed hostages without mass death. It boggles my mind that there are still people defending Israel and saying all this Palestinian death is for the hostages, because again, if Israel cared about their lives at all,

they would agree to a deal, because that deal can guarantee the safety of the hostages. But they do not care about the hostages. Every time Israel rejects a deal, they are telling you that. And yet their supporters are too entrenched in the lies and propaganda of Zionism to ever see clearly. So, just to summarize, the U.S. proposed a ceasefire deal, which was almost indistinguishable from previous plans agreed to by Hamas. And then, while seemingly

waiting for Israel to accept the deal, the U.S. launched a military operation and committed more war crimes to murder hundreds of Palestinians, and they did this by hiding in humanitarian aid trucks. they were trying to formulate a ceasefire agreement, the U.S. helped Israel plan and carry out its massacres. This is what peacemaking looks like to the United States. A ceasefire deal is the absolute bare minimum and it is nowhere near enough. The removal of Netanyahu is nowhere near enough. He's being set up as the fall guy and scapegoat for Israel, skirting the responsibility of what the Israeli state has done to Palestinian people since 1948. The fight for Palestine is a liberation movement which demands nothing less than the full dignity, freedom, and security of all who live under this violent military occupation. It's a demand to end Israeli apartheid. And until that happens, Israel will continue to get away with the Nakba that started

in 1948 and continues today. The Nakba never ended. Israel will continue to get away with the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people until Israel and its apartheid is dismantled. A ceasefire is the absolute bare minimum to achieving that. And that, my friends, is our episode for today. Please keep sharing and learning about what is happening in Palestine, and don't stop talking about it. Free Palestine. It Could Happen Here is a production of Cool Zone Media. For more podcasts from Cool Zone Media, visit our website, coolzonemedia.com. Or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com slash sources.

Thanks for listening. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once

we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into tech's elite and how they've turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose. hinged look at the underbelly of tech brought to you by an industry veteran with nothing to lose.

Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever else you get your podcasts from. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, five-year-old Cuban boy Elian Gonzalez was found off the coast of Florida. And the question was, should the boy go back to his father in Cuba? Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or stay with his relatives in Miami? Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.