UNBIASED - Special Report: The Israeli/Palestinian Conflict (Part I)

Episode Date: October 12, 2023

Believe it or not, 53 minutes doesn't even begin to cover the entire history and events that have led Israel and Palestine to where they are today. But, we'll start here. Thank you in advance for giving me grace in what has been my most challenging episode yet. 1. Intro (0:20)2. Statement from Jordan (2:08)3. Explainer of Who's Involved; Palestine, Gaza, Hamas, Israel, IDF (6:55)4. Short Summary of Conflict (10:57)5. In-Depth History of Conflict Beginning in 1917 (14:21)6. What Israel Says vs. What Palestine Says (29:15)7. What Happened on October 7, 2023 (32:04)8. Israel and Palestine Weigh in on Potential Solutions (37:21)9. Listener Q&A (39:28)If you enjoyed this episode, please leave me a review and share it with those you know that also appreciate unbiased news!Subscribe to Jordan's weekly free newsletter featuring hot topics in the news, trending lawsuits, and more.Follow Jordan on Instagram and TikTok.All sources for this episode can be found here.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Connex Ontario Helpline at 1-866-531-2600. BetMGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. You are listening to the Jordan is my lawyer podcast, your favorite source of unbiased

news and legal analysis. Enjoy the show. Welcome back to the Jordan is my lawyer podcast. This is a special report, as I call it, and I will be discussing the history and conflict between Israel and Palestine. First, starting with a brief introduction, I'll then talk about the parties involved. I'll then talk about the origins and history of the conflict. I will talk about the events that led up to Saturday, October 7th. I will discuss the day of Saturday, October 7th and what happened. I will discuss how both sides see a solution panning out, if at all. And I will finish with a Q&A where I'll answer questions submitted by you on Instagram. I typically ask every episode

to please leave my show a review and sometimes I'll ask you to share my show. This episode, I don't care so much about reviews as much as I care that you share this episode. I think there's so much misinformation and honestly, not even misinformation. I think it's more so people talking from both sides who are very emotionally charged and rightfully so. And there's not as much, you know, actual factual information out there as there is short statements, you know, social media statements, things like that. There's not a lot of independent

research being done. So I ask that if you do find this episode to be what you expected it to be, and you finish this episode with an appreciation for what you learned, please go ahead and share it with those that you know. The disclaimer I give every episode is that yes, I am a lawyer. No, I am not your lawyer. Before we dive in to the episode, I want to say a few things. I grew up Jewish, which means I have family and friends who are Jewish, but I also have friends that are Palestinian. I am committed to making this episode a replication of what I always do, a nonpartisan, fact-based take on the history of the conflict between Israel, Palestine, Gaza, and Hamas. This is, without a doubt, the hardest episode I've recorded to date. The history is full of complexities,

complexities which both sides don't see as complexities because each side feels as if it's straightforward. To Palestinians and Israelis, there aren't two sides to this story. There's one. But how could there only be one if each side has their own? And that's where I come in. If I'm being completely honest, I debated doing this episode. It's hard to try to explain the two sides to the story to an audience who most likely falls on one side or the other and believes that there aren't two sides. So here I am taking a risk, hoping you can hear me out during this episode and see that I am sticking to the mission I have set forth since day one. To educate, to inform, to empower, all by providing

you with both sides of the facts and letting you reach your own opinions. Therefore, if this topic is too emotional for you, you have a choice. You can either turn it off now, or you can power through and listen. But I will warn you that there will be things I say that you don't necessarily want to hear. I have always said, and I will continue to say, that listening to nonpartisan news almost guarantees that you will hear a side of the story that you don't want to hear. I won't cover every single possible topic. That's just how deep the history runs. With that said, if you feel I left something out that's important to talk about, or you leave this episode with any questions,

please don't hesitate to reach out to me. I am more than happy to do a part two if the demand is there. You will notice that almost every story has an opposite storyline to go along with it, and that's simply because Palestinians and Israelis share a completely different perspective as to how history has played out. Therefore, the best way I know how to present this episode is by sharing each story. I have spent hours and hours researching and preparing for this episode. I spoke with my Palestinian friends and my Jewish friends. I've watched the videos shared by Israeli supporters. I've watched the videos shared by Palestinian supporters. I've read countless articles and countless reports. And I want to make one thing clear. Both Israelis and Palestinians want peace. Murder, rape, kidnapping,

hostage situations, they are all wrong and they will never be okay, no matter who is doing it. You will hear that on the Palestinian side. You will hear that on the Israeli side. No one wants innocent civilians, brutally beaten, killed, raped, and executed as they have been. The problem is both sides see the other as the problem. I want to start this episode by giving you a little bit of an explainer as to who the parties are that are involved in this conflict. And I don't just want to limit it to Palestine and Israel. I want to talk about Palestine, Israel, Gaza, you know, which is part of Palestine, but the Israeli defense

forces, Hamas. I want to talk about all of those. Let's start with Palestine. Palestine is a region in the Middle East that has been controlled by many kingdoms and empires over the years. Ancient Egypt, ancient Israel and Judah, the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great, the Roman Empire, and more. In fact, it wasn't until the Roman Empire that Palestine got its name, Palestine. Prior to that, the region was known as Canaan. In more modern times, it was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. And when I say modern times, I'm talking 1500s, because you have to understand that this conflict really goes back about 3000 years, back to BC times.

When the Ottoman Empire ruled in 1500s until the 1900s, it was taken over by Great Britain. When Great Britain took over, Palestine was divided into the State of Israel and Palestinian territories. That was in 1948, which we will of course get into in much more detail. This is kind of just a surface level explanation of what Palestine is. Palestine is not collectively recognized as a state by the UN, but it has been granted non-member observer status. Because Palestine doesn't have a sufficiently

effective government or a defined territory, there's controversy over whether Palestine can be considered a state in accordance with international law definitions, and that'll come into play throughout this episode. However, it could also be argued that because so many UN member and non-member states, specifically 139 out of 193, recognize Palestine as a state, it might overcome those other arguments. But just like a lot of things in the law, this has been widely debated. Israel and the United States are just two examples of places that don't recognize Palestine as a state. Now let's talk about Gaza. Gaza is a Palestinian portion of land that borders Egypt, the Mediterranean Sea, and Israel. It has a population of about 2 million, and it's roughly 25 miles long, seven and a half miles wide. Think twice the size of Washington, D.C. Gaza is one of two territories that make up what some

refer to as the state of Palestine. And again, what I mean by that is it's just not officially considered a state like Israel is. And that's part of the problem for the Palestinians. The other Palestinian territory is the West Bank, but the West Bank and Gaza are separated by Israel. Now, Gaza also has Hamas. Hamas has two names depending on who you're talking to. Israel and the United States consider Hamas a terrorist organization. Palestinians consider Hamas a militant group. So Hamas is one of the Palestinian territory's two major political parties. You have Hamas and you have Fatah. Hamas is different than Fatah in the sense that it is known for its armed resistance to Israel. published, Hamas called for the destruction of Israel and the Jews to be killed. The exact passage in the charter says this, the day of judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, killing the Jews,

when the Jew will hide behind the stones and trees. The stones and trees will say, oh Muslims, oh Abdullah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. And so that was the 1988 charter. Then Hamas presented a new charter in 2017, or a new document, that didn't call for the killing of the Jews in the same way as the original charter did, but of course there is still that idea that Hamas is very much against the Jews. Now let's talk about Israel. Israel was declared an independent state by Great Britain in 1948. It is said to be the only democracy in the Middle East, and Israel, as you'll learn in a few minutes, was created by sectioning off a portion of Palestine. Israel over the years and through war has gradually taken control of more and more Palestinian territories, such as the

Six-Day War, as an example, which I will be discussing in more detail. The Israeli Defense Forces is Israel's military. It was formed in 1948 when the state was established, and it consists of the ground forces, the Air Force, and the Navy. IDF is considered one of the world's most powerful militaries, which is in part because of the roughly $3 billion of military aid per year that the United States provides. Israel also has the Iron Dome, which is a missile defense system that intercepts almost all missiles fired into Israel's territory. We will touch more on this a bit later and talk about why it didn't

work as intended on Saturday. So that is your general explainer as to who is involved here. One thing I want to mention at the outset is that this isn't a fight over religion as much as it's a fight over land. There is a small component of this that can relate back to religion and the Bible, you know, as far as who had the land first, who was there first, who's considered the indigenous people, who Israel is meant for, things like that. But this is mostly a fight about land. To the Palestinian people, they have been denied a state since even before the formation of Israel. Israel has taken more and more of their land over time, and they're now living under Israel

occupation and they want their freedom. To Israelis, the Jewish people need a homeland. They finally got a homeland after trying to establish one for thousands of years and repeatedly getting exiled, and now that they have one, they need to protect it. That is the shortest possible description of the views of these two groups. Both the Jews and the Palestinians believe that they are the rightful indigenous people of the land. According to the Hebrew Bible, that region was controlled by two Israelite kingdoms, the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah. Eventually, that region went on to be conquered by various groups, including the Babylonians, the Persians, Alexander the Great, and then eventually the Roman Empire in the 4th century.

When the Roman Empire took over, that area was eventually annexed. Jewish revolts started happening. Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the second Jewish temple. And that's when the Roman Empire christened. Jewish revolts started happening, Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the second Jewish temple, and that's when the Roman Empire christened. Palestine was then given its name in the 5th century, and it became more of a center of Christianity. Over the next 9 or so centuries until 1516, various Muslim ruling dynasties had their shot at controlling Palestine. And then Great Britain comes in and all of a sudden, out of nowhere, gives a portion of the land to the Jewish people and called it

Israel. Suffice it to say, it didn't make for a peaceful transition. Palestinians believe Israel is and always has been the aggressor. I also want you to know that Israelis believe Hamas and other Palestinian groups are and always have been the aggressors. So also want you to know that Israelis believe Hamas and other Palestinian groups are and always have been the aggressors. So believe it or not, that was the short version of the origins, right? We're going to dive into much more detail now. Most articles and reports that you read will say that this conflict between Israel and Palestine started in 1948. It actually started way earlier than that. Remember how I said this dates back to the BC days, thousands of years ago. 1948 is just when the conflict was exacerbated by the creation

of the state of Israel. As I mentioned before, you know, the Jews claim that they are the indigenous people of the land because of the kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Judah, but they were able to later return to their homeland. Some Muslims, in fact, support the assertion that Palestine is Jewish land or that Israel belongs to the Jews, but Muslim supporters of Israel are rare. Most Muslims and Palestinians believe that the land has actually been theirs for thousands of years. Therein lies the early start of the conflict. And because there is so much to talk about, that's where I'm going to leave it for the, you know, BC days. I don't want to get so much into that as much as I want to talk about what happened once Great Britain took over, because that is most relevant for where we're at today. From 1517 to 1917, what is today Israel, along with a big chunk of the

Middle East, was ruled by the Ottoman Empire. For 400 years, the Ottoman Empire ruled this chunk of land in the Middle East. And believe it or not, Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived pretty peacefully among one another. But then World War I happens in 1914, and by 1918, when the war was over, the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East drastically changed. At the peak of the war, in 1917, James Balfour, who was the British foreign secretary, submitted a letter of intent supporting the creation of a Jewish homeland, which would make up a smaller portion of broader Palestine. This message was conveyed in a formal declaration called the Balfour Declaration. And when World War I ended in 1918, the Ottoman Empire rule came to an end. Great Britain takes control over this

region that at the time was made up of modern-day Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, but at the time that they took over was known as Palestine. And in 1922, four years later, the League of Nations approves the Balfour Declaration that supported the creation of a Jewish homeland. The Arabs are adamantly opposed to this, right? Because they don't want to give their land up. During this time, so mainly the 1920s and 1930s, the Jewish population is growing in Palestine and they begin acquiring land from absentee non-Palestinian Arab landowners and then evicting the Palestinian farmers who were living and working there, which of course heightened tensions between the Jews and the Arab Palestinians. So just to clarify, these non-Palestinian Arabs owned the land, but it was the Palestinians who

were actually farming on the land, living and working there. So the Jews were acquiring this land from the non-Palestinian landowners, evicting the Palestinian farmers who were living there and working there. And obviously, this created more tension between the Jews and Palestinians. In the 1930s, Arab Palestinians grow this sense of nationalism, and they end up revolting against the British. The British then fight back against the Palestinians with the help of the Jewish militia, and they eventually suppress the revolt. The suppression was not a clean one. In fact, it was a very brutal fight. Afterwards, the British issue a declaration, they limit Jewish immigration to Palestine, and they call for the establishment of a joint Arab and Jewish state

within Palestine within the next 10 years. Then, World War II happens. Obviously, we know in World War II, the Jews were fleeing Europe because they were being sent to concentration camps in the Holocaust. And by the time World War II is over, British decides they're going to hand all of their issues, you know, between the Jews and the Palestinians over to the UN. So in 1947, the UN approves a plan to partition Palestine into a Jewish and Arab state. The plan wanted to create two states equal in size, but with very irregular borders. In May 1948, Israel is officially declared an independent state. The Jews celebrate this as a victory, but the Arabs, of course, remain in opposition. They don't want to give up their land. Following the announcement of Israel's independence, five Arab nations, those being Egypt,

Jordan, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, invade the state of Israel in what came to be known as the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, or Palestinians call this the Nakba, meaning catastrophe. Eventually, a ceasefire agreement is reached in 1949, but by the time the fightingba, meaning catastrophe. Eventually, a ceasefire agreement is reached in 1949, but by the time the fighting stopped, Israel occupied a third more land than they would have under the UN proposal. What was not under Israel's occupation was the West Bank, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem were controlled by Jordan, the Gaza Strip was controlled by Egypt. In the aftermath of the war, more than 700,000 Palestinians were displaced.

They became refugees in the surrounding Arab countries, and they were refugees who weren't allowed to return. So the Nakba was a very monumental event for Palestinians, not in a good way, in a very, very terrible way. And some Palestinians often say that the Nakba hasn't ended, that it has continued all of these years. So this war is over, whether you call it the Arab-Israeli war or the Nakba, it's over. And over the next 18 years, things remain, you know, the same territorially, though there's still fighting going on. There's never really peace.

Then in 1967, Israel and several Arab states go to war again. This is called the Six-Day War. At the end of the six days, Israel had gained control over the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights. By the end of it, 20,000 Palestinians had lost their lives, less than 1,000 Israelis had lost their lives. In November of 1967, the UN passes Resolution 242. This was their attempt at peace. It included Israel withdrawing from the territory that it acquired in the war, so that being all of those territories I just mentioned, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights, and for all participants of the war to respect and acknowledge the political independence and territorial integrity of every state in the

area, as well as their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries. AKA, Israel and Palestine, respect each other, don't hurt each other, live in peace. I'm sure you could have guessed this didn't work. Now here's where it's a little confusing because even though the UN passed this resolution 242 and the Israeli government voted to return the Sinai to Egypt and the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for permanent peace settlement and a demilitarization of the returned territories, this decision allegedly was not made public at the time or conveyed at the time to any Arab state. So the Arab states supposedly didn't know about it. However, it also became known that

at this time, the Arab position was to reject any peaceful settlement with the state of Israel. So the eight participating states, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, and Sudan, they passed a resolution of their own that would later become known as the Three No's. There would be no peace, no recognition, and no negotiation with Israel. So it didn't really matter if, you know, the resolution or the agreement was conveyed to the Arab states because the Arab states didn't want to negotiate or recognize this state of Israel and made the decision on their own that they wouldn't be agreeing to any peace talks. So there's really no agreement reached between Israel and the Arab states,

and the tensions are building, and eventually in 1973, Egyptian and Syrian forces go on the offensive and attack Israel during the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur in an effort to retrieve territory that had been gained by Israel in the Six-Day War. The war eventually ends with a ceasefire agreement in October of 1973, and things simmer down. Palestine is trying to create a state for themselves, and during this time, the Israelis start establishing Jewish settlements in the territories that it had overtaken in the 1948 war, those being the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. Now, Palestinians say that these settlements are illegal, according to international law. Israel says the settlements are totally fine because they don't consider Palestine a state,

and therefore, Palestine has no rights under international law. By the late 1980s, Palestinians launch the Intifs, Palestinians launched the Intifada, which is an Arabic word that means to get rid of. The Intifada was a rebellion, an uprising, a resistance movement, a freedom movement, whatever word you want to use. When it first started, it wasn't this violent movement. It was more so like Palestinians boycotting Israeli products, refusing to pay Israeli tax, things like that. But when the Israeli forces got involved in the protests, kind of like how we see here in the United States, whenever police tend to get involved, violence breaks out in these protests.

That's what happened. And the Israeli forces got involved, violence broke out. The Antifata was also sort of the birthing place of Hamas, which launched the first suicide bombing against Israel in 1993. And at the time when Hamas started, it looked a little bit different than it looks today. It was a militant group, you know, from when it started, but it also contributed to social welfare by building schools, mosques, clinics, etc. Now, this is a little bit controversial because Israelis will tell you that Hamas uses these schools, mosques, and clinics to hide and store their rockets that they use to kill people, both in Gaza and in Israel. But all that to say, over time, Hamas has gotten increasingly more

violent. Eventually, Palestinians and Israelis enter peace talks. Bill Clinton, who was obviously our president here in the United States from 1993 to 2001, helped Israel and Palestine get close to actually reaching an agreement. Israel's prime minister at the time, Ehud Barak, was willing to give up more land than any other time in the past, but the Clinton talks failed. Then in 2000, the prime minister candidate in Israel, Ariel Sharon, led a group of 1,000 armed guards to the Temple Mount, as it's known by Jews, in the old city of Jerusalem. And to Palestinians, the Temple Mount is known as the Al-Aqsa Mosque. But keep in mind that this temple or this mosque, it is in the old city of Jerusalem. Palestine and Israel both claim it as their capital.

Palestine recognizes East Jerusalem. Israel recognizes West Jerusalem. The Temple Mount or the mosque is located in East Jerusalem, which is recognized by Palestine. So the thousand armed guards are taken to the Temple Mount or the mosque. And this is seen as a very controversial, violence-inducing move. Because to Muslims, the Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam. And to Jews, the Temple Mount, which is the same thing, is the holiest site. So to march a thousand armed guards to this holy site wasn't seen as the most peaceful move. So the marching of these troops led to the Second Intifada, which was much more violent than the

first. And as a result, more than 3,000 Palestinians and 1,000 Israelis were killed. Again, this is in 2000. Then came the barrier around the West Bank in 2002. Israelis say that this barrier is for self-defense. Palestinians say the barrier is for illegal occupation. However, these barriers were sort of built in a way that disregarded the borders that had been established by the war in 1967. And the barrier was built in a way that left the Jewish settlements in the West Bank on the Israeli side of the barrier. So that's 2002. In 2005, Yasser Afarat, who was the leader of the Palestinian

Liberation Organization, dies. The Palestinian Liberation Organization was basically running this country, running the country of Palestine. So once he dies, an election is held and Hamas won a majority of the parliamentary seats. 2005 is when things really started to turn into today's fight. In 2005, Israel removed its Jewish settlements and brought its people back to Israel and gave Gaza the opportunity to be self-governed. And that is when Israelis say Hamas eventually effectuated what equates to a hostile takeover of Gaza in 2007. Israel says that its best option at this point was to protect itself from Hamas. It was to block off Gaza, restrict the flow of goods, as well as the flow of people in and out of the territory. And this is why this area is referred to as an open

air prison by Palestinians. Palestinians believe that Israelis put this barrier up, locked them, you know, locked them in this confined space that is twice the size of Washington, D.C. with two million people. According to Palestinians, Israel controls their water, their electricity, their food, and they're basically being held captive by Israelis. Now, the reason that the Palestinians feel this way is because there was a diplomatic cable released by WikiLeaks that shows that Israel wanted Hamas to take over Gaza because if it did, the IDF could deal with Gaza as a hostile state.

According to that storyline, which is obviously not the storyline that Israel says is true, but according to that leaked WikiLeaks storyline, Israel declared everyone living in Gaza as hostile. Therefore, everything was a legitimate target for them. From then on, Israel, you know, built the blockade and started firing the random bombings into Gaza. Israelis, on the other hand, say this barrier is necessary to limit rocket fire, to prevent cross-border raids, to prevent terrorists from getting into Gaza. So Israel sometimes says they're protecting the people of Gaza. And Israel

does admit that they would conduct targeted killings and random shows of force to deter Hamas from escalating too much in their power. However, according to Israel, they never intended, like their targeted killings were never meant to kill civilians. Their targeted killings were meant to kill members of Hamas to prevent Hamas from ever acting out or acting with any force against Israel. Before I move on to my next segment, which is where I will kind of contrast some things that the Palestinians say versus what the Israelis say, just so you can get a better illustration for where the disconnect is and where the two sides of the story lie. I did want to touch on just some wars that I didn't cover in great detail. So following 2005, when Israel took its people out of Gaza and let Gaza sort of govern itself, there was the 2008 Gaza war. It was a three-week

war. It killed more than a thousand Palestinians and 13 Israelis. Then you had the 2014 Israel-Gaza war. This war lasted a month and a half. It killed a dozen Israelis and more than 2,000 Palestinians. Then you have the 2021 conflict. That conflict ended when Egypt negotiated a ceasefire along with the U.S. and Qatar. And now this 2023 war, obviously, that we are currently seeing is the most recent. So I'm going to do this thing where I contrast what Israel says with what Palestine says and vice versa. Because I know, you know, in the last two minutes when I'm talking about what Israel says in Palestine, it can be a little bit confusing. So let me consolidate it. We'll do Israel first.

According to the Israelis, it was Hamas who turned what was a beautiful oasis into a terrorized strip of land, that being Gaza, of course. According to Israelis, it was Hamas that turned Gaza into an open-air jail for the Palestinian residents. Not in the sense that the barrier was placed, but in the sense that Israelis say Hamas terrorizes the Gaza residents and has complete control over them. According to Israelis, it's Hamas that makes the water in Gaza undrinkable and turns off the power in Gaza. According to Israelis, Israel uses rockets to defend its people. Hamas uses its people to defend its rockets. According to the Israelis, it was Hamas that actively sought to make Israel disappear. According to the Israelis, Hamas has brainwashed Palestinians to believe it is rightfully fighting for their freedom when really Hamas's main goal is their own power and nothing else. According to the Israelis, Hamas has lied to the Palestinian

people over and over again to make Israel look like the bad guy when really Hamas is the bad guy. According to Palestinians, it is Israel who has jailed the Palestinians in Gaza. According to Palestinians, it is Israel who controls Gaza, the water, the lights, and all basic human needs. According to Palestinians, it is the Israeli defense forces that have gone into Gaza and murdered and terrorized innocent people and children. According to the Palestinians, Israel doesnized innocent people and children. According to the Palestinians, Israel doesn't abide by international law. According to the Palestinians, it is Israel who demolishes the schools and buildings in Gaza in unprovoked attacks. According to Palestinians, it is Israel that attacks innocent Muslims during the holiest month of the year in a place of

worship. Let me give you an example of how the storylines are spun by each side. Two years ago, Israeli soldiers kicked Palestinians out of their homes in East Jerusalem. Palestinians will say that Israeli soldiers beat these innocent tenants, abused them, and kicked them out with nowhere to go. Israelis will say that these people weren't tenants, they were squatters, they weren't paying rent for decades, and they wouldn't leave when asked without violence. What's important to mention is that both sides say that they are responding to the attacks of the other and that the other is the perpetrator. I hope that gives you some clarification as to how Israelis see things versus how Palestinians see things. Now I would like to talk about Saturday. Saturday at sunrise, Hamas launched an attack on Israel with militants

on foot, in the air, and in the sea. The attack came during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah, which is the second day of a two-day holiday for Jews. There is no work, people turn off their phones, you can't travel. You can't drive. You can't write. It is a day of worship. Here's how it went. 6.30 a.m., Hamas fires a barrage of rockets into southern Israel. 7.40 a.m., Israeli military says Palestinian fighters crossed into Israel. The fighters gained entry by either breaking through the barriers that separate Gaza and Israel, flying in on parachutes, or getting in by boat. 9.45am, blasts were heard in Gaza, meaning Israel was fighting

back. 10am, Israel's military spokesperson said the Air Force was carrying out attacks in Gaza. It is said that 22 locations outside of the Gaza Strip in Israel were breached by Hamas, some locations as far as 15 miles from the Gaza border. Once Hamas entered Israel, they were murdering and kidnapping civilians, sometimes worse, mainly targeting women, children, and the elderly. Some even live-streamed the rapes and killings and called the families of those who they kidnapped to let the families hear. There was a music festival happening in Israel that was attacked by Hamas. Gunmen were seen parachuting into the festival, waiting on the roads where

cars would be exiting, and shooting into the cars and killing the people in the cars. Since then, it has been reported that 40 Israeli babies were killed, some beheaded, while their parents watched, though Palestinians say that that has not been confirmed. Israel has gone on the counter offensive. However, there comes an issue when Israel says that they are no longer providing any of the basic human needs to Palestine, and we will get into that in a minute. As of Wednesday, the death toll in Israel was at least 1,200, with more than 29 others injured. The death toll in Palestine was at least 1,200, with more than 29 others injured. The death toll in Palestine was at least 1,055, with another 5,000 injured. I want to be clear that some of the Jewish people and the people of Israel see this attack as being separate from the Israel-Palestine

conflict. Palestinians see it differently, at least some do. Some see Hamas as fighting for their freedom. Others condemn Hamas's actions. To illustrate the difference in views between the Israeli supporters and the Palestinian supporters, I would like to read you some words written by each. We'll first start with the words from the Israeli supporter. What you just witnessed had nothing to do with Palestinian freedom or justice. The bloody massacre you just witnessed is a pogrom that has been perpetrated upon Jewish people for centuries. What you witnessed was a highly coordinated extermination of Jewish life. There is no political excuse or justification for it.

Hamas want their butchering of Jews to be rationalized, justified, and sanitized. They want the resulting global strike and hate crimes against Jews to be ignored. And that's exactly what people have been doing. The only appropriate response to this pogrom is to call it what it is and condemn it. We can no longer allow murderous evil to masquerade as freedom fighting, end quote. And that, of course, refers to some Palestinians referring to Hamas as freedom fighters. Now, these are the words from the Palestinian supporter. We hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence.

Today's events did not occur in a vacuum. For the last two decades, millions of Palestinians in Gaza have been forced to live in an open-air prison. Israeli officials promised to open the gates of hell, and the massacres in Gaza have already commenced. The apartheid regime is the only one to blame. Israeli violence has structured every aspect of Palestinian existence for 75 years. From systematized land seizures to routine airstrikes, arbitrary detentions to military checkpoints, and enforced family separation to targeted killings, Palestinians have been forced to live in a state of death, both slow and sudden, end quote. So I believe that those two statements should give you a pretty good idea of where the differing perspectives lie when it

comes to the actions and events of the last few days. You have the Israel supporters who believe that Hamas is a terrorist organization that is not out for the humanity and freedom of Palestinians, but rather is out to kill Jews. And not just kill Jews, but kill Jews, Christians, Muslims, anyone that crosses their path that they don't agree with. So they don't believe that this attack from Hamas has anything to do with the Israeli-Palestinian fight. They think this has everything to do with Ham Israeli-Palestinian fight. They think this has everything to do with Hamas wanting to gain control and wanting to kill Jews. On the other side of that, you have Palestinians, and you have some Palestinians, like the one I just read,

that isn't necessarily condemning Hamas's actions. They believe that Hamas is fighting for the freedom of Palestinians and that Israel has done this to itself. You have other Palestinians that do condemn the actions of Hamas. And I will get into that in a little bit. When I do my Q&A, I'll be reading a couple of statements from Palestinians and how they're feeling about Hamas's actions. So how do we solve this? What is the solution? Is there a solution? Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Hussam Zomlot, was asked on the BBC what the solution is. His answer? Equal application of international law and resolutions. He says that Israel has been the exception for the last 75 years and hasn't been required to comply with international law. He went on to say that every

loss of life is a regret, but the question is, how do we stop this? How do we provide an alternative path? How do we learn the lessons and mistakes of the past? And how do we treat the Palestinians after years of suffering? He said, do not underestimate people's will and desire for freedom, to end occupation and captivity. This isn't only about Hamas or the last 48 hours, it's been going on for the last hundred years. It was Britain who gave our rights away without consulting us. As for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he is not a big supporter of the two-state solution. In recent years, he has said that he would be open to a Palestinian state so long as

it has no military or security power. In an interview with Jake Tapper on CNN in February, Netanyahu said, quote, there's a formula for peace, but my view is that because of the persistent Palestinian refusal to recognize a Jewish state, if we wait for them, we're not going to have peace. I think if we make peace with Saudi Arabia and effectively bring the Arab-Israeli conflict to an end, I think we'll get a workable peace with the Palestinians. End quote. Tapper then asked, is it a two-state solution? Netanyahu replied, I wouldn't necessarily call it that. But he went on to explain that he's okay with giving them self-governance power and allowing them to control their lives, vote for their officials, run their economy and their institutions, to have their flag in their parliament, but that Israel has to have

overriding security control and Palestine just won't negotiate that peace. Now him saying that a two-state solution is not the answer in his eyes is not that surprising considering eight years ago when he was elected, he ran on the idea that there would be no Palestinian state under his watch. At this point, we've talked through the history of the conflict, what happened on the morning of Saturday, October 7th, where each side believes a solution can be found, and now I want to answer some of your questions. So I took seven questions. I got hundreds, but I felt that a lot of your questions were answered in this episode, So I took seven questions. I got hundreds, but I felt that a lot of your questions were answered in this episode. So I took seven that I didn't feel I touched on too much and I

included them in the Q&A so that I could provide you with answers. As I said in the beginning of this video, if you do have questions, you can always submit them to me. I will do my best to get back to you. But again, I may just include them in a part two episode, depending on how many questions I get. Number one, why did Hamas choose to attack now? According to Hamas and the statement that they released regarding the attack, the attack was because of recent events surrounding Temple Mount. So remember that site, the holy site that I had mentioned earlier, where Israelis call it Temple Mount, Palestinians call it the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In the past week or so, according to Hamas, Israeli settlers have been entering the mosque atop the mount and praying, and Hamas has referred to this as desecration. In fact, the attack has been named by Hamas Operation Al-Aqsa Storm. Some express doubt over this, though. Given the level of the invasion, they say that it's likely this attack was actually ongoing. It was a plan ongoing for months. It was not concocted within the past week. Therefore, this reasoning does not stand. But that is what Hamas says as to why they chose to attack now. Now, it seems obvious that another thing that factored into the attack was

that it was this Jewish holiday where, you know, people in Israel aren't going to be on their phones. They're not going to be out and about. So that probably played into it as well. Number two, is Hamas representative of the general Palestinian people? I interpret this question two ways. I feel it could be asking, are the majority of Palestinians part of Hamas? To which the answer is no. However, if the question is asking whether the general Palestinian population supports Hamas, I think Palestinians are fairly split over whether Hamas's actions should be condemned. I think some people believe this is actually distancing them from the peace that they're seeking, whereas others are at a loss of what

to do and feel like if this is what helps them, then so be it. So I actually have two different sources for this that I want to cite to. Gigi Hadid, who is a famous model, she is half Palestinian. She posted a statement to her Instagram writing in part, quote, the terrorizing of innocent people is not in alignment with and does not do any good for the free Palestine movement. The idea that it does has fueled a painful decades-long cycle of back-and-forth retaliation, which no innocent civilian, Palestinian or Israeli, deserves to be a casualty of, and helps to perpetrate the false idea that being pro-Palestine equals anti-Semitic." End quote. So basically what she's saying there is

that this, you know, terrorizing that Hamas is doing is not good for their movement for freedom. Then I have Janan Matari. She is a Palestinian writer, producer, and two-time award-winning Palestinian storyteller. She said, quote, In the past, many Palestinians would be quick to denounce or condemn Hamas. But the longer the siege on Gaza and occupation of greater Palestine continues, and the more land theft and mass killings of our people that happen at the hands of Israel, the more we are realizing that peace is not possible with Israel as it's something they've never wanted. Many of us are no longer condemning Hamas as we have nothing else. And simply put, no one can tell an occupied people of seven decades how to achieve freedom, end quote. So you can tell in that it was more so like we're just at a loss, right? In the past, we would be quick to condemn them, but now we just don't know what to do. Number three, why didn't Israel see the attacks coming with all of their

technology? It's not entirely clear and it's too early to tell. I don't know if Israel's just not talking. Well, actually, I do know Israel doesn't want to talk about it right now because the IDF has said that they'll talk about it, you know, what happened intelligence-wise after the fact, after they get this all figured out. But if you're not familiar with Israel's technology, not only do they have the Iron Dome, which intercepts short-range missiles, but they've spent billions of dollars building a border system that has sensors and subterranean walls. So they are very much well equipped. And that has been one of the main questions here. You know, what happened? Why didn't Israel see this coming? A former international spokesperson for the IDF called it a full system failure. He said, quote, the entire system failed.

It's not just one component. It's the entire defense architecture that evidently failed to provide the necessary defense for Israeli civilians. Number four, why are people saying Israel's war against Palestine is illegal? This all boils down to international law. International law applies to armed conflicts where at least two states are involved, and it's in place to mitigate the effects of harmed conflict, right? It's a humanitarian set of rules. The part that some are calling illegal is this total siege of Gaza, the cutting off of the water, electricity, food, basic human needs, which was announced by Israel on Monday. EU foreign policy chief Joseph Borrell said on Tuesday that, quote, Israel has the right to self-defense, but it has to be done within international law. Cutting water, cutting electricity, cutting food to a mass of civilian people is against international law, end quote.

Along similar lines, Volker Turk, UN human rights chief, also said on Tuesday, quote, imposition of sieges that endanger the lives of civilians by depriving them of goods essential for their survival is prohibited under international humanitarian law, end quote. Number five, is Israel an apartheid state? It depends who you ask. Palestinians will say yes, Israelis will say no. First, let's define apartheid. According to the UN, apartheid is the implementation and maintenance of a system of legalized racial segregation in which one racial group is deprived of political and civil rights. Apartheid covers inhumane acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them. The UN held the Apartheid Convention in 1973, which is said to be the ultimate step in the

condemnation of apartheid because that convention not only declared apartheid unlawful, but declared it criminal as well. So Palestinians say, you know, the airstrikes that kill civilians, the way we're treated by the Israeli defense forces on the ground, the you know, the airstrikes that kill civilians, the way we're treated by the Israeli defense forces on the ground, the general oppression, the fact that we live in this open air jail, that is all characteristic of an apartheid state. Israel, on the other hand, says they're not an apartheid state. Arabs that live in Israel are actually treated better by Israel than they would be by Palestine. According to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, the Arab-Israeli population in 2023 was 2.1 million, which represents 21% of the country's population. Israel says that these Arab-Israelis enjoy equal rights

in Israel, like all other citizens. There are also two Arab parties in the Israeli government. There is one Arab Supreme Court justice. Israel grants temporary asylum to LGBTQ Palestinians from the West Bank who would otherwise be killed in the West Bank. So for those reasons, Israel says there's no way we can be an apartheid state. Now, there have been reports from various entities that have said Israel has met the apartheid threshold. Two Israeli human rights groups issued separate reports in 2020 and

2021, concluding that the bar for labeling the Israeli regime as apartheid has been met. In April 2021, Human Rights Watch became the first major international human rights body to say that Israel had crossed the apartheid threshold. But then you have, on the contrary, the European Commission considers the term apartheid not appropriate to use in connection with the state of israel and many western governments and scholars agree so again it really depends on who you ask number six what is zionism and how is it different than judaism okay think of zionism as a movement think of judaism as a movement. Think of Judaism as a religion. Look at Judaism from a biblical perspective, wherein Jews have certain religious beliefs. Look at Zionism as a person's support for a Jewish state, that being Israel.

From the beginning of the Zionist movement, which was a movement in support of a Jewish homeland, early Zionists didn't really agree on what Zionism meant or what the Jewish state should look like. Some Zionists supported Palestinians, some didn't. Nowadays, though, it's kind of changed. And it's more so said that you can't have one without the other because the movement of Zionism is what brought the Jewish people to Israel. And if you're anti-Zionist, it basically means you don't believe the state of Israel should belong to the Jews, and therefore you're anti-Semitic. But there are some radical Jewish groups, like the small ultra-Orthodox group of Jews called Notori Karta,

who actually oppose Israel. But that's like super, super rare. For the most part, all Jews are Zionists. Palestinians, though, believe Zionism is a form of racism and colonialism against them. They believe that Zionism is incompatible with the values of democracy and peace. To them, Zionism implies that Jews have privileges that others don't. And despite this being repealed years later, Arab states actually pushed through a UN General Assembly resolution in labeling Zionism a form of racism and racial discrimination in 1975. So to kind of bring this full circle, Zionism is a movement, Judaism is a religion, Palestinians see Zionism as a form of racism and colonialism against them, whereas Jews see it as support for

a Jewish state. And if you are not a Zionist, you are anti-Semitic. And finally, number seven, did Iran fund and or coordinate the attack with the $6 billion that we just released to them? Let me clarify, because there's a lot of misunderstanding around the six billion dollars. The six billion dollars was never ours. It never belonged to the United States. OK, so let me just clear up what seems to be some confusion. Basically, what happened is Donald Trump in 2019 imposed these sanctions on Iran, along with the banking sector. And in the year prior, South Korea had bought all of this oil from Iran and they hadn't paid them yet. South Korea owed Iran about $7 billion, but with depreciation, $6 billion. And so when this full-blown sanction went into effect, those billions

that South Korea owed Iran stayed in South Korea. They could not move. They were blocked in a bank in South Korea. It was up to the United States because we are the ones who issued that sanction to eventually say, okay, those funds can go to Iran. So basically when we did this prisoner swap, what happened is we gave Iran five prisoners, they gave us five prisoners. And we also agreed to allow South Korea to release that money, send it to Qatar, and Qatar is supposed to be overseeing the money. It didn't go to Iran, supposedly. It's still with Qatar. But that's what happened.

So I just want to clarify that it was never the United States' money. Like, we didn't give them $6 billion. Now, to get back to whether Iran funded and or coordinated the attack with the $6 billion, as of now, there's no evidence that Iran used those funds to support Hamas. On Sunday, the United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Iran hadn't been able to even spend a single dollar of that $6 billion yet, and said that he had not seen any evidence that Iran directed or was behind this particular Saturday attack, but that there's certainly a long relationship there.

However, let's be real. Number one, it's not like the government would tell us if any portion of the $6 billion was spent because that would be a terrible look. And two, Iran has plenty of money. They didn't need that $6 billion was spent because that would be a terrible look. And two, Iran has plenty of money. They didn't need that $6 billion to support Hamas. They have always supported Hamas even without the $6 billion. In 2022, Hamas said it received about $70 million from Iran that year. And a United States State Department report from 2020 found that Iran provided about $100 million annually to Palestinian terrorist groups, including Hamas. So they didn't need the $6 billion to fund the attack. Could they have

coordinated the attack? Certainly. That concludes this episode. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for giving me grace and allowing me to explain the history and modern day issues that are being presented in this terrible, terrible conflict. This was not easy. I will tell you that. So please, if there's anything that you feel I missed and you wanted me to talk about, or you feel that I did your side of disservice by not talking about it, please let me know. If you are left with any questions, please also let me know. I would love to do a part two, like I said, if the demand is there. So with that said, I will talk to you tomorrow for the regularly scheduled nonpartisan Friday news update.

And until then, thank you so much for being here.