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

Episode Date: October 18, 2023

1. Intro (0:20)2. Clarification of Part I Topics (6:28) (Creation of Israel, Failed Peace Talks, Gaza/Israel Barrier, Beheaded Babies, Israel's Creation of Hamas, Six-Day War) 3. Recap of Events Between Israel and Gaza Since October 7th, 2023 (20:53)4. Q&A (32:32)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 for another special report on the situation in Israel and Palestine. This episode is part two in the Israel-Palestine series, so if you haven't listened to part one, I highly recommend doing so before you listen to this episode. While it's not an absolute necessity, part one will give you a little more context as to some of the topics and events that we discuss throughout this episode, so again, it is recommended. In this episode, I will start with a brief intro. I will then clarify some points that were submitted by some of you following the release of part one.

I'll recap some of the events that have taken place since the last episode and some of the conflicting narratives that we've seen from both sides. I will then finish with a Q&A segment where I will answer 13 of your questions. Please note that this episode is being recorded at 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, October 17th. Given the nature of the situation, the ever-evolving events and stories, please just know that any and all information you receive throughout this episode is up to date as of the time of recording. Another note I want to make is that I know I have a lot of new listeners that are interested particularly in the Israel-Palestine conflict, but I do encourage you to stick around for some of my regular episodes too. Odds are,

if you're interested in the nonpartisan facts surrounding the conflict in the Middle East, you are also interested in the nonpartisan facts surrounding current events here at home in the United States. With that said, before we get into the episode, let me just remind you that if you find yourself learning new things throughout this episode or you just simply appreciate the nonpartisan nature of it, please feel free to go ahead and leave my show a review on whatever platform you listen on. But more importantly, share this episode with anyone you know that you feel could use the

extra knowledge about the current conflict. As a disclaimer, yes, I am a lawyer. No, I am not your lawyer. So with that, let's get into this very special report. First and foremost, I want to reiterate just how complex this conflict is. And truthfully, it's become even more complex in the last week or so. What do I mean by that? So let's start with a brief recap of what has happened starting on October 7th and kind of illustrate the conflicting storylines that we've seen. On Saturday, October 7th, we know Hamas breached the border, separating Israel and Gaza. They entered Israel, immediately started targeting civilians. There was that music festival going on close to the border. They were going on a killing rampage, so to speak. Not only raping and killing these people, but also taking them hostage and bringing them back to Gaza to use as leverage. And we now know that they have about 200 to 250 hostages, but I'll get into that in a little bit more detail later on. Then Israel goes on the counteroffensive. They start firing

airstrikes into Gaza. And for the first few days, there was this narrative coming from Israel that the conflict was between Israel and Hamas, not Israel and Palestine, Israel and Hamas specifically. And that if you weren't standing with Israel, you were anti-Semitic. If you weren't condoning Hamas's actions, you were on the wrong side of the conflict. That was the narrative from the Israeli side, right? But then as Israel started attacking Gaza more and more, retaliating more, more Palestinian civilians are being killed, Palestinians start saying that this is now between Israel and Palestine. This is more than just Israel and Hamas. Israel is committing genocide.

It's attempting to ethnically cleanse Gaza. And again, this is according to Palestinians. But Israel has stood by this narrative this whole time that we don't want Palestinian civilians to die. We're trying to protect them. We're only Palestinian civilians to die. We're trying to protect them. We're only going after Hamas. We're getting our hostages back. We want to get rid of Hamas entirely. But Palestinians don't believe that narrative. They firmly believe that Israel is in fact trying to kill off Palestinian civilians. Some are even calling this the next Nakba, which is the name that they gave to the 1948 war. It was a very, very traumatic event for them.

Nakba also means catastrophe. So that kind of illustrates what that event means to them. But, you know, you can see we really have these two different storylines happening. Israel saying this is a fight against Hamas. Palestinians saying this is more than a fight against Hamas. This is a fight against the people of Palestine and more specifically, the people of Gaza. And the divide between those two storylines is going to become more evident throughout this episode. Not only are there multiple narratives at play here, but it's almost impossible to figure out what to

believe. There is so much information going around. There are so many conflicting stories. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to tell you both sides of the story. I'm not here to tell you who's right and who's wrong. I'm not here to tell you who's telling the truth and who's lying because quite frankly, I'm not in a position to do so, nor do I want to do that. I simply want to inform you as to what's going on, what the perspective is from both sides, so you can form your own thoughts, your own feelings, your own opinions. At the most basic level, though, we have to humanize this situation. It's patently false to say that every Israeli is good and every Palestinian is bad, or every Palestinian is good and every Israeli is bad. That's just not true. What is true is this. Hamas doesn't represent all Palestinians. Some Palestinians support Hamas. Others don't. Some Palestinians support the state of Israel and the Jewish people. Some don't. Similarly, the Israeli government does not represent the interests of all Israelis.

Some Israelis want Palestinians to have their own state. Some don't. Some Israelis support Israel's retaliatory fight against Hamas. Some don't. So what I'm trying to illustrate here is that this is not cut and dry. It's just not. This is a very complicated issue. So now let's move into a clarification of the issues in part one.

Last episode, I asked that those that listened submit feedback if they felt I had missed any points that needed to be said or I needed to elaborate on certain things. And I did have people from both the Palestinian side and the Israeli side reach out to me. So that was great. I have six points that I want to clarify. Consider these the most frequently submitted points, and then we will discuss what has happened in the last week or so with the war, and then we'll finish with the Q&A. Let's start by clearing up the creation of Israel. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 supported the creation of a homeland for Jewish people in Palestine.

Between 1920 and 1948, the League of Nations assigns Britain the creation of mandatory Palestine, which basically established British rule over the region that consists of modern-day Palestine and Israel. After years of no success, years of conflict in this region, Britain ultimately decides to terminate the Palestine mandate and hand over the issue to the UN. Britain can't quite figure out how to blend the Palestinian people with the Jews and what to do about statehood. On November 29th, 1947, shortly before the termination of the Palestine Mandate, the UN adopts Resolution 181, also known as the Partition Resolution. This divided Palestine into Jewish and Arab states. And the partition was supposed to take

effect in May 1948 when the British mandate was scheduled to end. The Arab League rejects the plan. According to the Arabs, it didn't make sense for them to approve it because at the time, Jews were about a third of the population of Palestine. They only owned about six to seven percent of the land, but the partition plan granted them roughly 55 percent of Palestine. So they didn't want to agree to this. And to give you an idea of what the Arabs made up, the Arabs made up a majority of the population. They only owned about 20% of the land because the rest of the land was held by the mandate authorities or foreign landowners. But still, they didn't feel that the Jews were entitled to all of this land. So they rejected. But to Israelis, you know, had the Arabs

approved the plan, this conflict would have never existed. So the British mandate ends on May 15th, 1948. The armies of four countries, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Iraq, launch the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the War of Independence to Israelis, the Nakba to Palestinians, and from there, this conflict is just never-ending. So again, the UN created the partition plan, the Arab League rejected it, the Israelis got statehood, they got their state of Israel, and then the Arab countries go ahead and initiate the first Arab-Israeli war. Now let's talk about why the peace talks failed with President Clinton. In part one, I mentioned that the Clinton peace talks between Israel and Palestine failed, but I didn't elaborate as to why, which a few of you felt was important, so let me elaborate.

The 2000 Camp David summit, or Clinton Peace Talks as they're known, it was a meeting held at Camp David, you guessed it, according to the title, makes sense. It was between President Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. The three of them get together, President Clinton proposes that Israel would return almost all of the West Bank and Gaza to the Palestinians. The two sides would swap small parcels of land that were important to each other, and they would share control of Jerusalem. The plan would have left the new Palestine state with loss of water and good land, and with Israel getting roughly 9% of the West Bank. Barak suggests changes to the plan.

Arafat argues that Jews have no claims to the area of the Temple Mount, which the Temple Mount is how it's recognized to Israelis. However, Palestinians recognize it as the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which both are very, very holy sites in the respective religions. But basically, Arafat claims that the Jews have no claim to this area of the Temple Mount. He refuses to compromise over it, and he ultimately rejects the proposal and walks away. So that is why the Clinton peace talks failed. Now let's clarify the border wall that surrounds Gaza that Israel built. Prior to 1994, there were a significant number of attacks, mainly suicide bombings, in Israel from people

entering Israel from Gaza. So Israel builds this fence system. And the success of this barrier is highly debated, but as of 2003, there were no suicide bombers entering Israel from Gaza. Despite building this barrier, Israel did offer travel and work permits to the people of Palestine, but when the second intifada came about and more violence erupted, Israel really cracked down on those permits, limited the number of people allowed to come into Israel. Then came the underground wall. So because the barrier was erected, now people in Gaza realized, or Hamas really realized, that they could build these underground tunnels. So when Israel caught on to that, that these underground tunnels were being built, they start building an underground wall. It's considered a smart wall. It is supposed to

detect tunnel activity, and it has in the past, which obviously begs the question, what happened on October 7th? We don't really know the answer to that other than it was an intelligence failure, but that is why Israel erected this barrier because of the suicide bombers. And then, you know, the, the underground wall eventually came later when the tunnels were being built. Next, let's clarify the beheading of the babies. In part one, I said that there was a report that 40 babies were beheaded by Hamas, but that had not been confirmed. I believe I said that there was a report that 40 babies were beheaded by Hamas, but that had not been confirmed. I believe I said that Palestinians said that that was not true. And I did have someone email me saying that they wanted me to clarify what had been confirmed and what hadn't. So this

is a story that spread quickly on social media. There was a correspondent for a privately owned Israeli news outlet that said during a broadcast that Israeli soldiers told her they had found 40 babies with their heads cut off. For obvious reasons, this storyline caused a huge reaction from the Israeli side of things. However, to this day, there haven't been any verified reports of beheaded babies. There are social media posts going around saying this is the picture, this is the picture, and it's basically like the bed of a truck with black, you can't see the bodies, they're presumably wrapped in blankets, but people were saying that

that's it. But still, there's no verified reports of any heads being taken off. A spokesperson for Israel's prime minister also told CNN that babies and toddlers were found with their heads decapitated. An IDF spokesperson told Business Insider that soldiers had found decapitated babies, but then later added that they wouldn't be providing further evidence of that claim, but that the IDF has relative confidence of the claims. Seemingly confirming the report of the beheaded babies, though, President Biden said on Wednesday that he had seen pictures of the beheaded children. Then, by Thursday morning, an Israeli official told CNN that the government hadn't confirmed

the claims of beheading, and the White House later said that President Biden was referring to news reports about the beheadings, not actual pictures. The head of the IDF's National Search and Rescue Unit said that he had found one baby with his head cut off. But let me be clear, what is not confirmed is this report that 40 babies have been beheaded. Moving on, let's address the claim that Hamas was partially created by Israel. Israel did not create Hamas, but here is one storyline that's out there. Hamas was established at the end of 1987, following the first intifada, which was this Palestinian revolt against Israeli occupation. In the beginning, Hamas was just the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood. But at the time of Hamas's creation, the Palestine Liberation Organization, otherwise known as the PLO, was the entire territory of the former mandatory Palestine, which once covered the region that is now Israel. in 1970, the Munich Massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes in 1972, a two-day hostage taking of an Israeli school in 1974, the 1975 Savoy hostage situation, and the 1978 Coastal Road Massacre.

All of these attacks earned the PLO the title of a terrorist organization by the United States in 1987. Again, that is the same year Hamas was created. Eventually, in 1993, the PLO officially recognizes Israel's sovereignty with the Oslo One Accord. In turn, you know, with this Oslo One Accord, Israel recognizes the PLO as a legitimate authority representing the Palestinian people. But of course, we know things don't end there. There's no peace after that. Otherwise, we wouldn't be where we are today. Despite the mutual recognition between the two, the PLO continues to engage in acts of violence against Israel, seeking liberation. It still wanted a free Palestinian state. Because the PLO was anti-Israel, the story is that Israel helped Hamas establish itself within Palestine, thinking that Hamas's devotion to religion and support for social works would

counter the PLO. Now, I'm not sure to what extent Israel went to helping Hamas establish itself. I don't purport to know that. I'm just telling you what one of the storylines is. However, it didn't exactly go as Israel intended, and Hamas became more and more involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By the late 1990s, Hamas was also fighting for Palestine's liberation, and because the PLO hadn't seen much success in its goal of liberation, Hamas as a more extreme group grew in popularity with the Palestinian people. Hamas strongly opposed the Oslo Peace Accords. Hamas is formally committed to establishing a Palestinian state and has explicitly voiced their desire to kill off the state of Israel and the Jews within Israel.

So Hamas is a more extreme group that, as I said, grew in popularity because the PLO, despite being called the Palestine Liberation Organization, hadn't had any success in liberating itself. So while Israel may have helped Hamas establish itself, the outcome wasn't what Israel thought it would be, and it ended up not working out as they hoped it would. The last point that I want to clarify is the 1967 war, otherwise known as the Six-Day War. I got a few people reach out to me saying that they wanted me to clarify that the Arabs started this war. The Arabs started the 1948 war, which was the War of Independence or the Nakba, the war that came after Israeli statehood. But the 1967 war is a little bit more complicated.

Since the 1948 war, the Arabs and the Israelis were clashing. And by the mid-1960s, those clashes had intensified. By May of 1967, the Egyptian president heard from the Soviet Union that Israel had massed troops on the Syrian border with an intent to strike Syria, but this info was apparently not true. So despite the info not being true, Egypt obviously didn't know it wasn't true, Egypt goes ahead and mobilizes their army, closes the Straits of Tehran, which closing the Straits of Tehran was a move that Israel had already said in the wake of the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. If you guys close these Straits again, we're going to take action. Like that is an action-inducing move. So Egypt closes the straits on May 22nd. On June 1st,

Israel establishes a national unity government, which on June 4th decides it's going to war. Ahead of the attack, which took place on June 5th, the Israeli media did some things to kind of put the adversaries off the scent. They published false reports that Israeli soldiers were on vacation. They even went so far as to damage the tracking antenna of the U.S. embassy to prevent Americans from finding out about their operation before the attack took place. So on June 5th, the day after this national unity government decides they're going to war, Israeli planes go on the offensive. They attack the Egyptian Air Force, the Jordanian Air Force, and the Syrian Air Force, as well as each country's respective airfields, and basically guarantee themselves air dominance for the next

six days. So as the name implies, the war only lasted for six days, but over those six days, Israel manages to take control of the Sinai Peninsula, the Golan Heights, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. So as I said, it's a little bit like depending on who you look at who started it. Egypt closed the straits, which Israel had already warned that was that is a move that was going to induce a war. But Israel is the one who actually went on the offensive with the attack. So I hope that clarifies those points. As always, you are welcome to contact me through my website, jordanismylawyer.com. If you have any other points of concern, you know I'm always doing my best to get you the most accurate information. Now, let's go over the events that have taken place since

Saturday, October 7th. We know that Hamas attacked Israel on Saturday, October 7th. The attack killed some 1,400 Israelis. The attacks were directly targeted at civilians. Israelis were raped, murdered, taken as hostages to be used as leverage with the fight against Israel. The attack, according to Israel, was carried out for the purpose of killing as many Jews as possible. Hamas is known for wanting to kill Jews and wanting to extinguish the state of Israel. According to Palestinians, the attack was carried out for the purpose of achieving freedom, a freedom fight, if you will. Gaza and the West Bank, but this conversation is focused mainly on Gaza, has been subject to Israeli control for years.

And they want their freedom. That is what they're after. Israel almost immediately goes on the counteroffensive, launching hundreds of airstrikes. They have continued to launch airstrikes at Gaza. The problem is Gaza is extremely densely populated. There's a little more than 2 million people living in the Gaza Strip, which is only about twice the size of Washington, D.C. Adding to this is the fact that Hamas blends itself in with the civilians. And Israel says this is done intentionally, right? So when Israel targets Hamas and their headquarters or their military compounds or their observation

posts, naturally civilians who are living amongst this suffer the consequences as well. So it's been said that Hamas often manages its operations in places like hospitals and schools. So when those things are targeted, it is not a good look on Israel. The deadliest airstrike thus far happened on Tuesday night when a hospital in Gaza was struck. It killed somewhere between 300 and 500 plus people. It really depends on which report you read. So the Gaza civil defense chief said more than 300. The Gaza health ministry said more than 500. Israel, though, says it's too early to tell whether it was their airstrike or a failed Hamas strike, because one of Israel's narratives is that Hamas often, when they launch strikes, they often fail and it ends up killing their own people. And then Hamas puts the blame on Israel. So Israel says it's too

early to tell whether this strike that hit the hospital is on them or on Hamas. As part of Israel's counteroffensive, it announced a total siege on Gaza, which meant that it was cutting off Gaza's electricity, their water, and their fuel. According to Israel, it was done to pressure Hamas to release the hostages that it had taken back to Gaza following the attack. This led Israelis to put forth this narrative that if Hamas really cared about the Palestinian people, didn't want any Palestinian civilians to die, it would let the hostages go. However, Palestinians put forth a narrative that Israelis don't care about the hostages, and instead they just want Palestinians dead, which is why at this point, the point of view of some people is slightly morphing from Hamas's attack was wrong, we condemn it, there's absolutely no justification, no excuse, they're terrorists, etc, etc, to Israel is attacking Gazan civilians nonstop, Israel is wrong, Israel is just as much a terrorist as Hamas. So things are really starting to get complicated.

But then things get even more complicated. Israel starts releasing flyers into Gaza from the air, they're sending text messages, they're making calls to the people of Gaza, telling Gazans to evacuate from North Gaza, move to South Gaza through these specific routes, evacuation routes, and wait at the Rafah crossing, which is at the Gaza-Egypt border. And these notices gave these people 25 hours to evacuate. Israel says this was a move meant to protect the people of gaza and save the lives of civilians but the un called this evacuation order a death sentence for the sick and the injured gazon start to evacuate the evacuation route gets blown up multiple people die the thought from the palestinian side of things is that israel was misleading the people of gaza essentially herding them into groups of people

so they could kill as many people as they could with a single airstrike. The IDF comes out a couple of days after the strike, saying they were able to confirm and announce that it was not an IDF strike. The IDF said it had reviewed the footage of the explosion. There's nothing coming from the air. Instead, this looks like an explosion from underneath, underground, which suggests possibly a Hamas explosive device. This footage, by the way, is also available online. CNN posted it to their Instagram. I saw it there, but I'm sure you can

find it on YouTube too, or just generally with an online search. Hamas, of course, maintained the narrative that this was an Israeli airstrike and they targeted these people on this evacuation route. They wanted to blow up the evacuation route so people couldn't evacuate. However, once the IDF came out and said it wasn't an Israeli strike and it looks like an underground explosive, Hamas hasn't denied that. They haven't commented on that. Israel used the explosion to put forth this idea that Hamas is actually trying to prevent the people of Gaza from leaving so Hamas can use people as human shields. So that happens. And then as if the situation wasn't bad enough, the Rafah crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border doesn't open. And there are many storylines as to why we'll go over them,

but to add sort of an added layer of complexity, not only is the crossing not open, but an Israeli airstrike hit the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing, which apparently led Egypt to erect these concrete blocks on their side of the border and rendered the crossing inoperable. The U.S., Israel, and Britain were talking to Egypt, trying to get Egypt to open the crossing. Eventually on Sunday, Egypt allegedly said it would open its border to foreign nationals, but not the people of Gaza. The Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, also said

that Egypt was opening the crossing on Sunday. This never happened. Egypt said it was Israel preventing the crossing from opening. Israel said Hamas was preventing the crossing from opening. Egypt's foreign minister said on Monday that the Israeli government hadn't yet taken a position that would allow the crossing to be opened from the Gaza side, seemingly implying that once Israel agrees to let maybe stop firing airstrikes, it would open the crossing. They didn't elaborate

more than that. As of Tuesday afternoon, the time I'm recording this, the crossing hasn't yet been opened and the blame is being put on Israel. Israel did say that they would allow aid into southern Gaza on Tuesday so long as Hamas doesn't intervene. But again, as of the time I'm recording, there's no update. Now, despite Egypt saying Israel is the reason they're not opening the crossing, Egyptian officials did acknowledge that they don't want the people of Gaza crossing over into their side. In part, what they said was that national security is a red line, and there is no compromise in its protection. Egypt is uneasy about the idea of hundreds of

thousands of Palestinian refugees coming in, and that if they let all of these Palestinians in, there's a danger that it would end the Palestinian cause for liberation, and that it's important that Gaza's people remain standing and on their land. So Egypt did give a reason for, you know, why they don't want to open the crossing to the people of Gaza, but the crossing isn't even open to foreign nationals either. So again, no update as of Tuesday afternoon. Not only were people not being allowed to cross, but aid can't get through either. This is obviously furthering the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. On Sunday, a plane carrying more than 11 tons of aid for Gaza arrived in Egypt from Dubai. Other planes arrived in Egypt from Jordan, Turkey, the World Health Organization, the Red Cross.

All of these planes carrying water, food, sanitation goods, hygiene goods, medical supplies. But none of this aid has been allowed into Gaza. So the crossing is not opening for anything. You may have seen pictures, but there's trucks and trucks and trucks waiting on the Egyptian side of the border. So rumors started to swirl on Sunday or Monday that five UN fuel trucks were seen entering Gaza, presumably being taken to the UN fuel storage, which sits at the border of Gaza and Israel. But then a spokesperson for the UN Relief and Works Agency came out and said, nope, that's not true. No UN fuel trucks had been allowed into Gaza. Also on Sunday,

Israel's prime minister said that it had restored water to southern Gaza, but because electricity hadn't been restored, the Palestinian Water Authority said that the water stations in Gaza couldn't receive and distribute water to people. Then on Monday, the director of the Palestinian Water Authority confirmed that water had not been restored, saying, quote, I strongly deny the news of supplying the Gaza Strip with water. These are false allegations and lies, end quote. As of Tuesday, there had been one water line opened in South Gaza, but it was only opened for a few hours and shut off again. One other rumor I wanted to address, there was this rumor

that Hamas had stolen a bunch of humanitarian aid from a UNRWA warehouse in Gaza, but the organization later said that no looting had taken place, saying that the images that were circulating on social media was actually just a movement of basic medical supplies from the warehouse to healthcare partners. On Monday, we also got a little bit of insight as to the hostage situation in Gaza, those that were taken from Israel on the 7th of October. We got a video from a spokesperson for Hamas, and we also saw a video of one of the hostages. Her family had approved the video being broadcasted, and now you can find it online. So the spokesperson for Hamas said in the video that Hamas has between 200 and 250 hostages, but said that 22 of the hostages have been killed in Israeli airstrikes. The spokesperson also said that Hamas will be releasing hostages holding foreign citizenship when, quote, the opportunity arises on the ground, end quote. No one's really sure what that means, but the spokesperson said

that Hamas is committed to protecting the hostages, but warns that any foreign national serving with the Israeli military will be considered a direct enemy. Israel says that this is a facade. Hamas is attempting to put on a caring act when in reality they don't care about the hostages at all and says not to fall for their games. That's a little bit about what has gone on since this war started on the 7th. As I said before, this is ever evolving, ever changing. By the minute things are happening, things are changing. So just keep in mind, everything we just talked about was up until Tuesday afternoon. Things are bound to, you know, advance and more things are bound to happen, but that is what we know as of now. Finally, I want to address your questions. I have 13

questions that I'm going to answer. Some questions are more in-depth, others are not, but let's get through these. First, I want to talk about some questions I won't be answering because they were answered in part one. In part one, I answered what are the origins of the Israeli Palestinian conflict back to the BC days? Who are the parties involved in the conflict? Why did Hamas choose to attack now? Why didn't Israel see the attacks coming? Why are people saying Israel's war against Palestine is illegal? Is Israel an apartheid state? How is Zionism different than Judaism? And did Iran use the $6 billion that was released by the United States to fund the attack? If you want to know more about those

questions, go ahead and listen to part one. Let's start with the questions for part two. Who initiated the violence? This answer, I should say, really depends how far back you want to go. Since the 20s and 30s, when the British were ruling the land, there were violent fights between the two then. In 1920, there was the Battle of Tel Hai, which was initiated by the Arabs. If we're talking in more recent times, since Israel was established, it was also the Arabs that attacked Israel following Israel's establishment in 1948. And again, that's what we know as the first Arab-Israeli war. Neither group has been perfect. Both sides have initiated violence, but it's fair to say

that the Arabs were the first to initiate the violence. Number two, how is the Palestinian government structured? What a great question, because let me tell you, it is not easy to understand. Within the Palestinian government, there are four entities. You have, well, there's more than four entities, but there's four entities we're going to talk about because those are the four entities we've seen most in this whole conflict. The Palestinian Authority, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hamas, and Fatah. Those are the four I want to focus on. Remember, Palestine is split into two territories, Gaza and the West Bank.

If we're looking at this as a hierarchy, the Palestine Liberation Organization, PLO, is at the top. PLO was created in 1964. It didn't really become widely recognized as the representative of Palestinians until 1967 after the Six-Day War, but it was created to bring various Palestinian groups together under one organization. Eventually, around 1989, the PLO recognizes UN Resolution 242 and 338 for the first time, essentially acknowledging Israel's right to exist, abandoning the desire to replace Israel, and becoming more in favor of a two-state solution. This leads to the 1993 Oslo Accords, where both Israel and Palestine agree to mutually recognize

one another. The Oslo Accords also call for the creation of the Palestinian Authority, and it was created to take control over most populated areas in Palestine's territories. So the PA is essentially an arm of the PLO. The PLO represents the broader population of Palestinians, whereas the PA represents those Palestinians living in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, or at least it did when it was first created. Now, though, the PA is only ruling in the West Bank. But then within the PA and the PLO, each of those has their own legislature. And that's where Hamas and Fatah come in. The PLO's legislature is called the PNC. The PA's legislature is called the PLC. Hamas and Fatah are members of the PLC,

so the PA's legislature. For purposes of this current conflict, the PA and its legislature are important because that's who runs Gaza and the West Bank, but we're focused on Gaza here. So in 2006, Hamas wins a majority of the seats in the PLC, the legislature for the PA. 74 of the 132 seats go to Hamas, 44 seats go to Fatah, which is the more moderate group that doesn't believe in such violence. And there's a couple of other seats that belong to other parties. But following that election, Hamas and Fatah start fighting each other, like literally killing each other. Fatah didn't want to recognize Hamas as the winner.

Hamas pushes Fatah out. The two don't get along. Ultimately, Hamas ends up ruling Gaza. Fatah ends up ruling the West Bank. So to bring this full circle, you have the PLO and the PA at the top. The PA is an arm of the PLO. Then you have the legislature of the PA, which is where Hamas and Fatah come in and they rule their respective territories. So that's the government. I try to make it as simple as possible. I hope that that makes sense to you. Number three,

what's the difference between Hezbollah and Hamas? Let's compare and contrast. I think that's the best way to do this. Hezbollah is based in Lebanon. Hamas is based in Gaza. Consequently, Hezbollah is slightly, it's a slightly bigger power. It's a regional power, whereas Hamas is a smaller, more localized power to Gaza. Both are part of their respective government's parliament. So we just talked about the fact that Hamas is part of the PA's parliament. Hezbollah is part of Lebanon's parliament or Lebanon's government's parliament. Hezbollah and Hamas are both backed by Iran. The U.S. deems both groups terrorist organizations.

Hezbollah is a Shiite Islamist group, whereas Hamas is a Sunni Islamist group. The difference there being the groups disagree as to who Muhammad's successor should have been. So both Islamist groups, but different sects. Just as is the case with Hamas, some Lebanese people support Hezbollah, others don't. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have gone to war with Israel. And in the current war, Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged rockets. But so far, it hasn't escalated to the point where there's too much concern. However, if the fight does expand to Hezbollah and Israel, it could signal the start of a bigger war because then Iran would get involved and then the U.S. may get involved, depending on how,

you know, expansive it gets. That's the difference between the U.S. may get involved depending on how, you know, expansive it gets. That's the difference between the two. Number four, did President Biden use COVID relief funds to fund Hamas through relief organizations? Let's break this down. The American Rescue Plan Act, which was a COVID relief bill from 2021, appropriated about $500 million in order to carry out certain provisions of the Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962. The particular provisions mandate that certain appropriations have to be made in order to assist refugees. And in order to do that, the appropriated money has to go to relevant international organizations. One of those organizations is the UN Relief and Works Agency. The UN Relief and Works Agency was given $33 million of the $500. Obviously, the remainder went to other organizations. Some people believe that the

UN Relief and Works Agency hasn't done enough to prevent aid from reaching Hamas. UN Watch reported that the UN Relief and Works Agency has acknowledged in the past that teachers at their schools mistakenly produced and distributed inciting material that allegedly taught children to hate Jews and glorify terrorism, but the organization promised in 2021 that it no longer circulates such material. In 2014, the organization condemned Hamas for housing missiles in one of its schools. So whether the organization is complicit or not, it seems Hamas uses some of the organization's facilities to carry out some of its business.

But, you know, just saying Biden used COVID relief funds to fund Hamas through relief organizations is a bit of an oversimplification of the facts. But now that you know that, do it that way. You will form your own opinions on it. Number five, why does the U.S. support Israel? If you think of the world as a business, right, because that's what it is, every interaction between each country is ultimately a business move. Israel is one of America's most critical business partners. The United States supported Israel's creation from the get-go. The bond between the two really started to strengthen after the Cold War when the Middle East turned to Russia for help. But from then on, the U.S. has been an ally of Israel. Not only were the United States and Israel both against

Russia, but they were both built on democracy and they share similar values of freedom of speech and equality under the law. And while neither country is perfect, they're far more aligned with each other than obviously the non-democratic states in the Middle East. The U.S. also really benefits from Israel economically. America is Israel's top trading partner. And probably most importantly, Israel possesses a very strong strategic value as a stabilizing entity in the Middle East for the United States. Historically, most Americans have been on the same page when it comes to support for Israel. And that's another reason that almost every single president, regardless of political affiliation, runs on

allyship with Israel. In fact, since at least 2002, more than half of Americans support Israel, whereas the number of Americans supporting Palestine never went over 20% until 2019. Since 2019, the number of Americans who support Israel has slowly gone down, whereas the support for Palestine has slowly ticked up. The last Gallup poll in 2022 shows that 55% of Americans support Israel compared to 26 who support Palestine. But again, that 26% is the highest it's ever been, pretty much. Number six, why did the United States send carriers to Israel? The United States did send two carrier strike groups to Israel in the last week or two, but the United States also said it's not partaking in the fight, at least not yet. The National Security Council for the United States

said on Thursday that there's no intention to put American troops on the ground in Israel, that the carriers are just there to deter others from entering the fight like Hezbollah and whoever else. So they're not engaging in any fighting themselves as of now. But the U.S. did also put about 2,000 troops on a heightened state of readiness, which essentially allows the Department of Defense to act quicker if it needs to in order to get troops over to the Middle East. As of Tuesday afternoon, there had been no decision to deploy those troops, and the Department of Defense did say that if the troops do go, they're not going for a combat role, but instead to do

things like advising and medical support. Number seven, why do Palestinians support Hamas? I touched on this a little bit in part one, but it's an important point to note. It's not fair to say that all Palestinians support Hamas because not all of them do. And those that do aren't necessarily supporting the actions taken by Hamas on October 7th, but rather supporting Hamas's mission to fight for

the freedom of the Palestinian people. And I know that there's similarities there, but there's also differences there. I'm sure there are some that support the most heinous of acts, but for the most part, those that voice their support for Hamas aren't supporting the killings as much as they're supporting the freedom fight. Other Palestinians, though, don't support Hamas aren't supporting the killings as much as they're supporting the freedom fight. Other Palestinians, though, don't support Hamas at all. Some say that while the Israeli and Egyptian blockade is in large part to blame for their situation in Gaza, Hamas has not managed it well at all, hasn't done anything to solve the sewage and water crisis, and Hamas further contributes to

the overpopulation problem by suggesting that women have large families. So it's really fairly split. And Hamas is an extremist group, not, as we know, even here in America, not everyone is on board with extremist groups. According to a July 2023 Washington Institute poll, 57% of Gazans expressed at least a somewhat positive opinion of Hamas. But while 65% thought a military conflict between Gaza and Israel was likely this year, 62% supported maintaining the ceasefire with Israel, meaning a good majority of them thought a conflict was coming, but a good majority of them didn't want one too. So, you know, yes, the majority of Palestinians do technically support Hamas, but that doesn't necessarily mean they support the raping and the killing and the executing as much as they support

their mission for freedom, if you will. Number eight, was Hamas's taking of hostages a war crime? Yes. But it's worth noting, to be fair, that both Hamas and Israel are technically committing war crimes. Hamas taking hostages and directly targeting and indiscriminately killing civilians, those are war crimes. Indiscriminate rocket attacks and bombing civilian infrastructure, those are also considered war crimes by the UN, which we obviously know both Hamas and the IDF have taken part in. Cutting off electricity, fuel, water, and essential needs is a violation under the laws of war, which we know Israel did.

So neither entity is necessarily abiding by the laws of war, but to answer the question, yes, taking of hostages is a war crime. Number nine, will there be a ground war in Gaza? Israel has said it's planning a ground offensive, but we're not sure what it would look like. There's a reason that Israel has told some one million people in North Gaza to evacuate, right? The IDF is planning it, but they also want to keep Hamas on their toes. They want to attack at a time where maybe an attack isn't so expected. According to a former U.S. ambassador to Israel, the ground

offensive may and likely will unfold in stages with incursions by small groups of soldiers rather than a full-on at-once invasion. One of Israel's major concerns is this underground network of tunnels that have been built by Hamas, and they give Hamas an advantage because it's basically an underground army, right? They have electric generators, intelligence rooms, supplies, so U.S., Turkey, Russia, etc., are able to broker some sort of resolution and get it sorted out before it goes any further. But we shall see. Number 10. Why do people blame Israel's occupation of Gaza when that hasn't been the case since 2005? Because even though Israel withdrew its people from Gaza and left Gaza to self-govern in 2005, Israel also erected the border around Gaza. It controls the flow of people, the flow of food, goods, medical supplies. Obviously, we know, you know, the water, the electricity, the fuel. Not to mention, the IDF

has often carried out military operations in Palestine, which kill civilians, demolish homes, and of course, the IDF says it's to target Hamas, but the Palestinians see it differently. And this is also a good time to clear something up from part one. Someone had a question about who controls the water and electricity in Gaza, because I had said that Israel says Hamas controls it, but then Israel shut everything off when the war broke out, obviously illustrating Israel's control. Israel does control Gaza's electricity and water, but Israel's position is this. Israel says, look, the reason we control it and provide it to you for free is because your own government

won't do it. Hamas won't use its money to provide you with basic life necessities, so we do it for you. Therefore, Israel kind of shifts the blame to Hamas by saying, we wouldn't have the ability to even shut it off in the first place if Hamas would just take care of their own territory. But Israel says that Hamas cares more about pocketing their own money than providing these basic life necessities for their people. So Israel does control it, but what Israel says is that Hamas has the money to do something about it. The Palestinian government has the money to do something about it, but they choose not to. Number 11,

what are the reactions of the war in the United States? I'll read you a CNN poll that was conducted via SSRS on October 12th and October 13th. It was done via text message. Keep in mind, it was done a week ago. So the last week isn't accounted for in these opinions, but it was the only poll I found since the start of the war. Half of Americans, so 50%, say that the Israeli government's military response to Hamas attacks is fully justified. Another 20% say it's partially justified, and just 8% say it's not justified at all. 21% are unsure. Republicans are far more likely than independents or Democrats to say the response is fully justified. 68% of Republicans say so, compared with the 45% of independents and 38% of Democrats. Older Americans are also much more

likely than younger Americans to say that it's completely justified. 81% of those age 65 or older see the response as fully justified compared with 56% of 50 to 64 year olds, 44% of 35 to 49-year-olds, and 27% of 18 to 34-year-olds. Majorities across age and party, though, say that the Israeli response is at least partially justified, with very few Americans of any age or party affiliation saying the response is not justified at all. 71% of Americans say that they feel a lot of sympathy for the Israeli people over the attacks by Hamas, with nearly all, 96%, expressing at least some sympathy for them. A broad majority also feel at least some sympathy for the Palestinian people, 87%, but fewer feel a lot of sympathy for the Palestinians, 41%. 84% of Americans, though, feel at least some sympathy for both Israeli and Palestinian people.

Among those 65 or older, 87% have a lot of sympathy for the Israeli people, while 36% feel the same towards Palestinians. Among those younger than 35, 61% say they have a lot of sympathy for the Israeli people, and nearly the same, 54%, say they have a lot of sympathy for the Palestinian people. So you can see based on age here in America, the younger generations have more sympathy for the Palestinians than the older generations do. So those numbers give you a bit of an idea as to how Americans feel about the ongoing war. Number 12, how does this end? The short answer is no one knows. But if we want to elaborate on that, a temporary end would be something we've seen in the past, a resolution or a ceasefire, something like that.

But here's the problem as far as a long-term solution. Hamas wants to eradicate Israel. They've made that very clear. They do not abide by the Oslo Accords, as I've said. They want Israel gone. Israel's prime minister is not a supporter of a two-state solution. So even if Hamas was okay with two states, you know, one for Israel, one for Palestine, Israel's prime minister doesn't support a two-state solution. And I touch more on his views in part one, so go ahead and listen there. But,

you know, it makes it really difficult to find a long-term solution when you have two people in power that are at such odds. So truthfully, again, I don't know if anyone knows the answer to that. And I know I said that I had 13 questions to answer, but it turns out I only had 12. And I think it's for the best because, you know, 13 is an unlucky number. So let's keep it where it's at and end this episode here. I do just want to take this opportunity to say thank you again for being here for sticking with me through this. I think we're all very aware of the complexities that the situation brings. And I just feel very grateful that I am able to be that nonpartisan news for

news source for you. And you know, educate you and I've and I've always said and I'll say it over and over again that listening to nonpartisan news almost guarantees that you will hear something you don't want to hear or that you don't align with. But at the end of the day, that's what makes you more informed and you're better for it. So again, thank you for being here. I appreciate you more than you know. And going forward, I do plan to implement the Middle East updates in my weekly episodes. So I typically post episodes Tuesday and Friday. I plan to, you know, weave in the stories in those episodes. But perhaps if there's some sort of story that deserves its own episode,

I will definitely issue another special report. So stay tuned for my Friday episode where I will be going back to normal operations, covering the things that are going on here at home in the United States, of course, in a nonpartisan manner. And if you do have any questions or concerns about this particular topic, feel free to reach out to me on my website, jordanismylawyer.com. I have a contact form there that you can certainly fill out. I hope you have a great rest of your week and I will talk to you on Friday.