Israeli Professor on Rafah: “We Are Witnessing an Unfolding Genocide”
Watch a special Zeteo breaking-news town hall with Raz Segal and Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu.
After months of threats and speculation, the Israeli military has officially begun to move into the southern Gazan city of Rafah, sending in tanks and taking control of the border crossing with Egypt. The UN secretary-general has warned an assault on Rafah would be a “humanitarian nightmare,” while Joe Biden appears unfazed as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu violates what the U.S. president previously called his “red line.”
In response to these escalations, Mehdi hosted a town hall for Zeteo paid subscribers with Israeli Holocaust scholar Raz Segal and Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu.
Segal, who has previously called Israel’s war on Gaza a “textbook case of genocide,” said: “If we finally recognized Israel for what it is, which is a white supremacist settler state, then the problem is that it's not just confined to that. We have to recognize the whole system behind it, its support, its allies, including white supremacy and settler colonialism in the U.S.”
Zeteo contributor Diana Buttu reminded viewers that Israel’s latest escalations in Rafah are, unfortunately, no surprise, stating that the invasion is what “Netanyahu always wanted.”
“He's made it clear since the beginning that they were going to continue to push Palestinians further south,” Buttu told Mehdi. “And the point is very clear, that they want to get rid of Palestinians.”
Buttu also discussed her new Zeteo column, ‘A Diary of a Palestinian Living in Israel,’ in which she describes the “genocide fever” that’s taken over Israel.
You can watch the video above. Zeteo’s live town halls and Q&A sessions are a bonus feature for paid subscribers. If you would like to join the next one live, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
I beg to differ on the Title 'Genocide is Unfolding'. Genocide has been persistently committed by Israel for so long. The Rafah threat is an eyewash. Once Israel backs down, we are all going to take sigh of relief that Genocide has been averted. The title should read 'The Genocide is getting more Brutal'.
“Segal, who has previously called Israel’s war on Gaza a “textbook case of genocide,” said: “If we finally recognized Israel for what it is, which is a white supremacist settler state, then the problem is that it's not just confined to that. We have to recognize the whole system behind it, its support, its allies, including white supremacy and settler colonialism in the U.S.”
Seriously? Has this professor been to Israel? Are the Middle Eastern Jews white supremacists? How about the Ethiopian or Yemenite Jews? How exactly can black people from Africa be White Supremacists? Unless you’re Clarence Thomas, then it could make sense.
I agree what’s happening in Gaza is genocide and the world needs to act, but some of this stuff is completely over the top!
The idea that Biden can do more when he has sent Blinken and Burns to Israel and the Gulf States to mediate a ceasefire for the umpteenth time, shows he’s trying to stop this genicide. He’s even stopped a shipment of offensive weapons last week.
Israel does not take marching orders from the US, they take our money, weapons and aid, but clearly not our advice. No country when it comes to their existence and National Security will listen to its allies.
As DeGaulle once said to Ben-Gurion, “countries have no friends, only interests!”
And for all who say that we should stop sending all weapons is ludicrous. It’s not just to protect from the Palestinians, it’s all the threats that exist in the region: Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, etc….and threats from Russia and China.
We need to focus on a ceasefire and then stop the religious wing-nuts in Israel from expanding territory, so we can prepare for an eventual two state solution.
What has transpired during the last two decades of conflict and occupation needs to end, but Israel needs a partner as well, so pressure needs to be put on the Palestinians as well.
IMHO!