The Butcher Of Beirut & Things They Didn't Tell You About The Disengagement - (ft. Ben Gvir and Co.)

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:06]In December 1992, Israel deported 415 Palestinians to the south of Lebanon in an illegal act of collective punishment.

[00:00:14]The details are laid out in the first video to this series linked in the top corner. In this video series, we're going to talk about three political blocks in Israel, and we'll often use the deportation act by the Rabbin government as a point of reference to judge their varying attitudes regarding it. There will also be a fourth group we'll bring into the fold later on to complete the picture I'm going for. I'll be elaborating both on the internal Israeli perception and the external international interpretation of each of these groups. It's important to note that our time frame of analysis starts from the deportation act in 1992 forward. While of course there will be references to earlier points in time, I don't feel completely comfortable making sweeping statements about earlier periods in Israeli politics, nor do I have as much insight into them. The examples I'm going to be using in this series are chosen to establish a narrative or a thesis I have about Israeli politics in relation to Palestinian liberation or lack thereof.

[00:01:15]While I hope I can make a compelling case for it, I'm in no way claiming that there is not more to add here because of course there always will be. In today's video, we'll be talking about the moderates. These are center-right political parties. Now, in the same way that many Americans refer to the Democratic Party as the left, >> because there is no way I can stand behind some of the left views, but [ __ ] some of the [ __ ] that has gone DOWN IN THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY. [ __ ] THE POLICIES OF THE RIGHT, BUT ALSO [ __ ] some of the policies on the left.

[00:01:43]>> While by many other nation standards, Democrats are not meaningfully different than other right-wing parties. The same applies in Israel. So when I say the Israeli moderates are center right, I mean that's how they were and are still perceived by most Israelis, which are the voting demographic. When I use these political qualifiers, I'm speaking from the Israeli understanding of their political landscape, not a grander global analysis of political philosophy or even morals. The reason why we are starting with the moderates and will never go further right from them is because Israel's political system is based on coalition building. Meaning there are many parties to vote for and depending on how many votes a party receives in an election should give it a bigger negotiation card in the coalition forming phase. As a historical rule of thumb, moderates for the most part end up forming coalitions with parties more on the right than them. This de facto in Israel created a reality where the moderate parties in power were both the vessel for more right-wing politics, but were also the ones holding the steering wheel, making sure no rambunctious child ends up tugging too far to the right and toalling the car with it. Therefore, I don't feel a need to spend much time talking about names that are making the rounds these days in international media. Bengre and Smutri's acquisition of power was achieved because of Netanyahu's pending legal issues more than any other factor. And the only reason why they are not being held on a leash by him is due to those legal issues and the fact that for Netanyao replacing them is not an option. So when they threaten to dissolve the coalition if they don't get what they want, that puts him in a very dangerous political situation regarding his survival and staying out of jail. And so they wield extreme amounts of power that they should not be able to do. This is one of the fatal flaws of the coalition building format in Israel, specifically becoming more pronounced in the last few decades. The voting blocks have become a lot more fragmented, meaning small parties with minimal voters can sometimes hold the fate of the government in their hands and can get their way regardless of how popular they are or what their voting rank was in comparison to larger parties. While I do have a lot of nasty things to say about them, I must say I resent the way the less informed people talking about this fall into the trap of focusing on these two and their ilk. They are at this point nothing but a distraction. And while the sensational nature of their statements is finally getting international attention, I see them as a unfortunately very effective smokeokc screen. The most sensationalized elements of their existence in Israeli politics is the occupation with greater Israel. In a survey from June 2020, the audience of the survey was asked about their support or objection to annexing occupied territories. 32% said they do support annexation of those territories.

[00:04:52]When those same people supporting the annexation were then asked what is the main reason they support it, 54% said they believe in the idea of greater Israel. So around 55% out of 32% of the adult Israeli population. While that is a concerning number, I'd recommend conceptualizing it similarly to how you think about some Christians believing in the rapture. It's a creepy thing some people take seriously. And while it can affect policy in terms of donations and money and lobbying, it is far from the main issues and drives of American imperialism. Greater Israel is not a mainstream idea. While they and other less internationally known public figures absolutely are invested in the idea of greater Israel, talking about greater Israel as it refers to conquering more than the whole of Palestine, meaning Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights and for some people Sinai is something that in most circles will get people to chuckle or roll their eyes at you, stating you are delusional or outright a danger to the existence of the state of Israel. This condescension and rejection of this type of ideology partially explains the reaction of Israeli legacy media and Israel's upper class to these figures.

[00:06:10]In contrast with a growing voter base for this supporter of domestic terrorism who continues the legacy of a party so racist it was basically banned from Israeli politics and sort of outlawed and a potential might have been a terrorist. We're not sure about it proud homophobe. Now, I'd like to add that while I currently still think they only play the role of distraction, it is undeniable that support in the public for them on a political scale is growing and has significantly shifted compared to 30 years from now. So, if you asked me what I think their role in Israeli politics is in 20 years, I will probably have a very different answer. However, my journey as a born and raised liberal Zionist Israeli into unapologetic uncompromising anti-ionism had nothing to do with the rise of the Israeli right. Smutries and benve were always around when I was a kid. I knew they existed. They were on the fringe of Israeli society. But the disillusionment I have from what I believed until relatively recently was meant to bring about the resolution for Palestinian strife is the Israeli left. And that's what really drove me into full anti-Zionism.

[00:07:22]That being the case, I'd very much prefer to take you on that journey instead of talking about how bad Smrich and Bengir are because I don't think had they not existed in our politics, the genocide in Gaza would have been prevented. Neither is what's currently happening in Lebanon. I'm more interested in what has stopped Israel from being able to prevent the assaults in the first place. and Benvir and Smotri are simply not the answers to that question. Without further ado, let's move forward.

[00:07:54]Ariel Shaon will become Israel's prime minister in 2001. And in 2005, he will initiate the unilateral disengagement program from the Gaza Strip, which was and still is a highly controversial move that granted him international recognition. Lebanese people, however, probably remember Shaun for something a bit different. The butcher of Beirut was the man who by all accounts was the driving force behind the invasion of Lebanon in 1982. And if you read his Wikipedia, you will learn that he was married to two sisters during his lifetime and that his visit to the Temple Mount was the instigating event for the second Antifada. While Chiron obviously approved of Robin's decision to go ahead with the deportation act, he criticized the way in which Rabin chose to do it.

[00:08:44]>> You don't even know how to deport. Out of 415 Hamas militants, about 250 of them are Jordanian citizens. Those needed to be sent to one place, as any self-respecting country would do, the place where they have citizenship at. We could have divided them and dispersed them around in enough places that I will not elaborate here. Believe me, I know how to do that. I've done that before.

[00:09:02]>> The disengagement We have with a few important rabbis in Israel to make in the center of Jerusalem praying against the process that the prime ministers make to withdraw Jewish communities from the Gaza Strip.

[00:09:23]>> We've been watching moments of intense confrontation in the modern history of Israel.

[00:09:27]>> You're looking at a map now that shows you some of the settlements uh in Gaza that are being evacuated. Israeli troops encountered stiff resistance on day two of the forced evacuation of Jewish settlers. But the troops appear to have gained the upper hand now. Troops using ladders, cranes, and water cannon to end a standoff on the roof of the synagogue.

[00:09:45]>> Basically saying that some of the policemen have been wounded. They are light wounds. Nothing too serious at this stage. Um, and we've also seen a number of protesters who have been hurt as well in what has been by far the most violent confrontation in this evacuation of the Gaza Strip. But was it acid that was thrown at the police? We think it's a mixed water with acid with the paint and all kind of stuff.

[00:10:04]>> Okay. We we saw the the the policemen and women going through the razor eye going up on ladders, but they've also faced a fair fair amount of abuse too.

[00:10:12]We we've seen soldiers today being called Nazis and things like that. Um how how does an Israeli Jewish police officer deal with being called a Nazi and deal with this kind of thing?

[00:10:23]>> I think we are all all of us very emotional with what's happening here.

[00:10:27]It's it's part of the things we thought we're going to face. We trained our our soldiers and police officers for that.

[00:10:35]We know that it's not personal. It's a very important decision which the government took. We're a democracy country. We have to execute those decisions.

[00:10:42]>> Tell us how well prepared were the protesters for the arrival of the police today.

[00:10:47]>> Mainly what you see here, they are not settlers. They didn't they are not leaving here. The settlers most of them more than 70% were evacuated even last night. So you can see a lot of professional protesters which came from all over during the last month or before that. We're talking for a few thousand mainly. We don't we don't go dramat dramatically or charges on all of them.

[00:11:09]But those who are were very violent against the police officers and the soldiers >> also for resisting arrest and for assault of a police officer as well in the course of his duty, they will face some jail time. No doubt.

[00:11:22]>> No. No, they won't. This law, which granted amnesty to protest participants and completely erased the offenses committed, was a dedicated and unprecedented law. I realize a lot of information was condensed to that rather short and chaotic intro to this topic, especially if you're unfamiliar with it.

[00:11:40]Still, there's a few points I'd like to touch on regarding what we just watched and learned about the evacuation of the illegal Jewish settlements, which was a key part of the plan. First, we'll note the significance of synagogues being used as the main arena of conflict >> and the struggle against the protesters going on the roof of the synagogue here.

[00:12:00]Troops have also been pulling out protesters one by one from the main synagogue in the Nebene settlement.

[00:12:05]Hundreds of people there locked arms inside forming human chains and chanting, "Jews don't expel Jews."

[00:12:10]>> This was done by design. ironic considering the amount of outrage and propaganda Israel and other Western countries often direct at Muslims for using places of worship for incitement purposes. And yet, when Israeli Jews are deliberately using synagogues to draw on memories of Jewish expulsion by violent discriminatory military practices, that is all well and good, and no one's going to raise their eyebrows at that.

[00:12:39]Secondly, I know these pictures are blurry, but do these people look like adults to you because they don't look like adults to me. And since for almost a year now we've been made to stare at videos of children and teenagers told they are either used as shields by militant terrorist groups or in fact operatives thereof and therefore viable military targets. It is interesting no one ever noted that Israelis and Israeli Jews with specific agendas have a continuous habit of using children and teenagers in their protests even when the protests are violent. A lot of these images were broadcasted internationally and yet no one working on these programs ever bothered to notice or mention, "Hey, aren't these like children on the roof throwing [ __ ] at soldiers?"

[00:13:32]Thirdly, the police officer mentioned that the protesters are not settlers because they came in from all over Israel. Well, the truth is most of these people are very much likely settlers.

[00:13:44]They are just not the Gazin settlers being evacuated. They are from the West Bank and Jerusalem, highly likely to be residing in other illegal settlements since they are here to protest for ideological reasons of settler expansionism and preservation. Next, >> Israel over the last three decades has poured billions of dollars into settlements, arguing, of course, that it was vital for Israel's security. This year, US taxpayers are going to be asked for an additional $2 billion over the coming four years, not for settlements, but to help accommodate uh some of the extlers, if you will. As part of the disengagement plan, it was decided evacuated settlers will receive new temporary housing since their homes were demolished and financial compensation and assistance. And by randomly stumbling across this news broadcast while making this video, I got to learn that it only cost the American taxpayer just an extra $2 billion. But that's fine because usually those would have been used to build more settlements and this time they were used to compensate a bunch of Jewish Israelis for being evacuated for any legal international action that America was sponsoring. Now for the last and most important and egregious part of this all, at least for me personally, we know how dangerous it can be to be a Palestinian just existing in occupied Palestine, not even protesting. Even if you're not a Palestinian and even if the protest is over and done with, you might still get shot in the head and America would say that they trust Israeli procedures. That in particular will also be a video in this series. As far as I managed to look it up, no person has died during the few violent days of the disengagement execution phase. Police and IDF soldiers were trained for months in advance that they were there to be respectful and take on the pain of the evacuated settlers with as much grace as they could. And this meant also enduring violence onto themselves. Acid was thrown at police officers faces. There was barb wire, dirt, rocks. I remember them talking on the news when I was a kid about diapers being thrown at people. And according to this clip from the Israeli ambassador to the United States at the time, police officers went in without weapons at all.

[00:16:11]>> Our soldiers, our young uh brave guys go there unarmed. The only arm they have is is maybe water and paint. quite exemplary. The levels of moderation and restraints, the same institutions who claim that they can shoot children who throw rocks can exhibit when they are actually invested in the lives of the protesters. But apparently that honor is only reserved for Jewish people. And again, it's not that we didn't know this, but considering the level of civil disobedience, violence, and tempers that ran during this period of time in Israel, it is genuinely infuriating to me. Not that nobody died, but that so many people who are not Jewish find themselves murdered for doing a lot less and having much more justifiable reasons. that so many people who are not Jewish find themselves dead when IDF soldiers and police have proven themselves completely capable of doing otherwise even in difficult complex emotional situations. So editor's note here I really didn't want to do this but if I don't come back and address it I feel like it really paints a picture that I'm not comfortable putting my name on. So, it took me a lot of time to reconcile the conflicting images and narratives that I was hearing as I was watching different news broadcasts about the disengagement. There were constant videos of rioting and people yelling and screaming and kicking and being dragged away, which seemed very violent and dramatic. On the other hand, I constantly saw interviews with military and police personnel that were saying that they had long talks with the settlers and have reached agreements with them to evacuate relatively peacefully. And we also saw that said by the police officer in the CNN report that 70% of the actual settlers already left the area by the time we are reaching the conflict on the roof of the synagogue. And so indeed some sort of agreements were reached with most of the settlers in most of the places evacuated. And the agreements were something like we will let you protest.

[00:18:22]You can yell at us. You can lecture us.

[00:18:24]You can push your babies in our faces and tell us that we're monsters and Nazis and we're going to hell. We will not arrest you or attack you for it. and if you don't want to walk out of your house to the bus, then you can just refuse to evacuate, quote unquote, and we will carry you there. And those are indeed a lot of the pictures that we're seeing. But that means a lot of it was orchestrated. Basically, it was understood between the settlers and the police officers evacuating that there's not going to be serious violent confrontations. So, it was about letting the settlers get their I resisted moment, especially on TV to show that they didn't go without a fight. A lot of them said it was an educational moment to show the people of Israel what it's like to not give up on your land and that type of stuff. So, it was an ideological thing for them. So, they knew that they're not going to like try to murder police officers, but that they're also not going to just walk out smiling. And basically, if they're kicking and screaming or calling you a Nazi or saying that you're going to hell and you're a police officer at the time, you're just kind of putting up with it because the alternative might be violent. And honestly, just a lot of police officers and IDF soldiers that were part of the evacuation team didn't support it. They didn't want to evacuate them. They were against it. But there were also way less but few real risky situations. Meaning the people were not cooperative. And that is the acid example that police officers did not expect the protesters to go that far.

[00:20:01]And basically the actual violent encounters were the outside protesters who were more extreme and had a different slightly agenda than the settlers who were going to walk out rather quietly even though disapprovingly. And that is why there's two kind of like conflicting narratives.

[00:20:19]There were protests even before the days of evacuation. There were protests for months in advance uh blocking roads and doing all type of demonstrations and stuff like that. They will write abeds in newspapers all day about how their human rights were terribly violated by the disengagement and how they were treated horribly by everyone in the country at the time and they were painted like violent monsters and so on and so forth because they don't think there's anything wrong with settlements and they don't think they should be treated like how Palestinians are treated when they are evacuated. And I saw a lot of reports talking about how youth were being penalized, how they were told they couldn't take their high school exams. a lot of them were arrested and whether they were arrested for justified or unjustifiable reasons.

[00:21:05]I had to bring it up because when you have an Israeli Jewish demographic who is so hands-on with their youth programs that are actively supporting international crimes, it is truly infuriating thinking about how Israel paints youth basically saying that they should be put to death if Israel can claim that they are Hamas, right? But their own youth engages in these type of activities. So, it's just I had to point out the the level of hypocrisy that we're dealing with here. Tangents out of the way, it's time to talk about the internal and external view of this political move. The road map was a plan the Bush administration published a draft for in 2002 regarding the eventual achievement of a Palestinian state and it was endorsed by the United Nation and Russia amongst other international bodies. However, being Bush after 9/11, the road map targeted Palestinian resistance, which it labeled terrorism as the main roadblock in the path towards productive negotiations.

[00:22:14]>> I believe now that we have a interlocutor from the Palestinian Authority that has spoken clearly about the need to fight terror, that we have a good opportunity to advance the peace process. war on Iraq has made it absolutely clear that uh those who harbor terrorists, fund terrorists or harbor weapons of mass destruction will be held to account. And and by the way, in order for peace to occur, all parties must assume their responsibilities.

[00:22:35]>> This significantly reduced international pressure and responsibility off of Israel. As now more than ever, whenever Israel would be accused of stalling or aggressing, the go-to response would be to point at the Palestinians and say, "Well, they are led by terrorists. You can't expect us to negotiate with that while they are targeting us. All the while, Israel is still actively building illegal settlements and enforcing its brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. As you can hear from the CNN report, >> it's important as important as in Washington as it is perhaps in Tel Aviv.

[00:23:10]It is the first move by Israel, a voluntary move to back away from a policy of settlements and occupations, but a significant move by Prime Minister Ario Chiron. It's important what this means for the road map of President Bush.

[00:23:21]>> The disengagement was seen as a very drastic step Israel was taking for the sake of creating some kind of process towards peace and negotiation and Israel internationally was determined to stress out just how much of a sacrifice ratifying their own violations of international law was for them.

[00:23:39]>> How hard is it for you to watch this?

[00:23:41]>> Oh, it's it's it's gut-wrenching. It's very hard. It's very sentimental. And I think it gives uh your viewers worldwide really a a chance to firsthand understand and appreciate the sacrifice for Israel, for all Israelis. And I I think also to appreciate uh the great courage of Prime Minister Chiron of taking this this very hard decision and and implement it. And >> that's pretty much how international media sold it even if the general population in those countries had no idea what anyone was talking about at the time. There was another point that was very important for Israel to sell and went handinand with the shifting of focus and blame towards Palestinian leadership as the main obstacle for progress.

[00:24:21]>> Very critical. Once the Israelis pull out of Gaza, will the Palestinian Authority be able to establish a government established law and order here?

[00:24:29]>> You called it a historic moment.

[00:24:31]Palestinians looking at this say these settlements are illegal under international law. this has been stolen from Gaza and they say yes it's historic but this is a historic misdeed >> well I think it would be well advised for the Palestinians uh not only to show compassion but also be forward looking let's don't dwell on the past but look forward and I think as Israel is doing this great sacrifice and this painful process we would expect the Palestinians to take responsibility and just make good on not what is just being demanded or expected by the international community what they have committed to do according to the road map and this is to fight terror, to do away with terror, to dismantle terrorism so there's no potential of terrorism in the future, to change the entire uh culture of hate and incitement, to preach for coexistence, for peaceful coexistence, and uh with reforms that uh will hopefully create um an authority with uh one authority, with a rule of law, and with a one gun. Then can we can certainly uh look into the future hopefully with optimism with all the pain we're undergoing now, with all the sacrifice that we're putting now.

[00:25:30]It's for the Palestinians to show the same kind of responsibility, seriousness, and courage. As we move along, >> the idea that now that Israel has left Gaza and even relinquish control of the Philadelphia corridor, which is the border strip between Egypt and Gaza, was a way to say, "Hey, we are really handsoff now. The Palestinians better step up and make something good out of this." Also, remember the road map says no more terrorism. So, it was nothing short of a blessing to the narrative that two years after the withdrawal, Hamas and the PLO already had a violent confrontation in Gaza and Hamas took over the strip. Never mind that until this point some obscure irrelevant Israeli politicians such as one BB Netan who have worked and advocated to strengthen Hamas's stronghold in Gaza, particularly to cause a divide in Palestinian leadership, the one the road map was blaming for the issues, and undermining the PLO and Palestinian Authority, the one the road map was blaming for the issues.

[00:26:43]>> And we can see this talking point today when Zionists say following the disengagement, Palestinians had an opportunity to choose prosperity and progress, but instead they chose the path of terror in Gaza and failed to self-govern because of it. You can also see remnants of this new line in Zionist propaganda with the what about Palestinian agency argument. Israel and the US were alarmed at the results and warned that they would not deal with a Palestinian government led by Hamas.

[00:27:13]>> As we've said, you cannot have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas is therefore not changed. I've spoken to President Abbas today who was elected by the Palestinian people on a platform of peace.

[00:27:26]>> Truth is, when Palestinians express agency, when they voted for Hamas, it wasn't accepted. It wasn't valid. When Palestinians actually express agency, the Western world says, "Well, actually, we don't like the choices you're making.

[00:27:41]That's pretty inconvenient for us. We will now penalize you for it." So, it's not that they're actually interested in agency. More that what they mean is they're not doing what we want them to do. Domestically, though, back in Israel, things were a bit different. The disengagement at the time was mostly supported by the majority of the public.

[00:28:02]The reality of occupying Gaza was a costly one for troops being there, meaning a lot of people had lost family members who served in the strip and larger swaths of the public were very much against illegal settlements as is.

[00:28:20]This is why the plan was welcomed by both the left for its removal of settlements and some portions of the right realizing the cost and lives for both IDF soldiers and settlers living in those territories because of violent confrontations. This is all before you go into the amount of money being sunken in those settlements. However, not a majority, but a vocal significant part of the Israeli population was not on board with the disengagement. After the six- day war, Chaon, not a politician at the time, but a commander in the IDF, rehashed a draft of a strategic plan from Gula Mayor's administration to use Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip to strengthen control of it. Up until the '9s, the conception in Israel was that Gaza will always remain under Israel's control in any agreement that might be signed in the future with the Palestinians. So, the plan was implemented and settlements began popping up in Gaza.

[00:29:19]This is why the disengagement seemed like such a betrayal for many people because for the 30 plus years beforehand, settlers in Gaza were told they are the frontier of Israeli and Jewish security and safety. that their presence in the Gaza Strip is a crucial security measure. Constant conflict with the Gazin population took a toll on those communities and now they were told that they were unneeded and asked to get the [ __ ] out. And this was unacceptable for many. Since perception in Israel for so many years has been that their presence there actively suppresses terrorism, it was unsurprising many feared their removal would cause an uninterrupted swelling thereof. This is not to mention the highly religious communities who only agreed to settle there in the first place out of belief in the idea all the land belongs to the Jewish people. And so it was reflected in the rhetoric at the time that they equated the removal of the settlements to Nazi deportation or exile from the promised land incarnate. The idea that illegal settlements strengthen Israel's security is still a powerful one in right-wing circles to this day. The right basically blames the disengagement in the Oswcc Accords for showing weakness and complacency, which is funny for reasons we will get into later on.

[00:30:40]The fact that Israel sold the disengagement as a goodwill offer of reconciliation is why the Israeli right hates it so much. Similarly enough, that's why the Israeli left adors and idealizes it. They mourn and lament the fact that there will probably never be another mass removal of settlements such as the disengagement again. It also packs an extra punch that Shaolon, who was the father of the settlements and a staunch legacy right-winger, supposedly came around and started walking the path of peace. Or at least that's how some people saw it or wrote about it or framed it. But um did he know? While Chiron decided to do the disengagement without negotiating with Palestinians at all about what was going to happen in Gaza once Israel withdraws, there were secret meetings being held in Europe where a plan was concocted between some of Arafat's adviserss and some Israeli representatives. Later, those Israeli representatives returned and presented the draft to Ariel Shaon, who quickly rejected it and went on without negotiations. Now, I wasn't sure where exactly I should put this segment of the video, but it felt appropriate that it would make the cut, so I guess now is as good a time as any. In August 2005, two major Jewish terrorist attacks were carried out with the intent to delay or stop the disengagement plan from going through. On August 4th, an IDF soldier murdered four Palestinians and injured 9 to 12 more while on a bus to a Muslim majority city. A few weeks beforehand, he had defected from the military, leaving a note stating his issues regarding the disengagement. His family and mother in particular contacted multiple authorities including the IDF reporting he was missing but still possessing his issued weapon and that they were deeply concerned that a disaster might take place. Would he be allowed to be left on his own devices?

[00:32:50]There are a few very interesting things about this event, so I might make an expansion video about it in the future.

[00:32:58]On August 17th, a settler from the West Bank shot four of his Palestinian co-workers to death. He attempted to shoot a fifth, but didn't manage to get to them in time. The Palestinians shot were working with the settler in the same aluminium factory. He knew them well. He gave them a ride and then exited his car and shot each of them in the torso five to six times. When he thought they were all dead, he started running back towards the factory to target a remaining Palestinian worker.

[00:33:30]One of the wounded Palestinians came out of the car, shot and bleeding, and yelled after him. Asher, what are you doing? The settler then shot towards him a few more times. He specifically said he did this in an attempt to stop the disengagement and hoped this action will encourage more people to follow suit.

[00:33:52]You know, after researching for this project, I really think I want to make a video about Islam is seen as the religion of terrorism and hate. But considering the death toll and the amount of Jewish religiously motivated extremism presented by Jewish settlers in Israel, I'd actually be very interested in almost telling the amount of casualties done by these groups over the years. This is also obviously tied to the use of synagogues by these extremist groups. Something that again Muslims get criticized for all the time that their mosques are used for encouraging terrorism. But nobody talks about how that happens in Jewish communities in Israel all the time in synagogues but not just in synagogues.

[00:34:35]So yeah, something to think about. Now that we've covered the international and domestic attitudes, I'm going to tell you what were the real reasons for the disengagement program, at least as far as we know, and how the whole thing was a PR move so effective it managed to get its benefactors cursing it.

[00:34:55]>> It supplies the amount of formaldahhide that's necessary so that there will not be a political process with the Palestinians. In an interview published by Harareets in an incredibly ironic date of October 7, 2004, a year before the disengagement, the top adviser to Shaun at the time, whose name is Dove Vice, said a few controversial yet illuminating things. I'm actually going to read out a very large portion of it because it is so critical to what actually was going on in Shaun's mind at the time. It is just it cannot be understated. I will use one voice to read out the interviewer and I will just adjust my voice and the audio so you can't distinguish between the interviewer's questions and the answers by vice class.

[00:35:35]>> Is that what you really think? And Chiron too that there is no one to talk to.

[00:35:38]>> We reached that conclusion after years of thinking otherwise after years of attempts at dialogue. But when Alfat undermined Abu Mazan at the end of the summer of 2003, we reached the sad conclusion that there's no one to talk to, no one to negotiate with, hence the disengagement plan. I want to remind you that there will also be a withdrawal in the West Bank.

[00:35:56]>> The withdrawal in Samaria is a token one. We agreed to only so it wouldn't be said that we concluded our obligation in Gaza.

[00:36:03]>> Is the Gaza disengagement meant to allow Israel to continue controlling the majority of the West Bank?

[00:36:07]>> Alik doesn't see Gaza today as an area of national interest. He does see Judea and Samaria as an area of national interest.

[00:36:14]>> Does the evacuation of the settlements in Gaza strengthen the settlements in the West Bank or weaken them? It doesn't hurt the isolated remote settlements.

[00:36:22]It's not relevant for them. Their future will be determined in many years when we reach a final settlement. It's not certain that each and every one of them will be able to go on existing. On the other hand, in regard to the large settlement blocks, thanks to the disengagement plan, we have in our hands a first ever American statement that they will be part of Israel. In years to come, perhaps decades, when negotiations will be held between Israel and the Palestinians, the master of the world will pound on the table and say, "We stated already 10 years ago that the large blocks are part of Israel."

[00:36:52]>> If so, Shan can tell the leaders of the settlers that he is evacuating 10,000 settlers, and in the future, he will be compelled to evacuate another 10,000, but he is strengthening the other 200,000, strengthening their hold in the soil.

[00:37:06]Out of 240,000 settlers, 190,000 will not be moved from their place. Will not be moved. There's an American commitment such as never existed before with regard to 190,000 settlers.

[00:37:20]>> If what you're saying is correct, the settlers themselves should organize demonstrations of support for Sha because he did a tremendous service to the settlement enterprise.

[00:37:28]>> They should have danced around and around the prime minister's office. Aik is the first person who succeeded in taking the ideas of the national camp and turning them into a political reality that is accepted by the whole world. After all, when he declared six or seven years ago that we would never negotiate under fire, he only generated gals of laughter. Whereas today, that same approach guides the president of the United States. It was passed in the House of Representatives and in the Senate.

[00:37:52]>> From your point of view, then your major achievement is to have frozen the political process legitimately.

[00:37:57]>> This is exactly what happened. You know, the term political process is a bundle of concepts and commitments. The political process is the establishment of a Palestinian state with all the security risks that entails. The political process is the evacuation of settlements. It's the return of refugees. It's the partition of Jerusalem and all of that has now been frozen.

[00:38:17]>> So, you have carried out the maneuver of the century and all of it with authority and permission. that I found a device in cooperation with the management of the world to ensure that there will be no stopwatch here that there will be no timetable to implement the settller's nightmare. I have postponed that nightmare indefinitely because what I effectively agreed to with the Americans was that part of the settlements would not be dealt with at all and the rest will not be dealt with until the Palestinians turn into Fins. That is the significance of what we did. The significance is the freezing of the political process. And when you freeze that process, you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state and you prevent a discussion about the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem.

[00:38:57]Effectively, this whole package that is called the Palestinian state with all that it entails has been removed from our agenda indefinitely. All with a presidential blessing and the ratification of both houses and Congress. What more could have been given to the settlers? It was a very difficult package of commitments that Israel was expected to accept. That package is called a political process.

[00:39:17]It included elements we will never agree to accept and elements we cannot accept at this time. But we succeeded in taking that package and sending it beyond the hills of time. With the proper management, we succeeded in removing the issue of the political process from the agenda. And we educated the world to understand that there is no one to talk to and we received a no one to talk to certificate. That certificate says one, there's no one to talk to. Two, as long as there's no one to talk to, the geographic status quo remains intact.

[00:39:46]Three, the certificate will be revoked only when this happens, when Palestine becomes Finland. Four, see you then and shalom.

[00:39:55]>> Now, I know that was a lot to digest, but we must also address this following point. Shimon Perez, an extremely known important political figure in Israeli history that we will probably meet in the next video, has let it slip in an international interview in 2005 that a big part of the consideration for the disengagement program was due to demographic interests of the Jewish state. Basically, the disengagement plan and the military withdrawal from Gaza were to prevent Israel from losing their demographic Jewish majority without continuously aggressing on international law by denying Palestinians that they are actively occupying voting rights.

[00:40:36]The concept of maintaining the Jewish majority is probably the leading factor regarding Israel's apartheid regime. The reason why the Israel are so opposed to the idea of annexation is because annexation leads to one out of these two outcomes. One, giving citizenship and voting rights to all Palestinians in the annexed territories.

[00:40:58]By doing so, losing the Jewish majority in Israel. Two, not giving citizenship and voting rights to all Palestinians in the annexed territories. by doing so becoming a durap apartheid state that even Zionists for a change can actually recognize is apartheid and so there's a conflict here because losing the Jewish majority is not an option even the most Zionist can allow but it's much harder to make excuses and lie about international law when even a fifth grader could tell you what you're doing is the most basic definition of apartheid Israeli policy has always relied on the international community purposefully ignoring or misunderstanding their own definitions set forth by the United Nations and other agreements like the Geneva Conventions to make excuses for Israeli occupation. It's not a parttheid, you see, because we don't control Gaza. We just control water and electricity and their airspace and their naval space and most of the border and have a registry of the population. It's not a parttheid, you see. The Palestinian Authority is controlling the West Bank. We just >> And that is my very dope cliffhanger for the next video in the series where we'll discuss the next political camp which holds within it the Oslo Accords. So I'll see you then.