Hamza Tzortzis – 5 Main Points to Understand the Palestine-Israel Crisis & 2 Key Refutations

			Bismillah R Rahman r Rahim in Alhamdulillah wa Salatu was Salam ala Rasulillah Salam alaykum
warahmatullahi wabarakatu, who brothers and sisters and friends. Unfortunately, this video is going
to be about the crisis that is unfolding in Palestine.
		

			I want to raise with you some arguments, some thought experiments and five key major points to help
you reframe the narrative. Because the purpose of this video is to do that to reframe the narrative.
Now before I get into the arguments into the five key major points that I want to articulate, I want
to raise a few points with you some preliminary points.
		

			Firstly, I do not condone the killing of innocent people, non competence with our child, a woman or
a man must never be targeted.
		

			In saying this, the recent conflict in Palestine has brought to light once again, the Zionist
fallacies, propaganda, tyranny, apartheid, genocide and oppression.
		

			And another purpose for this video is to speak to non Muslims in particular, who are unaware or
misinformed about the recent conflict.
		

			Now, the mainstream media, unfortunately have deliberately Miss framed the conflict and they have
made the oppressed the oppressor and the oppressor, the oppressed and Malcolm X. May God have mercy
on him articulate this very well. He said, the media is the most powerful entity on Earth. They have
the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent. He also said, if you're not
careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the
people who are doing the oppressing.
		

			Another point I want to raise is that approximately 2000 Palestinian children have been killed by
Israeli forces since October, the seventh 2000 Palestinian children. So I want to ask the following
question
		

			is the life of a Palestinian child worth less than the life of any other child
		

			where it seems to be the case for many people, because if 2000 children were murdered,
		

			by a political entity, by a state,
		

			irrespective of the context, there'll be international rage, especially if that country was a
Western country.
		

			And connected to this are two false arguments, I really want to quickly just dismiss and to refute.
And these arguments are expressed by Zinus. And the mainstream media and politicians. And these
arguments are as follows. Her masses, actions must be condemned. And they say this, and they assert
this without condemning what Israel is doing right now.
		

			And they also argue, Israel has a right to defend itself. Now, with all due respect, these are not
valid arguments anymore. And let me explain why.
		

			If some people expect to condemn the attacks that occurred on October the seventh, because they were
brutal and horrific, and around 1400 people were killed, then it logically follows they must condemn
Israel, but they don't. And why must they condemn Israel because of the following 75 years of
illegal occupation, decades of apartheid, decades of ethnic cleansing 10s of 1000 Palestinians
murdered 1000s unjustly detained years of collective punishment and decades of human rights
violations.
		

			Now, it is obvious and I don't like comparing atrocities. But it is obvious that this list that I've
mentioned,
		

			is much worse than the evidence some people are citing to condemn what happened on October the
seventh, but stay silent on what Israel has been doing for the past 75 years.
		

			Since these people do not also condemn Israel, then it raises a valid suspicion that they are
ideologically biased.
		

			This should be enough to reframe the narrative. Now you may argue, well, this list that you
mentioned Hamza was the evidence. Don't worry, we're going to be unpacking this, when we're talking
about the five key points on when to articulate Now, the second argument is or has the right to
defend itself is also false. Consider this if Israel has a right to defend itself, and the killing
of 2000 children is part of that. Then logically speaking, does it not somehow justify the attacks
that happen in Israel? I'm not saying it's a justification. But logically speaking
		

			The logical door swings both ways.
		

			Because if Israel has a right to defend itself, and part of that is killing 2000 innocent children,
then
		

			Hamas is actions are justified from that perspective because Hamas can argue that their actions are
a defense against decades of murder, oppression, apartheid, and illegal occupation. Now, again, I'm
not saying this is a justification, I'm merely pointing out the logical implication and
contradiction of some of the arguments. Now obviously, they may respond by saying there is a big
difference Hamza, massive difference, because Hamas, targeted children and innocence innocent people
specifically. However, sorry, this is not an argument because it is clear that Israel is doing the
same. And many IDF Israeli Defense Force members and Israeli commentators have clearly made the
		

			intention notice that when you look at the past 75 years, children have been targeted in cold blood.
		

			So the both the same from this perspective,
		

			this is why the massacre in Gaza must stop now. And these two refutations of the two false arguments
should be enough to reframe the whole narrative.
		

			Now, let's go to the five points I want to unpack with you today the five key points. Now I'm going
to summarize them right now. And then I'm going to unpack them with evidence. So the first point is
as follows. The conflict did not start on October the summer 2023. It has been well established that
Israel has been illegally occupying Palestinian land for over 70 years, they have engaged in ethnic
cleansing, establish an apartheid system. And they have been oppressing Palestinians, Muslim and
Christian for decades, killing innocent civilians, many of which had been children. Point number
two.
		

			Between 2021 and 2023, over 130 children had been murdered by Israeli forces. Also, hundreds of
Palestinian children have been unjustly detained prior to the current conflict. And there has been
no outrage from the international community. So the questions are why the selective outrage and is a
Palestinian child with less than an Israeli child. Point number three.
		

			Gaza has been an open air prison since 2005. Gaza does not have full control or autonomy. The people
of Gaza have been living in conditions that have been described by academics as perverse and
degrading. Point number four, not withstanding Hamas and Islamic Jihad being prescribed groups in
many Western countries. There are many other factions that use the legal right to resist occupying
forces. This legal right is well established in international law. Fifth and final point,
commentators have argued that Israel with regards to its response is proportionate and justified.
This is the ridiculous statement, as they are the oppressors, and occupiers. Such arguments can only
		

			make sense if you believe the crisis only started on the seventh of October 2023. And you ignore the
previous four points.
		

			So that was a summary. Let's now unpack each point very carefully citing various pieces of evidence.
And by the way, I cannot give you everything, because of time, because of practicalities by
hopefully I'm going to give you enough. And I'm going to provide all of these references in the
description below. So let's go to the first point. So the first point was about the conflict did not
start with the crisis rather because the good conflict assumes some kind of power symmetry, there is
no power symmetry is asymmetrical, which is well known this call it a crisis. The crisis did not
start on October the seventh 2023. It has been well established that Israel has been occupying
		

			Palestinian land for over 70 years, they have engaged in ethnic cleansing, establish an apartheid
system and have been oppressing Palestinians for decades killing innocent civilians, many of which
are children. So let's start first and foremost with Human Rights Watch, which is a well known
international NGO, and they state in their report, a threshold crossed Israeli authorities and the
crime of apartheid and persecution. They say the following.
		

			About 6.8 million Jewish Israelis and 6.8 million Palestinians live today between the Mediterranean
Sea and Jordan River, an area encompassing Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. The latter
made up of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Throughout most of this area,
Israel is the sole governing power in the remainder exercise primary authority, alongside limited
		

			Palestinians so fruit across these areas and in most aspects of life Israeli authorities
methodically privilege Jewish Israelis and discriminate against Palestinians. laws, policies and
statements by leading Israeli officials make plain that the objective of maintaining Jewish Israeli
control over demographics, political power and land has long guided government policy. In pursuit of
this goal, authorities have dispossessed confined, forcibly forcibly separated and subjugated
Palestinians by virtue of that identity to varying degrees of intensity. In certain areas, as
described in this report, these depravations are so severe, they amount to the crimes against
		

			humanity of apartheid and persecution.
		

			And at this stage, I want to refer to you to the Nakba, a word that cannot be used in Israel. Now,
the Nakba refers to the Palestinian catastrophe, the disaster, the cataclysm, and this was the
destruction of Palestinian society and homeland in 1948. And it was the permanent displacement of a
majority of the Palestinian Arabs with no right to return. Essentially, it was the stealing of their
land.
		

			Now, in summary, the Nakba was basically the expulsion of over 700,000 Palestinians from the homes.
It was the burning to the ground of 600 villages, and it was the poisoning of water wells to prevent
Palestinians from returning.
		

			And this has been echoed by many academics, Jewish and non Jewish, for example, John Selby, Gabriel,
doused and Clemens Hoffman, have written a study published by Cambridge University Press. And they
refer to this catastrophe, but not only 1948, but also 1967. And they summarize it in the following
way. They said around 751,000 displaced during the War of 1948 to 1949, a full 88% of the
Palestinian population of what would henceforth become Israel,
		

			several 100,000 More displaced in 1967, over 5 million Palestinians who decades later, still have
refugee status. Now before we continue with more evidence, here is a thought experiment. To help you
further. Imagine London was occupied by France in 1948. And France, expelled 700,000 Londoners, and
they killed 10s of 1000s of Brits, including women, and children, and they enforced a system of
apartheid, and they enforce persecution for decades, what would be the British response? Now some
would argue it will be far worse than what we've seen in recent years by the Palestinians. Not
considering this, the world should be grateful that the enemies of Zionist Israel are actually the
		

			Palestinians. And this thorlux word should be enough to reframe the whole narrative. And this is why
just to echo again, the whole self defense mantra does not make sense in the context of the
historical and political facts.
		

			an occupying force is already in an illegal and offensive position to claim that Israel is defending
itself is equivalent to as Muhammad hijab put it, a * defending themselves from the victim.
		

			Now let's cite more evidence, Human Rights Watch again.
		

			Now, the associate children children's rights director at Human Rights Watch bill than s Bell said
the following. Israeli forces are gunning down Palestinian children living under occupation with
increasing frequency unless Israel's allies, particularly the United States, pressure Israel to
change course, more Palestinian children will be killed. So this is referring to the killing of
Palestinian children, which we're going to unpack in another point as well.
		

			Further evidence, Richard Falk. He was the UN Special Rapporteur, in October 2010. He submitted his
report to the UN General Assembly, and this is what he said, This is what he stated. It is the
opinion of the current special rep at all, that the nature of the occupation as of 2010
substantiates early allegations of colonialism, colonialism and apartheid in evidence and law to a
greater extent than was the case even three years ago, the entrenching of colonialist and apartheid
features of the Israeli occupation
		

			has been a cumulative process. The longer it continues, the more difficult it is to overcome. And
the more serious is the abridgement of fundamental Palestinian rights.
		

			Academics J. Dugard and Jay Reynolds in 2013, in the academic paper apartheid, international law in
the occupied Palestinian territory, say the following. Overall, more than 40% of the landmass of the
West Bank has now been appropriated to make way for Israeli settlement infrastructure and is
entirely close to Palestinian use. In March 2012. The UN committee of the Elimination of Racial of
dis of racial discrimination took the unprecedented step of centering Israel under the rubric of
apartheid and segregation as prohibited by Article Three of the International Convention for the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. On the basis of the systematic and
		

			institutionalized nature of the racial * that exists, there are indeed strong grounds to
conclude that a system of apartheid has developed in the occupied Palestinian territory. Israeli
practices in the occupied territory are not only reminiscent of and in some cases where then
apartheid as it existed in South Africa, but I am breach of the legal prohibition of apartheid,
another NGO Amnesty International in 2023. In the report, the State of the World's human rights,
said the following in Israel and the occupied territories 2022 So the system of apartheid
solidified, successive Israeli governments rolled out measures forcing more Palestinians from the
		

			homes, expanding illegal settlements, and legalizing existing settlements and outposts across the
occupied West Bank. Rather than demand and enter that system of oppression, many Western governments
choose instead to attack those denouncing Israel's apartheid system, many Western governments chose
instead to attack those denouncing Israel's apartheid system. Israel maintain an extreme form of
discrimination, a system of apartheid through oppression and * of oppressed Palestinians,
through territorial fragmentation, segregation and control, dispossession of land and property and
the denial of economic and social rights. Israel committed a wide range of human rights violations
		

			against Palestinians, to entrench the system, including forcible transfers, administrative,
detention, torture, unlawful killings, denial of basic rights and freedoms and persecution which
constituted the crime against humanity of apartheid. Now, what is more damning is this has come from
the mouth of Zionist themselves. Politicians, Zionist have admitted to the ethnic cleansing of
Palestinians since the 1940s, and is something they want to continue to do. Take for instance,
investigative journalist, Antony Loewenstein, he writes in his book, The Palestine laboratory, he
says, a rare moment of Israeli political honesty came in October 2021. When fall right Israeli
		

			parliamentarian Bezalel Smotrich, which lead of the religious Zionist party an ally of Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said in the Knesset Knesset to the Arab members, you are only here by
mistake, because Ben Gurion who by the way was the founding Prime Minister of the Zionist entity,
Ben Gurion didn't finish the job didn't throw you out in 48. It was an acknowledgment that ethnic
cleansing took place in 1948. And Lowenstein continues, it is not a new point of view. In fact, it's
been state ideology since 1948, declassified documents from the Israeli state archives in 2021
revealed the attitudes towards the Palestinians have not changed much since 19. Since the 1940s. It
		

			has been official policy, at least among some of the nation's senior military and political elites
to forcibly export Arabs to neighboring countries for the entire period of the country's existence.
Reuben alumni, Deputy Director General of the Israeli lands administration said during the
1960s 1965 meeting, that the ideal goal was population exchange. He was optimistic and this is his
own words, that today will come in another 1015 or 20 years when there will be a situation of a
certain kind with a war or something resembling a war, when the basic solution will be a matter of
transferring the Arabs. I think we should think about this as a final goal. And Lowenstein
		

			continues. Yehoshua Verben commander of the
		

			military government that ruled over Arab citizens between 1948 and 1966, admitted that ethnic
cleansing occurred in 1948. We expelled around half a million Arabs, we burnt homes, we looted the
land, from their point of view. We didn't give it back, we took their land, he said, Now that
completes the first point, which to be honest, is enough to reframe the narrative. And I cited
various pieces of evidence, from NGOs, from academics, from politicians, from investigative
journalists, and so on and so forth, to really bring to your attention, the illegal occupation, the
apartheid, the murder and the killing of Palestinians,
		

			and the tyranny
		

			and the evils of the Zionist regime. Now, let's go to the second point, which focuses on children.
Now between 2021 and 2023. Prior to the attacks that occurred on the seventh of October, over 130
Palestinian children were murdered by Israeli forces. Also, hundreds of Palestinian children had
been unjustly detained prior to this current conflict. And there's been no collective international
outrage. Why? So why is the selective outrage? There is a huge outrage with regards to what happened
on October the seventh. But prior to that, when it comes to pellets, Palestinian lives and children,
they've been brutalized and murdered and unjustly detained,
		

			which really effectively is basically taking hostages,
		

			then where's the collective outrage? Why the asymmetry here?
		

			Why have people been generally speaking silent on this issue, especially from a mainstream media
perspective, and the mainstream politicians? Why is the kind of veiling of the previous historical,
political and social facts on the ground? Why is the kind of false assumption that the kind of
Israeli Palestine Palestinian crisis just started on October the seventh?
		

			This deliberate veiling and hiding of these facts and these truths, indicates a strong ideological
bias.
		

			And there's lots of evidence to show that
		

			children had been unjustly detained and Palestinian shouldn't have been murdered, for example, Human
Rights Watch. They said in one of the reports, last year 2022 was the deadliest year for Palestinian
children in the West Bank in 15 years, and 2023 is on track to meet or exceed 2022 levels. Israeli
forces had killed at least 34 Palestinian children in the West Bank as of August 22. Now the West
Bank is not even quasi governed by Hamas, by the way, and you had 34 children being killed by
Israeli forces.
		

			According to the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 36 Palestinian children
were killed in the West Bank in 2022. So the previous references for 2023 This references for 2000
or 2022. So do your math. In 2001 86 Palestinian children have been killed in the occupied
Palestinian territory, according to defense for children International. So do your math is over 130
Troodon from 2001 to 2023. Also, as it is estimated that between 501,000 Children are held in
Israeli military detention each year, and all of the references that I'm citing are going to be
available in the description below. So from this perspective, where is the international outrage?
		

			Where is it? Why the selective sympathy selective empathy and selective outrage Are you seeing the
life of a Palestinian child is worth less than any other child? Is that what you're saying?
		

			These pieces of evidence is enough just to reframe the narrative. Now let's go to the third point.
Gaza has been an open air prison since 2005. Gaza does not have full control or autonomy.
		

			Robert Piper role in a 2017 un report the following and Robert Piper was the UN coordinator for
humanitarian aid and development activities in the occupied Palestine territory.
		

			He wrote in 2012, the UN country team produced a report on living conditions in Gaza and predicted
that based on the trends we're seeing then, Gaza was on track to become unlivable by 2020. Sadly, as
we
		

			check in on those same trends again in this 2017 report, the deterioration has accelerated sped
along not least by a devastating run of facilities in 2014, from which we are only now starting to
recover with electricity only two hours a day. As was the case recently, and youth unemployment at
60%. The UN livability threshold has already been passed. Also in the academic journal that I cited
previously apartheid international law and the occupied Palestinian Palestinian territory, J
Daugaard. And J. Reynolds site the following since the removal of Jewish settlers in 2005, Gaza
effectively amounts to besieged Palestinian ghetto with the open air prison analogy repeatedly
		

			invoked. Also Human Rights Watch the NGO, they produce this online piece called Gaza, Israel's open
air prison at 15. And they said the following Israel sweeping restriction restrictions on Gaza on
leaving Gaza deprive it's more than 2 million residents have opportunities to better their lives.
Human Rights Watch said today on the 15th anniversary of the 2007 closure. The closure has
devastated the economy in Gaza, contributed to fragmentation of the Palestinian people and forms
part of Israeli authorities crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution against millions of
Palestinians. Also consider John Pierre Philippe, the French academic historian Arabist. He has
		

			written extensively on religion and politics in the Middle East. And he has written an academic
article detailing Israel Israel was on Palestine and he had the following to say.
		

			Meanwhile, according to a document leaked to Harrods in October 2012, Israeli decision makers had
fixed the average daily intake for the population of Gaza at 2279 calories per person, and we're
allowing supply trucks into the strip on that basis. The fact that Israel could feel empowered to
decide how much a Palestinian could eat on a daily basis shows how perverse and degrading the post
2005 occupation of the Gaza Strip has had become. The description of Gaza as an open air prison was
actually far from the mark. Since in any jailhouse detainees are not supposed to be shorter, or
bombed, except in the case of a full fledged riot in Gaza. Israeli raids were that targeted or not
		

			remain a regular occurrence. Now let's unpack the fourth key point. Not withstanding Hamas and
Islamic Jihad being prescribed groups in many Western countries. There are many other factions that
use their legal right to resist occupying forces. This legal right, contrary to many people's
opinions, is well established in international law. Take for example, the UN General Assembly there
are many resolutions that support national liberation movements in the struggle for independence and
self determination, including armed struggle, and take for consideration resolution to 105 of 1965
and resolution 2625 of 1970. I want to zoom in on the UN General Assembly, the 37th, session 1982 to
		

			1983. And I just want to quickly briefly just go through three key paragraphs which really
emphasizes the point that we're trying to make,
		

			considering the denial of the inalienable, inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to self
determination, sovereignty, independence and return to Palestine, and the repeated acts of
aggression by Israel against the peoples of the region, constitute a serious threat to international
peace and security. They also say, reaffirming the importance of the universal realization of the
right of peoples to self determination, national sovereignty and territorial integrity and of the
speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples as imperatives for the full
enjoyment of all human rights. And significantly, they mentioned this, reaffirmed the legitimacy of
		

			the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from
colonial and from * and from foreign occupation by all available means, including armed
struggle. We also have the Geneva Conventions in accordance with international humanitarian law
		

			All wars of national liberation has been expressively embraced through the adoption of additional
protocol one to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. As a protected and essential right of occupied
people, everyone, this includes occupied Palestine, they have this right for wars of national
liberation. So from this perspective,
		

			other factions that are not described as terrorist groups by Western governments exist in Palestine,
and they have the right according to international law, to resist occupation. And this point, also
helps reframe the narrative.
		

			Let's unpack the fifth and final point, is Israel's response proportionate and justified. Now, I
believe the previous thought experiments and the previous points that I've mentioned already onto
this question, but I want to emphasize the obvious answer with a thought experiment. Now, imagine
your neighbor occupied your home and your village with his immediate and extended family, he killed
your children, and detained your wife, who remained there for years, and degraded and abused you and
all the villages. And he regularly on a weekly basis, killed the children of the village. Suddenly,
in response in defense, maybe one would argue, you attack and kill your neighbors family. Soon
		

			after, your neighbor fights back by killing more members of your family, the villages and destroys
the homes of the population. Now, would your neighbor's response be considered proportionate and
justified? Now remember, this is not about targeting innocent people. We're not justifying that by
in the context of this thought experiment, and applying it to what you now know about the
Palestinian crisis? is Israel's response proportionate and justified.
		

			This thought experiment is designed to help you reframe the narrative and to see who and what is the
root cause of this crisis. Now, let's remember my dear brothers and sisters since October, the
seventh 2023. Israel has killed over 4000 Palestinians, approximately 2000 children have been
murdered. And Israel has injured over 13,000 people and they've destroyed over 11,000 buildings and
permanently displaced over 100,000 people. This is disproportionate. This is genocide. And it must
stop. Now, in conclusion, my dear brothers and sisters and friends in the context of the thought
experiments and the five key points that I unpacked, and in the context of decades of illegal
		

			occupation, decades of apartheid, decades of oppression, decades of killing children, decades of
illegal detainment of children, decades of systematic persecution. The current conflict of rather
the current crisis should be understood as Israel being the oppressor. Israel being the occupier,
Israel being the tyrant, and for peace to happen, and we all want peace. Israel must stop illegally
occupying land and persecuting the Palestinian people, they must stop persecuting the Palestinian
people. And that apartheid must be dismantled, just like what happened in South Africa. Because you
cannot have peace and justice, coexisting with apartheid. It's impossible. The apartheid system of
		

			Zionist Israel must be dismantled. And this does not mean of course, that we want Jewish people to
be expelled Of course now, as a Muslim, we believe that we need to protect all human beings that
take care of all human beings and be committed to the well being to the goodness and guidance
including Jewish people. And this will happen Islamic history anyway. For example, the property
historian Karen Armstrong, she says for the very first time, Jews, Christians and Muslims live
peacefully in Jerusalem. She says the Muslims had established a system that enabled Jews, Christians
and Muslims to live in Jerusalem together for the first time.
		

			So everything that happens in this current crisis, my dear brothers, sisters and friends must be
understood in the context of the thought experiments I raised and the five key points I unpacked.
		

			The crisis must be understood in the context of illegal occupation, decades of persecution, decades
of ethnic cleansing. It has to be understood in that context, and that's why people have conscious
have responsibility to learn about the necessary social, historical, and political context.
Otherwise
		

			If we don't consider what has been mentioned thus far, we will never have peace. And we will be
promoting inadvertently or advertently
		

			genocide, enablers,
		

			ethnic cleansing apologists, and apartheid promoters. And this would mean that you'd have blood on
your hands.