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Press TV has interviewed Paul Larudee, co-founder of the Free Palestine Movement from Berkeley, about remarks made by a former Israeli military figure who described Tel Aviv as the “champion” of the occupation.
The following is a rough transcription of the interview.
Press TV: So bold this general’s statements, taking pride in this illegal occupation knowing that Israel has a far-right cabinet which regardless of what they may say has through its legislation shown that it’s in line with this kind of sentiment, your thoughts?
Larudee: Well, Israel, many Israelis, and not just this general are indeed proud of their oppression of the Palestinian people. You know that police forces from the US go over there to be trained and interestingly enough they're not trained by the police force of Tel Aviv or other Israeli cities on how to be a good policeman in the state there, they're trained by occupation forces on how to occupy. And furthermore Israel is using the occupation as a mean to make money. They're proud of all means they developed in order to repress the Palestinian population and to practice ethnic cleansing.
In fact, I would say that the term occupation for them, because let's face it, the term occupation was used for what the United States and the allied forces and Russia and other countries did with Germany after the World War II, with Japan and so forth. This is what was called occupation. This is a very mild term and what Israel is doing is not occupation, it is ethnic cleansing, it's genocide. So, one day they're fighting the use of the term occupation but one day they'll be very happy and they'll beg us to use the term occupation when they're being tried for genocide.
Press TV: More and more critics worldwide are blasting the current regime in Tel Aviv, saying that its policies are growing increasingly more and more hostile towards Palestinians and the prospects of peace, your take on that?
Larudee: Well, in essence yes. I mean it's really hard to become more hostile to Palestinians than they have been for the last hundred years. But the hostility is showing itself more because they're in a hurry. They realize that the world opinion and even opinion in the United States - it's now becoming mainstream to criticize Israel and to be in solidarity with Palestinians. So, they're thinking that their time is running out and therefore, they have to accelerate their ethnic cleansing and that is what is causing the problems - that they are doing more killing and expulsions and destruction and starvation and all this sort of thing. It's become accelerated and this is what is causing the perception that there's more hostility.
Press TV: And how does it reflect back on the US to back the inhumane and illegal mistreatment of Palestinians the way that Israel has done it with impunity? I mean ultimately it has to reflect pretty negatively back on Washington which condemns Israel from time to time but the moment the world unites to really sanction Tel Aviv you see the US uses this veto power to bail them out.
Larudee: Yes, exactly. Well, Washington has shown how much they care for the world opinion and also or don't care for the world opinion. And in fact, they don't really care very much for the opinion of Americans either. The whole population of, let's say, the Democratic Convention for example is an illustration of how the opinion of very motivated Bernie Sanders’ supporters for example was really repressed. So, I don't expect the United States’ government to change its practices with regard to the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.
It has probably killed its policies in the Middle East and elsewhere, has probably killed two million people in the last two administrations - Obama and Bush administrations, and if Hillary Clinton is elected I would expect another million people to die in her administration and another 10 million to become refugees. So, this is something they're doing with or without the permission and approval of the American people. But they're getting less approval of the American people and the result is not so much to influence Washington but to find ways of repressing the American opinion.
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