TEHRAN (FNA)- Author and activist Robert Fantina believes that the Nation State Law leaves no doubt about the true nature of the racist, apartheid regime in Tel Aviv.
Robert Fantina told FNA in an exclusive interview that defending the “obviously racist, apartheid regime” of Israel shows the endemic “hypocrisy and moral void” of the governments which support Tel Aviv.
Commenting on the Arab states’ relations with Israel the activist said that “the Arab nations that ally in any way with Israel will find that their betrayal of Palestine will eventually result in Israel’s betrayal of them.”
Robert Fantina is an author, journalist and activist for peace and social justice. While living in the US, he actively supported gun control, and opposed the war in Iraq, prior to and following the US invasion of that country. Shortly after the 2004 presidential election he moved to Canada. He is currently active in supporting the human rights struggles of the Palestinian people.
FNA has conducted an interview with Robert Fantina about Israel’s brutal crackdown on Palestinian protesters, the Israeli legislation known as the Nation State Law and also Trump’s so-called deal of the century.
Below you will find the full text of the interview.
Q: It seems that killing scores of people and maiming thousands more over the past several months are no indication of what Israel thinks is enough to keep Gaza in check. Do you think Israel’s deadly clamp down on Palestinian protesters is going to end anytime soon?
A: Sadly, I don’t think it will end anytime soon. It has been occurring, in one form or another, for decades, with little condemnation from the international community. The current protests are demanding the internationally-guaranteed right of return; they occur not on Israeli land (according to the 1947 unjust United Nations partition plan), but on Palestinian land. The protests are unarmed. Yet hundreds have been killed, and many thousands injured, and the world’s governments hardly say a word of protest.
Q: It’s been a year since the start of the protests known as the ‘Great March of Return.’ What do you think the march has accomplished so far?
A: There have been some positive signs. For example, recently there was a video posted in the New York Times, which is a strongly pro-Israel publication, exposing the Israeli government’s lie that IDF soldiers are very careful in shooting Palestinians, and only target those causing an ‘imminent threat’. While the idea that Palestine, with no army, navy or air force can somehow threaten the existence of Israel is ludicrous, the New York Times study showed and clearly stated that Israeli soldiers target unarmed medics and others who do not, by any stretch of the imagination, pose any threat to Israel or Israelis.
Q: How do you think the US and some Arab states are complicit in crimes against the Palestinians specially in light of the discreet links between Israel and Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states?
A: US complicity in Israel’s crimes against humanity has been well-documented and is nothing new. The US government gives Israel billions of dollars in aid annually, including weaponry used to kill Palestinians. It protects Israel from its many war crimes and crimes against humanity by using its veto power in the United Nations Security Council.
Arab states, such as Saudi Arabia, and any other nation on earth that has any kind of ties with Israel, are also complicit, because Israel should be ostracized as South Africa was a generation ago. Arab nations that ally in any way with Israel will find that their betrayal of Palestine will eventually result in Israel’s betrayal of them.
Q: In July 2018, the so-called nation state law was adopted by Israeli Knesset. What do you think the legislation shows about the nature of the regime in Tel Aviv?
A: If there was ever any question that Israel is a racist, apartheid state, the Nation State law dispels it completely. Recently, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said this: “Israel is not the state of all of its citizens. According to the nation-state basic law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people – and of it alone.” This is a clear pronouncement, leaving no doubt that Israel is an apartheid state, and how other nations, such as the United States, can continue to support such an obviously racist, apartheid regime demonstrates the hypocrisy and moral void that is endemic to those governments.
Q: Many believe that the continuing illegal Israeli settlement activities have hammered nail after nail into the coffin of a diplomatic solution. What do you think about that?
A: A diplomatic solution is not required. All that is needed is for the United Nations and the world community to simply demand that Israel adhere to international law. This means vacating the settlements; they are illegal, and the people living in them must be evicted. It means ending the occupation of the West Bank, which is also illegal. It means ending the illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. It means recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.
Negotiations, which the United States is forever encouraging, are not only unnecessary, but also completely counter-productive. Negotiations can only occur successfully when each party has something the other wants, that it can only obtain by surrendering something it has. Israel takes whatever it wants from Palestine with complete impunity. Israel has stolen large parts of Palestine as time has been wasted in futile and useless ‘negotiations’.
Q: The current administration in the US has been boasting about its new plan for Palestine and even calling it the deal of the century. What do you think would be in the new deal for Palestinians?
A: The so-called ‘new deal’ will have nothing beneficial to the Palestinians. US President Donald Trump has shown that he sides completely with Israel; his son-in-law and close advisor, the corrupt Jared Kushner, is a close personal friend of Netanyahu. Trump, even more than his predecessors, has given Israel whatever it wants. The possibility that he will do anything positive for Palestine simply doesn’t exist.
The ‘deal’ will probably include giving Israel authority to police all of Palestine; it will probably demand that Hamas completely disarm, and will offer no hope whatsoever to Palestinians for anything more than continued brutal oppression. As Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, Former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy said: “The obstacle to peace is the United States government, which has consistently opposed the entire world’s decades long effort to stop the Zionist genocide of a land called Palestine.” This obstacle, the US government, remains the main barrier preventing freedom and dignity for the Palestinians.
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