Dada El-Kurd

And he quotes Israeli leaders directly here.

So he talks about President Herzog saying there are no innocents in Gaza and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant at the time calling people in Gaza human animals.

And he also points out that Israeli society at the time was overwhelmingly supportive of cutting off food, water and medicine to Gaza.

So although Bashara rejects this kind of absolute evil framing of the attacks and says we need to understand the context of a 17-year siege on Gaza, settlement expansion, incursions on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and prisoner mistreatment, he also plainly argues that immoral acts committed during October 7th, so to him documented instances of harm to civilians, theft, mistreatment, etc., are not acts of resistance.

And in fact, from his perspective, they harm legitimate resistance.

And he argues, again, a month within the attacks, that the leadership of the quote-unquote resistance have a duty to clarify what happened and condemn those immoral acts.

He says, quote, having recognized a people's right to resist occupation, can it be concluded that we are not permitted to judge the morality of acts of resistance to occupation?

My answer is that, on the contrary, it is not only permissible, but perhaps necessary, end quote.

So he argues that the right to resist does not exempt these movements from moral judgment.

And distinguishing between legitimate military operations and immoral acts against civilians is essential to maintaining the justice of the Palestinian cause, even as we can acknowledge and emphasize the, quote, moral depravity of the Israeli response, end quote.

Now, whether you agree with him or not, whether you side with one of the panelists I mentioned from the interview or the other, what I want people to take away from this episode is that all of this clearly shows Palestinians have been taking seriously the strategic and moral implications of all of these tactics, armed tactics included, and that there isn't any one party that speaks for what Palestinians want right now.

The only way to get national consensus is to allow the Palestinians to create or revive the institutions necessary for that to take place.

Disempowering Palestinians, ignoring their aspirations and ignoring the need for their input or blocking them from undergoing this essential process will only prolong the conflict and prolong the suffering.

That's it for me today.

Thanks for listening.