In this episode of the Scheer Intelligence podcast, host Robert Scheer and The Grayzone editor-in-chief Max Blumenthal contextualize the events of Oct. 7 and afterward in relation to the history of Israel and Palestine.
Blumenthal, the author of several books on Israel and Palestine including “The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza,” and “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel,” recalls his days reporting on the conflict over 10 years ago, highlighting the predictability of the evolution leading to the current war.
From the motivations of Zionism and the actualization of it since 1948, to the misunderstanding of Palestinian politics and the roles of Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, to the political chokehold Benjamin Netanyahu has on the U.S. government and his ability to carry out the current genocide of Gaza, the pair explore the convoluted history of the region that continues to be distorted today.
“The Israel lobby has sought to consolidate October 7th as something that towers even above Pearl Harbor, January 6th and 9/11 as a date that represents a new holocaust …They've done that in order to decontextualize the event and erase all the history that preceded it, which helps us understand why it took place,” Blumenthal tells Scheer.
Scheer and Blumenthal also detail how, through censorship, false reporting and other aspects of the information war, the stories of Palestinians continue to get lost and misrepresented, especially with the strength of Israeli propaganda.
“Zionism as applied in Palestine will always lead towards genocide. That's the ultimate goal. They have to finish 1948. There's no way to do it without genocide,” Blumenthal said.
