Jeremy Scahill Exposes Where Elected Critics Of Israel Fall Short.

Journalist Jeremy Scahill Shows Elected Israel Critics Fall Short.

Written By: Justin K.P.

Recently, veteran journalist Jeremy Scahill conducted a viral interview with California representative Ro Khanna, who, to his credit, has done good work in opposing U.S. support for Israel and taking on the Epstein class as of late, including by working with representative Thomas Massie in tying to stop the integration of the U.S. and Israeli militaries , stopping military aid to Israel and passing the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

However, Jeremy Scahill’s grilling of Ro Khanna shows that even the best elected officials are still afraid of the backlash from the Zionist lobby over some crucial issues such as allowing “defensive” weapons for Israel’s iron dome and Palestinians right to resist occupation.

Scahill Exposes Ro Khanna On The Iron Dome.

Jeremy Scahill first pointed out to Ro Khanna that while he and Bernie Sanders blame all of Israel’s genocidal policies on the Benjamin Netanyahu government, the reality is that the majority of Jewish Israelis hold genocidal views.

“We are talking about not just Netanyahu … Sanders always says Netanyahu and his extremist right-wing government. But if you look at public opinion polling, there is widespread support for open genocidal policies” Scahill noted.

This is correct. Polls in Israel have shown that:

• 84% of the (Israeli )public gives the IDF an excellent or very good grade regarding the moral conduct of the army

• 75% of Jewish Israelis agree with the idea that ‘there are no innocents in Gaza.’

• A vast majority of Israeli Jews – 79 percent – say they are ‘not so troubled’ or ‘not troubled at all’ by the reports of famine and suffering among the Palestinian population in Gaza.

• 82 percent of Jewish Israelis “supported the forced expulsion of Gaza’s population to other countries” and 56 percent even supported “the expulsion of Israel’s Arab citizens”.

This is a reality that Israeli critics in positions of power like Sanders and Ro Khanna refuse to acknowledge, instead pretending that only Benjamin Netanyahu is the problem.

Jeremy Scahill further pressed Ro Khanna on his support for Israel’s Iron Dome, saying, “I’ve also heard your defense of Iron Dome. And I want to push you on this because I think a lot of the critique of you from pro-Palestine people and from Palestinians is that the position you’re advocating basically amounts to ‘we need to make sure that the sniper is protected so that he can continue sniping’ … I want to know why it is that you are stopping on this, because so much of what you’re saying … it’s one of the clearest recognitions of the issue that you could hear from an American politician. And yet, you still are saying, ‘But the sniper needs to have protection.’”

While Khanna said he wants “ no military sales (to Israel) that are used to kill”, Jeremy Scahill pushed back saying “I would argue Iron Dome is used to kill civilians because it allows the Israelis to have this American backing to operate with impunity , by openly saying that I support this military technology for Israel, what you’re saying is that when Israel attacks other countries who have a right to fight back, that my position is that ‘that sniper, I wish he wasn’t doing the sniping, but that sniper has a right to have United States defending their sniping.’”

This is also correct, as Jewish Currents noted , “Iron Dome Is Not a Defensive System”, writing, “By almost entirely negating the ability of militant groups in Gaza to respond to Israel’s incursions, the purportedly defensive Iron Dome allows Israel to strike without fear of repercussion … because the cost is so low when measured in Israeli casualties, Israel can wage perpetual war without suffering domestic political consequences, and is under negligible pressure to pursue diplomacy with the Palestinians.”

It added, “While the Iron Dome may prevent the deaths of Israeli non-combatants, it has made it easier for Israel to engage in deadly operations that take Palestinian lives … Rather than preserving space for diplomacy, Iron Dome enables Israel’s commitment to the status quo of permanent occupation. Its ultimate function is to entrench an already asymmetrical conflict into a state of ongoing bloodshed, dispossession, and devastation for the Palestinians of Gaza.”

Even the RAND Corporation acknowledged:

The role of what it calls “the perception of success” in sustaining political support for military engagements, explaining that it is not only the (Iron Dome) system’s prevention of Israeli casualties but the narrative of its impenetrability that so effectively bolsters Israeli confidence. In 2014, this confidence bought Israel time to wage a more protracted war (on Gaza). In other words, by both reducing the threat of casualties from Palestinian rockets and instilling a sense of security in the Israeli people, the Iron Dome provides political cover for a war without end.

Despite these facts, Khanna and other elected Israel critics continue to say that “we shouldn’t be restricting Israel from being able to get the Iron Dome or be able to develop the Iron Dome technology”.

Scahill Exposes Ro Khanna’s Double Standard On Armed Resistance.

Jeremy Scahill went on to press Ro Khanna on Palestinian armed resistance, asking, “Do Palestinians have a right to kill Israeli soldiers, Congressman? On October 7th when they attacked the military bases in the Gaza envelope, did the Qassam Brigades and Saraya al-Quds have a right to kill Israeli soldiers, On October 7th, did Palestinians have a right to to attack Israeli military bases in the Gaza envelope?” and Khanna replied, “ I think October 7th attack was a terrorist attack … I am not for violence in any way … I’m not going to say that Hamas has a right to attack Israeli soldiers”.

But despite his previous answer saying “I am not for violence in any way”, Scahill asked Ro Khanna, “Does Israel have a right to drop a single bomb on Gaza in response to October 7th?” and Khanna replied, “ I believe Israel had the right to get people who killed the civilians”.

Jeremy Scahill responded, saying, “The Palestinians don’t have a right to attack the very military bases that are running the killing operations on October 6th, 2023 or October 5th, 2023. It’s a double standard. You’re saying there are ways that Israel should be able to kill Palestinians, but there is never a condition under which Palestinians can attack armed uniformed soldiers of a force that is still considered an occupying force under international law.”

Indeed, Ro Khanna’s answer ignored the fact that violent resistance was the only logical conclusion to Israel’s actions in Gaza prior to the Al Aqsa flood operation on October 7th of 2023.

While Israel officially withdrew Jewish settlements from Gaza in 2005, senior Israeli advisor Dov Weisglass admitted that the real reason behind the withdrawal was that “The disengagement is actually formaldehyde. It supplies the amount of formaldehyde that is necessary, so there will not be a political process with the Palestinians you prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, and you prevent a discussion on the refugees, the borders and Jerusalem”.

This included putting a brutal blockade on Gaza, which Dov Weisglass said was intended to “put the Palestinians on a diet” and which former UK Prime Minister David Cameron admitted turned Gaza into “an open-air prison” and “a prison camp”.

Effects of this blockade included :

-More than 70% of the population of Gaza received humanitarian aid.

-The official unemployment figure as of the first quarter of 2014 was 40.8%, compared to 18.7% in 2000.

-From January to June, Israel allowed an average of 17 truckloads of exported goods to leave Gaza each month, less than 2% of what existed monthly before 2007.

-Israel prevents access to a “buffer zone” beginning 300 meters (328 yards) from the boundary line between Israel and Gaza, denying Palestinian farmers access large parts of Gaza’s already scarce arable land.

-As of July 6, 2014, Israel limited fishing in Gaza’s territorial waters to just three nautical miles off the coast, barring Palestinian fishermen from reaching fertile fishing grounds further out

-10% of children under five experienced stunted growth due to prolonged malnutrition due to the blockade and siege.

-58.6% of Gaza’s schoolchildren were anemic, as were more than 68% of children aged nine to 12 months and nearly 37% of pregnant women.

-According to UNICEF, more than 90% of the water from Gaza’s only aquifer is unsafe for human consumption due to pollution, while repairs to Gaza’s sewage and water infrastructure cannot be carried out because of Israeli restrictions on the entry of building materials and equipment.

-Gaza suffered from severe shortages of electricity due to Israeli restrictions on imports of equipment needed to replace and repair the electrical infrastructure

All the while, Israeli sabotaged any negotiations with Palestinians to end the blockade.

“While Israel has agreed to engage in negotiations with the Palestinians, it seeks to force the failure of these negotiations by making unrealistic demands and then blame that failure on the Palestinians’ unwillingness to meet those demands. This tactic - demonstrated by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on direct talks without preconditions - enables Israel to appease U.S. and international pressure while showing the world that Israel’s attempts at peace are being sabotaged by Palestinian intransigence”, the U.S. intelligence connected firm Stratfor noted in 2010 adding that this tactic would “relinquish all Israeli responsibility for the coastal enclave - including lifting the naval blockade on the territory”.

Along with the blockade, Israel undertook military campaigns in Gaza in 2008 and 2014 that deliberately targeted Palestinian civillian infrastructure and civilians.

As the Institute for Middle East Understanding documented :

In December 2008, Israel launched Operation Cast Lead, a devastating three-week onslaught that killed about 1,400 Palestinians, most of them civilians, including 300 children. A UN inquiry concluded it was “a deliberately disproportionate attack designed to punish, humiliate and terrorise a civilian population.” Amnesty International concluded: “Israeli forces repeatedly breached the laws of war, including by carrying out direct attacks on civilians and civilian buildings and attacks targeting Palestinian militants that caused a disproportionate toll among civilians.” Shortly after the end of Cast Lead, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told a cabinet meeting: “The government’s position was from the outset that if there is shooting at the residents of the south, there will be a harsh Israeli response [against Gaza] that will be disproportionate.”

​In July 2014, Israel launched an even deadlier and more destructive assault on Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, killing more than 1,500 Palestinian civilians in 50 days, including more than 500 children, and targeting civilian infrastructure, including Gaza’s only power plant, causing shortages of electricity, clean water, and causing raw sewage to flow into the streets. The Israeli military destroyed entire neighborhoods and flattened high-rise residential buildings and shopping centers.UN General Secretary Ban Ki-moon warned that the high number of civilians killed raised “serious questions about proportionality.” The UN high commissioner for human rights expressed deep concern over possible Israeli “war crimes,” telling the UN Human Rights Council: “Attacks against military objectives must offer a definite military advantage in the prevailing circumstances, and precautions must be taken to protect civilian lives… A number of incidents, along with the high number of civilian deaths, belie the claim that all necessary precautions are being taken.” A week into the attack, Human Rights Watch issued a report, “Unlawful Israeli Airstrikes Kill Civilians: Bombings of Civilian Structures Suggest Illegal Policy,” which found: “Human Rights Watch investigated four Israeli strikes during the July military offensive in Gaza that resulted in civilian casualties and either did not attack a legitimate military target or attacked despite the likelihood of civilian casualties being disproportionate to the military gain.”

While Ro Khanna advocated for a “more nonviolent approach” and said “I’ve always been for peaceful resistance,” Jeremy Scahill pointed out that “the Palestinians organized the great march of return, which was a mass nonviolent mobilization at the gates of the concentration camp walls and fence in Gaza. And you know what Israeli soldiers did, Representative Khanna? They had a competition to see who could shoot the most kneecaps of Palestinians.”

Indeed a UN inquiry report found that Israel “continued to employ live ammunition against demonstrators, killing and wounding civilians, including children, journalists and health workers, and leaving many with permanent disabilities” during the non violent great march of return protests in 2018 and documented that “Victims who were hundreds of metres away from the Israeli forces and visibly engaged in civilian activities were shot, as shown by eyewitness accounts, video footage and medical records. Journalists and medical personnel who were clearly marked as such were shot, as were children, women and persons with disabilities.”

The reality of the situation prior to October 7th was that Israel put a blockade on Gaza that turned it into an open-air concentration camp, intentionally sabotaged negotiations to end the blockade, and massacred civilians in response to any resistance from Palestinians, whether it be firing rockets into Israel or peaceful marches.

And this is not even all of the Israeli provocations that led up to the Al Aqsa flood operation in October of 2023. Prior to October 7th, Israel made its plans clear to permanently occupy and annex Gaza and the West Bank and take out Gaza’s Hamas leadership.

As Jeremy Scahill reported, “Just two weeks before the October 7 attacks, the Israeli leader (Benjamin Netanyahu) delivered a speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, brandishing a map of what he promised could be the ‘New Middle East.’ It depicted a state of Israel that stretched continuously from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza and the West Bank, as Palestinian lands, were erased”.

As Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs documented “In September 2023, Netanyahu presented at UN General Assembly a map of the ‘New Middle East’ completely erasing a Palestinian state. In September 2024, he elaborated on this plan by showing two maps: one part of the Middle East a ‘blessing,’ and the other–including Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Iran–a curse, as he advocated regime change in the latter countries.”

Furthermore, as journalist Max Blumenthal documented the Israeli army’s former head of military intelligence, Aharon Haliva stated that, “After the holidays [in the Fall of 2022], we were opening a joint reorganization with [Israel’s General Security Services] Shin Bet to collect intelligence on [Al-Qassam Chief of Staff Mohammed] Deif and [Hamas Secretary General Yahya] Sinwar in order to kill them, because every time we prepared a plan, they moved, and you have to re-collect on them”.

As Blumenthal noted, “In other words, Israel was planning to violate its ceasefire with Hamas and launch a major decapitation strike against its leading figures, much like the one it deployed against Iran’s military leadership this June 13, when it assassinated 8 major IRGC officials without provocation. The killings would have touched off a major war, but unlike after October 7, Hamas would have been left without any negotiating leverage, as it would have had no Israeli captives in its possession when hostilities began,” adding that “When seen in this light, Al Aqsa Flood was a preemptive strike”.

Elected Israel critics like Ro Khanna intentionally ignore this context in the lead-up to October 7th because, as Jeremy Scahill said to his face, “you’re afraid of being called pro-Hamas.”

But while Ro Khanna deserves credit for much of what he has done, Jeremy Scahill exposed the fact that there are still many facts and realities that elected Israel critics like him are too afraid to acknowledge.

Most importantly:

1: The fact that the majority of Jewish Israelis support genocide, not just the ‘Netanyahu government’.

2: The fact that the Iron Dome is not defensive in effect, and gives Israel impunity to start wars and commit genocide.

3: The fact that Israel’s actions in Gaza prior to October 7th made armed resistance inevitable.

Until these truths can be openly acknowledged, the Zionist and Israeli lobby narrative grip has not been completely destroyed.

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