00:00Diplomatic sources are saying this Tuesday, France will airdrop aid into Gaza in the coming days.
00:06UN-backed experts are warning the Israeli-blockaded Palestinian territory is slipping into famine.
00:10Ross Smith, Director of Emergencies at the World Food Programme, spoke earlier.
00:16It's clearly a disaster is unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens.
00:22This is not a warning. This is a call to action.
00:25This is unlike anything we have seen in this century.
00:29It reminds us of previous disasters in Ethiopia or Biafra in the past century.
00:34And it's clear that we need urgent action now.
00:37So this is definitely not a warning. This is a call to action.
00:40As well as the blockade, there's the ongoing military operation.
00:43The continued bombardment of the Gaza Strip experts say that the airdrops over Gaza will not be enough to avert the humanitarian catastrophe.
00:50The announcement by France came as health officials in Gaza said over 60,000 people have now been killed in almost two years of this Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
01:00Some are speaking of genocide. Now voices within Israel are saying that too.
01:05Let's bring in Sered Mikhali, who's International Director of B'Tselem.
01:09B'Tselem is the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
01:14Sered Mikhali, thank you for joining us here on France 24.
01:18We're looking forward to hearing what you have to say because many worldwide see this as a very significant moment.
01:24And the fact that an organisation like yours, based in Israel, is making such a strong statement.
01:29Please explain to everyone here, everyone listening, why and how you've come to this point.
01:36Yes, well, first of all, thank you for having us on.
01:39We really need this opportunity to discuss our report globally.
01:44B'Tselem, the organisation I work for, actually, I should also say, together with Physicians for Human Rights Israel,
01:50a fellow human rights organisation based in Israel, both reached the conclusion that what Israel is doing right now in the Gaza Strip is genocide.
02:01It is the deliberate, the coordinated action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.
02:08This is the textbook definition of genocide.
02:11And even beyond that, the report that B'Tselem has issued raises also the concern that considering that the Israeli regime is now a genocidal regime,
02:23there are, under certain circumstances, there is the risk that the Israeli genocide will spread to other areas where Palestinians live under Israeli control without protection.
02:35And this is the basis of the call we made yesterday, both to Israelis, to fellow Israelis and to the international community and to international leaders to take all action that is possible within the framework of international law to get the Israeli government to stop this now.
02:53It's taken us a long time to author the report because we wanted not only to use this term genocide, but also to explain what it means and also what the root causes of this Israeli genocide or our genocide, as we refer to it, are.
03:10So we both look at the historical background to what we are seeing now on the ground in Gaza.
03:20And we also discuss the trigger that led to Israel's policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians in Gaza to change so dramatically into this phase of genocide.
03:31We look at the horrific events of October 7th and we analyze how this absolutely horrific and criminal trauma that was caused to Israelis was exploited,
03:43was weaponized by the most extremist government we have in our history here in Israel in order to facilitate policies like the reoccupation of the Gaza Strip,
03:55that many very powerful forces within Israeli society were pursuing far long before the horrors of October 7th.
04:03So essentially this is what we're trying to show in our report and we are trying to also really raise awareness both internally inside Israel to change Israeli opinions,
04:14to get more and more Israelis to oppose this, but also we know that this isn't going to change, unfortunately, with any sort of pressure from within,
04:23so we need international action.
04:25Sarit, you point the finger in the report at senior politicians and senior military. Will you name names?
04:32Well, the report shows and gives quotes of our prime minister, of our minister of defence, of our president,
04:39all of these people who in the days, months and two years since the horrific attacks of October 7th
04:47have accused the entire Palestinian nation, have said again and again that there are no innocent civilians in Gaza,
04:55have really discussed Palestinians in such dehumanizing terms,
05:00and have also been very supportive of the incitement that we've heard on Israeli media over the last two years,
05:08the incitement that we've heard and we've seen again and again come from soldiers on the ground, from military officials.
05:16So we try, we absolutely provide this backdrop in the report to demonstrate both the governmental incitement
05:25and also the societal incitement of how this horrific trauma was exploited, was turned within Israel,
05:34was used in order to get almost full Israeli support for the actions of the Israeli government
05:42and of the Israeli army that amount to genocide in Gaza.
05:46If you look at some parts of the Israeli media, Sarit, your opinion will be completely rejected.
05:53And I imagine you will get some intense criticism because of that.
05:57But I'm wondering, in terms of the people on the street, the Israeli public,
06:02how far is your opinion, the opinion of your organisation and the other organisation involved too,
06:08how far is that shared?
06:10I think it's absolutely correct to say that we are a very small minority now within our society.
06:16This is a misfortune we are perfectly well aware of,
06:19but it's still our obligation to speak out even within our society,
06:24to stand up against this most shocking of humanly possible crimes and to stand by the victims.
06:32So, yes, we are a minority within our society, although it is changing and there is a slightly more kind of like open perspective
06:41of some Israelis' openness to listen to what we're saying.
06:45I think the recent images that even they've managed to even break through the kind of wall of silence within Israeli media
06:52of starving children, of starving human beings in Gaza, dying of starvation because of our policies, right,
06:59our government's policies, I think that slightly cracked this blanket denial and gaslighting within our society
07:07of the horrors we are inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza.
07:11We're still, as I said, we're still a very long way to go,
07:15but all of us, as Israelis and Palestinians who are working for an Israeli or an Israel-based organisation,
07:24we all feel very, very strongly that it is our duty to say anything we can in order and to speak out as much as we can
07:32in order to end this atrocity.
07:36Sarek, thank you very much for joining us.
07:37Sarek Mighali, International Director of B'Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territory.
07:43Sarek Mighali, thank you once again for being with us here on France 24.
