in a global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. we are going to announce the biggest step in the hmong in decades activists in seats of government we didn't want to be part of this institution and all we really didn't want technologically challenging politics and implementing direct democracy itself open source code. for everyone to look we are innovators we are activists we are rebel geeks madrid at this time and i'm just you know. there's a problem with the headlines on. the third day of a partial ceasefire. that is due to begin shortly but there's been no letup in attacks on the rebel enclave despite russia's porson hostilities activists have

reported government shelling and fighting on three fronts during the five hour truce on wednesday. reports digging more graves is how some spend the five hour pause in the daily bombardment of eastern guta with many deaths every day the local council arranges for mass burials on the syrian government side of the buffer been crossing buses and ambulances waited for civilians to cross but people deny a claim by the russian president that some civilians crossed over on the second day of the pod and fighting. we have managed to get out quite a big group of those who wanted to leave but the second group could not leave because the militants just did not give them an opportunity to do so people in the eastern border called a five hour daily pause in hostilities a joke they ask how can anyone expect them to want to cross for the same people who bomb them for the other nineteen hours of the day. not much has changed for the nearly four hundred thousand in besieged east and many have been stranded in

basements like this one manager this woman says her family has survived on pieces of radish for the last three days. there is human flesh everywhere says this man who also tells how he has been disabled by his injuries there are similar tales of despair in the shelters have already left the situation here is just hunger and sickness no showers the children sleep hungry here. activists say the price of bread is one hundred times more than just a few kilometers away in the syrian capital damascus and very expensive rice is rarely available this woman says she found some spinach near the river and that's going to be their meal medical supplies are limited and many hospitals have been destroyed doctors in eastern good to have recent a list of eighty five people to the united nations were mostly women and children among the more than one thousand people who we need medical evacuation but in the east of water no aid has come in and then on the people who are sick or wounded

have been able to go out. on the turkey syria border and other news south korea's president says japan has not resolve the issue of so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery during world war two and was speaking at an event marking one thousand nine years rose up against japanese for japan has denounced the comments. what president said is it gets to japan south korea agreement it is totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable we immediately lodged a complaint with the south korean government the greenman is an irreversible solution to the issue when japan has conducted all of the obligations based on the agreement and now which is south korea to do the same. donald trump's white house communications director is stepping down the third to leave the post since he came to power thirteen months ago. as one of the president's longest serving advisors it comes a day after she testified before

a congressional panel investigating alleged russian interference in the two thousand and sixteen election. and trump has been meeting party leaders to discuss reforming gun laws he told them to seriously consider raising the age limit for buying assault style rifles like the one used in the florida school shooting two weeks ago amnesty international says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs and its military operation in north sinai the rights group made the accusation after analyzing video released by the egyptian military the army says the weapons were improvised explosive devices planted by so-called terrorist elements the chief executive of the u.s. olympic committee has resigned citing health problems scott black man has been under fire over the committee's response to a series of sex abuse scandals. and a professional australian surfer who famously fended off a shark attack as quote in the sport of three time world champion mick fanning has a competition later this month will be his last he drew global attention for

punching a shark that tried to bite through his leash in two thousand and fifteen right those are the headlines the occupation of the american mind is coming up next. thank you thank you thank.

you lawyer two thousand and fourteen israel launched a devastating military attack on the coastal strip. over the course of fifty one days. to drop twenty thousand tons of explosives on the densely populated area the size of the delphia. killing over two thousand palestinians including tens of thousands more. the overwhelming majority of these casualties were civilians the strip of land is being bombarded from the sea and land israel launched at least one hundred sixty strikes on the gaza strip. and there's one less hospital in gaza now israel today a latin want for hospital. the sheer scale of the attacks boat outrage and condemnation around the world israel's month long pounding of gaza shocked many people around the world mass demonstrations have been held in many of the world's major cities. but in

the united states the story was different polls showed the american people holding firm in their support for israel this is the latest you know or see poll the american shows fifty seven percent of those polled say israel's action in gaza justified thirty four percent say unjustified these numbers were striking but they were new of the course of a conflict in which palestinian casualties so far outnumbered israeli casualties the american people have consistently shown from zero sympathy for israelis than for palestinians it's very difficult to force public opinion on any question from the media coverage that people rely on to form opinions and i think the most prevalent lesson from looking at the coverage is that the coverage tends to see this conflict from the israeli side study after study has demonstrated that israeli perspectives dominate american media coverage so by far the most common thing we've heard is that everything comes down to israel's right to defend itself israel is

a state that implements its right to defend itself and its citizens it is a talking point that is set from the top and by the top i mean from the highest officials government officials who are commenting on this issue which the media obsessive we cover the repeats a man's got to do what a man's got to do in your country has got to do what the country's got to do we have to defend ourselves in the most recent war in two thousand and fourteen when we looked at mainstream media outlets almost by a margin of three to one israeli spokespeople over represented compared to palestinian spokespeople so almost every time you turned on the screen there was a israeli representative on the screen telling you israel is the one that's in a position of defense it is being attacked and basically israel is saying hey you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what the fuck is flying your head you are allowed to defend yourself add to this the fact that you have american elected officials.

also reinforcing israel's right to defend itself as i've said many times israel has a right to defend itself against rocket and tunnel attacks from hamas and what gets pushed out of the frame entirely is the fact that out the for almost fifty years palestinians have been systematically dispossessed from their land and the noise of the most basic human rights. pioneers and refugees from countries in the oppression young and. now knowing. they will march to their world view a settlement to build. a world real will respond to palestine and. zionism the nationalist movement that emerged in europe in the late eighteen hundreds was

dedicated to the idea that the jewish people of to centuries of living as persecuted minorities within other countries were entitled to state an historic palestine the biblical homeland of the jews more than three thousand years before but there was a basic problem with the choice from the start. line was already home to hundreds of thousands of palestinian arabs who had been living in palestine for centuries. after world war two when the holocaust the situation reached a break point of the muslim the british colonial government made the decision to withdraw and to polish the problem on to the newly created united nations. and nine hundred forty seven u.n. resolution one eight one recommended that palestine be split into two parts jews who are a third of the population would receive fifty six percent of the one palestinians who are two thirds of the population and possess move ninety percent of historic palestine would receive forty four percent these terms were immediately rejected by

arab leaders is unfair but in the spring of one hundred forty eight as honestly it is declared israel a state on the proposed borders anyway triggering the first arab israeli it will air on that out. early morning. after winning a crushing victory israel took possession of even more land by the time almost this was declared in one hundred forty nine israel controls seventy eight percent of historic palestine the creation of the new state would be celebrated by israelis as a triumph but to this day it is commemorated by palestinians says the knock on the arabic term for the catastrophe in memory of the hundreds of thousands of palestinians who were driven from their homes to make way for the new jewish state will told approximately seven hundred thousand people more than half of august on its native population were uprooted when there is a lot of sympathy that can be generated i think rightly so for what jewish

people as a whole have dealt with in western societies and globally because of anti-semitism the question then becomes what is the proper response to that design is the answer is of course statehood and there's many people who would sympathise with that if it was in fact done in a vacuum and if it was in fact done for a people without a land in a land without people the reality is that's just not the way that it happened. there were people here they lost their homes their livelihood their nation their everything this was a in one thousand term that was only three percent palestinian arab and six seven percent jewish how did it suddenly become eighty percent jewish and twenty percent palestinian this was not a normal demographic transition this was a consequence of israel's desire to create a jewish state and to do that it have to get rid of as many palestinians as

possible the palestinians use the term catastrophe to speak of the one nine hundred forty eight consequences when they lost their land the first time around in sixty seven it was another nakba another catastrophe. in june of nine hundred sixty seven israel won what was perceived as a stunning underdog victory over much larger arab moments during the six day war. with victory in addition to taking land from egypt and syria israel began to militarily occupy all remaining palestinian territory in the west bank the gaza strip and east jerusalem suddenly all of palestine is now lost we now had no palestinian land left under palestinian control. you have a huge palestinian population living as refugees are living under occupation. palestinians are governed under military law they are essentially prisoners they

are treated as if they were all prisoners of war they have no rights. in the immediate aftermath of the sixty seven war the united nations security council post resolution two forty two citing international go forbidding the takeover of territory by war two for two explicitly calling for israel to withdraw its own forces. to this day israel has largely failed to comply not only holding palestinian territory but compass gauging additional london building massive jewish settlement blocks in the west bank and east jerusalem in direct violation of the food geneva convention which expressly forbids states from transparent civilian populations into territory it occupies. in addition israel has established an inter matrix of security control on palestinian land to secure the settlements including checkpoints the prevent palestinians from travelling freely within their own land and a four hundred forty mile security along the israeli border that cuts into palestinian

territory. if you're one of the millions of palestinians living under occupation this is what the complicates of out but one of the most stunning things is how they saw the story basically just drops out and is that you hear over and over again that it's israel that surrounded israel is surrounded israel surrounded surrounded it's israel the sun the siege and under threat you described a very small land mass and you know you're dealing with hamas and hezbollah and iran and so on i would like that it's a tough neighborhood the imagery here is so powerful that it's almost impossible to have a rational discussion about the legitimate grievances of palestinians hamas is a terror group and it is committed to killing jews and wiping israel off the face of the earth that's not debatable that's a fact none of this is by accident this is the result that with the liberal effort to shape american perceptions of the conflict a propaganda effort that really begins to take shape with israel's invasion of

lebanon in one thousand nine hundred two. israel unleashed another massive air attack on palestinian guerrilla targets in lebanon today from a sky full of israeli jets bombing bombing. and the summer of one thousand nine hundred two israel invaded neighboring lebanon in an attempt to drive the palestinian liberation organization out of its income on some southern border with israel what's an israeli army doing here in beirut the answer is that we are now dealing with an imperial israel which is solving its problems in someone else's country world opinion be damned the israeli invasion of lebanon in one thousand nine hundred two was a watershed it was israel breaking out beyond its immediate region to aggressively attack another country and it was a bit of a shock to many people in the interests of self-defense that gallant little underdog israel as suddenly started behaving like a neighborhood bully by the time the war was over the israeli military would kill

seventeen thousand lebanese and palestinians and the other thirty thousand almost all of them civilians and when they were over twenty injured you know why everything only. fell. right through during the other. just a few months later american media coverage was taken even there's been another horrendous turn of events in the middle east hundreds of men women and children perhaps as many as a thousand people and all have been massacred into palestinian refugee camps in west beirut israel's lebanese allies operating with the consent of the israeli government that massacred several thousand palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of supper. and american news media at the pictures to prove it by all appearances groups of men had been ordered to stand against the wall and then gunned down in cold blood. today hala still you finally for

all your. knowledge of our children one where they're killing our family this was a game changer in terms of how israel was going to deal with the question of publicity they went on the offensive for the first time director or implicit accusation that the i.d.f. bear any blame for ever. tragedy english. are entirely baseless and without any foundation. the government of israel rejects them with which they did. two years after the lebanon invasion the american jewish congress sponsored a conference in jerusalem to devise a formal public relations strategy known in hebrew as as. participants included p.r. and advertising executives media specialists journalists and leaders of major jewish groups the primary aim of the conference was to develop strategies to spin

unpopular israeli policies and to counter negative press coverage by shaping the media frame in advance. doesn't just jump into a camera conference delegates it's directed it's managed it's made to accessible israel based advertising executive martin fenton would put it in even more blunt terms propaganda is not a dirty word he said face it we are in the game of changing people's minds but making them think differently to come push that we need propaganda. after lebanon you start to see the basic has prostrated in action images of palestinians fighting back against israel's occupation make their way onto american television screens and the israeli military crushes this resistance in brutal ways that undercut israel's image as an underdog and victim. three helicopter gunships deliberately fired a missile into rattle civilians last night killing seven palestinians mooning seventy

more. then israeli officials go into full house romo's and that occupation doesn't even exist in framing all palestinian resistance as terrorism and israeli aggression as self-defense the palestinian terror campaign continues it only justifies again and again that we will have to continue to defend ourselves. and so this becomes the framing of the situation israel is defending itself which means israel is not the aggressor here that doesn't square with the reality on the ground and we know that you have a right to defend yourself you don't have a right to occupy people deny them their human rights and then cry foul when they resist that's not the right to self-defense that's the right to repression that's what israel is asking for here let us do away with these dissenters these palestinian dissenters and call it defense and when you look today at how the media cover the conflict you see just how successful israel's propaganda has been in

reversing the legacy of lebanon if there's any complaints and there should be about civilian deaths that they belong to the responsibility and the blame belongs with one place hamas i don't think anyone should get that wrong the israeli position is the first position they are allowed to to determine the narrative determine the facts on the ground hamas is a terror organization committed to our destruction they fire thousands of rockets at our cities the dominant narrative in the media coverage then israel is retaliating for an attack it has suffered israel says the barrage of rockets is in retaliation to the seven hundred fifty rockets fired from gaza we know this is all retaliation for hamas firing rockets into israel which is the dominant media story of our time what we've seen is really another kind of occupation unoccupied of american media and what we could call the american mind bry pro israel narrative that's the flecked of attention away from what virtually everyone recognizes as the

best way to resolve this conflict and the occupation and the settlements so the palestinians can finally have a slate of their own. his excellency the prime minister of israel the president of the united states of the were the on the in peace process that began with the oslo peace accords in one thousand nine hundred three was designed to negotiate the terms of israel's withdrawal from palestinian territory in accordance with un resolution two forty two which made an explicit connection between israeli withdrawal and a just and lasting peace. this in so slow israel has actually taken more palestinian land for its jewish only settlements in one thousand nine hundred three there were approximately two hundred thousand illegal jewish settlers living in the occupied palestinian territories since then that number has more than tripled with approximately six hundred fifty thousand settlers now living in the west bank in east jerusalem so if you look at the result not the words and the pretty phrases

what's happened over the past twenty years and most nor graded it was not a peace process it was an annexation process what has happened is that now one in eleven israeli jews live in these illegal sounds so the failure to confront the settlement enterprise from the very beginning i think has created a almost insuperable obstacle to the creation of the palestinian state there's no place to put it what we're talking about here is something that is completely indefensible israel knows this israel knows this very well and for that reason wants to talk about anything and everything else they'd rather talk about terrorism they'd rather talk about security we're willing to make great concessions for peace but there is something that i will never compromise on and that is real security the reason they've been able to so effectively change the subject isn't because they're practicing some kind of mass mind control the main reason is that the u.s.

government itself has had a vested interest in promoting the same narrative for almost fifty years now this goes back to the start of the so-called special relationship with israel in the late one nine hundred sixty s. when the u.s. decides to deputize israel and make it what the next administration called a cop on the beat to protect american interests in the middle east especially u.s. energy supplies at a sense the american government has continued to give israel roughly three billion dollars a year military aid while also vetoing one u.n. resolution after another condemning. occupation and settlements the challenge is to make sure that the american people stay on board with the u.s. aid despite what israel is doing a number of well funded public relations organizations have emerged within the united states to help israel just suppose purposes especially the occupation and settlements on security grounds one of these groups you see israel project in two thousand and nine israel project turn to conservative poster and rebranding expert

frank luntz to determine which talking points used by israeli and u.s. officials over time at the most effective in maintaining american sympathy for israel once wrote up his recommendations in a two thousand and nine report called the global language dictionary if you want to understand how the propaganda works especially in the u.s. you need to read the luntz document is really clear that the occupation and especially the settlements are a problem and he points the polls that show a large majority of americans actually think that israel should retreat to the sixty seven borders in fact he says when you talk about land in terms of sixty seven you completely flip american sentiment against you but and this is a solution if you bring up the danger of terrorism you win back to support the key is the claim that the fight is over ideology not land about terror not territory in fact these three words terror not territory summarize the basis of the propaganda

campaign of the u.s. and lots goes on to say the one of the most effective ways to make the conflict about terrorism is to refer to an obscure political document written in one thousand eight by small group of idealogues the hamas charter that cause for the destruction of israel even though the hamas leadership effectively this is on the chart a long time ago it's been p.r. gold for israel. luntz research has discovered that when americans hear the words of the charter israel goes from bully to victim and sympathy for the plight of the palestinians this equates so he says don't just quote it read it out loud again and again and his advice has been taken up often hysterically by israel's advocates the hamas charter not only cost results destruction is ladies and gentlemen article seven paulse for the murder of every jew the cause for the murder of every jew

it's a nazi document we have the israeli prime minister saying movements like a mass at our national movements are the same thing as isis hamas is like isis hamas is like al qaeda hamas is like hezbollah hamas is like a book all around and they are completely not the same things from us it is as much a nationalist movement. as leaders and a religious movement and for the good of from those signs priority to its nationalist drones over its religious schools this false notion of trauma is part of this ultra i don't know that work is not bought even by normans for the american military in two thousand and ten the united states central command to centcom the highest military command in the us if you testified report the question the current us policy of isolating and marginalizing how much as well as has played in lebanon the report described the two groups is pragmatic and argued that putting

them in ok during the same sentence as if they're all the same is just stupid and the us military isn't alone in this assessment isis itself has attacked a mosque again and again because i'm not radical enough bit to pragmatic and too compromising. i spent a lot of time on my radio program going over a hamas is charter what it says it wants to obliterate israel it wants to destroy the jews it is a sick twisted you know perverted ideology and it manifests itself in different forms muslim brotherhood islamic jihad hamas hezbollah i says al-qaeda you know it's all the same thing meanwhile you hear next to nothing about another extreme political charter that has much more relevance to the conflict the platform the ruling the crude. the take all said we did less than one generation of developing countries one of

the developed countries in the world we have grief when you. feel. singapore's founding father created a nation of political dynasty family disputes undermining that legacy what's happened to the family and what's happened in singapore's institutions i just don't know what would have caused the whole grief people in power investigates the house that leave at this time. and then they. probably cause for more than a million people to meet that will. alter their race on the ground to bring back our report on how people are fighting to carry on with our lives amuse them ongoing cost. for us to be displeased by their governments in one thousand and twenty three. it was very greek and turkish villagers returned to their own most essential really to. reconnect with the past they thought they'd lost forever.

people shouldn't be forced to move from the border. the great population exchange at this time. and i'm jane devon with the top stories on al-jazeera the third day of a partial ceasefire in syria's eastern goods is due to begin in half an hour there's been no letup in attacks on the rebel held enclave despite russia's pause in the hostilities activists reported government shelling and fighting on three

fronts during the five hour truce on wednesday. south korea's president says japan hasn't resolved the issue of so-called comfort women who were forced into sexual slavery german world war two when jane was speaking at an event marking ninety nine years since korea rose up against japanese rule japan has denounced the comments. well president million citizens against japan south korea agreement it is totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable we immediately logic can apply to sell to or in government the greenman isn't bottle an irreversible solution to the issue when japan has conducted all of the obligations based on the agreement and now we're just south korea to do the same about donald trump's white house communications director is stepping down the third to leave the post since came to power thirty months ago hope hicks is one of the u.s. president's longest serving advisors comes a day off takes testify before

a congressional panel investigating alleged russian interference in the twenty sixteen election campaign. trump has been meeting party leaders to discuss reforming gun laws trump told politicians to seriously consider raising the age limit for buying assault style rifles like the one used in the florida school shooting two weeks ago i miss international says egypt's army is using banned cluster bombs in its military operation in north sinai the rights group made the accusation after analyzing video released by the egyptian military the chief executive of the year's olympic committee has resigned sizing health problems scott black man had been under fire following the committee's response to a series of sexual abuse scandals in january former u.s. gymnastics team doctor larry nasser was jailed for life for molesting hundreds of young female athletes at a professional australian surfer who famously fended off

a shark attack is quitting the sport with findings as a competition later this month will be his last he punched the shark the try to bite him in twenty fifteen now it's back to the occupation of the american mind. the hamas charter not only cost reasons destructions ladies and gentlemen because for the love of every jew it's a nazi document meanwhile you hear next to nothing about another extreme political charter that is much more relevance to the conflict the platform the ruling the crude party in israel. well if you look at the language that's in that charter the likud charter it flatly rejects quote flatly rejects the existence of a palestinian state anywhere anywhere on that side of the jordan river in other words completely denying the right of a state of palestine to exist that's far more relevant to have language like the

language in the liquid charter be in the charter of a party that is the largest in israeli government driving an israeli state and has the capacity to act upon the words in their charter in a way that no other party does to strengthen the case that the conflict is about tourism and not turn a tree punch to the effectiveness of another word established israeli talking point the claim that israel gave up control of gaza in two thousand and five in hopes of achieving peace and a two state solution and go to rockets in return we left gaza completely we had guns so they could have turned it into a floor sharing wonderful place to live and look at one thing they turned into a haven of coming from all over the world it's completely untrue that israel left the gaza strip they did withdraw their colonists but at the same time they tie in their control over the gaza strip this is gaza's main freight route into israel and normally this road would be bumper to bumper with heavily laden trucks but it's

completely closed as is every other border crossing in the country nothing's coming into gaza and nothing is getting out so the idea that israel left is one hundred percent gaza it remains occupied who can come and go is totally at the israeli discretion in gaza there are constant military attacks by the israeli air force by drones. targeted assassinations go on all the time it wasn't really a withdrawal but the conventional shorthand in the media is that. israel was unwilling to give up an enormous amount to the palestinian side and the palestinians responded with violent israel for since one thousand nine hundred seven controlled gaza they gave it to the palestinians in a gesture of peace and all they got a bunch of rockets are you think that this is the basic frame of israel's p.r. campaign make sure the media is those focused on terrorism and

a mosque extremism as a source of the conflict not the occupation and the settlements if you want to see this in operation just look at the coverage of any of israel's many attacks on gaza over the past few years. the scale and intensity of this attack was surprising the deadliest operation against palestinians in decades after an intense three week thirteen hundred day five thousand wounded. and i december of two thousand and eight israel launched operation coast let the massive ground assault on the gaza strip in force at least this popular video over a period of three weeks israeli military dropped over six hundred tons of bombs on the go so it is unclear how many civilians in the fourteen hundred postings were killed and thousands more injured the wounded were carried on corrugated iron. and private cars. and bets on you know. the worst one

day casualty toll in gaza anybody. normally in a conflict civilians can run for their lives as it was one of the few if not the only modern conflict where the helpless civilians who are subjected to massive technologically advanced firepower by the israelis had no escape route with gaza city bombed and burning palestinians he did israel's warning to get out of the way but found they had nowhere to go it was a brutal murders devastating this attack was murders if you asked any american who was at war started they would say because the palestinians are not firing rockets at israel what are the goals of that operation right now to change totally the behavior of the from us is that. they keep shelling

is. what this forget is that for the latter half of two thousand and eight there was a very successful cease fire that curtailed rocket fire into israel dramatically almost to the point to which there was none this was shattered in. november of two thousand when israel attacked what they said was a tunnel building project killed six hamas militants at that point the ceasefire was off when hamas regime rocket attacks off the israel broke the ceasefire israeli officials went on american television and got away with blaming a mosque for breaking the cease fire you know it was come us that you know actually tore up the cease fire understandings it was from us that is going to the violence that reached a crescendo on christmas day when we had in one twenty four hour period some eighty rockets mortar shells and missiles coming into israel attacking our civilians now we want to work with the palestinian government the law i was then repeated uncritically by u.s. news media games there's no question here is that hamas started this well look i

don't think israel had any choice it was a ceasefire that was broken by hamas they fired something like three hundred rockets in the israel i mean this is an act of war what are they supposed to do let's compare this to how the media outside the u.s. dealt with this in to the fact that cheering to see fine not a single israeli was killed and the reason for that was because how five not a single rocket no i think you all wrong fortunately because during that cease fire of six months they were firing rockets on a daily basis on channel four in britain you saw in ankara presenting evidence that these ready government itself acknowledged that hamas of the ceasefire was actually a document that's given to journalists by the israeli government and in this document it says and i'm quoting how mass was careful to maintain the ceasefire israel officially recognized until it broke the ceasefire from austin for single rocket of the propaganda is so powerful that these truisms literally truisms are almost an expression the lesson is that this conflict started when we say it

started and we say it started when israel was attacked. in two thousand and twelve and again in two thousand and four this was a devastating attack some goes on. once again showed that americans remain firmly on israel's side. that. israel can saturate the media with spokespeople but there's still the problem of massive palestinian casualties showing up on television screens. here again the luntz document spells out which talking points have been most effective in spinning the brutal reality of palestinian casualties he says the first thing the pro israeli spokespeople should do is express empathy for the innocent victims unfortunately innocents do get hurt and we we really grieve that we're sad for

every pseudonym casualty the entire situation is tragic then luntz tells p.r. spokespeople to turn the tables and ask the american people what would you do. so what would you do in the united states do you imagine. what america would do if you were facing a similar thread we always try to us kewl to question what we do what would you do what would you do if more than three thousand rockets have been fought on your cities what would you do three thousand rockets what would you do if terrorists were tunneling in deal from what would you do if three kids are kidnapped because of a tunnel network what sort of question is this of course anybody would act to defend themselves against unprovoked aggression but it is a question that is completely devoid of any context then on top of that when massive numbers of palestinian civilians predictably die from israeli attacks israel claims it's part of a deliberate hamas gravity to drum up sympathy. telegenic the

palestinians for their cause they want the more dead the better so they end up in this upside down orwellian world where israelis killing civilians becomes an unforgivable transgression against israelis it is hard to come away with any feeling but that we are in the midst of a world gone mad last week i found a quote of many years ago by a gold mine here one of israel's early leaders which might have been said yesterday we can forgive the arabs for killing our children she said but we can never forgive them for forcing us to kill their children it's not difficult to imagine americans identifying with palestinians who are suffering but they need to be able to see that suffering on their television screens in their newspapers. these whales said today it's a new offensive he's targeting terrorists and when your sense of the coverage is that there is something that these people did to deserve this or that they are affiliated with terrorists and terrorist minded governments the fallout of that is

an inability to identify with people who are suffering in far greater numbers in far greater proportion than their israeli counterparts. to shape american perceptions of the israeli palestinian conflict has been taken up by a number of pro israel groups based in the us together these groups are commonly referred to as the israel lobby. nowhere has the power to shape the pro israel narrative in movies appeal than in the u.s. congress. to the efforts of one of the most influential lobbying groups working on capitol hill today the american israel public affairs committee better known as apec. it is great. so many good friends from all across the gulf will. be more than ten thousand people. and apex annual conference draws nearly ten thousand attendees

from around the country including the most influential members of both houses of congress from both coaches it would be very hard for ordinary americans to know that they're being deceived that some very competent experts at spin management are in fact deluding them there are many reasons for this one of them is that the american political class has basically swallowed the line oak line and sinker they keep getting rocket attack after rocket attack and then they're criticized for human rights problems because they defend themselves this is particularly true for republicans but responding mr speaker to attacks on their civilian population i mean what is it that they want what we know what they want they want israel obliterated from the map mr speaker but it's also true for many democrats we stand with our ally we stand with the democratic state of israel we stand against terrorism this is ministration well always stand up for

israel's right to defend itself. they made the mistake of actually leaving a pax facts address on one bill that was actually laid before congress and of course nobody was apparently passed that that in fact writes the legislation for them or writes their speeches for them doesn't seem to in the least bother you there's nothing happening here that secret or under the table it's not a cabal it's not a conspiracy it is in fact domestic politics the way it's packed. here in the united states there are roughly three dozen or so pro israel pacs that give money over the last fifteen or twenty years they've given fifty five sixty million dollars in american elections there are one or two arab american pacs and i believe last time i looked they've given you know eight hundred thousand to a million so you've got fifty five million dollars of pac contributions on one side and you've got maybe a million at most on the other side the actual views of most people in the american

jewish community quinta every poll diverge greatly from the extreme right wing neo conservative views of the entire establishment leadership of that community most people in the jewish community are much more liberal they're against settlement they're against occupation they want two state solution and there are some key elements of what we call the israel lobby that aren't jewish so-called christian zionists evangelical christians in america have become israel stacia's ally in an increasingly hostile world and the united states roughly a third of the population believes that every word of the bible is literally true if the bible is literally true then the land of israel was promised to the jews by god they have every right to take it from surfer's listen closely those of you listening in the liberal media. the jewish people are now saying the land of israel . don't lie and this is really. one of the problems with the influence israel lobby

has in the united states now is it has been hard for government officials to have an honest discussion just look what happened to president obama when he made the mistake of simply saying out loud what the international consensus is we believe the borders of israel and palestine should be based on the nine hundred sixty seven lines with mutually agreed swaps. so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states it didn't matter that obama was just repeating what had been official u.s. policy for decades or the right wing president ronald reagan that said essentially the same thing in the one nine hundred eighty s. an even stronger language u.n. resolution two for two remains wholly valid as the foundation stone of america's middle east peace effort. it is the united states' position that in return for peace the withdrawal provision of resolution two forty two applies to all fronts including the west bank and gaza when obama said it he was

a media the accused by right wing groups of setting up israel for another holocaust as president obama abandon israel after strong support by eleven consecutive american presidents it appears obama has moved sharply toward israel's enemies and the results could be disastrous the leader of hezbollah has vowed to finish the job it was started up till now america strong backing of israel made that impossible but with obama's waffling for the second holocaust. it's a pretty ingenious tactic how you supposed to have a rational discussion about the occupation when pro israel extremists call the sixty seven borders exporters. these are the two alternatives you're either going to now switching to support israel because israel was in fact created in the wake of the holocaust isn't that extraordinary that the two would be that way i have a problem with the idea of exploiting the link and using those six million jews and almost in my mind it's like saying and frankly we want the occupation to continue

we are a nation that rose from the ashes of the holocaust. when we say never again we may never again. i see a lot of manipulation. about the victims. the sense of victimhood and i'm a child of survivors a local survivor so i'll be the last one to underestimate the importance of history and the history of persecution of jews in the israeli palestinian context but doesn't mean that jews now in israel go every day and think about auschwitz adult there are watchdog groups that keep track of what different media organizations publish or broadcast and if they're not happy about it they either publish their own attack. acts they organize consumer boycotts the media outlets don't see the pushback from the other side they don't see the upside to standing up for for their

own reporting so i think in most cases they cave look at how american media covered israel's two thousand and fourteen attack on gaza the keyword search of all the major networks showed that over the course of the fifty one day assault israel's ongoing military siege on blockade of gaza will barely mention compared to the thousands of times a mosque rocket attacks on israel were mentioned but the silence of mainstream media across the board on these issues hasn't stopped right wing pro israel advocates with zero evidence making exactly the opposite claims here that the us news media bends over backwards so humanize palestinians while demonizing israel consistently the times has suppressed any story that was betrayed israel sympathetically and of course there's no quite a weapon in the attack austin all that equating critical coverage of israel's policies with anti-semitism any fair minded person falls out in syria knows it's anti american and anti semitic there it is you're splitting the us man correct yes i am it doesn't it doesn't come more anti semitic knowledge they would they

wouldn't they would do violence to you who is a good journalist and algis are really people that run that were they would violently i largely think so but i haven't written article in which he explained to american jews what their test scores their task is to show that anyone who is a critic. but which he means a critic of the policies of the state of israel must be either an anti semite or a neurotic self hating jew that covers one hundred percent of possible criticism so used to be i was always called the self hating jew and everybody like me was called the self hating too i am now not only i saw fit into that they also call me that is them like how i was by four jewish grandparents i'm still an anti-semite my wife was born in a just. those persons hands in germany and i'm an anti-semite look i've done dozens of interviews which begin from the terrorism departure point but when given an opportunity to actually speak and present

a different perspective that can dissolve rather quickly is hamas a terrorist organization. do i get to actually speak now and you get to answer the question it's a simple yes or no question is how long are you invited on here is a mosque whose charter calls for the destruction of israel is that a terrorist organization that's a yes or no question thank you for your question find larry telling to me that and it should be telling to your viewers as well by the way that the moment you have a palestinian voice on your program who begins to explain the legitimate grievances of power is not lost a terrorist organization answer let me say that so let me question what part of this can you get through your thick head i think is hamas a terrorist organization and yes or no the only thing that you're going to say is what we want to say and if you don't say it we're not to let you speak our media operations national media is a scandal when it comes to israel i look at the u.k.

with all its deficit and there's real debate for example there is this anchor called john snow channel four in the u.k. and he interview with mark greg and he real time with questions grilled mark record of how does killing children on a beach contribute to that purpose what was the point of bombing el wafa hospital for goodness sake there are a grave problem certainties about whether you are acting within the law. oh yes you are deliberately targeting the neighborhoods in which you know there are women and children you've tried everything with guns or you besieged it for seven years the people live in intolerable and ghastly life and you know that better than anybody why don't you try one other thing talking why not talk why not be brave and talk directly with the why not i can never see this in america i never seen anything like this in the united states while the mainstream propaganda system is operating the same as it always has there are definite signs that its control is starting to

unravel over just the past few years the proliferation of social media and internet news sources this made it increasingly difficult for the israeli government and pro israel groups in the u.s. to manage american perceptions of the conflict. video footage and reporting from the ground bearing witness to the reality of the occupation are now more accessible than ever on the internet. at the same time a powerful new movement has been gaining momentum and raising awareness of the occupation. while activists from the black lives matter move and have been making explicit connections between police violence against african-americans in the israeli military's repression of palestinians we stand next to people who continue to courageously struggle to resist the occupation people continue to dream and fight for freedom. from ferguson to power. the struggle for freedom continues and all of these developments seem to be having an effect those now show that while

sympathy for israel remains at all time highs some americans it has been hemorrhaging among young people despite the efforts of the lobby something really striking is taking place and pro israel operatives like frank luntz are in a panic in his latest report he calls what's happening with young people a disaster. as the discourse begins to open more people are starting to understand this as a rights based issue not an issue of radicalism this is a movement for the rights of people whose rights are being denied who are living under occupation who want to live in their country freely just like anybody else let's just get away from the fall and choose and talk about the reality and then maybe be able to persuade people that they should not any longer give their unwavering support to a nation engaged in a policy that's not just inhumane and brutal but ultimately suicidal.

given the central role that the united states plays in backing israel seems to me americans all americans have a right to question the to kill or israeli policies and in particular the prolonged occupation the fact that the palestinian people have been kept without a state and without any political rights for decades now in the end this comes down to a battle for the minds of american people about all of the stories they told to make sense of this conflict about global perception the more americans are able to see the reality of occupation with their own eyes to see images of routine daily violence of the repression and you relation to never make their way into mainstream news the more they'll question the image of israel as this tiny little david up against the bullying our. and start to wonder who is actually the outcome palestinians who might be the real davids here. when that starts becoming the

dominant perception here in the u.s. over to iraq it all comes down to american public perception. hello and welcome back to look at the weather across the levant and western parts of asia we've got some snow across these eastern areas from afghanistan up through becky stan towards kazakstan fine conditions around the caspian sea but we also got an area of low pressure bringing some heavy snowfall across eastern parts of turkey standing into georgia armenia and then that will push through across as through towards northern parts of the caspian sea as we head into friday at that stage fine conditions for beirut there are nineteen by that pleasant enough twenty four and sixteen is the high in tehran here in the arabian peninsula we've had some pretty nasty showers around the gulf states have lost twenty four hours or so still the

risk of the old shower on thursday but i think generally much drier brighter picture for many and again temperatures still well up twenty five as a high in doha and then assume it into friday still affirmative clairon but i think it should stay a largely dry on the other side of the potential of warm for mecca there high of thirty four but further south center for the mountains the chance of wanted to heavy showers give the risk of flash flooding for southern portions of africa we've got some really heavy showers across east africa standing into parts is and about by and some be a further size should be largely fine highs of twenty two in cape town. paint the scene for us whether on line what is american sign in yemen that peace is possible but it never happens not because the situation is complicated but because no one cares or if you join us on set there are people that are choosing between

buying medication and eating this is a dialogue i want to get in one more comment because this is someone who's an activist and has posted a story join the global conversation at this time on al-jazeera. there is a very important fourth of information for many people around the world when all the cameras are gone i'm still here go into areas that nobody else is going talk to people that nobody else is talking to and bringing that story to the forefront. violence and discrimination are all too familiar to many women in india a reality too often reinforced by bollywood. but its leading star is throwing his weight behind the cause. they're going to start their journey and using his celebrity to advocate for gender equality. the snake on the congo witness at this time on

a. too often on the streets of india women are victims but a new force is at play. female police officers are combat sexual assault. is a challenge and so is life behind the badge. at this time. time to bury the dead.