An informed discussion of the Gaza nightmare

This is a 43-minutes news discussion from FRANCE 24 English on the current situation, in which the horror of the Gaza war continues, i.e., the Israeli war against Palestinians. Against all the Palestinians there. (1)

The FRANCE 24 discussion includes Haaretz columnist and excellent political analyst Dahlia Scheindlin who is also the author of The Crooked Timber of Democracy in Israel: Promise Unfulfilled (2023). It’s a history of Israel that provides a great background to internal political crisis prompted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to turn Israel into an authoritarian regime, which has continued until today with no obvious end in sight. This program shows why she’s just a capable political analyst.

Scheindlin has been very critical of Israel’s military campaign against Gaza civilians since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and expresses that in this presentation. She is currently a cochair of the peace advocacy group A Land for All. The other panelists are the Palestinian law professor Omar Dajani (also a co-chair of A Land for All) and Gil Mihaely. who is editor in -chief of the right-leaning Causeur. The Iranian filmmaker Sepideh Farsi also presents a short segment at the start.

European nations and Canada are rousing themselves to put at least some pressure on Netanyahu’s government to pull back from its genocidal actions against Palestinians, as the report summarizes.

Mihaely in this interview ludicrously claims that Netanyahu wanted to avoid war at all costs. In this show, he is a Netanyahu apologist. Scheindlin’s expressions listening to him show that she thinks he’s talking nonsense. And she’s right. Mihaely even uses the cynical phrase “mow the lawn”, which is the euphemism that Israel has used for a long time for periodic military attacks on the Palestinian population. He clearly approves of the practice. And he makes hack propaganda arguments.

Scheindlin and Dajani both argue for a two-state solution. I understand why peace advocates would use this as a negotiating point, but it certainly seems like a utopian goal at this point. The Israeli government seems to have effectively destroyed that option. And the default remaining options are a democratic state including both Jews and Palestinians, an apartheid state including both, or a continuation of the kind of ethnic cleansing that Netanyahu’s government is currently pursuing.

All three panelists seem to agree that Donald Trump is a chaotic actor in this situation. But we’re currently facing a new escalation of the ongoing Israeli ethnic cleansing action.

Notes:

(1) Tipping point? Growing pushback against Israel's Gaza offensive. FRANCE 24 English YouTube channel 05/20/2025. <https://youtu.be/3uEG2BaSH-g?si=zvMpwQ5tQbbhw4Ot> (Accessed: 2025-20-05).