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Author of Goliath and the new book The 51 Day War, Max Blumenthal returns to comment on the latest conflict between Israel and the Palestinians and on last summer’s war on Gaza.Blumenthal wrote the very important book Goliath and returns to offer context and detail to the current conflict in the Mideast.
We open with his comments on US media coverage of 3 recent events, including the recent stabbings and police shootings of suspects, when enabled Netanyahu to hammer his Palestinian counterpart by spinning the facts and presenting Israel as a victim of Palestinian violence. Blumenthal details the recent incident with a 13-year-old boy who was shot after a stabbing attempt; Abbas claimed the boy died, but he survived, giving Netanyahu a propaganda opening over Abbas, who Blumenthal describes as out of touch.
We talk about the triggers for the current unrest, including the firebombing of a Palestinian home by settlers in July and what appear to be summary executions of Palestinian suspects by Israeli police and troops. We mention Netanyahu’s go-for-broke effort to kill the international deal with Iran, which failed.
We also talk about the events leading up to last summer’s 51-day war, including the Israeli response to the kidnapping of 3 teenagers; long after Netanyahu knew they were dead, Israel rousted Palestinians and falsely blamed Hamas for the kidnapping. In response to a question from listener Ian Berman, Blumenthal says that Israel did in fact start the war in 2014.
There’s much more in this conversation, including a recap of the Palestinian attack of August 1, 2014 that led to the capture of an Israeli soldier and the invocation of the “Hannibal Directive” for a scorched-earth response, even if it kills the Israeli captive.