Warnings from the Iraq War

After a five month absence from Gaslit Nation due to a family situation, Sarah has decided to leave the show. You can read her regular writing over at her new Substack. We all wish her well and look forward to her next book. 

In this continuation of Gaslit Nation’s coverage of the Israel-Hamas war, Andrea shares her own hard learned lessons on how to hold space for a friend grieving over the crisis. This episode also includes a look at the Oslo Accords, an interim agreement that historically opened communication between the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel’s government, and the years of violence that quickly followed, spiraling towards the growing mythology of Benjamin Netanyahu who built support through strongman rhetoric promising to keep Israelis safe. Insead, he weakened Israel. Netanyahu’s Trumpian playbook blasted opponents and the media as “FAKE NEWS!”, “THE DEEP STATE!”, “TRAITORS!”, and turned Israelis against each other. While being under investigation for corruption, Netanyahu brazenly tried to destroy the independence of the judiciary, leading to the largest protests in the country’s history. Now the majority of Israelis polled blame him for the October 7th Hamas terrorist attack, but the majority also believe he should resign after the war. That would incentivize Netanyahu to keep the war going to cling to power. Netanyahu must be forced to step down now, for the sake of any chance for peace. 

Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Anne Applebaum, author of Gulag: A History; Red Famine: Stalin’s War on Ukraine; and Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism joins Andrea to discuss the stakes in Ukraine and the threats to democracy here at home and around the world. This interview was recorded the Friday before the historic October 15 elections in Poland, bringing a democratic coalition to power to defeat a right wing Trumpian regime that packed the courts, turned state media into their own propaganda arm, banned abortion, and inflamed scapegoating against LGBTQ+ people and refugees. This episode was supposed to run two weeks ago, but was delayed due to the war. For Applebaum’s analysis on the Israel-Hamas war, read her brilliant piece in The Atlantic on her summer reporting trip to Israel on how Israelis rightfully saw Netanyahu as an existential threat.

This week’s bonus episode will be inspired by questions submitted at the Democracy Defender level and higher on Patreon. To submit your questions, leave them in the comments or send them in a message. Join the conversation and receive ad free episodes, bonus shows, exclusive invites and other perks by subscribing at Patreon.com/Gaslit. Thank you to everyone who supports the show – we could not make Gaslit Nation without you!

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Show Notes:

Inside the Oslo accords: a new podcast series marks 30 years since Israel-Palestine secret peace negotiations https://theconversation.com/inside-the-oslo-accords-a-new-podcast-series-marks-30-years-since-israel-palestine-secret-peace-negotiations-212985

The language being used to describe Palestinians is genocidal https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/16/the-language-being-used-to-describe-palestinians-is-genocidal

I Negotiated Israel’s Hardest Hostage Deal. Here’s What’s Next in Gaza. “The United States still has a role to play. It should continue to pressure Qatar, which should give an ultimatum that if hostages are not released within, say, 24 hours, all of Hamas’s leaders will be expelled from Qatar, where many are based. I don’t believe that Qatar will agree to that — and certainly not without an Israeli cease-fire — but the American government and others have leverage over Qatar and it should be used. 

There is still a small chance and a limited window of opportunity before the ground assault begins to attain the release of some of the hostages through this kind of agreement. After the invasion begins, it will depend on Israeli special forces to try to save them. Some will again see their homes; others may not. 

At the other end of this war, I hope that the trauma and suffering we are all feeling on both sides of the conflict will spur us to figure out how to share this land that belongs to both Israelis and Palestinians. Maybe our collective suffering and pain can be channeled to focusing on how to live together rather than killing each other. 

That will be a long process and cannot include the leaders on both sides who have brought us to where we are. We need a new generation of leaders with new vision, new hopes, new dreams and the ability to lead. I hope that many of the hostages, together with their families, will soon be able to join the voices calling for change.” https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/21/opinion/israel-hamas-hostage.html

Hamas Leader Lies when pressed in TV interview: https://twitter.com/arash_tehran/status/1715354932595847322

Netanyahu’s Attack on Democracy Left Israel Unprepared: The prime minister brought about a situation in which all the options are bad. https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/10/israel-democracy-judicial-reform-netanyahu-hamas-attacks/675713/

Biden’s Israel-Palestine Policy Could Cost Him the Election: The president’s blank-check support of Israel’s war on Gaza is alienating many of the Black and brown voters he needs to win reelection. https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/biden-israel-palestine-policy-election/

The End of Netanyahu: He sold Israelis a story about their safety. It turned out not to be true. “Israelis have good reason for their disillusionment. Seen in hindsight, the litany of Netanyahu’s failures is long. By his own admission, he purposely propped up Hamas as a counterbalance to the more moderate Palestinian Authority in order to keep the Palestinian public divided and prevent a negotiated two-state solution. In partnership with Washington, Netanyahu facilitated the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from Qatar into Gaza in an attempt to buy quiet from Hamas. Intelligence officials now believe that some of this money was used to fund the group’s terrorism. Netanyahu also increased permits for Gazans to work in Israel; some of the permit holders may have provided intelligence used to plan the attacks. In 2011, the prime minister released more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners—including convicted mass murderers—in return for one Israeli soldier held hostage by Hamas. This decision encouraged further kidnapping attempts, culminating in the successful abduction of some 200 Israelis this month. One of the prisoners released in 2011 was Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza today.” https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-hamas-attack-failure/675722/?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo

“According to his opponents, his semi-authoritarian tendencies have relentlessly weakened the checks and balances of Israeli democracy. He has debilitated democracy’s gatekeepers, constantly accusing the “deep state” – the judicial system, the law enforcement agencies, the bureaucracy – of actively subverting him and framing him for crimes he never committed using the “fake news" media that he claims is out to get him. And his demagogic, divisive and often incendiary political language has posed a clear and present danger to Israeli democracy. If American readers find this eerily familiar, they're right.” https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-hamas-attack-failure/675722/?utm_source=threads&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo

‘Biggest in Israeli History': Organizers Claim Half a Million Protesters Against Netanyahu's Constitutional Coup As a record 50,000 Israelis rallied in Haifa, and hundreds of thousands more across Israel, opposition leader Yair Lapid slams the Netanyahu government's sole focus on 'crushing Israeli democracy' https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-03-11/ty-article/.premium/biggest-in-israeli-history-organizers-claim-half-a-million-protesters-in-tenth-week/00000186-d261-dfef-a3ef-d26d9bbc0000

Inside Biden's Gaza strategy https://www.axios.com/2023/10/21/israel-hamas-war-inside-bidens-gaza-strategy

A Brief History of the Netanyahu-Hamas Alliance: For 14 years, Netanyahu's policy was to keep Hamas in power; the pogrom of October 7, 2023, helps the Israeli prime minister preserve his own rule https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-20/ty-article-live/american-mother-and-daughter-first-hostages-released-by-hamas-arrive-in-israel/0000018b-4b06-d1fd-a59f-ef9ff9ed0000

Experts say Hamas and Israel are breaking international law, but what does that mean? Since the latest explosion of violence began on October 7, both Israel and Hamas have been accused of breaking international law. As the terms “genocide”, “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” are used to describe the deadly acts carried out by both sides, FRANCE 24 takes a look at what these terms mean. https://www.france24.com/en/middle-east/20231021-experts-say-hamas-and-israel-are-breaking-international-law-but-what-does-that-mean

Human Rights Watch Condemns Israel’s Collective Punishment on Gaza, Urges Biden to Help Restore Aid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zrL_I_4Cg

Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/damning-evidence-of-war-crimes-as-israeli-attacks-wipe-out-entire-families-in-gaza/

Civilians, civilian infrastructure, and health care facilities must be protected at all times https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/indiscriminate-violence-and-collective-punishment-gaza-must-cease#:~:text=MSF%20calls%20on%20the%20government,factions%20must%20establish%20safe%20spaces.

Netanyahu Waging Campaign to Blame Israeli Military for Failure to Predict Hamas Attack, Defense Sources Say The Israeli prime minister appointed a new spokesman to liaise with military correspondents, an unusual move, with one source saying they'd heard he was defaming officers https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-10-22/ty-article/.premium/netanyahu-on-campaign-to-blame-idf-for-failure-to-predict-attack-defense-sources-say/0000018b-5688-d5d2-afef-d6fde37a0000

US intelligence report alleging Russia election interference shared with 100 countries https://www.axios.com/2023/10/21/israel-hamas-war-inside-bidens-gaza-strategy

Opening clip: https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/1716539683990114683

Oslo Accords clip: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/inside-the-oslo-accords-part-1-why-norway-was-in/id1550643487?i=1000627628956

Clip: Hear what Jenna Ellis said in tearful court speech https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/10/24/jenna-ellis-cries-court-guilty-plea-nc-vpx.cnn