Transcripts For PRESSTV Hidden 20240705 : vimarsana.com

Palestine on october the 7th, but sadly for them, theyre no longer the only media that people get their news from. After some 75 years of the ongoing genocide in palestine, of the journalists on the ground were finally able to get their voice across to people all over the world and to inform them of the bombings that have killed tens of thousands of palestinians, mostly women and children. And thats when october 7th could no longer justify the ongoing genocide even in the of minds of former supporters of the israely regime. Now many have already realized that Mainstream Media blamed hamas to buy more time for the zionist regime to murder as many palestinians as they could and to occupy as much land as possible. But the question remains from legal perspective, who is responsible for the thousands of lives loss especially since. October the 7th. Hello, im marzia hashimi and this is hidden files. This is the discussion that we will have today with lawyer and doctor of jurisprudence and human rights activist Stanley Cohen. Stay tuned please. Stanley kohan is an American Lawyer and human rights activist, following graduation from college, stanley started working as vista volunteer and helped set up. Service projects and native american reservations. Cohen then went to work as a Community Organizer to tackle the issues of homeless teens and later as an administrator in a federally funded antipoverty agency. He then went to law school to defend human rights a legal level and earned a doctorate of jurisprudence. Since then he has worked on various lawsuits from those taking on the nsa spying program to others involving. False accusations, targeting various minorities and individuals, defending patric lumumba against accusations of the Material Support of terrorism and defending the hamas political leader against extradition by the Israeli Regime. Due to his success in various such legal projects, Stanley Cohen has for long been a target for smearing campaigns and various threats which he has survived to date. Well, thank you. So much stanley coin for being with us. Id like to start off with Mainstream Medias favorite question do you condemn hamas and what are the legal definitions of their actions according to law . I i like to respond to that question with who did you pick on before hamas from 1936 to 1985 . The Mainstream Media likes to use hamas as the convenient boogie man, likes to use any quote unquote islam. Movement uh even one thats overseeing uh with all the difficulties the Civil Society uh that was voted into office, but its always hamas, hamas, hamas, so they look to october 7 and they completely ignore the history of israeli genocide, israeli ethnic cleansing, israeli war crimes, israeli crimes against humanity, and they say its hamas, do i could them hamas . No, hamas is National Liberation movement that has been in the forefront of the resistance since 1985, it has a leadership that is highly educated, sophisticated, learned, committed to their people, from god, these are not people that one day pick, got a plane and came from brooklyn as designers are, to some foreign country, these are people that that that grew up in in gaza, many of whom the leadership uh left over number of years to pursue education elsewhere, received doctorate degrees, their academics, their scholars, their. Lawyers, their scientists, the their producers, their directors, their artists and return home uh to help to liberate palestine, so do i condemn hamash . No, well, lets talk a little bit about you, because uh, you youve represented many people who couldnt afford to pay you along the way, and mean giving your expertise and your experience, you could have had lot more money. Why did you choose a different path . I recently had a discussion with a journalist who asked me the same question. I said, well, you know, im sure uh, Henry Kissinger uh, did not get to take his money with him, im sure bill gates will not be able to take his money with him. We have to make choices in life, is it about the pursuit of of of profit, is it about the pursuit of power, is it about political control, or is it about being part of a World Community thats here for very limited period of time, that they too were not going to spend their lives pursuing money uh, but pursuing justice. Well, why did you uh, youve decided to represent a lot of hamas officials and other groups too, although there would be reprecus. For you, why is that the case . Well, i had years before i represented, was one of the founders of hamas, was the original head of political wing and is now still a major Senior Leader the movement. I had been involved in supporting palestinian selfdetermination, palestinian independence, palestinian liberation as young lawyer. I organized some political actions, i was involved as as an attorney representing people. That were protesting against israel years before even hamas evolved, i had very active role in a in the muslim in the Islamic Community in the United States, not trying to singularize it, because obviously its a community of diversity with different priorities and back through my work representing many dozens of albanian muslims who were charged with various situations in the United States. And who eventually as a result of negotiations went to bosnia and joined the kla with the approval of the United States in essence fighting before the United States drag nato in, before the bombings occurred, that connected me in a different light to the Muslim Community in the United States in general and to the Palestinian Community in particular, and then one day when i was had just finished very long trial, it was getting ready to go on holiday for few weeks, i got a call from the leaders. One of these organizations who asked me if i could go to the federal prison that there was a gentleman who had been picked up suddenly on an immigration hole someone who was a lawful resident in the United States and i really was too tired and i couldnt do it and i recommended other lawyers and and then as in the side i said well who is this person and then he mentioned a name to me and the name didnt mean anything to me um at the time and he said musa abu marzuok and i i said who was that . And then he said, i said, no, im really, im tired, i need to get away, ive got family and friends that are expecting me, weve got a cabin on on on on the ocean, and then he said, well, hes the head of the months, and i went, oh, okay, so i called my family and i said, look, youre going to have to do what you have to do on your own, ive got to go see this gentleman, and i went to meet abu marzuk, we spent a day or half a. Talking and ill never forget he looked at me when i walked in and he said he looked up and down at me up and down i had my hair was all over the place and i had grouped dungeries on and i had a sweatshirt on that said the first thing we do quoting shakespeare will kill all the lawyers and he looked at me and he said who are you and i i told him i used a certain term that i a phrase that i had been told to use to give him comfort that i wasnt there as a representative of the government i had been sent friends. And i used it and he said well who are you as he stared at me up and down amazed and looked at me and i said well im a lawyer and he looked at me up and down he said youre a lawyer he said i dont need a lawyer and i said youre right you dont need one lawyer you need a dozen lawyers and he laughed and he said sit down and i did and that was the beginning of uh probably a thousand hours with the oneonone discussions that he and i had over the next two years while we fought his case initially it was for a removal order from the United States and then the connessit unprecedented act issued an arrest warrant and demanded his extradition to israel to stand trial with the father. We became very close over the course of two years and abu marzuok is not just a founder or framer in the original head of the political wing of hamas, hes a brilliant political scientist, hes a brilliant internationalist, hes a travel gentleman who has still does obviously tremendous experience in politics and reality. In history, he understands, well, thats its quite interesting, quite beautiful. I want to look at, if you give me permission, ask you a question about your twitter account or x, because you have a profile picked. Of two hamas leaders there, id like to know why you have chosen that picture for your profile picture, sheikh ahmed was a friend, i had the privilege and the pleasure of spending time with him being hosted by him in gaza on five or six occasions before he was assassinated, abu shanab was dear friend, i spent lot of time with abunab, in fact the car in which she was assassinated as by an israeli rocket, i had been in that car just four or five days before he had been murdered, going to an interview and to show you the the kindness, the support, the love of the Palestinian Community in general in my relationship with it. I had left gaza, i was handling case in california, i was early in the morning i was asleep and my phone rang, and it was abunabs wife who told me she was giving me her. Condolences, she told me that abu shanab had been assassinated several hours before, and she wanted to give my her condolences to me, his wife of decades, the mother of his children, because she knew how close we were, we were very close, whenever i would go to gaza, i would spend hours and days with abunab, hed be my escort, he was a professor of engineering at the Islamic University in gaza, he was educated, got his phd in the United States, he was very Close Friends with, we hit it. Right away um, and i could think of no better way of honoring the memory these two great warriors, these two wonderful, dynamic, principled fighters for justice and human rights. Well, there are those who talk about hamas and october the 7th, and the legality as we are in the middle of this israeli genocide. I mean, id like to hear your perspective and based on International Law regarding both sides of this current situation. Under International Law, an occupying force, an occupying state is permitted to maintain the deminimus or the minimum, the minimum amount of Security Apparatus until theres a resolution as to the occupation, and that may mean small military outposts, that may mean the presence of of of Occupying Military or security forces, it does not permit the introduction of, as they have here 800 thous um uh largely european colonialist jews into the west bank, it does not permit the theft of land and the establishment of socalled settlements, it does not permit for the building of walls, it does not permit for the establishment of infrastructure, of economy of of of of of of infrastructure, a system that is comparable basically to a city, it doesnt permit it. Um and what they do israel again in going one step further they decided because its quote and quote a military zone then people that have been in the military zone for tens of for thousands of years um are not entitled to do process of the occupying state, theyre not entitled to get access to Israeli Courts, and as weve seen for years now, even those israelis going to the Israeli Court system are denied any real moticum of justice du process and equal protection with the system of what the court system wants to do, so what theyve done is theyve established this military system, its its staffed by military judges, by military security people out of uniform, are not civilians, is really police out of uniform are not civilians, settlers that are carrying weapons are not civilians, settler outposts that have heavy duty weapons, its not a civilian outpost, so theres that whole definition, but clearly children, the elderly, the infirm are civilian under International Law and should not be removed, but the problem that we is not knowing who did what, when, where, why or how, with just competing narratives, but when we talk about competing narratives, theres no debate over whats going on in gaza, theres no debate whats been going on in palestine for 75, 80, 85 years even before the United Nations crafted israel, response to that. Is israel proved your case, the International Criminal court ruled in 2021 that it has jurisdiction not just over palestine because its a signatory to the rome statute. Well, i cant believe were still watching this murder take place a daily basis, what can be done to stop this genocide immediately in your perspective . The icc has enough problemable cause and has enough evidence to issue arrest warrants from netanyahu, dozen of his top advisers. That immediately. Their ability to travel, that immediately sends a message to people that want to come there to meet with them, conspire with them, that raises the accountability and the concern, because that really sends the message, okay, youre youre. You you you you are suspected criminal, there was an arrest warrant for you, were going to file it with interpol, there is some some standing for the notion that assets can be frozen, which iran is well versed in, although its been used up, not not legally against iran over the years, but as a political weapon, um, assets can be frozen, organizations, private entities that are now providing money, that are now providing weapons, that are now providing Technical Support to these the government are on notice that you are, if you continue, you may yourselves be involved in criminal wrong doing, the General Assembly can ask the icj for immediate recommendation, there is universal jurisdiction in many countries in this world, claims can be brought, theyve been started already in south africa, which which says similar to the icc to the extent that they have the power to issue arrest warrants based upon probable cause, red notices are set with interpol, in states them for example in the United States there can be an effort, there should be lobbying and political effort to impose the the arms export control lack with freeze funding and weapons for israel, there are Domestic Jurisdiction issues where if im palestinian and i have palestinian american or palestinian who happens to be in the United States right now who has family, businesses, homes etc that have been destroyed, have been executed that have been been victimized by war crime. They can attempt to bring domestic actions and domestic courts under us law, theres an issue of whats called extra territoriality, which has to do with the ability of us courts to reach out for activity and conduct overseas directed at you. Keep in mind the us has had more than few examples over the years of palestinian, including fame journalists that have been executed by israel, and the department of justice has done nothing in the united. States, so again theres that double standard, so there there is ability to move the icc to bring an advisory opinion action, the International Court of jurisdiction of justice for universal jurisdictions to file arrest warrants for netanyahu and other leaders of the military to begin to identify businesses, and we know there have been lawsuits in the United States that have gone after tax exempt organizations that provide money illegally that are tax exempt to socalled settlements and the occupied west bank in the palestinian territories, so there is a combination of actions which can be broad domestically and internationally, which can be saying to israel enough, but at this point there have been 20,000 palestinians will lost their lives, almost all of them civilians, 60 of them children, 75 of gaza is in rooms, million and a half people have have been displaced, no food, water, no electricity, no. Medical attention, who knows what viruses and illnesses and plagues are going to fall, but again this is not inadvert, this is this is determined effort, designed plan that israel has been waiting to unleash and it has. Yeah, its its absolutely unbelievable mind boggling what is taking place and how everyone is watching it, mean based on this international rulesbased community that that exists right now, do you think that this same . Community then will actually play a role in stopping this genocide . Im not waiting for the worlds community to all of sudden grow principle injustice and independence and and and to move on behalf of a targeted people, if for that you will be generations away, but i am optimistic that the combination of movement at the icc, movement at universal jurisdictions, but most important. Millions of young, largely young women and men worldwide in the streets are demonstrating the bds movement expanding israely military factories and plants that are providing information being demonstrated against civil dissobedience there, thereve been acts of of of criminal mischief as well, so i think this combination and keep in mind, im not naive, i dont believe that that that that biden or the west or. Anyone with this is is going to step in a until after israel has been able to accomplish the next step of its neverending na that its designed to do, but i think they reach and theyre not going to step in a principle or out of purpose or out of passion or out of love or out of humanity, but its its going to reach point where politically its its boomeranging back against them and thats when theyre going to step in, but meanwile the fact that. Netanyahu has been given a green light, i mean now hes invading the south, they displaced the million and a half people in the north and the center of gaza and sent them down basically to the south and now the tanks are rolling into. South and theres no defense, and theres hundreds of not thousands of Palestinian Civilians again being slaughtered every day. Um, there are variables, and im not suggesting or proposing that hisbollah or assyria or anyone else can see their involvement or expanded, but thats an issue using the old in the colloquialism, the 800 pound gorilla in the china shop, there is increasing tension and fighting going on with hesbollah in the north, syria is pushing back. Again, i suspect the west bank is going to explode, the real issue is, i think its going to come point in time, let us not forget, this is as much about netanyahu trying to save himself from a judicial process that hes under indictment, i believe in two or three cases and the trials are beginning again in netanyahus mind, as long as he can say were at war, were at war, were at war, hes safe, in the minds that. Now run the military, the industrial military complex, the security state, as long as they get to say, see what they did to us, the they, us, theyre allowed to expand, theyre allowed to justify increasing violence, expansion of socalled settlements, um, i dont how its going to play out at this point, right, but one one thing is for sure, that resolution meanwhile is thousands of palestinian lives are being lost. To the lust, the political lust, not just of israel, but the proxy masters in the west that have have have been been involved in this situation, and its not just the west, i look at i look at uae, i look at bahrain, i look at saudi arabia, i look at morocco, i look at other arab states or gulf states that have been complicit throughout, um, i look at the fact that we had to beg egypt to open raffa even periodically for goods and services to come in, and meanwile says, yes, well let raafa, rafa should be open so that we can mis displace million palestinians, egypt you deal with, push him off into the cy, lets send the better one back to the desert, so we have complicity in among certain states in the region, and then we have other states that have long supported palestine, iran is one, doha, qatar has been has been there, algeria has been there, south africa and africa and the states have been there, so. Weve got this this tension thats underway right now, and id like to be able to predict with some moticum of certainty how its going to end up, but i really cant this point. Well, stanley, id like to hear your final comments about the overall situation is very clear on whats going on in palestine. I think the World Community, especially the young women and men of the World Community, need to stay in the streets, need to demonstrate, need to engage in all sorts of activities against governments, need to. Make sure that the Political Leadership understand theres a price to pay for their blind obedient support for israely genocide. I send my love and solidarity to the palestinian people. They know they are loved, they know they have support, we will fight with them, we will work with them, we will struggle with them, we will never forget we are family. Stanley cohen, its been a pleasure having you right here on hidden files. But id like to welcome my colleague mariam asad here to hidden files, um, shes going to bring us a little bit more information about other situations taking place since october the 7th, well. I am, welcome to the hidden files team. Its a pleasure having you on board. Thank you so much, its a pleasure being part of this team. Well, id like to look at, because outside of the palestinian to territories, there are other situations taking place that has had a big effect. Tell us about that . Yes of course. So now what happened is that in bombing gaza and this committedly, the Israeli Regime didnt just destroy palestinian homes, schools and hospitals. It also destroyed the widely believed myth. That the International Law was created to defend the rights of oppressed nations and therefore theres no need for armed resistance. Now today this law has no relegitimacy and power in the eyes of millions who have seen palestinian parents pull out the bodies of their children from under the rubble in the deafining silence of the socalled international community. Its often said that one mans terrorist is anothers freedom fighter. Well, in this case, one colonialis terrorist is nations resistance fighter, and this has helped true throughout history where in. Indigenous peoples like palestinians, were invaded, using lethal weapons, stripped of their lens, using legal weapons and documents and portrayed as the perpetrators of using the weapon of media, but theres one thing, these powers cannot win without your consent, and that is the control of your mind, so next time they asked you to condemn those fighting against colonial interests, maybe let them know that you have read their history. And marzia hashimi, thanks so much for being with us on this hidden files and hope to see you right here next time. In the midst of its genocidal assault on gaza, the Israeli Regime has gone to any length to cause or widen a rift between the iranian people and their. Government, this particular task has fallen to persian language tv channels abroad and their social media platforms, but how are they doing this Media Campaign and have they succeeded so far . These and more on this edition of iran today. Israels indiscriminate strikes claim the lives of dozens of more civilians across gaza with refugee camps being the main target of the regime genocidal campaign. How about says that his fighters have destroyed 800 . 125 Israeli Military vehicles, adding that operation alaxa flood has put the Israeli Regime on the path of extinction. And unicef describes 2023 as deadliest year on record for palestinian kids in the occupied west bank where over 120 children have been killed so far this year