WEBVTT 00:00:00.620 --> 00:00:04.240 Welcome back to Diplomacy and Discourse. I'm 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:07.320 your host AR and thank you for tuning in today. 00:00:08.259 --> 00:00:11.140 Our topic is one of the most urgent, disturbing 00:00:11.140 --> 00:00:14.400 and hotly debated issues in world politics right 00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:18.260 now. Israel's advance into Gaza City and the 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:20.780 mounting accusations of genocide that are shaping 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:24.199 diplomatic and public discourse across the globe. 00:00:25.679 --> 00:00:28.559 But I don't want to just retell the headlines 00:00:28.559 --> 00:00:31.679 you've seen scrolling past you. If you're listening 00:00:31.679 --> 00:00:34.740 to this podcast, it's because you want something 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:38.799 deeper. And today, we're gonna go deeper. We're 00:00:38.799 --> 00:00:41.600 going to unpack not just what is happening, but 00:00:41.600 --> 00:00:44.939 how we can even begin to make sense of it. Because 00:00:44.939 --> 00:00:48.780 wars, sieges, and forced displacements don't 00:00:48.780 --> 00:00:52.240 exist in a vacuum. They have histories, they 00:00:52.240 --> 00:00:55.140 have frameworks, and they have consequences. 00:00:55.659 --> 00:00:58.479 And without those, we're left with rhetoric, 00:00:59.060 --> 00:01:03.159 but no understanding. So here's the journey I 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:06.040 want to take us on. First, we'll look at the 00:01:06.040 --> 00:01:09.219 immediate crisis in Gaza, what it looks like 00:01:09.219 --> 00:01:13.480 right now, how it's unfolding, and why the genocide 00:01:13.480 --> 00:01:17.060 accusation matters. Then we'll take a step back, 00:01:17.340 --> 00:01:21.560 examine the bigger concepts. Colonialism, apartheid, 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:25.950 apartheid of a special type, and genocide. Sound 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:30.069 academic? Maybe a little. But trust me, I'll 00:01:30.069 --> 00:01:32.510 translate that theory into plain talk because 00:01:32.510 --> 00:01:36.650 concepts are tools. And right now, the people 00:01:36.650 --> 00:01:41.030 of Gaza and the global community need sharp tools 00:01:41.030 --> 00:01:46.189 to cut through the fog. Finally, we'll turn toward 00:01:46.189 --> 00:01:50.150 diplomacy. What do these frameworks mean for 00:01:50.150 --> 00:01:54.030 international law? For Israel's leaders. for 00:01:54.030 --> 00:01:56.829 Palestinian communities, and for the governments 00:01:56.829 --> 00:02:00.290 outside the region, from the United States to 00:02:00.290 --> 00:02:03.609 South Africa, from the Arab League to the BRICS 00:02:03.609 --> 00:02:07.129 countries. And most importantly, what do they 00:02:07.129 --> 00:02:10.629 mean for people like you and me, who are watching 00:02:10.629 --> 00:02:15.389 and wondering, what responsibility do we carry? 00:02:17.090 --> 00:02:22.960 So let's start with Gaza itself. According to 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:25.960 international news reporting, Israeli forces 00:02:25.960 --> 00:02:28.919 continued advancing into Gaza City this week. 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:32.199 Bulldozers are flattening entire neighborhoods. 00:02:33.180 --> 00:02:37.000 Families are fleeing yet again southward, even 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:40.120 as borders stay closed and humanitarian aid is 00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:43.680 choked off. And as these things unfold, voices 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:47.560 across the world are speaking one word. Genocide. 00:02:49.699 --> 00:02:53.060 Let's pause on that. Because genocide is not 00:02:53.060 --> 00:02:56.780 a word one uses casually. In international law, 00:02:57.139 --> 00:02:59.539 genocide is the deliberate destruction of a people, 00:03:00.199 --> 00:03:03.400 by killing, by causing conditions of life designed 00:03:03.400 --> 00:03:07.740 to destroy, or by preventing births. It is one 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:10.900 of the gravest crimes that exists in our global 00:03:10.900 --> 00:03:14.259 vocabulary. When South Africa brought a genocide 00:03:14.259 --> 00:03:16.719 case against Israel to the International Court 00:03:16.719 --> 00:03:19.409 of Justice, people around the world suddenly 00:03:19.409 --> 00:03:22.610 found themselves having to ask, is this simply 00:03:22.610 --> 00:03:27.289 war, or something deeper, darker, and more systematic? 00:03:29.430 --> 00:03:32.469 The footage coming out of Gaza feels undeniable. 00:03:32.969 --> 00:03:35.930 Hospitals reduced to rubble. Children starving 00:03:35.930 --> 00:03:40.969 under blockade. Aid convoy stopped, bombed, or 00:03:40.969 --> 00:03:45.090 turned away. Displacement on a scale that feels 00:03:45.090 --> 00:03:50.840 biblical. And yet, governments are split. Some 00:03:50.840 --> 00:03:53.740 rush to Israel's defense, invoking security, 00:03:54.500 --> 00:03:57.979 while others push back, saying security cannot 00:03:57.979 --> 00:04:02.699 justify ethnic cleansing. In that split lies 00:04:02.699 --> 00:04:06.919 the heart of today's diplomacy. Do we name this 00:04:06.919 --> 00:04:10.879 what it appears to be, or do we turn away in 00:04:10.879 --> 00:04:16.810 silence? It is vital to stress that what is happening 00:04:16.810 --> 00:04:20.370 in Gaza is not simply a clash of armed groups. 00:04:21.170 --> 00:04:24.730 It is about the entire civilian population trapped 00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:28.689 with nowhere to run. This is what differentiates 00:04:28.689 --> 00:04:32.649 Gaza from many other modern wars. In most conflicts, 00:04:33.230 --> 00:04:37.110 there are escape routes across borders. In Gaza, 00:04:37.790 --> 00:04:41.250 people are walled in. The Rafah crossing into 00:04:41.250 --> 00:04:44.769 Egypt has been tightly restricted and Israel 00:04:44.769 --> 00:04:47.670 strictly controls every other entry and exit 00:04:47.670 --> 00:04:52.750 point. For Palestinians, fleeing south often 00:04:52.750 --> 00:04:56.110 means fleeing from one bomb site to another. 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:00.910 International law is clear. Sieges that deliberately 00:05:00.910 --> 00:05:04.689 create conditions unfit for life for whole populations 00:05:04.689 --> 00:05:08.389 amount to collective punishment, which is prohibited. 00:05:08.829 --> 00:05:13.110 This is why the humanitarian catastrophe is central 00:05:13.110 --> 00:05:19.110 to the genocide accusation. Diplomacy, then, 00:05:19.470 --> 00:05:23.509 faces a stark choice. To treat Gaza as a battlefield, 00:05:24.149 --> 00:05:27.269 or as a home, to two million people who possess 00:05:27.269 --> 00:05:31.569 unquestionable human rights. The way states and 00:05:31.569 --> 00:05:35.089 organizations frame the crisis is more than semantics. 00:05:35.480 --> 00:05:38.699 It determines whether aid routes are opened, 00:05:39.300 --> 00:05:42.439 whether pressure for ceasefire is applied, and 00:05:42.439 --> 00:05:45.199 whether the world tolerates the death of thousands 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:51.480 under the banner of security. To go beyond the 00:05:51.480 --> 00:05:56.079 headlines, we need frameworks. Historian Ran 00:05:56.079 --> 00:06:00.420 Greenstein reminds us why concepts matter. Concepts 00:06:00.420 --> 00:06:04.300 like colonialism, apartheid, ethnocracy, and 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:07.629 genocide aren't just abstracts. They are lenses 00:06:07.629 --> 00:06:11.149 that help us understand patterns and strategies. 00:06:12.730 --> 00:06:15.509 Colonialism tells us this about settlers and 00:06:15.509 --> 00:06:19.490 natives, about land, about the broader legacy 00:06:19.490 --> 00:06:23.550 of European expansion. Settler colonialism says 00:06:23.550 --> 00:06:26.470 it's not just about ruling over people, it's 00:06:26.470 --> 00:06:30.470 about replacing them. South Africa, Australia, 00:06:30.810 --> 00:06:34.389 the United States, all variations of that same 00:06:34.389 --> 00:06:39.410 story. Apartheid, meanwhile, offers a legal and 00:06:39.410 --> 00:06:43.170 political lens. The United Nations defines apartheid 00:06:43.170 --> 00:06:46.389 as an institutionalized regime of systematic 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:50.149 oppression and domination of one group over another. 00:06:51.250 --> 00:06:54.790 South Africa's white minority regime lived and 00:06:54.790 --> 00:06:58.110 died by it. Palestinians and countless human 00:06:58.110 --> 00:07:03.930 rights organizations argue, so does Israel. Then 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:07.689 there's genocide, the sharpest concept of all. 00:07:08.189 --> 00:07:10.610 Genocide doesn't just theorize about structures. 00:07:11.250 --> 00:07:15.149 It looks at acts in the moment. Mass killings, 00:07:15.550 --> 00:07:19.050 destruction of cultural life, expulsions designed 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:23.170 to erase a people's existence. And Gaza makes 00:07:23.170 --> 00:07:28.350 that debate unavoidable. But here's where Greenstein's 00:07:28.350 --> 00:07:32.740 work adds nuance. Israel, he suggests, isn't 00:07:32.740 --> 00:07:36.540 apartheid in the old South African form. At least 00:07:36.540 --> 00:07:41.019 not exactly. Instead, it's an apartheid of a 00:07:41.019 --> 00:07:45.339 special type. It excludes where South Africa 00:07:45.339 --> 00:07:48.819 incorporated. It seeks to punish Palestinians 00:07:48.819 --> 00:07:53.540 off land rather than exploit their labor. That 00:07:53.540 --> 00:07:57.040 difference explains why Gaza siege looks the 00:07:57.040 --> 00:08:01.199 way it does. Not integration, but exclusion. 00:08:01.709 --> 00:08:08.949 not control, but removal. Concepts matter, but 00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:13.370 they also evolve in moments of crisis. For instance, 00:08:14.089 --> 00:08:17.189 settler colonialism was once viewed exclusively 00:08:17.189 --> 00:08:21.730 as a 19th century phenomenon. Now, Gaza forces 00:08:21.730 --> 00:08:24.769 us to acknowledge that it continues here, in 00:08:24.769 --> 00:08:30.040 the 21st century, in real time. Colonialism doesn't 00:08:30.040 --> 00:08:32.799 always look like British troops landing on foreign 00:08:32.799 --> 00:08:36.179 soil. It can look like bulldozers demolishing 00:08:36.179 --> 00:08:39.480 homes and replacing them with settlements protected 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:45.980 by military law. Apartheid II is not only a memory 00:08:45.980 --> 00:08:49.820 from South Africa. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty 00:08:49.820 --> 00:08:53.620 International have already declared that Israel's 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:57.210 structures meet the definition of apartheid citing 00:08:57.210 --> 00:09:00.730 systematic discrimination in land rights, mobility, 00:09:01.450 --> 00:09:05.190 and legal systems. International criminal lawyers 00:09:05.190 --> 00:09:09.730 call these designations sticky labels. Once applied 00:09:09.730 --> 00:09:13.070 and recognized, it becomes progressively harder 00:09:13.070 --> 00:09:18.169 for states to deny reality. Gaza's war intensifies 00:09:18.169 --> 00:09:21.470 this conversation, bringing concepts that once 00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:24.570 sounded academic into people's living rooms. 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:28.480 This transformation of public discourse, from 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:32.240 theory to lived emergency, may be one of the 00:09:32.240 --> 00:09:38.519 most consequential shifts of our time. The comparison 00:09:38.519 --> 00:09:42.100 to South Africa is powerful, but it also has 00:09:42.100 --> 00:09:46.480 limits. In South Africa, apartheid finally fell 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:48.799 with a combination of grassroots resistance, 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:52.620 led especially by black workers and trade unions 00:09:52.620 --> 00:09:58.360 and global solidarity. Boycotts, sanctions, divestments. 00:09:58.700 --> 00:10:02.340 They piled up until the system collapsed. That's 00:10:02.340 --> 00:10:05.299 why the word apartheid became so politically 00:10:05.299 --> 00:10:08.639 explosive in Palestine. It carries with it a 00:10:08.639 --> 00:10:12.220 story. Not just of oppression, but of eventual 00:10:12.220 --> 00:10:17.820 victory. But Gaza reveals another layer. Palestinians 00:10:17.820 --> 00:10:21.940 are fragmented. Refugees in Lebanon, citizens 00:10:21.940 --> 00:10:25.340 under second class structure inside Israel, besieged 00:10:25.340 --> 00:10:29.080 in Gaza, occupied in the West Bank, and scattered 00:10:29.080 --> 00:10:32.600 around the globe as diaspora. Each community 00:10:32.600 --> 00:10:35.799 faces different struggles. That fragmentation 00:10:35.799 --> 00:10:39.019 is both the strength and the weakness of Palestinian 00:10:39.019 --> 00:10:42.919 resistance. It is also why the analogy of South 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:47.279 Africa only goes so far. To replicate South Africa's 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.820 success, Palestinians, divided by geography, 00:10:51.379 --> 00:10:55.080 status, even survival strategies, would need 00:10:55.080 --> 00:10:59.940 unity across borders. That's a monumental task. 00:11:02.539 --> 00:11:06.080 History, though, tells us something else. Settler 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:08.879 colonial regimes don't just collapse on their 00:11:08.879 --> 00:11:12.379 own. Pressure must come from within and from 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:17.679 outside. Which brings us back to diplomacy. History 00:11:17.679 --> 00:11:21.220 does more than teach us about the past. It offers 00:11:21.220 --> 00:11:25.360 a mirror to measure the present. South Africa's 00:11:25.360 --> 00:11:28.500 liberation struggle showed how oppressed peoples 00:11:28.500 --> 00:11:32.700 can win against enormous odds. But it also reminds 00:11:32.700 --> 00:11:36.039 us that liberation does not guarantee equality 00:11:36.039 --> 00:11:40.360 in practice. Post -apartheid South Africa still 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:44.059 faces deep inequality. That sobering truth warns 00:11:44.059 --> 00:11:47.720 us against romanticizing analogies. But it also 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:51.059 urges us to think about what comes after systems 00:11:51.059 --> 00:11:57.009 fall. For Palestinians, imagining the day after 00:11:57.009 --> 00:12:00.889 is critical. What would statehood look like? 00:12:01.429 --> 00:12:05.269 How would refugees return? How would coexistence 00:12:05.269 --> 00:12:08.389 be built on the ashes of decades of violence? 00:12:09.289 --> 00:12:12.509 These are not questions to delay. They are essential 00:12:12.509 --> 00:12:16.049 parts of the struggle itself. Because as painful 00:12:16.049 --> 00:12:19.789 as the present is, Palestinians and their allies 00:12:20.090 --> 00:12:22.970 know that future building cannot wait until the 00:12:22.970 --> 00:12:28.049 last checkpoint falls. It begins now. In discourse. 00:12:28.769 --> 00:12:32.529 In diplomacy. In the assertion that another reality 00:12:32.529 --> 00:12:37.929 is not only possible, it is necessary. This is 00:12:37.929 --> 00:12:41.289 where history speaks loudly. Without vision, 00:12:42.029 --> 00:12:46.269 liberation risks collapse. With vision, it can 00:12:46.269 --> 00:12:52.570 spark a new model for justice in the world. So 00:12:52.570 --> 00:12:55.009 what does this all mean for diplomacy today? 00:12:55.830 --> 00:12:58.190 If governments accept the genocide accusation, 00:12:58.590 --> 00:13:02.830 they must act to sanction, to embargo, to intervene 00:13:02.830 --> 00:13:05.809 diplomatically. If they accept the apartheid 00:13:05.809 --> 00:13:08.470 framing, they must acknowledge that Israel's 00:13:08.470 --> 00:13:11.230 system of governance is designed in ways that 00:13:11.230 --> 00:13:13.990 violate international law. And if they dismiss 00:13:13.990 --> 00:13:17.929 all of it, they continue business as usual. Arms 00:13:17.929 --> 00:13:25.730 sales, rhetorical concern, Quiet Complicity South 00:13:25.730 --> 00:13:28.950 Africa's ICJ, International Court of Justice 00:13:28.950 --> 00:13:32.450 case, is a remarkable example of how the Global 00:13:32.450 --> 00:13:35.809 South can leverage legal and diplomatic institutions, 00:13:36.370 --> 00:13:40.669 even when militarily weak. It is also a reminder 00:13:40.669 --> 00:13:43.929 that international justice is slow and deeply 00:13:43.929 --> 00:13:47.629 political. Yet the case itself shapes conversation. 00:13:48.210 --> 00:13:51.649 It keeps the accusation alive, and impossible 00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:57.269 to ignore. For the Arab world, this moment tests 00:13:57.269 --> 00:14:01.029 solidarity. Do Gulf states normalize relations 00:14:01.029 --> 00:14:04.889 even as Gaza burns? Or do they stand with the 00:14:04.889 --> 00:14:07.990 Palestinians? For the United States and Europe, 00:14:08.250 --> 00:14:11.909 it is a test of credibility. Can democracies 00:14:11.909 --> 00:14:15.370 uphold human rights when the violator is an ally, 00:14:15.789 --> 00:14:20.250 not an enemy? And for emerging powers, China, 00:14:20.350 --> 00:14:24.289 Russia, Brazil, India, it is a stage to shape 00:14:24.289 --> 00:14:28.250 multipolar diplomacy, casting themselves as defenders 00:14:28.250 --> 00:14:34.049 of international law. But diplomacy is not just 00:14:34.049 --> 00:14:39.129 governments. It's movements. Unions. Universities. 00:14:39.669 --> 00:14:44.830 Churches. Communities. It's you, the listener. 00:14:45.830 --> 00:14:49.049 The same grassroots campaigns that helped end 00:14:49.049 --> 00:14:52.710 apartheid in South Africa, boycotts, divestments, 00:14:53.110 --> 00:14:57.250 sanctions are re -emerging, and that raises real 00:14:57.250 --> 00:15:01.789 questions. Will states follow their people or 00:15:01.789 --> 00:15:06.769 suppress them? When we talk about diplomacy and 00:15:06.769 --> 00:15:09.610 responsibility toward Palestinians, it cannot 00:15:09.610 --> 00:15:13.210 remain abstract. This is not a time for leaders 00:15:13.210 --> 00:15:18.100 to simply express concern or call for restraint, 00:15:18.779 --> 00:15:22.080 while simultaneously arming one side of the conflict. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:26.539 Diplomacy, when it takes itself seriously, can 00:15:26.539 --> 00:15:29.580 move the needle in practical and tangible ways. 00:15:30.379 --> 00:15:33.340 The Palestinian cause is not just a regional 00:15:33.340 --> 00:15:38.039 concern. It is a test of credibility on the international 00:15:38.039 --> 00:15:44.419 system itself. So, what can be done? Let's start 00:15:44.419 --> 00:15:47.480 with multilateral action. The United Nations 00:15:47.480 --> 00:15:51.059 General Assembly has already voted overwhelmingly 00:15:51.059 --> 00:15:54.960 to affirm Palestinian rights. But without Security 00:15:54.960 --> 00:15:58.519 Council enforcement, these votes remain symbolic. 00:15:59.340 --> 00:16:02.200 Countries that recognize the urgency of Gaza's 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:06.039 crisis could be pushing much harder for accountability. 00:16:06.759 --> 00:16:09.480 They could sponsor resolutions demanding not 00:16:09.480 --> 00:16:13.419 just ceasefires but binding embargoes on weapons 00:16:13.419 --> 00:16:16.820 sales. investigations by the International Criminal 00:16:16.820 --> 00:16:20.299 Court, and mechanisms to deliver humanitarian 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:25.039 aid without Israeli control. The ICJ case filed 00:16:25.039 --> 00:16:27.980 by South Africa earlier this year showed how 00:16:27.980 --> 00:16:31.500 even a single global South nation can reframe 00:16:31.500 --> 00:16:34.879 the conversation worldwide, forcing more powerful 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:40.419 nations to respond. On the bilateral fronts, 00:16:40.960 --> 00:16:44.360 Arab League and BRICS countries could go further 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:48.139 than statements of condemnation. They could initiate 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:51.259 targeted sanctions against companies and banks 00:16:51.259 --> 00:16:53.759 directly profiting from settlement construction. 00:16:54.539 --> 00:16:57.580 They could condition trade with Israel on halting 00:16:57.580 --> 00:17:01.740 further land annexations. At the same time, they 00:17:01.740 --> 00:17:05.380 can expand humanitarian corridors, ensuring that 00:17:05.380 --> 00:17:09.200 food, fuel, and medical supplies are not only 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:12.740 pledged, but actually reach those trapped in 00:17:12.740 --> 00:17:16.200 Gaza. Collective recognition of the state of 00:17:16.200 --> 00:17:19.140 Palestine by countries that haven't yet done 00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:22.819 so would also put immense pressure on Israel 00:17:22.819 --> 00:17:28.960 and its allies. European states have options 00:17:28.960 --> 00:17:32.940 too. While some have historically followed Washington's 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:36.559 lead, countries like Ireland, Spain, Norway, 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:41.079 and Belgium are already pressing harder. By formally 00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:44.000 recognizing the Palestinian statehood, by joining 00:17:44.000 --> 00:17:46.500 or strengthening the Boycott, Divestment, and 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:50.220 Sanctions BDS movement, and by suspending arms 00:17:50.220 --> 00:17:52.839 deals with Israel, they can demonstrate that 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:57.279 values of democracy and human rights apply universally, 00:17:58.039 --> 00:18:01.259 rather than selectively. And then there's the 00:18:01.259 --> 00:18:05.019 United States. the country with unmatched leverage. 00:18:05.900 --> 00:18:09.339 If Washington chose to, it could suspend military 00:18:09.339 --> 00:18:12.859 assistance until Israel complied with international 00:18:12.859 --> 00:18:16.599 humanitarian law. It could veto less frequently 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:20.839 and instead enable resolutions calling for accountability. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:25.000 It could condition diplomatic protection at the 00:18:25.000 --> 00:18:29.779 UN on compliance. While the political cost in 00:18:29.779 --> 00:18:33.569 Washington is immense, The credibility cost of 00:18:33.569 --> 00:18:37.349 inaction abroad is even greater. A superpower 00:18:37.349 --> 00:18:40.950 that ignores international law becomes a superpower 00:18:40.950 --> 00:18:47.269 that undermines its own legacy. But diplomacy 00:18:47.269 --> 00:18:52.049 is not only about states. Civil society campaigns, 00:18:52.650 --> 00:18:56.269 human rights organizations, universities, trade 00:18:56.269 --> 00:18:59.950 unions, and religious institutions play a powerful 00:18:59.950 --> 00:19:03.910 role. From South Africa, we know that grassroots 00:19:03.910 --> 00:19:06.910 boycotts and international solidarity movements 00:19:06.910 --> 00:19:10.789 can weaken a system of oppression from the outside 00:19:10.789 --> 00:19:14.710 until it begins to crack. The choice for civil 00:19:14.710 --> 00:19:19.450 society is the same today. To remain bystanders 00:19:19.450 --> 00:19:23.390 or to exercise the quiet but powerful force of 00:19:23.390 --> 00:19:29.089 collective non -cooperation with injustice. Ultimately, 00:19:29.420 --> 00:19:33.079 Responsibility here is two -fold. Governments 00:19:33.079 --> 00:19:36.579 must act in accordance with law, and citizens 00:19:36.579 --> 00:19:41.240 must pressure them to do so. Palestinians do 00:19:41.240 --> 00:19:45.640 not need more sympathy. They need action. And 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:50.779 diplomacy that refuses to act is complicity disguised 00:19:50.779 --> 00:19:57.539 as neutrality. Here's the hard truth. What Israel 00:19:57.539 --> 00:20:00.819 is doing to Palestinians meets the definition 00:20:00.819 --> 00:20:04.740 of not just one, but several of the gravest crimes 00:20:04.740 --> 00:20:08.460 recognized in international law. Calling it genocide, 00:20:08.940 --> 00:20:12.359 apartheid, or settler colonialism is not about 00:20:12.359 --> 00:20:15.960 inflaming tensions. It's about naming reality. 00:20:18.140 --> 00:20:22.500 First, genocide. The UN Genocide Convention defines 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:32.559 it as, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious 00:20:32.559 --> 00:20:37.579 group. These acts include killings, causing serious 00:20:37.579 --> 00:20:40.920 bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting 00:20:40.920 --> 00:20:44.920 living conditions aimed at destruction, and preventing 00:20:44.920 --> 00:20:49.640 births. Gaza Today shows almost all of these. 00:20:50.140 --> 00:20:53.579 Mass killings of civilians, starvation caused 00:20:53.579 --> 00:20:57.579 by blockade, siege conditions making hospitals 00:20:57.579 --> 00:21:22.839 inoperable, Second, apartheid. Apartheid is codified 00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:26.119 in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:29.900 Court as an institutionalized regime of systematic 00:21:29.900 --> 00:21:33.220 oppression and domination by one racial group 00:21:33.220 --> 00:21:37.380 over another. Israel maintains different legal 00:21:37.380 --> 00:21:40.559 regimes in the same territory, one for Jewish 00:21:40.559 --> 00:21:44.440 citizens in settlements and another for Palestinians 00:21:44.440 --> 00:21:48.480 under occupation. Freedom of movement is restricted 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:52.319 by checkpoints and permits. Resources like water, 00:21:52.720 --> 00:21:56.500 building permits, and electricity are distributed 00:21:56.500 --> 00:22:00.819 unequally. Roads are segregated and demolitions 00:22:00.819 --> 00:22:04.880 target Palestinian homes, while settlements expand. 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:09.359 This is not mere inequality. It is institutionalized 00:22:09.359 --> 00:22:16.359 domination. That is apartheid. Third, Settler 00:22:16.359 --> 00:22:20.880 Colonialism Patrick Wolf a leading voice in settler 00:22:20.880 --> 00:22:24.819 colonial studies, spoke of the logic of elimination. 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:28.640 In settler colonial systems, native populations 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.140 are displaced so that their land can be remade 00:22:32.140 --> 00:22:37.440 for settlers. From the 1948 Nakba, to land confiscations 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.519 in the West Bank, to present calls from Israeli 00:22:40.519 --> 00:22:44.420 leaders to resettle Gaza, the project has always 00:22:44.420 --> 00:22:48.849 been about land without the people on it. Unlike 00:22:48.849 --> 00:22:52.250 classical colonial projects where natives are 00:22:52.250 --> 00:22:55.890 exploited for labor, settler colonialism wants 00:22:55.890 --> 00:22:59.730 their removal. Israel's historical insistence 00:22:59.730 --> 00:23:03.970 on both land and labor control excluding rather 00:23:03.970 --> 00:23:08.289 than integrating Palestinians is textbook settler 00:23:08.289 --> 00:23:13.970 colonialism in practice. When you place these 00:23:13.970 --> 00:23:18.359 lenses together Genocide in its lethal immediacy, 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:22.240 apartheid in its systemic oppression, and settler 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:26.299 colonialism in its long -term logic, the situation 00:23:26.299 --> 00:23:30.359 becomes stark. This is not a temporary security 00:23:30.359 --> 00:23:34.980 measure. It is not just war. It is a system rooted 00:23:34.980 --> 00:23:39.299 in ideology, practice, and law that seeks to 00:23:39.299 --> 00:23:45.880 erase Palestinian existence on their land. Naming 00:23:45.880 --> 00:23:49.640 this directly is crucial, because once you call 00:23:49.640 --> 00:23:53.319 it what it is, neutrality becomes impossible. 00:23:54.119 --> 00:23:57.839 States that continue sending weapons are complicit. 00:23:58.319 --> 00:24:02.059 Leaders who hide behind vague language expose 00:24:02.059 --> 00:24:05.920 their hypocrisy, and citizens who no but refuse 00:24:05.920 --> 00:24:11.700 to act have to reckon with silence. So let's 00:24:11.700 --> 00:24:16.670 be clear. What Palestinians face today Dispossession 00:24:16.670 --> 00:24:22.029 siege bombardment structural oppression is genocide 00:24:22.029 --> 00:24:27.390 in progress apartheid in law and practice and 00:24:27.390 --> 00:24:31.829 settler colonialism in design Diplomacy and discourse 00:24:31.829 --> 00:24:34.869 that fail to name. This are not diplomacy at 00:24:34.869 --> 00:24:39.349 all They are delay tactics cover stories and 00:24:39.349 --> 00:24:43.069 smoke screens the responsibility now For all 00:24:43.069 --> 00:24:47.769 of us is to see it, to say it, and act upon it. 00:24:50.710 --> 00:24:53.710 So as Israel's forces expand deeper into Gaza 00:24:53.710 --> 00:24:56.369 City, flattening neighborhoods under the name 00:24:56.369 --> 00:25:00.269 of security, we must confront an uncomfortable 00:25:00.269 --> 00:25:03.869 truth. Security that comes from excluding entire 00:25:03.869 --> 00:25:07.750 populations isn't stability. It's fragility. 00:25:08.250 --> 00:25:13.269 It is violence disguised as safety. The frameworks 00:25:13.269 --> 00:25:16.170 of colonialism, apartheid of a special type, 00:25:16.769 --> 00:25:20.630 genocide, they are not just words. They are mirrors, 00:25:21.230 --> 00:25:24.430 tools we use to understand. And when we use them 00:25:24.430 --> 00:25:28.009 honestly, they strip away excuses and narratives 00:25:28.009 --> 00:25:33.130 and reveals the system for what it is. The people 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:36.529 of Gaza are suffering in real time. But those 00:25:36.529 --> 00:25:40.930 of us outside Gaza hold choices too. Will we 00:25:40.930 --> 00:25:43.890 treat this as just another war? Something we 00:25:43.890 --> 00:25:48.549 can unplug from? Or will we see it as part of 00:25:48.549 --> 00:25:52.250 a global struggle against domination? Where law, 00:25:52.630 --> 00:25:56.710 theory, and diplomacy align with basic human 00:25:56.710 --> 00:26:01.809 dignity? That's the challenge. That's the discourse. 00:26:02.769 --> 00:26:06.730 And that is the work of diplomacy. Not as a game 00:26:06.730 --> 00:26:10.660 of nation -states. but as practice of solidarity, 00:26:11.279 --> 00:26:15.940 imagination, and responsibility. I'm AR, and 00:26:15.940 --> 00:26:18.599 this has been Diplomacy in Discourse. Thank you 00:26:18.599 --> 00:26:21.539 for listening, stay thoughtful, stay engaged, 00:26:22.079 --> 00:26:23.220 and I'll see you next time.