31 Comments
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Sean Breathnach's avatar

Marwan Barghouti led street protests and diplomatic initiatives until 2002, the early Second Intifada, when he was captured, convicted, and imprisoned by Israel on charges of involvement in deadly attacks that resulted in the deaths of five people.

Barghouti declined to recognise the legitimacy of the court or enter a plea, but stated that he had no connection to the incidents for which he was convicted. 

An Inter-Parliamentary Union report found that Barghouti was not given a fair trial and questioned the quality of the evidence.

And twenty three years later, he has suffered every indignity under the Sun in Israeli prisons.

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Sean Breathnach's avatar

Just curious......why are you always on the side of the dispossessed, why are you always advocating for equality and human rights for all, why do you support the principle of universal justice? Asking for a friend.

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Genie Silver's avatar

Thank you so much, Peter, for having Arab Barghouti on, he’s a wonderful young man.

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Alan Levin's avatar

Where is the Palestinian Mandela? What do the people like the one who wrote the previous comments need? My heart breaks to hear this son's words. Thank you, Peter.

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Sigve Tonstad's avatar

Thank you for doing this interview.

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Lynn's avatar

Thank you for this important interview.

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Amy Bat Tzipora's avatar

Grateful for this interview today

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Just curious.....why do you have 62% of your interviews/programs with Pro-Palestinans/"anti-Zionists" (over the past 21 programs/events)?

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dboing dboing's avatar

perhaps compensating for the MSM being captured, industrially.

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Roy Mash's avatar

Aside from your complaint that Mr. Beinart is in violation of some sort of fairness doctrine with respect to equal time for pro/anti Palestinians/Zionists, do you have any evidence that anything that Arab Barghouti said was untrue?

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Mr. Beinart professes to be a journalist...I understood that Journalism is FACT Based; not opinion based.

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Hmmm, just the fact that after its Bloodfest, Hamas wants Barghouti released, is all one needs to know...

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Bernie's avatar

" I imagine that one of the reasons people cling so stubbornly to their hates, is they sense that once the hate is gone they will have to deal with the pain" - James Baldwin

Could James Baldwin be speaking of you, Mr Goldstein?

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Nope....facts are inconvenient, aren't they. Do I hate, no! I am old enough and have lived and felt all that I comment. Sadly, the adage that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it, generation after generation.

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Bernie's avatar

You are so very correct, Mr Goldstein. We must learn from histoty. The world needs to stop appeasing Israel like it did Nazi Germany. In both cases appeasement just leads to genocide.

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Appease? Really?!! 1200 people are butchered, 250 kidnapped and Israel is supposed to do what? Wait for the ICC, ICJ & UN? But, oh yes, Israel is still waiting....Guess its still open season on Jews.

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peter2's avatar

In a hopeful sign, a few days ago, the PBS News Hour devoted 8 minutes to an interview with Arab Barghouthi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIQ2AVKjEmQ

The reporter, Leila Molana-Allen, began by calling this "a rare interview". "A rare interview"? That's the language that reporters use when they want you to know that they've succeeded in snagging an interview with someone who rarely *chooses* to give interviews. But you just have to search for Arab Barghouthi's name on YouTube to see that he's given quite a few interviews, to diverse outlets. The PBS News Hour's interview with him was "rare" in the sense that outlets like PBS rarely choose to interview people like him.

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Zee's avatar

Thank you for this interview Peter, most insightful.

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Sami Jamil Jadallah's avatar

To confirm that these American Jewish Settlers are no way link to the ancient Hebrew tribes of Palestine but are of Khazar origin they have no appreciation for what the Olive Tree represent to the original people of the land. That is why over the last few weeks over 158 attacks took place by these American Jewish Settlers against Palestinian villages harvesting the Olive trees. Keep in mind the Palestinian Authority ( PLO/Fatah/PA with 80,000 well equiped security forces did not make a single attempt to prevent these attacks. Rather than protecting the people they go into hiding until they get permission from an 18 years IDF soldier to give them permission.

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Sami Jamil Jadallah's avatar

As a Palestinian who has been following the case of Marwan Barghouti during the tenure of Yasser Arafat, for sure Marwan represented a clear and present danger to the corrupt reckless, failed if not treasonable leaders of Arafat. I believe Arafat and his Preventive Security helped with his arrest by the Israeli. His trial was a sham, Israelis are notorious for submitting allegations as proofs in military court. Abbas for sure is against Marwan release for same reasons of Arafat. What is disturbing is the claims in the media that Arab has joined the PLO/Fatah/PA as highly paid officials within the corrupt Abbas Den of Thieves.

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

I am curious....if there is a significant opposition to the PA/PLO etc leadership, as your note implies, why has that government not been toppled? Perhaps, just perhaps, the people consider it more important to continue to murder Jews than have responsible government.

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Sean Breathnach's avatar

Why has the government that has slaughtered 20,000 children in Gaza not been toppled?

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

Because it is a democracy; fighting a war imposed on it. Just like the allies during WW2....how many people were slaughtered in Dresden and Hiroshima/Nagasaki?

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Sean Breathnach's avatar

When the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024 ruled that South Africa’s claims that Israel is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention were sufficiently plausible to justify a full hearing of the case, Israel and its apologists responded as they always do when criticism is levelled at the genocidal apartheid state: condemn the accuser, scream blood libel, work themselves into a frenzy about anti-Semitism, and play the aggrieved victim.

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Israel Goldstein's avatar

That is a very loud and definite MAYBE; Repeat MAYBE..not actual, not factual not proven by any evidence...oh, yes South Africa keeps stalling to find the EVIDENCE....but regardless, you and your fellow travelers spin a MAYBE into FACT...yes that is anti-semitism.

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Bernie's avatar

And what Mr Goldstein should do about the tens of thousands slaughtered since October 7th? How should they react to the tens of thousands wounded, left with amputations, the children left orphaned? How should they react to their love ones like Marwan Barghouti that are tortured and starved in Israeli prisons?

And how, Mr. Goldstein, do you think this madness will one day end?

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Judith k thierry's avatar

Thank you for your voice. Thank you for honoring your mom and dad as you have

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Ran Kohn's avatar

I sure wish Professor Beinart had stayed long enough and asked Arab what he meant by not believing in a two-state solution. After all, he is the next generation. I would have also liked to hear more about his father’s vision.

Again, it strikes me that I heard multiple conflicting ideas, not to mention the differences between him and his father.

This interview brings up, and I keep hearing about torture in Israeli jails. I believe the consistency of these claims from various sources indicates it's a serious issue. Someone needs to inform those in charge of the system about how damaging this is to Israel and how it achieves nothing but harm all around.

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peter2's avatar

Nothing has been more damaging to Israel, or harmful all around, than its government's consistent refusal to honor this commitment stated in its declaration of independence: "The state of Israel will promote the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; will be based on precepts of liberty, justice and peace taught by the Hebrew prophets; will uphold the full social and political equality of all its citizens without distinction of race, creed or sex; will guarantee full freedom of conscience, worship, education and culture; will safeguard the sanctity and inviolability of shrines and holy places of all religions; and will dedicate itself to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations."

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Ran Kohn's avatar

Hi Peter2,

If this were the 1950s or 1960s, you would be correct in saying that Arabs in Israel were often viewed as a fifth column that needed to be monitored. However, after the 1967 war, the military rule that had governed Israel's Arab population was lifted. Since then, the Arab community in Israel has made significant progress.

This is true especially in the 21st century. Here is some data for you to ponder over:

• Over 40% of Haifa University’s students are Palestinian Israeli Arabs.

• Israel’s Technion, one of the top technical universities in the world, has a 20% Palestinian student body.

• 25% of Israel’s physicians are of Palestinian origin, trained in Israel.

• And of course, they are represented in the Knesset (Israel’s parliament).

• Recently, the Chairman of Israel’s largest bank was a Palestinian.

• Almost 10 years ago, a judge sent a former Israeli president to jail, and no one raised an eyebrow that he was a Palestinian Arab.

As a member of a minority in the U.S., I understand that minorities, by definition, represent a smaller portion of the population and do not enjoy the same comfort as the majority. However, the notion that the Arab population in Israel is unable to attain the same level of success as Jewish Israelis, or reach the highest positions in society, is outdated and no longer true.

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