Hitting Left Episode #216: Talking Gaza with former Israeli AF pilot, Yonatan Shapira and Rabbi Brant Rosen
On day 140 of Israel's assault on Gaza, I interview two leading anti-war activists.
The pilots bomb as they have never bombed before, the drone operators kill by remote control in wholesale quantities never known before, the artillerymen shell more than ever, the heavy engineering-equipment operators destroy as they have never destroyed before, and even the prison guards abuse prisoners as they've never abused before – and nobody stood up. — Gideon Levy
On day 140 of Israel’s war on Gaza, the death toll had risen to 29,092, About two-thirds of them are women and children. More than 69,000 Palestinians have been wounded, overwhelming the territory’s hospitals, less than half of which are even partially functioning.
Against this background, I interview two old friends, both Jewish anti-war activists, about Israel’s assault on Gaza and how it impacts political life here in the US. Yonatan Shapira, a former Israeli Air Force pilot who refused to fly civilian-killing missions in Gaza, and Rabbi Brant Rosen, the leader of the anti-zionist Jewish Tzedek Congregation in Chicago, have both been speaking out in opposition to Israel’s occupation of Palestine, apartheid rule, and the current genocidal war on Gaza.
You can listen to the entire show here:
Hitting Left Music from Friday’s show
Where you going to run to, where you going to hide
When the people find out that you lied?
Because these are such difficult times where the world is confronting environmental calamity, new wars on many fronts, a growing threat of fascism, and an actual genocide taking place in Gaza, we must keep speaking out clearly and loudly for peace, freedom, and justice. That’s what Hitting Left, now into its 8th year at Lumpenradio, has been all about.