Cornel West slams Joe Biden’s Gaza policy: ‘Most of our politicians are cowards’ | Real Talk Online

Nathan Yahoo you know he's the Trump of Israel just like Trump is the Nathan yahu of America they're both consistent gangsters Dr Corell West is one of America's most prominent Scholars and activists he's written over a dozen books and taught at some of the country's most prestigious universities and now he's running for president as an independent and he joins us to talk Gaza Biden and the US elections Dr kernel West thank you so much for joining us on Real Talk online no thank you my dear brother appreciate the uh the coming conversation how do you define the US government's Gaza policy currently you know reminds me in many ways of Vietnam in the times of Martin Luther King Jr stokeley car Michael and Diane Nash that Gaza is a historic turning point in the American Empire very historic Turning Point you're saying that's right historic pivotal point in the history of the American Empire very much like the Algerian waren with the French Empire between 1954 and 62 very much like Su Canal V in 1956 Visa Fe the British Empire the American Empire is in the process of deep Decline and Decay and what Gaza does is rip the veil and reveal an American criminality an American hypocrisy and American immorality that's been parading as this Force for democracy and force for Freedom around the world now of course so many brothers and sisters especially in the global South have seen this before given all of the US supports of the coups we've seen in Iran we've seen it in Guatemala we've seen it in in in Grenada we've seen it in so many other places overthrowing democratic governments but the whole world now sees in real time immeasurable indes Des rable suffering of our precious Palestinian brothers and sisters with genocidal assaults with ethnic cleansing and the aparte conditions so that Israel as a satellite of the American Empire becomes the mediating Force to reveal to the world the American criminality and of course it's also Israeli criminality as well uhh but for the most part it could not proceed with without American money without American bombs without American Military Support and without American cover at the United Nations well if I bring it to what's happening on in the political climate today on the US front recently when Kamala Harris was asked if you know USA to Israel would be used as leverage she said we must conflate between the Israeli people and and the Israeli government which sends a message that you know that the US wouldn't use Aid as some sort of Leverage how do you see that well it's it's not even a question of of the aid or not just just just look at how morally bankrupt the US policy is in terms of creating a port on the one hand and you're providing billions and billions of dollars to facilitate and enable the genocide on the other why because you won't confront the right-wing Jewish Elites who are themselves making the decision to pursue the genocide but America creates a condition for that Pursuit and so Comm Harris and the others would have to acknowledge and I've I've said this on many occasions their particular policy makes them war criminals and there's no way you can attenuate your War criminality by providing humanitarian Aid no you've got to shatter the conditions for the very possibility of the genocide you don't allow a genocide and then come in with some charity no no not at all not at all it's the larger framework that needs to be examined and I tell you this my brother at a very deeper moral level because I speak also as come one coming out of the Revolutionary black Christian tradition of Martin King and Fanny L hyon the fundamental problem Washington's Imperial policies is that they really do not believe that a Palestinian life and a pal Palestinian baby has the same value as a Jewish life and a Jewish baby you don't think they see it this what happen they don't see it that way because their assumptions are so deep but I but everybody knows and the whole world knows if there were a Palestinian genocidal assault on Jews and Jewish babies were being killed at the level and intensity that Palestinian babies being killed the US government have a qualitatively different policy in fact the US government would support the Jewish version of Hamas because you know US government has a history of supporting various groups that kill innocent people when they conform with US foreign interest so you can see when there's white babies or Jewish babies we have one response when there's Palestinian babies or brown babies or black babies we have another response so there's a racist element here and that needs to be pointed out and that would be also part of a West Administration telling the truth the condition of Truth is to allow suffering to speak my brother well I I guess the obvious question here Dr West is what what would you be doing if you were in the White House in this situation oh if I was in the White House first I'd have to tell the American people in the world the truth i' had to tell the truth going back to 1970 with the BART declaration and the British Empire providing this particular land for Jewish people now Jewish people themselves have been terrorized and traumatized there's no and hated for 2,000 years there's no doubt about that that was a that was a European greed and hatred and Jews jumped out of those burning buildings of Europe and landed on the backs of Arabs and they told lies they said there was nobody there they said there was no people there that's not true there were there were th hundreds and thousands of people there and they had to choose to coexist or Dominate and they opted for Jaa tinsky and of course Nathan Yahoo's father was an assistant for jabotinsky jabotinsky said what we must Dominate and if possible annihilate these people well see that's sick that is as fascist as you can get and so the American people need to know the truth then you move to policy you say that's why we're going to end the occupations we're going to end the siege going to stop the war we're going to make sure that we do all we can to ensure that there is Palestinian dignity and equality as well as Jewish security and safety we don't want the annihilation and we don't want the massacre of any peoples no matter who they are but we are not going to sit back and somehow think that you can have a security and safety of Jews on the necks of of Palestinians there's going to be equality and dignity across the board and we're going to come together and and and and and come up with ways in which we can achieve that that's what you would hear in a West Administration and if we bring it to to Biden's recent comments Dr West I mean he said that he has a red line when it comes to Israel invading Rafa yeah in the same interview he said that he would also never leave Israel now that's contradicting or confusing at best don't you think well he's made it clear he has no red line you know he's just talking he's just talking I mean he is the candidate who has received 100 over $100 million from ape Apec is the lobby that ensures that congressmen and presidents and others will defer to Israeli policy he's been at that for decades so he doesn't really have a red line at all what he's concerned about is the election he's got myself and others coming at him directly with what with the truth with the love of people including the love of Palestinian people with what people waking up and seeing his not just hypocrisy but his criminality that's that's what I wanted to get why why did you call him a war criminal or why why do you call him a war criminal because what is taking place right now in Gaza is not just a war crime and a crime against humanity it is a crime of genocide but he would disagree with you Dr West I mean he he even just said in in in his recent interview he's he he basically refused to concede that it was a widely shared sentiment that what's happening in Israel in Gaza is genocide well I mean we we got the international court of justice that's already against him and I don't even believe it's just a matter of the court that if you see for yourself based on the definition of genocide which is the wholesale attack on the part or the whole of a group that undermines the condition of their living from Health Care to food starvation as weapon against them and so forth that is genocide and even people want to argue whether it's genocide or not it's such a Indescribable crime against humanity that even the semantic debate is a distraction and he has no deep sense of urgency no sense of of of of of of of of of emergency about it it's just a particular elect political calculation that he makes that's what upsets me about not just him all of these gen these Democrats who are enabling genocide each and every one of them from the house the Senate State House the city council if you can't meet this moral test it's clear that you have hardly any moral fiber in you as human beings now as politicians you can play the electrial game but I come from a black folk we were played the elector game for over 200 and something years in American democracy all the fashionable liberal politicians couldn't say a word about lynching they couldn't even pass a lynching bill in the history of America it began in 1901 and they finally passed it a few a few years ago that's sick my brother that's true with my indous brothers and sisters here and that's why this is the Malcolm X moment the chickens are coming home to roost for the American Empire the chickens are coming home to roost for American democracy you are going to reap what you sow sooner or later truth crushed the Earth shall rise again lies hiding crime cannot live forever this is what we're experiencing right now and you see it among the younger generation across the board black white red you see it among our Jewish brothers and sisters and if not now and Jewish voices for peace and you certainly see it among Muslims and Arabs in the United States and of course we've got our own critique of the Arab countryes not having a sense of emergency and and urgency here as well sure I'm I'm going to get to the Arab American vote in a second but I I wanted to just to get your opinion on how you've been seeing netanyahu's reactions to Biden's criticisms I mean he's been basically doubling down and rejecting any of Biden's criticisms publicly well no see Nathan yahu you know he's the Trump of Israel just like Trump is Nathan yahu of America they're both consistent gangsters you see they don't they don't they don't Pander see Nathan Yahoo is saying up front look I am going going to pursue this genocidal War period and then he's got his talking points we're going to kill all of Hamas so that 13,000 children each one of them is a shield for Hamas you see how sick that is you see how ridiculous and ludicrous that is but that's his talking point and he follows through so he's has a consistency in his criminality and his gangster activity Trump is the same way within the the bounds of the American Empire it's Biden and other who want to act like they're so concerned I mean b Biden was caught saying he that he'll have a come to Jesus meeting with Netanyahu soon and in a hot mic I don't know if you have any thoughts on that if he can't if he can't have a come to Jesus meeting after 10 innocent children are killed let alone 13,000 are killed you know that he just talking He's a hypocrite he's not honest he'll say almost anything to win vote votes well speaking of votes let's let's talk about the arab-american vote I mean Biden's approval ratings they went from 59% in 2020 to 177% in 2023 last year among amongst the Arab American community and you know obviously there's reports that he's going to face challenges in in three Battleground States Georgia Michigan Pennsylvania how do you see this play out with the arab-american vote well he's simply not going to he's not going to gain any significant a Muslim or Arab Arab American vote there's no doubt about that and no matter what he does it's too late it's too little too late there too many precious Palestinians who have been who have been not just murdered but maimed and even Palestinians who are alive you know what kind of lives are we talking about in the rubel in the ruins let's be very very honest about this so that the very notion that somehow he can do X or Y as a way of responding to an electrial constituency whose grandmothers and grandfathers and mothers of fathers are being systematically murdered see there's nothing he can do and understandably so and I think part of the problem is is that he's he's incapable it seems of really casting this in a serious moral and spiritual framework it's only tactical in regard to election and that in it of itself is an insult to anybody let alone Arabs and Muslims to view the killings of our family members as just another moment for electoral political calculation right and is this why you said Dr Wes is this why you said that the Democrats they see Muslims and Arabs in the US as interest groups that's right but that's why they're beyond Redemption but that's this is what happens when Empires begin to implode and the the willful blindnesses that they have uh render them actually contributing to their own destruction and that and that's very much where we are as an Empire the whole world sees it but on the inside and you've been to the country you see my God the level of homelessness the levels of poverty they say the economy is doing so well so well yet three individuals have wealth equivalent to 160 million people three individuals have wealth equivalent to 50% of the American citizenry and yet you got all these pundit talking about how how beautiful the economy is see that that kind of ideological cover is just as bad in some ways as the vetos of the resolutions in the United Nations when you're calling for humanitarian Aid of people undergoing genocide so you're saying the media has a role as well the media is also complient in your major role my brother a major role is supposed to be involved in truthtellah Assad as a journalist exposing the lies of the American Empire of course we haven't even got to the great mov of buul Jamal and the great atat brown or amen Jamal Abdullah Al Hamin and so forth you see so that we have to just be honest and it's very difficult to be honest because it takes bravery and courage and most of our politicians the cowards man they they're in a system of legalized bribery and normalized Corruption they they're well adjusted to an unjust status quo they don't want to tell the truth they don't want to straighten their backs up and pursue Justice and what does that mean well it means for me they are slapping Martin Luther King Jr in the face in the grave and that for me is not just sacrilegious but that is an undermining of the best of not just America it's an undermining of the best of the human spirit and and you have written so much about race relations particularly in the US uh Dr Wes I wanted to ask you about this I mean how have you been seeing Gaza play out in the African-American communities in America well it's been a very very uh sad Affair in terms of black voices being too scared and intimidated to actually call for not just a ceasefire but the INF for occupation so much of black organizations and black leaders themselves have been shaped by either Apec or being shaped by big influence by Big Money by big title that doesn't allow them to speak from the depths of their moral Souls which is another way of selling we've got sellout we've got folk who have given up in serious truthtreatments intimidated and scared and Afraid then the black Freedom Movement itself becomes weaker and if it becomes weaker is no accident that Democratic forces as a whole become weaker now there's other Democratic forces which is beautiful we talked about that for the young people the Arabs the Muslims and and so forth and there's a gender element here too I think the uh the women of different colors have been much much stronger than the men of different colors but I I'm simply here as a candidate to say that I come from a great black people who produce love Warriors in the face of hatred who produce Freedom Fighters in the face of of us terrorism of lynching and Jim Crow and Jan Crow and of wounded healers in the face of trauma and I'm going to hold up that blood stain Banner which means I'm in deep solidarity with oppressed people around the world and yes that in my precious Palestinian brothers and sisters in Gaza and and you've also been critical of African-Americans Empower so what do you make of you know current African-Americans who who hold uh public office right now I mean I think of Linda Thomas Greenfield who's become the face of the US veto in at the security um uh Council the UN Security Council but then there's also kamla Harris there's Lloyd Austin I mean what do you make of of these African-Americans holding public office right now well these Black Faces in high places are there because Black Faces in high places is that right that's exactly Black Faces in high Imperial places are there because of the struggles The Blood Sweat and Tears of everyday black people and other folk who join the black Freedom Movement now they get there and they become rationalizers and justifiers of genocide of ethnic cleansing so again it's hypocrisy they become complic with American criminality so the same thing with Obama right dropping drones on innocent people in Somalia and Pakistan and Afghanistan got seven wars going on at the same time dropping 25,000 bombs a year and walking around with a Nobel Peace Prize well you see that's just ridiculous but but then you do what happens to the legacies of Malcolm xx and Martin King and Fanny lmer and Curtis Mayfield and John C train we go on Nina Simone that tradition must be made highly visible so it's not a question of what color you are your skin pigmentation it's a question of whether you have the courage to choose Integrity honesty decency Seeking Justice and being willing to take the hitch being willing to pay the price being willing to Bear the burden but then you see how one could turn around Dr west and be like well you're critical of all these public figures but you yourself you're running to be the head of this American Empire as you as you call it you're absolutely right I'm running to be head of the American Empire in order to dismantle the American Empire in order to disinvest from military and reinvest in the satisfaction of basic social needs of Health Care and housing and safe communities uh and quality education and yes I'm also running because I think the best of America and and the best of America is still America the best of America is the black Freedom struggle e is those constitute is constituted by those Americans of all colors who have decided to oper truth justice and love and of course that's the that's the slogan of my campaign right truth condition of Truth Toth allow suffering to speak justice justice is what love looks like in public and the courage that underg gurs it the willingness to cut Against the Grain and I am an internationalist that is to say America does not have to be an Empire it must not be an Empire it must be one nation among nations so that I believe that a baby in Ethiopia in Guatemala in Singapore in New York in Gaza in Tel Aviv they all have the same values that's my egalitarian internationalist and I'm deeply committed to that and I think at at this particular historical moment as the American Empire imploded that the best of America ought to be part and parcel of the conversation of the struggle and I tell you this my brother oh we know Biden might run out out of gas and give up Trump may be on his way to jail and we win and when we win I'm not going to the White House until every citizen has a house but what about those who are saying that you know this is this is a you know Corel West you're following in the footsteps of Ralph nater you know that that you're in 2024 that you're becoming basically you could possibly be an an enabler of trump going into the White House no I would say that each candidate has to win and earn their votes 40% of Americans do not vote at all I spent a lot of time with them but do they care about politic well a lot of times they they they they either care and it's just giving up because they know how rotten the system is you know yeah and sometimes they don't because they're just too busy they're struggling trying to survive and what have you but the notion that somehow somebody can run for office especially somebody who who who they know at the moment has much lower percentage that they become the major or primary cause for the whole system right that shows again the hypocrisy of it you see if Biden can't make a case he can't make a case if Trump can't make a case he can't make a case people vote for each one of those because they think they made a case they vote for me they think I made a case right yeah each candidate has to earn their votes and of course it could be the other way around too they could be stealing from me if you're G to use those kind of terms I don't I don't speak in those terms I just think each candidate makes the case and people choose right my last question for you Dr West I mean you've been very outspoken for Gaza and for the situation on the ground but again how you you know obviously voicing support and all and calling for a Ceasar it only goes so far so how can you really say something or do something that implements change on the ground well all we can do is hit the streets all we can do is go to jail all we can do is put our bodies where our mouths are when we're not in the situation itself uh but also on a very personal level though brother we just want our precious Palestinian brothers and sisters to know that I they feel so all alone they feel feel as if the world doesn't care they feel as if they are invisible and we're out there every week to tell them You Are Not Invisible we care and love you we're concerned about you and I say that to each NE oppress group be they in Sudan I would have said the same thing to Jews in the 1930s I was saying the same thing to Black Folk every day of my life same thing the indigenous people every week you have to express yourself at that level of deep deep moral and spiritual solidarity because we I don't have the political and economic power at the moment but I can still raise my voice and that's the anthem of black people Lift Every Voice and that voice is tied to a vision and that vision is driven by a vocation and that vocation is underg by the virtue of courage and many of us rather be dead than afraid we'd rather be a corpse than a coward and on that note Dr Corell West I thank you so much for joining us on Real Talk online it's a real pleasure and I I wish you the best of luck with the campaign I truly do I salute you my brother you stay strong God bless your loved ones man thank you Dr West thank you so [Music] much

Channel: Middle East Eye

Views: 220,600

Keywords: middle east eye, mee, mee news, news, middle east eye news, Cornel West, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, Netanyahu, Trump, US elections, US Gaza elections, Kamala Harris, Linda thomas-Greenfield, Gaza security council, hostages, Israel, Israel war Gaza, war on Gaza, American Gaza policy, Martin Luther King palestine, Malcolm X palestine, gaza protests, interview, podcast, Joe Biden Gaza, Zionism, Norman finkelstein, Lex Friedman

Id: gRz5Bjv9KKM

Length: 27min 58sec (1678 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 19 2024