Palestinian Ambassador to the UK puts LBC’s Lewis Goodall on the back foot in fiery interview

On 12 May, Palestinian Ambassador to the UK Husam Zomlot got LBC’s Lewis Goodall to admit that treating events in Palestine and Israel as starting on 7 October is “narrow”.

LBC: toeing the colonialist line

Goodall stated that Hamas:

Caused the conflict that has taken place since October 7 in a narrow sense

Husam Zomlot spent the interview setting the record straight:

What created the conflict is the denial of the Palestinian very basic legitimate rights. The right to self-determination, the right to return to our properties. The right to be treated equally.

Goodall then said:

And Israel does have the right to defend itself against Hamas

The Palestinian Ambassador responded:

If self defence is what we have seen in the last seven months…

Since 7 October, Israel has killed at least 35,532 Palestinians including 14,500 children. And in January, the International Court of Justice found it “plausible” that it is committing genocide in Gaza.

But somehow genocide at the hands of an occupying power is ‘self-defence’.

The UK: blood on its hands

On LBC, Husam Zomlot also said:

When are we going to deal with the root cause… when will countries like the UK say enough is enough… It started 76 years ago, actually it started 107 years ago in this very… country with the Balfour declaration.

In 1917, the then-British foreign secretary Arthur Balfour pledged “a national home for the Jewish people” in Palestine, which Britain controlled.

Israel then established itself in 1948 through displacing and killing Palestinians in a war that it started, taking over 78% of Palestine and naming it Israel.

Zomlot continued:

The root cause is military occupation… subjugation

Since 1967, Israel has militarily occupied the rest of Palestine – Gaza and the West Bank.

It withdrew its military bases in Gaza in 2005, but maintains the occupation through a blockade by land, air, and sea. Israel restricts Palestinian access to electricity and water.

Husam Zomlot: Israel is a colonial occupier

The Palestinian Ambassador said:

This is not history, this is living experience, we live it everyday. On 6 October, Israel has already killed 360 in the West Bank… they have stolen more land in the West Bank. Hamas is not in control there. They are provoking our people in Jerusalem. They are destroying our homes… in the West Bank

Israel’s colonial expansion was rife before and after 7 October. From 2009 to May 2024, it had demolished 10,740 Palestinian structures and displaced 16,284 people in the West Bank.

In 2023 as a whole, Israel and its settlers killed at least 507 Palestinians in the West Bank. And right after 7 October, settlers entirely displaced the people of West Bank villages Al-Qanub and Wadi Al-Sik.

The conflict in Palestine and Israel did not start on 7 October. Yet LBC and the corporate media generally treats the issue as if it did. This only makes realising solutions to end the violence more difficult:

The British people, and people everywhere, get it. The root cause is colonial occupation, the solution is liberation. But you in the media don’t. Earlier today on @LBC. Link to full interview https://t.co/yBp7vKfM2K pic.twitter.com/zsAF68yevQ

— Husam Zomlot (@hzomlot) May 12, 2024

Featured image via LBC – YouTube