Transcript [00:00] Hey everyone, strange headline. Strange [00:03] strange headline today. You may have [00:06] seen this news, uh but here's what it [00:08] says. [00:10] Check this out. British activists, here [00:13] let me make this bigger for you. [00:15] This is British activists attempt to set [00:18] up a statue of terrorist Marwan [00:21] Barghouti in Parliament Square. [00:23] Supporters of Marwan Barghouti, [00:25] imprisoned for his role in deadly second [00:27] intifada attacks, sought to place his [00:30] likeness among Britain's historic [00:32] leaders in a symbolic London protest. [00:35] Activists attempted to erect a statue of [00:37] convicted Palestinian terrorist Marwan [00:40] Barghouti in London's Parliament Square [00:43] on Wednesday, according to a group [00:45] campaigning for his release from an [00:47] Israeli prison. The statue of the former [00:49] leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades [00:52] during the second intifada, who was [00:54] convicted on five counts of murder for [00:56] involvement in terrorist attacks, was [00:59] brought to Parliament Square but was [01:00] intercepted by police. Officers remained [01:03] at the site until the Barghouti statue [01:06] was removed by the activists. [01:09] The Free Marwan Now campaign said one [01:11] said one day a statue of Barghouti would [01:14] stand in the square alongside other [01:16] bronze statues of figures such as Oliver [01:18] Cromwell, Benjamin Disraeli, and Nelson [01:22] Mandela. [01:24] Quote, Marwan will take his rightful [01:26] place alongside other civil rights [01:28] leaders. The activist campaign said in [01:31] an Instagram post shared in [01:33] collaboration with climate activist [01:35] Greta Thunberg and actors Mark Ruffalo [01:38] and Liam Cunningham. [01:40] The campaign denied that Barghouti, who [01:42] was imprisoned in 2004, had committed [01:44] the crimes for which for which he was [01:46] accused and compared him to Mandela. [01:49] Quote, Nelson Mandela was once [01:50] politically isolated and labeled a [01:52] terrorist before being recognized as a [01:54] global symbol of freedom and justice, [01:56] said the campaign. Marwan Barghouti [01:59] faces a similar fate. Now, here's a [02:02] little video [02:03] um [snorts] [02:04] a video short of them of this event that [02:06] took place. Take a look at this. [02:10] This is uh [02:12] the activists coming in. [02:14] They're holding the statue. [02:17] It's a statue of Barghouti holding his [02:19] hands up. This is sort of classic pose [02:21] of his holding up the victory sign. [02:22] That's not a sign of peace in the Middle [02:24] East. That is a sign for victory. [02:28] So, they're putting it up and along come [02:30] the cops [02:32] and [02:34] scuttle the whole thing. [02:36] Yeah. Al Jazeera [02:39] happily posted that. [02:42] Um [02:44] Okay. So, let me talk about this. [02:48] People pushing for the statue, the [02:49] people pushing for Barghouti's release [02:52] from prison [02:54] are counting on the fact that you don't [02:55] really know who he is. [02:57] Cuz this way, you know, the Palestinian [02:59] cause, which is this big cause celebré [03:00] of the left, has to have freedom [03:02] fighters and names associated with it. [03:04] So, who's Barghouti? [03:05] So, Marwan Barghouti was born in 1959 in [03:09] the village of Kobar, which is in what's [03:12] called the West Bank. It's Judea and [03:14] Samaria. He rose to prominence as a [03:17] youth activist during the First [03:19] Intifada, which started in the late [03:21] '80s. [03:22] And then in 1996, he was elected to the [03:25] Palestinian Legislative Council, which [03:27] was just after Oslo and they brought in [03:29] the new Palestinian Authority. He was [03:30] elected to that council. And at the [03:32] time, [03:33] some people thought that he might be [03:34] some sort of bridge builder, [03:36] uh but that didn't last very long [03:37] because Marwan Barghouti was the head of [03:39] Tanzim, which is the militant wing of [03:42] Fatah. Fatah is Yasser Arafat's faction. [03:46] And the militant wing is Tanzim, and he [03:49] was the founder of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' [03:53] Think of it, the name, the Martyrs [03:54] Brigades. If those names don't ring a [03:56] bell, let me be specific about what they [03:58] did. They did suicide bombings, shooting [04:01] attacks on civilians, right? Blowing up [04:04] restaurants and buses. [04:06] Mass murder. This was during the second [04:08] intifada from 2000 to about 2005, when [04:11] over a thousand Israelis were killed. [04:13] Israeli security officials called [04:15] Barghouti the chief of staff of the [04:17] intifada. [04:19] Okay? That's That's who this guy is. In [04:21] 2004, Barghouti was convicted by the Tel [04:24] Aviv District Court of murder and [04:27] terrorism. Five counts of murder. Five [04:29] people whose deaths were [04:32] traced directly to him. [04:34] Um the court found, and I want you to [04:36] hear this, that he, quote, "Instigated [04:38] and incentivized his men to continue [04:41] carrying out deadly terrorist attacks." [04:44] And that he provided planners and [04:46] perpetrators with funding and weapons. [04:48] He was sentenced to five life sentences, [04:50] plus 40 years. Now, here's something [04:52] important to understand about this. [04:55] During the trial, Barghouti refused to [04:58] mount a defense. [05:00] He just rejected the jurisdiction of the [05:02] court entirely. His supporters pointed [05:04] to this as evidence that the whole thing [05:06] was political, that he was railroaded. [05:07] But think about that. If you're innocent [05:09] and you're on trial for murder, why [05:10] don't you just [05:13] show your defense? Barghouti refused. [05:17] It was a political statement, right? He [05:18] was acquitted on 33 other murder [05:21] charges, not because the accusations [05:22] were unfounded, but because the evidence [05:24] wasn't sufficient for a conviction under [05:26] Israeli legal standards, which are very [05:29] strict. [05:30] Meaning they're very, uh, limiting. [05:33] He was convicted on five murder counts. [05:35] Okay, one of those victims, for example, [05:37] was Yoela Chen, who was murdered in [05:38] Jerusalem in 2002. [05:40] She was a a woman with a family. [05:44] Now, [05:45] they In the article there that I read [05:47] you, they compare him to Nelson Mandela. [05:50] Let's talk about that comparison. [05:52] Mandela and Barghouti, that's and and in [05:54] the campaign to free Barghouti, they [05:56] they compare him to Mandela all the time [05:57] as a freedom fighter. Two freedom [05:59] fighters, right? Two political [06:00] prisoners. [06:02] Uh [06:03] the comparison is historically [06:04] illiterate. I want to explain why. [06:06] Nelson Mandela was convicted of [06:08] sabotage, [06:09] of blowing up infrastructure, power [06:12] stations, government buildings. And he [06:14] took deliberate precautions to avoid [06:17] killing people. [06:18] You can debate the tactics all you want, [06:20] and you can like Mandela or not like [06:22] Mandela. And I'm not a fan, [06:25] but Mandela's program was not directed [06:27] at murdering civilians. [06:30] Okay, he was convicted of sabotage of [06:33] buildings and infrastructure. Barghouti [06:35] was convicted of directing attacks in [06:37] which civilians were murdered at [06:39] restaurants, on streets, [06:42] normal people going about their lives. [06:44] These are not the same thing. They're [06:45] not even close. And more than 200 [06:48] celebrities, Sting, Paul Simon, Ian [06:51] McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Margaret [06:53] Atwood, they've all signed a letter [06:56] calling for this guy's release, [06:57] comparing him to Mandela. [07:00] Now, I want to say this charitably. They [07:01] don't know what they're talking about. [07:04] They've been handed a narrative and [07:05] they're running with it. That's how this [07:06] works. Now, but here's the thing I want [07:08] you to understand about this campaign [07:09] that actually matters. [07:11] The people trying to put a statue of [07:12] Marwan Barghouti like on par with like, [07:14] you know, these other, you know, [07:16] Cromwell and you know, Winston [07:17] Churchill, [07:19] they're making an argument here. [07:21] And the argument is that Palestinian [07:23] violence against Israeli civilians is [07:25] not terrorism. [07:28] That's really what they're saying. [07:30] Barghouti never denied the charges [07:32] against him. [07:35] Anyone Israel convicts of directing that [07:37] violence [07:40] is simply being put in prison for [07:43] murder. He was found He was found guilty [07:45] of five counts of murder where the [07:46] murder was directly [07:49] traced to his [07:50] that he ordered the murders that he he [07:52] took part in them. [07:55] That's why he's in prison. [07:57] Oh, but now he's a political prisoner, [07:59] right? [08:00] So, [08:03] the whole Barghouti case is their way of [08:05] of they want to turn him into a Mandela [08:07] figure. They want to turn him into They [08:09] want to say that what he's doing is [08:11] actually legitimate. It's resistance. [08:13] It's freedom fighting. [08:16] If Barghouti's Mandela, then the victims [08:18] of that that of the attacks that he [08:20] directed, [08:22] Yoel Alharar and the other four people, [08:24] weren't victims, right? They were [08:25] acceptable losses in the struggle for [08:27] Palestinian freedom. [08:32] Right? That's what this campaign is [08:33] saying. Now, I'm not saying Marwan [08:34] Barghouti can never ever be released. [08:36] I'd be happy if he was never released, [08:38] but whatever. I mean, he's got a [08:39] sentence. Since he's going to serve his [08:40] sentence, if he's alive at the end of [08:42] it, he'll be released. Or he might come [08:44] out in some prisoner exchange. [08:47] Israel's done prisoner exchanges before. [08:49] They frequently get asked for Barghouti [08:51] and they say no. That's a political [08:53] calculation. I'm not saying I'm not [08:55] making a judgment on that. [08:58] But if you call him a freedom fighter [09:00] and you compare him to Mandela, [09:02] and you want to put a statue of him in [09:04] Parliament Square, [09:06] you're saying something you like this is [09:11] These symbols have meaning in British [09:12] culture, [09:14] right? That's [09:16] erasure of his victims and whitewashing [09:18] these crimes, and it's a statement that [09:20] this is what we hold up as a moral [09:23] ethical icon. [09:27] Anyway, kudos to the cops for stopping [09:30] this. I just thought that this was a a [09:31] strange little story, and it was and [09:34] this campaign is out there, so I figured [09:35] it would be worth spending a few minutes [09:38] just telling you about it. This is a [09:39] much shorter video than usual, a little [09:41] bit of a strange headline. [09:43] Um that'll be it for me for the week. I [09:45] hope you have a good weekend, and uh [09:47] God bless you. See you all next week.
