Genocide in Gaza: Dimensions of an Unfolding Catastrophe, Featuring John J. Mearsheimer, In C…
Gaza in Context Project
www.PalestineInContext.org
Genocide in Gaza:
Dimensions of an Unfolding Catastrophe
Featuring John J. Mearsheimer
In Conversation with Lisa Wedeen and Bassam Haddad
In this Teach-In, John J. Mearsheimer addresses Israel’s apartheid state, the catastrophe in Gaza, regional reverberations, and the role of the Israel lobby in contemporary U.S. politics. What is unfolding in Gaza and beyond, and what might the future hold?
Featuring
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John J. Mearsheimer is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he has taught since 1982. He graduated from West Point (1970), has a PhD in political science from Cornell University (1981), and has written extensively about security issues and international politics. Among his seven books, The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (2001, 2014) won the Joseph Lepgold Book Prize and has been translated into nine languages; The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy (with Stephen M. Walt, 2007), made the New York Times bestseller list and has been translated into twenty-five languages; and The Great Delusion: Liberal Ideals and International Realities (2018), won the 2019 Best Book of the Year Award from the Valdai Discussion Conference, Moscow and has been translated into nine languages. His latest book is How States Think: The Rationality of Foreign Policy (with Sebastian Rosato, 2023). He has also written numerous articles and op-eds that have appeared in International Security, The Economist, The London Review of Books, Foreign Affairs, The Financial Times, and The New York Times. In 2003, he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 2020, he won the James Madison Award, which is given once every three years by the American Political Science Association to “an American political scientist who has made a distinguished scholarly contribution to political science.”
Bassam Haddad is Founding Director of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and Associate Professor at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011) and co-editor of A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East (Stanford University Press, 2021). Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute. He serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal and the Knowledge Production Project. He is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the acclaimed series Arabs and Terrorism. Bassam is Executive Producer of Status Podcast Channel and Director of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI). He received MESA's Jere L. Bacharach Service Award in 2017 for his service to the profession. Currently, Bassam is working on his second Syria book titled Understanding The Syrian Tragedy: Regime, Opposition, Outsiders (forthcoming, Stanford University Press).
Lisa Wedeen is the Mary R. Morton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and the College, Director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory, and Associate Faculty in Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Her publications include three books: Ambiguities of Domination: Politics, Rhetoric, and Symbols in Contemporary Syria (1999; with a new preface, 2015); Peripheral Visions: Publics, Power, and Performance in Yemen (2008); and Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment, and Mourning in Syria (2019). For this newest book, she has received four awards. Wedeen’s co-edited volume with Joseph Masco, entitled Conspiracy/Theory, was just published this month, January 2024. She is beginning work on a new book on revolutionary disappointment. Gaza in Context: Teach ins - • Gaza in Context: Teach...
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One democratic state with Jews and Palestinians.
Thank you to the three of you for this excellent conversation. As Lisa concludes, it is a depressing conversation, but necessary.
Professor John Mearsheimer is an outstanding scholar and theorist in international Politics and international relations. His argument is rooted in serious academic research and expertise.
He is also biased against the Israel.
@@dassustephen731 Everyone is. Nobody likes a thief!
@@dassustephen731provide an example where he is wrong on Israel
This is a fascinating discussion! It would be super helpful if you could link some of the reading recommendations by the speakers in the caption. It helps keep a catalogue of them.
Mearsheimer’s closing statements may be the most sobering dose of realism I’ve heard since this conflict started. Objective and non-biased facts. Israel has painted itself into a corner. Decades of refusing to compromise combined with oppressive policies and actions, now the chickens have come home to roost. When the dust settles I can’t see any scenario in which this ends well for them; or at least continuing to exist as a nation without paying a heavy, long overdue price. My sole objection to Mearsheimer is his opinion that the MIC hasn’t played a major role in US foreign policy, as he hasn’t seen the evidence to support that idea. That seems ludicrous at face value. However I’m not an expert with sourced evidence to argue his case, so it’s unfair for me to claim he’s wrong. I’d love to see someone knowledgeable on the subject bring receipts and engage in a friendly debate.
As usual, great "realist" explanations by Prof. John M. and thanks for asking excellent questions Prof. Lisa and Bassam H.
great interview/talk.
Many thanks!
Mearsheimer is always correct. Or rather, I have yet to see him be incorrect.
He was incorrect in this video.
@@fun_ghoulon what?
@@alexsheppard153 It's been 2 months, are-soul. I'm not re-watching to learn a bad faith troll. Bye, Karen.
@@fun_ghoul English please. If you accuse someone of being wrong please be prepared to state what they said that is wrong. Low bar.
@@alexsheppard153 Re-read my last reply, dunce.
Brilliant conversation with one of my favorite geopolitical thinkers!
I find Mearsheimer's dismissal of the power and influence of the MIC surprisingly shallow and superficial. Surely the power and influence of the military industrial congressional complex is inherent and integral to great power politics. There seems to be some kind of blind spot in John's thesis here. The MIC is owned and controlled by the same actors and agencies that constitute the target of the lobby. Its goals and motivations are intertwined.
Mearsheimer is at heart invested in America's continued domination of world affairs so he does have some blind spots when it comes to the many layers of influence that drive US policy.
@@basstrip73he’s a realist and he believes that power defines the international stage. He’s American so of course he wants America to dominate that stage.
The us already disregarded the ICJ in nicaragua case
If you can’t get along with your neighbors, you should return to your home of origin.
And of note, that's all the Palestinians asked of the Europeans to begin with...but they were casting pearls before swine.
Prof john nershiemer is very intelligent
Kirby has lost all credibility.
Never had any. What spox does?
I can't hear hadaad
Thank you for being on the right side of history, and to be active in creating awareness for an issue that affects not just international politics, but the moral fabric of our future generations. Freedom of speech and non-progressive liberal value system should be the pillars of our government. At the elite level, I lay my hopes on the next generations of policymakers and leaders. The question of whether Israeli nationalism can usurp strategic logic and moral considerations will be answered by our future generations.
This is your brain on Amerikkka. 🍳
13:45 projecting forward d & d exponential increase seems likely
Bassem: Your mouth needs to be closer to the mic, and you need more amplifier gain. I can barely hear you compared to Mearsheimer. 🔕
This is already recorded
@@ny5193 Not sure what your point is...
I can hear him just fine.
@@castelodeossos3947 on headphones? maybe. on ext speakers the difference is quite noticeable
@@MrAILP Yes, indeed, I use headphones.
Well, in war any side talks meanly about the opposite side I think.
Are British 'Special Forces' on the ground in Gaza?
If they were, would they tell us?
I heard everyone except hadiid
Prof John forgot that he had said just not too long ago in another interview that he didn’t believe it could be called genocide even though Craig Mokhiber, director of the New York office of the UN high commissioner for human rights, resigned in October 2023 already stated that “This is text book case of genocide”. He added that the UN is “failing” in its duty to prevent what he categorizes as genocide of Palestinian and that the US, UK and much of Europe as “wholly complicit in the horrific assault”. Isn’t John a bit too slow on the uptake?
He already stated that he has changed is mind, specially after reading the most recent reports. If you read his substack, it's all online.
A man is allowed to change his mind you know?
I guess he did change his mind. Isn’t he more focused on China/Asia situation than the Middle East like Craig?
No wonder America is hated all over the World .
The guest is too hang up in those old lobby ways…times are changing now. They are being put out in the open. Remember these jokers like to operate in secrecy. Things are gonna change.
MIGHT IS RIGHT: Israel is imitating Azerbeijan.
Mearsheimer's analysis is lacking in the usual liberal ways, being completely oblivious of class. He says instability in "the Middle East" is not in Amerikkka's interests...uh, has he ever looked at a graph of oil prices and plotted wars in West Asia? C'mon. War is good for the people who decide to engage in it, and bad for those who are engaged.
'You say that states are supposed to act in ways that are strategically smart but what you're saying in your work on the Israel lobby is that that's not true, that domestic politics is pushing the United States to act in strategically and morally foolish ways. And our response to that was, "You're exactly right"' (39:00).
@@castelodeossos3947 Now you're doing it... 🤦♀️
@@fun_ghoul Ha ha, thought it obvious that Mr Mearsheimer's saying the people responsible for foreign policy in the USA do not do what's good for the USA but what's good for certain vested interests, incl. their own.
It is not in our interests. You’re focused solely on short-term monetary interests, but overall, it is NOT serving America’s interests to be bogged down by another foreign country and their affairs, nor assisting them in gen0.cide. Saudi Arabia, who is one of the leading countries that supplies the US with oil just joined BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), which is coalition that doesn’t depend on the US dollar. Couple that with the fact that we’re pushing the surrounding Arabs States into Russia and China’s arms. Compound that with the fact that we are undermining International Law and Israel is goading the US into fighting a wider region war that could easily turn into WWIII… do I really have to go on?
@@1Deep43VA There is no such thing as "America's interest", you silly Fing child. Oufffff.
Smart man, but the fact that he is a Rump supporter is mind-blowing. So disappointing.
He was for Bernie in 2020 according to his Wikipedia
Fail to see that being a Rump supporter is in any way more disappointing than being a Biden supporter, a supporter of the chief accomplice in Israel's crimes.
Fun fact: All three candidates mentioned here are Zionists. Stop voting. Let them pretend to have popular support on a 20% turnout!
Given that Trump, Biden and Bernie are all bought and paid for by AIPAC, it makes no difference.
Mearsheimer is Trump supporter? Nope. He's openly said years before he's vote for Bernie Sanders
Mearsheimer a clown..lost his case when he cited Amnesty and other bankrupt Human rights orgs
The speakers in this video did a shoddy job. The problem with your panel is that they do not focus on the culpability of the Gazan people in financing, supporting, aiding, abetting, and providing succor to Hamas - a paramilitary organization that proved it could be an existential threat to the state of Israel. The Gazan people willingly have lived in abject poverty as Hamas administered Gaza since 2007 - 16 years - building 300+ miles of tunnels that have entrances inside/adjacent to hospitals, residences, mosques, schools, and UNRWA facilities. There is a huge question of what constitutes an innocent noncombatant. Is a child carrying ammunition and munitions for Hamas a legitimate target? Are women and children sitting around rockets in a school as human shields innocent noncombatants? A huge problem is that the Palestinians view themselves as martyrs, willingly sacrificing their lives to achieve negative press for Israel. You never identified how Israel had provided a considerable lead time for Gazans in the north to go south - but UNRWA and others did not heed the Israeli requests. Additionally, you do not point to how the IDF dropped leaflets, made phone calls, provided text messages, maintains a hotline for Human shield prevention, posted an interactive map of safety zones, and provided roof knocking. Hamas had insisted that for every instance where the IDF failed to roof knock that it would execute one of the hostages taken. Neither your panel nor the South African document talk at all about Hamas utilizing a human shield strategy. At the end of the day, Israel is a democrat country; an ally of the US; in a region of the world filled with totalitarian regimes. Israel has clearly made mistakes, but neither you nor the South African document make a strong legal case that Israel is guilty of genocide. At best, you may have an argument for “collective punishment,” but based on Hamas having fortified so much of Gaza for its military efforts, that is not a good case. However, as time progresses, Israel may be ultimately be guilty of “ethnic cleansing,” but we will have to see - it will depend on if the Palestinians are displaced from Gaza.
why not also discuss the culpability of israeli citizens in electing people openly calling for the genocide of Palestinians, self-described fascists and literal terrorists ? thought Israel is 'the only democracy' in the middle east ? why do they get a pass for every single disgusting action that they take ?
The blockade of Gaza is illegal under international law, and the territory is therefore called "occupied Palestinian territory". The same goes for the West bank, where the settlements are illegal. This occupation is also accompanied by well documented human rights violations. The powerful entity (Israel) that places these conditions on them should be the main focus of criticism, not the way the Palestinians resist these conditions. The problem you have is that you look at Gazans the way Israel looks at them. "a child carrying ammunition and munitions for Hamas", "women and children sitting around rockets in a school". It might work within certain bubbles, but the majority of the world does not see it like this. With this logic, an adversary of Israel can say that the Israeli population is supporting mass slaughter and human rights violations, and are therefore legitimate targets. There is international law and this decides what civilians are, not the Israeli narrative. Thousands of missiles hit civilian areas, killing them and destroying their infrastructure. Including unguided missiles that are meant for widespread damage. All of these missiles must have a clear explanation and target, if not then it's simply a war crime or an act of terrorism. Explanations like "hamas, human shields, terrorists" are not sufficient given the amount of damage and killing that's been done and the lack of evidence from the Israeli side. It also doesn't help their case against South Africa that comments like "we focus on damage not accuracy" come out of Israel. Your comments about Israel trying to protect civilians by warning makes little sense given the amount of missiles fired every day, amount of damage done to civilian infrastructure, and the amount of injured people in hospitals. Some people have moved multiple times but still aren't safe. Human rights organizations also criticized Israel for bombing "safe zones", bombing houses without warning, and not giving people enough time to flee (given the scale of the bombs, where in some cases entire blocks are flattened). This doesn't exactly make Israel trustworthy when they warn. They also have a history of indiscriminate bombing and ethnic cleansing in previous conflicts. So the case for genocide is quite strong.
Yeah sure wash your bloody hands
@@itzelouise8714 my hands aren't bloody Louise, I'm not complicit in a genocide ;)
You are very correct.