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Understanding Israel Palestine
This show is inspired by Citizens for Justice in the Middle East, a local group that has advocated for 20 years for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. Our program offers interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to offer multiple perspectives, and to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by headline news.
Part I (first 27 minutes). Dr. Virginia Tilley, Professor of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Carbondale was co-author with Richard Falk of a 2017 report for the United Nations that concluded the international criminal law concept of apartheid correctly applies to Israel’s policies and practices toward the Palestinian people since 1967. In this interview Dr Tilley maintains that a two-state solution would still leave Israel an apartheid state. Therefore, the two-state solution would be illegal.
Part II (final 11:30 minutes) : On June 8, 1967 Israel attacked the USS Liberty, a US non-combatant ship as it lay anchored in waters close to the Sinai Peninsula. First Israeli planes strafed the ship and then Israeli boats torpedoed the ship. Two survivors – Larry Bowen, Chief Warrant Officer 3 (CWO3) as an intelligence officer, and Phillip F Tourney, Petty Officer 3rd class at the time of the attack – recall the event for this episode. They agree with those who believe the attack was a “false flag,” operation, a collaborative plan between Israel and the US to sink the ship, kill all the US personnel on board and falsely blame Egypt to provide an excuse for the United States to attack. The combined air and sea attack killed 34 crew members (naval officers, seamen, two marines, and one civilian NSA employee), wounded 171 crew members, and severely damaged the ship. President Lyndon Johnson personally thwarted rescue efforts responding to the attack on the USS Liberty until the next day.
