she was an american christian journalist
but for her loved ones it was time to
say a final goodbye
at her christian funeral mass eulogies
the assaults were so bad you can see the
images of what they're beating the pole
bearers they're beating them and beating
them and beating them
[Applause]
and even the pool bearers had to retreat
[Applause]
as police kicked and beat them with
batons
my next guest
miko pillett is an author writer speaker
and human rights activist
he is considered by many to be one of
the clearest israeli jewish voices
calling for justice in palestine
if i remember correctly he can correct
me if i'm wrong his father was a general
in the israeli army and his grandfather
was one of the originals who helped
create israel and don't mess with mikko
because he's also
a karate black belt my friend miko
welcome to the show
thank you good to be with you again how
are you good all right did i good thank
you for uh accepting an invitation again
did i uh get everything right there did
you got all right absolutely all of you
told me uh tell us um how have you been
this is the last time we had you on
well been busy um i've been to palestine
several times over the last few months
um
i was there last year during ramadan
during the uprising took place last may
i was there just now at the end of
ramadan i was there a couple of times
uh between those two trips um
and i've been reporting you know writing
and speaking and posting on my podcast
the situation is severe
as severe as as more severe than anybody
could possibly imagine
assaults on palestinians in their homes
assaults on palestinians in the street
assaults on al-aqsa as i'm sure
your viewers have seen the the assaults
and acts of particularly during ramadan
were severe
um the murder of a journalist in broad
daylight chilean barclay
was shot in the head covering an arrest
raid by israel's army
reporters on the scene say the gunfire
came from the soldiers
and then the assault on her
funeral procession oh my god
let the baby through
come on
these are things that have uh we you
know it's in a way it's um
we've seen a lot of violence by israel
all along i mean for decades but um
so that's kind of what's been going on
so we want to get the facts on the
ground you're somebody who's an academic
in this area a scholar in this area who
really knows the facts has a lot of
history
concerning this so we want to make sure
we're talking to the right people and
you're the right person for the job so
you mention a reporter that's what we
wanted to because i was all over the
news over here also so if you can please
fill us in give us some more details
regarding was this also she was an
american christian journalist
but for her loved ones it was time to
say a final goodbye
at her christian funeral mass eulogies
and she was what we come to know she was
wearing a
a vest with the big letters press on it
so like they wear those jackets so you
can clearly see press and only like a
blind person would be able to see this
so we hear she was pretty much
eliminated or taken out being shot in
the face or in the head
uh tell us more about this you mentioned
it can you tell us about what happened
why it happened
well sheena bakla is a household name in
palestine she's been reporting from
jazeera
for 20 years or more wow
so she's well known well respected well
loved and she was in janine or near
janine in the west bank
reporting on an uh an impending israeli
raid on the refugee camp
and um
according to witnesses who were there we
arrived and within seconds there was the
first shot i told them that we are being
targeted we are being shot at i turned
and found shireen on the ground i found
shartha shielding herself by a tree and
screaming i turned and found shireen on
the ground in the first few seconds
there was no exchange of fire at the
time
and she was shot in the spot right
between the vest the bulletproof vest
and the helmet
now
let's tell the several things number one
it had to be a sharpshooter you had to
be a sniper to get such an accurate shot
um it had to have been
okayed by the highest levels of of the
defense
um
apparatus if not the prime minister
himself
you don't take out a reporter that well
known
in such conditions without getting an
okay from as you know very high up
and so it was elimination it was an
assassination even cnn right now says
that it was um
it was a targeted killing and for cnn
that's a you know that means
even cnn is saying what you're saying
yeah and then um they said it was a
targeted killing and um and like you
said she was i mean she was half she she
wasn't she in america she was
palestinian but she was a palestinian
american she had american citizenship
um
and uh
she was she was uh
she wasn't muslim she was christian
that i don't know i mean i don't know
what religion was but she was a
palestinian and that's why she was
killed she was a palestinian journalist
a great influence like i said well well
respected she's been around for a very
long time she was well known there's no
there was no mistake here it wasn't like
some soldier just you know picked up a
gun and shot this had to have been
uh premeditated and and approved by the
highest levels of of the defense uh
apparatus
and um you know the world goes on as
well nothing happened and then and then
during her funeral procession because
she was so popular because she was so
well-loved and and respected
thousands and thousands came out to uh
you know to walk with her to her final
resting place and the israeli police
went crazy attacking the polders
attacking the the procession
israeli police have attacked mourners
and pallbearers at the funeral of the
palestinian american journalist shireen
abu aklay
the violence broke out as shireen abu
akla's coffin was taken out from a
hospital in east jerusalem
her coffin jostled and almost pulled to
the ground as israeli police and
palestinians clashed
fifty-one-year-old shireen abu aklar was
a revered palestinian-american
journalist and you know this is
is all horrifying but the fact that they
do this in broad daylight the fact they
do this in front of the cameras the fact
that they know that everybody's going to
talk about it
and they don't care
means they feel like you know
there will be no consequences there will
be no
no response and it's a large degree
they're right
wow that was uh my next question was it
true that we're seeing some images here
now
of the
what seem to be the israeli forces that
is it true that they even attacked
this american christian journalist's
funeral yeah so you mentioned that so
yeah they assaulted it they almost i
don't know if they did or they almost
dropped the coffin it was the assault
were so bad i mean you can see the
images of the with they're beating the
pole bears they're beating them and
beating them and beating them
[Applause]
and even the pool bearers had to retreat
[Applause]
as police kicked and beat them with
batons
and the coffin slips to the ground
[Applause]
and uh this is in jerusalem and the the
israeli police particularly in jerusalem
are particularly violent
and particularly brutal and you see this
quite often actually i've seen it many
times in protests and
you know where palestinians are being
brutally beaten um by the by the police
in jerusalem particularly i'm talking
about palestinians of course
and um
they're heavily armed the police are
heavily armed they're heavily protected
as though they're about to face an army
which of course is nonsense
and uh they um
they just
brutally brutally beat those uh the
funeral procession it's uh
you know like i said we see this a lot
in palestine we see a lot of you know
funerals that become protests people
that are thousands that come up come out
when young palestinians are killed this
particular assassination really touched
the cord with a lot of people
and again
even though she was such a high-profile
person and well known
they killed her and then they did what
they did during the funeral
this is very very this is very troubling
the reason i mention her religion is
because obviously you know some people
just turned a blind eye when it's me all
those those muslims and then you know
uh being looked at like less human and
whatnot and
now in this particular case because you
also have some
zionist christians and people who are
ignorant to really what's going on who
support
this so now i'm wondering
what would they have to say as this is
uh also a christian now not a muslim and
you also have many when you say
palestinians
christian and muslim palestinians
they're live together don't they in in
peace and they're also there's no less
discrimination for the other or the it's
kind of equal across the board is it
yeah look the the the
i've had this conversation with the you
know the christian right with eventual
evangelicals here in the united states
their response is that the palestinian
christians are not real christians oh
that the christians in nazareth and the
christians in bethlehem the christians
throughout palestine who have been
living there you know since in the land
of jesus
in the land of jesus are not real
christians so that's one explanation
that they give what are you what is it
yeah you know it's absurd i mean i've
seen them in nazareth handing out flyers
trying to proselytize palestinian
christians coming out of church
it's that absurd
but as to your point you know
palestinian christians palestinian
muslims as far as palestinians are
concerned this is a minor question i
mean palestinians are palestinians and
people live together
in the same cities in the same towns and
the same neighborhoods work together
it's not it's completely not an issue
and actually before the state of israel
was established and zionism you know
showed its ugly face
they were palestinian jews too and they
all live fine i mean there's stories
about how
you know the palestinian jews would uh
you know be you know
help the the muslims during ramadan and
the palestinian muslims would help the
jews during their day of prayers and
things like that there was complete
collapse
very positive cooperation in heb cities
historic cities like hebron and
and jerusalem and other cities
so i mean this is the whole new thing of
of the zionist jews who have taken over
palestine and completely destroyed the
good relations that existed there
between the different fates
um this is historically relatively new
it's since the state of israel was
established in 75 years before that the
religions palestine was a land of
tolerance religious tolerance
historically
it's only recently that zionism has
turned it into this war zone
uh but yeah i think it's important
you're right to mention the fact that
palestinian christians are killed
just as palestinian muslims just as any
palestinians
i mean and even if you at the end of the
day you agree there's like a noble thing
that even when you're fighting against
what you consider your enemy i mean this
is a funeral for crying out loud you
know can the
can we get some kind of respect you know
for the
for the uh dead person the person who's
dead you know it does it's just really
it just reminds me of there was um you
know we mentioned you heard this term
hadith before correct hadith
hadith regarding prophet muhammad who
there was a procession
of a jewish procession he stood up
and then the his companion said this is
uh this is not a this is a jewish person
he said is that not a soul right
so this is the respect you know to the
to the human soul that and this person
uh was um tragically
uh
life was taken away shot in the face or
head wherever and then to be doing this
at a funeral i mean what's the world
what's the greater community the
international community the u.n
the what are they saying the
international community regarding this
well you know typically uh again because
she was high-profile journalist then
there have been a few calls for an
investigation there was a call for the
fbi to get involved
uh but then the secretary of state
lincoln said that he's he he trusts the
israelis who do a good job in
investigating and
the israeli army did preliminary
investigation and they came to a
conclusion that there was no wrongdoing
and therefore there's no need for an
investigation beyond that
so that's where things stand right now
now cnn just broke saying that they all
the evidence points the fact that it was
a targeted killing
and now
you know the fbi can't go and
investigate if the israeli authorities
don't cooperate don't allow them to they
need permission from the israelis to
enter they need permission from israelis
to travel they need permission from the
israelis and the israelis are the
culprits
so the likelihood of them giving
permission and cooperating
um is very small and uh and of course
now there was this terrible tragic uh um
massacre here in the united states and
texas so people are are are now
distracted by that
so i don't think there's going to be any
consequences for the state of israel and
the sniper who shot and the officer who
gave him the order and the officer gave
him the order and the whoever was in the
defense ministry maybe even the prime
minister's office who gave the okay or
even gave the order to kill her knew
very well
that there will be no consequences
that they can go ahead and do this
you know social media
we'll we'll talk about it maybe some of
the newscasts will talk about it but
it'll blow over
and the concern is and this is something
that you've probably heard too you know
there are comparisons between palestine
and ukraine
you know ukrainians stand up and fight
against the russians they're heroes
everywhere you go you see ukrainian
flags
what about the palestinians palestinians
fighting against apartheid fighting
against injustice fighting against the
killing of their people fighting against
home demolitions fighting for their
lives and for their children
and what do we call them here
they call them terrorists
so this is one of these cases where you
can assume if this was the russian uh
soldier killing a ukrainian journalist
would have happened
as opposed to the case of a palestinian
which um
there seems to be uh not a lot of people
talking or caring about it not enough
anyway
what are your thoughts that you since
you bring up ukraine and russia now
where that's like an obvious double
standard you see that people are being
welcomed to go over there
uh being called freedom fighters
and now on the outside
for somebody on the other side here like
you give this uh example for someone
who's doing the same thing who wants to
do the same thing to protect themselves
their family one side they're called
terrorists the other side they're called
freedom fighters what do you think about
this
i mean it's typical i mean this is how
things are you know the the the double
standard the hypocrisy here
um is horrified almost any city in
america you walk around you see you see
ukrainian flags and i'm thinking
if there were half the number of
palestinian flags
hanging then things would have been
completely different for palestinians
but somehow
um there's
again all i can say it's it's a terrible
terrible double standard when
palestinians have been fighting for over
70 years almost 75 years
and when we know
the amnesty international in february
came out with a report stating very
clearly
with all the data but the state of
israel from the very beginning from the
day it was established from the day my
grandfather signed the declaration of
independence like you said
has been an apartheid state has been
uh has been engaged in the crime of
apartheid which is considered a crime
against humanity
so the jewish state the state of
so-called jewish state the state of
israel
has been engaged in a crime against
humanity for almost 75 years
where are the palestinian flags how come
nobody's supporting the palestinians how
come nobody's standing up and saying
this is terrible the atrocities that the
israelis commit and you and i talked
about many about you know the
the different uh atrocities that
palestinians have had to endure over the
years
and still it doesn't seem to be an issue
that doesn't seem to be a problem for
not only in america but but generally
speaking around the world
how do you get the whole world the whole
and obviously it's it's very tragic
what's happening in ukraine not to take
away from that
but you have the whole world in support
and they could see that clear everyone
is like okay this is an evading force
there and now these people have a right
to defend themselves but if you contrast
that with here
is there something ambiguous about
what's going on in palestine or is it
just that you have on one end the media
machine that's able to paint a clear
picture and on the other side it's not
so clear what is it do you think if the
if they had the same
uh media
focusing on this in the right way that
people will be able to see this even
clearer than what's going on in ukraine
of course i mean look the zionists have
been
uh have had this media machine this pr
machine
long before the state of israel was
established
i mean at least
more than a hundred years ago um they've
had their people in europe they've got
their people here they've had the people
in in the united kingdom speaking
promoting lobbying educating so they
have they know how to influence
education they know they've learned how
to educate them educate influence the
media
you know and they make sure that their
story is the story is a story that's
told
on the other hand
in in washington dc for example there is
no palestinian office there is no
palestinian flag palestine does not
exist you know there used to be a
an office that represented the
palestinian authority that was closed
down by donald trump
you know there's nothing in washington
dc that says that there's a palestine or
the palestinians have an issue and
without that
minimum of having an office in
washington dc to to somebody that at
least you know flies the flag or speaks
to the palestinian issues
where you know nothing
there's nothing there's nothing going on
it's like it doesn't exist and if it
doesn't exist
then why should we care
you know what i mean it's it's a
slippery slope from that point on and
and the zionists have succeeded in
eliminating palestine from people's um
consciousness
so yes you we see we see a lot of very
brave student activists on campuses i
was just at uc irvine
um we see a lot of activism in mosques
and and some churches and so on but it's
but it's you know this is uh this is the
fringes this does not enter people's
awareness
and and
people don't realize
that not only are these atrocities
taking place
americans are paying for these
atrocities to take place almost 4
billion dollars a year of american
taxpayers money how much
for almost 4 billion 3.8 billion dollars
every year
goes as foreign aid
to the state of israel which by the way
is a very rich country they don't need
foreign aid i know it was up there but
when i hear it again it's just like
again wow that that's a very big number
that's not million i mean that's
the highest foreign amount of foreign
given to any country and it's a country
that doesn't need it because
even with all the inflation here it's
still going there even with the gas
prices going up the deal for 10 years
that was signed a few years ago every 10
years they renew it and congress votes
and they vote for it and unless our
representatives i mean elections are
coming up
unless our elected representatives
understand that supporting israel is
unacceptable unless they understand
unless we make them understand that if
they support israel we stop voting for
them unless we make them understand
unless they call for severe sanctions
against the state of israel
for keeping two million people in gaza
in prison
for murdering uh sherina barclay for
assaulting palestinians and destroying
tens of thousands of homes every year
unless these politicians know we're
going to hold them accountable because
they vote to send the money they're
going to keep doing it it's up to us the
voters the people to organize first of
all to be educated
and then to organize and to tell our
neighbors and tell our friends wait a
minute they're sending our money
they're sending our money
to that country and that country is
committing these terrible atrocities
against palestinians
why are we sending the money why is it
okay to send the money we need to be
make sure that our neighbors know that
our friends know that our family members
know and that our elected officials all
the way not just not just in washington
dc
school boards
they they come and they influence the
school boards they invite school board
members to trips uh city council members
mayors police chiefs
state legislatures they take they are
there and they are selling their
propaganda at every level of american
politics and we're just absent
so people need to get educated people
need to listen to your show people need
to read the books people need to know
what's going on
you know mikkopele.com there's tons of
information there and then act during
elections make sure the offices of all
your elected representatives like i said
from school board up
know that associating with israel
supporting israel is unacceptable
unacceptable and there should be
unconditional sanctions against the
state of israel completely and
immediately there should be sanctions
against the state of israel
i mean now you have anybody that says
anything positive about russia or
anything that sanctions has been put on
you get cut off
you know but here everything is allowed
to roll smoothly it's really um
sad tell me just a few more questions uh
before we come to an end how there's
witnesses that confirm this now you
mentioned cnn
also
um have confirmed and how
are they trying to spin this now when
you got witnesses all the evidence
points to what it was and then it's kind
of like the crim the person who did the
crime they're like no no he the criminal
is going to investigate himself that
makes no sense so
like so
how how are they getting away with this
well they haven't i haven't seen an
official response yet i'm seeing an
israeli press
which always toes the line to the
government
um the israeli press
hasn't responded they're just reporting
on the fact that cnn is reporting
but uh they uh they wave everything off
as either lies
or motivated by anti-semitism
or motivated by some kind of extremist i
don't know fanatic
organization that they always blow it
off i mean that's how they are that's
that's that's kind of their main thing
how they're going to deal with this
particular one because cnn saying it
this is raising it to a whole new level
but i'm guessing that they will find a
way to uh smooth things and move on
without repercussions i don't believe
there will be any repercussions but yes
they are they are they're reporting the
the the news outlets are reporting that
cnn has said this
and really anybody who's been paying
attention
anybody's been paying attention to the
details to the witnesses that were there
the producer her producer was right
there next to her
the producer was right there next to her
the witnesses wow
yes and said very clearly there was no
exchange of fire then there was no [\h__\h]
now she's she's a seasoned reporter
she's not going to stand in the middle
of a fight
you know what i mean of of a of a gun
battle
she stood somewhere that was safe she
had a helmet she was clearly identified
she had a bulletproof vest like you said
earlier she knew what she was doing
she was not new to this she knew exactly
where she was people recognized her they
knew who she was
so this had to have been a targeted
killing and a target killing always
comes from the top the order always
either in order or an okay
had to have come from the very very top
did she have a loud voice was she
becoming a pain in someone's side
she's been she's been a voice for 20
years she's been a good for a very long
time so i mean that could definitely
have been a have been a motivating
factor but who knows
you know but she's been reporting in
palestine on palestine for a very long
time she was a household name you know
palestinians you know household name in
palestine and throughout the middle east
actually people watch it everywhere do
you know what the larger christian
community is saying and not just
worldwide but also from that scale to
the christian community there in uh
palestine i haven't heard anything
specific from christians um you know the
world around us the the western the west
i haven't heard anything come out you
know in in criticizing israel
uh in palestine like you said i mean the
fact that she's a christian or a muslim
she's a palestinian and she was killed
that's really the issue
um so i haven't heard anything
how about from the pope
i haven't heard anything nothing from
the pope
not that i've heard what does the pope
say in general regarding this what's
going on usually very very neutral this
particular pope is just slightly less
neutral than on the side of justice and
he's actually been to palestine and he
stopped at the wall and you know he made
the few gestures but popes are their job
is to be neutral and not to be not to be
political
and so um
i don't think we're going to hear
anything from the pope
okay the last couple more questions just
to remind us for the average person they
some people haven't watched some of the
previous programs we did remind us in
short what's the day-to-day life for
christian and muslim palestinians
living under this occupation
well let me give you some statistics
so palestine is divided israel divides
the israeli government divided palestine
into different areas
uh and i'm talking about areas in which
palestinians live the lives of
palestinians who divide into different
bureaucracies different agencies that
deal with them
now the entire 50
southern half of palestine it's called
the nuka
and in the knock up you've got about 350
000 palestinian bedouin
who have been suffering a great deal
they've had
somewhere around 2000 to 2500 home
demolitions a year for the past four or
five years so do the math how many homes
have been demolished now there are many
israeli jews who live in knockout too
palestinians live in abject poverty
because they are
traditionally farmers but they're
prohibited from engaging in working in
agriculture
the israeli towns the israeli
settlements in the nakhob
have some of the highest standards of
living
throughout the entire country they have
access to water even though it's a
desert but it's a it's a very you know
it's a desert that's uh cultivable
cultivatable
um
high standards of living beautiful towns
everything is green
none of these homes that have been
demolished in the statistics are jewish
israeli homes
now in jerusalem there's something like
18 000
home demolition orders in other words
orders that have already been given to
demolish somebody's home so you don't
know they might come tomorrow and
demolish your home you don't know
how many of these homes you think are
israeli jews jewish homes how many
palestinians
how many 100 percent are palestinian
homes but on what grounds can they do
that
well um
i don't know let's say you want to build
a balcony maybe you have a balcony you
want to turn it into a room if you want
to buy a build a second floor a second
story maybe you want a remodel you have
to get a permit palestinians never get a
permit so they have to build without a
permit
so it's a catch-22 then they build and
then they either have to pay
for the military to come and demolish
their home or they have to take a
sledgehammer with their own two hands
and do it themselves and destroy their
own homes
now that's
those two regions the rest of palestine
there are over forty thousand home
demolition orders
how many of those do you think are
what's the percentage israeli jews to
palestinians do you think
zero israeli jews 100 of palestine now
does that mean that israeli jews never
build without a permit
probably not people want to build they
build you know maybe they get a permit
later maybe they get a fine you never
see an israeli home being demolished
palestinians homes are being demolished
by the thousands and this is just one
example of life for palestinians
you know just one when they when those
homes get demolished what happens to
them then
nobody cares is that is that is that
what we're hearing like settlers coming
in and taking these
homes these are homes are being
demolished throughout the entire country
the home is demolished so people have to
figure it out nobody helps them nobody
pays them what about the settlers who
are moving in
some places that happens but not not
everywhere usually
it depends i mean this could be inside a
palestinian community where there are no
israeli settlers yeah this could be
inside a palestinian town they come in
and demolish and destroy inside a
palestinian town and this and this is
just one example then there's water
palestinians get a fraction
of the water that israeli jews do
why
do they drink less do they wash less do
they cook less no but the reality is
that palestinians get less than three
percent
less than three percent
of the water throughout the entire
country
whereas palestinians make up the
majority of the population
so i mean it goes on and on we could
have 10 programs just talking about what
life is day-to-day life
for palestinians uh and then it doesn't
really matter where they live they could
be living in jerusalem and then up in
the west bank and
anywhere it doesn't really matter where
they live
this is life for palestinian it's a
brutal racist regime that wants to get
rid of them
what is the term open-air prism mean
open-air prison means it's uh it's um
well it refers to the gaza strip where
there's two million palestinians
you know we're talking about a half hour
drive from big cities like tel aviv or
an hour drive from big cities like
jerusalem or whatever
you know where people live a very good
life
israeli jews do
and nobody can leave
and nobody can trade
nobody can travel
there's no access to clean water there's
no access to medicine proper medicine
there's no access to food
or there is access to food but very
limited 97 of the water in the gaza
strip is unfit for drinking and we're
talking about 2
million people
2 million people so imagine oh and
electricity electricity comes in spurts
so imagine you're a hospital and you
need to refrigerate medicine
or you have a dialysis machine
you know basic stuff we're not even
talking about killing people basic stuff
you can't do it because you don't know
when you're going to have electricity
everywhere
in the heat heating in that when in the
cold i mean cookie just day-to-day life
they they make day-to-day life as
miserable as they possibly can and then
they blame the palestinians saying it's
their fault
well we go crazy when uh comet or
comcast or whatever you got like nipsco
whatever the place you're at who's
running the electric and they shut the
electric off for an hour you have a
thunderstorm and it goes out and we're
like man you're in the dark and putting
candles but these people they go through
that on a daily weekly basis where
they're out without power try to
interview somebody from gaza and you'll
see how complicated it is because they
never know when they're going to have
electricity
wow whether or not they'll be able to
charge their phones or charge their
computers or i have wi-fi
oh it's a mix of emotions unbelievable
and it's all you know it's all man-made
it's all created by israel it could be
fixed tomorrow it can all change it can
all change tomorrow
but we need to pressure israel we need
to stop sending israel money we need to
stop sending israel weapons we need to
impose sanctions on the state of israel
until it's forced to change
just a couple more questions um
checkpoints i had a guest on it's a ufc
fighter by the name of muhammad i don't
know if you've heard of him
and he talked about how
these checkpoints are designed like he'd
go down there his family
and
muhammad talks about how they just
created make it so difficult that you
don't want to go there like you know
like i don't know 10 different
checkpoints and you're held up for hours
could be days whatever the case and it's
just so difficult and you're just they
want people from here to stop going
there is there
what do you have to say about these
checkpoints the checkpoints are terrible
the ridiculous thing about the
checkpoints is this
i'll give you an example of a crazy
story i was there during the end of
ramadan
now to go from ramallah which is a major
city in the west bank to jerusalem to
al-aqsa you can imagine on friday even a
regular friday but even more so during
ramadan
god knows how many thousands millions of
people want to go to pray in al-aqsa
the main and i was going to ramallah
that day i had a meeting in ramallah the
main checkpoint it's called colombia
checkpoint it's a massive terminal
shutdown
on a friday during ramadan when they
know full well
that nobody who knows countless
thousands of people will be coming from
ramallah jerusalem to pray and then
returning
and it's a massive structure kalania
checkpoint is a huge structure so what
do they make them do the checkpoint was
close to vehicles
people take a bus to the checkpoint
then they'd have to cross by foot
this bridge
get on a bot of course go through all
the security uh
you know the security checks
um then get on the bus on the other side
and either go to jerusalem to alexa
where they will face more checkpoints as
they get closer
or you know in the in the case where
they're going home to go back home but
it increased the the the difficulty
the difficulty where you could draw you
could literally drive from ramallah to
jerusalem to the old city and go to
al-aqsa in half an hour maybe 40 minutes
with parking you know what i mean
and then they create more and more kind
of temporary checkpoints along the way
where they harass people and of course
once they're in jerusalem especially on
a friday they close the streets and
create these these narrow narrow narrow
walkways
where people have to walk practically
single file
forget cars forget buses right the
traffic is horrible and they just make
it incredibly incredibly difficult
precisely so the people won't want to
come back i think
what you're talking about is when
foreigners come and they make it so
difficult for there or people who have
you know palestinians who have relatives
and so forth come from overseas
they make it so difficult that really a
lot of people say well you know what i'm
never doing this again and other people
will say you know what i'm going to do
this again and again and again because
i'm going to block and i'm going to give
them as much trouble as i possibly can
because imagine the more people have to
go to these checkpoints
you know the harder the israelis have to
work the more money they have to spend
you know so i i think i think the logic
is is to actually go more but yeah it's
very discouraging and it's very
difficult and it's also you know
emotionally draining it's emotionally
draining to go through checkpoints to be
humiliated by the soldiers to be
humiliated by the different types of
secret police and i mean lots of
different agencies to deal with
palestinians in the checkpoints
it's just it's just exhausting
emotionally and exhausting physically
and if you're somebody who's elderly
somebody's not well you know physically
as healthy as they should be in the heat
and the cold
they do everything they possibly can to
discourage people
from coming which is why i always tell
my friends whether they're muslims or
christians they want to go to pilgrimage
they want to go to the holy holy sites
or just palestinians who want to visit
go go go fill up those planes and go
and don't let them discourage you
last question have you spoken to many
congregations
be a christian congregation some of the
synagogues here in the united states
church congregations like what's been
the response
if you have well
uh
synagogues typically don't invite me
they are not interested in the kind of
conversation that i that i start um
which is you know as you heard is a very
you know i reject the legitimacy of
israel i let you reject the legitimacy
of zionism i believe in a free
democratic palestine where everybody
should have an equal or equal voice and
so forth an equal right so they don't
want to hear that
um i've spoken in many mosques i've
spoken to many churches but these are
churches that are known to be you know
more open-minded more open to this sort
of thing
um so that's that's been my experience
because it's i mean really when you hear
what you're saying this is there's a
bunch of emotions that go through you
sad angry at the same time you know
every human wants justice you know when
you're seeing this kind of injustice
going on it's like how can you remain
quiet you know what i mean and um
it's really sad any human being who who
has uh his heart is still alive her
heart is still alive you just when you
hear this kind of stuff i mean one you
just you got to be grateful for all the
things you have and then you know if you
can at least send a tweet send a post
something you know share this uh get the
word out yeah and educate yourself and
tell your friends you know palestinians
i won't say just one last thing i know
you probably want to close but
palestinians
are not victims palestinians are
fighters palestinians in it you know
they celebrate their culture there's you
know i was there in ramadan okay i'm
sure many people saw the images of the
violence the horrible violence against
worshippers in al-aqsa throughout the
throughout ramadan so well you were
there during ramadan
so did you witness this that was going
on
yes yeah tell us about that but hold on
but my point is this
in the old city of jerusalem ramadan
nights are the most beautiful thing i've
ever seen
everything is lit the stores are open
stalls with food and music and people
out there and families celebrating you
know practically all night it's the most
beautiful thing i've ever seen now yes
during the day particularly on fridays
they're horrible assaults by the police
on al-aqsa in the mosque and so forth
but
the next day
once it's over everybody's out in the
streets everybody's celebrating they
will not be stopped they will not
surrender and this these sights of the
of these you know this beautiful
celebration and fireworks and everything
is well lit
you know uh it's something that people
should should witness should see it's so
beautiful and palestinians stand up and
they celebrate and they and they fast
and they celebrate at night and their
families get together and they stand up
and
and yes they they stand up and they
fight as well i mean they're not you
know they're not they're not going to
take it sitting down
um but they need our help they
palestinians are doing everything they
can in palestine but they're but it's
like it's you know people are saying
well how come palestinians aren't you
know doing more but they're doing
everything they can they're like people
are in a prison
we need to be that support them we need
to be sure to be their voice we need to
know more about them we need to support
them we need to demand that our elected
officials stop sending money to oppress
and kill palestinians
and then uh read about it listen to
listen to you know people who talk about
it get educated and go there go to
jerusalem go to al-aqsa it's beautiful
and that is a great way to support
palestinians
you have a great book to call it's
called the general's son
is this a good resource for people who
want to know more
sure the general son absolutely my book
is is out there people are welcome to to
to read it it's my perspective growing
up on the other side as an israeli and
then learning taking this journey and
learning about palestine and then about
palestinians and developing friendships
and so forth for palestinians which
which you know which i hold very dear
um and so yeah i said we're coming out
with the 10th anniversary edition at the
end of this year because it's been 10
years since the book came out so very
happy about that it's doing very well so
if people go to mikopela.com they can
find the book they can
hear my podcast they can see interviews
videos things like that
and it's all about palestine it's all
all exclusively about palestine
if any uh major news networks pick this
up or maybe uh
some congregation some organization and
they want to invite you on
they want to invite you to their
community to speak are you still doing
speaking engagements uh can yeah live
and get i mean i've been doing zoom a
lot doing covet but now i've uh live
events like i said i was in california
just now doing a live event i'm going
you know stuff
picking up livens or picking up so
absolutely and i'm on social media
people can always message me on
any of the platforms and i and i'm there
god bless you brother
and you yeah
always a pleasure
you're an amazing person uh you know
i love you
and i want to thank you again miko
pillad uh
i um
a lot goes through a lot of emotions
there you hear
um sadness anger
you know this massive injustice that's
happening
and
you know they have someone individuals
like miko who are out there who
you know risk a lot
you know who are courageous and brave
like that to
stand on the side of the oppressed let
their voices be heard to be a voice for
the oppressed i mean it's just very
commendable
may god bless you
um
and it just reminds us
to really
be grateful you know when you hear about
the food the water open air prism the
oppression the checkpoints and
and how many of
us
electricity goes on like i said a
thunderstorm boom it's knocked out and
you're like
calling
panicking
electric company phone internet goes out
life is upside down but
for these people and other oppressed
people all over the world you see
what's happening who don't have the
basic necessities
food water
electricity all these things we take for
granted
and we still complain
we still complain may
god almighty allah help us to be more
thankful and grateful
and to do our small part create
awareness and
god willing those people with good
hearts want to make a difference
who are seeing this injustice you can go
ahead and let your voice be heard by via
be a tweet be a post be something you
know call like miko was giving good
advice
and hopefully
that small effort can make a big
difference if so many people
go ahead
and take some kind of stand for truth
thank you very much
for
being with us here on the d show
and we'll see you next time until then
peace be with you
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