MY FULL INTERVIEW ON SKYNEWS ABOUT ISRAEL-PALESTINE WAR
October 23, 2023Today, I’m pleased to share the full report of my interview with SkyNews. We explored the escalating danger looming over Lebanon, which has the potential to draw the nation into the Israel-Hamas War. The reality is stark; Lebanon’s fate is intricately tied to Hezbollah and Iran, a challenging situation. The Lebanese Army walks a tightrope to avoid sparking civil conflict, while tensions grip the country.
Watch the full report for a comprehensive analysis of the crisis Lebanon faces and the broader regional implications as this war persists.
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English Script:
Sky news Interview
00:00:00:12 – 00:00:24:10
Interviewer: Joining me live is award winning filmmaker and journalist Daisy Gideon, live from Beirut. Hello to you, Daisy. Now, we first heard just a short time ago also from the IDF that Israel is warning Lebanon to consider the price of getting involved in the Gaza conflict as violence flares up on the border between the two countries and if aligning itself with Hezbollah was worth its prosperity.
00:00:24:12 – 00:00:28:08
Interviewer: What do you make of this warning?
00:00:28:10 – 00:00:58:09
Daizy: It’s a very serious, you know, warning to Lebanon. And we have, you know, a situation where the entire country is on alert. We’ve got people who are really frightened about what’s going on. It’s a very serious warning. The problem is that Lebanon and the authorities, who IDF is calling on to contain Hezbollah, have no power over Hezbollah. If they had power over Hezbollah, we wouldn’t be in the political and economic crisis that we’re in right now.
00:00:58:11 – 00:01:25:07
Daizy: Hezbollah is a law unto itself. And if they’re asking the Lebanese government to do anything about it or the Lebanese army, they have no power because the Lebanese army is not allowed to engage in a war with Hezbollah because they won’t win. And it would bring the country into a civil war. So I’m very concerned about this warning, and I’m hoping that the IDF will contain its retaliation against Hezbollah to those military outposts
00:01:25:12 – 00:01:48:19
Daizy: of the areas where they know Hezbollah’s bases are and not spread it across the entire country like they did in 2006 and destroy Lebanon’s economy again. The IDF also provided an update recently on a summary of attacks from Hezbollah on the border of Israel and Lebanon. What are you hearing from the ground and people in southern Lebanon?
00:01:48:24 – 00:02:15:21
Daizy: So I have been speaking constantly with people in southern Lebanon, and yesterday was a very serious, you know, Days Inn, the escalation of the conflict between Hezbollah and the IDF. I have friends down there who where there was a door knock. Hezbollah went up door knocking throughout certain villages, telling people to evacuate the area earlier in the day because they anticipated heavy fire.
00:02:15:23 – 00:02:54:12
Daizy: And so friends left very quickly, early and afternoon, and leaving as I left of the bombing had started. Now, I did hear and I watched the IDF report today that said that they were containing their retaliation to the border and the areas where they believe that the Hezbollah outposts were. I have to refute that because we know that Israeli fire has come way into Lebanon, well beyond the border, into towns like Jenin, Bint Jbeil, Marjayoun, which are like 30 Km in the in the border,
00:02:54:14 – 00:03:34:20
Daizy: and Friday night, they hit a civilian home and an elderly man and his wife were killed in that in that shelling. So we have to be very careful and make sure that we’re receiving the right reports. But we know from on the ground that they have their retaliation is is much deeper into Lebanon, into civilian villages, rather than just containing it to where Hezbollah is launching their their rockets from Saudi Arabia is former intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal condemned both Israel and Hamas because of their acts against civilians.
00:03:34:20 – 00:04:06:05
Daizy: Let’s take a listen to some of what he had to say. I categorically condemn Hamas targeting of civilian targets of any age or gender, as it is accused of. Such targeting belies Hamas’s claims to an Islamic identity. But equally, I condemn Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinian innocent civilians in Gaza. Two wrongs don’t make a right. He also says there are no heroes in this conflict.
00:04:06:06 – 00:04:09:13
Interviewer: How is the message being received from where you are?
00:04:09:13 – 00:04:34:11
Daizy: The message was very well received. It’s the first time we’ve actually heard from a, you know, a senior leader around the world. I know he’s a former chief intelligence officer for Saudi Arabia, but he’s still a voice of great power and reason. And he’s the first one who’s presented the case very fairly and justly, condemning both sides on the atrocities, the committing.
00:04:34:13 – 00:04:59:07
Daizy: The concern for Saudi Arabia is the concern that the whole region and actually the world should be worried about. It’s disrupting the entire, you know, normalization of relations that we were seeing earlier this year. The, you know, the relations between the, between Kuwait, Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia, trying to normalize relations with Israel, this has scuttled this entire process.
00:04:59:09 – 00:05:42:06
Daizy: It set the region back and and it will it will set the region back. If Israel’s retaliation and its led invasion into Gaza is severe, the the concern right now is how bad is Israel’s invasion and how badly is Israel’s invasion into Gaza going to be? Because if it’s a massacre, we’re going to say, you know, the entire region having to flare up and stand up for the civilians and that is going to draw global powers into the conflict as well, which is the most serious of the concerns that I have and greater minds have around the world who are experts on this.
00:05:42:08 – 00:06:08:16
Daizy: It’s going to draw the world into a global conflict and cause people to take sides even more than they have polarized the world and pretend to lead us to a third world war. We need sound minds right now to pull Israel off the brink of pulling us all into a war. We don’t want this can be handled in a measured way.
00:06:08:18 – 00:06:34:16
Daizy: The way that it needs to be conducted. Is sound. Is is there is within the rules of engagement all the rules of engagement of war, international law. And I just call on world leaders to speak to Netanyahu and pull him off the brief. We understand Israel is bleeding. We understand the Israeli people are in so much pain and we are with them.
00:06:34:18 – 00:06:57:08
Daizy: We share their pain. But we, the world doesn’t deserve to be brought into this Armageddon that we’re on the brink of. We have to wrap it up. But what do you make of the comments from US President Joe Biden and Secretary Anthony Blinken that have said Israel has the right and obligation to defend themselves against the attacks on October seven?
00:06:57:10 – 00:07:15:03
Daizy: But these leaders, Anthony Blinken and Joe Biden, have also made it very clear that the way Israel does this is important and operations need to be conducted in accordance with international humanitarian law, and everything is done to minimize civilian life.
00:07:15:15 – 00:07:43:19
Daizy: They are 100% right. Israel has the right to defend itself within reason to the extent that they’ve gone to is way beyond reason. And you see Jewish people around the world all standing up and attacking Israel you know, severity of its if it’s attacked. Yes, that’s the conversation that needs to be drummed into Israel is within international rules.
00:07:43:21 – 00:08:08:20
Daizy: That’s where everyone needs to be talking and what everyone needs to be saying and actually articulating what that framework of what it looks like, not just speaking the speech, but telling them this is the limits that you’re allowed to go to. Otherwise we can’t. As global leaders defending and protecting democracy and international law cannot support you if you go beyond those means.
00:08:08:22 – 00:08:12:20
Interviewer: Filmmaker and journalist Gideon, thank you very much for joining us.
