Hundreds hear calls for isolation of Israel at major pro-Palestine solidarity march in Derry
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00:00There will be an attempt by Israel and by Western media to reframe Israel as the victim.
00:12We will see interviews of hostages and their families and a continued dehumanization of
00:20Palestine prisoners, not acknowledging that Palestine prisoners, many of whom are hostages
00:27themselves.
00:28Journalism is speaking truth to power.
00:32Everything else is PR and propaganda.
00:36Truth is built on facts, on verified statistics, on the empirical evidence of trained and trusted
00:44observers.
00:45Its job is not only to tell the truth, but to provide context that makes the truth relevant.
00:53So here is some journalistic truth based on statistics and other facts.
01:01Last Monday, the International Federation of Journalists, representing 600,000 media
01:08professionals from 187 trade unions in more than 140 countries, including the NUJ and
01:17the Palestine Journalist Syndicate, released its latest statistics on Gaza.
01:23It put the number at 149 journalists killed, that's the verified number, including Saeed
01:33Abu Nabhan.
01:35Saeed was shot dead by an Israeli sniper on the 10th of January in central Gaza.
01:41He was wearing garb like this that clearly identified him as press.
01:46When he was fixed in that IDF sniper's sights.
01:50The problems we face here in the north of Ireland pay into significance when we look
01:55at what's happened to our brothers and sisters in Gaza.
01:58The British and American bombs fired by the 13th State Patrol have not only claimed countless
02:03lives, but have also decimated Gaza's health and infrastructure, leaving its people to
02:08a state of extreme suffering.
02:11Shireen Abu Akhla, celebrated as the daughter of Palestine for her incisive journalism for
02:18Al Jazeera, was shot dead during an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank.
02:24Every investigation since has disproved initial Israeli claims that she was shot by Palestinian
02:31militants, and the later revised narrative that she was shot accidentally.
02:37Yet Gaza's toll of journalists represents an extraordinary rate of attrition, far exceeding
02:43the cumulative annual toll of journalists around the globe who have been killed for
02:48doing their job.
02:50The Gaza Strip comprises 365 square kilometres.
02:55That's one square kilometre for every day of the year.
03:00Dirty City and Stravan District comprises 1,245 square kilometres.
03:08That's three square kilometres for every day of the year.
03:13Gaza is approximately 40 kilometres long.
03:16That's the distance from here at the Guildhall to Newton Stewart.
03:21In terms of width, Gaza ranges roughly from 6 to 12 kilometres.
03:27For comparison, that is roughly from here at the Guildhall to Ardmore, or from here
03:32to Eglinton.
03:34But here's the real difference in ratio.
03:36Dirty City and Stravan has a population of roughly 150,000.
03:41At the start of this genocidal onslaught by the Israeli army, Gaza had a population of
03:48two and a quarter million, crowded into one third of this space.
03:54The systematic targeting of hospitals and medical facilities has crippled the Gaza health
03:59system.
04:00Out of 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, only 14 remain partially operational.
04:05The destruction of the health infrastructure has not done the two hospitals.
04:09According to the World Health Organization, nearly 600 attacks on health care facilities
04:14have been recorded since the genocide began.
04:17These attacks have affected 94 health care facilities, including 26 hospitals and 79
04:23ambulances.
04:25The health care system in Gaza is on the brink of collapse.
04:28Make no mistake, every time they target a hospital, a medic or an ambulance, they are
04:32committing a war crime.
04:36Stravan, in complete contrast to the entirety of the Israeli occupying forces, has been
04:40a warrior, like the rights of Gaza health care professionals.
04:44Their bravery in the face of genocide was truly inspirational.
04:48The world discovered a new superman in Dr. Hussein Abu Safara, who stood alone against
04:53the forces of Israeli terrorism, who attacked the patients.
04:58Where is he now?
04:59What have the shaping forces of occupations done to this heroic man?
05:04We say free Dr. Hussein Abu Safara.
05:07I thank you for asking me to speak today here at this important event.
05:11People have asked why we marched.
05:13Why is there a ceasefire?
05:15We marched because we witnessed the slaughter of the innocent.
05:18We witnessed the deliberate destruction of hospitals and schools.
05:22We marched to hold the terrorists in Tel Aviv to account.
05:25And we will keep marching until the occupation ends and Palestine is free.
05:29We cannot allow the lies of the Western media to make any gains over the next phase of this
05:36ceasefire.
05:42We know they'll double down because we're seeing it already.
05:47Michal Martin has announced that one of the first things he's going to do is bring forward
05:53the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, which in part equates anti-Semitism with anti-Zionism.
06:04And we have to say no.
06:08That definition of anti-Semitism is already on the books in Stormont.
06:13Those Stormont politicians already allowed it to come through.
06:18It's the exact definition that's used in order to undermine the Palestine Solidarity Movement
06:23used to witch hunt Jeremy Corbyn and other Palestinian activists over in Britain.
06:28And it is dangerous.
06:30As long as they can continue to say that anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is the same thing,
06:37they will destabilize our movement.
06:40So we have clarity.
06:42We have grown over the past 15 months, but not enough to fully stop this genocide.
06:48We need to continue to boycott, to divest, to sanction, to isolate Israel,
06:58to not allow the Western European Union and the United States to continue to back Israel to the hilt.
07:07So I'm so glad to see so many people out here today.
07:11In many ways, our struggle is only just beginning.
07:15Free Palestine.