Hiroshima commemoration and the genocide in Gaza: discussion on Iran’s Press TV
Hiroshima commemoration and the genocide in Gaza: discussion on Iran’s Press TV
I use the word ‘discussion’ to characterize my interview yesterday morning because the Press TV presenter is an active interlocutor who does not merely pitch questions prepared in advance to interviewees.
The commemoration ceremonies of the U.S. bombing of Hiroshima were dedicated to the 70,000 civilians who lost their lives instantly and to the total of 140,000 who died within a year from cancers and other consequences of radiation poisoning. Almost no coverage of the 79th anniversary of the bombing appeared in major Western media.
On Russian state television, by contrast significant attention was given to the proceedings, beginning with exposing the extraordinary hypocrisy of the Japanese prime minister’s address in which no mention was made of who had dropped the bomb. Meanwhile, Russia and Belarus were not invited to the ceremony whereas more than 100 other countries were. But then again, the Palestinians were also excluded, whereas Israel was welcomed to Hiroshima by the city’s mayor.
It was the latter invitation which was at the center of attention on Press TV’s News Review in which I participated together with a panelist in Australia. Israel’s presence had prompted protest demonstrations in Hiroshima on the day before, 5 August, with signs reading “No to the Genocide State.” The logical connection was clear: the above-mentioned civilian deaths in Hiroshima are matched with the 40,000 plus deaths in Gaza by the official tally, in reality perhaps 200,000 deaths if one factors in death by hunger and disease in a situation where food supplies are being withheld and medical facilities have been destroyed.
In my interview, I called out the paradox: whatever the intentions of the organizers, de facto the inclusion of Israeli representatives was justified given that precisely Israel is positioning itself as the likely second nation after the United States to use nuclear weapons in wartime. I say this because it is an open secret that Israel has been pondering dropping the bomb on Gaza to hasten the elimination of the Palestinian population or on southern Lebanon to eliminate Hezbollah once and for all.
That Israel has long wished to atomic-bomb Iran is known to all for more than a decade. It has been restrained from doing so only by lack of needed air support from the United States. In the present circumstances of possible escalation to a region-wide war in the Middle East, Washington may well present itself as the enabler of an Israeli bombing campaign in Iran that includes a nuclear component.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024
https://www.urmedium.net/c/presstv/130360
Transcript below by a reader
PressTV: 0:00
[Gilbert] Doctorow is an independent international affairs analyst joining us from Brussels. We also have Tim Anderson, who is the Director of the Center for Counter-Hegemonic Studies, who joins us from Sydney. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Gilbert Doctorow, I'll first start with you.
So I think there are two aspects to this story. One is the fact that the US is the only country to have used weapons of mass destruction. And the second is the fact that we're looking at the volume of bombs that have been dropped in the Gaza Strip, courtesy of the US, equals, and if not more than, the bombs dropped there in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What are your thoughts on that?
Gilbert Doctorow, PhD: 0:34
First, I'd like to congratulate you, Press TV, for covering this issue. The major media today have said nothing about the demonstrations in Hiroshima against the Israeli rampage in Gaza. And as I understand it, the issue was about the invitation by the local authorities to Israel among the other countries that are participating in this commemoration. They condemn the participation of Israel precisely because of the genocide being committed in Gaza. So again, I salute you for bringing up this important aspect, which is otherwise totally ignored by major media.
1:19
As regards the uniqueness of the destruction that the United States perpetrated in Japan, I would have to add, perhaps it was the only use of weapons of mass destruction, but it was not the only use of wanton murder of civilians during World War II. And the Brits worked together with the United States in the, for example, the firebombing of Dresden, which also had catastrophic numbers of casualties. Nonetheless, coming to today, I think this is highly relevant that you are speaking about the nuclear bombs that were dropped in Hiroshima, because the nuclear issue is very much alive with us today.
2:01
And I would say paradoxically, the invitation to Israel might have been very appropriate, if not necessarily for the reasons that the mayor's office in Hiroshima had in mind. I say that because there is discussion among analysts about the desire of the Israeli leadership to use some of its nuclear weapons stock in the present confrontation with Hezbollah, for example, using a nuclear weapon to bomb southern Lebanon. That is in discussion, and it makes the participation of Israel at the Hiroshima commemoration-- it gives it a certain sense. Israel, of course, would be very happy to use its nuclear arms against Iran, which should explain, in part, your particular and justified interest in what is going on.
PressTV: 2:54
Okay, you raise a very interesting point there. Tim Anderson, the fact that the Israeli regime would contemplate using the nuclear bomb, in the case of what our guest there said, on southern Lebanon, they have contemplated using it on the Gaza Strip. I don't know if I should use the word contemplation, but statements have been made by the Israeli officials that, you know, that should be an option. Even in the US, some of these extreme US congressmen, like Lindsey Graham, have suggested that. But in the bigger picture, the confrontation in terms of the retaliation coming from Iran and some of the resistance groups may prompt the Israeli regime to maybe contemplate the use of nuclear weapons. Do you think that that is a possibility here?
Tim Anderson: 3:44
Well, yes, there are at least two U.S. Congressmen talking about the idea of using nuclear weapons on Gaza, and that should be alarming. Really, it should be a criminal incitement, you would think, but they get away with this sort of thing in the US arena. Of course, your initial story was about the US using weapons of mass destruction. Let's not forget Korea, the war in Korea, they used bacteriological weapons there, they used chemical weapons there, and in Vietnam also, all of those nuclear, biological, chemical weapons.
They've accused other states of doing this, but basically speaking, it's the US regime that has been the worst offender in the world in using these weapons. And of course, when we talk about Hiroshima and Nagasaki, largely civilian targets. They were not military targets. Neither Hiroshima nor Nagasaki were military targets. They were civilian targets. So they were deliberately used against civilian populations.
4:46
Of course, historically, it seems like the aim was to send a message to the Soviet Union at that time as the rush was on to try and colonize Northeast Asia, which they've done successfully in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula. So really, it's a notorious anniversary. We should be remembering it. Thank you, as your other guest said, for bringing this to people's attention, to remember these terrible anniversaries. And let's remind ourselves that the US has always accused others of carrying out or planning such crimes, but it's really the US regime itself which has been at the forefront of these worst of all atrocities and they're supporting of course the atrocities in Gaza now which in many respects replicates some of the massacres that were carried out against civilians and children in Vietnam 50 years ago.
PressTV: 5:35
All right Gilbert Doctorow, I have less than a couple minutes. When you talk about the way that you did in terms of the Israeli regime contemplating maybe the use of nuclear weapons in southern Lebanon. Is that based on what? Have you read something or is there some indications of that?
Doctorow:
The subject has been featured more on social media than in official news reports, but it has a certain logic to it. So for that reason, I felt it worth mentioning here on air. No, I cannot give you a citation to go to, to find this founded, but as I said, it makes a lot of sense, considering what my fellow panelist said about the use of a nuclear weapon in Gaza.
PressTV: 6:26
Thank you, Gilbert Doctorow, independent international affairs analyst. And I'd also like to thank Tim Anderson, Director of the Center for Counter-Hegemonic Studies. Thank you to you both. And with that, we come to an end for this News Review.