assalamu alaikum greetings and peace how
are you guys doing welcome to the dean
show
now my next guest for those of you
who have never heard of him let me give
you a little breakdown miko pillad
is an israeli activist author and a
karate instructor he's the author of
several books
one of which is the general son the
journey of an israeli
in palestine an injustice
he has a very unique story we've had him
on the program before
he comes from a family of
grandfather who was the original signer
of the israeli of
the israel's declaration of independence
and his independence and his father was
actually a general in the israeli
army so let's get into this clip here
we're talking about masjid of the aksad
under attack
you have the blatant injustices that are
going on
some of it kicked off from this video
and then we'll get our next special
guest
in to kind of give us a breakdown of
what's going on on the ground
fill us in on everything of
why and what's going on currently let's
go ahead and
check out this video jakob you know this
is not your house yes but if i go you
don't go back
so what's the problem what are you
yelling at me i didn't do this i didn't
do this
but this you
are stealing my house and if i don't
steal it someone else is going to steal
it and if i don't steer it someone else
is going to steal it and if i don't
steal it someone else is going to steal
mikko pillet
how are you how are you how you been
i've been well thank you so much good to
see you again good to see you too
the introduction was it proper is there
anything i left out that you want to add
for those who don't know about your work
and some of the activism that you're
doing
no no it was fine yeah it was very good
thank you
what about this video did you get a
chance to see the video
yeah you know that video in the larger
in the larger picture is a very small
thing compared to everything else that's
going on in jerusalem
and now and in palestine in general i
mean zionists have been stealing
palestinian land for
close to 100 years this is nothing new
they make all kinds of excuses they say
the jewish people used to live there at
some point and so on and they just go on
and continue to evict palestinians kill
palestinians
and this is happening in shaykh which is
a neighborhood of jerusalem
a palestinian neighborhood of jerusalem
and it's uh
you know it's a short walk from there to
al-aqsa to the old city of jerusalem
where we see more violence perpetrated
by the state of israel by israeli
authorities
um and at the same time we see bombing
in gaza so this is a
really an attack on jerusalem which of
course is the heart of palestine and
and and holds one of the most sacred
monuments
to islam and laksamos like you said
and um and so it's attack on
palestinians everywhere throughout the
entire country
and focusing on jerusalem and
particularly
during ramadan this is not you know this
is not
by by accidents it's not a coincidence
this is all very well planned
in order to light a fire that will burn
palestine
um this is this is their objective
well it's interesting you said that this
is not coincidence
this is well planned you have ramadan
obviously when muslims are fasting you
know people would think
okay they're in this uh mosque you know
a place of worship worshiping their
creator and then
you're it seems like okay phyllis said
what do you mean by it's
it's not quincy it's planned well the
zionists have wanted
the zionist grand plan is to get rid of
palestinians
and do what they call judaized jerusalem
which is to get rid of any any remnants
of of islam that of course have existed
in the city for
you know fifteen hundred almost you know
more than fifteen hundred years
uh and most prominently of course is
al-aqsa
and and the dome of the rock the
beautiful golden dome so
they have this vision of building some
other structure there which they call a
temple or god knows what
uh at the expense of that and to get rid
of the palestinians and to change the
entire
the entire city as they've been changing
all of palestine
by getting rid of palestinians just
palestinian arab and muslim
and also christian monuments and
building for zionist jews only this is a
very dangerous
process and to do it during ramadan
achieves two things number one it's it's
it's it's uh
it's really like throwing a a a match
into a
uh fire full of explosives because of
course people are much more sensitive
during ramadan
everything becomes much more heightened
and they
um are going to use you know they use
excuse after excuse accuse
excuse to use more and more violence
against palestinians more around
violence in jerusalem
and even inside the mosque i mean i'm
sure you've seen the very troubling
images
of shooting uh and uh both bullets and
tear gas
and whatnot in inside the mosque while
people are praying there's a fire
not far from the mosque right now um and
at the same time
they're bombing in gaza at the same time
you know
so this has to do with the fact that
netanyahu who is the prime minister
wants to remain prime minister and when
there's violence
it's very good for politics so
he will remain prime minister it's very
likely they will have what they call a
national
unity government which is kind of an
emergency government he will remain
prime minister
they will continue the violence against
the palestinians everywhere
they'll continue to get you know kick
out palestinians out of their homes
they'll continue the violence in alexa
and eventually i think their goal is
that alexa will be burnt to the ground i
think i don't think there's any there's
any uh
doubt about that they want to light the
fire that will burn palestine
you mentioned a video we're going to go
ahead and play this
from the masjid itself
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
welcome
[Music]
[Applause]
foreign
my worst
[Music]
oh my god
[Applause]
so you can can you give us a breakdown
what were we actually seeing there
well what we were seeing was
state-sponsored terrorism that's what
we're seeing we're seeing
state-sponsored terrorism there's no
provocation whatsoever there's nothing
to
justify even remotely or excuse the
violence perpetrated by the israeli
authorities
and you see the scenes you see the
sights injured people are injured people
are being shot
for no you know for no reason other than
a desire to terrorize people
that's really all this is about and
again if we connect the dots and we
connect this to the rest of the story of
palestine
again whether it's gaza or it's in other
parts of the country
violence enormous amounts of violence
perpetrated against
uh against civilians against
palestinians
uh destruction of structures destruction
of monuments i mean
of course everybody knows the dome of
the rock is the iconic symbol of
jerusalem so people
pay more attention but uh mosques and
churches throughout the entire country
have been ruined by the zionists for
you know and continue to be destroyed
and ancient cemeteries and whatnot this
is part of the larger attempt to
completely
uh terrorize the palestinians and to
de-islamize
a city in a country that has been not a
muslim country but a
but an icon of islam for uh
more than 1500 years this is what the
zionists are doing it's state-sponsored
terrorism it's racism
it's these are crimes that uh that you
know
scream to the to the heavens and the
world is watching
and the united states keep paying for it
you know this is our taxpayers money
that goes to to
purchase the weapons and pay the
soldiers and pay the settlers that are
stealing the homes
and you can barely get an american an
american uh
government official to to say something
and you know they call it clashes and i
think calling your clashes
is a big mistake this is not these are
not clashes this is state-sponsored
terrorism
by a well-armed well you know
well-financed terrorist organization
which is the state of israel and the
israeli military
against an innocent civilian population
who are the palestinians who by the way
have never had an army we've never had a
military force who never had a tank
you know they never they never they were
never a threat to anyone
but this is what they do they they want
to terrorize the palestinians and to
destroy their lives
now you don't just come from an ordinary
family i mean give us a little bit of a
history for those that get watched our
programs before or didn't watch
uh read any of your book you haven't
read into your books but could you tell
us a little bit about your history and
how you got
is a condensed version to where you are
today
yes well you know i like you said
earlier in the introduction i come from
a very
honest family my father with the general
my grandfather signed the declaration of
independence our family gatherings
everybody around me were
people who either held important
positions or were part of the founding
of the state of israel and the israeli
military
so i know about zionism and i know about
the state of israel not from a textbook
or a college course but from real life
from you know for growing up inside it
and um and i also know that there is a
the palestine is a segregated racially
segregated country
where people like myself are privileged
we live on the privileged side of the
segregation
or as the human rights watch just just
rightfully
uh described it as an apartheid state
and uh and i grew up on the privileged
side and once i took the step
into that other side left my privileged
side and
took a very short journey actually
because the country is small and the two
communities are geographically very
close
to each other i became aware of this
number one the terrible injustice that's
being done to the palestinians
the lies that make up the story of the
history of the state of israel and the
lies the mythology that the zionist
built that somehow
the arabs are attacking the jews that
somehow the israelis are always on the
defensive and so on
and i decided i could know you know i
can't in good conscience support that
anymore so i reject
zionism completely i wear this pin that
says bds that calls for
boycott divestment and sanctions against
the state of israel
because i believe firmly that people in
palestine
can live free and can should live free
and can live in peace
but they can't do it as long as there's
an injustice they can't do it as long as
the injustice continues they can't do it
under the current state of affairs
where there's an apartheid regime ruling
the country it has to be a
a free democratic palestine with equal
rights
and so to that end i do what i do and i
i speak the way i speak and i
and i uh participate in the palestinian
struggle the way i do
jacob you know let us uh let's just i
want people
no matter from what background they are
jewish christian
you know they're here uh america canada
you know uk wherever i just want them to
to put themselves
um in this situation so so who is the
this person we're seeing on the screen
mikko is this uh
is who is he so this is this is
happening in the neighborhood of
jerusalem a palestinian neighborhood
called
and um i have actually friends who live
there two
palestinian couples who i know
personally are friends of mine who live
in that neighborhood
and their homes have been they've been
slated for eviction
and uh they're being evicted literally
thrown into the street
and people like this guy uh settlers who
have no connection to the neighborhood
have no connection to the homes who have
never lived there have nothing to do
with it
are being given these homes and they
just take over these homes and and
what they do is they take over a home
and then they start terrorizing the
neighbors
and then they push out the neighbors and
they go on from home to home
and this this this man is making some
kind of ridiculous
statement that if he didn't steal this
this home from palestinian families
somebody else will well that's nonsense
what do you mean somebody else will who
will
palestinians have been living in
palestine for a very long time it's the
zionists who are stealing the homes of
palestinians
we've seen that for close to 100 years
now and he is no different than many
other
israeli jews who or you know who
this is their purpose to terrorize
palestinians to evict them and to take
over their homes these and by the way
these are beautiful
beautiful homes you know this is a
historic neighborhood with a lot of very
important monuments
uh historical palestinian monuments it's
a very significant neighborhood it's not
just any old place
and this is the you know there is some
bomb who has nothing better to do than
to
bully and and beast and terrorize like i
said
innocent peace loving hard-working
palestinian families this is a
residential neighborhood you know people
live there
so we're going to watch this again for
those who are just coming and tuning in
since we're live
so you have this settler just coming in
so imagine this family's been there for
decades
so he just come in and jacob you know
this is not your house yes but if i go
you don't go back so what's the problem
what are you yelling at me i didn't do
this
i didn't do this but this is usually to
you are stealing my house and if i don't
steer it someone else is going to steal
it and if i don't steer it someone else
is going to steal it and if i don't
steal it someone else is going to steal
it
what do you think of that logic there
well his point is this the state of
israel made the decision
to evict these people and the israeli
courts
supported this decision and what he's
saying he's saying i'm just a pawn i'm
just the guy that ended up in this house
but if it wouldn't be
me it would be another settler so don't
yell at me if you have a problem it's
the state of israel and the israeli
courts
who always rule against palestinians
um so you know i'm just the guy here i'm
not i have nothing to do with it i'm
just the guy who ends up living here
if you have a problem don't come to me
if it wasn't me it'd be some other
settler
he has a point it doesn't make him less
of a criminal but he has a point you
know he's just the
he's the tip of this of this uh of this
larger
machinery which is designate which is
which is dedicated
to evicting palestinians from their
homes and
and and putting israeli jews there
instead so he in in
a strange kind of a sick way he makes
sense because the decision
the strategic decision was made by the
state and by the israeli courts
so this is kind of like what's happening
on the ground mikko
this is you know where that guy
of course the old city has enormous
significance
um historically religiously it's been
like i said an arab and muslim
uh city with obviously other minorities
living there in peace there was a
jews and christians and so on armenians
who live there in peace
but it's predominantly been a city that
uh you know that house
and it's a city that houses the al-aqsa
mosque and the dome of the rock you know
which are iconic
and like i said it's very significant
both historically and and
politically and of course religiously
spiritually
and look at what they do they have no
respect for faith they have no respect
for islam they have no respect for
religion they have no respect for the
lives of the people
who live there and worship there and uh
and doing this particularly on ramadan
is
is is you know 10 times worse than doing
it
on any other time any of the other time
of the year of course and they want to
show that they can do whatever they want
to do
whenever they want to do it and they are
the you know they're the masters of the
land they're the masters of
of um of the city and they have the
saying that whoever rules
the haram sharif whoever rules that
compound rules all of palestine
and so they want to show by force that
they are the rulers
you know it's a very dangerous situation
i think it's very tragic i think if the
world the people in the world
muslims not muslims people of all you
know
religions all faiths all countries do
not begin to impose sanctions on the
state of israel
do not begin to demand that the state of
israel stop this
do not demand that the american sixth
fleet which is in the mediterranean
come in to save the people in gaza until
the world does not get behind this
nothing is going to change and i and i
hate to say this and i hate not to be
pessimistic
but we have not seen the end of this
violence yet
i think we're going to see more violence
this is going to be one of the worst
years palestine has ever experienced
and i fear that this beautiful sight
this beautiful iconic sight
of the dome of the rock and al-aqsa
mosque
will be taken away from us will be
destroyed as supposedly perhaps by
accident or something
but there's no regard for the importance
of the significance
of these monuments and of the city other
than for their own desire to to show
power
and i say this again if the world is not
intervened if regular americans do not
intervene
whether they're muslims or or any other
faith if people around the world do not
unite and
sanction israel and demand that the
stops and make sure that and demand that
american politicians let the politicians
not just speak out again this but act
against this if they demand that the
sixth fleet come out and save
the people in gaza and declare a no-fly
zone over gaza so israel could stop
but will not be able to continue to bomb
gaza until people get up
off their chairs and get angry and get
in the face of politicians
and demand change this is going to
continue and these sites are going to
become worse
and worse you mentioned something um
earlier something about a potential or
have you heard this term
third temple and what does that mean
well there's a movement that 20 maybe 30
years ago was considered fringe
and it's a movement of radical uh
israelis that call for the building
of a new jewish temple a so-called
jewish temple
um and they were an insignificant
minority and by the way the most
orthodox jews people like rabbi wise who
i know you've interviewed and
and i know you know reject completely by
the way
uh but they have this crazy uh racist
and violent um
uh idea that they need to destroy
the al-aqsa mosque they need to destroy
the dome of the rock and build some of
the structure which they will call
the third jewish temple there was the
first temple of the second temple this
would be the third temple
20-30 years ago these guys were fringe
today they're mainstream
they're in the israeli parliament
they're in the israeli knesset in the
house of representatives
they're in the israeli government the
israeli minister for jerusalem affairs
his name is rafi peretz he's one of them
and he's in charge of jerusalem he holds
the
portfolio of jerusalem in the israeli
cabinet in the israeli government
um they conduct what they call tours
which are really horrible provocations
on the inside the compound of
laksa and they have well in the past
they used to be maybe 10
15 you know uh french people today they
have
tens of thousands of people participate
in their provocations
um and it's become mainstream talking
about the destruction of al-aqsa talking
about the third temple
so-called third temple has become
mainstream these people are now like i
said they're part of the government
they're part of the israeli uh knesset
house of representatives
they have influence um and they have a
very clear agenda and the violence that
we're seeing now is part of that agenda
the bonds that we're seeing now can and
and they are hoping will lead
to this final and and and the horrifying
moment
where all of this is destroyed i have no
no no doubt about that
do you think uh how would it be received
if something similar like this was
happening
at the vatican i don't know how to get
this something like this would never be
allowed can you imagine
it would never be allowed whether it's
the vatican or any other place you know
if it was if it was uh
any other place in the world this would
not have been tolerated i don't need to
tell you this or your listeners this is
the third holiest
uh site in islam it is one it is an
iconic structure
you know it was built by um by the great
almighty it was it is it is
over 1500 years old it has a hit a rich
history
uh it has significance in so many
different ways and it's a beautiful
place i've been there though
the entire compound is peaceful and
loving and beautiful
all these people want to do the zionists
want to go in there with their military
and uh and and and and call and you know
and instigate all of this violence and
perpetuate all this violence and uh and
desecrate the place it is um
it is beyond belief that it is allowed
to continue but again like i said
earlier it's being paid for by our tax
money
israel gets four billion dollars a year
of american pay
a pair of american tax dollars how much
billion
four billion with a b every
year after year after year after year
after year this is
our tax dollars and these are our
representatives in congress and in the
senate that vote for this
every single year they have to vote for
it and approve it every single year and
they do
and we voted for these people they
should know that if they dare to vote
to give money to israel one more time
they will be out of office
you must never vote for for for a any
elected official
whether it's a city council member or a
mayor or the sheriff or
congressman or an assembler state
assemblyman or woman
that supports israel they need to know
that supporting israel means they lose
their job
it is it is a racist violent state
it's a state that that practices
terrorism against the civilian
population never mind the fact they're
predominantly muslim
and muslims should care about that
everybody should care about that
particularly muslims
this is a terrible state of affairs and
it affects everywhere and the fact that
you know
something like this affects everybody
everybody's glued to their tvs
everybody's upset about this
there's a terrible state of affairs and
nobody does anything they're look at
what they're doing it's been going on
for days and days and days
and young israeli youth gangs are
marching through the streets
calling death to arabs destroy the arab
cities they want to
expel uh palestinians and muslims from
from the entire country particularly
from from the city
and nobody you know from time to time
you've heard a couple of senators
senator warren and
actually even senator van hollen from uh
from maryland
uh you know they made a statement saying
that this was wrong but nobody's
acting they're still voting to give
money arms and
and um and money this is a terrible
state of affairs and people need to get
off their chairs and they need to act
and they need to protest and they need
to write
and call their senators and members of
congress and city council members and
mayors and every single elected official
that they will not vote for them again
and that they demand
they demand that they stop this violence
against palestinians and against islam
what is it we got five minutes left left
uh what kind of reaction do you get
when americans hear this for the first
time that four billion dollars goes
annually
to this yearly when they hear this for
the first time are people just uh
people who don't know this are of course
shocked you know people are shocked why
does a country like israel which is
already a rich country
which doesn't need foreign aid at all
anyway
why are they getting four billion
dollars more than any other poor any
other country in the world if you want
to give that money
give it to poor countries there are
enough poor countries around the world
who could use this money
but why are you giving it to a country
that's rich and on top of that
exercises and apartheid you know it has
an apartheid regime
and look at the violence perpetrated
against against a
holy site look at their violence against
islam look at their violence against
against palestine and palestinian people
only because they're muslims and only
because they are
palestinian arabs like you said this
would not happen in the vatican
this would never happen in the vatican
people need to get off their chairs and
they need to they need to
they need to channel their energy and
channel their anger which i hope we've
you know we've made we've elicited a
little bit
to demand change and demand to demand an
end
to all support for israel period
now do you coming i mean you're from an
israeli background jewish
you're standing for justice like every
human being should be standing for
justice no matter who it's against
are you do you come under some attack
for this
i get an occasional you know comment on
social media that i'm a traitor or that
i should be killed
you know that sort of thing but nothing
nothing uh nothing too outrageous i mean
certainly you know when people like us
you know stand up and speak out then
people some people are not going to like
it
and they will react but um you know
that's part of the
part it's part of the you know it comes
with a deal it's part of the deal it's
part of what it means to speak out and
be an activist and
and so forth and demand justice and
change yeah
may god bless you we commend you for
taking such a noble stand for justice
you mentioned rockets close to your
family's house that are there
right now on the ground yeah my family
lives just outside jerusalem and just a
few hours ago
videos uh from my family of the
guys are falling just you know just a
feet away from from where they walk from
where they live from you know from the
road from their house yes it's it's
right around the
everywhere i mean people are you know
they're showing me videos they took
you know standing in the right in front
of the house and and so on
and so it's very close and this is very
close we're talking about less than five
miles from from jerusalem this is very
very close to jerusalem
um so yeah this is this is frightening
this is scary this is uh this is
we're gonna see a lot of levels of
violence that we've not seen yet we're
gonna see some
this is gonna be some very bad times
coming to palestine and
we need to all stand up and speak up i
mean what happens to israelis and you
know my family of course is close to my
heart
but this is nothing compared to what is
happening in gaza and what is happening
to palestinians everywhere
we all need to stand up we all need to
unite we all need to hold hands
regardless of our faith regardless of
our or our nationality
and say enough is enough palestine must
be saved
jerusalem must be saved al-aqsa must be
saved
must be saved from this zionist
terrorism from this destruction
it must be saved for the sake of all of
us because we want our children to enjoy
it
we want our children to be able to go to
jerusalem and pray
and their children forever this is this
is
the things like this there are not a lot
of places around the world that are
quite as unique
as jerusalem as al-aqsa and we need to
save it it is up to us it is absolutely
up to each and every one of us to stand
up
and speak up and be part of the effort
to save this and end this violence
perpetrated against muslims and against
palestinians
you uh speak to a lot of groups you go
to churches if someone wants to get a
hold of you
people even politicians if they want to
get a hold of you they want to hear the
other side
also do you recommend you we see
politicians they go down to the area
that they go ahead and cross over and go
and see
for themselves what's happening on the
ground over there in gaza do they do
that do they come over and
you know take a ride to the to the other
side and you know to keep
it fair and balanced so it's twofold you
know a few questions there what can
people do
uh how can they connect with you if they
want to bring you into their church into
their
place of worship they want to hear more
they want to learn more
and if uh for the politicians and others
go ahead and close it out
well it's very easy to reach me i'm on
all the platform on facebook
twitter please send me a message
um it's easy to find me if you go to
mikapella.com
all my work everything i do there's a
way to reach for that as well
um and i'm happy to speak in front of
everybody and anybody i think it's
crucial that people know what is
happening and and become aware and act
become aware and act because too many
people are aware but they don't act
they think they don't care enough um in
terms of americans politicians
most american politicians go on an
israeli dime so they go on all these
junkets that are paid for by israeli
organizations by the state of israel
by the israeli lobby and what they see
is what the israelis want them to see
they
rarely they do from time to time some
have gone but they rarely go to any of
the palestinian cities they rarely go to
the old city they rarely go to al-aqsa
to speak to the
uh you know to the people of faith there
they rarely go to people places like
hebron or any other palestinian city
and they don't really hear from
palestinians they are shown one a
one-sided
completely unbalanced picture and again
we need to demand that that change as
well that if politicians go
there that they go there and they see
things for themselves
not just what the israelis want to show
them thank you very much thank you for
bringing us up to date and helping us
get a better picture and understanding
what's going on on the ground thank you
thank you mikko