DimitriLascaris

On May 29, 2024, the Lebanese resistance bombarded Israel's military base in Metula, in northern occupied Palestine. Dimitri Lascaris witnessed and recorded the bombardment while he was standing atop the Beaufort Castle in south Lebanon, a few kilometres away from Metula.

On May 26, 2024, an Israeli drone strike killed two young Hezbollah soldiers in the centre of Houla, Lebanon. Their names were Hussein Salman Mustafa ("Haidar") and Tareq Bassam Awad ("Mujahed"). They were 20 and 24 years old. Houla is a frontline village in south Lebanon. It was evacuated months ago, after a series of devastating Israeli airstrikes persuaded local authorities that the village was no longer safe. On May 27, hundreds of villagers returned temporarily to their homes to attend the funeral for Mustafa and Awad. Dimitri Lascaris and Lebanese journalist Hadi Hoteit accompanied them. After Lascaris and Hoteit attended the funeral, they inspected the site of the drone strike. There, they found remnants of the missile that killed the soldiers. They also inspected many of the buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes over the past seven months. On the same day that Lascaris and Hoteit visited Houla, Hezbollah announced that, in retaliation for the killing of Mustafa and Awad, its forces had launched a drone attack on the headquarters of the Sahel Battalion of the Israeli military's 769th Brigade at "Beit Hillel".

Today, in the south Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, an Israeli drone strike killed two civilians exiting from a hospital. The strike injured eight other civilians, two of them seriously. Hours after the attack, Dimitri Lascaris reported from the scene of the atrocity.

In April 2024, Columbia University's President, Minouche Shafik, was invited by the U.S. Congress to participate in a McCarthyite witch-hunt against pro-Palestinian professors at Columbia University. Shafik happily obliged. One of the esteemed academics whom Shafik smeared on that day was Dr. Muhammad Abdou. On May 25, 2024, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Dr. Abdou from his home in New York City. They discussed the ordeal that he has had to endure simply for acknowledging that Palestinians have a right to employ armed resistance against their brutal oppressors. During the interview, Dr. Abdou and Lascaris discussed a Facebook post that Dr. Abdou wrote on October 11, 2023. That Facebook post can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/MuhammadAbdou2020/posts/pfbid0dY9ZknH3hppVFWoZzMLx1noyWWLyZtf2pk5XPfxVn8FNPjsV1BJqZXQphCpMcUmcl

Today, in the south Lebanese town of Bint Jbeil, an Israeli drone strike killed two civilians exiting from a hospital. The strike injured eight other civilians, two of them seriously. Hours after the attack, Dimitri Lascaris reported from the scene of the atrocity.

In April 2024, Columbia University's President, Minouche Shafik, was invited by the U.S. Congress to participate in a McCarthyite witch-hunt against pro-Palestinian professors at Columbia University. Shafik happily obliged. One of the esteemed academics whom Shafik smeared on that day was Dr. Muhammad Abdou. On May 25, 2024, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Dr. Abdou from his home in New York City. They discussed the ordeal that he has had to endure simply for acknowledging that Palestinians have a right to employ armed resistance against their brutal oppressors. During the interview, Dr. Abdou and Lascaris discussed a Facebook post that Dr. Abdou wrote on October 11, 2023. That Facebook post can be found here: https://www.facebook.com/MuhammadAbdou2020/posts/pfbid0dY9ZknH3hppVFWoZzMLx1noyWWLyZtf2pk5XPfxVn8FNPjsV1BJqZXQphCpMcUmcl.

On May 22, 2024, Alexander Mercouris of The Duran joined Dimitri Lascaris for a discussion about three major geopolitical developments that happened earlier in the week. The first of those developments was a May 20 decision by two senior British judges to grant a right of appeal to jailed journalist Julian Assange. Assange has been languishing in the UK's notorious Belmarsh prison since 2019. The second development, also announced on May 20, was the decision of the ICC's Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan, to seek arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior Hamas officials. The third development was the death of Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi, and Iran's Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian.

On May 20, 2024, after seven months of Israel's genocidal war on Palestinians, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, finally announced that he would seek arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant. Following Khan's announcement, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with author and political commentator Yves Engler about the extremely limited scope of the charges Khan has brought against Israel's leaders. According to Lascaris, Khan is attempting to do the bare minimum to satisfy growing demands for justice, and Khan cannot be counted upon to prosecute Netanyahu and Gallant vigorously. Far from proving his independence, Khan's latest move simply confirms that he's a tool of Western imperialism.

On May 20, 2024, the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran announced that its President, Ebrahim Raisi, and its Foreign Minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, had died in a helicopter crash in northwest Iran, near the border with Azerbaijan. The investigation into the cause of the crash has only begun, but one question that is certain to be considered is whether the helicopter was brought done by sabotage. This question looms large after Raisi ordered a successful drone and missile attack on Israel, carried out on April 13, 2024. Dimitri Lascaris discusses with Lebanon-based geopolitical analyst, Laith Marouf, the question of whether Israel might have brought down the helicopter in some manner. Also, on May 20, 2024, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, Q.C., announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three senior officials from Hamas. As Lascaris and Marouf discuss, Khan's allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant are extremely limited. Moreover, Khan has packaged his allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant as being less egregious than his allegations against Hamas. You can find Karim Khan's announcement here: https://www.icc-cpi.int/news/statement-icc-prosecutor-karim-aa-khan-kc-applications-arrest-warrants-situation-state During the interview, Lascaris refers to a French documentary about the Algerian War of Independence called "Alger, la Mecque des révolutionnaires" (Algiers, the Mecca of Revolutionaries). That documentary can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl-kqS1AHmQ&t=754s. If you wish to support Free Palestine TV, you can make a donation here: FreePalestine.video

During Canada's 2019 election, Dimitri Lascaris and other anti-war activists formed Disruption Network Canada (DNC). DNC is a voluntary association of Canadians committed to exposing government and corporate complicity in devastating wars and human rights abuses. Since then, DNC activists have repeatedly engaged in non-violent disruptions of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, senior Ministers in Trudeau's government, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and other powerful and influential persons. DNC activists have been particularly active during Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. This video is a compilation of Lascaris's more notable disruptions since the founding of DNC. Now more than ever, citizens of conscience must increase pressure on the powerful to end their use of violence and their profiting from injustice. If you require assistance in planning an act of non-violent disruption, or if you need help in disseminating news about your disruption, please feel free to contact DNC at canadadisruption@gmail.com.

On May 3, 2024, after conducting months of investigation and hearing from more than 60 witnesses, Canada's Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions issued a report on alleged foreign interference in the 2019 and 2021 Canadian federal elections. Despite incessant fear-mongering from Canadian corporate media and neocon politicians, Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue found that the Canadian electoral system is "robust" and that acts of foreign interference "did not undermine the integrity of our electoral system... Our system remains sound." While meandering through the central Athens neighbourhood of Exarcheia, which is a hot-bed of anti-fascist resistance in Greece, Dimitri Lascaris ranted about the sordid reality of foreign interference in the domestic politics of Canada and other Western states. Lascaris argues that no state on God's green earth interferes more in the domestic affairs of Canada and other Western countries than the United States. LINKS: The May 3, 2024 announcement of Canada's Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes can be found here: https://foreigninterferencecommission.ca/news/article/foreign-interference-commission-releases-initial-report

On May 14, 2024, students at the University of Athens launched an occupation in support of Palestinians at the University's Law School. Greek police swiftly descended upon the occupiers and arrested 27 students, but not before they scrawled messages of support for Palestinian resistance all over the walls of the facility. On the following day, which was Nakba Day, thousands of protesters marched from central Athens to the Israeli Embassy. Some of the protesters briefly clashed with police who had cordoned off the Embassy. On May 16, Dimitri Lascaris reported on these developments from outside Israel's Embassy in Athens. Lascaris also discussed the state of the resistance in West Asia, and the reasons for which he decided to tour the region in a time of Israeli genocide.

fter peaceful, anti-genocide protesters established an encampment on the campus of Montreal's McGill University, two pro-Israel students sought a sweeping injunction barring pro-Palestinian protests near university buildings. Their application was dismissed. Undeterred, McGill University itself is now seeking an injunction to compel Montreal police to dismantle the encampment with force. McGill is taking this step at the very moment when Israel is escalating its genocide in Rafah. Dimitri Lascaris discussed these developments with Montreal-based author, political commentator and activist, Yves Engler. In 2002, Engler helped lead a student revolt at Montreal's Concordia University which led to the cancellation of a speech by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

On May 8, 2024, former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter spoke with Dimitri Lascaris about Israel's looming military defeat. According to Ritter, the genocidal war that Israel launched in the aftermath of the October 7 attacks have exposed a range of Israeli vulnerabilities and the limits of Israel's brutal military power. Israel, he believes, may be forced to seek a face-saving exit from the horrors it has perpetrated.

In a conversation with U.S. documentary film-maker Regis Tremblay, Dimitri Lascaris argues that Western governments WANT Israel to commit genocide. The complete interview can be seen here: https://rumble.com/v4tp5fn-netanyahu-raffa-uk-french-usa-ass-whooping-by-russia.html https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgL4aEjATWY

On May 1, 2024, Canada's National Post newspaper published a deranged op-ed by former Canadian General Rick Hillier. In his latest Rant of the Week, Dimitri Lascaris dissects Hillier's fascist tirade. Hillier's National Post op-ed can be found here: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ottawa-abandoned-canadian-jews-in-their-darkest-hour

On May Day, 2024, a justice of the Quebec Superior Court dismissed an application by two students at McGill University for an injunction barring five pro-Palestinian student groups from protesting on the university's campus. Dimitri Lascaris discussed this development with geopolitical analyst Leith Marouf, who is currently based in Beirut, Lebanon. Years ago, Marouf was himself an outspoken critic of Israel when he was elected to the Student Union of Concordia University in Montreal, and was suspended by that institution for his pro-Palestinian activism.

Today, after Guinea-Bissau acceded to Israel's request that it withdraw its flag from two of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla's vessels, organizers of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition held a press conference near Istanbul's historic Blue Mosque. Dimitri Lascaris attended the press conference and heard of the extraordinary lengths to which Israel will go to deprive Palestinians of humanitarian aid. Despite Israel's unconscionable tactics, the Flotilla's organizers declared that they will persevere.

On April 26, 2024, in Istanbul, Turkey, the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza announced that, at Israel's request, the government of Guinea-Bissau had withdrawn its flag from two of the three vessels that comprise this year's emergency flotilla to Gaza. As Dimitri Lascaris explains, Guinea-Bissau's action constitutes a flagrant violation of its obligation under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide.

Today in Istanbul, Chief "Mandla" Mandela, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, delivered a speech to participants in the Freedom Flotilla's emergency mission to Gaza. Afterward, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Chief Mandela about the tenacious efforts of South African activists to strengthen their government's support for the Palestinian cause.

On the evening of April 23, 2024, humanitarian activists learned that the departure of the Freedom Flotilla's emergency mission to Gaza had been delayed, yet again, by Turkey's Erdoğan government. When they gathered to receive the news of the delay, survivors of Israel's genocide in Gaza spoke of the horrors they experienced at the hands of the Western-backed Israeli regime.

On April 23, 2024, Dimitri Lascaris arrived in Istanbul to join the Gaza Freedom Flotilla 2024. Originally scheduled to complete its latest mission to Gaza in the summer of 2024, the Flotilla's departure was expedited to meet the profound and urgent and needs of Gaza's civilian population. This humanitarian mission confronts, however, one formidable obstacle: the U.S., British and German governments are placing enormous pressure on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to prohibit the Flotilla's departure from Turkey's shores. Will Erdoğan honour the wishes of Turkey's pro-Palestinian electorate, or will he succumb to the dictates of Western imperialists?

On April 17, 2024, as the world waited for Israel's military response to Iran's unprecedented drone and missile strikes, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with Lebanon-based, geopolitical analyst, Laith Marouf. Marouf argues that Israel is now dangerously exposed, particularly after Iran caused extensive damage to a key military installation near Israel's border with Lebanon. According to Marouf, Israel's military is hiding the damage it sustained in the Iranian attacks, and Hezbollah's forces have begun to exploit the vulnerabilities resulting from that damage.

With U.S. documentary film-maker Regis Tremblay, Dimitri Lascaris discusses the geopolitical significance of Iran's drone and missile strikes on Israel. According to Lascaris, Iran now enjoys a dominant position in West Asia, whereas Israel's genocidal regime and its Western backers have entered terminal decline. Western states, Lascaris argues, are responding to the rise of non-Western powers by increasing their already stratospheric military spending, but this will end up bankrupting them and hastening their demise.

On the day following Iran's unprecedented drone and missile strikes on Israel, Dimitri Lascaris spoke with American-born, Iranian professor Mohammad Marandi about the significance of the Iranian strikes. According to Professor Marandi, the era of Iranian "strategic patience" is over and "Iranians have changed the equation". Future aggressions by Israel, he argues, will be met with "disproportionate" Iranian retaliation.