Lebanese Filmmaker Youssef El-Khoury: 'The Palestinian Cause Is Fake, There Has Never Been A Palestinian Entity; Nasrallah Should Just Shut Up, He Pollutes The Lebanese Mind, History, And Heritage'
Lebanese filmmaker and writer Youssef El-Khoury said in an August 8, 2024, interview with Lebanon On (YouTube) that Lebanon has been destroyed for the sake of a "fake cause," because there has never been a Palestinian entity. He asked: "When has this land belonged to Palestine?" El-Khoury said that Hamas is a criminal and terrorist organization and the reason that there are so many civilian casualties in Gaza is because Hamas fighters are hiding underground and letting their people die. He added that appointing Sinwar as the leader of Hamas exposes it as an organization that does not want peace and does not care about its people.
El-Khoury said that Nasrallah should shut up and that maybe this could save Lebanon. He said that Nasrallah should be ashamed of himself and that he pollutes the Lebanese mind, history, and heritage. El-Khoury added that he is a "Hitler type" following the model of Nero, Mussolini, and Hirohito, who let their countries be destroyed before they surrendered.
It is worth noting that at the end of the interview, the host qualified that he and LebanonOn are not responsible for the views of the guests on the platform.
Youssef El-Khoury: "Everybody is screaming that Hamas is innocent and that Israel is using excessive force against Hamas. But this is not true. Hamas is a criminal and terrorist organization, which perpetrated massacres on October 7, which led Israel to carry out a massive response, and so far, there are 39,000 casualties in Gaza.
"In addition, Sinwar is still underground. We haven't heard his voice. How come people are so proud of this 'great leader' appointed yesterday by Hamas? For me, his appointment has exposed Hamas for what it is: an organization that does not want peace and does not care about its people and their fate.
"Two-third of the people killed [in Gaza] are civilians. It is not because Israel is murderous and criminal and is bombing with airplanes indiscriminately, and so on. No. It is because the Hamas fighters are hiding underground, and let their people die above.
"We have shown solidarity with the Palestinian cause for 70 years. Tell me when was there ever a Palestinian state and the Jews came and kicked them out of the State of Palestine. And now we are fighting in order to…has this land ever belonged to Palestine? The two peoples were living there. There has never been a [Palestinian] entity…We are fighting for a fake cause. We have destroyed Lebanon for a fake cause. We have shown solidarity with a fake cause, and have destroyed ourselves. We are fighting for a thing that does not exist. There has never been a Palestinian entity."
Interviewer: "Nasrallah said yesterday to the opposition in Lebanon: Do not stab us in the back. At least shut up, at this stage."
El-Khoury: "He should shut up. He should shut up. If we shut up, it would not make any difference."
Interviewer: "And if you speak up?"
El-Khoury: "But if he shuts up, maybe we can save Lebanon from a great and imminent disaster. He should shut up and be ashamed of himself. All the TV and radio channels must ban him. Nobody should give him air time. This man pollutes the Lebanese mind. He pollutes Lebanese history and heritage."
"It is true that Nasrallah will not do anything [to prevent the war] because he is the Hitler type. When people started telling Hitler that he was about to lose the war, in 1945... a year before the war ended... Hitler was told that he was about to lose the war, but he refused to surrender. Had he agreed to surrender when he was told that it was a losing war, he would have spared the complete destruction of Berlin and would have avoided the killing of 500,000 Germans. But Hitler only committed suicide after he destroyed Berlin.
"The same thing happened with Nero. He only surrendered to his fate after he burned down Rome. Hirohito also. He only surrendered after the nuclear bomb the nuclear bomb was dropped on Japan. Mussolini, too. This man [Nasrallah] will only surrender after he destroys Beirut. He will not go away before he destroys Beirut, and when Beirut is destroyed again, the people who are keeping silent will bear the responsibility."
Interviewer: "I would like to clarify that our platform is open to all views, and we are not responsible for the views of our guests – neither me personally, nor this platform. I thank writer and filmmaker Youssef El-Khoury for being with us. Thank you."