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Updated 2024-03-29 12:45
Texas Woman Denied Abortion for Nonviable Fetus, Flees State, "One of Thousands" in Similar Position
A Texas woman has had to flee to another state to have an emergency abortion after the state Supreme Court ruled against her. Kate Cox fled Monday after she had petitioned a judge to get an exemption from the state's near-total abortion ban when her fetus was diagnosed with a fatal condition and doctors warned her carrying to term could endanger her fertility. Unfortunately, it's one of hundreds, if not thousands, of comparable stories," says Dr. Bhavik Kumar, an abortion provider in Texas. While these politicians say there are exceptions, somebody really has to be at death's door before we can reasonably act in their favor." We also speak with Tamarra Wieder, Kentucky state director for Planned Parenthood Alliance Advocates, who says the Texas case could have a chilling effect" on people seeking abortions elsewhere in the country, including in Kentucky, where a pregnant woman is the lead plaintiff in a new class-action lawsuit that argues the state's ban on abortion violates its constitution. These laws, restrictions and attacks don't happen in a vacuum," says Wieder.
Climate Activists Outraged as COP28 Draft Text Drops Call for Fossil Fuel Phaseout
At the COP28 U.N. climate summit, a draft agreement released Monday omits a call to phase out fossil fuels, proposing reductions" instead. The United States, Canada and other rich countries have loudly championed a phaseout but are simultaneously approving new oil and gas projects eating up the planet's remaining carbon budget, says Meena Raman, head of programs at Third World Network and president of Friends of the Earth Malaysia. Developed countries must take the lead, and they must end fossil fuel production and consumption now, not in 2030, 2040 or 2050," Raman says. We also speak with South African climate and energy expert Tasneem Essop, who says any phaseout of fossil fuels must be just and equitable," giving poorer countries room to develop and putting the onus on the rich Global North to decarbonize first.
Diplomacy, Not War: Daughter of Released Hostage Urges Israel to Reach Deal to Free More Captives
As relatives of hostages held in Gaza urge Israeli lawmakers to use diplomacy, not war, to free their loved ones, we speak to an Israeli peace activist whose 84-year-old mother was released by Hamas in late November as part of an Israel-Hamas hostage swap during the weeklong pause in fighting. We are demanding to release all the hostages," says Neta Heiman Mina, a member of Women Wage Peace. She says Israeli leaders must put a deal on the table" even if it comes with a painful price" that includes freeing more Palestinian prisoners, including some accused of violence. We must bring them home now. There is no time."
Headlines for December 12, 2023
Israeli Troops Storm Kamal Adwan Hospital as Gaza's Humanitarian Crisis Deepens, Protesters Hold Global Strike to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza, Harvard Rejects Calls to Fire President Claudine Gay Amid Crackdown on Pro-Palestinian Speech, Zelensky Visits Washington, D.C., to Press for More U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine, Jailed Russian Opposition Leader Alexei Navalny Goes Missing from Penal Colony, The Intercept: Indian Government Memo Targeted Sikh Separatists Ahead of Activist's Murder, Activists Slam COP28 Draft Agreement That Omits Phaseout of Fossil Fuels, Youth Activists in California Sue EPA for Failing to Regulate Greenhouse Gases, Special Counsel Jack Smith Asks SCOTUS If Trump Is Immune from Prosecution, Civil Trial Will Determine What Damages Rudy Giuliani Must Pay to Defamed Georgia Election Workers, Texas Supreme Court Won't Allow Woman with Nonviable Pregnancy to Seek Abortion
"Please Stop This War Against Us": Gaza Doctor Begs for World's Help as Hunger & Disease Spread
We get an update from one of the few hospitals still operating in southern Gaza from Ahmed Moghrabi, a doctor at Nasser Hospital, who describes horrific conditions. I've developed [a] psychological disorder," says Moghrabi, who himself is barely surviving on little food and clean water. Please stop this genocide against us. Stop this war. Please, please, I beg you." We also speak with Dr. Tarek Loubani, an emergency room medical doctor shot by the Israeli military in Gaza in 2018, about the arrests, killings and torture of his fellow medical workers by the Israeli military, and the enormous risk of disease as a consequence of the lack of essential aid and supplies available in the region. He predicts tens of thousands of deaths from starvation, dehydration and infectious disease will soon hit Gaza as Israel's assault continues in the coming weeks.
U.S. Vetoes U.N. Gaza Ceasefire Again as Biden Veers Far from Global Consensus, Death Toll Tops 18,000
To discuss the shocking United States veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution requesting a Gaza ceasefire, we're joined by Shibley Telhami, who says President Biden's refusal to engage with popular calls for ceasefire is a shocking personal decision" that will have negative consequences for U.S. foreign policy and American standing" around the world. Members of the Israeli government clearly want more than self-defense," adds Telhami, and have created human rights needs in Gaza so massive that you need a ceasefire to deal with that." Telhami is professor of peace and development at the University of Maryland.
State Dept. Whistleblower Blasts Blinken for Bypassing Congress to Send 14K Tank Munitions to Israel
The Biden administration has bypassed Congress to approve an emergency" sale of over $100 million of tank ammunition to Israel. Congress was notified just hours after the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a Gaza ceasefire. We get response from Josh Paul, former director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, which oversees arms transfers to Israel and other nations. Paul resigned from the State Department in October to protest the Biden administration's push to increase arms sales to Israel amid its ongoing siege on Gaza.
Peter Beinart & Omer Bartov on UPenn President Resignation, Gaza & the Weaponization of Antisemitism
University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill voluntarily resigned her position Saturday after a House Education Committee hearing last Tuesday on how colleges have handled antisemitism. Magill has faced demands to resign since September, when she refused to bow to pressure to cancel the Palestine Writes Literature Festival on campus. More universities face accusations that they have failed to protect Jewish students since the October 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel amid a broader effort to restrict pro-Palestinian speech on campus. We speak with Peter Beinart, professor of journalism at the City University of New York and the editor-at-large of Jewish Currents, and with Omer Bartov, a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. This whole discussion seems to me to be the least important issue," says Bartov. What is most important now is that Israel now has been conducting a war for weeks and weeks in which it has killed thousands and thousands of Palestinians."
Headlines for December 11, 2023
Displacement, Disease and Death Plague Gazans as Israel Continues Its Genocidal Assault, UNGA to Convene on Gaza Ceasefire After U.S. Vetoes Security Council Resolution, UPenn President Steps Down Amid Right-Wing Firestorm over Pro-Palestinian Movement on Campuses, COP28 Seeks Agreement on Fossil Fuel Phaseout Amid OPEC Pushback, TX Supreme Court Blocks Emergency Abortion; Kentucky Patient Challenges Abortion Ban, Oxford High School Shooter Sentenced to a Life Behind Bars, There Is No Alternative to Shock": Far-Right Javier Milei Sworn In as President of Argentina, Children of Jailed Iranian Activist Narges Mohammadi Accept Nobel Peace Prize for Their Mother
Why Is Brazil Joining OPEC+ Oil Cartel, If Lula Is Committed to Phasing Out Fossil Fuels?
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is calling for phasing out fossil fuels but has alarmed many climate activists as Brazil moves to join the oil producer alliance OPEC+ as an observer state. Paula Vargas, director of the Brazil program at Amazon Watch, lays out Brazil's environmental policy under Lula and Jair Bolsonaro's legacy of impunity for those attacking environmental defenders. Brazil has a big, big possibility of being the top leader in environmental change," but civil society must push leaders around the world to enact climate solutions, Vargas says.
Exclusive: Indigenous Climate Activist Jacob Johns Speaks Out After MAGA Gunman Shoots Him in New Mexico
Broadcasting from COP28 in Dubai, we speak with Jacob Johns, a Hopi and Akimel O'odham environmental defender who is leading the Indigenous Wisdom Keepers delegation at COP28. This is his first interview after surviving being shot in the chest by a far-right agitator in September. Johns and other Indigenous activists were holding a vigil opposing plans to reinstall a statue honoring the 16th century Spanish conquistador Juan de Onate in Espanola, New Mexico, when a 23-year-old shooter wearing a red MAGA hat fired on the crowd. Johns says he died in the airlift on the way to the hospital and is still dealing with medical issues from the shooting, but wanted to come to the climate summit to share Indigenous wisdom with the world. We as Indigenous people understand that as the old world dies, that a new one is created and that we must focus on that creation process."
COP28 Activists Say Palestine Solidarity Protests Calling for Ceasefire Face Severe Restrictions
At COP28 in Dubai, protests in solidarity with Palestine have faced severe restrictions. Asad Rehman, the lead spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition, joined with human rights groups at an unofficial media briefing to explain how climate summit officials have threatened to debadge participants for even wearing Palestinian colors or sporting visual depictions calling for a ceasefire. This is probably the most restrictive we've seen," Rehman said. Everything we have tried to do has been within the U.N. rules, ... but the rules are being changed on a day-by-day basis."
"If I Must Die": IDF Strike Kills Gaza Scholar Refaat Alareer; Friend Pays Tribute & Reads His Poem
Scholar and policy analyst Jehad Abusalim remembers his friend Refaat Alareer, the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist who was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City earlier this week. Refaat Alareer was a towering figure in Palestinian society, especially in Gaza," who used education and language as a weapon against oppression," says Abusalim, who speaks about the widespread destruction of schools and educators in Gaza by Israel's renewed bombardment, siege and invasion. The tragedy that has befallen the academic, scholarly and intellectual community in Gaza and in Palestine is unprecedented. Israel is destroying the foundations of society in the Gaza Strip."
"We Want Freedom": Refaat Alareer, Gaza Scholar & Activist Killed by Israeli Strike, in His Own Words
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza has killed the acclaimed Palestinian academic and activist Refaat Alareer, along with his brother, his sister and her four children. Alareer was just 44 years old. For more than 16 years, he worked as a professor of English literature at the Islamic University of Gaza and authored dozens of stories and poems about life under Israeli occupation in Gaza. Whether it is my kids or any Palestinian kid or any Palestinian, no one is safe. No place is safe. Israel is bombing everywhere," Alareer told Democracy Now! on October 10.Previous interviews with Refaat Alareer: October 2023: Israel's 'Barbaric' Bombardment Is Part of Ethnic Cleansing Campaign May 2021: Israel Is Trying to Destroy Us: Gaza Father & Writer Speaks Out as Palestinian Death Toll Nears 200
Headlines for December 8, 2023
Israeli Soldiers Strip and Detain Palestinians in Gaza, Including Journalist and Other Civilians, Israeli Airstrike Kills Palestinian Academic and Activist Refaat Alareer and Family Members, Netanyahu Threatens to Reduce Beirut to Rubble If Hezbollah Increases Attacks, Released Captives Confront Israeli War Cabinet over Response to Hostage Crisis, Venezuela Orders Oil Companies to Begin Exploring Disputed Essequibo Region, Texas Judge Intervenes to Allow Pregnant Woman to Receive Critical Abortion Care, Trump Supporters in Nevada and Wisconsin Brought to Justice Over Fake Electors" Scheme, DOJ Indicts Hunter Biden for Tax Evasion, Benjamin Zephaniah, Anti-Imperialist Poet and Activist, Dies at 65
"Green Colonialism": Nigerian Climate Activist Nnimmo Bassey Says Africa Is Being Sold Out at COP28
Longtime Nigerian activist and poet Nnimmo Bassey joins us at COP28 in Dubai to discuss how false climate solutions" like carbon trading markets are hurting efforts to reduce emissions and prevent catastrophic global heating. People are making deals rather than talking about how to cut emissions at source," says Bassey. We're seeing a sellout of the African continent." Bassey is director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation and received the Right Livelihood Award in 2010 for his environmental activism.
"Cabal of Oil Producers": Climate Scientist Kevin Anderson Slams Corporate Capture of COP28
As we broadcast from COP28 in Dubai, leading climate scientist Kevin Anderson lays out why he dismisses the annual climate talks as grand events" that do little to actually curb emissions. These COPs have become little more than a scam under which the oil companies and the other fossil fuel companies are hiding that nothing is being done," says Anderson. Decades of inaction make solving the climate crisis much harder, and Anderson notes technology and fairness have to go hand in hand" in order to save the planet.
"Terrorized": Gaza Poet Mosab Abu Toha on Being Stripped, Jailed & Beaten by Israeli Forces
We speak with celebrated Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha for his first interview after he was jailed and beaten by Israeli forces, when he was detained at a checkpoint in Gaza while heading to Rafah with his family. He was rounded up with scores of other Palestinians. I felt humiliated. I felt terrified and terrorized by this army because they were ordering us to do everything at gunpoint," says Toha, now in Cairo. He calls on Western leaders to stop supporting the violence against Palestinians. If you can't stop the war, if you can't stop the carnage, the genocide, just stop financing it."
Headlines for December 7, 2023
More Palestinian Civilians Killed as Israel's Assault on Gaza Enters Third Month, As Israeli Siege Continues, U.N. Warns 97% of Gazans Have Inadequate" Food Supplies, Reuters Investigation Reveals Israeli Tank Killed Journalist Issam Abdallah and Injured 6 Others, U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres Invokes Article 99 in Rare Move to Force Debate on Gaza Ceasefire, Doctors Without Borders Holds Vigil for Medical Workers Killed in Gaza, Senate GOP Blocks $111 Billion Package with Military Funding for Ukraine, Taiwan and Israel, Gunman Kills 3 People on University of Nevada, Las Vegas Campus, Kevin McCarthy Announces Retirement 2 Months After Ouster as House Speaker, Presidential Hopefuls Attack Transgender Youth in 4th Republican Debate, Trump Says He Won't Be a Dictator If Reelected, Other Than Day One", Ex-President Alberto Fujimori Released from Peruvian Prison on Humanitarian Grounds", Norman Lear, Prolific Activist and Producer Who Changed the Landscape of Television, Dies at 101, Legendary Linguist, Professor and Public Intellectual Noam Chomsky Turns 95
Why Are Russia & U.S. Promoting Nuclear Power at U.N. Climate Talks? Russian Environmentalist Speaks Out
As Vladimir Putin arrives in Abu Dhabi but does not plan to attend the COP28 summit in Dubai, we speak with Vladimir Slivyak, co-chair for the leading Russian environmental organization Ecodefense, about the climate impact of Russia's war on Ukraine and the renewed push at the summit to expand nuclear power. When you promote nuclear power, you have to understand it's diverting resources from renewable energy, and renewable energy is the real, most efficient answer to climate change," says Slivyak. He also discusses how the collapse of civil society in Russia has pushed him and other social activists to leave the country.
Carbon Colonialism: Oil-Rich UAE Buys Up Large Swaths of Africa for Carbon Credits to Keep Polluting
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from COP28 in Dubai, we look at how the United Arab Emirates is using its vast oil money to buy up the rights to land in many African countries in order to sell carbon credits to major polluters, a plan that critics characterize as a new form of colonialism. After failing to mitigate at the source," wealthy polluters now want to, basically, buy, on the cheap, African land," says Power Shift Africa's Mohamed Adow about wealthy nations' failure to deliver on climate finance and turn to a land grab" on the African continent. What they're doing is actually commodifying nature," says Adow, who describes carbon credits as an imaginary concept" amounting to permits to pollute."
Big Oil's Takeover of U.N. Climate Summit Decried by Activists Fighting for Fossil Fuel Phaseout
Climate activist Harjeet Singh joins us for an update on the U.N. climate summit in Dubai, where fossil fuel lobbyists outnumber many countries' delegations. It is deeply, deeply problematic to see how fossil fuel lobbyists are taking over these climate talks," he says, noting that climate activists' fears of an industry takeover of the world's foremost gathering for climate governance appear to have come true. We can't just allow fossil fuel industry to define what is going to happen here," Singh warns, as financial interests continue to divert political energy away from decarbonization. Singh is the head of global political strategy with Climate Action Network and works on the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, a global initiative to phase out fossil fuels and support a just transition.
COP28: Amy Goodman Attempts to Question UAE Oil CEO Serving as President of U.N. Climate Talks in Dubai
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from the U.N. climate summit, Amy Goodman attempts to question the oil CEO presiding over the talks. COP28 president and United Arab Emirates oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber is facing criticism over the record number of fossil fuel lobbyists in attendance at the summit, and recently claimed there is no science" to back up calls to phase out fossil fuels in order to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
"Catastrophic": Gaza Aid Worker on "Horror" of Forced Relocations Amid Israel's War on Southern Strip
We go to Gaza for an update on Israel's attack, which is now being described as one of the worst assaults on any civilian population in recent times. As Israeli tanks enter Khan Younis and the Palestinian death toll tops 16,000, we speak with Yousef Hammash. The advocacy officer for the Norwegian Refugee Council in Gaza describes how he and his family are facing internal displacement for the third time during the assault, this time from Khan Younis, where they had fled after Israeli warnings to head to the south of the Gaza Strip. Now in Rafah by the Egyptian border, they are struggling to find shelter and, like thousands of other now-homeless Palestinians, have resorted to living in a makeshift tent. I left everything behind," Hammash says about leaving his home in Gaza City, now destroyed. I didn't care what I was going to lose. I was looking for the safety of my family." Hammash says a paltry amount of humanitarian aid is being allowed into Gaza even as refugees of the war face starvation, dehydration and infection. The amount of aid that's coming to Gaza is literally not tangible," he says.
Headlines for December 6, 2023
Israeli Forces Intensify Assault on Khan Younis as U.N. Official Decries Apocalyptic" Situation, IDF Spokesperson Lauds Reported Ratio of 2 Civilians Killed for Death of Every Hamas Fighter, U.S. Bans Visas for Settlers Involved in Violence; Divided Senate Votes on Israeli, Ukraine Funding, 14 Congressmembers Vote Against House Resolution Conflating Anti-Zionism with Antisemitism, AIPAC Throws Millions at Possible Insurgent Campaigns to Unseat Progressive Democrats, Advocates Condemn Lack of Attention to Sexual Assault Accusations Against Hamas, Senate Confirms 400+ Military Nominees After Sen. Tuberville Ends 10-Month Blockade, Woman Sues Texas After She Was Denied an Abortion for Nonviable Pregnancy, Drone Attack in Nigeria's Kaduna State Kills 85 Civilians Celebrating Religious Holiday, Honduras Issues Arrest Warrant for Suspected Mastermind in Berta Caceres Assassination
Planet for Sale? Record 2,500 Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Descend on COP28 U.N. Climate Summit in Dubai
This year, there are at least 2,456 lobbyists at COP28, the U.N. climate summit in Dubai - nearly four times as many as last year - from companies like Shell, Total and ExxonMobil. The lobbyists outnumber the delegations of every country other than Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the summit, presided over by the CEO of the UAE's national oil company, Sultan Al Jaber. It's definitely impossible to ignore how front and center the fossil fuel influence is at this particular COP," says Rachel Rose Jackson, director of climate research and policy at Corporate Accountability, who says the climate summit must kick out big polluters and reset the system so that it can finally end fossil fuels and advance real solutions and save millions of lives that don't need to be lost."
Climate Crossfire: From Gaza to Ukraine, How War & Military Spending Accelerate Climate Chaos
Broadcasting from COP28 in Dubai as Israel continues its bombardment of Gaza, Democracy Now! investigates how militarism and war fuel the climate crisis. The jets, the tanks, the bombs, the missiles, all of these things that we are seeing raining down on people, they're all fossil fuel-dependent," says Deborah Burton, co-author of a new report that shows increased spending by NATO nations will divert millions of dollars from climate finance while increasing greenhouse gas emissions. We are absolutely going in the wrong direction." Shirine Jurdi, a women, peace and security expert with close colleagues in Gaza, lays out how women are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis and the global war machine. If we want to talk about real impacts and outputs out of this COP, we really need to look at militarization."
"There Simply Is No Safe Place in Gaza": Aid Groups Demand Ceasefire as Israel Intensifies Its War
The World Health Organization is warning the crisis in Gaza is getting worse by the hour as Israel intensifies its ground and air assault across all parts of the Gaza Strip, including surrounding the Jabaliya refugee camp and bombing Khan Younis, where many had fled to from the north. With Israel's attack killing close to 16,000 Palestinians, Shaina Low from the Norwegian Refugee Council describes the hectic, chaotic, desperate" conditions on the ground and says she can barely get in touch with her colleagues in Gaza, let alone coordinate a humanitarian response to the destruction. If they can't get in touch with each other, our operations come to a standstill," says Low. We desperately need a ceasefire in order to be able to finally address these dire needs."
Headlines for December 5, 2023
Gaza Death Toll Approaches 16,000 as Israel Intensifies Attacks and Lays Siege to Hospitals, Israeli Strikes Kill World-Renowned Researcher Sofyan Taya, Journalist Montaser Al-Sawaf, U.S. State Department Says It's Too Soon" to Judge Whether Israel Is Protecting Civilians, Lawsuit Accuses Netherlands' Government of Complicity in Israeli War Crimes, Death Toll from Tanzania Floods Rises to 63, Fossil Fuel Lobbyists Flood COP28 Climate Summit as Carbon Emissions Reach Record Pace, Trial Opens of Two Paramedics Charged with Negligent Homicide in Death of Elijah McClain, Ex-U.S. Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha Charged with Spying for Cuba, Supreme Court Hears Challenge to Bankruptcy Plan Shielding Sacklers from Opioid Liability
Climate Summit Host UAE Blasted by HRW for Migrant Worker Abuse, Toxic Pollution & Mass Surveillance
The U.N. climate summit underway in Dubai marks the first time in nine years that representatives from Human Rights Watch have been allowed access to the United Arab Emirates. We speak with researcher Joey Shea about toxic pollution from UAE fossil fuels processing, and the state of political rights in the authoritarian country - especially for migrant workers who constitute 88% of the population but lack many labor protections under the kafala system. There is no independent civil society in this country," says Shea, adding that there is sustained targeting of human rights defenders, activists, judges, lawyers, regular Emirati citizens" and anyone else who speaks out. Shea also warns that attendees of the COP28 conference are subject to mass surveillance from the moment they step foot in the country.
COP28: Asad Rehman on Funding a "Just Transition" Off Fossil Fuels & Limits on Protest in UAE
As Democracy Now! broadcasts from the COP28 climate summit in Dubai, we get an update on negotiations and more from Asad Rehman, executive director of War on Want and lead spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition. He says developing countries must be compensated by rich countries for the impacts of the climate crisis and to allow for a just transition" away from fossil fuels around the world, not just in the Global North. The annual United Nations conference opened Thursday with delegates agreeing to adopt a new loss and damage" fund to help poorer nations deal with the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis, but it has raised just a fraction of what activists say is needed to address the annual cost of climate catastrophes. The United States only pledged $17 million for the fund. Meanwhile, COP28 president Sultan Al Jaber is facing a new wave of criticism after claiming there is no science" backing the need to phase out fossil fuels. Al Jaber is also the head of the UAE's state oil company ADNOC.
"We Are All Palestinians": COP28 Activists Demand Ceasefire in Gaza, Defying Protest Restrictions
Despite strict limits on protest in the United Arab Emirates, as well as United Nations rules at the climate conference known as COP28 now underway in Dubai, over 100 people demonstrated on the sidelines of the summit Sunday in solidarity with Palestine to demand a ceasefire in Gaza. Some held banners with watermelons painted on them, a known symbol of the Palestinian movement, to circumvent a ban on Palestinian flags. Protesters were barred from chanting phrases like from the river to the sea" and Free Palestine" and were not permitted to say Gaza," Palestine" and Israel" or name any other nation. Several still did so in defiance. Democracy Now! is broadcasting from COP28 this week, and we feature voices from the protest.
"No One Is Safe in Gaza": Journalist Akram al-Satarri Reports from Khan Younis Amid Israeli Assault
We speak with Palestinian journalist Akram al-Satarri in Khan Younis, the southern Gaza city that is now the focus of Israel's assault. Israel has ordered many Palestinians to leave their homes and head further south toward Rafah near the Egyptian border, which Israel also attacked over the weekend. They are being bombarded while they are trying to move," says al-Satarri. The safety is in the very south of Rafah, and when they reach the promised safety, they end up being bombarded." Gaza's Health Ministry says Israel's air and ground assault has killed more than 800 people since Saturday, and Israel has killed over 15,500 Palestinians and displaced more 1.7 million from their homes since October 7, when it began its war on the besieged territory in response to a deadly attack by Hamas militants on surrounding Israeli communities.
Headlines for December 4, 2023
Israel Kills 800 Palestinians as Truce Ends; Hospitals Under Attack as Gazans Have Nowhere to Turn, UAW Becomes Largest U.S.-Based Union to Call for Gaza Ceasefire, COP28 Climate Delegates Agree to Loss and Damage Fund with Deficiencies", COP28 President Sultan Al Jaber Claims There's No Science" to Back Phase-Out of Fossil Fuels, Venezuelan Voters Approve Sovereignty Claims Over Disputed Region of Guyana, Four Killed, Dozens Wounded in Explosion at Catholic Mass in Philippines' Largest Muslim City, Sandra Day O'Connor, First Woman to Serve on U.S. Supreme Court, Dies at 93, House Votes to Expel Republican Rep. and Serial Fabulist George Santos over Ethics Violations
The Case Against Henry Kissinger: War Crimes Prosecutor Reed Brody on Kissinger's Legacy of "Slaughter"
Former U.S. secretary of state and national security adviser Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100. He leaves behind a legacy of American statecraft that brought war, covert intervention and mass atrocities to Southeast Asia, South Asia and South America. Few people have had a hand in so much death and destruction," says our guest, human rights attorney and war crimes prosecutor Reed Brody. By some accounts, Kissinger was responsible for the deaths of at least 3 million people. We focus today on Kissinger's actions in Cambodia, Bangladesh (previously East Pakistan) and East Timor, where, Brody argues, Kissinger ordered and oversaw U.S. actions that would make him liable for war crimes." Brody also discusses the International Criminal Court and the ongoing war in Gaza.
Resumed Bombing of Gaza Will Be Crushing to Palestinian Students Shot in Vermont, Says Victim's Mother
We speak with the mother of Hisham Awartani, one of the three 20-year-old Palestinian college students who were shot last weekend in Burlington, Vermont, in a suspected hate crime. Elizabeth Price traveled from her home in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to see her son, who is still hospitalized in Burlington. He was shot in the spine and, while in stable condition, now faces an immediate loss of mobility. Price shares how her son's resilience" and brotherhood" with his childhood best friends who are the other survivors of the shooting, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ali Ahmad, have been an integral part of his recovery. She also emphasizes that had Awartani been shot in Palestine, he would have been dead in prison or thrown somewhere in a medical facility without the support to recover from this." We also discuss life under occupation in the West Bank, U.S. displays of solidarity with Palestinians, and the media narrative surrounding the shooter's motives. Of the three young men's commitment to highlighting the larger picture of Israeli oppression of Palestine, Price says that the fact that the Israelis have started bombarding again in the Gaza Strip is something that will crush them more than their injuries."
"Mass Assassination Factory": Israel Using AI to Generate Targets in Gaza, Increasing Civilian Toll
We look at a new report that reveals how Israel is using artificial intelligence to draw up targets in its military assault of Gaza. The report's author, journalist Yuval Abraham, has found that the IDF's increasing use of AI is partly a response to previous operations in Gaza when Israel quickly ran out of military targets, causing it to loosen its constraints on attacks that could kill civilians. In other words, the civilian devastation that is happening right now in Gaza" is the result of a war policy that has a very loose interpretation of what a military target is." This targeting of private homes and residences to kill alleged combatants means that when a child is killed in Gaza, it's because somebody made a decision it was worth it." It has turned the Israeli military into a mass assassination factory," with a total disregard for Palestinian civil life," continues Abraham, who also notes that, as an Israeli journalist, his reporting is still subject to military censors. We also discuss another recent report revealing that Israel may have received intelligence about Hamas's planned attack more than a year in advance of October 7, but ignored it.
Headlines for December 1, 2023
Dozens of Palestinians Killed in Renewed Israeli Attacks as Weeklong Gaza Truce Expires, Freed Palestinian Prisoners Say They Faced Torture and Rape in Israeli Jails, NYT: Israel Had Hamas Battle Plan More Than a Year Ago But Failed to Prevent Oct. 7 Attacks, Arizona Police Arrest Protesters and Journalist Covering Blockade of Raytheon Building, MSNBC Cancels The Mehdi Hasan Show," Sparking Uproar, Russia's Top Court Bans Queer Activism in Escalating Persecution of LGBTQ+ Communities, We Are Living Through Climate Collapse": U.N. Issues Urgent Warning as COP28 Opens in Dubai, Biden to Eschew COP28 as U.S. Opens Another Oil and Gas Leasing Auction, George Santos Refuses to Resign on Eve of House Vote on His Expulsion, Animal Rights Activist Wayne Hsiung Gets 3-Month Jail Term for Freeing Sick Factory Farm Birds
Historian Greg Grandin: Glowing Obituaries for Henry Kissinger Reveal "Moral Bankruptcy" of U.S. Elites
Henry Kissinger is dead at the age of 100. The former U.S. statesman served as national security adviser and secretary of state at the height of the Cold War and wielded influence over U.S. foreign policy for decades afterward. His actions led to massacres, coups and and even genocide, leaving a bloody legacy in Latin America, Southeast Asia and beyond. Once out of office, Kissinger continued until his death to advise U.S. presidents and other top officials who celebrate him as a visionary diplomat. Yale historian Greg Grandin says those glowing obituaries only reveal the moral bankruptcy of the political establishment" that ignores how Kissinger's actions may have led to the deaths of at least 3 million people across the globe. Grandin is author of Kissinger's Shadow: The Long Reach of America's Most Controversial Statesman.
"This Is Genocide": Attorney Raji Sourani on Israeli War Crimes & Fleeing Gaza After Home Was Bombed
After his home in Gaza was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike in October, Palestinian human rights lawyer Raji Sourani joins us from Cairo. He says Israel is enacting a new Nakba" in its war on Gaza, and the expulsion of all Palestinians from their homeland is the clear end goal of the Israeli state. They want us out, out of Palestine, out of Gaza, out of the West Bank," says Sourani. This is genocide, this is ethnic cleansing, and these are first-class war crimes."
"Horror Show": Doctors Without Borders Demands Permanent Ceasefire in Gaza, Medical Aid for Wounded
We get an update from Avril Benoit, executive director of Doctors Without Borders, on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and violence hospitals are facing in the occupied West Bank. Israeli troops shot dead two Palestinian children Wednesday during a raid on the Jenin refugee camp, and medical workers say they were blocked from reaching the camp to treat the wounded. Under humanitarian law, anyone should be able to reach a hospital," says Benoit, who is demanding a proper ceasefire" in the region to allow medical aid to reach people devastated by Israel's war. She says the prospect of Israel resuming its bombardment of Gaza, including in the south where people were ordered to move, would be a horror show."
Headlines for November 30, 2023
Israel and Hamas Agree to Last-Minute Deal Extending Truce by 24 Hours, Decomposing Bodies of Premature Babies Discovered in Besieged Gaza Hospital, Israeli Forces Kill Two Palestinian Children in Raid on Jenin Refugee Camp, Palestinian Gunmen Kill 3 at Jerusalem Bus Stop; Netanyahu Pledges Gaza Assault Will Resume, Christmas Is Canceled": Protesters at NYC Tree-Lighting Ceremony Call for End to Israeli Occupation, House Progressives Join White House Hunger Strikers in Call for Gaza Ceasefire, Prominent Law Firm Rescinds Job Offer to Arab American Attorney Who Supports Palestinian Rights, Henry Kissinger, Who Instigated Wars and Backed Dictatorships Under Nixon and Ford, Dies at 100, DOJ Indictment Alleges Indian National Plotted to Assassinate Sikh Activist in U.S., Elon Musk Tells Advertisers Pulling Out of X, Go F*** Yourself"
Remembering Rosalynn Carter, Former First Lady & Pioneering Advocate for Mental Health Journalism
We look at former first lady Rosalynn Carter's decadeslong advocacy for mental healthcare in the United States. She died November 19 at the age of 96. Carter campaigned for legislation forcing health insurance to cover mental healthcare and fought to remove stigma around the topic through a fellowship program for journalists. There are hundreds of fellows that were inspired by Mrs. Carter, and that has led to a sea change," says Aaron Glantz, award-winning journalist and former Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism. There was no established beat for mental health in journalism, and she's utterly changed that.
Mass Killings in Darfur Revealed as Fighting Between Sudanese Military Factions Escalates
We get an update on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, where more than 12,000 people have been killed and over 6 million displaced since April, when the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group broke out into fighting. Earlier this month, human rights groups say members of the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group carried out a massacre of around 1,300 Masalit people over three days in Sudan's West Darfur region and have subjected them to unlawful detentions, sexual violence, ill-treatment and looting. The overall picture that survivors drew to us is horrific," says Human Rights Watch researcher Mohamed Osman, who details how the United Arab Emirates and Egypt are suspected of backing the fighting between the groups. What we know is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the violations that people are facing day to day," says Sudanese activist Marine Alneel, who lays out how today's fighting continues the country's history of power struggles.
UAE Oil CEO Sultan Al Jaber Uses His Role as U.N. Climate Summit President to Push Fossil Fuel Deals
As the largest-ever United Nations climate summit kicks off Thursday in Dubai, we look at how the COP28 president, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, who is also CEO of the United Arab Emirates state oil company, has used climate summit meetings to lobby countries for oil and gas deals. The Centre for Climate Reporting obtained documents from meeting briefings that include Abu Dhabi National Oil Company talking points. The Centre's Ben Stockton lays out how the oil boss was put in charge of the climate summit, and how the UAE also hopes to use COP28 to deflect from a record of human rights abuses." The new revelations call into question the integrity of COP28," he says. Democracy Now! will broadcast from COP28 in Dubai next week.
Headlines for November 29, 2023
More Captives Released from Gaza and Israel as Key Parties Urge Extension of Truce, Aid Groups Detail Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza as Hundreds of Thousands Face Starvation, Israeli Forces Continue Deadly West Bank Attacks, Lay Siege to Jenin Hospitals During Lengthy Raid, I Am But One Casualty in the Much Wider Conflict": Shot Palestinian American Student Speaks Out, Koch Super PAC Endorses Nikki Haley as GOP Nominee for President, Center for Reproductive Rights Argues Against Texas Abortion Ban Before State's Supreme Court, Panama to Expel Canadian-Owned Copper Mine After Supreme Court Ruling, Indigenous Group Wins Fight to Reclaim Ancestral Land After Being Forced Out 8 Decades Ago, Peace Talks Resume Between Philippines Gov't and New People's Army, Sierra Leone Officials Say Recent Attacks Were Failed Coup Attempt, Rosalynn Carter Memorial Service Brings Out Former and Current Presidents, First Ladies
Remembering Pablo Yoruba Guzmán, Young Lords Co-Founder, Afro-Latino Leader, Legendary NYC Journalist
We remember the legendary activist and journalist Pablo Yoruba Guzman, who died from a heart attack Sunday at age 73. Guzman was the former minister of information of the Young Lords Party, the revolutionary social justice group led by Puerto Ricans in the 1960s and '70s. He later became a beloved print and television reporter, known for his street reporting. Guzman was the first great public relations expert of the Latino community," says Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez, also a former Young Lord. He was one of the first Afro-Latino people in the media," adds Johanna Fernandez, associate professor of history at the City University of New York's Baruch College and author of The Young Lords: A Radical History. She says Guzman brought to the Young Lords a theorization of race in Latin America" and built common cause with Black Americans."
Jeremy Scahill: Israel's "Lethal Lie" About Al-Shifa Hospital as Hamas Base Was Co-Signed by Biden
The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill deconstructs Israel's narrative around Gaza's Al-Shifa Hospital, including unsubstantiated allegations Hamas uses tunnels under the hospital as its command center - tunnels that Israel itself built. We were told that this was like a Hamas Pentagon," says Scahill, who describes how the Israeli military's own evidence disproves its allegations that the hospital was dangerous enough to justify its siege and bombardment. The World Health Organization says Al-Shifa, Gaza's largest hospital, is no longer functioning." The Israeli disinformation campaign against it was a lethal lie," says Scahill. We also discuss the status of Palestinian prisoners who are now candidates for release in Israel and Hamas's ongoing hostage exchange.
"Atmosphere of Hate": AFSC Leader & Palestinian Vermonter on Shooting of 3 College Students
We get an update on the three university students of Palestinian descent who were shot Saturday in Burlington, Vermont. Two were wearing keffiyehs and speaking Arabic at the time of the attack. Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdalhamid and Tahseen Ahmad are now recovering, though Hisham Awartani, who was shot in the spine, has reportedly lost feeling in the lower part of his body. The FBI is reportedly investigating whether the shooting was a hate crime. This atmosphere of hate" starts from the federal level," declares Wafic Faour of the organization Vermonters for Justice in Palestine, who joins us to discuss the recent history of Vermont's suppression of pro-Palestinian sentiment. If you talk about Palestinian rights, you're going to be called 'terrorist,'" says Faour, yet although the attacker is a white supremacist, ... we don't call it as is." We also speak to Joyce Ajlouny, former director of the Ramallah Friends School in the occupied West Bank, where the three victims were students together. She reads poems they wrote in sixth grade and notes that over the course of the decadeslong occupation, Palestinians of all faiths ... have not been offered the humanity and dignity that they deserve."
Headlines for November 28, 2023
Israel and Hamas Agree to Extend Truce by 48 Hours to Exchange More Captives, Elon Musk Says Starlink Internet Service Will Operate in Gaza Only with Israel's Approval, Vermont Man Pleads Not Guilty to Attempted Murder of Three Palestinian Students, Former Obama Adviser Pleads Not Guilty to Hate Crimes over Racist Harassment of NYC Vendor, Activists at White House Launch Hunger Strike Demanding Biden Press for Gaza Ceasefire, Ahead of COP28 Climate Summit, U.N. Warns of Rapidly Melting Antarctic Sea Ice, Biden Won't Join World Leaders at COP28 Climate Talks, Climate Reporters' Sting Reveals Saudi Plan to Hook" Poorer Countries on Fossil Fuels, U.N. Warns of Worsening Humanitarian Crisis in Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Russia Cracks Down Further on Journalists Masha Gessen, Evan Gershkovich, Vermont Community Radio Pioneer and NASCAR Enthusiast Ken Squier Dies at 88
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