Democracy Now!

Sonia Guajajara is Brazil's first Indigenous cabinet minister and the country's first-ever minister of Indigenous peoples. We recently sat down with Guajajara at the COP28 summit in Dubai to discuss the role of Indigenous communities in the rapidly developing climate crisis. She discussed her work within the administration of Brazilian President Lula to stop Amazon rainforest deforestation and to wrest back Indigenous governance from extractive industry. We have little time left," Guajajara warned. We've lost more than 60% of our native plants in the forest. So climate change is not just a problem of the future. We're experiencing the consequences right now."

The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote today on a watered-down resolution on aid to Gaza. Though the resolution originally called for an immediate ceasefire, the United States repeatedly pushed for the vote to be delayed and the resolution's language weakened before agreeing to support it. In the meantime, the death toll in Gaza has surpassed 20,000, while an additional 500,000 now face hunger and starvation. Ahead of today's Security Council session, we speak to Ahmed Abofoul, a Gaza-born and now Hague-based attorney with the Palestinian human rights organization Al-Haq, who calls out the double standards" of U.S. support of Israel's actions in Gaza, as compared to its mobilization of international enforcement mechanisms against Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The American government is complicit in this genocide. There is blood of Palestinian children on their hands."

In mourning and honor" of Palestinians killed in Gaza, the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, has announced the cancellation of traditional Christmas festivities. In Bethlehem, we're joined by the president of Dar al-Kalima University, Reverend Mitri Raheb. Reverend Raheb relates the story of Jesus, a refugee whose mother had no place to safely give birth, to the plight of displaced Gazans facing a dearth of medical care. The Christmas story actually is a Palestinian story, par excellence," he tells us, yet we don't hear the Christian community actually doing much about the atrocity happening in Gaza today." As the world turns its back on the ongoing genocide, Rehab says he fears this could be the end of the Christian presence in Gaza."

U.N. Warns One-Quarter of Gazans Are Starving Amid Israeli Assault and Siege, Committee to Protect Journalists: Israel Is Killing Media Workers at Unprecedented Pace, U.N. Security Council Delays Vote on Watered-Down Gaza Resolution Again Amid U.S. Veto Threat, Facebook and Instagram Censor Voices in Support of Palestine, Labor-Led March Protests AIPAC Campaign Contributions to New York Politicians, Last French Soldiers Depart Niger After Decadelong Occupation, But U.S. Troops Remain, Biden Administration Grants Two More Permits to Contested Mountain Valley Pipeline, Much of North America Won't See a White Christmas Amid Hottest Year in Human History, Jury Acquits 3 Tacoma Officers Who Killed 33-Year-Old Unarmed Black Father Manuel Ellis, GOP Crackdown on Voter Fraud" Targets Voters of Color, Democrats, Trump Audio Shows Ex-President Pressured Michigan Election Workers Not to Certify His 2020 Defeat, Giuliani Files for Bankruptcy After Judge Orders Him to Pay $148M to Defamed Election Workers, Gunman Kills at Least 14 in Prague University Rampage, Czech Republic's Worst Mass Shooting, U.S. Judge Blocks Law That Would Ban Guns in Public Places

As the 2024 presidential election campaign heats up, Republican front-runner Donald Trump is escalating his racist rhetoric, repeatedly saying in recent days that immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country," drawing comparisons to Hitler. Journalist Jeff Sharlet says, Even more important than the substance is the spectacle, the drama, that makes him the exciting and, in fascist terms, the man of action." Sharlet explains Project 2025, an agency-by-agency plan backed by a coalition of conservative groups for implementing fascism if Trump regains power, and how the former president is giving the far right the national stage they've always wanted.

In a historic decision, the Colorado State Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 to bar Donald Trump from the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot because his actions during the January 6 insurrection violated the 14th Amendment. Trump has vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority. If we ignore this provision of the Constitution, we make it a dead letter, and we set a very dangerous precedent going forward that people can ignore their oath of office and engage in future insurrections," says John Bonifaz, co-founder and president of Free Speech for People, which has filed legal challenges to Trump's eligibility to appear on the ballot in a number of states, including Minnesota, Michigan and Oregon.

President Joe Biden has called the over 20,000 Palestinian deaths from 75 days of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip tragic," while Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel's military will be expected to shift to a lower-intensity phase" of its assault on the territory. Phyllis Bennis, author and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says Biden must move from protecting and funding Israel's war crimes to holding Israel accountable. There's no way that Israel feels compelled to respond to that until the requests become requirements, and the requirements come with conditions that make a difference," says Bennis. At the United Nations Security Council, the U.S. continues to delay and threaten to veto measures calling for a ceasefire after days of negotiations. Not only is the U.S. isolated at the United Nations, but the Biden administration, on this issue, is massively isolated within the United States itself," says Bennis.

A new investigation reveals Israel launched its military campaign of relentless airstrikes, which has killed nearly 1% of the population of Gaza, with little intelligence about where hostages taken by Hamas were being held. Jerusalem-based journalist Yuval Abraham reports the military decided hostages were just not a priority," their safety relegated in favor of carrying out this bombing campaign." The revelation comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces increasing pressure to secure the release of the hostages after Israeli forces shot dead three Israeli hostages who managed to escape captivity in northern Gaza. Abraham lays out the outrageous" differences between the media reaction to the IDF killing Israeli hostages rather than Palestinian civilians. Really, at the heart of a lot of what is going on is this disparity between having some people whose lives have meaning and other people whose lives have no meaning for so many people in the West and in Israel."

Death Toll Tops 20,000 as Northern Gaza's Last Functioning Hospital Fails Under Israeli Onslaught, U.N. Says Israeli Troops Summarily Executed Palestinians in Gaza City, 3-Day-Old Infant Pulled from Rubble of Rafah Home Flattened in Israeli Strike, France Renews Call for Ceasefire, U.S. Continues to Reject It, as UNSC Vote Delayed for 3rd Time, It Will Lead to Greater Human Suffering": France, EU Impose Harsh New Restrictions on Migrants, Texas Gov. Flies 120 Migrants to Chicago Amid Ongoing Weaponization of Immigration by GOP, NBC News: Xi Jinping Told Biden China Will Force Reunification of Taiwan, Maduro Hopes for New Page in U.S.-Venezuela Relations Following Prisoner Swap, Javier Milei Deregulates Argentine Economy as Protesters Defy Crackdown on Dissent, 140+ Opposition Lawmakers Suspended in India Ahead of Key Votes and Pivotal Elections, Paul Chevigny, Pioneering Lawyer Who Took on Police Brutality, Dies at 88

As Senate leaders say President Biden will have to wait until next year to negotiate a deal with Republicans on immigration as part of an emergency funding package, the leading GOP presidential candidate doubled down on his hateful comments about immigrants that echoed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. This comes as Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a major Trump supporter, approved a sweeping new law that allows police to arrest anyone they suspect to have entered into the United States without authorization. It's very clear that we are under attack. ... We have targets on our backs," says Marisa Limon Garza, executive director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, which is challenging the new Texas law along with other rights groups.

As international outrage grows over Israeli attacks on churches in Gaza, we speak with Philip Farah, co-founder of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace. Israeli snipers shot dead an elderly woman and her adult daughter at the Holy Family Parish, a Catholic church, on Sunday. Pope Francis denounced the killings as terrorism." Farah's elderly relative Elham Farah, a beloved music teacher and member of one of the oldest Christian families in Gaza, was killed by an Israeli sniper in November while sheltering outside the church. Israeli soldiers have also attacked Palestinian Christians elsewhere in Gaza as part of this genocidal war," says Farah. There's no other name for it."

Historian Rashid Khalidi discusses the pending United Nations Security Council vote on suspending fighting in Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and the future of Palestine. The Biden administration reportedly delayed the U.N. vote and pushed other countries to water down the language. This comes as Israel and Hamas leaders have signaled they are open to another truce and hostage exchange. Israel's relentless assault on Gaza has now killed nearly 20,000 Palestinians and displaced over 90% of the Gaza Strip's 2.3 million people. The situation in Gaza is unspeakable," says Khalidi, the Edward Said professor of modern Arab studies at Columbia University. We are talking about traumatic events that are going to scar generations to come." He also discusses how the Gaza war risks sparking a regional conflict, ways to pressure Israel, and how U.S. leaders are prompting anger from whole generations" in the Arab world and beyond.

Openings for New Truce as Deadly Israeli Attacks Continue to Target Civilians in Jabaliya, Rafah, U.N. Security Council Again Delays Gaza Resolution Vote as U.S. Stalls over Language, Lloyd Austin Announces Coalition to Combat Houthi Red Sea Attacks, Police Arrest High-Profile Activists as Multifaith Groups from Across the U.S. Protest at Capitol, Colorado Supreme Court Bars Trump from Appearing on Presidential Primary Ballot, Senate Confirms Final Pentagon Nominees as Tuberville Blockade Ends, U.N. Says Russian Forces Have Committed War Crimes in Ukraine, Incl. 142 Civilian Executions, Sudan's Paramilitary RSF Seizes 2nd-Largest City Amid Spiraling Humanitarian Crisis, DRC Voters Face Polling Site Issues as Presidential Election Gets Underway, Foreign Firms Court Bolivia as It Ramps Up Lithium Exploitation, New York Establishes Commission to Explore Reparations for Black Residents, Masha Gessen Receives Hannah Arendt Prize in Pared-Down Ceremony

Israel is deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel in Gaza, prompting Human Rights Watch to accuse the occupation of utilizing starvation as a weapon of war. Human Rights Watch's Israel and Palestine director, Omar Shakir, says 97% of the groundwater in Gaza is unfit for human consumption after the destruction of pipelines and treatment sources, the rejection of humanitarian aid and the collapse of the medical system under incessant bombing, leading to mass dehydration and contagious disease. Shakir calls on the international community to condemn Israel's actions and to increase pressure on U.S. support in particular. The United States and Israel are isolated in the international community," Shakir says. The use of double standards in Israel and Palestine harms civilians all over the world."

In Part 2 of our interview with Fadi Abu Shammalah, the head of Gaza's General Union of Cultural Centers, he describes how his three children were finally able to flee to Cairo this morning. He is now working to secure safe passage for more than a dozen family members still stuck behind the blockade. The international community are silent. And a lot of them are supporting it," Abu Shammalah says.

As the Biden administration faces accusations of being too slow to help Palestinian Americans and their families trapped in Gaza, we speak with Narmin Abushaban in Detroit whose mother died from lack of medical care while waiting to leave Gaza. She is working now to rescue the rest of her family members. This comes as calls grow for the U.S. to grant temporary protected status (TPS) to Palestinians already in the United States. We are also joined by civil rights attorney Sophia Akbar to discuss a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of violating the constitutional rights of Palestinian Americans by withholding support for U.S. citizens, residents and their family members trapped in Gaza, despite having organized charter flights from Tel Aviv for Americans to leave Israel after the October 7 Hamas attack and having accepted hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

We are joined in Cairo by Fadi Abu Shammalah, the head of Gaza's General Union of Cultural Centers, who describes the inhumane conditions he was able to escape in Gaza. Every city in the Gaza Strip is beyond our imagination," says Abu Shammalah. He notes that in just the last 36 hours, at least 170 civilians were killed. Witnesses say that the Israeli bulldozers buried the injured people in Kamal Adwan Hospital. They buried them while they are alive," says Abu Shammalah. They were still alive. They killed and they buried them." He calls this a war on Palestinian civilians, meant to destroy as much of Gaza's infrastructure as possible.

Israeli Strikes on Jabaliya and Rafah Kill Dozens, Pushing Gaza Death Toll Toward 20,000, Palestinian Journalists Adel Zorob, Abdullah Alwan and Haneen Al-Qashtan Killed by Israeli Strikes, In Tel Aviv, Pentagon Chief Calls U.S.-Israel Ties Unshakable," Pledges More Arms for Israel, U.N. Security Council Delays Vote on Gaza Ceasefire Resolution After U.S. Delegation Objects, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Signs SB4, Making It a Crime to Enter the U.S. Outside Ports of Entry, Egypt's el-Sisi Claims Victory in Presidential Election After Barring and Intimidating Opponents, Pope Francis Allows Priests to Bless Same-Sex Couples But Won't Budge on Gay Marriage, Earthquake Strikes Northwestern China, Killing at Least 118 and Injuring Hundreds, EPA to Review Safety of Vinyl Chloride in Wake of Ohio Rail Disaster, Judge Denies Trump's Request to Toss Civil Fraud Trial, Former Election Workers Sue Rudy Giuliani Again After Winning $148 Million Defamation Suit, Italian Marxist Philosopher Antonio Negri Dies at 90

After some 200 countries at COP28 agreed to phase down fossil fuels, nations are facing pressure to block new oil and gas projects. A growing number of Democrats are calling on President Biden to stop massive new fossil fuel developments, and climate groups in the U.K. filed a lawsuit to block a massive new oilfield in the North Sea, saying it violates obligations to target net-zero carbon emissions. Without means of implementation, these are just words," says The Guardian's senior climate reporter Nina Lakhani, who covered COP28. She says the COP28 deal continues a tragic history of powerful, polluting countries denying their responsibility for climate change and refusing to support those most impacted. Equity is not anywhere to be seen in that final document that we got."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing growing calls for another ceasefire in Gaza after Israeli troops mistakenly shot dead three Israeli hostages who were shirtless and waving a white flag. This comes as Israel continues to target hospitals, refugee camps and journalists in Gaza. On Friday, Samer Abudaqa, a reporter from Al Jazeera, bled to death after being injured in an Israeli drone strike on a U.N. school. Israeli forces prevented ambulances and rescue workers from reaching him for five hours. This is not the first time we've gone through this," says Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara of Israel's ongoing assault on Gaza, that has impacted citizens like journalists, teachers and doctors the most. Gaza has been the target of this war, not Hamas." Bishara addresses how the United States is increasingly isolated in its opposition to a ceasefire, growing focus on Israel's collective punishment, and more.

HRW Accuses Israel of Using Starvation as a Weapon of War in Gaza as Sweeping Assault Continues, Pope Francis Condemns Shooting of Two Palestinian Women at Gaza's Catholic Church, Gaza Hospitals Have Become a Bloodbath" as Israel Targets Health Facilities, Residential Areas, Palestinian Authorities Call for Probe into Bulldozing Deaths at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Al Jazeera Journalist Samer Abudaqa Bleeds to Death After Israeli Drone Strike Amid Attack on Press, IDF Kills 3 Hostages as Israelis Demand Netanyahu Gov't Make Deal to Release Remaining Captives, U.K. and Germany Call for Sustainable Ceasefire in Gaza", Rudy Giuliani Ordered to Pay $148 Million to Georgia Election Workers He Defamed After Trump Loss, Trump Ramps Up Violent Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric as He Campaigns for 2024, Ohio Prosecutors Charge Black Woman with Felony Abuse of a Corpse" After Miscarriage, Opposition Parties Claim Vote Rigging as Serbia's Ruling Party Wins Snap Elections, Far-Right Argentine President Javier Milei Announces Plans to Crack Down on Protests, Chilean Voters Reject Replacing Pinochet-Era Constitution with Document Drafted by Conservatives

The Israeli military this week raided the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, a renowned cultural institution whose mission is to fight for Palestinian justice, equality and self-determination. It's part of a wave of violence Israel has unleashed across the occupied West Bank since October 7, killing 58 people in Jenin alone even as the country intensifies its assault on Gaza. We speak with Freedom Theater artistic director Ahmed Tobasi, who was just released after being held for 24 hours. Two of his colleagues remain in Israeli detention. The Israeli soldiers believe we are not human beings," says Tobasi. You are under occupation, and that's your destiny as a Palestinian." He decries the decades of international impunity under which the oppression of Palestinians operates, and calls on Americans to resist the use of their tax dollars to fund Israel's violence. They believe no one in this world can ask them to stop," he says. We also get a reaction from Peter Schumann, the founder and director of the Bread and Puppet Theater, the legendary political and social justice-oriented theater company, marking its 60th year with a puppet show in New York City that is an ode to Gaza.

We speak with the acclaimed Russian American writer Masha Gessen, whose latest article for The New Yorker looks at the politics of Holocaust commemoration in Europe. Gessen was scheduled to receive the prestigious Hannah Arendt Prize in Germany on December 15, but the ceremony was postponed after some award sponsors withdrew support over Gessen's comparison in the article of Gaza to the Warsaw Ghetto. A smaller award ceremony is set for Saturday. Gessen says Germany's culture of learning about and atoning for the sins of the Nazi regime has morphed into steadfast support for the state of Israel despite its actions, while banning most forms of pro-Palestinian solidarity as part of a flawed effort to fight antisemitism. The cornerstone of this form of memory politics" is that you can't compare the Holocaust to anything," says Gessen. My argument is that in order to learn from history, we have to compare."

Death Toll from Israeli Strikes on Gaza and West Bank Tops 19,000, Starving Gazans Intercept Humanitarian Aid Trucks in Search of Food, Israeli Troops Kill Child, Block Ambulances and Tear-Gas Hospital in Occupied West Bank, Israel's Military Chief Says Gaza Assault Will Last More Than Several Months", U.N. Secretary-General Decries Unprecedented and Unbearable" Israeli Assault on Gaza, Jewish Protesters and Allies Organize Coordinated Actions Across U.S. for Final Night of Hanukkah, Peace Is the Only Path Forward": Labor Leaders Join Progressive Dems in Call for Gaza Ceasefire, House Passes $886B NDAA, Including Extension of Warrantless Surveillance Program, Record 50 Million People in Western and Central Africa Expected to Experience Hunger in 2024, U.N. Warns Sudanese Conflict Pushing Civilians to Famine-Like Conditions, Senegal Court Clears Path for Jailed Opposition Leader Ousmane Sonko to Challenge President Sall, EU to Open Membership Talks with Ukraine as Hungary's Orban Blocks $55B Aid Package, Brazil's Congress Overrides Lula to Reimpose Date Restrictions on Indigenous Land Claims

We look at student protests nationwide calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, including 41 students at Brown University arrested Monday at a sit-in demanding the school divest its endowment from weapons manufacturers like Raytheon and United Technologies, and a weeklong sit-in at Haverford College. One of the students who joined the protest has just returned to campus: Kinnan Abdalhamid, a junior who was shot two weeks ago along with his two friends, who are also of Palestinian descent, by a white man in Burlington, Vermont. We speak with Abdalhamid and Ellie Baron, an organizer with Students for Peace at Haverford College who is the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor. It's very heartwarming to see a collective body of students stand against a blatant genocide of my people," says Abdalhamid about support for Palestine at Haverford and other schools.

We discuss President Joe Biden's full support for a scorched-earth campaign" in Gaza with The Intercept's Jeremy Scahill, who says the U.S. is providing political cover and rushing weapons there and giving support to the most pernicious lies that Israel [is] telling." Despite the Biden administration's recent assertions that it is helping to restrain Israel, Israel's military and intelligence operation is significantly propped up by resources from the United States State and Defense departments, explains Scahill. This is a joint U.S. operation militarily and politically." Meanwhile, he says, Biden continues to repeat debunked falsehoods about pictures of beheaded babies from the October 7 Hamas attack.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are calling for Israel to be officially investigated for committing war crimes in its targeting of journalists. This comes after an internal Reuters investigation conclusively found that its journalist Issam Abdallah was killed by an Israeli tank shell fired on him and a group of six other journalists in southern Lebanon on October 13. We speak with investigation co-author and Reuters Lebanon bureau chief Maya Gebeily, who says the group of journalists did everything right," including being clearly marked as press, yet were still fired upon in two successive strikes, meaning the attack is a clear violation of international humanitarian law against the military targeting of journalists.

Israeli Attacks Kill 200 Palestinians in 24 Hours as Rains Increase Spread of Disease in Gaza, Israeli Army Raids Jenin, Killing 11 Palestinians and Arresting Leaders of Freedom Theatre, U.S. Stalls Sale of 27,000 Rifles to Israel over Settler Violence, Washington Post: Israel Used U.S.-Supplied White Phosphorus to Attack Civilians in Lebanon, Bernie Sanders Calls on Biden to Cancel Request for $10 Billion in Military Aid to Israel, Russia and Ukraine Trade Drone Attacks as Hungary's Orban Threatens to Block EU Aid to Ukraine, SCOTUS Will Hear Challenge to FDA Rules for Abortion Pill Mifepristone, SCOTUS to Hear Challenge to Obstruction Charge in Jan. 6 Insurrection Cases, Tape Reveals Kenneth Chesebro Warned Trump over Fake Electors" Scheme After 2020 Election, House GOP Formalizes Biden Impeachment Inquiry, Hunter Biden Defies GOP Subpoena, Makes Rare Public Comments, Tesla Recalls 2 Million Vehicles over Flaws in Autopilot Software

President Biden appears to be caving to hard-line Republican demands for a new crackdown on asylum seekers and immigrants nationwide in exchange for more Ukraine funding. As negotiations on the emergency funding request continue, we speak with Democratic Congressmember Greg Casar of Texas about how he and other lawmakers oppose some of the worst changes to our immigration system in decades." Casar and Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez also discuss how today's toxic brew" of border politics relates to 200 years of Monroe Doctrine policies punishing Latin America, forcing people to flee their home countries, and then blocking them from seeking asylum in the United States.

The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to call for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza: 153 U.N. members approved the resolution, 23 abstained, and just 10, including the United States, voted no." The vote is nonbinding but adds to the mounting isolation faced by the U.S. for its ongoing support of Israel's assault that has killed at least 18,000 Palestinians in just over two months. In an exclusive interview, Democracy Now! speaks with Palestinian diplomat Nada Tarbush, whose address to the U.N. went viral last month. Only a handful of powerful states have been trying to get Palestine off the agenda and been blocking any avenue to push for the rights of the Palestinian people under international law," says Tarbush. She also discusses how Zionists have disrupted Palestine's history of diversity by trying to create an ethnocracy through ethnic cleansing and colonization.

As the United Nations climate summit ends with nations pledging to transition away from fossil fuels instead of explicitly calling for a fossil fuel phaseout, we go to the COP28 site in Dubai for a debrief with Asad Rehman, spokesperson for the Climate Justice Coalition. He says the deal overseen by COP28 president and head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company Sultan Al Jaber is a very weak text" with lots of loopholes" that allows rich countries to avoid responsibility. If you're an oil and gas baron and CEO, you must be rubbing your hands with glee," says Rehman. This requires everybody to take action, but developing countries can only act if they're given the support."

Israel's Brutal Assault on Gaza Destroys More Schools, Homes, Hospitals as Death Toll Tops 18,000, IDF Uses Telegram Channel to Post Congratulatory Images of Killed and Abused Gazans, UNGA Overwhelmingly Backs Call for Ceasefire; U.S. Is Just One of 10 Nations to Oppose Resolution, Biden Cites Indiscriminate Bombing" of Gaza But Refuses to Halt Flow of Money and Arms to Israel, COP28 Ends with Historic Deal to Move Away from Fossil Fuels; Activists Say It's Full of Loopholes, Zelensky Fails to Gain Bipartisan Support for More Aid; Biden Weighs Immigration Concessions to GOP, Russian Antiwar Dissident Boris Kagarlitsky Freed from Detention, Poland Swears In Donald Tusk as Prime Minister; Extremist Lawmaker Extinguishes Parliament Menorah, Pakistan Rejects Indian Supreme Court Ruling Revoking Special Status for Disputed Kashmir Region, Arizona, New Mexico Supreme Courts Hear Pivotal Abortion Cases This Week

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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.

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.

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."

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

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.

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."

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."

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."

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

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

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.

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.

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."