Democracy Now!

International humanitarian leader Jan Egeland joins Democracy Now! to discuss aiding civilians in war-torn areas of Ukraine, Syria, Sudan and Gaza. In Ukraine, residents are bracing for another winter of war as a Russian offensive reaches within two miles of the key eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk. The population is exhausted, so imagine how it is in the trenches with those soldiers. Many of them have continuously been in battle for two years now," says Egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. The courageous humanitarian aid workers ... are targeted like the civilian population. Even ambulances are repeatedly hit."

The fall of the Assad regime in Syria continues to reshape the country and the greater Middle East. In Damascus, leaders of the armed group HTS have retained most services of the civilian government but vowed to dissolve Assad's security forces and shut down Assad's notorious prisons. People have this sense of regained freedom," says Syrian architect and writer Marwa al-Sabouni in Homs. Still, she warns oppression in the country has left the populace weakened and vulnerable. Syria is up for grabs now. ... We are completely disarmed." In northeast Syria, more than 100,000 people have been displaced due to fighting between Turkish-backed forces and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces. Israel continues to seize more land in the Golan Heights and has carried out over 480 airstrikes on Syria since Sunday. Swiss Syrian left-wing activist and scholar Joseph Daher explains how civil society is attempting to rebuild democracy through struggle from below," and how that could unleash popular support for Palestine. Israel wanted a weak Assad and is not happy with the fall of this regime," says Daher. A democratization process in the Middle East is the biggest threat for Israel."

Israel Bombs Syria's Ports; Turkish-Backed Rebels Seize Territory Held by Kurdish Militias, Families of Syria's Disappeared Search for Loved Ones in Sednaya Prison, Israel Kills Dozens of Palestinians in Strikes Across Gaza Strip, Incl. Humanitarian Workers, Israeli Sniper Kills Kamal Adwan Surgeon Dr. Saeed Jouda, UNGA Overwhelmingly Votes for Gaza Ceasefire; WSJ: Hamas Agrees to 2 Key Israeli Ceasefire Demands, Israeli Forces Withdraw from Southern Lebanese Town as Israel's Violations of Truce Continue, U.N. Experts Urge World to Hold Israel Accountable, Call on U.S. and Germany to Halt Arms Supplies, 11-Year-Old Girl from Sierra Leone Appears to Be Lone Survivor of Refugee Shipwreck That Killed 40+, Christopher Wray Resigns as Trump Hopes to Confirm Conspiracy Theorist Kash Patel as Head of FBI, Trump Taps Kari Lake to Lead VOA, Kimbery Guilfoyle as U.S Amb. to Greece, Tom Barrack as Turkey Amb., Sens. Manchin, Sinema Join GOP to Sink Democratic Control of National Labor Relations Board, House Votes 281-140 in Favor of $895 Billion Military Spending Bill, Older Student Loan Borrowers Rally at Education Department Demanding Biden Cancel Crushing Debts, Dozens of Democrats Join Activists in Demanding Biden Certify Equal Rights Amendment, Biden Commutes Sentences of 1,500 Nonviolent Offenders in Largest-Ever Presidential Clemency

We continue our look at the tragic deaths of two Black men who were killed while experiencing mental health crises. Award-winning piano virtuoso Herman Whitfield III died in 2022 after he was repeatedly tasered, handcuffed and pinned to the ground by Indianapolis police officers. Whitfield's family had called 911 to ask for help as their son experienced a mental health crisis in their home, but instead of sending an ambulance as requested, police officers showed up and attacked Whitfield, even as he said he couldn't breathe while being restrained. Whitfield's death was ruled a homicide, but on Friday a jury acquitted the two Indianapolis officers. Herman was killed in our home right in front of us," says Gladys Whitfield, Herman's mother. In a case where an individual is having a mental health crisis, the officers are supposed to take time, try to negotiate, talk to the person, use persuasion and just try to deescalate." Whitfield is also a former public interest law attorney and a current federal administrative law judge.

We speak with the uncle of Jordan Neely after a New York jury on Monday acquitted veteran Daniel Penny in the death of the beloved New York street performer on a Manhattan subway train last year. Penny was found not guilty of criminally negligent homicide. The judge dismissed a more serious manslaughter charge. Penny will not face any prison time for the killing. Neely was in the midst of a mental health crisis on May 1, 2023, when Penny attacked and held him in a chokehold for several minutes, even after Neely stopped moving. That trial just was ridiculous," says Christopher Neely, who had tried to help his nephew and bring him home amid his mental health struggles. He says the family was already resigned to Penny not serving any prison time, but still wanted some measure of accountability at trial. I was just hoping and praying that we would get some justice, but we didn't get no justice."

Nearly 200 Haitians in Port-au-Prince were killed over the weekend on the orders of a powerful gang leader who reportedly targeted elderly practitioners of voodoo because he blamed them for sickening his son. The massacre is the latest chapter in Haiti's ongoing political crisis, with gangs now controlling much of the capital despite a Kenyan-led security mission to stabilize the country and support the U.S.-backed Transitional Presidential Council. Earlier this week, Human Rights Watch called for what it described as a full-fledged United Nations mission to Haiti." Human rights lawyer Brian Concannon, director of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, says what we are seeing is the predictable result of dismantling democracy" by successive U.S. administrations, though foreign interference in Haiti goes back two centuries. He says that given the security situation today, it is absolutely indefensible" for the Biden administration to continue deportations at this time, which the Trump administration is poised to intensify.

President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to abolish birthright citizenship, which he cannot do unilaterally because it is enshrined in the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. But his rhetoric has still alarmed immigrant rights advocates who are concerned about Trump's mass deportation plans and how they would impact mixed-status families. Trump and his border czar" Tom Homan have both suggested deporting the U.S. citizen children of parents who are undocumented. No one is safe under Donald Trump," says Illinois Congressmember Delia Ramirez, whose husband Boris Hernandez came to the United States at 14 as an undocumented immigrant and only recently received a green card. She calls Trump's immigration plans un-American, unconstitutional and undemocratic."

Israel Declares Sterile Zone" in Syria Amid Massive Bombing Campaign, Syria's Interim Leader Calls for Return of Millions of Refugees, Israeli Attacks Across Gaza Kill Dozens, Including Children, Israel's Yoav Gallant Welcomed to White House Despite ICC Arrest Warrant for Crimes Against Humanity, At Least 127 Killed as Sudan's Army Battles Rapid Support Forces, South Korean Police Raid Offices of President Yoon Suk Yeol, Judge Halts Sexual Assault Lawsuit Against Trump's Nominee to Lead Education Department, Justice Department Report Reveals How Trump Spied on Congress and Journalists, 2024 Remains on Track to Surpass 2023 as Hottest Year in Human History, Climate Protesters in Albany Demand New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Make Polluters Pay", Abolitionists Call on Biden to Commute Death Sentences of Federal Prisoners, Federal Court Blocks Kroger's Anti-Competitive" $25 Billion Merger with Albertsons, Atomic Bombing Survivors Accept Nobel Peace Prize, Call for a World Free of Nuclear Weapons

New York prosecutors have charged a suspect with murder for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was gunned down in Midtown Manhattan on December 4. The suspect has been identified as 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, who was captured in Pennsylvania on Monday after a five-day nationwide search. Police say Mangione was found with a handwritten manifesto, which they have not released. Although little is known about the motive for Thompson's killing, there has been an outpouring of rage on social media directed at the health industry, with many sharing stories of having claims for vital care denied and losing precious time with loved ones during illness. Former healthcare executive Wendell Potter, now an advocate for reform, says the anger being expressed now has always been barely below the surface" and was one of the reasons he left the industry. I couldn't, in good conscience, continue to support an industry that ... established themselves firmly between a patient and his or her doctor," says Potter. What we're seeing, sadly, in some form or fashion probably was inevitable."We also speak with Derrick Crowe of the People's Action Institute, which runs the Care Over Cost campaign, helping people fight back against health insurance claims denials. These corporations have too much power in this country. They are blocking progress on issues like gun violence and on the epidemic of care denials in this country, either through prior authorizations or through claims denials," says Crowe.

A new report by the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem documents a shocking rise in harassment, detention and abuse of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron. The report includes testimony from 20 Palestinians who were attacked by soldiers in the city center of Hebron between May and August 2024, apparently chosen at random and detained for spurious or arbitrary reasons. The victims describe being punched, kicked and sexually abused, beaten with rifles, clubs or chairs, being whipped with a belt, having foul-smelling liquid poured on them, and, in one case, even being stabbed by Israeli soldiers. The violence in Hebron is part of a larger Israeli war against the entire Palestinian people" and directly connected to the genocidal assault on Gaza, says B'Tselem international outreach director Sarit Michaeli. She says that given the dehumanization of Palestinians by top officials in Israel since October 7 of last year, it's not surprising that Israeli soldiers who listen to Israeli leaders will act in a way that reflects this dehumanization." Michaeli adds that such abuses are often broadcast and celebrated. None of this is being done in a secretive way. It's all being done in broad daylight."

As Syrians celebrate the fall of the Assad regime after more than five decades of iron rule, many are grappling with the enormity of what has happened to their country, with nearly 14 years of war leaving much of the country in ruins, killing over 350,000 people and displacing 14 million more. Meanwhile, foreign powers, including Israel, Turkey and the United States, have carried out strikes across parts of the country, and Israel has invaded and occupied additional land in the Golan Heights. For more on the monumental changes underway, we speak with Syrian American political economist Omar Dahi, the director of the Security in Context research network, who has been involved in several peace-building initiatives since the start of the conflict in 2011. He says many Syrians have mixed emotions" about this moment, celebrating the end of Assad while mourning the immense human cost of the war and confronting the difficult road ahead to rebuild the country. Politics is finally possible," Dahi says.

Israel Launches Massive Airstrikes Across Syria Following Assad's Ouster, As European Nations Freeze Asylum Applications, Austria Will Begin Deporting Syrian Refugees, Israeli Massacres Across Gaza Target Flour Line, Wipe Al-Kahlout Family Off Civil Registry, Israeli Airstrike Kills 2 West Bank Palestinians in Tubas; Israeli Army Makes Arrests Amid Ongoing Raids, Benjamin Netanyahu Takes the Stand in Delayed Corruption Trial, Kyiv Pushes Foreign Troop Presence in Ukraine as Part of Resolution to Russia's War, Authorities Arrest and Charge 26-Year-Old Luigi Mangione in Fatal Shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO, New York Jury Acquits Daniel Penny, Who Killed Distressed Street Performer Jordan Neely, Nikki Giovanni, Acclaimed Poet, Educator and Activist, Dies at 81

Whatever's coming next, I don't believe at all that [it] would be worse than what we've been through, what we lived through," says Syrian activist and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab as she celebrates the fall of Bashar al-Assad's dictatorship to Syrian opposition groups. Al-Kateab, who was forced to flee her hometown of Aleppo with her family in 2016 and now resides in the United Kingdom, says the end of Assad's rule has reignited the dream of a free Syria." Her Oscar-nominated documentary film For Sama, released in 2019, offered a rare glimpse into Syria's civil war. The devastating personal account was filmed over the course of five years during the uprising in Aleppo and is dedicated to Al-Kateab's daughter Sama.

The fall of the Assad family's 50-year regime in Syria brings with it many more questions than answers," says the executive director of the Arab Studies Institute, Bassam Haddad. While the regional and global implications are not good," as Israel in particular is celebrating the loss of Assad's material support for Palestinian and Lebanese armed resistance, Haddad says the immediate relief of those suffering under Assad's totalitarian regime should not be ignored or invisibilized. Haddad also discusses the political prospects for the rebel forces led by the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which he says will likely form a coalition with other groups as the future of Syria is determined in the coming days and weeks.

We needed to turn this page. ... We've been under this inhuman condition for 54 years." Following a lightning 12-day offensive, armed opposition groups have overthrown President Bashar al-Assad's regime and his family's five-decade rule in Syria. Assad has fled to Russia, where he has been granted asylum, while tens of thousands of political prisoners have been freed. The uprising was led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, a Turkish-backed group listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the United Nations. The release of prisoners from conditions of hunger, humiliation, extreme despair" is a welcome and hopeful sign for the new balance of power in Syria, says the writer, dissident and political prisoner in Syria from 1980 to 1996, Yassin al-Haj Saleh, but it remains to be seen if others who were disappeared during the Syrian civil war, including al-Haj Saleh's wife Samira, will be recovered or their fates identified.

Bashar al-Assad Ousted as Syrian Leader Following 12-Day Offensive, Israel & U.S. Bomb Syria as Questions Swirl over Future of Post-Assad Syria, Israel Kills Dozens in Gaza; Electricity, Oxygen & Water Cut at Kamal Adwan Hospital, Trump Calls for Ukraine Ceasefire After Meeting Zelensky & Macron, Biden Administration to Send Ukraine Another $1 Billion, Trump Vows to Pardon Jan. 6 Rioters, Calls for Jailing of House Jan. 6 Committee Members, Trump Calls for End to Birthright Citizenship, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol Survives Impeachment Vote, Faces Treason Probe, U.N.: 184 Haitians Killed in Cite Soleil Area of Port-au-Prince, Former Ghana President John Dramani Mahama Wins Election, Defeating Ghana's VP, Second-Degree Manslaughter Dismissed Against Daniel Penny in Death of Jordan Neely, Indianapolis Police Officers Acquitted in Killing of Herman Whitfield, Pope Francis Unveils Nativity Scene of Jesus in Crib Lined with a Palestinian Keffiyeh

France has been plunged into political chaos after lawmakers from across the political spectrum voted to oust Prime Minister Michel Barnier in a no-confidence vote Wednesday, a major blow to President Emmanuel Macron, who had hand-picked the conservative lawmaker to lead the National Assembly. Macron called a snap election earlier this year to counter the rise of the racist National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, but he then refused to work with the leftist New Popular Front that won the most seats, opting for an establishment pick instead. With the government's collapse, Macron has vowed to name a new prime minister and stay on to finish his own term, which ends in 2027, despite his growing unpopularity. We're in this unprecedented situation of turmoil," says journalist Cole Stangler in Marseilles. He says Macron's decision to call early elections was a self-inflicted wound" that ended up empowering the far right and making it virtually impossible for any faction to lead. We have a mathematical problem. France needs to have a government, and you have three pretty evenly split blocs," says Stangler.

Israel's genocidal war on the Palestinian territory since October of last year has killed tens of thousands of people and wounded over 100,000 more, leaving many with life-altering injuries. The United Nations said this week that Gaza now has the highest per-capita rate of child amputees in the world, with many children forced to endure surgery without anesthesia. For more, we look at All That Remains, a new film from Al Jazeera's Fault Lines that follows the story of 13-year-old Leyan Abu al-Atta as she recovers from having her leg amputated due to an Israeli airstrike. It changed the trajectory of her life forever ... but it didn't even register on international media's reporting because of all the massacres that were going on," says Rhana Natour, director and producer of All That Remains. While Leyan's family was able to raise awareness about her case and secure a medical evacuation out of Gaza to the United States, it did not happen soon enough, and doctors were forced to amputate her leg in order to save her life. Natour says this still represents a better outcome than what is available for most victims in Gaza. For every Leyan that is able to leave Gaza, there are hundreds, if not thousands, who are not able to leave," she says.

Amnesty International has released a landmark report that concludes Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, making it the first major human rights group to do so. The nearly 300-page report examines the first nine months of the Israeli war on Gaza and finds that Israel's actions have caused death, injury and mental harm on a vast scale, as well as conditions intended to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza. Both Israel and the United States have rejected Amnesty's conclusion. Amnesty researcher Budour Hassan, who covers Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, dismisses the criticism and says, if anything, Amnesty's intervention took too long because of how carefully the group gathered and verified its information. We tried to be absolutely true to the definition of 'genocide' under the Genocide Convention," says Hassan, who urges U.S. officials in particular to do more to stop the bloodshed. If there is any country that has the capacity, the power and the tools to stop this genocide, it's the United States. Not only has the United States failed to do so, it has consistently awarded Israel. It has consistently continued to flout the United States' own laws in order to continue giving Israel the weapons - the very same weapons that are used by Israel to commit the genocide in Gaza."

Leader of Syrian Opposition Says HTS in Control of Hama as Groups Seeks to Overthrow Assad, Israeli Forces Continue Deadly Attacks on Kamal Adwan Hospital, Killing 4 Staff, The Ghost of Famine Is Here": Al-Mawasi Soup Kitchen Strives to Feed Thousands in Southern Gaza, France's Macron Dismisses Calls to Step Down as No-Confidence Vote Topples Government, Trump Names Immigration Enforcers Amid Push for Mass Deportations, Heritage Foundation to Spend $1 Million to Rescue Pete Hegseth's Campaign for Pentagon Chief, Bahamas & Turks and Caicos Reject Trump's Bid to Deport Asylum Seekers to Third Country, Biden Administration Massively Expanding Private Immigration Jails, U.S. Shrugs Off Historical Responsibility for Greenhouse Gases in World Court Hearing on Climate, Carrboro, NC, Sues Duke Energy over Decades of Climate Deception, U.N. Human Rights Officials Raise Alarm over Trumped-Up Charges for U.S. Climate Activists, Norway Halts Plans for Deep-Sea Mining in Arctic Ocean, Capitol Police Arrest Transgender Advocates at Bathroom Sit-In" Protest, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield Reverses Policy to Stop Paying for Some Patients' Anesthesia

We discuss the new HBO Original film Surveilled and explore the film's investigation of high-tech spyware firms with journalist Ronan Farrow and director Matthew O'Neill. We focus on the influence of the Israeli military in the development of some of the most widely used versions of these surveillance technologies, which in many cases are first tested on Palestinians and used to enforce Israel's occupation of Palestine, and on the potential expansion of domestic U.S. surveillance under a second Trump administration. Ever-increasing surveillance is dangerous for democracy," says Farrow. We're making and selling a weapon that is largely unregulated." As O'Neill emphasizes, We could all be caught up."

The Supreme Court appears poised to uphold Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth after it heard arguments Wednesday in United States v. Skrmetti. The Biden administration and the American Civil Liberties Union argued that the law, which bans hormone therapy for transgender children but not cisgender children, is a form of sex discrimination, but right-wing justices who make up the court's majority appeared to reject that argument. ACLU lawyer Chase Strangio, who has now become the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court, describes the stakes and analyzes the reactions of the justices during the landmark case, which is expected to be decided next year. It is precisely the role of the courts to step in when the government infringes on the individual constitutional rights of minority groups," says Strangio. People are suffering. They just want to be able to live their lives, and this law takes those opportunities away from them."

Amnesty International Concludes Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, SCOTUS Appears to Side with Tennessee's Ban on Healthcare for Transgender Youth, France in Deepening Political Turmoil After No-Confidence Vote Collapses Gov't, South Korean Lawmakers Unveil Impeachment Motion as Pres. Yoon Suk Yeol Faces Insurrection Probe, Syrian Gov't Withdraws from Key City of Hama as Opposition Forces Advance, Georgian Police Arrest Opposition Figures as Popular Protests Enter Second Week, Belgium Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity for Abducting Mixed-Race Children from Congolese Mothers, Sex Workers in Belgium Win Historic Labor Rights Including Sick Pay, Parental Leave, Trump Names Ex-Adviser Peter Navarro as Top Trade Official Months After Release from Prison, Trump Nominates Cryptocurrency Lobbyist Paul Atkins as SEC Chair, Trump Taps Billionaire SpaceX Investor and Musk Ally Jared Isaacman as NASA Administrator, Trump Names White House Counsel and Heads of Small Business, Social Security Administrations, Trump Seeks to Replace Biden's IRS Commissioner as GOP Works to Defund Tax Collection, DOJ Finds Memphis Police Use Excessive Force and Discriminate Against Black People, Bullet Casings Used in Killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Referenced Insurance Claim Denials, Anthem Insurance Plans to Stop Paying for Anesthesia If Surgeries Run Past Time Limit

We look at the world of high-tech surveillance with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Ronan Farrow and filmmaker Matthew O'Neill. Their new HBO documentary Surveilled is now available for streaming. Farrow says he became interested in the topic after he was tracked by the Israeli private intelligence firm Black Cube during his reporting on Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse. Although Black Cube used a relatively low-tech approach," Farrow says the experience started him on a path to investigate more sophisticated methods of surveillance, including the powerful spyware Pegasus, which has been used against journalists and dissidents around the world. As part of the reporting for the documentary, Farrow traveled to Israel for a rare interview with a former employee of NSO Group, the Israeli software company that makes Pegasus. He warns that it's not just repressive governments" that abuse Pegasus and other surveillance technology, but also a growing number of democratic states like Greece, Poland and Spain. U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies under both the Biden and Trump administrations have also considered such spyware, although the extent to which these tools have been used is not fully known. Surveillance technology has historically always been abused. Now the technology is more advanced and more frightening than ever, and more available than ever, so abuse is more possible," says Farrow.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol faces impeachment after opposition parties in the country's National Assembly introduced a motion to force him from office for his shocking declaration of martial law. The conservative Yoon made his announcement in a televised briefing Tuesday evening, accusing the liberal opposition of undermining the state and possibly colluding with North Korea. Thousands of Koreans massed at the parliament to oppose the move as lawmakers rushed inside to vote unanimously to overturn Yoon's declaration, which he rescinded just hours later. Yoon's ouster is now all but certain, either through impeachment or his resignation, and he also faces possible treason charges.We would never imagine - some of us, the younger ones - that we would have martial law called during our lifetimes," says organizer Dae-Han Song from Seoul. He describes how a lot of ordinary people came out" to oppose the power grab.We also speak with longtime peace activist Christine Ahn, recently banned from entering South Korea by Yoon's government. She says the living memory" of life under dictatorship, which lasted into the 1980s, clearly inspired many ordinary citizens to fight back. They will not tolerate that," says Ahn. It's an extraordinary example of what Americans must learn from South Korea."

South Korean Opposition Plans to Impeach President Yoon After Failed Martial Law Declaration, Israel Bombs Gaza Food Distribution Center, Killing Palestinian Children, Canadian Peace Activists Hold Parliament Hill Protest to Demand Israel Arms Embargo, Syrian Armed Groups Advance on Hama City After Seizing Aleppo, Trump Transition Approves FBI Background Checks, Though Some Nominees May Resist Them, WSJ: Trump Mulls Replacing Pentagon Pick Pete Hegseth with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Trump Taps Billionaire Wall Street Investor Stephen Feinberg for Pentagon's #2 Post, Trump's Pick to Lead DEA Withdraws Amid MAGA Criticism He Enforced COVID Rules, Republicans' House Majority Narrows as Democrat Adam Gray Flips California District, California Lawmakers Hold Special Session to Trump-Proof" State Laws, Federal Court Upholds Idaho Law Making Abortion Trafficking" a Crime, Biden Visits Angolan Museum of Slavery, Touts Investments to Exploit Central Africa's Vast Resources, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah Elected as Namibia's First Woman President, Afghan Taliban Further Bans Women from Medical Education, Bhopal Survivors March to Demand Justice from Dow Chemical on 40th Anniversary of Toxic Disaster

Canada needs to stop arming Israel and implement an immediate arms embargo." In Ottawa, over 100 Jewish activists began a sit-in inside a Canadian parliamentary building Tuesday to demand Canada stop arming Israel. Rachel Small, a member of the Jews Say No to Genocide Coalition and a member of the sit-in, says that the Canadian government's claims that it is halting arms shipments to Israel are obfuscating the fact that Canadian weapons are still being transported via the United States. We're here to make sure that they ... actually cut off the flow," says Small. Such protest is what we should be seeing more of," adds Israeli journalist and former conscientious objector Haggai Matar.

We're joined in our New York studio by +972 Magazine journalist Haggai Matar to discuss the latest developments in Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza. Matar is a former conscientious objector who previously refused to participate in Israel's mandatory military service during the Second Intifada. At the time, says Matar, he was protesting war crimes committed by former chief of staff of the Israeli military Moshe Ya'alon, who is currently making headlines again after accusing the Israeli military of war crimes. For the Israeli public, which doesn't get the news that everyone else in the world is getting," Ya'alon just sounds like a madman," says Matar. He urges protesters around the world to continue pressuring their governments and calling attention to Israel's horrific acts of massacre and ethnic cleansing" in an ongoing effort to hold Israel accountable and end its aggression in the region.

Despite committing to tackling mass incarceration during his presidential campaign, President Joe Biden has rarely used the presidential pardon to commute sentences during his time in office. As his term draws to a close and amid outrage over the pardon of his son Hunter, advocates are pressuring Biden - who has pardoned thousands who had been convicted of federal drug charges but were not incarcerated at the time of their pardons - to grant clemency to thousands more who are still in prison over cannabis offenses. The president has a chance to atone for his past support of tough on crime" measures, says the Last Prisoner Project's Jason Ortiz. He says Biden has an opportunity of correcting the injustices that were done over the past 20 or 30 years" and should extend the same grace and compassion" he showed his son Hunter to all the folks that he helped put in prison to begin with."

President Biden is in Angola today in his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa as president and as the first U.S. president to visit the former Portuguese colony. The U.S. is attempting to transform its relationship with Angola, still marked by the legacy of the Cold War, in order to compete with China's growing influence, particularly over access to African resources. Biden is expected to promote a U.S.-funded multibillion-dollar railway project connecting Angola to Central Africa. Biden's approach will likely further entrench Angola in its profound economic crisis," says Angolan anthropologist Antonio Tomas, as foreign loans mire the country's government in even higher levels of debt while enriching elites. This visit has excluded the majority of Angolans," says Zenaida Machado, a researcher at Human Rights Watch in the region. Machado speaks to Democracy Now! from the neighboring country of Mozambique, another former Portuguese colony, where protests over election results are continuing for the second straight month.

Israel Kills 12 in Renewed Attacks on Southern Lebanon, Threatening to Unravel Ceasefire, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Lead to World's Highest Rate of Child Amputees, U.N. Says, Trump Threatens Hell to Pay" as Hamas Says 33 Hostages Were Killed by Israeli Airstrikes, 14-Year-Old Becomes Youngest-Ever Palestinian Sentenced to Prison by Israel, Biden Administration Surges" Weapons to Ukraine Ahead of Trump's Inauguration, Trump's DOD Nominee Ducks Questions About Corruption, Drunkenness and Sexual Harassment, Delaware Judge Again Rejects Elon Musk's $56 Billion Tesla Pay Package, Small Island States Bring Landmark Climate Case to World Court, Australia Bans Social Media Use for Children Under 16, Tens of Thousands Strike at German Volkswagen Plants to Oppose Wage Cuts and Factory Closures, Wisconsin Judge Strikes Down Ban on Collective Bargaining for Public Unions

Syrian opposition forces have seized most of Aleppo after launching a surprise offensive in recent days that ousted government forces from the country's second-largest city. The offensive is being led by an armed group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former al-Qaeda affiliate that cut ties with them in 2017. Syrian and Russian forces have retaliated with airstrikes on rebel-held areas, with the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting 446 deaths in Syria since Wednesday. The rebel advance into Aleppo is the most significant turn in the Syrian civil war since 2020, when rebel forces were forced to retreat to Idlib. The offensive was launched at a time when the key backers of Bashar al-Assad's government - Russia, Iran and Hezbollah - are also focused on other conflicts. It was a surprise offensive that people did not expect at all," says Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb.

Israel killed more than 200 Palestinians in Gaza on Saturday, including 40 members of a single family. The official death toll in Gaza is now over 44,000, although experts believe that is a vast undercount of the true figure. Israel's onslaught has continued to kill medical and aid workers in recent days, including three people with World Central Kitchen, the head of the intensive care unit at Kamal Adwan Hospital, a staff member with Save the Children, as well as Mahmoud Almadhoun, who co-founded the Gaza Soup Kitchen that has fed Palestinians suffering hunger due to Israel's blockade of vital food aid. Almadhoun was killed in an Israeli drone strike and is survived by seven children, including a newborn baby. His brother Hani Almadhoun joins Democracy Now! to discuss what he calls a targeted assassination. My brother slowed down the ethnic cleansing of north Gaza, and that's why he was taken out," says Almadhoun. This is a war against the civilians in Palestine."

We speak with journalist Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, about the incoming U.S. administration and President-elect Donald Trump's picks for key roles, including lawyer Kash Patel to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Trump reportedly considered Patel for FBI deputy director during his first term but dropped the idea after pushback from within his own administration. Hasan describes Patel as a toady" whose threats against political opponents and journalists should be disqualifying, but that he aligns with Trump's goals of further politicizing the FBI. He wants to use it as an instrument of vengeance."

President Joe Biden on Sunday issued a full and unconditional pardon" to his son Hunter, claiming the gun and tax cases against him - for which he faced possible prison time - were politically motivated. The outgoing president had repeatedly pledged not to use his office to help his son. Journalist Mehdi Hasan, founder and editor-in-chief of Zeteo, says that while Biden's move makes him a liar and hypocrite, Republican outrage over the pardon is also ridiculous" given how expansively Donald Trump is expected to use the same authority. Hasan also notes that there are 40 people on federal death row and thousands more serving prison time for cannabis offenses whom Biden could help. There's so much a president could do with the presidential pardon power for good," he says.

President Biden Pardons Hunter Biden After Repeatedly Vowing Not To, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill Hundreds over Bloody Weekend, Incl. Aid Workers, ICU Director, Reporter, U.S. Approves More Arms for Israel as Netanyahu's Former Minister Says Israel Guilty of War Crimes, France Says Israel Has Violated Lebanon Ceasefire 52 Times, Syrian Rebels Capture Aleppo in Surprise Offensive; Russia-Backed Syrian Gov't Launches Air Attacks, NYPD Arrests 21 Anti-Genocide Protesters at Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, Trump Picks Kash Patel, Who Has Called for Prosecuting Journalists, to Head FBI, Trump Names In-Laws Charles Kushner and Massad Boulos to High-Level Gov't Roles, New Details Reported on Pete Hegseth's Sexual Assault History, Ethics Violations, Prime Minister Trudeau and President Sheinbaum Speak with Trump Following Tariffs Threat, Biden in Angola to Push Rail Project That Would Transport Congolese Minerals, in Counter to Beijing, Chad Ends Military Partnership with Former Colonizer France, Mass Protests Roil Georgia Amid Disputed Election and Support for EU Membership, India Charges Activist Nadeem Khan in What Civil Rights Groups Call a Witch-Hunt", A Moral Failure": U.N. Plastics Summit Ends Without Urgently Needed Treaty on Plastics Production

In Part 2 of our special broadcast, we look at a recent victory for Indigenous communities in Ecuador, where people overwhelmingly voted to approve a referendum last year banning future oil extraction in a biodiverse section of the Amazon's Yasuni National Park - a historic referendum result that will protect Indigenous Yasuni land from development. But the newly elected president, Daniel Noboa, has said Ecuador is at war with gang violence and that the country is not in the same situation as two years ago." Noboa has said oil from the Yasuni National Park could help fund that war against drug cartels. Environmental activists and Indigenous peoples say they're concerned about his comments because their victory had been hailed as an example of how to use the democratic process to leave fossil fuels in the ground. Amazonian women are at the frontlines of defense," says Nemonte Nenquimo, an award-winning Waorani leader in the Ecuadorian Amazon who co-founded Amazon Frontlines and the Ceibo Alliance. Her recent piece for The Guardian is headlined Ecuador's president won't give up on oil drilling in the Amazon. We plan to stop him - again." Nemonte has just published her new memoir titled We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People. We also speak with her co-author and partner, Mitch Anderson, who is the founder and executive director of Amazon Frontlines and has long worked with Indigenous nations in the Amazon to defend their rights.

In this special broadcast, we begin with an extended interview with Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha about the situation in Gaza and his new book of poetry titled Forest of Noise. He fled Gaza in December after being detained by the Israeli military, but many of his extended family members were unable to escape. He reads a selection of poems from Forest of Noise, while sharing the stories of friends and family still struggling to survive in Gaza, as well as those he has lost, including the late poet Refaat Alareer. He also describes his experiences in Gaza in the first months of the war, including being displaced from his home and abducted by the Israeli military, noting that the neighborhood in Jabaliya refugee camp that his family first evacuated to last year was bombed by the Israeli military just days ago. Sometimes I want to stop writing because I'm repeating the same words, even though the situation is worse. The language is helpless," Abu Toha says. Why does the world make us feel helpless?"

As the war on Gaza spans a second year, we continue our conversation with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. His new book, The Message, is based in part on his visit last year to Israel and the occupied West Bank, where he says he saw a system of segregation and oppression reminiscent of Jim Crow in the United States. It was revelatory," says Coates. I don't think the average American has a real sense of what we're doing over there - and I emphasize 'what we're doing' because it's not possible without American support."

We spend the hour with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose book The Message features three essays tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, book bans and academic freedom, and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The Message is written as a letter to Coates's students at Howard University, where he is the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department. As part of the research for the book, Coates traveled to Senegal and visited the island of Goree, often the last stop for captured Africans before they were shipped to the Americas as enslaved people. Coates also visited a schoolteacher in South Carolina who faced censorship for teaching Coates's previous book, Between the World and Me, an experience he says showed him the power of organizing. That, too, is about the power of stories. That, too, is about the power of narratives, the questions we ask and the questions we don't," Coates says of the community's response.

Lakota historian Nick Estes talks about the violent origins of Thanksgiving and his book Our History Is the Future. This history ... is a continuing history of genocide, of settler colonialism and, basically, the founding myths of this country," says Estes, who is a co-founder of the Indigenous resistance group The Red Nation and a citizen of the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe.

Security forces in Pakistan arrested over 1,000 supporters of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan during a march on the capital of Islamabad. Protesters had vowed to stage a sit-in until Khan - who has been imprisoned since August 2023 on what are widely viewed as politically motivated charges - was released, but ended their efforts after six people were killed. Our guest Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, who teaches political economy at Islamabad's Quaid-i-Azam University, discusses the political maneuvering behind Khan's dramatic ouster and explains how Khan's image as an outsider" in Pakistani politics contributes to his lasting public appeal.

Next week, our guest Chase Strangio will make history as the first openly transgender lawyer to argue before the Supreme Court. Strangio will argue on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union's LGBTQ & HIV Project that Tennessee's state ban on gender-affirming hormone therapies for transgender children is a form of sex discrimination. Our hope is that the cultural anxiety about trans people ... is not going to sway the justices from applying straightforward constitutional principles," says Strangio about the case. We also discuss recent cultural backlash against trans rights as part of an approach to gender that is regressive and dangerous." The Democratic Party has been unwilling to provide a robust defense to conservative attacks on trans identity, says Strangio, ceding ground to the further loss of the community's civil rights and protections. Yet even as trans people are demonized" and blamed for structural problems in the U.S., he adds, We have always resisted. We have always taken care of each other. No matter what happens, that is what we'll do."

We're joined by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy as we continue our conversation on the Israeli-Lebanon ceasefire. We take a look at the mood within Israel, where Levy characterizes the Israeli public as sour" about what is seen as a premature deal. They would like to see more blood, more destruction in Lebanon," says Levy. Israel wants wars." This retributive stance is still being felt in Lebanon, adds writer Lina Mounzer, who says Lebanese people are very terrified of the day after" and do not feel that they have been awarded peace, despite the terms of the ceasefire. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has unanimously voted to sanction the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, claiming that its editorials have hurt the legitimacy of the state of Israel and its right to self defense." Haaretz has criticized the move, which comes just months after Israel banned the international media outlet Al Jazeera, as anti-democratic. Levy, a columnist for Haaretz, says the sanction makes it clear that Israelis cannot take the freedom of speech for granted anymore."

Nearly two months after Israel invaded Lebanon, a fragile" ceasefire has been reached between Israel and Lebanon. Under the deal, Israel says it will withdraw troops from Lebanon's south over a 60-day period, though Lebanese writer Lina Mounzer says this is already being contradicted by the behavior and the directives of the Israeli army," which continued to bomb Lebanese civilian areas through the waning hours of official hostilities. Thousands of displaced Lebanese are now returning to southern Lebanon, hoping that their homes are still standing. Many are mourning the nearly 3,800 Lebanese killed by U.S. weapons and Israeli warfare. While there is relief" in the country, people are finding it very difficult to celebrate," says Mounzer. The grieving process begins now."

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We speak with journalist Keri Blakinger about a new documentary, I Am Ready, Warden, based partly on her reporting about death row prisoner John Henry Ramirez, who was sentenced to die for the 2004 murder of a convenience store clerk named Pablo Castro in Texas. While on death row, Ramirez became a devout Christian and sued for the right to have his pastor lay hands on him when he was ultimately executed in 2022. I Am Ready, Warden examines the forces of redemption and vengeance by following Ramirez, as well as the son of his victim, Aaron Castro, and Ramirez's own son and his supporters. The film was directed by Smriti Mundhra and is newly available on the Paramount+ streaming service. The film really makes the viewer think about the circles of loss and trauma that come with every death row case and every execution," says Blakinger, who reported on the case for The Marshall Project. She is now an investigative journalist at the L.A. Times.

We continue our conversation with Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien, who has written to President Joe Biden urging him for a number of policy changes before he leaves office in January. O'Brien's letter calls for Biden to stop arms transfers to Israel and use U.S. leverage to end the war in Gaza; transfer detainees out of the Guantanamo Bay military prison and close the facility; commute the death sentences of people on federal and military death row; and restore asylum rights, which the administration severely curtailed this year. He could do so much more," O'Brien says of Biden's last weeks in office.

With just weeks left in President Joe Biden's term, we speak with Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O'Brien, who has written to the outgoing president urging him to change course on critical human rights" before the end of his term in office. One of his key demands is for Biden to free Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier, who has been imprisoned for decades and repeatedly denied parole. Peltier recently turned 80 and has always maintained his innocence for the 1975 killing of two FBI agents in a shootout on the Pine Ridge Reservation. His conviction was riddled with irregularities and prosecutorial misconduct. It's time to give him a chance to spend his last days with his family and with his community," says O'Brien. He's been incarcerated as long as Joe Biden has been in national politics."

Since October 2023, Israel has killed over 3,700 people in Lebanon, with most of the deaths occurring over the past 10 weeks. The attacks have forced more than 1 million people to flee their homes in Lebanon, where Israel has also repeatedly targeted journalists. In a new report, Human Rights Watch has accused Israel of committing an apparent war crime by killing three journalists and injuring four others last month, when it bombed the Hasbaya Village Resort in southern Lebanon, where more than a dozen journalists had been staying. The attack killed Ghassan Najjar and Mohammad Reda, both from Al Mayadeen TV, and Wissam Kassem, a cameraman from Al-Manar TV. Human Rights Watch has revealed Israel used an airdropped bomb equipped with a U.S.-produced Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kit. Journalists are civilians, and deliberately targeting journalists is a war crime," says Human Rights Watch researcher Ramzi Kaiss.