Democracy Now!

As the official death toll in Gaza tops 45,000 and Israel's wars throughout the Middle East continue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in court for a long-awaited corruption trial, making him the country's first sitting leader to face criminal charges. He is charged with fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate cases. For more on this extraordinary case, we speak with acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney, whose latest documentary The Bibi Files features leaked behind-the-scenes footage of police interrogations of Netanyahu, his wife and those accused of bribing him. The film has been banned in Israel, and Netanyahu even tried unsuccessfully to stop it from screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, but Gibney says it is being widely shared inside Israel through unofficial channels. Strictly speaking, this is a film about corruption," Gibney tells Democracy Now! It starts with petty corruption - being bribed with gifts and cigars, champagne, jewelry - but then the ultimate corruption is how he's tried to elude a reckoning for his misdeeds, and in so doing, he wraps himself in the mantle of prime minister and then wages endless war."

We speak with organizer Astra Taylor of the Debt Collective, which is urging President Joe Biden to cancel more student debt, including for older debtors, before the end of his term. According to the White House, the administration has approved $175 billion in student debt relief for nearly 5 million borrowers over the past four years, but advocates say Biden can still do more in his final weeks as president. This is a Titanic moment for the Biden administration. They have crashed into the authoritarian iceberg of the Trump administration, and it is their duty to fill as many lifeboats as possible," says Taylor. She faults the administration for insisting on a case-by-case approach to debt relief instead of canceling debt for larger swaths of debtors, including many with ironclad claims," urging the White House to use all the legal tools at its disposal.

President Joe Biden's decision to grant clemency to a corrupt former judge has sparked widespread outrage, including from members of his own party. Biden announced nearly 1,500 commutations and pardons last week in what the White House described as the largest single-day act of clemency from a president, but among those whose sentences were reduced is former Pennsylvania Judge Michael Conahan - one of two judges in the notorious kids for cash" scandal. In 2011, Conahan was sentenced to 17.5 years for accepting nearly $3 million in kickbacks for sending 2,300 children, some as young as 8 years old, to for-profit prisons on false charges. His co-conspirator, former Judge Mark Ciavarella, remains in prison. We speak with filmmaker Robert May, director of the Kids for Cash documentary, and Sandy Fonzo, mother of Edward Kenzakoski, who was incarcerated as a teenager as part of the kickback scheme and later died by suicide. It's just reopening wounds that have never healed," Fonzo says of the commutation. She describes her son as strong" and proud" before his time in detention, but says he came out broken" and never fully recovered. It stole his youth, his childhood."

Israeli Forces Attack Gaza Safe Zone" and Again Assault Kamal Adwan Hospital, Family Asks Blinken to Launch Independent Probe of Israel's Killing of Ayenur Ezgi Eygi, Nobody Is Going to Silence Ireland": Irish PM Blasts Israel's Closure of Dublin Embassy, U.S. Officials Warn Turkey Is Preparing Invasion of Syrian Kurdish Autonomous Region, Rights Groups Warn Mass Graves in Syria Could Hold Over 100,000 Victims of Assad Family, Kyiv Says It Killed Russian General Responsible for Chemical Weapons Attacks in Ukraine, 15-Year-Old Girl Guns Down Student and Teacher Before Killing Herself at Madison School, HRW: 1,360 Children Ripped from Their Families at Border Under Trump's 1st Term Were Never Reunited, NY Judge Rejects Trump's Attempt to Throw Out Felony Conviction, Justin Trudeau Faces Deepening Political Turmoil After Finance Minister Quits, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz Loses No-Confidence Vote, Setting Up Early Elections, Brazil Arrests Jair Bolsonaro's 2022 Running Mate as Coup Investigation Advances, Amazon Workers in 3 Cities Could Be on Verge of Historic Strike, Uhuru 3" Receive 3 Years' Probation, Avoiding Prison, over Russian Influence" Legal Saga

Private healthcare companies are facing increased scrutiny following the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson over what appears to be dissatisfaction with the company's exploitative policies and frequent denials of care. Recent investigations from ProPublica and reporter Annie Waldman find that UnitedHealthcare is aggressively trying to limit mental health coverage and treatment for thousands of children with autism in its latest effort to cut costs and curtail care.

Investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein joins us to discuss the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson as he walked to a shareholders conference in New York City earlier this month, and his accused killer, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione. Thompson's vigilante-inflected death has inflamed public discourse over the predatory practices of the private healthcare industry. People working these call centers are themselves upset at having to deny claims," says Klippenstein. Last week, he published what is believed to be Mangione's manifesto," which details Mangione's anger at the industry and his motivation for the killing. Meanwhile, healthcare companies appear to be scrambling to protect their public reputation. I speculate that it is the absence of discourse around our healthcare system that fed into the rage we're seeing now," adds Klippenstein. To miss that as part of this story is just malpractice."

The South Korean National Assembly voted Saturday to impeach President Yoon Suk Yeol, 10 days after his ill-fated attempt to declare martial law in the country. Yoon had falsely accused political rivals of North Korean sympathies in his declaration, invoking previous eras of military dictatorship on the Korean Peninsula in the years following its partition. For more on what to expect from the upcoming judicial vote over Yoon's removal, we speak to Korean activist Dae-Han Song. Yoon's waning popular support is not promising for his political future and has reignited public appetite for democratic reforms, explains Song.

Israel is continuing to bomb Syria a week after longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad was ousted from power. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Israeli forces have launched over 800 strikes on Syria over the past week. Meanwhile, the Israeli government has approved a plan to expand illegal settlements in the occupied Golan Heights. Israel is setting new precedents in the Middle East," says Al Jazeera senior political analyst Marwan Bishara. It's acting so lawlessly against Syria, as a rogue state basically." Bishara also discusses Israel's genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and the Syria strategy of other actors in the region, including neighboring U.S. allies that had previously attempted to normalize relations with Assad and extremist groups that have formed partially in response to U.S. aggression.

Israel Continues to Bomb Syria, Pushes Ahead with Plan to Invade and Settle More of Golan Heights, Israel Kills Khaled Nabhan, Palestinian Man Who Mourned His Granddaughter Reem: Soul of My Soul", Israel Kills 3 More Reporters Incl. Mohammed Balousha, Who Exposed Killing of ICU Babies at Al-Nasr, Jenin Residents Demonstrate Against Deadly Palestinian Authority Raids, Georgian Dream Lawmakers Appoint Far-Right Mikheil Kavelashvili as President, Tropical Cyclone Chido Rips Through Mayotte, Thousands Feared Dead, Drone Strike Kills at Least 9 at El Fasher's Main Hospital in Darfur, South Korea Impeaches President Yoon Suk Yeol After Failed Martial Law Attempt, Trump & Vance Attend Military Football Game with Cabinet Picks, Ex-Marine Who Killed Subway Performer, Another News Outlet Chooses Obedience": ABC News Settles Defamation Suit with $15M Trump Donation, Biden's Clemency Order Includes Kids-for-Cash" Judge, Doctor Who Watered Down Cancer Drugs

Three activists with the Uhuru Movement will be sentenced by a Florida judge Monday as part of a legal saga that began when the FBI raided the group in 2022, accusing the antiwar Black liberation group of working as Russian agents. The Uhuru 3" are Omali Yeshitela, chair of the African People's Socialist Party, and white solidarity activists Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel. A jury acquitted them in September of acting as illegal agents of the Russian government, but convicted them on the lesser charge of conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government - something they reject. The activists face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine but plan to appeal the ruling. Yeshitela spoke with Democracy Now! ahead of the sentencing hearing and called it ridiculous" that prosecutors suggested the movement's antiwar position was inspired by Russia. The Black liberation movement in this country has historically been opposed to those wars, and that's been a strategic problem for the United States," Yeshitela said. It's a thought crime that they have convicted us for, and we fought it all along, and we continue to fight that."

Laila Soueif is on the 75th day of a hunger strike calling for the U.K. government to push for the release of her son, jailed Egyptian British author and activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. Charged with spreading false news, Alaa remains imprisoned in Egypt despite having completed his sentence in September. Human rights group say he has been subjected to torture, beatings and horrific treatment while in prison. Since neither government appears to do anything about political prisoners except when there is a crisis, I'm hoping to create a crisis," says Soueif, who vows to reunite her son and grandchild, 13-year-old Khaled. Alaa has missed all of his childhood. They need to be together, and until that happens, I'm not going to go back on my word. I'm on hunger strike until either I collapse or that happens."

We go live to Damascus for the first time since the fall of longtime authoritarian President Bashar al-Assad, where the country's populace is still reeling from the power struggle that forcibly displaced more than a million people over the last months. Investigative reporter Sarah El Deeb joins Democracy Now! while looking over the joyous scenes in the city, but reports there is a marked contrast between the sense of relief over the departure of Bashar al-Assad but then the sadness and the concern and no answers for where the loved ones have gone." El Deeb describes exploring Syria's notorious prisons, the manhunt for U.S. citizens in the country, and how in the Gaza Strip Israeli soldiers have separated Palestinian families during raids.

Mass Crowds Gather for First Friday Prayers Since Assad Ouster, U.N. Calls on Israel to Stop Bombing Syria and Occupying Demilitarized Zone, 96% of Gaza Children Think Death Is Imminent: Study Highlights Devastating Emotional Toll of Genocide, Reporters Without Borders: Palestine Remains Most Dangerous Place for Journalists, Russia Rains Missiles Down on Kyiv, Targeting Ukrainian Power Infrastructure, Lawmakers Introduce Second Impeachment Motion Against South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, French President Macron Names Centrist Francois Bayrou as New Prime Minister, Tuvalu May Soon Be Uninhabitable": Plaintiffs Lay Out Urgent Crisis as ICJ Climate Hearings Wrap Up, Climate Activists Blockade Energy Dept. Headquarters in Washington, D.C., Hospitals Are Reporting Birthing Patients for Positive Drug Tests Their Providers Administered, Luigi Mangione to Fight Extradition to New York as NYPD Warns of CEO Hitlist", Woman Arrested and Charged for Threatening" Insurance Co. by Saying Delay, Deny, Depose", New York Immigrants' Rights Advocates Protest as Trump's Border Czar Meets Mayor Eric Adams, Mufid Abdulqader Freed After 16 Years Behind Bars for Work with Pro-Palestinian Charity, New York Police Arrest Faculty and Students Demanding NYU Divest from Israel's Wars and Occupations, New Jersey Prohibits Book Bans in School and Public Libraries

President-elect Trump, himself found liable in court for sexual abuse, has picked a striking number of suspected sexual predators for key positions in his incoming administration. Trump's early pick of former Florida Congressmember Matt Gaetz for attorney general was shot down amid a firestorm over sexual misconduct allegations. Now Trump is pushing hard to keep the rest of his picks on track, including Fox host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary. Hegseth paid an undisclosed amount to a woman who accused him of sexual assault. Meanwhile, a woman who worked for RFK Jr. as a babysitter accused him of sexual assault at his home in 1998. Even one of the few women Trump has chosen, professional wrestling mogul Linda McMahon for education secretary, was sued for allegedly ignoring complaints that a WWE ringside announcer sexually abused children for years. Trump really is the embodiment of a male entitlement," says Deborah Tuerkheimer, professor of law at Northwestern University. Tuerkheimer says the president and these Cabinet picks are a bellwether for how society responds to abuse. The #MeToo movement was about and continues to be about not just individual allegations, but this larger question of who's held accountable and what kind of cultural toleration do we have for abuse by powerful men."

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."

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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.

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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.

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