Democracy Now!

Gaza Deaths Mount Amid Mass Displacement as Israel Continues to Attack Schools, Hospitals, Aid Sites, U.K. Foreign Sec. David Cameron Urges Netanyahu to Agree to Pause" in Gaza Assault, ICJ to Announce Interim Ruling Friday on South Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel, Israelis Continue Protests to Demand Gov't Prioritize Release of Hostages, U.S. Mercenaries Share Details of Taking Part in UAE's Targeted Killing Campaign in Yemen, U.S. Forces Strike Somalia for First Time in 2024, Killing 3, UAW Endorses Joe Biden for 2024 Despite President's Refusal to Call for Gaza Ceasefire, Ohio's GOP Overturns Gov. DeWine's Veto on Anti-Trans Legislation, Minnesota Charges White State Trooper with Murder of Ricky Cobb II, Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrectionist Who Showed No Remorse Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison, Kenneth Smith Set to Be Executed Via Nitrogen Gas Asphyxiation After SCOTUS Rejection, Texas Defies SCOTUS Order to Remove Illegal and Deadly Barrier on Mexico Border, Argentines Take to Street to Protest Javier Milei's Crackdown on Speech, Austerity Agenda

Former President Donald Trump is the clear front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination despite efforts nationwide to remove him from the 2024 presidential ballot based on the 14th Amendment, which says public officials who have engaged in insurrection" are disqualified from ever serving again. Did Trump violate the Constitution, and should he be barred from running for president based on his attempts to overturn the 2020 election? Or is taking Trump off the ballot an anti-democratic measure that will only energize his base? Democracy Now! hosts a debate with Praveen Fernandes, vice president at the Constitutional Accountability Center, who argues the amendment clearly applies to the president and enforcing the law protects democracy, and Samuel Moyn, a professor of law and history at Yale University, who says the legal case is not strong enough and Democrats must appeal to more voters to defeat Trump. The Supreme Court has agreed to review Colorado's case and will hear oral arguments next month.

Former President Donald Trump trounced runner-up Nikki Haley in Tuesday's Republican primary, in what Jeff Sharlet, expert on the far right, says is another landmark in the acceleration of fascism in the United States. Trump is the nominee. Fascism is on the ballot," says Sharlet, who describes how Trump is appealing to broader groups of Americans, why the political press is failing to capture the fascist movement, and the importance of resisting its growth. It's popular front time. It's broad coalition time."

Former President Donald Trump won New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday with 54% of the vote to 43% for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the last major challenger to Trump's Republican bid. If there was a state she could win in, in the entire United States, it was this state, and she still lost by 11 points," says Arnie Arnesen, longtime New Hampshire radio and TV host and former politician. She doesn't have a future." On the Democratic side, President Biden won his party's primary as a write-in candidate after the state refused to cooperate with Democratic National Committee rules, and therefore did not win any delegates from New Hampshire. Refusing to recognize the state's primary and not campaigning in the state was a stupid political mistake" by Democrats that allowed Trump's claims to go uncontested, says Arnesen. This is an invitation to fascism."

Trump Wins GOP NH Primary; Nikki Haley Vows to Stay in Race, Biden Wins New Hampshire Primary as Write-In Candidate, Israel Orders Over 500,000 Palestinians to Evacuate Khan Younis as Attacks Intensify, ITV Films Israeli Forces Fatally Shooting Palestinian Man Moments After He Gave Interview, U.N.'s Guterres Calls Again for Ceasefire in Gaza & Two-State Solution, IDF Admits 21 Israeli Soldiers Were Killed in Gaza During Operation to Blow Up Palestinian Buildings, Genocide Joe": Protesters Demanding Ceasefire Repeatedly Disrupt Biden Speech in Virginia, NYPD Probing Chemical Attack Targeting Pro-Palestinian Students at Columbia, U.S. Bombs Yemen & Iraq Again as Risk of Regional War Grows, Russia Says Plane Carrying 65 Ukrainian POWs Has Crashed Near Belgorod, Turkish Parliament Votes to Approve Sweden as Member of NATO, Doomsday Clock Remains at 90 Seconds Before Midnight, U.S. Court Revives Mexican Lawsuit Against U.S. Gun Manufacturers, Los Angeles Times Slashes 115 Newsroom Jobs; Time Lays Off 30 Journalists

It's primary day in New Hampshire. As Donald Trump and Nikki Haley square off in the Republican race, we speak to 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson on her longshot campaign against President Biden. In an unusual twist, Williamson's name is on today's ballot, but Biden's is not. Biden opted out of running in New Hampshire after the state refused to move its primary until after South Carolina's. Williamson discusses why she's running for president, her antiwar platform, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, immigration reform and the New Hampshire primary election. Just like with health and sickness, you don't just treat sickness, you learn to cultivate health," she says. We need to not just drop bombs and put people in prison when there is conflict. We need to learn to prevent conflict. We need to proactively create peace."

We speak with acclaimed Chinese artist Ai Weiwei, who recently had an exhibition in London canceled after he publicly criticized Israel's assault on Gaza. We are gradually losing the ground of democracy or personal freedom," says Ai, whose show in London was indefinitely postponed after he posted a controversial tweet about Israel in November. He joins Democracy Now! to discuss his longtime support of Palestine and Western hypocrisy over human rights and free speech. Ai Weiwei also describes his new graphic novel Zodiac, about his experiences as a Chinese dissident.

As nine Democratic governors join together to call on President Biden and Congress to address the humanitarian crisis faced by migrants, we look at conditions faced by tens of thousands of asylum seekers in New York City and Chicago. Many arrived over the last year on buses from Texas as part of Republican Governor Greg Abbott's anti-immigrant efforts. We hear from a migrant staying in a tent shelter at a former airport site in New York City where they face below-freezing temperatures and a lack of medical services, and we speak with immigration rights activists. Murad Awawdeh, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition, and Oscar Chacon, executive director of Alianza Americas, discuss how immigrants have been treated as scapegoats by leaders who have failed to provide services and reform the immigration system. Migrants are simply making these failures in our society very visible," says Chacon.

Axios: Israel Proposes 2-Month Ceasefire in Exchange for Remaining Hostages, A Quarter of Gaza Faces Catastrophic Hunger as Unrelenting Israeli Attacks Target Schools, Hospitals, Yemenis Defiant as U.S. and U.K Launch New Joint Strikes on 8 Houthi Targets, SEIU Becomes Largest U.S. Union to Call for Gaza Ceasefire, SCOTUS Rejects Case That Sought to Silence Palestinian Advocacy Group, SCOTUS Offers New Hope to Death Row Prisoner Richard Glossip, Agrees to Hear His Appeal, SCOTUS Allows Biden Admin to Cut Down Razor Wire on Texas's Southern Border, New Hampshire Votes in Nation's First Primary of 2024, Biden, Harris Go After GOP as They Mark 51st Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, French Protests Decry New Legislation Targeting Immigrants, Illinois Gunman Kills 8 People Before Fatally Shooting Himself, Dexter Scott King, Son of MLK Who Devoted His Work to Preserving His Parents' Legacy, Dies at 62, Strikes Work": Cal State Faculty Return to Work After Reaching Deal on First Day of Work Stoppage

We look at the state of the Republican Party after Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis's announcement Sunday that he has suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Donald Trump to be the Republican Party's 2024 nominee, making it a two-person race between Trump and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. With the pivotal New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, we speak with author Rick Perlstein, a historian of the modern conservative movement, who describes Trump's iron grip on the Republican Party as American fascism." He says regardless of how many votes Trump gets, the real question is how his extremist supporters will respond. The horse race doesn't matter if the guys in the MAGA hats blow up the track," says Perlstein.

The new documentary Israelism examines the growing generational divide among Jewish Americans on the question of Palestine, with many younger Jews increasingly critical of Israel and less supportive of Zionism. Simone Zimmerman, one of the protagonists of the film and a co-founder of the group IfNotNow, says she grew up being told that supporting Israel was central to her Jewish identity, but that collapsed once she visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories and saw the system of apartheid under which millions live. It's so deeply contrary to our values as Jewish people to support this disgusting oppression and denial of freedom," she says. We are also joined by Erin Axelman, co-director and one of the producers of Israelism, who says Zimmerman's journey mirrors their own and those of many other young Jews who realize they must fight for the freedom and equality of Palestinians while also fighting antisemitism." The film is on a 40-city screening tour in Canada and the United States after previous efforts to ban the screenings on several campuses.

Palestinian health authorities say the death toll in Gaza has passed 25,000. This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly affirmed in recent days that he opposes the creation of a Palestinian state, saying Israel must maintain indefinite military control between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. We get an update and speak with Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha, who was detained by Israeli authorities as he and his family fled Gaza in late November. He says that while there must be an immediate ceasefire to stop the suffering, only a just solution to the Palestinian case" will bring long-term stability to the region. If there is no peace, ... we will unfortunately witness more and more of the killings of innocent people everywhere," he says.

Gaza Death Toll Tops 25,000; Families Burying Deceased in Nasser Hospital Complex, WSJ: U.S., Qatar and Egypt Pushing for Phased Diplomatic Process" to End War on Gaza, Families of Hamas Hostages Demand Israeli Lawmakers Do More to Free Their Loved Ones, Israeli Fire Kills 17-Year-Old Palestinian American Teen Tawfiq Ajjaq in Occupied West Bank, Israel Strikes Syria, Lebanon; Iranian-Backed Fighters in Iraq Strike U.S. Forces, U.S. Bombs Yemen for 6th Time Amid Houthi Red Sea Attacks, Ron DeSantis Drops Out of Republican Primary, Endorses Trump, Donetsk Shelling Kills at Least 27 People as Ukraine Invasion Nears 2-Year Mark, Protesters Take to German Streets to Decry Rise of Far Right, Xenophobia, Narendra Modi Inaugurates Hindu Temple on Site of Razed Historic Mosque, 3-Month-Old Baby Dies in Queens Shelter as Migrants Across NYC Deal with Piercing Winter Cold, Winter Storms Kill 90 People Across the U.S.; Frozen Pipes Trigger Boil Water Order in Memphis, Judge Orders Release of James Cromitie, Final Newburgh 4" Member, Biden Administration Cancels Another $5 Billion in Student Loans, Film Workers for Palestine Takes to Sundance, as Prominent Filmmakers Speak Out Against War

Before Israel's unprecedented assault on Gaza, the territory had 36 functioning hospitals. Now only 16 partially functioning health facilities remain. As Israeli bombs and ground troops approach Nasser Hospital, the largest remaining partially functioning health facility in Gaza, we speak with Dr. James Smith, an emergency medical doctor recently returned from Gaza, where he worked alongside Palestinian healthcare workers to treat patients at Al-Aqsa Hospital. Every single day, without exception, there were multiple mass casualty incidents at the hospital," says Smith. They would include open chest wounds, open abdominal wounds, traumatic amputations, severe full-thickness burns ... really some of the most horrific traumatic injuries that I have ever seen."

As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue the assault on Gaza, we speak with the first Israeli to refuse mandatory military service since Israel's offensive began over three months ago. Last month, 18-year-old Tal Mitnick announced he would refuse military service in what he called a revenge war" on Gaza, and was sentenced to 30 days in a military prison. Just released from jail, Mitnick faces another draft summons and says he will refuse over and over until someone gives up, until the army gives me an exemption." Mitnick says the October 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel broke the idea Israel could live with occupation. We need to keep fighting for a just future," he says, urging the younger generation of Israelis to use their voices for peace. We're the future, and we can change."

Texas defied a Biden administration cease-and-desist order this week to dismantle its border barrier near the city of Eagle Pass, where state troopers took over a 2.5-mile stretch and installed fencing, gates and razor wire. Last Friday, a mother and her two children drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass when Border Patrol agents were denied access to the area by state officials acting under orders from Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Day after day after day, people are drowning because of the obstacles that this man put in the river," says Democratic Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez. No obstacle, no barrier is going to fix this problem. We need comprehensive immigration reform in this country."

A sweeping Justice Department report exposes the cascading failures" of the police response to the 2022 Uvalde elementary school mass shooting when 19 children and two teachers were killed by an 18-year-old gunman. Despite the presence of close to 400 officers at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, it took 77 minutes for police to confront and kill the shooter. The scathing 600-page report lays out the haphazard" initial response in which hundreds of law enforcement officers stood by as the massacre unfolded. Democratic Texas state Senator Roland Gutierrez, whose district includes Uvalde, says the report proves what happened on May 24th was the worst law enforcement response to a school shooting in our nation's history." Gutierrez describes the events of the school shooting, where everything that could have gone wrong happened," and why the shooter's AR-15-style rifle did so much damage and scared police. We need an assault weapons ban in this country, once and for all," says Gutierrez, who is running for U.S. Senate against Republican Senator Ted Cruz. These politicians are cowards on this issue."

Mexico and Chile Call on ICC to Investigate Israel's Assault on Gaza as Death Toll Nears 25,000, Netanyahu Rejects Palestinian Statehood, Says Israel Must Control Region from the River to the Sea, Biden Says U.S. Will Continue to Bomb Yemen Even Though Strikes Have Not Stopped Houthi Attacks, Congress Sends Stop-Gap Spending Bill to Pres. Biden's Desk, DOJ Report Details Cascading Failures" in Response to 2022 Uvalde Massacre, Trump Claims Presidents Must Have Full Immunity," Calls on SCOTUS to Absolve His Legal Woes, Haitian Gangs Besiege Port-au-Prince Neighborhood as Violence Spirals, Iran Sentences Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Narges Mohammadi to Another 15 Months, L.A. Times Workers Walk Out over Planned Job Cuts, Labor Dept. Fines Poultry Plant After Death of 16-Year-Old Worker, Winter Storms Kill at Least 40 People Across U.S., Researchers and Patients Affected by Long COVID Appeal to Senate for More Gov't Support

We are joined by 88-year-old Jewish German American Marione Ingram, who describes how her scheduled speaking tour in Hamburg - the city she fled in the Holocaust - was postponed" this month amid a wider backlash against those speaking out against Israel's assault on Gaza. Ingram has been protesting for months outside the White House calling for a ceasefire, and characterizes U.S. and German pro-Israel policy as disturbing" and frightening." As a survivor of the Holocaust, Ingram says, My childhood was spent in the first 10 years much the same way as the children of Gaza. I know exactly what they're going through. I know exactly how they're feeling." She argues it should be an absolute standstill of all governments that you are told over 10,000 children are being murdered. There is no excuse for that."

We speak with award-winning Palestinian American artist and filmmaker Emily Jacir, whose event in Berlin in October was canceled after Israel launched its ongoing assault on Gaza. Jacir decries a pattern of harassment, baseless smear campaigns, canceling shows, canceling talks" conducted against Palestinian artists in Germany and around the world. It's very much part of a coordinated movement," she says, connecting global censorship of diasporic Palestinian voices with the violent targeted destruction of culture in Gaza," which she calls a part of genocide."

We spend the hour looking at how artists, writers and other cultural workers in the United States and Europe are facing a growing backlash after expressing solidarity for Palestine. We begin with one of these canceled" cultural workers: renowned Palestinian American artist Samia Halaby, whose first U.S. retrospective was canceled by her graduate alma mater, Indiana University, after she criticized Israel's bombardment of Gaza. The school's provost said this week the show would have been a lightning rod" that carried a risk of violence." Halaby expresses her shock and disappointment at the betrayal of academic freedom" evidenced by the decision. The administration has lost sight of their responsibility to the community, to the students that are there," she says, and adds, This is much larger than I am," citing the suppression of pro-Palestine student activism around the country and calling it a kind of attempt at mind control."

Pakistan Launches Retaliatory Airstrikes Against Iran, U.S. Bombs Yemen for Fourth Time in a Week, Israeli Bombing in Rafah Kills 16 Displaced Palestinians, Including Children, Israel Blows Up Israa University Near Gaza City, Palestinian Journalist Wael Fannouneh of Al-Quds Today TV Killed by Israel in Gaza City, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Reiterates Call for Ceasefire in Gaza, 10 Palestinians Killed in Occupied West Bank as Israel Carries Out Major Raids, U.K. House of Commons Approves Plan to Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda, House Speaker Johnson Says Senate Deal Is Dead" If Dems Don't Back Border Crackdown, Texas Defies Biden Administration Order to Dismantle Border Barrier Where 3 Migrants Died, Ecuadorian Prosecutor Investigating Armed TV Attack Is Assassinated, Citing Significant Corruption," U.S. Bars Ex-Guatemalan President Giammattei from Entering Country, Judge Threatens to Toss Trump from E. Jean Carroll Defamation Trial over Outbursts, Ahead of New Hampshire Primary, Nikki Haley Says U.S. Was Never a Racist Country, Supreme Court Hears Case That Could Drastically Weaken Regulatory Power of Federal Agencies, Federal Judge Blocks Merger of JetBlue and Spirit, Citing Airline Industry Oligopoly", Biden Administration Proposes New Rules to Lower Bank Overdraft Fees, Greenland's Ice Sheet Loss 20% Higher Than Thought, Shedding 30M Tons of Ice an Hour, Organizing Cmte. for COP29 in Azerbaijan Does Not Include a Single Woman

Military actions by various actors across the Middle East are compounding fears that Israel's assault on Gaza is escalating into a full-blown regional war. In recent days, the United States has carried out strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen who have resumed their attacks on container ships in the Red Sea; Iran has struck targets in northern Iraq, Syria and Pakistan; while Hezbollah and Israel have escalated the intensity of fighting across their border. For a look at where all this is headed, we speak with journalist Spencer Ackerman, who says it's the most dangerous moment for the Middle East" he has witnessed in over 20 years of covering war and security. This is now a conflict with battlefronts ranging across the region," he says. We shouldn't think that absent an active act of deescalation that this won't continue spiraling outward throughout 2024." Ackerman writes the Forever Wars newsletter and is the foreign policy columnist for The Nation.

We continue our conversation with the renowned Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who says there are growing questions about the IDF's response to the October 7 Hamas attack that cannot wait until the end of fighting in Gaza. That includes intelligence failures in the lead-up to the attack, as well as reports of troops killing Israeli civilians when they opened fire on homes taken over by Hamas militants. The fact is that those people were killed and might have been rescued. It must be investigated," says Levy.

We speak with acclaimed Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, columnist for Haaretz and a member of its editorial board, about how the Israeli media has covered the war on Gaza, the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and more. Levy says the domestic Israeli media all but ignores the Palestinians being killed, focusing mostly on its own soldiers and the families of hostages. The Israeli average viewer doesn't see Gaza at all," he says. They are betraying our first mission: to tell the full story."

We hear from Democracy Now! correspondent Sharif Abdel Kouddous, whose recent article for The Intercept documents how Israel bombed two Al Jazeera journalists in mid-December while they were accompanying rescue workers, seriously injuring both. But while the network's Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh managed to get to an ambulance nearby, his cameraman Samer Abudaqa bled to death from his wounds as Israeli forces prevented medical workers from reaching him for about five hours, despite the desperate entreaties of many foreign journalists to save the life of their colleague. The world should be outraged about this killing, about all the killings that are happening to Palestinian journalists in Gaza," says Abdel Kouddous.

Gaza is now the deadliest place on Earth for media workers. By some estimates, over 110 journalists have been killed there since Israel began its assault on the territory following the October 7 Hamas attack, and the Committee to Protect Journalists says more journalists were killed in the first 10 weeks of the war than have ever been killed in a single country over an entire year. We speak with CPJ's Middle East and North Africa coordinator Sherif Mansour, who says journalists in Gaza are showing great courage amid horrific working conditions. They really are rewriting what it means to be a journalist today with immense, brave and never-seen-before sacrifices," Mansour says.

Pakistan Condemns Iran for Attack and Violating Its Airspace; U.S. Attacks Houthis for 3rd Time, Israeli Attack on Al Nasser Hospital Sends Displaced Families Fleeing, Qatar, France Broker Deal for Gaza Aid, Medicine for Remaining Hostages, Deadly Israeli Attacks, Home Demolitions Continue Across Occupied West Bank, Two Palestinians Arrested After Car Ramming, Stabbing Attack Kills 79-Year-Old Israeli Woman, Senate Votes Down Bernie Sanders's Resolution to Require Reporting on Israeli Violations, Ben & Jerry's Calls for Ceasefire; 100+ Mennonites Arrested for Protesting Gaza War on Capitol, Indiana University Cancels Exhibition by Prominent Palestinian Artist Samia Halaby, A Mother and Her 2 Young Children Die While Crossing the Rio Grande, Bipartisan Lawmakers Propose $78 Billion Funding Bill That Would Revive Child Tax Credit, U.N. Warns Alabama Plan to Execute Prisoner Via Nitrogen Gas Violates Intl. Treaties, Law Enforcement Investigating Roger Stone Comments Hoping for Death of Powerful Dems in 2020, Oxfam Report Finds the Ultra-Rich Are Still Getting Richer as 5 Billion People Become Poorer

Former President Donald Trump has won the Iowa caucuses by a landslide, but polls reveal almost a third of voters believed Trump would not be fit to serve as president if convicted in his ongoing criminal trials. These trials of Trump may well turn out to be far more significant than a lot of political pundits assume," says national affairs correspondent at The Nation John Nichols, who says one upcoming state will determine if any other Republican candidate has a chance to be the GOP's nominee. It all comes down to New Hampshire."

Worldwide protests this weekend called for a ceasefire while marking 100 days of Israel's unrelenting bombardment and siege of the Gaza Strip since the October 7 Hamas attack. United Nations humanitarian leaders issued a joint demand Monday for dramatically increasing the flow of aid into Gaza. The situation is spiraling out of control" in Gaza, says pediatric neurologist Omar Abdel-Mannan, who shares on-the-ground health worker reports of the apocalyptic" scenes in collapsing hospitals. This is medieval-style medicine that we are seeing, and this is 100% man-made."

Bernardo Arevalo was sworn in as president of Guatemala Monday after conservative leaders attempted for months to disqualify Arevalo's landslide victory in August's runoff presidential election by claiming election fraud and persecuting his progressive Semilla party up until the final hours before his inauguration. Arevalo is the son of the country's first democratically elected president, who implemented a series of revolutionary reforms from 1945 to 1951 before a CIA-backed coup ousted his successor and ushered in decades of authoritarian rule. Many supporters see Arevalo's presidency as a new spring for Guatemala. We discuss the battle to defend his election, the pro-democracy protests in the country and what Guatemala can expect from his leadership with three guests: Andrea Villagran, Guatemalan congressmember with Movimiento Semilla; Lucia Ixchiu, exiled K'iche Indigenous leader; and Frank La Rue, Guatemalan human rights activist, lawyer and a member of the election observation team.

Trump Wins Iowa Caucus in Landslide, Heads Back to Court Today for Defamation Trial, Death Toll in Gaza Tops 24,000, Presidential Candidate Cornel West Calls Biden a War Criminal at D.C. Gaza Rally, Houthis Target U.S.-Owned Ship After U.S. Bombs Yemen Again, Iran Bombs Iraq and Syria as Tension Grows Across Middle East, Bernardo Arevalo Sworn In as Guatemalan President After Last-Minute Effort to Block Transfer of Power, China Denounces Newly Elected Taiawanese President, Sekou Odinaga, Black Liberation Activist Who Helped Free Assata Shakur, Dies at 79

Today is the federal holiday that honors Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He was born January 15, 1929. He was assassinated April 4, 1968, at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. He was just 39 years old. While Dr. King is primarily remembered as a civil rights leader, he also championed the cause of the poor and organized the Poor People's Campaign to address issues of economic justice. Dr. King was also a fierce critic of U.S. foreign policy and the Vietnam War. We play his Beyond Vietnam" speech, which he delivered at New York City's Riverside Church on April 4, 1967, as well as his last speech, I've Been to the Mountaintop," that he gave on April 3, 1968, the night before he was assassinated.

Israeli Knesset member Ofer Cassif is being threatened with expulsion from Israel's legislature after he signed a petition supporting South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, accusing it of acts of genocide. Cassif says the impeachment is based on an antidemocratic law that suppresses free speech. They want me and my friends to shut up," he says of the government's persecution of dissenting legislators. We've been against the war from the beginning because we are against bloodshed."

The second day of South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice at The Hague saw Israel take the stand, defending against accusations that its government is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. South Africa is demanding an emergency suspension of Israel's aerial and ground assault on Gaza in front of the United Nations' highest court. From The Hague, we hear from Diala Shamas, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, the organization that sued President Biden in November, accusing him of failing to prevent genocide in Gaza. Shamas recaps the two days of hearings and discusses other avenues for holding Israel accountable. Whether it's at the ICJ or whether it's in federal court in the United States, we're really looking to government to do everything that they can to uphold their duty to prevent an unfolding genocide," says Shamas.

The United States and Britain launched dozens of military strikes on Yemen on Thursday, raising fears of an escalation of conflict in the region. The strikes, launched in response to Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade, left at least five people dead. The Houthi movement began targeting ships in November essentially using a naval blockade in the Red Sea to prevent the blockade against civilians in Gaza," according to our guest, Yemeni American scholar Shireen Al-Adeimi. This is an offensive act. This is a breach of Yemeni sovereignty," she says about the U.S. coalition's strikes, which were launched without approval from Congress, and which Al-Adeimi additionally characterizes as a defense of capitalism."

U.S., U.K. Launch Strikes in Yemen, Killing at Least 5, Amid Escalating Middle East Tensions, Rallies in South Africa Support Nation's Genocide Case Against Israel at World Court, Over 10,000 Children Have Been Killed in Israel's Onslaught on Gaza, More Evidence of U.S. Complicity in Genocide": Report Finds U.S. Air Force Provided Intel to Israel, Trump Goes on Courtroom Rant as NY Civil Fraud Trial Wraps Up, Ohio Jury Declines to Charge Brittany Watts with Felony for Having a Miscarriage, The Lever: GOP Hopeful Nikki Haley Involved in Blocking Boeing 2020 Transparency Initiative, Pentagon Failed to Track Over $1B in Military Equipment to Ukraine, Taiwan Prepares to Vote in Highly Anticipated Election Amid U.S.-China Tensions, New Trial Kicks Off in Greece for Humanitarian Workers Who Helped Refugees

Israel's military assault on Gaza is not just a humanitarian disaster but also generating massive amounts of planet-heating emissions and exacerbating the climate crisis. The carbon emissions from Israel's bombs, tanks, fighter jets and other military activity in the first two months of the war were higher than the annual carbon footprints of 20 of the world's most climate-vulnerable nations, according to researchers in the United States and United Kingdom. That is a really conservative estimate," says Guardian reporter Nina Lakhani, who reported on the new study. We also speak with Hadeel Ikhmais, head of the climate change office at the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority, who says the climate impacts of the war are in keeping with Israel's destruction of Palestinian land, water and other natural resources over many decades.

We speak with guests in Johannesburg and Jerusalem about South Africa's landmark case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, where judges are being asked to intervene to stop a genocide. What essentially South Africa is calling for is a ceasefire in Gaza," says South African human rights lawyer Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh. We also speak with Palestinian genocide scholar Maha Abdallah, who says there is extreme urgency" for the world to stop the bloodshed. The court must immediately act," Abdallah says.

South Africa began to make its case Thursday at the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In their opening statements, South Africa's lawyers argued that the sheer scale of Israel's violence, which has so far killed more than 23,000 people since October 7, is part of a political and military strategy aimed at the destruction of Palestinian life, using statements from top Israeli leaders to show genocidal intent. Israel and the United States have both vehemently rejected the charges. South Africa is seeking a provisional measure from the top U.N. court to stop Israel's military campaign, though a final ruling could take years. We feature highlights from the first day of proceedings at The Hague.

World Court Holds First Day of Hearings in Historic Genocide Case Against Israel, WHO Calls for Humanitarian Access in Gaza as More Israeli Attacks Target Health Infrastructure, Iran Seizes Oil Ship in Gulf of Oman; UNSC Demands Houthis Stop Attacking Vessels in Red Sea, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis Face Off in 1-on-1 Debate After Chris Christie Withdraws from Race, Far-Right GOP Lawmakers Break with Speaker Mike Johnson over Congressional Budget Deal, Police in Ecuador Arrest 330 People Amid State of Emergency, Attacker Who Stabbed South Korean Opposition Leader Was Trying to Prevent Future Presidential Run, U.S. Still Recording 1,500 COVID Deaths Each Week as Cases Surge Around the Globe, Ohio House GOP Overrides Gov. Veto on Anti-Trans Healthcare and Sports Bill, Transgender Ohioans Speak Out After Being Challenged in Attempt to Run for Office, Prisoners at Upstate New York Facility Say Guards Waterboarded Them, North Carolina Man Awarded $25 Million for Wrongful Conviction Which Led to 44 Years Behind Bars, Family of Late U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson Accuses Neglect at Rehab Facility for Her Death

Human rights groups say Israel is using starvation as a weapon in the Gaza Strip as Israel severely restricts the delivery of humanitarian aid, medicine and food supplies to millions inside the besieged and bombed territory. In a new report," Israeli human rights group B'Tselem lays out how Israel's decision to cut off electricity, water and international humanitarian aid to Gaza after a 17-year blockade against the territory has led to a very quick collapse of infrastructure. The things that impede this provision of food for people who are starving is a declared policy by Israel," says Sarit Michaeli, B'Tselem international advocacy lead. The Israeli government is at fault, is responsible for this, and this should lead to immediate international action."

As the Biden administration faces mounting public and internal criticism for supporting and arming Israel's 96-day assault on Gaza, we speak with Tariq Habash, who last week became the first Biden appointee to publicly resign from the government to protest Biden's support for Israel's war on Gaza. It was untenable to work for and represent an administration and president that put conditions on my own humanity, that didn't believe that Palestinian lives were equal to the lives of other people," says Habash, a Palestinian American Christian who worked as a senior official at the U.S. Department of Education. He details how Biden employees across the board" are frustrated with the president's policy on Gaza. The White House doesn't even know the level of dissent within its own ranks."

Antony Blinken Laments Far Too Much Loss of Life" in Gaza as He Reasserts U.S. Support for Israel, San Francisco; Bridgeport, CT; Albany Are Latest U.S. Municipalities to Pass Ceasefire Resolutions, Constituents of Reps. Katherine Clark, Elise Stefanik Accuse Lawmakers of Genocide, Trump's Immunity Claim in Election Subversion Case Met with Skepticism at Appeals Court Hearing, Ecuador in Turmoil as Drug Lord Escapes Prison, Armed Men Take Over Live Broadcast, An Irrevocable Black Mark": Widespread Condemnation as Norway Approves Deep Sea Mining, Lloyd Austin's Prostate Cancer Diagnosis Revealed Amid Controversy over Secrecy of His Health, Migrant Families Expelled from NYC Hotel After Mayor Adams Issues New 60-Day Shelter Limit, Biden Admin Issues Rule Extending Labor Benefits for Hourly, Low-Wage Gig Workers, U.S. Police Killed at Least 1,232 People in 2023

We look at The Cost of Inheritance, a new documentary that examines the growing movement for reparations for Black American descendants of people who were enslaved and addressing the historical injustices they have faced. While some of this is being done by city and state commissions tasked with studying reparations, others are attempting to address systemic racism at the local and personal level, as detailed in the film. It's pretty incredible, the pace in which we see reparations moving," says filmmaker Yoruba Richen, who is hopeful that this work will eventually push the federal government into action. We also hear from Lotte Lieb Dula, a descendant of an enslaver in the Mississippi Delta, and Randy Quarterman, whose ancestor Zeike Quarterman was held in bondage, about how they are addressing the legacy of slavery in their personal lives.

President Biden delivered his second campaign speech of the year Monday at the historic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white supremacist gunman killed nine people in 2015. Biden remembered the victims, spoke of the poison of white supremacy" and assailed his Republican rivals for not taking racism seriously, but Biden's speech was interrupted at one point by protesters demanding a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel's U.S.-backed war has killed over 23,000 people. There's no way we're fighting white supremacy ... in the midst of genocide," says artist and activist Bree Newsome Bass, who criticizes Biden for using the Black church as a political prop. The last thing that we need is to carry on business as usual." In 2015, Newsome Bass climbed a 30-foot flagpole outside the South Carolina Capitol to remove the Confederate flag following the church massacre.

Less than a month before a door plug on a Boeing aircraft blew off midflight, employees at Spirit AeroSystems, a subcontractor for Boeing, had tried to warn corporate officials about serious safety problems with parts for 737 MAX jets. But those warnings went unheeded, and the employees were told to falsify records, according to a new investigation by The Lever on a federal complaint filed by workers at Spirit. In some cases, workers were retaliated against for trying to raise those alarms," says journalist David Sirota. These workers in this federal complaint are alleging essentially a culture of defects, a culture of fraud, a culture of retaliation."

Blinken Meets with Netanyahu as Israel Kills Scores of More Palestinians in Gaza, Displaced Palestinians Blast Blinken for Helping Israel Kill Children", Video Shows Israeli Military Vehicle Driving Over Palestinian Man Shot Dead in West Bank, Israeli Lawmaker Faces Possible Expulsion for Supporting South Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel, Jeremy Corbyn Urges Britain to Back Genocide Case Against Israel, Israel Strikes Lebanon Again; U.S. Officials Concerned Netanyahu Sees Broader War Is Key to His Political Survival", Pro-Ceasefire Protesters Disrupt Biden Speech at Church in Charleston, SC, 325 Arrested for Shutting Down Bridges and Tunnel in Manhattan Calling for Gaza Ceasefire, Workers at Key Boeing Subcontractor Had Warned About Excessive Amount of Defects" in Plane Products, Trump Claims Presidential Immunity Should Shield Him from Charges Tied to 2020 Election, Pro-Democracy Rallies Held in Brazil One Year After Jan. 8 Insurrection, Scientists Confirm 2023 Was Hottest Year on Record, Fire Leaves Over 7,000 Rohingya Refugees Homeless in Bangladesh, Asylum Seekers from India on Hunger Strike at Northwest Detention Center

The Federal Aviation Administration has temporarily grounded scores of Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners after a fuselage door plug blew off an Alaska Airlines plane midflight near Portland, Oregon, on Friday. The incident forced the plane to make an emergency landing. The National Transportation Safety Board has revealed Alaska Airlines had concerns about the plane prior to the incident but kept flying it. It's just the latest safety issue plaguing Boeing's MAX planes, which had two catastrophic crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people when faulty flight control systems put the planes into nosedives. This is a tip of the iceberg type situation," says aviation expert Ed Pierson, a former senior manager at Boeing who says he left the company over its unacceptable" business practices that prioritize production over safety. We also speak with Nadia Milleron, whose daughter Samya Rose Stumo was among those killed in the 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. There are serious, serious problems with these MAX planes," says Milleron. A lot of them are manufacturing problems, and Boeing is trying to evade safety regulations."

More than 100 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, when Israel unleashed a ferocious attack on the territory from land, sea and air. On Sunday, an Israeli airstrike on a vehicle killed two more journalists, including Hamza Dahdouh, the eldest son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief Wael Dahdouh, who had already lost his wife and other family to Israeli airstrikes. Palestinian journalist Anan Quzmar says media workers are being targeted in order to shut down the coverage" of Israeli atrocities. Quzmar, a volunteer at the Palestinian Journalists' Syndicate, says the union has evidence that at least 96 of the 109 journalists whose deaths it has documented were deliberately and specifically targeted by surgical Israeli strikes against them." The PJS has filed an amicus brief in support of the Center for Constitutional Rights genocide lawsuit against Israel, citing the unprecedented number of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza, saying they have been deliberately targeted for assassination by the Israeli military.