Democracy Now!

Middle East policy expert Trita Parsi says President Biden's reluctance to press Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza has the potential to drag the U.S. into a war with Iran and its allies in the region. On Monday, Israel reportedly killed a Hezbollah commander in southern Lebanon, just days after an airstrike killed a senior Hamas leader in the capital Beirut. Meanwhile, the U.S. has exchanged fire with Yemen's Houthi forces, who have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea to pressure Israel to stop its war. The Biden administration clearly do not want an escalation," says Parsi, the executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. But the longer Israel's war on Gaza continues with full U.S. support, the less likely regional actors are to continue showing restraint, he says. This is not going to work in the long run."

Death Toll in Gaza Tops 23,000 as U.N. Warns Gaza Has Become Uninhabitable", Israeli Strike Kills Two Journalists: Mustafa Thuraya & Hamza al-Dahdouh, Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza Faces Catastrophe Amid Ongoing Israeli Attacks, Israeli Families Seek Probe into Reports Israeli Tank Killed Hostages in Kibbutz Be'eri on Oct. 7, Senior Hezbollah Commander Assassinated in Suspected Israeli Strike in Lebanon, On Middle East Trip, Blinken Warns War in Gaza Could Easily Metastasize" into a Regional War, Questions Swirl over Why Lloyd Austin Kept Biden in Dark About Hospitalization, Boeing Grounds 737 MAX 9 Flights After Alaska Airlines Accident, Bangladeshi PM Reelected After Opposition Boycotts Vote Amid Political Crackdown, NRA Leader Wayne LaPierre Resigns Ahead of Corruption Trial in New York, NYAG Letitia James Seeks $370 Million Fine Against Trump for Financial Fraud, Supreme Court to Hear Trump Appeal After Colorado Took Him Off Ballot over Jan. 6, Supreme Court Lets Idaho Enforce Strict Abortion Ban, Azerbaijan Picks Former Oil Executive to Lead Next U.N. Climate Summit, MSNBC Host Mehdi Hasan Resigns After Show Is Canceled

Ralph Nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and four-time former presidential candidate, joins Democracy Now! to discuss Americans pushing the government to end this genocidal war in Gaza," large donors influencing free speech and curriculum at universities, and his new book, The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right.

We speak with anti-Zionist organizer and former IDF soldier from Tel Aviv Meital Yaniv, who joined hundreds of Jewish activists and their allies to shut down the California state Capitol in Sacramento Wednesday to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and condemn the roughly $600 million in California taxes that is used annually for U.S. military aid to Israel. Yaniv recalls how they were raised extremely Zionistic," their experience in the Israeli Air Force and eventual turn to fight for Palestinian rights. What Israel is doing right now has nothing to do with antisemitism. What Israel is doing right now is a genocide. What Israel has been doing for the past 75 years is apartheid, is occupation," Yaniv says. There is no need for any one of us to serve in the IDF. The IDF should not exist. The state of Israel should not exist."

In Gaza, the death toll from Israel's 90-day bombardment has topped 22,600, with another 7,000 people reported missing and presumed dead. As the IDF intensifies its attacks on refugee camps in central and south Gaza - areas deemed by Israel to be safe zones - we speak with Mohammed Ghalayini, an air quality scientist and co-founder of Amplify Gaza Stories, who made the impossible choice" to flee from Gaza to Britain, where he has dual citizenship. It was really hard to imagine things getting any worse on any particular day, but they did keep getting worse," says Ghalayini. I'm fearful for everyone I know that's in Gaza, from either meeting an explosive death or a death by trigger-happy genocidal soldiers who are like drunk, obviously, on the power that they are wielding."

Gaza Death Toll Tops 22,600 as Israel Intensifies Attacks on Refugee Camps, Israel Hold Talks with African Nations as Officials Push Voluntary Migration" from Gaza, Biden Administration Claims South Africa Genocide Case Against Israel Is Meritless", Former Israeli Hostage Calls on Netanyahu to Declare a Ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Admits Carrying Out Drone Strike in Baghdad Targeting Iran-Backed Militia Leader, Islamic State Takes Responsibility for Twin Blasts in Iran Near Tomb of Soleimani, Japan Earthquake Toll Rises to 94; Over 220 Still Missing, Al Sharpton Protests Outside Office of Bill Ackman for Role in Ouster of Harvard President, NYC Mayor Eric Adams Sues 17 Bus Companies for Transporting Migrants from Texas, House Democrats Accuse China, Saudi Arabia, Qatar of Paying Millions to Trump Businesses, Saturday Marks Third Anniversary of Jan. 6 Insurrection, Report: Bill Clinton Pressured Vanity Fair Not to Write About Jeffrey Epstein, Sixth-Grader Dies in School Shooting in Perry, Iowa, Police Raid People's Park in Berkeley to Clear Way for UC Berkeley Student Housing

Civil rights leader Bishop William Barber joins us to discuss his calls for more awareness and justice for disabled people after he was kicked out of a Greenville, North Carolina, AMC movie theater last week when he went to see The Color Purple with his 90-year-old mother. Barber was threatened with trespassing and police forcibly removed him from the theater when the manager refused to allow him to use a specialized chair he carries to assist with an arthritic condition. There was no attempt to accommodate," Barber says of the theater's discrimination on the basis of disability and the danger of its staff's decision to call the police. You cannot keep [people with disabilities] from enjoying what the rest of the public enjoys simply because they have some form of a disability." He describes his meeting with the AMC CEO, discusses how the Americans with Disabilities Act is linked to the struggle for the Civil Rights Act, and says he plans to continue the fight for justice.

As Ukraine and Russia complete an exchange of nearly 500 prisoners amid ongoing hostilities, American news outlets are reporting that Russian President Vladimir Putin may be open to ceasefire talks behind the scenes. But in Moscow, That's not how we see it," says Nina Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School and the great-granddaughter of former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Putin has been quite clear from the beginning that Russia is going to achieve all its goals," and, despite international sanctions, the majority sentiment in Russia is that even ceasefire negotiations will result in the country ending the war on stronger terms," Krushcheva says.

Twin explosions in the Iranian province of Kerman killed dozens and injured hundreds Wednesday at a memorial for top Revolutionary Guards general Qassem Soleimani, who was assassinated in a U.S. drone strike four years ago in Iraq. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iran has placed blame on Israel and the U.S, while U.S. officials and regional experts have suggested ISIS as the culprit. Our guest, Iranian historian Arash Azizi, discusses the potential sources of the attack, the scale of the tragedy - which occurred on Mother's Day in Iran and may count among its victims civilians visiting their mothers' graves - and fears of wider war in the midst of Israel's ongoing violence in Gaza. Azizi, who has authored a book on Soleimani's assassination, calls the double blast one of the deadliest - if not the deadliest - attacks of its kind in recent history."

Iran Mourns as Death Toll from Kerman Explosions Reaches 84, Hezbollah's Nasrallah Vows Revenge After Killing of Hamas Official in Beirut, Israel Kills More Palestinians in Attacks on Civilian Homes, Strikes Jabaliya Water Collection Site, Education Dept. Official Resigns in Protest, Saying Biden Ignoring His Staff, Public Opinion on Gaza, Activists in California Shut Down State Capitol to Demand Ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. and Allies Threaten Military Action Against Houthis for Red Sea Attacks, Ukraine and Russia Exchange 500 Prisoners as Both Parties Intensify Attacks, DOJ Sues Texas over New Migration Law as GOP Lawmakers Travel to Border, Appeals Court Rules Texas Hospitals Can Refuse Emergency Abortion Care Even If Patient Risks Death, Ousted Harvard Pres. Claudine Gay Speaks Out on Being the Target of a Racist Smear Campaign, Bill Clinton, Bill Richardson, David Copperfield Named in First Batch of Released Epstein Documents, New Jersey Imam Hassan Sharif Shot and Killed on His Way to Mosque

Dutch Palestinian policy analyst Mouin Rabbani says Israel is using the Hamas attack of October 7 as a pretext to carry out its long-standing ambition" to push Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. He notes Israeli officials started proposing mass displacement of civilians to Egypt and other countries almost immediately after fighting began, and that this reflects Zionist policy since even before the founding of the state of Israel. Ethnic cleansing, or what Zionists would call transfer, is intrinsic to Zionist and later Israeli policy towards the Palestinians from the very outset," says Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and host of the Connections podcast. His latest piece for Mondoweiss is headlined The long history of Zionist proposals to ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip."

A top Hamas official was assassinated in a suburb of Beirut on Tuesday amid growing fears that Israel's war on Gaza could entangle Lebanon and other countries in the region. Hamas's deputy leader Saleh al-Arouri was killed in a suspected Israeli drone strike that also killed six other members of Hamas, though Israel has not confirmed its involvement. What many analysts in the region are concluding is that Israel clearly would like to see greater regional escalation," says analyst Mouin Rabbani, co-editor of Jadaliyya and host of the Connections podcast. He says that while it's not certain that the war will expand, particularly because the U.S. is intent to contain the fighting, the confidence Israel has that it can do as it pleases and not suffer any consequences for any of its actions is the key variable here."

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is facing backlash after she failed to cite slavery as a cause of the Civil War during a town hall event in New Hampshire last week. She later clarified that of course the Civil War was about slavery," but her initial reluctance to say so is indicative of how Republican leaders have long avoided reckoning with the country's past, says Harvard historian Khalil Gibran Muhammad. Nikki Haley has consistently denied the relevance of the history of racism in this country and the presence of racism in this country," he says. This is the Republican Party."

We look at the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, the first African American and second woman to lead the Ivy League school, after conservative-led allegations of plagiarism and backlash over her testimony at a congressional hearing on antisemitism that is part of a broader effort to censor pro-Palestinian speech on college campuses. This is a terrible moment for higher education," says Khalil Gibran Muhammad, professor of history, race and public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. He says plagiarism became a pretext" to oust Gay, and discusses the larger right-wing war on education aimed at undoing progress on race, gender and addressing inequality.

Senior Hamas Leader Killed in Lebanon Amid Growing Fears of Wider Regional War, Blasts Kill Dozens Near Grave of Slain Gen. Soleimani as Iran Marks 4 Years Since U.S. Assassination, Israeli Attacks Continue to Target Hospitals and Homes in Gaza as Death Toll Soars, Survivors of Hamas Oct. 7 Music Festival Attack Sue Israeli Security Forces, Harvard President Claudine Gay Resigns After Mounting Right-Wing Attacks and Antisemitism Hearing, Sudan's Paramilitary RSF Says It's Open to Immediate Ceasefire as Displacement Reaches Record High, Somalia Blasts Somaliland-Ethiopia Red Sea Port Deal as Violation of Its Sovereignty, New Minimum 15% Global Corporate Tax Rate Goes into Effect, Prosecutors Charge Bob Menendez with Accepting Bribes for Aiding Qatari Government, Rev. William Barber Shines Light on Disability Discrimination After Being Forced Out of Movie Theater, Trump Appeals Maine Decision to Block Him from Primary Ballot, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Pioneering U.S. Congressmember from Dallas, Has Died at 88

As we begin a pivotal election year in the United States, we look at the powerful U.S. lobby group AIPAC, which is set to spend more than $100 million to defeat progressives who are critical of Israeli human rights violations in Palestine. That includes Michigan's Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American member of Congress. AIPAC's outsize influence in national campaigns comes with an implicit threat," says The Intercept's Ryan Grim, whose new book, The Squad: AOC and the Hope of a Political Revolution, was published last month. That money will still be spent, but it will be spent against you instead," he says about politicians who dare to turn down the pro-Israel lobby's deep pockets. That really, to a shocking degree, constrained what Democratic candidates were willing to say when it came to criticizing Israel."

South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. I believe South Africa will win an order against Israel to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Palestinians," says Francis Boyle, an international human rights lawyer who won two requests at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention of 1948 for provisional protection on behalf of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Yugoslavia. Boyle says Israel has a history of listening to the United States' orders to stop its assaults on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We here in the United States of America have the power to stop this."

Death Toll in Gaza Tops 22,000 as Biden Bypasses Congress to Send More Munitions to Israel, Israel Kills Five Palestinians in West Bank; Seventh Palestinian Dies in Israeli Jail Since Oct. 7, South African Files Genocide Case Against Israel at International Court of Justice, Supreme Court Strikes Down Key Part of Netanyahu's Judicial Reform, Pro-Palestine Protests Disrupt Rose Bowl & JFK Airport, U.S. Kills 10 Houthi Fighters as Tensions Grows in Red Sea, Putin Vows to Intensify Strikes on Ukraine After 25 Die in Missile Attack on Russian City, Death Toll from Japanese Earthquake at 48 as Rescue Efforts Continue, South Korean Opposition Leader Stabbed, Bangladeshi Court Sentences Nobel Laureate Muhammad Yunus, Felix Tshisekedi Declared Winner in DRC as Opposition Candidates Call for New Election, Zapatistas Mark 30 Years Since Uprising in Chiapas, Mexico, Against NAFTA, Minimum Wage Increases in 22 States as New Laws Go into Effect, Exonerated Central Park Five" Member Yusef Salaam Sworn In to NY City Council, Australian Journalist John Pilger, 84, Dies; Covered Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor & Iraq, Dr. Sidney Wolfe Dies at 84; Fought FDA to Keep Dangerous Medications Off Market, Dine Activist & Musician Klee Benally Dies at 48; Wrote Book on Indigenous Anarchy

In a New Year's Day special broadcast, we air highlights from the Belmarsh Tribunal held last month in Washington, D.C., where journalists, lawyers, activists and other expert witnesses made the case to free Julian Assange from prison in the United Kingdom. The WikiLeaks founder has been jailed at London's Belmarsh prison since 2019, awaiting possible extradition to the United States on espionage charges for publishing documents that revealed U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rights groups say the charges threaten freedom of the press and put a chilling effect on the work of investigative journalists who expose government secrets.The Belmarsh Tribunal, inspired by the Russell-Sartre Tribunals of the Vietnam War, has been convened several times in the U.S., Europe and beyond to press for Assange's release. The December proceedings were co-chaired by Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and The Intercept's Ryan Grim.Members of the tribunal included:Ewen MacAskill, journalist and intelligence correspondent (formerly with The Guardian)*John Kiriakou, former intelligence officer for the CIALina Attalah, co-founder and chief editor of Mada MasrAbby Martin, journalist and host of The Empire FilesMark Feldstein, veteran investigative reporter and journalism historian at the University of MarylandBen Wizner, lawyer and civil liberties advocate with the ACLUTrevor Timm, journalist and co-founder of Freedom of the Press FoundationRebecca Vincent, director of campaigns, Reporters Without Borders

On Thursday, the state of Maine joined Colorado in barring Donald Trump from the Republican primary ballot over his role in the January 6 insurrection. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows issued a written decision saying the insurrection clause in the 14th Amendment makes the former president ineligible to run for public office again. These cases are about defending our republic," says constitutional attorney John Bonifaz, who previews upcoming cases in Oregon and Trump's ballot eligibility being decided by the Supreme Court. This is a matter of critical importance for the state and for the nation."

More United Nations workers have been killed in Israel's ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip than in any other conflict in the organization's history. As the death toll for U.N. workers ticks above 136, Israel has announced it will no longer grant automatic visas to U.N. workers, after accusing the organization of being complicit partners" with Hamas after months of U.N. officials repeatedly calling for a ceasefire and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territory, calls Israel's accusations baseless" and part of a long pattern of smearing and obstructing the U.N.'s operations in Israel and Palestine.

Gaza health officials report the past 12 weeks of Israeli assault has killed more than 21,500 Palestinians as Israel admits to killing civilians in an attack on the Maghazi refugee camp on Christmas. We speak with Husam Zomlot, the head of the Palestinian Mission to the United Kingdom, where Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says too many civilians" have died in Gaza and has called for a sustainable ceasefire. What Israel is doing is the first-ever on-air genocide," says Zomlot, who warns that suppression of dissent and obstruction of international order by Israel and the U.S. will have wide-ranging effects on democratic rights around the world. These millions of people here and worldwide have discovered that Israel is not just oppressing Palestinians. Israel is oppressing every one of them. Israel is oppressing humanity."

Israel Attacks Refugee Camps in Gaza as Palestinian Death Toll Tops 21,500, Where Am I Supposed to Go?" Displaced Palestinian Girl Speaks Out After Israel Bombs Shelter in Rafah, Israel Says High Death Toll in Maghazi Camp Massacre Due to Wrong Bomb Being Dropped, U.N. Decries Israeli Military and Settler Attacks in Occupied West Bank, Hundreds Rally in Tel Aviv in Largest Peace Rally Since October 7, Judith Weinstein Haggai, Israeli Grandmother with U.S. Citizenship, Confirmed Killed in Oct. 7 Attack, Netanyahu Cancels War Cabinet Meeting as Disagreements Remain on Future of Gaza, Maine Joins Colorado in Barring Trump from Ballot over Jan. 6 Insurrection, 16 Killed in Ukraine as Russia Launches Wave of Missile & Drone Strikes on Cities, Justice Department Threatens to Sue Texas over New Immigration Law, Major Labor Union in Argentina Calls for National Strike to Protest Milei's Shock Therapy Economic Plans

As many as 10,000 people a day are being arrested in the U.S.-Mexico border as the Biden administration adapts the GOP's xenophobic anti-immigrant framework ahead of the 2024 election, says Laura Carlsen, director of the Mexico City-based think tank MIRA: Feminisms and Democracies. She joins us as the U.S. secretary of state and homeland security secretary met Wednesday with the Mexican president. The U.S. and its policies south of the border, including sanctions and an exported drug war, are actually causing the migration that they then try to contain - through these measures that are whipping up racism and also feeding into Republican campaigns," says Carlsen.

Israel has killed more than 8,200 children in Gaza, which the U.N. now calls the most dangerous place in the world to be a child. We speak with Steve Sosebee of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian aid to Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank, about how at least six Palestinians the organization had brought to the United States for free medical care have now been killed in Gaza. Sosebee shares the stories of Izzeddin Nawasra and Mohammed Al-Ajouri, two young men who were shot by Israeli snipers during the Great March of Return protests in 2018 and received medical care in the U.S. from PCRF. Both were killed alongside their families by Israeli airstrikes on and after Christmas Day. Sosebee also describes the state of medical care in Gaza, where patients are being forced to undergo amputations without anesthesia and forgo life-saving medications amid Israel's ongoing blockade.

As Israel threatens to continue its assault on Gaza for many months," we look at growing Israeli civil opposition to the war. This week, 18-year-old Israeli Tal Mitnick became the first conscientious objector since October 7. We speak with Aida Touma-Sliman, an Palestinian Arab member of the left-wing party Hadash who was suspended from the Knesset last month for criticizing Israel's assault. She was punished for a social media post she made condemning Israel's attack on al-Shifa Hospital, and decries the extreme right-wing government" and its suppression of critical voices in Israel.

Israel Raids 10 Cities Across Occupied West Bank, Two Journalists Among at Least 50 Palestinians Killed in Latest Israeli Strikes on Gaza, 300,000 Flee Sudan's Jazeera State as RSF Paramilitaries Expand Control, AP: Russia Vastly Understated Death Toll from Floods Unleashed by Ukraine Dam Breach, World's Top 15 Largest Arms Makers Saw Revenues Soar in 2022-'23, Protesters Block Roads to Airports in L.A., New York to Demand Gaza Ceasefire, Argentine Unions Defy Ban to Protest Austerity Measures Imposed by President Milei, Michigan Court Rules Trump's Name Can Remain on 2024 Ballot Despite Attempted Insurrection, Presidential Hopeful Nikki Haley Won't Cite Slavery as Cause of U.S. Civil War, Tom Smothers, Who Fought CBS Censorship of Civil Rights Leaders and Antiwar Voices, Dies at 86

We look at the Palestine exception to free speech" on U.S. college campuses, where students and faculty face backlash and professional retribution for speaking up in defense of Palestinian rights amid the Israeli war on Gaza. We hear from Safiya O'Brien, a Barnard College student and organizer with the Columbia University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and speak with Barnard College professor Premilla Nadasen, who describes an organized campaign to censor student and faculty speech and curtail academic freedom." The New York Civil Liberties Union recently sent a letter to the president of Barnard to protest a new policy that requires departments to submit content for their websites for approval by the Office of the Provost.

Amid a communications blackout in Gaza, we are able to reach Palestinian journalist Akram al-Satarri in Rafah, where much of Gaza's population is now displaced near the Egyptian border as Israel intensifies its assault on the besieged territory. The overall death toll in Gaza has now topped 21,000, including over 8,000 children, and Israeli leaders have suggested the war could continue for months. The situation is dire," says al-Satarri, who describes continuous airstrikes leveling buildings as Gaza residents live in terror, not knowing when, where or why Israeli bombs will fall. It's a continuous struggle to live. It's a continuous struggle to survive."

Longtime investigative journalist James Bamford's latest piece for The Nation looks at Canary Mission, a shadowy pro-Israel group that publishes the photos and personal details of students who take part in Palestinian advocacy on U.S. colleges, branding them antisemites and often damaging their career prospects. Bamford explains how this operation has direct links to the Israeli government, and that wealthy Americans who fund this effort could be breaking the law by acting as agents of a foreign power. The purpose is to blacklist and dox students, professors, and largely anybody who disagrees with Israel or is pro-Palestinian," Bamford tells Democracy Now!

We look at how Israel's war on Gaza has inflamed tensions in the Middle East and threatens to pull other countries into the fighting, including the United States. The Pentagon says it has intercepted a number of drones and missiles launched by Yemen's Houthi forces - known as Ansar Allah - in the Red Sea aimed at disrupting international shipping, with the group vowing to continue the attacks on ships in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The U.S. and Israel have also exchanged fire with groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and violence continues to increase in the occupied West Bank. The growth of forces openly fighting against Israel and the U.S. is a major development in the Middle East that most Western commentators do not fully understand, says Rami Khouri, a veteran Palestinian American journalist and a senior public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut. This axis of resistance" is largely motivated by outrage over the treatment of Palestinians, he says. The U.S. and Israel at some point need to acknowledge that the Palestinian people have rights that are equal to the Israeli people."

Death Toll in Gaza Tops 21,000; Israeli Drone Kills Six Palestinians in West Bank, As Egypt Proposes Ceasefire, Israel Says Attack on Gaza to Continue for Many More Months", 80 Unidentified Palestinians Buried in Mass Graves in Rafah, Netanyahu Backs Expelling All Palestinians from Gaza, Israeli Soldier Dies from Fungal Infection in Gaza as Public Health Crisis Grows, Israeli Conscientious Objector Sentenced to 30 Days in Prison, Israel to Halt Automatically Granting Visas to U.N. Workers, Pentagon Intercept & Shoot Down 12 Houthi Drones in Red Sea, Ukraine Strikes Russian Warship in Crimea But Loses Control of Frontline Town, Turkish Parliamentary Committee Backs Sweden's Bid to Join NATO, Blinken & Mayorkas Head to Mexico to Meet AMLO to Discuss Border Issues, Opposition Candidates in DRC Protest Massive Fraud" in Presidential Election, 160 Killed in Attacks in Rural Nigerian State of Plateau, Japan Moves Closer to Opening World's Largest Nuclear Power Plant, U.S. Places Guatemalan Prosecutors on Blacklist for Role in Trying to Overturn Arevalo Election, NYC Activist Ralph Poynter, Husband of Radical Attorney Lynne Stewart, Dies, South Korean Actor Lee Sun-kyun of Parasite" Fame Dies at 48

Unions across the United States have begun to shift from a long history of supporting Israel to condemning the Israeli occupation of Palestine amid growing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel's 80-day assault has killed over 20,000 people. As ceasefire demands from teachers to Starbucks workers are published across the country and a major march led in part by union organizers in New York called on members of Congress to stop taking campaign cash from pro-Israel lobbyists, Democracy Now! speaks with longtime trade unionist Bill Fletcher and labor historian Jeff Schuhrke about the United States labor movement's history with Israel and Palestine, Biden's Zionism clashing with his union support, and the labor movement's tailspin" about how to respond to the war on Gaza.

Through the Christmas holiday, Israel continued its relentless bombardment and siege of the Gaza Strip that has seen over 20,000 Palestinians killed. In the West Bank, we speak with Reverend Munther Isaac, pastor at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, which canceled Christmas festivities in the storied birthplace of Jesus to mourn the deaths in Gaza and received worldwide attention for their nativity scene depicting the baby Jesus surrounded by rubble. Christianity started here and never ceased to exist here," says Isaac. This is what Christmas is in Palestine: displaced families, destroyed homes and children under the rubble."

In the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, city and church leaders canceled all Christmas festivities this year to mourn the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza. We feature the Christmas sermon, Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament," delivered Saturday by Reverend Munther Isaac at the landmark Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, which has received international attention for a nativity scene depicting the figure of baby Jesus in a keffiyeh, surrounded by rubble. If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza," preached Isaac, who condemned using theology to justify Israel's killing of innocent civilians. If we, as Christians, are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and we are compromising the credibility of our gospel message."

Hundreds of Palestinian Civilians Killed as Israel Steps Up Attacks on Gaza Strip, Israel PM Netanyahu Says Gaza Assault Isn't Close to Finished", U.N. Security Council Passes Watered-Down Gaza Aid Resolution Following U.S. Veto Threat, Baghdad Condemns U.S. Strikes on Northern Iraq, Says Civilians Among the Dead, Israel Assassinates Senior Adviser to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps in Syria, Pope Calls for Gaza Ceasefire as Palestinians Cancel Christmas Celebrations in Bethlehem, Ukraine Weighs Lowering Age of Conscription as It Seeks Half-Million More Soldiers, Jailed Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny Resurfaces in Arctic Penal Colony, Anti-Austerity Protesters Defy Argentine President's Edict Banning Demonstrations, Pakistan Attempts to Use Artificial Rain to Combat Hazardous Air Pollution, Two Paramedics Found Guilty of Negligent Homicide in Killing of Elijah McClain

His name might not be familiar to many, but his songs are sung by millions around the world. Today, we take a journey through the life and work of Yip Harburg, the Broadway lyricist who wrote such hits as Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and who put the music into The Wizard of Oz. Born into poverty on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Harburg always included a strong social and political component to his work, fighting racism and poverty. A lifelong socialist, Harburg was blacklisted and hounded throughout much of his life. We speak with Harburg's son, Ernie Harburg, about the music and politics of his father. Then we take an in-depth look at The Wizard of Oz, and hear a medley of Harburg's Broadway songs and the politics of the times in which they were created.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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