Democracy Now!

The Supreme Court has unanimously rejected a challenge from anti-abortion groups to the nationwide availability of the abortion medication mifepristone, which is available by mail and can be taken at home in many states. However, advocates warn the far-right-dominated court's ruling on the FDA's authority to regulate the pill was purely on procedural grounds, and could even offer a roadmap" for future challenges. Mifepristone is used in roughly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions, including in some states that have severely limited or banned abortions. This is just one of the strikes - not the first strike, not the second or third, but one of the strikes - in an artillery that is aimed at reproductive freedom," says our guest, legal scholar Michele Goodwin. We discuss the ruling and the anti-abortion movement's playbook" of attacks on reproductive healthcare with Goodwin.

Children Keep Dying of Hunger in Gaza as Israel Continues Its Unrelenting Assault, SCOTUS Keeps Mifepristone Access in Place, But Rights Advocates Warn the Challenges Are Not Over, SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Starbucks in Worker Challenge to Retaliatory Firings, G7 Leaders Agree to $50 Billion Ukraine Loan; Biden Reaffirms U.S. Military Support for Kyiv, Protesters Highlight Inequality, War, Climate Destruction as G7 Leaders Feast at Banquet, Russia to Try U.S. Reporter Evan Gershkovich for Espionage, Christophe Deloire, Journalist and Head of Reporters Without Borders, Dies at 53, Elders Take the Baton in Ongoing Climate Protest Against Citigroup, Rich Nations Are Not Willing to Pay": U.N. Climate Talks Falter over Disaster Funding, Power Outages Affect 350,000 in Puerto Rico Amid Extreme Heat Wave, Macron Halts Voting Reforms in New Caledonia, Oklahoma High Court Tosses Suit Brought by Tulsa Race Massacre Survivors, Trump Returns to Capitol Hill for First Time Since Jan. 6 Insurrection, Reproductive Rights Groups Protest as Brazilian Lawmakers Advance Anti-Abortion Bill

Israel and Hamas are both facing calls to support the U.S.-backed ceasefire and hostage deal that was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council earlier this week. While Hamas has welcomed the proposal, Israeli leaders have yet to publicly commit to its terms, including a full end to the war rather than just a pause in the fighting for the exchange of captives. This comes as a major new U.N. report accuses Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity throughout its eight-month assault on the territory. Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza has now passed 37,000, including more than 15,000 children. This is inhumane and catastrophic," says senior Palestinian diplomat Majed Bamya, who says 2.3 million Palestinians, every single day, are fighting to survive" while the ceasefire proposal languishes. He also stresses that peace in the region is only possible by ending the occupation and allowing two states to live side by side."

The world saw the highest number of state-based conflicts last year since the end of World War II, as fighting raged in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and other areas. That's the finding of a new report from the Peace Research Institute Oslo. Siri Rustad, research director at the Norwegian think tank, tells Democracy Now! that it's a worrying trend. The three past years are the three most violent years since the Cold War," she says.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, caught on a secret recording, recently attacked ProPublica for its reporting on Supreme Court ethics. The nonprofit investigative news outlet has spearheaded coverage of possible conflicts of interest among judges on the nation's top court, including Justice Clarence Thomas, who has accepted millions in gifts and trips from conservative billionaires. Alito told a filmmaker posing as a conservative activist that ProPublica gets a lot of money" to dig up any little thing they can find," suggesting the reporting was politically motivated. That notion is just wrong," says Justin Elliott, one of the lead ProPublica journalists reporting on the Supreme Court. We took a very hard look at the Democratic-appointed justices, and we simply haven't found anything close to similar to what we found when it came to Justice Thomas and Justice Alito." He also says the Senate Judiciary Committee has power it is not currently using to investigate the court amid the ongoing ethics scandal. There's really no reason to believe that we actually know all the facts about what these justices have gotten."

We speak with filmmaker Lauren Windsor, whose recorded conversations with U.S. Supreme Court justices have sparked the latest firestorm over how the country's top jurists are ruling on consequential cases. Windsor posed as a conservative activist to speak with Justice Samuel Alito at a June 3 event of the Supreme Court Historical Society, where he appeared to endorse running the U.S. as a Christian theocracy and said he was doubtful about living peacefully with political opponents. In a separate recording from the same event, Alito's wife, Martha-Ann Alito, complained about rainbow flags during Pride Month and made other incendiary remarks. Alito has refused to recuse himself from cases involving Donald Trump and the January 6 insurrection even after photos emerged of two flags associated with election deniers flying in front of his homes. It wasn't hard to speak with either of them," says Windsor, who collected the recordings as part of her upcoming film Gonzo for Democracy and paid a total of $650 to get into the event. These are individuals who have to operate professionally at the highest degree of discretion," she says of Supreme Court justices. It should tell you something that [Alito] felt comfortable enough to make these admissions to an almost virtual stranger."

Famine-Like Conditions" Spread Across Gaza Amid Lagging Ceasefire Deal, Rising Death Toll, U.S. Blames Hamas for Ceasefire Stalemate, But Israel Has Yet to Address Deal, House GOP Holds Attorney General Garland in Contempt of Congress, Democrats Push Ethics Legislation for Captured and Corrupted" SCOTUS, Southern Baptist Convention Votes to Ban IVF, Climate Activists Disrupt Congressional Baseball Game, Block NYC's Citibank, Indigenous Climate Leaders Demand Biden Admin Stop DAPL as It Greenlights MVP, Swiss Lawmakers Toss Landmark European Ruling in Favor of Older Women Affected by Climate Change, DRC: Officials Report 42 Deaths After ADF Attack on Same Day Shipwreck Killed 80 Passengers, Kuwait Fire Kills at Least 49, Mostly Migrant Workers from India, Argentine Senate Approves Milei's Plan for Economic Shock Therapy" Amid Mass Protests, Ecuadorian Workers and Students Take to Streets to Protest Govt's Economic Policies

In a landmark case in Florida, a federal jury has ordered Chiquita Brands International to pay over $38 million in damages to the families of eight Colombian men who were killed by paramilitaries the banana giant funded. Chiquita previously pleaded guilty to paying the far-right United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia paramilitary group, or AUC, $1.7 million from 2001 to 2004. Though Chiquita argued the payments were meant to protect company employees, the AUC has been found responsible for committing mass human rights abuses and murdering civilians from 1997 to 2006. Chiquita essentially had a partnership with the paramilitaries," says Marco Simons, general counsel for EarthRights International. They voluntarily paid these groups in order to protect Chiquita against left-wing guerrillas and essentially to pacify the operating environment in the banana-growing region of Colombia." Chiquita is one of the world's largest banana producers and says it plans to appeal the jury's verdict. The company is due to face a second so-called bellwether trial starting July 15. For the past 17 years, we have been trying to get justice," says Simons. This is only the start of the judicial reckoning for Chiquita."

A federal jury found Hunter Biden guilty Tuesday of three felony charges for illegally purchasing a gun at a time when he was using drugs, making him the first child of a sitting U.S. president to be found guilty of a crime. This was a fairly straightforward case," says Ben Schreckinger, reporter for Politico. Most criminal trials result in convictions. This wasn't an exception." Schreckinger lays out the political implications for President Joe Biden, compares this conviction to Trump's criminal proceedings and explains Hunter Biden's upcoming trial for tax fraud in California.

A pair of new United Nations reports has accused Israel, as well as Hamas, of committing war crimes in Gaza. The damning documents come as Israel and Hamas are being urged to accept the three-phase ceasefire and hostage deal outlined by President Biden and endorsed by the U.N. Security Council. Israel has no interest in international law, and the United States has no interest in demanding that Israel actually comply with international law besides rhetorical flourishes," says Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of DAWN. It will come to haunt and hurt America for decades to come."

Hamas and Islamic Jihad Respond to U.N. Ceasefire Plan, U.N. Inquiry on Gaza Finds Israel Committed War Crimes Including Starvation, Torture and Murder, Israeli Strike on Lebanon Kills Hezbollah Commander, 15,000 Kids Dead Is Not Self-Defense!": Protesters Confront Jake Sullivan over Gaza Assault, Hunter Biden Found Guilty of Three Felony Gun Charges, 49 Drown and 140 Others Feared Lost at Sea as Boat Ferrying Refugees Sinks Off Yemen's Coast, Malawian Vice President Saulos Chilima Confirmed Dead After Plane Crash, Biden Administration Will Allow Arms Shipments to Ukrainian Unit with Neo-Nazi Past, Johnson & Johnson Agrees to $700M Settlement over Carcinogenic Talcum Powder, Federal Judge Strikes Down Key Parts of Florida Anti-Trans Law

We speak with U.S. Army Major Harrison Mann, the first military and intelligence officer to publicly resign over the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza. Mann left his role at the Defense Intelligence Agency after a 13-year career, saying in a public letter explaining his resignation that nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel ... has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians." Mann submitted his resignation on November 1, just over three weeks into Israel's assault on Gaza, but his separation from the military became effective last week. Even in the first weeks after October 7 ... it was really clear that they were prepared to inflict huge numbers of civilian casualties," Mann tells Democracy Now! I understood that every day that I was going to go into the office, I was going to be contributing to the Israeli campaign." Mann also explains how his Jewish background impacted his decision to resign, saying that while he was proud to wear the same uniform of soldiers who liberated Nazi concentration camps during World War II, it was impossible" not to see echoes of the Holocaust in the devastation of Gaza. Seeing photos of charred bodies and burnt corpses and starved, emaciated children that are from 2023, 2024, not the '40s, it's impossible not to make that connection," says Mann. The situations are not perfectly analogous, but the moral similarities were very clear to me."

More than eight months into Israel's devastating assault on Gaza, the territory's healthcare system is barely functioning, with the World Health Organization reporting this week that there have been 464 Israeli attacks on Gaza's healthcare system since October 7, affecting 101 health facilities. Gaza's Health Ministry warns that the few remaining hospitals still partially functioning could completely shut down due to Israel's near-total blockade of the territory, which is keeping out parts needed to maintain hospital diesel generators, as well as crucial medical supplies. Over 37,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's war on Gaza, and nearly 85,000 Palestinians have been wounded. The situation in Gaza ... remains catastrophic," says Dr. James Smith, an emergency medical doctor just back from Gaza, where he treated patients for nearly two months. There are no fully functional hospitals any longer in Gaza and no health facilities that are able to absorb the sheer scale of need now."

Residents in all 27 countries of the European Union went to the polls this weekend to vote for the European Parliament, which resulted in a surge of support for far-right parties across much of the continent while many liberal and Green parties stumbled. Far-right parties did especially well in Italy, Germany and France, prompting French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call snap elections. Lawmakers in the European Parliament can veto and shape laws, though they cannot introduce them. They also set the EU's budget and approve the selection of the European Commission president - a powerful role currently held by Ursula von der Leyen of the center-right European People's Party, which remains the strongest bloc. For more on European politics, we speak with Mehreen Khan, the economics editor at The Times of London and a former Brussels and EU correspondent for the Financial Times. Khan says that while some observers celebrated the relative strength of mainstream conservative parties, that is more a reflection of how successful racist, nationalist parties have been in reshaping the continent's politics, particularly on immigration. These formerly center-right parties are now definitely occupying territory that we used to call that of the far right," she says.

U.N. Security Council Approves U.S.-Backed Gaza Ceasefire Resolution, 15-Year-Old Among Palestinians Killed by Israeli Forces in West Bank Raid, Federal Appeals Court Hears Lawsuit Accusing Top U.S. Officials of Complicity in Genocide, Police Attack, Arrest UCLA Protesters as Students Continue to Pressure School over Israel Ties, U.S. Jury Orders Chiquita to Pay $38 Million to Families of Colombians Killed by Paramilitary Group, Belgian Prime Minister Resigns After Far-RIght Victory in EU Elections, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito Agrees with Fundamentalist Ideas in Leaked Audio, Trump Interviewed by NY Probation Officer; Giuliani Posts Bond in AZ Election Interference Case, Jury Deliberations Begin in Hunter Biden Gun Trial, Rev. James Lawson, Who Taught Nonviolence to Civil Rights Activists, Dies at 95

Israelis celebrated the return of the four hostages in Saturday's raid. The four hostages - Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv - were all in good medical condition. Just hours after the rescue, thousands of Israelis gathered in Tel Aviv and other cities to protest Netanyahu's government and to call for a deal to free the remaining hostages. We speak to Ami Dar, an Israeli social entrepreneur based in New York, who supports the exchange of hostages and prisoners and a permanent ceasefire deal. Let's get all the hostages back, and if that means that every single detainee and prisoner, Palestinian, is freed, then so be it. Life comes first," says Dar, the executive director of Idealist.org. We also hear more from Maoz Inon, an Israeli peace activist whose parents, Bilha and Yakovi Inon, were killed in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel. We are not going to compromise for anything less than a lasting peace," he says.

Four Israeli hostages have returned to their families after Israel's deadly raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp that killed at least 274 Palestinians. All four hostages were in good medical condition. As Israel's war on Gaza continues unabated, families and supporters of many of the remaining hostages see the Israeli government's refusal to negotiate for a ceasefire as a barrier to their loved ones' safe return. I already lost my parents, and I don't want [anyone] to be in the position I am," says Maoz Inon, whose parents were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7. Inon is a supporter of an all for all" exchange, in which all surviving Israeli hostages would be returned to Israel in exchange for the release of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli detention before and after October 7. It's time for action to stop the war immediately, to make a deal - all hostages in exchange for all Palestinian prisoners - and start working to build a better future," says Inon.

Israel's weekend attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp that freed four Israeli hostages and killed at least 274 Palestinians and wounded nearly 700 was reportedly supported by the Biden administration, which provided intelligence to Israel ahead of the raid. There's no question that what unfolded in that operation was a massacre," says Palestinian American political analyst Omar Baddar. To look at a death toll of this scale and then to celebrate this kind of operation as some sort of success, you would basically have to openly say that the lives of Israelis are more valuable than the lives of Palestinians." Baddar discusses the political and humanitarian impact of the raid and his outlook on ceasefire negotiations. When push comes to shove, the Biden administration is unwilling to apply any meaningful pressure on Israel," he says. That dynamic is not going to lead to anything positive."

In one of the single bloodiest Israeli attacks in Gaza over the last eight months, at least 274 Palestinians were killed, including at least 64 children, and nearly 700 were wounded in a raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday that freed four Israelis held hostage in Gaza since October 7. Children were shot dead. Elderly people were shot dead. Women were shot dead," says Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri, who was at the Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday. Speaking to us from outside the Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah - one of the last remaining hospitals that are partially functioning in Gaza - al-Satarri says the death toll is rising by the minute, as wounded Palestinians aren't able to receive the care they need. Al-Satarri also discusses the World Food Programme's recent suspension of aid operations in Gaza City and Israel's withholding of aid on the entire Gaza Strip.

Israel Kills 274 Gazans, Including 64 Children, in Attack on Nuseirat That Freed 4 Hostages, Benny Gantz Quits Israeli War Cabinet as Protests Against Netanyahu Mount, U.N. Adds Israel to List of Shame" for Violating Children's Rights, Mass Protests for Gaza Take Over Streets of D.C., London; Police Attack McGill Students in Montreal, Macron Calls Snap Election After Suffering Blow as Far Right Dominates EU Vote in France, Protesters Condemn Nationalism, Warn Against Climate Chaos as Europeans Vote for New Parliament, MSF Recovers 12 Bodies Off Libyan Coast After Another Mediterranean Shipwreck, Allied Democratic Forces Kill Nearly 60 People in Eastern Congo in Deadly Spate of Attacks, Last Hospital in Sudan's El Fasher Closes as Deadly Attacks by RSF Kill Over 100 in Past Week, Ugandan Activist Stephen Kwikiriza, Who Is Fighting EACOP, Released After Being Detained by Army, Narendra Modi Sworn In for Third Term as Indian Prime Minister, Clarence Thomas Discloses Details of Luxury Gifts from GOP Megadonor, Biden Admin Waters Down Fuel Efficiency Standards in Blow to Climate Goals, Native American Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier Faces High-Stakes Parole Hearing

Democracy Now! speaks with the creators of a new arts campaign grounded in Black women's stories. VOICES: a sacred sisterscape is an audio play directed by award-winning poet aja monet weaving together Black feminist poems and perspectives. Art is an invitation to expand our participation in the world and the ways that we see the world," says monet, who hopes the project inspires action beyond aesthetics. Solidarity is about us being not just spectators, but actors in the reality of our lives."The project was created with V-Day, the global activist movement to end violence against all women, gender-expansive people, girls and the Earth. Rather than looking at Black women, we needed to put our headphones on and our masks ... and do embodied listening," says V, playwright of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day. Through that, we begin to understand where we all connect, where we are all aligned."VOICES: a sacred sisterscape will be available for streaming June 11.

As we enter the month of June, scorching temperatures are already making deadly heat waves around the world. Data confirmed last month was the hottest May on record, putting the Earth on a 12-month streak of record-breaking temperatures. On Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization announced there is an 80% chance the average global temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels for at least one of the next five years. We're going to see a more chaotic planet as the climate heats up," says Jeff Goodell, a journalist covering the climate crisis. Goodell describes the heat wave scenario that keeps climate scientists up at night": a major power outage that could cut off air conditioning and cause thousands of deaths from extreme temperatures.In Mexico, it's already so hot that howler monkeys and parrots are falling dead from the trees. What we're experiencing right now goes beyond what is normal," says Ruth Cerezo-Mota, climate researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. We have been saying this for many years now."

Israeli forces have illegally dropped white phosphorus munitions on densely populated residential areas in southern Lebanon, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. White phosphorus, which poses a high risk of excruciating burns and lifelong suffering, was dropped by Israel over at least 17 municipalities in Lebanon since October 2023. Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health says at least 173 people have been injured in the white phosphorus attacks, which have also caused hundreds of forest fires in Lebanon. It can burn down to the bone and cause lifelong suffering," says Ramzi Kaiss, a researcher at Human Rights Watch. This widespread use is putting civilians at grave risk and also contributing to displacement."

U.S. Munitions Used in Israeli Attack on UNRWA School in Gaza, Netanyahu to Address Congress on July 24 Despite ICC Seeking His Arrest for War Crimes, Israel Signs $3 Billion Deal to Buy 25 F-35 Stealth Fighter Jets from U.S., NAACP Calls on Biden to Halt Arms Shipments to Israel, Israeli Forces Kill Three Palestinians in Raid on Jenin, Biden Meets Zelensky in France as U.S. Announces Plans to Send $225M to Ukraine, Putin Threatens to Send Long-Range Missiles to Russia's Allies, Appeals Court in Georgia Pauses Trump's Election Subversion Case, Federal Judge Orders Steve Bannon to Report to Prison on July 1, Over 100 Killed by RSF Fighters in Attack on Sudanese Village, Samsung Workers in South Korea Go on Strike for First Time, NY Gov. Kathy Hochul Slammed for Halting Congested Pricing Program in NYC, The Hill Fires Briahna Joy Gray, Critic of Israel's War on Gaza, Staff at Columbia Law Review Vote to Strike Amid Controversy on Legal Article About Nakba

We speak with Congressmember Jamaal Bowman of New York, one of the top targets for pro-Israel groups seeking to oust lawmakers who have led calls for a ceasefire in Gaza. Bowman is a former Bronx middle school principal who won his seat in 2020 before becoming a member of the so-called Squad of progressives in Congress. The powerful lobby group AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, could spend as much as $25 million to support George Latimer, Bowman's rival for the Democratic nomination in New York's 16th District, which would make it the most expensive primary fight in U.S. history. It's unprecedented," says Bowman, who calls it despicable" for the group to target him for his antiwar stance. They don't want anyone to be critical of the state of Israel, even though an honest critique will lead to the ongoing safety and security of the people of Israel and hopefully get us a free Palestine."

A new documentary, Where Olive Trees Weep, explores Palestinian loss, trauma and the fight for justice over decades of life under Israeli occupation. We speak with two people featured in the film: Ashira Darwish, a Palestinian journalist and therapist, and Dr. Gabor Mate, an acclaimed Hungarian Canadian physician whose work focuses on addiction and trauma.I was only 16 when I was taken," says Darwish, describing the first time she was beaten and arrested by Israeli soldiers, which motivated her to become a journalist in order to both document and fight against the occupation. What's happening in Palestine is devastating, and what's happening in the West Bank and Gaza has been going on for 75 years."Mate, a Holocaust survivor born in Hungary, recounts his own trauma as a child and says that same horror" is being inflicted on Palestinian children today.

An Israeli airstrike on a U.N. school in central Gaza has killed at least 40 people, including 14 children, according to local authorities. Nearly 80 Palestinians were also wounded in Thursday's predawn strike that hit the al-Sardi School run by UNRWA, the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. The Israeli military says it was targeting militants operating in the school, but provided no evidence to back up its claims. UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai tells Democracy Now! the school had been sheltering about 6,000 displaced Palestinians, like many other UNRWA facilities since the start of the war in October. International law is clear. International humanitarian law calls for the protection of civilians," Alrifai says, who adds that the war has also resulted in the highest toll ever" for U.N. agencies and workers. More than 170 UNRWA buildings, most of them serving as shelters, have been hit since the beginning of the war, killing more than 450 people. ... A ceasefire is what everyone in Gaza needs right now."

Israeli Attack on UNRWA Shelter Kills at Least 40 Gazans, Many of Them Children, U.N. Warns 1 Million Gazans Could Face Deadly Starvation by Mid-July, The Situation Is Apocalyptic": MSF Nurse Describes Horrific Scenes in Deir-al-Balah, Far-Right Israeli Nationalists Attack Palestinian Journalists in East Jerusalem on Naksa Day, Israel to Shut Down Sde Teiman Prison, Where Detained Gazans Have Been Tortured, Spain Is Latest Country to Join South Africa's Genocide Case Against Israel at World Court, 13 Stanford Students Arrested, Suspended After Occupying President's Office, U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres Calls for End to Advertising for Fossil Fuels, Indigenous Activists in Ecuador Call for End to Gas Flares in Amazon, 50 Organizations Call on Biden to Pardon Human Rights Lawyer Steven Donziger, EU Voters Cast Ballots That Will Determine Bloc's Handling of Migration, Climate, New Washington Post CEO Accused of Censorship, Rupert Murdoch-ization" of WaPo, Arizona GOP Puts Draconian Anti-Immigrant Measure on Nov. Ballot, Senate GOP Shuts Down Measure to Protect Access to Contraception

President Biden has issued one of the most restrictive immigration policies ever declared under a recent Democratic administration. It will temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border, deny asylum to most migrants who do not cross into the U.S. via ports of entry, and limit total asylum requests at the southern border to no more than 2,500 per day. The ACLU has threatened to sue the Biden administration over what reporter John Washington, who covers immigration in Arizona, calls an excruciating and likely deadly" decision. An illegal asylum seeker is a contradiction in terms," Washington continues. People have the right, according to U.S. law, to ask for asylum irrespective of how they crossed the border or where they are or what their status is. And this rule really flies in the face of that."

The website of the Columbia Law Review was taken down by its board of directors on Monday after student editors refused a request from the board to halt the publication of an academic article written by Palestinian human rights lawyer Rabea Eghbariah titled Toward Nakba as a Legal Concept." The article argues for the Nakba to be developed as a unique legal framework, related to but distinct from other processes defined under modern international law, including apartheid and genocide. This is not the first time that Eghbariah's legal scholarship has been censored by an Ivy League institution. The Harvard Law Review last year refused to publish a similar, shorter article it had solicited from Eghbariah even after it was initially accepted, fully edited and fact-checked. Eghbariah calls the abrupt rejection of his work offensive," unprofessional" and discriminatory," and says it is really unfortunate to see how this is playing out and the extent to which the board of directors is willing to go to shut down and silence Palestinian scholarship. ... What are they afraid of? Of Palestinians narrating their own reality, speaking their own truth?"

Israeli forces began an escalated offensive in central Gaza today, with at least 75 people killed by airstrikes in the past 24 hours, as Israeli bombardment and shelling continue in the north and south, as well. There is no safe place in Gaza," says 19-year-old Helmi Hirez, who has been repeatedly displaced since October. Hirez was forced to flee from the north, where 14 members of his family were killed in an airstrike on his home in Gaza City. When he and his parents and siblings moved to Rafah, they were bombed and buried beneath the rubble, and his mother was killed. Now we are just squeezed in the middle," Hirez tells Democracy Now! as he recounts his story from where he is currently sheltering. This is just my continuous journey of displacement from one place to another, my continuous journey of loss."

ACLU to Sue Biden over Asylum Ban at U.S.-Mexico Border, India: In Shocking Election Outcome, Modi's BJP Loses Parliamentary Majority, Israel Kills 75 Palestinians as Attacks Intensify on Central Gaza, Biden: Netanyahu Is Prolonging War on Gaza for Political Self-Preservation, U.S. Army Officer Who Resigned over Gaza Speaks Out, GOP-Led House Votes to Sanction ICC for Seeking Arrest Warrant for Netanyahu, Exposed: Secret Israeli Campaign to Influence U.S. Lawmakers & Public over Gaza, Rights Group Criticizes Israel for Shelling Lebanese Areas with Incendiary White Phosphorus, Andy Kim Wins NJ Democratic Senate Primary; 9% of NJ Voters Select Uncommitted" Over Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland Criticizes GOP Attacks on DOJ, Ukraine Attacks Russian Soil Using U.S.-Made Weapons, Mexican Woman Mayor Assassinated Days After Election of Mexico's First Woman President, Red Cross Suspends Food Distribution in Areas of DRC as Conflict Spreads, Wisconsin AG Files Felony Charges Against Trump Campaign Attorney Kenneth Chesebro, Hunter Biden's Drug Use at Center of Opening Arguments in Gun Trial

More than 15,000 Palestinian children have been killed over the past eight months of Israel's assault on Gaza, and Palestinian officials are warning over 3,500 children are at risk of death due to starvation. The trauma is unimaginable," says Janti Soeripto, the president and CEO of Save the Children US, who is calling for a ceasefire, the protection of humanitarian workers and the allowance of aid into the besieged territory. Over these past couple of weeks, it has even gotten worse." Soeripto also calls for more international attention on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where over 7 million have been swept up in one of the world's largest displacement crises as armed groups fight across the country. The DRC should play a much more important, critical role for the international community, and it should get attention and the support its population deserves," says Soeripto, who asks the U.S. to support a peace process and fund humanitarian relief.

In a historic election, Claudia Sheinbaum has become the first woman elected president of Mexico. Sheinbaum is a climate scientist, former mayor of Mexico City and close ally of sitting president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. She owes a lot to women's movements in Mexico," says Laura Carlsen, director of MIRA: Feminisms and Democracies. This is more than a symbolic victory. What it means is that there's an example for younger women that women can be leaders." Carlsen says feminist movements are hopeful Sheinbaum's administration will take on Mexico's high rates of gender-based violence and femicide. Meanwhile, to the north, President Biden is signing an executive order today that would temporarily shut down the U.S.-Mexico border after asylum requests made by migrants surpass 2,500 a day, and Mexico's cooperation will be key in enforcing the measure.

Self-described as the world's coolest dictator," Nayib Bukele was sworn in Saturday for a second term as president of El Salvador in a move widely denounced as illegitimate. El Salvador's constitution limits presidents to one term and prohibits consecutive reelections. However, a 2021 Constitutional Court ruling approved Bukele's reelection bid after his allies in the Salvadoran National Assembly illegally removed all five magistrates from the court and replaced them with Bukele supporters. Democracy Now! speaks with Roman Gressier, a reporter in San Salvador covering Central American politics for El Faro English, about Bukele's popularity during his dramatic crackdown on gangs, the surveillance of journalists and human rights organizations, and the parallel U.S. delegations" to Bukele's inauguration from both the Biden administration and a cast of right-wing, Trump-aligned characters despite growing condemnation of Bukele's authoritarian rule.

Preliminary results from the world's largest election suggest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist BJP party will have a reduced majority in Parliament, with the opposition alliance known by the acronym INDIA doing better than expected. During India's six-week election, voters and poll workers endured deadly heat waves, and vocal critic Arvind Kejriwal was sent to prison on corruption charges. This comes as Modi's opponents have accused the prime minister of using hate speech after he described Muslims in India as infiltrators." Meanwhile, journalists who are critical of Modi have been expelled, investigated and raided by his government. The massive reduction" in power, despite holding one of the most undemocratic elections," demonstrates the anti-Muslim rhetoric has not quite worked for Modi," says Indian journalist Rana Ayyub in New Dehli. This election result, it might still give Modi a third term, but it has punctured the hubris around Modi."

Fate of U.S.-Backed Ceasefire Remains Uncertain as Israel Continues to Kill Palestinians, Israeli Strike in Aleppo Kills Iranian General; Houthis Target Site Inside Israel, U. of Toronto Students Hold Graduation and Vigil for Gazans Who Have Been Deprived of Their Education, We Are the Red Line": Activists Occupy Israeli Consulate in San Francisco, Queer Activists Call on Larger LGBTQ Community to Condemn Israel's Genocide in Gaza, Modi Holds onto Power, But His BJP Loses Support as India Tallies Election Ballots, Time Is Running Out": U.N. Warns Millions of People at Risk of Famine, Nigerian Unions Go on Strike for a Living Wage, Biden to Sign Order That Could Shut Down U.S.-Mexico Border, ProPublica: Trump Team Rewarding Witnesses in Ex-President's Criminal Cases, Texas Supreme Court Rejects Lawsuits Challenging Abortion Ban, Community Groups Blast Eric Adams's Plans for NYC's Version of Cop City, Hong Kong Activists Risk Arrest to Mark 35th Anniversary of Tiananmen Square Massacre

We go to South Africa for an update on how the African National Congress, the party once led by Nelson Mandela, has lost its governing majority for the first time since the end of apartheid in South Africa. The ANC, led by President Cyril Ramaphosa, remains the largest party in the National Assembly. It got just 40% of the vote in last week's election and won 159 seats in the 400-seat parliament. The liberal Democratic Alliance is the largest opposition party with 87 seats, but the biggest gains were made by the new uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party led by former President Jacob Zuma, who left the ANC under investigation for corruption. South African activist Trevor Ngwane, chair of the United Front, a coalition of community and labor groups, says a crisis of everyday life" all but guaranteed the ANC's setback as the country grapples with high unemployment, corruption, crumbling infrastructure and social services, and deepening inequality. The ANC failed to fulfill the promises of national liberation. It fell too short of the expectations of the masses, of the working class and the poor," says Ngwane. We also speak with journalist Louis Freedberg, who says the majority of the population of South Africa is under 30 and sees little hope for the future. They've lost faith in government, and they actually don't believe that anything will get better," he says. The ANC must now decide how to build a coalition government for the first time.

As voters in the United Kingdom prepare to head to the polls on July 4 for what is widely expected to be a Labour Party landslide, we speak with a prominent candidate who was dropped by the party as part of a purge of left-wing members. Faiza Shaheen was told by Labour leadership that she is no longer the party's candidate in her London constituency after liking pro-Palestine posts on social media, including a tweet about the difficulties of speaking about Israel-Palestine, which also included a well-known video of comedian Jon Stewart making the same point. Shaheen, a Black economist identified with the left wing of the party, is the latest woman of color to face sanction by the Labour Party now led by centrist Keir Starmer. Whereas before the Labour Party did have a broad church of voices, they have been systematically blocking and taking out anyone that they consider to be on the left," says Shaheen, who adds that the party has also ignored the racist and Islamophobic abuse she has received, while protecting many white candidates accused of misconduct. It's not just about me or my community or how angry we are here. It's about the kind of government we're going to have for the next four or five years."

At least a thousand pro-Palestinian protesters took over the Brooklyn Museum in New York on Friday, with a small group occupying the lobby while others unfurled banners on the facade of the building reading Free Palestine: Divest from Genocide." Police arrested at least 34 people, including Within Our Lifetime founder Nerdeen Kiswani, whose hijab was ripped off as officers tackled and arrested her. Democracy Now! was on the scene and spoke with protesters, who said that almost eight months into Israel's brutal assault on the Gaza Strip, prominent institutions in the U.S. have an obligation to disclose their ties to the occupation and divest. We are making it clear that we will continue to occupy institutions just like this one and call out individuals like the board of the Brooklyn Museum to make clear that their money and our money is being used for this genocide," said Abdullah Akl, a member of Within Our Lifetime, a Palestinian-led community organization.

U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday outlined what he described as an Israeli ceasefire proposal to end the war in Gaza, nearly eight months after Israel began its invasion in response to the October 7 attack by Hamas. Biden described three phases to release captives held by both sides, allow residents to return to the north of the Gaza Strip and begin reconstruction of the devastated territory after the full withdrawal of Israeli troops. Hamas said it looked positively on the proposal and previously accepted similar terms, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to agree to it publicly amid pressure from far-right members of his governing coalition to continue the war indefinitely. Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy says Biden may have employed constructive ambiguity" about Israel's position in order to bring the two sides closer to a deal, but that the most important goal is to end the horrors" in Gaza with a permanent ceasefire. What are the maximal guarantees that can be given that this is not just a 42-day hiatus followed by yet further death, killing, destruction that we still now see every day?" asks Levy, who is now president of the U.S./Middle East Project.

Mexico Elects Claudia Sheinbaum, Its First Woman and First Jewish President, Biden Pushes Ceasefire Deal, 8 Months and 36,000 Palestinian Deaths into Israel's Gaza Slaughter, Netanyahu Accepts Invite to Address Joint Session of Congress Despite Opposition Within Democratic Party, Jabaliya Residents Return to Razed Homes as Israeli Attacks Continue Across Gaza Strip, Reports: Israeli Strike in Syria Kills 16 People, Police Arrest 80 Protesters at University of California, Santa Cruz Encampment as UC Strike Expands, Graduation Protests for Gaza at Univ. of Chicago, Vassar; Columbia Students Set Up 3rd Encampment, South Africa's ANC Loses Outright Majority for First Time in 3 Decades, 6-Week Indian Election Wraps Up Amid Deadly Heat Wave, Crackdown on Opposition, Nayib Bukele Sworn In to 2nd Presidential Term in El Salvador as Protesters Decry U.S. Support, Trump Warns Supporters Might Reach Breaking Point" If He Is Sentenced to Prison, Hunter Biden Gun Possession Trial Starts in Delaware, Atlanta Under Emergency Boil-Water Order After Water Main Breaks

After working at the U.S. State Department for over 20 years, Stacy Gilbert quit the Biden administration this week after a report she contributed to concluded Israel was not obstructing humanitarian assistance to Gaza. Gilbert served as a senior civil military adviser in the State Department's chief humanitarian office, which features heavily in internal policy discussions over Gaza. Despite abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid," the report concluded the opposite and was used by the Biden administration to justify continuing to send billions of dollars of weapons to Israel. Gilbert says she was shocked" to find that the report concluded Israel was not not blocking humanitarian assistance: That is not the view of subject matter experts at the State Department, at USAID, nor among the humanitarian community. And that was known. That was absolutely known to the administration for a very long time." Gilbert says there is a clear pattern by Israel of arbitrarily limiting, restricting or just outright blocking assistance going in that has caused the very grave situation in Gaza."

In a broadcast exclusive, Democracy Now! speaks with Alex Smith, a former contractor with the U.S. Agency for International Development who resigned in protest over the Biden's administration's support for the war on Gaza. Smith worked as a senior adviser on gender, maternal health, child health and nutrition at USAID until last week, when he was set to deliver a presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. One day before he was scheduled to present, the USAID leadership canceled his presentation. Smith says he was then given a choice between resignation and dismissal. I would like them to stop gaslighting and speak truthfully about what is happening," says Smith, who says USAID must do more than acknowledge famine is happening in Gaza. We need to take the next step of saying it is illegal and who is doing the starvation intentionally." Smith condemns the Biden administration for silencing U.S. experts while supporting Israel, which claims there is no famine in Gaza. It's shameful that that misinformation can go around the world to millions, while we at USAID can't even whisper about it in a conference on gender and human rights and health outcomes."

In a historic verdict, a New York jury found former President Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts in his criminal hush money and election interference trial. Trump is now the first former president to be convicted of a felony and faces up to four years in prison. All this is unprecedented in the history of American republicanism," says U.S. historian Manisha Sinha. A man like Trump could very much upend this over-200-year historical experiment in representative government." Trump can still be president as a convicted felon and is poised to become the Republican nominee for the nation's highest office in July. One of the most dangerous things about Trump is that he's not a one-man show," says Sinha. He's the presumptive nominee of a political party in a two-party system. That in itself poses an immense danger to American democracy."

Guilty on all 34 felony counts - that's the historic verdict delivered Thursday by a New York jury in former President Donald Trump's hush money and election fraud criminal trial. Trump was charged with falsifying business records to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels in order to protect his 2016 presidential campaign and is now the first former president to be convicted of a felony, facing the possibility of up to four years in prison. Judge Juan Merchan set his sentencing date on July 11, four days before the Republican National Convention, where Trump will become the party's official presidential nominee. Trump, who can still be president as a convicted felon, slammed the verdict as a disgrace," and his defense team plans to appeal. We speak with criminal defense attorney Ron Kuby, who followed the case closely and says there was a tsunami of circumstantial evidence" that supported the prosecution's case. The defense never posed any sort of realistic counternarrative," says Kuby.

Donald Trump Has Been Found Guilty on 34 Felony Charges in New York Criminal Trial, Israeli Strikes in Bureij and Nuseirat Camps in Central Gaza Kill Entire Families, Israeli Forces Withdraw from Jabaliya After Decimating the City, Destroying 1,000 Homes, Israel Burns Down Ramallah Veggie Market as Smotrich Says Israel Will Turn West Bank into Ruined Cities", MSF: Israeli Bid to Label UNRWA as Terror Group An Outrageous Attack on Humanitarian Assistance", Houthi Movement Says U.S.-U.K. Strikes Killed 16 in Yemen's Hodeidah, Slovenian Government Recognizes Palestinian Statehood, Silence Is Complicity": Nurse Starts Hunger Strike Outside White House, U.S. Quietly Reverses Position, Allows Ukraine to Use U.S. Weapons in Russia, According to Reports, 24 Deaths Reported in One Day in India Amid Protracted Heat Wave, CBS: Biden Admin Planning to Send Some Migrants to Greece and Italy for Resettlement, SCOTUS Sides with NRA in First Amendment Challenge Against New York Official

As public concern grows about the health and environmental impacts of so-called forever chemicals, a new investigation by ProPublica and The New Yorker reveals that 3M, the American manufacturing giant, discovered and concealed the risks of these toxic substances for decades. PFAS are used in everyday products, from nonstick cookware to food packaging, but take decades or longer to break down in the body and environment. They have been found in the blood of almost every person in the United States and are linked to serious health effects. Investigative reporter Sharon Lerner says 3M knew as early as the 1970s that forever chemicals were dangerous even in small amounts, but kept those findings secret and gaslit" one of its own scientists, Kris Hansen, who later raised concerns about forever chemicals in human blood samples. Her direct bosses had been aware of the presence of this chemical in blood, even though they ... appeared to act surprised when she brought her findings," says Lerner. They knew all along that what she was finding was true."

A judge in Canada this week ruled that a student protest encampment could remain standing at the University of Toronto until at least mid-June, when a top court will decide on an injunction filed by the school requesting the police to clear the pro-Palestinian protesters off campus. Students and faculty launched the encampment on May 2 to protest Israel's war on Gaza. It quickly became one of the largest encampments in North America with 175 tents, hundreds of campers, and a sacred fire led by Indigenous elders. Administrators at the University of Toronto, Canada's largest university, had wanted to clear the encampment before graduation ceremonies begin in early June. We know what we're doing is just. And all of us are willing to stand our ground no matter what happens," says Mohammad Yassin, a graduating senior, spokesperson for Occupy University of Toronto and a member of the student negotiating team. Yassin is Palestinian with family members currently in Gaza. We also speak with geography professor Deb Cowen, part of the Jewish Faculty Network, who says the encampment is a precious learning space" bringing students together. We have maybe never seen our campus be so alive with the spirit of debate, of creative thought, of rigorous conversation and dialogue," Cowen says.

We speak with Kenneth Roth, international affairs scholar and former head of Human Rights Watch, about revelations that Israel waged a nearly decadelong campaign to intimidate the International Criminal Court in order to stop possible war crimes prosecutions of Israeli officials. A joint investigation by The Guardian and the Israeli +972 Magazine revealed that Israel surveilled, hacked, smeared and threatened top ICC officials, including chief prosecutor Karim Khan and his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda. The former head of the Mossad, Yossi Cohen, is said to have personally threatened Bensouda. The revelations come just a week after Khan announced he is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and three top leaders of Hamas. This is a crime," Roth says of the Israeli campaign against the ICC. He says the revelations also undermine U.S. claims that Israel can hold itself accountable. There is no good-faith Israeli investigation. There is a concerted, high-level effort to undermine justice to protect Netanyahu, Gallant and others from war crime charges."