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I never expected the world will know my name [because of] a genocide of my people," says Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza, who gained international acclaim for his work during the first 108 days of Israel's brutal assault on Gaza. Since evacuating in January, Azaiza has brought his advocacy for Palestinian rights around the world. Democracy Now! speaks to him from Washington, D.C., where he has just wrapped up a nationwide speaking tour titled Gaza Through My Lens" in support of UNRWA USA. Israel is targeting our children. Israel is targeting our babies, targeting our mothers, targeting our families. I just want to show the whole world so maybe I can bring help to my people through my photography," Azaiza says.

A new documentary from Al Jazeera takes a look at evidence of war crimes in Gaza in the form of social media posted by Israeli soldiers recording and celebrating their own attacks on Palestinians. We play excerpts from the film Investigating War Crimes in Gaza, now available online, and speak to two of the journalists involved in its production, director Richard Sanders and Gaza-based correspondent Youmna ElSayed. Israelis themselves were telling us precisely what they were doing and why they were doing it," says Sanders about the evidence the team reviewed. They don't think it's complicated. They don't think it's nuanced. Their rhetoric is often overtly genocidal." ElSayed adds, They've had all the courage to do that because they know that they are not even going to be condemned."

Israeli Soldiers Push into Gaza's Jabaliya Refugee Camp, Firing at Anyone Who Moves", Israeli Bombs Rain Down on Lebanon as Hezbollah Says It Repelled Israeli Border Incursions, Israeli PM Netanyahu Warns Lebanon Could Face Destruction and Suffering Like Gaza", Syria Says Israeli Strike on Damascus Killed 7 Civilians, U.N. Chief Warns Israel Against Blocking UNRWA's Work Aiding Palestinian Refugees, Israeli Defense Minister Cancels Plans to Meet in Washington, D.C., with Pentagon Chief, 5.5 Million Urged to Evacuate Florida's Gulf Coast as Catastrophic" Hurricane Milton Approaches, Smoke Blankets Bolivian Skies After Wildfires Char Record 25 Million Acres, Russian Attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine, Kills 2 and Injures Dozens, NYC First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright Becomes 7th Top Official to Quit Eric Adams's Administration, EPA Mandates Replacement of Lead Pipes in U.S. Cities Within Next Decade, Palestinian Activist Issa Amro and British Israeli Architect Eyal Weizman Win Right Livelihood Awards

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

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

Five Children Among the Dead as Israel Bombs Homes in Deir al-Balah, Israeli Forces Kill 12-Year-Old Child and 66-Year-Old Man in Raids on Occupied West Bank, Israel Orders Expulsion of Lebanon's Southern Coast, Expands Attacks on Beirut Suburbs, Mourners in Michigan Hold Funeral for Hajj Kamel Ahmad Jawad, Killed by Israeli Strike in Lebanon, Florida's Gulf Coast Braces for Catastrophic Storm Surge as Hurricane Milton Rapidly Intensifies, Georgia Supreme Court Reinstates 6-Week Abortion Ban, U.S. Supreme Court Rules Texas Hospitals Cannot Be Compelled to Provide Emergency Abortions, Colorado Election Official Sentenced to 9 Years for Vote Rigging Lies After Trump's 2020 Defeat, 600 Hilton Workers in Boston Join Nationwide Hotel Strike, Tunisia's Kais Saied Retains Presidency After Near-Total Crackdown on Opposition, Every Life a Universe": On Oct. 7, Jewish Activists Mourn, Pray and Demand End to Gaza Genocide

Today marks both the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip and one week since Israel began its ground invasion of the neighboring country of Lebanon. Israel's brutal military response to the Hamas-led October 7 incursion has shown no sign of slowing down as the United States, its primary supplier of military aid, continues to commit weapons, funding and rhetorical support to its deadly assault on Arab populations in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon. Over 1,000 Lebanese civilians have been killed and over a million displaced as they flee the encroaching violence. From Beirut, we speak to Rima Majed, a professor at the American University of Beirut, who highlights the disruption to daily life that Israeli warfare has created. This is really a huge catastrophe, and it's not a humanitarian one. It is a political catastrophe, and it's a social catastrophe. And this would not have happened ... if it wasn't for the [international] backing and the arming of Israel."

The Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha, who fled Gaza in December after being detained by the Israeli military, is releasing his second book of poetry, Forest of Noise, next week. We speak to him one year into Israel's relentless slaughter in his home of the Gaza Strip as he notes, It is really devastating to think that after a year, the world is still thinking about October 7 only, rather than about the years and decades before October 7 and the many and long, long days and weeks that followed October 7." Abu Toha also pays tribute to his former student, Hatem al-Zaaneen, who was recently killed while collecting firewood for his family, and shares the status of his own surviving family members in Gaza, who have been displaced once again as they seek safety from unrelenting Israeli bombardment.

The Path Forward is a new documentary that weaves together the voices of Palestinians and Israelis in their efforts for peace and reconciliation. The short film features the stories of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists who have worked together before and after October 7 and Israel's relentless war on Gaza. We play excerpts from The Path Forward and speak to one of the activists featured, Aziz Abu Sarah, as well as to co-director Julie Cohen. People who believe that war is the only way, what scares them the most is people who are modeling a different future," says Abu Sarah. Our route to freedom is a joint route."

Today is the first anniversary of the October 7 attack on Israel, when Hamas's military wing broke out of Israeli-constructed barrier fencing in the Gaza Strip. In the ensuing firefight, an estimated 1,200 people died. About 250 people were taken hostage and brought back to Gaza in a bid to pressure Israel to release some of the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners it holds in Israeli custody. While more than half of the hostages were exchanged this way through subsequent deals, Israel's primary response to the incursion was the launch of a full-scale assault on the already-besieged Gaza Strip. Conservative estimates place the number of Palestinians killed at over 41,000. More recent projections suggest that this number may have reached the hundreds of thousands.Meanwhile, in Israel, many families of remaining hostages continue to deride Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for refusing to accept a ceasefire deal that would return their family members, contending that Netanyahu is exploiting their loved ones and putting them in danger in order to manufacture a regional war. Those who believe in war, they are naive, because they have been failing again and again and again," says Israeli peace activist Maoz Inon, who has been advocating for a ceasefire and an end to Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories for the past year. His parents, Bilha and Yakovi, were among those killed on October 7.

Dozens Killed in Gaza as Israel Bombs Mosque, School and Homes on Anniversary of Oct. 7 Attacks, Gaza Journalist Hassan Hamad Killed by Artillery Fire After Threats from Israeli Officer, Massive Explosions Rock Beirut and Southern Lebanon as Israel Steps Up Bombing Campaign, Netanyahu Dragged Israel into Never-ending War": Hostage Families Protest on Oct. 7 Anniversary, President Macron Halts French Weapons Exports to Israel, New Reports Reveal U.S. Ignored Warnings of Israeli Plans to Decimate Gaza, Attack Aid Convoys, Protesters Take to the Streets Across the Globe to Mark One Year of Israel's Genocidal War on Gaza, Photojournalist Sets Self on Fire to Protest Media Complicity in Gaza Genocide, Dominican Republic to Start Expelling Up to 10,000 Haitians Per Week, Mexican President Vows to Reduce Gang Violence After Mayor Is Killed Days After Taking Office, Florida Orders Evacuations Ahead of Hurricane Milton as Helene Death Toll Reaches 232

We speak with Oscar-winning filmmaker Errol Morris about his new documentary, Separated, based on NBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff's book of the same name. The film details the horrors of the Trump zero tolerance" immigration policy, under which thousands of immigrant children were forcibly separated from their parents after they crossed the southern U.S. border, part of the administration's broader crackdown on immigration. The cruel policy was enforced as early as July 2017, initially without public acknowledgment by Trump officials. It was ultimately rescinded amid widespread outrage, but it continues to impact the families who were targeted, and about 1,000 children remain effectively orphaned years later, with authorities and rights groups still unable to locate their parents. It wouldn't have happened were it not for decades of bipartisan deterrence-based immigration policy that continues to this day," says Soboroff. Morris says the most appalling part of the policy" was the lack of record-keeping. OK, let's separate the children, but let's not actually keep a record of how to ever reunite them. Let's separate them for good. Let's just create orphans, abandon children," he says. Separated plays for a week at the IFC Center in New York, starting tonight, before it gets wider theatrical distribution and airs on MSNBC this December.

As Israel's military escalates its attacks on Lebanon, it has continued its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, where almost a year of war has now wiped 902 entire Palestinian families off the civil registry. There are another 1,300 families where only one family member has survived. The official death toll in Gaza has reached nearly 41,800, but that is believed to be a vast undercount. Gaza-based journalist Akram al-Satarri says one year into Israel's war, the medical and humanitarian crisis remains unchanged. He describes some of the horrific injuries suffered by Palestinians, including many children, that have resulted in mass amputation of limbs, and says people are in a constant struggle for shelter and safety. The suffering is continuous, and now the war in Lebanon is adding further burdens on the Palestinians and is giving more space for the Israeli forces to continue the bombardment in different areas," says al-Satarri.

Israel is further escalating its war on Lebanon, carrying out its heaviest airstrikes so far on Beirut overnight in the densely populated southern suburbs. Lebanon's health minister said Thursday at least 2,000 people have been killed since the start of the Israeli attacks on Lebanon, including at least 127 children, most of them in the past two weeks. More than 1.2 million Lebanese have been displaced. Meanwhile, Beirut hospitals are overwhelmed by a surge in casualties as attacks intensify, and the World Health Organization says Israel's attacks killed 28 health workers in just one 24-hour span and made it impossible for the WHO to deliver a large shipment of trauma and medical supplies to Beirut. This comes as the Israeli army appears to be preparing for a deeper ground incursion into southern Lebanon. As tensions continue to escalate in the region, we speak with Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, reporting for the Associated Press, who says Lebanon is getting used to the new normal" of daily Israeli airstrikes on the capital, mass displacement and ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah forces in the south. Things are moving at a very, very fast pace ... and it is really unclear what the endgame for Israel is."

Israeli Strikes on Lebanon Kill Dozens of Medical Workers, Shuttering Hospitals, Biden Says He Discussed Possible Attack on Iranian Oil Sites with Israeli Leaders, Iran's Supreme Leader Calls on Muslim Leaders to Unite Against Israeli Aggression, Yemen's Houthis Claim Attack on British Oil Vessel in Red Sea, We Wish You Could See the Nightmares": U.S. Health Workers Back from Gaza Write to Biden and Harris, Israel's Deadliest Airstrike on West Bank in Decades Kills 18 Palestinians, U.S. Port Strike Ends as Dockworkers Win Agreement on Wage Increases, Why We Need Medicare for All": Boeing Cuts Off Health Coverage to 33,000 Striking Workers, Relief Workers Describe Absolute Devastation" in Western NC as Hurricane Helene Toll Rises to 213, Kamala Harris Rallies with Republican Ex-Lawmaker Liz Cheney After Winning Her Endorsement, Melania Trump Defends Abortion Rights, Putting Her at Odds with Donald Trump and GOP, Ex-Memphis Police Officers Acquitted of Most Serious Charges over Killing of Tyre Nichols, Dozens Die as Ferry Capsizes in DR Congo's Lake Kivu, Mexican Soldiers Arrested over Massacre of Asylum Seekers

The death toll from Hurricane Helene has reached 190 as fallout from the storm becomes clearer. Hundreds remain missing and presumed dead. President Biden has ordered the Pentagon to deploy 1,000 active-duty troops to help with flood relief efforts. Power outages and water shortages remain rampant across six southeastern states hit by one of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history. Democracy Now! speaks with immigrant rights activist Cesar Bautista Sanchez about how the storm has affected his area of Tennessee and the increasing danger of extreme weather events under the climate crisis. This is starting to become a pattern," says Bautista Sanchez.

A deliberate, man-made famine is underway in Gaza, according to many human rights experts. Starving Gaza is a new documentary by Al Jazeera English's Fault Lines investigating how Israel has killed civilians seeking aid and attacked humanitarian networks. The harrowing film is based on the work of Palestinian reporters in Gaza who are suffering the same conditions as their subjects. They've been displaced, they've been injured, they've watched their own children die in front of them, and yet they somehow conjure the professionalism to pick up a camera and record and tell other people's trauma," says journalist Hind Hassan. They really will be remembered in history as the titans of journalists."

Israeli strikes continue to rain down on Lebanon, including a strike that killed rescue and health workers in Beirut. Lebanese authorities say 1.2 million people have been displaced by the Israeli attacks. Israel announced eight of its soldiers were killed while invading southern Lebanon this week. Israel launched the ground invasion after assassinating Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday, despite Nasrallah reportedly agreeing to a 21-day ceasefire. This overwhelming use of force cannot change people's agency," says Nadim Houry, Lebanese researcher and executive director of the Arab Reform Initiative. The region does not want to be a satellite of Israel or a satellite of the U.S. And by the way, the region does not want to be a satellite of Iran either. The problem is the region is not really being given much of a choice."

Israeli Airstrike Kills 9 Near Lebanon's Parliament as Hezbollah Battles Israeli Invasion, Lebanese FM Claims Israel Killed Nasrallah Shortly After He Agreed to Ceasefire, U.S. Remains Fully, Fully, Fully Supportive of Israel" as Netanyahu Mulls Attacks on Iran, Israel's Attacks on Gaza Have Wiped Out 902 Entire Palestinian Families, Court Filing Reveals New Evidence About Trump's Efforts to Overturn 2020 Election, Kamala Harris Tours Storm-Ravaged Parts of Georgia as Hurricane Helene's Toll Rises to 190, October Heat Wave Grips Western U.S., Breaking Hundreds of Records, U.K. to Hand Chagos Islands Over to Mauritius But Won't Give Up Diego Garcia Air Base, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Issues Formal Apology for 1968 Student Massacre, Prosecutors Indict 68 Members of Neo-Nazi Gang in Southern California

Abortion was a main focus of Tuesday's vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance. The Ohio senator tried to soften the Republican ticket's position and repeated Donald Trump's claim that states are best equipped to decide on reproductive health access, while Walz highlighted that state differences on abortion have already contributed to the deaths of pregnant people following the end of Roe v. Wade. Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation, says Vance's hard-line position" on abortion has flunked with the American people," and urges people to not get distracted by the slick talking points."

Tuesday's vice-presidential debate between Tim Walz and JD Vance focused heavily on immigration policy. Walz promoted the asylum restrictions of the Biden administration and touted his running mate Kamala Harris's bill to further militarize the southern U.S. border. Vance, meanwhile, continued Donald Trump's demonization of immigrants, including the Haitian community in Springfield, Ohio, that they falsely accused of eating people's pets. We get reaction from Guerline Jozef, the executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, which filed criminal charges against the Republican ticket over those lies. We cannot allow this to continue," Jozef says of the anti-immigrant rhetoric.

CBS moderators asked about the climate crisis in Tuesday's debate between vice-presidential contenders JD Vance and Tim Walz, responding to pressure from activists who urged the network to tie the devastation of Hurricane Helene to the planet's rising temperatures. The fact that this question was asked ... was a major win for our movement," says Shiva Rajbhandari, a student climate justice organizer at UNC-Chapel Hill and a spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. While Walz defended climate science, Vance continued to downplay the climate emergency and cast doubt over the established link to fossil fuels. JD Vance has no backbone. He is unwilling to stand up to Donald Trump. He is unwilling to disagree with his running mate, and that is dangerous," says Rajbhandari.

Vice-presidential nominees Tim Walz and JD Vance faced off Tuesday night in their first and only debate ahead of November's election. The debate started with a focus on the Iranian missile attack on Israel before moving on to the climate crisis, immigration policy, abortion rights and more. One of the most memorable moments was Vance's refusal to admit that his running mate Donald Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. The exchange was a reminder that election denial has become central to Republican politics and that Republicans have laid the groundwork to challenge elections again and again, whether it's Donald Trump on the ballot or not," says Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost.

Israel has announced it is sending more troops into southern Lebanon as the Middle East moves closer to a full-scale regional war. On Tuesday, Iran fired at least 180 ballistic missiles at Israel that Iran says targeted Israeli military and security sites, a response that comes after a series of escalating Israeli attacks in recent months against Hezbollah, Hamas and Iranian leaders. The United States aided Israel in intercepting many of the Iranian missiles on Tuesday, and President Joe Biden has vowed to support Israel in further retaliation. From what I can gather, the Iranian assertion about targeting military and security facilities is correct," says Israeli analyst Ori Goldberg in Tel Aviv. While things were supposedly in control while Israel was going from glory to glory killing its enemies and getting the bad guys, there was also a deep sense of insecurity and a lack of control right at home." We also speak with Akbar Shahid Ahmed, senior diplomatic correspondent for HuffPost, who says there is an ongoing debate inside the Biden White House between those who want to pull back from a regional war and the hawks who see this as an opportunity to reshape the Middle East. The U.S. doesn't know where it's going," says Ahmed.

Netanyahu Vows to Retaliate After Iran Fires Hundreds of Missiles at Israel, 7 Killed, 16 Wounded in Shooting and Stabbing Attack in Tel Aviv, Hezbollah Says Its Fighters Repelled Israeli Troops Invading Southern Lebanon, Israel Bombs Gaza School and Orphanage, Killing Displaced Palestinians, In Vice-Presidential Debate with Tim Walz, JD Vance Refuses to Say Trump Lost 2020 Election, Russian Attack on Kherson Market Kills 6 as Ukraine Loses More Territory in Donbas, NATO's New Secretary General Warns China over Aiding Russia in Ukraine, Biden Approves Record $567 Million Military Aid Package to Taiwan, Claudia Sheinbaum Inaugurated as Mexico's First Female President, 6 Tennessee Plastics Workers Presumed Dead After Being Swept Away by Hurricane Helene Floodwaters, Texas Prisoner Garcia Glen White Put to Death in 6th U.S. Execution in Less Than 2 Weeks, Department of Justice Says Violence and Sexual Assault Are Rampant in Georgia Prisons, U.S. to Open Cold Case Civil Rights Investigation into 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre

Mexico is making history today as the country prepares to inaugurate the first woman to be elected president. Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and the former mayor of Mexico City, won a landslide victory in Mexico's June elections. Sheinbaum is a member of the ruling Morena party and a close ally of outgoing Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose six-year term ends today. AMLO, as he's widely known, leaves behind a complicated legacy as Mexico's most popular president in decades whose approval rating never dropped below 60%. AMLO championed a progressive reframing of anti-corruption politics that thinks of neoliberalism itself as a form of corruption," says Edwin Ackerman, sociology professor at Syracuse University, who lays out how the president's economic policies dramatically increased the economic power of the working classes in Mexico. However, Ackerman says AMLO also faced criticism for empowering the military, increasing the use of fossil fuels and pushing through highly contested judicial reform.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke publicly today for the first time since he was released in June from a London prison. Assange addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in France about his 14-year legal saga after publishing evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. Assange was freed after pleading guilty to a U.S. charge of obtaining and disclosing national security material. Democracy Now! broadcasts the first time the world has heard Julian Assange's voice since he was arrested in 2019. I eventually chose freedom over unrealizable justice after being detained for years and facing a 175-year sentence with no effective remedy," says Assange. I am not free today because the system worked. I am free today, after years of incarceration, because I pled guilty to journalism."

Dockworkers from Maine to Texas have walked out on the job at all East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, launching the first strike of its kind in almost 50 years. The International Longshoremen's Association represents some 45,000 workers at 36 ports who are demanding higher wages and guarantees that jobs won't be automated. This is a time of labor mobilization in this country," says Peter Goodman, New York Times global economics correspondent, who explains President Biden is caught between union pressure to back the strike and the threat of consumer prices rising while shipping is disrupted. We're only weeks away from a presidential election that could very well hinge on economic sentiments and unhappiness over inflation."

Lebanese Prime Minsiter Najib Mikati says Lebanon is now facing one of the most dangerous phases of its history," as the Israeli military claims to have begun launching limited and targeted raids" in southern Lebanon. However, Hezbollah has denied that Israeli soldiers have actually entered Lebanon. The possible Israeli ground operation comes after two weeks of Israeli attacks on Lebanon that have killed over 1,000 people and forced over a million Lebanese to evacuate. While Biden called for a ceasefire, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Monday and affirmed U.S. support for Israeli actions along Lebanon's border. Israel is ultimately undermining U.S. interests in the Middle East," says Beirut-based political and security analyst Ali Rizk. Benjamin Netanyahu ... wants to go down in history as the person who was able to successfully defeat the major enemy of Israel."

Hezbollah Denies Reports Israeli Troops Have Invaded Southern Lebanon, Syria Says Israeli Strikes on Damascus Kill 3 Civilians Including TV News Anchor, Overnight Israeli Airstrike Kills More Displaced Palestinians, Including Children, Israel Releases Palestinian Dr. Khaled Alser, Half a Year After Abducting Him from Gaza Hospital, Half of Haiti Is Suffering Acute Hunger; U.N. Renews Int'l Security Force Amid Spiraling Violence, Devastation Beyond Belief": Hurricane Helene Claims 133 Lives, Wipes Out Homes and Neighborhoods, Georgia Judge Strikes Down 6-Week Abortion Ban, Biden Administration Escalates Crackdown on Asylum Seekers at Southern Border, 45,000 Dockworkers on East and Gulf Coasts Launch Major Strike, Kansas City Renters Launch Strike Against Predatory Landlords, Demand Federal Rent Cap, I Chose Freedom Over Justice": Julian Assange Addresses Public for First Time Since Prison Release

Hurricane Helene tears through the southeastern United States as scientists say climate change rapidly intensifies hurricanes. The storm devastated large swaths of the southeastern United States after making landfall in Florida as a Category 4 storm. Officials say the death toll is likely to rise, as many are still missing. Helene is expected to be one of the costliest hurricanes in U.S. history and was fueled by abnormally warm water in the Gulf of Mexico, but most of the media coverage has failed to connect the devastation to the climate crisis. The planet's overheating. It's irreversible. It's caused by the fossil fuel industry," says climate activist and climate scientist Peter Kalmus in Raleigh, North Carolina. This will get worse as the planet continues to get hotter."

As the Middle East gets ever closer to an all-out war, we speak with Iranian American analyst and author Trita Parsi about Iran's response in the aftermath of Israel's assassination of longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The powerful Lebanese militia is closely aligned with Iran and is part of the Axis of Resistance" of forces in the Middle East opposed to Israel that also includes Hamas in Gaza and the Houthis in Yemen. Israel has quite successfully cornered Iran," says Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. At this point, if Iran does almost anything, it will risk triggering the larger regional war that Netanyahu wants and that the Iranians have tried to avoid."

We speak with Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv, who says the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday was met with barbaric glee" by much of Israeli society. We are getting down and down, lower and lower, believing more and more in only one thing, namely in killing and destructing," says Levy, who warns that Israel is very likely to launch a ground invasion of Lebanon next and continue expanding the war as long as it enjoys unlimited U.S. support. The ongoing escalation in the region comes after a year of only bombing and refusing any kind of diplomacy," Levy says.

Israel is expanding its attacks across the Middle East, bombing more sites in Yemen and Lebanon over the weekend after carrying out a massive attack in the suburbs of Beirut on Friday that killed longtime Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and other top commanders of the militant group. Nasrallah led Hezbollah for more than three decades and was considered one of the most powerful figures in the region. Israel likely used U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs in Friday's attack that leveled several high-rise apartment buildings, with a death toll estimated in the hundreds. U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both called Nasrallah's killing a measure of justice" while saying they were against further escalation of the war. The news really shocked all of Lebanon, both supporters and people who oppose him," says Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, who notes about 1 million people inside Lebanon are now displaced by the fighting. The airstrikes aren't stopping; they're continuing. And now people are anticipating a ground invasion."

Israel Kills Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah; Netanyahu Addresses U.N. Despite Growing Pariah Status, Israeli Airstrikes in Gaza Kill More Displaced Palestinians, Journalist Wafa al-Udaini, Israeli Attack on Yemen Kills at Least 4, Injures 29, This Must Be a Wake-up Call for Climate Justice": Hurricane Helene's Death Toll Nears 100, 200 People Killed in Monsoon Flooding in Nepal, Over 50 Refugees Believed to Be Dead in Canary Islands Shipwreck, A Catastrophe": Austria's Nazi-Created Freedom Party Wins Parliamentary Election, Ukraine Says Putin Waging War on Hospitals" as Conflict Grinds On, Egypt Refuses to Release Political Prisoner Alaa Abd El-Fattah, Extends 5-Year Sentence by 2 Years, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump Ramp Up Anti-Immigration Threats on Campaign Trail, Gov. Newsom Vetoes Bill That Would Have Regulated Dangers of AI, Fire at Georgia's BioLab Plant Leads to Mass Evacuation, Shelter-in-Place Orders, U.K. Climate Activists Recreate Soup Attack on Van Gogh Painting After Sentencing of Original Protesters

We look at the smear campaign faced by the only Palestinian American in Congress and a vocal critic of Israel, Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib, after she defended the rights of student protesters. Tlaib recently criticized Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel over charges Nessel filed against 11 mostly students and alumni who were involved in a pro-Palestine encampment at the University of Michigan. Nessel then accused Tlaib of antisemitism despite the congressmember never mentioning Nessel's religion. Key media figures like CNN's Jake Tapper have parroted the claim that Tlaib said Nessel is biased because she is Jewish, despite the original article's author fact-checking the narrative. This is not at all what happened. She's talking about an anti-Palestinian bias," says Steve Neavling, an investigative reporter who first published Tlaib's comments in the Detroit Metro Times. It was a very unusual, surreal experience for me as a journalist to see so many lies being peddled about an interview that I witnessed." We also speak with Prem Thakker, a political correspondent for Zeteo News who has documented the smear campaign, about his efforts to get an update on the U.S. investigation into the killing of 6-year-old Hind Rajab in Gaza. I have not gotten an answer. It's been over 240 days."

We get an update from Lebanon, where the death toll from Israeli airstrikes has risen to over 700 since Monday, following a series of explosions involving pagers and walkie-talkies in Beirut and southern Lebanon last week. The Israeli military reiterated its troops were preparing for a ground invasion of Lebanon if tensions continue to escalate. Multiple Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have appeared across Israel's northern border with Lebanon. As the Biden administration claims it's working toward a ceasefire in Lebanon, Israel is set to receive a new military aid package from the United States totaling some $8.7 billion. People are really scared," says Mona Fawaz, professor of urban planning at the American University of Beirut. Israel does these so-called targeted assassinations, which, sadly, much of the Western press has been celebrating, and they talk about Israelis' ingenuity. In fact, it's targeting everyone." Fawaz discusses the context for Lebanon's crisis, organizing to shelter and survive the bombing, and the Israeli messaging about evacuation orders and Hezbollah.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors announced they are charging New York City Mayor Eric Adams for a bribery and wire fraud scheme spanning nearly a decade. Adams allegedly accepted illegal campaign contributions from corporations and foreign donors, including the Turkish government. Adams is accused of manipulating regulators for the Turkish Consulate and not recognizing the Armenian genocide in exchange for campaign donations and lavish gifts. According to prosecutors, the mayor knew, accepted and actively sought illegal donations from foreign sources," says George Joseph, an investigative reporter for The Guardian. This is a generational-level scandal for New York City." The unsealed indictment is raising pressure on the mayor to resign. It is impossible for the mayor to perform his duties," says Zohran Mamdani, a New York state assemblymember, who may himself run for mayor. The same mayor who is now being alleged to have received over $100,000 in bribes was just last week praising New York police officers for opening fire on four New Yorkers at a subway station over the crime of stealing $2.90 of a subway fare."

Lebanon Calls for Int'l Community to Intervene as Israel's Attacks Kill 700+ in a Matter of Days, Israel Kills at Least 14 Palestinians in Another Attack on Gaza School Shelter, 100+ U.S. Lawmakers Demand Biden Admin Investigate Israel's Killing of U.S. Activist Ayenur Eygi, Cornell University Student Facing Deportation for Participating in Gaza Solidarity Protest, Acclaimed Author Jhumpa Lahiri Declines Noguchi Award over Museum's Keffiyeh Ban, No War Criminals in NYC": Activists Take Aim at Netanyahu Ahead of Contested UNGA Speech, Tuvalu Says Low-Lying Pacific Nations Must Retain Sovereignty in Face of Existential Climate Threat, Hurricane Helene Strikes Florida as Catastrophic" Category 4 Storm, A Significant Step Forward": Sunrise Movement Welcomes Kamala Harris's Climate Proposal, Federal Prosecutors Charge NYC Mayor Eric Adams with Bribery and Campaign Finance Crimes, Special Counsel Files Sealed Brief on Trump's Efforts to Overturn the 2020 Election, Sen. Ron Wyden Proposes Adding 6 Justices as Part of Sweeping Reforms to Supreme Court, Biden Signs Temporary Spending Bill to Avoid a Government Shutdown, Biden Signs Executive Order Seeking to Curb Gun Violence, Harris Pledges Unwavering" Support to Ukraine as White House Approves $8 Billion in Military Aid, Editors of Banned Hong Kong Newspaper Sentenced on Sedition Charges, Haitian Gangs Have Killed Over 3,600 in 2024, Warns U.N., Argentina's Poverty Rate Skyrockets After 6 Months of Javier Milei's Austerity Measures

We speak with Brett Murphy, the ProPublica reporter behind a blockbuster expose that revealed the Biden administration ignored warnings from its own experts about Israel blocking humanitarian aid into Gaza in order to keep supplying the country with weapons. USAID, the U.S. Agency for International Development, and the State Department's refugees bureau both concluded earlier this year that Israeli authorities routinely impeded delivery of food and medicine into the devastated Palestinian territory, where hunger, disease and displacement have wreaked havoc on the civilian population. Although U.S. law requires the government to stop arms shipments to countries that prevent the delivery of U.S.-backed aid, Secretary of State Antony Blinken ignored the findings and told Congress Israel was not restricting humanitarian assistance - helping to keep weapons flowing to the Israeli military to continue its assault on Gaza.

Israel is continuing its bombardment of Lebanon and preparing for a possible ground invasion of the country, with the Netanyahu government rejecting a proposed 21-day ceasefire put forward by the United States, France, Canada, Australia, Japan, Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia. About 500,000 people in Lebanon have been displaced, and the Health Ministry reports at least 72 people were killed and nearly 400 wounded in Israeli attacks on Wednesday, bringing the death toll to over 620 in recent days. There is a lot of suffering. There is a lot of hardship right now," says Beirut-based journalist Lara Bitar, who details how Israel has repeatedly attacked and invaded Lebanese territory going back decades. The source of this pain can be pinpointed to the presence of the Israeli settler state in our region that continues to wreak havoc in Palestine, in Lebanon and across most of the world."

New York City Mayor Eric Adams faces mounting pressure to resign after becoming the city's first sitting mayor to be indicted on federal charges. The indictment remains sealed as of Thursday morning, but The New York Times reports the federal investigation has focused at least in part on whether Adams took illegal campaign donations from the Turkish government. Many of Adams's top aides are also facing federal investigations. New Yorkers deserve better. We need somebody who can take this job seriously, ... and he can no longer do that," says New City Councilmember Tiffany Caban, a Democratic Socialist and former public defender who first called on Adams to resign last week. We also speak with journalist Ross Barkan, who says the city is in uncharted waters" and predicts Adams will stay in office as long as he possibly can."

Israel Rejects Ceasefire Calls, Prepares for Possible Ground Invasion as Lebanon Death Toll Tops 620, Israel Is Violating Our Sovereignty": Lebanon's Prime Minister Pleads with UNSC to Do Its Job, One Year into Genocide, Palestinians in Gaza Warn Israel Is Poised to Subject Lebanon to Same Fate, Israel Dumps Truck with 88 Unidentified Palestinian Bodies in Gaza, Journalist Mujahed al-Saadi Arrested Amid Unprecedented Israeli Assault on West Bank Reporters, Sudan's Army Launches Offensive to Retake Khartoum from Rapid Support Forces, FBI Searches Gracie Mansion as NYC Mayor Eric Adams Faces Indictment for Corruption, MAGA Rep. Clay Higgins to Face Censure Vote for Racist Tweet About Haitians, Senate Passes Resolution Honoring 6-Year-Old Palestinian American Hate Crime Victim, Former U.N. Chief Endorses Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Families Demand Justice for Mexican Students on 10th Anniversary of Ayotzinapa Disappearances, Thai King Signs Marriage Equality Bill into Law, It's Bisan from Gaza and I'm Still Alive" Wins Emmy for Outstanding Hard News Feature

Democracy Now! co-host Juan Gonzalez has co-authored a major new report for the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago titled Fuerza Mexicana: The Past, Present, and Power of Mexicans in Chicagoland," which takes a deep look into Chicago's Mexican community. Constituting one-fifth of the city's population, Chicago's Mexican residents are significant contributors to the area's economy, but the workforce is disproportionately concentrated in some of the most dangerous, difficult, low-paying jobs. The character of the Chicago working class has dramatically changed and is heavily Mexican," says Gonzalez. He adds that Mexican migration saved Chicago" from the kind of post-industrial decline plaguing other cities like Detroit, Indianapolis and Cleveland.

Democracy Now! speaks with the Green Party's presidential ticket, Jill Stein and her running mate Butch Ware, after the Green Party suffered a setback Friday when the U.S. Supreme Court declined a request to put Stein on the ballot in Nevada. The Democratic Party had sued to keep Stein off the ballot for failing to submit the proper forms. In this campaign cycle, Democrats have fought to keep the Green Party off the ballot, while some Trump supporters, including a former Trump lawyer, have helped the Green Party obtain ballot access. They are terrified of actually meeting us in the court of public opinion and having a real debate about the crises the American people face and the real solutions that we alone have put on the table," says Stein. The American people are in crisis in virtually every dimension of our lives." Stein's third run for the presidency is receiving support in some areas over Vice President Kamala Harris's refusal to call for an arms embargo on Israel. The Council on American-Islamic Relations recently published a survey that showed Stein is leading Harris among Muslim voters in three battleground states: Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin. This effort to try to pin an inevitable defeat of the Democrats upon third parties or upon Muslims is at best disingenuous," says Ware, a Muslim historian and professor. Every effort to protect Team Blue, to protect the Democrats from facing accountability for the evil that their own hands have wrought is equally evil."

The Israeli military is reportedly preparing to invade Lebanon while continuing to launch extensive airstrikes across the country, forcing tens of thousands to flee. Lebanon's Health Ministry reports the death toll has reached at least 569 people, with more than 1,800 wounded. Israeli strikes have killed United Nations employees, medical workers, at least one journalist and 50 children over the past two days. Meanwhile, Hezbollah launched dozens of rockets at Israel, including a long-range missile fired toward Tel Aviv that was intercepted by Israeli air defense systems. Lebanese civilians are paying the price," says Aya Majzoub in Beirut, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, who calls Israel's attacks unprecedented" and devastating." In a single day, on Monday, more than 500 people were killed. ... It is one of the highest daily death tolls in recent global wars."

Thousands Flee as Israel Continues Assault on Southern Lebanon, U.N. Staffers and Journalist Among Those Killed by Israeli Strikes on Lebanon, Israeli Attacks on Gaza Kill 53 Palestinians, Including a Mother and Her Five Children, World Leaders Gathered at U.N. General Assembly Condemn Israel's Assaults on Gaza, Lebanon, Kharkiv Apartment Block Leveled by Russian Strike; U.S. to Send More Cluster Bombs to Ukraine, Haitian Group Brings Criminal Charges Against Trump, Vance over False Pet-Eating Claims in Ohio, Sen. Joe Manchin Won't Endorse Kamala Harris for President, NYC Schools Chancellor Quits as FBI Corruption Probe Targets Mayor Eric Adams's Administration, Missouri Executes Marcellus Williams Despite Evidence of Wrongful Conviction, Texas Lawmakers Want Clemency for Father Condemned to Death over Junk Science" Conviction

The state of Missouri is set to kill Marcellus Williams tonight. Williams has always maintained his innocence in the 1998 killing of St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter Lisha Gayle during a robbery. The jurors, prosecutors and victim's family are all supporting Williams's bid for clemency, which has been denied by Missouri's Republican governor and state Supreme Court. What we see is a system that's looking at finality over fairness, rushing to get to an execution date instead of taking the time to stop this execution and look at the merits of what is being argued," says Williams's attorney and the executive director of the Midwest Innocence Project, Tricia Rojo Bushnell, who is now seeking a last-minute reprieve and reassessment of the case from the U.S. Supreme Court.

As New York City's Climate Week begins, we speak to environmental justice activist Kumi Naidoo, the former head of Greenpeace International and Amnesty International and now the president of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty Initiative, about his work to end the use of fossil fuels, the leading driver of climate change. Naidoo calls for urgency and the fastest withdrawal" from the world's dependence on fossil fuel companies, slamming the arrogance," control" and impunity" of their profit-maximizing CEOs. Naidoo is from South Africa, which brought the genocide case against Israel to the International Criminal Court, and he has joined other climate activists in linking the climate justice and antiwar movements. We have to recognize many of the struggles we face are very intersecting and very connected."

As the United Nations General Assembly meets in New York City alongside Climate Week, dozens of activists were arrested Monday at a protest outside of Citibank's global headquarters while demanding the company divest from fossil fuels. Democracy Now! spoke to many activists from the Gulf South about the impact of Citibank-funded projects in their communities. I'm not even a teenager yet, and I have to fight for my life and many others my age," says 12-year-old Kamea Ozane from Southwest Louisiana. I shouldn't have to do this. This is not right."