Democracy Now!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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