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Democracy Now!

Democracy Now! is an independent daily TV & radio news program, hosted by award-winning journalists Amy Goodman and Juan González. We provide daily global news headlines, in-depth interviews and investigative reports without any advertisements or government funding. Our programming shines a spotlight on corporate and government abuses of power and lifts up the stories of ordinary people working to make change in extraordinary times. Democracy Now! is live weekdays at 8am ET and available 24/7 through our website and podcasts.

Despite a U.N.-backed report sounding the alarm on imminent famine in northern Gaza, Israeli authorities announced Sunday they will no longer approve the passage of any UNRWA food convoys into northern Gaza. “Our ability to adequately continue saving lives is really being obstructed,” says UNRWA spokesperson Tamara Alrifai. “What’s going to happen to UNRWA if we can no longer truly operate?” The decision came as President Biden signed a $1.2 trillion appropriations bill that strips funding to UNRWA for the next year. The U.S. first suspended aid to UNRWA in late January, when the Israeli government claimed 12 of the agency’s 30,000 employees were involved in Hamas’s attacks on October 7. The unsubstantiated allegation prompted top donors to cut funding to UNRWA, though many of them have resumed funding as the agency welcomes new donor countries and an unprecedented number of civil society donations. Seeing the U.S., the agency’s largest donor, “withhold funding … is a huge blow to us,” says Alrifai. “Stripping UNRWA of funding not only shrinks its ability to respond to the looming famine in Gaza, but also puts at risk the schools, the access of kids to proper education, the vaccines, the mother and child care — everything across the region.”
Posted: March 28, 2024, 12:48 pm
A State Department official working on human rights issues in the Middle East resigned Wednesday in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s assault on Gaza. Annelle Sheline, who worked as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, was not planning on publicly resigning, but her colleagues asked her to “please speak out” against the Biden administration’s unconditional support for Israel. “At the end of the day, many people inside [the State Department] know that this is a horrific policy, and can’t believe that the United States government is engaged in such actions that contravene American values so directly, but the leadership is not listening,” says Sheline. “I’m trying to speak on behalf of those many, many people who feel so betrayed by our government’s stance.” Sheline describes being moved by the words of Aaron Bushnell, the active-duty U.S. airman who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in protest of the war on Gaza, who implored everyone to take a stand against genocide. “I have a young daughter, and I thought about, in the future, if she were to ask me, 'What were you doing when this was happening? You were at the State Department.' I want to be able to tell her that I didn’t stay silent.”
Posted: March 28, 2024, 12:33 pm
Almost six months into Israel’s assault, Gaza’s health sector has been completely decimated. Before October 7, Gaza had 36 hospitals. Now only two are minimally functional, and 10 are partially functional, according to the United Nations. The rest have shut down completely after either being shelled, besieged and raided by Israeli troops, or running out of fuel and medicine. Israel’s assault has killed over 32,500 Palestinians, including over 14,000 children, and wounded nearly 75,000. We speak with Dr. Tanya Haj-Hassan, a pediatric intensive care physician who just spent two weeks volunteering and living at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Gaza, about what she witnessed and the conditions of healthcare in the beleaguered and devastated territory. “This is not a humanitarian crisis. This is the worst of what humanity is capable of, and it’s entirely all man-made,” says Haj-Hassan. “This is an utter and complete failure of humanity, and, to be frank, I feel ashamed to be an American citizen. I feel ashamed to be part of a society that has allowed this to continue.”
Posted: March 28, 2024, 12:14 pm
Video Shows Israeli Forces Shooting and Bulldozing Two Gazan Civilians as One Was Waving White Flag, Israeli Siege on Al-Shifa Hospital Continues: Journalist, at Least 13 Children Among Those Killed, Israel Kills Four Palestinians in Raid on Jenin in Occupied West Bank, Another State Dept. Official Makes Public Exit to Protest U.S. Support for Israeli Genocide, “A Dangerous Precedent in U.S. Foreign Policy”: Center for American Progress Blasts State Dept., Ireland to Intervene in South Africa’s Genocide Case at ICJ; Protests Continue in Amman, Jordan, 2 Bodies Recovered from Baltimore Bridge Collapse; 4 Others Presumed Dead, Alabama Democrat Flips State Seat After Running on Abortion Rights, IVF Access, Court Upholds Undated Ballots Law in PA; MT Supreme Court Strikes Down GOP Voter Suppression Laws, White Supremacists Who Murdered Ahmaud Arbery Ask Court to Overturn Federal Hate Crime Convictions, Trump Lashes Out at Judge Hours After He Imposed Gag Order on Ex-President, Joe Lieberman Dies, Leaves Behind Legacy of Championing War on Iraq, Blocking Healthcare Access, Phoenix Approves Measure to Protect Workers from Extreme Heat as Florida Blocks Similar Efforts, Argentina Convicts 11 Ex-Officials for Disappearances, Torture, Murders During Military Dictatorship, Indonesia Arrests 13 Soldiers over Torture Death in West Papua, Death Toll in Moscow Terror Attack Reaches 143 as Immigrant Communities Report Spike in Attacks, U.N. Secretary-General Guterres Calls for Slavery Reparations
Posted: March 28, 2024, 12:00 pm
An immigration battle continues on the border between Texas and Mexico, as Texas’s state government increases its militarization of the region, deploying hundreds of National Guard troops and constructing new infrastructure on the border. Meanwhile, a new federal spending bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden has increased funding for ICE and CBP, and state and federal courts have been wrangling over the legality of SB4, a new Texas state law that gives local police sweeping powers to arrest and deport anyone they suspect has entered the United States without authorization. We hear more from Fernando García, founder and executive director of the Border Network for Human Rights, in El Paso. García says the influx of special forces with “no training with how to deal with a civilian population,” alongside the “show me your papers’’ atmosphere created by SB4, is increasing the daily violence faced by Latinx residents on the U.S. side of the border, all while “illegally impeding” the right to seek asylum by those in “desperate” straits on the Mexico side. Instead of capitulating to anti-immigrant politicians, he continues, “We needed for the federal government to stop Texas, stop the governor” from targeting “Latinos, people of color, migrants and people looking for asylum, for protection.”
Posted: March 27, 2024, 12:52 pm
Six people are missing and presumed dead after a 984-foot cargo ship hit the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, causing the bridge’s collapse early Tuesday morning. All six have been identified as immigrant construction workers originally hailing from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. Maryland Governor Wes Moore said the crew on the ship was able to issue an emergency mayday call before colliding with the bridge, which allowed authorities to stop incoming traffic and prevent more casualties. However, reports say the workers already on the bridge were not given similar warnings. “The question we should be asking about is why the folks on that bridge … had no direct line to emergency dispatch when they are clearly working in a potentially hazardous environment,” says journalist Maximillian Alvarez, the editor-in-chief of the Baltimore-based organization The Real News Network, who has been closely following the story and how it has affected immigrant and working-class communities. “What does this story actually show us? That immigrants are filling our potholes at night so that we can have a smooth drive to work in the morning,” Alvarez says. “I hope people can see this and see the humanity in us.”
Posted: March 27, 2024, 12:39 pm
Democratic Arizona state Senator Eva Burch made headlines last week after speaking on the floor of the state Senate about her plans to obtain an abortion after receiving news that her pregnancy was nonviable. Arizona has banned all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. “I felt like it was really important for me to bring people along, so that people could really see what this looks like,” says Burch, a former nurse practitioner who worked at a women’s health clinic before running for office, about why she decided to publicly tell her story. “I wanted to pull people into the conversation so we can be more honest about what abortion care looks like” and “hopefully move the needle in the right direction,” she adds.
Posted: March 27, 2024, 12:29 pm
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday on the abortion pill mifepristone, which is available by mail and can be taken at home, even in states that have severely limited or banned abortions. The case was brought by a group of anti-choice medical associations that have sought to overturn moves by the Food and Drug Administration to increase access to the drug, which is used for roughly two-thirds of all U.S. abortions. This was the first abortion-related Supreme Court hearing since the court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. A decision is expected by July. “Overall the justices showed that they were skeptical of the claims brought by the plaintiffs in this case,” says Michele Goodwin, a law professor at Georgetown University and founding director of the Center for Biotechnology and Global Health Policy. Goodwin summarizes the arguments presented by both sides, the justices’ responses and the legal implications of the upcoming ruling.
Posted: March 27, 2024, 12:10 pm
Supreme Court Appears Poised to Preserve Access to Abortion Pill Mifepristone, UNICEF: “Paper Thin” Children Dying in Gaza of Malnutrition and Dehydration, U.N. Special Rapporteur Outlines How Israel Is Committing Genocide in Gaza, Report: 69% of Israeli Arms Imports Come from United States, U.S. State Dept.: We Have Not Found Israel to Be Violating International Law in Gaza, “They Have a Point”: Biden Responds to Pro-Palestinian Protesters, Israeli Airstrike on Lebanese Health Center Kills Seven Paramedics, Six Immigrant Construction Workers Still Missing After Baltimore Bridge Collapse, Russian Court Extends Detention of Evan Gershkovich, Police in India Detain Dozens of Protesters as Pre-election Crackdown Grows, NY Judge Issues Gag Order on Trump Ahead of Hush Money Trial, NBC Cuts Ties with Ex-RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel After Staff Protests, RFK Jr. Taps Nicole Shanahan to Be Running Mate, Homes of Sean “Diddy” Combs Raided in Federal Sex Trafficking Probe
Posted: March 27, 2024, 12:00 pm
We look at Donald Trump’s ongoing legal battles with Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter David Cay Johnston, who has been covering Trump since the 1980s. The next major case against Trump is his hush money trial, set to begin April 15, in which he is accused of falsifying business records to cover up payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels to keep an extramarital affair quiet during the 2016 presidential campaign. This comes as Trump is on the hook to produce $175 million to cover a civil fraud judgment in New York, where his bond was originally set at $454 million. Other cases against Trump, including over his attempts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents after he left office, are still ongoing. “Donald Trump has committed serious criminal acts his whole life, and … he’s finally being held to account,” says Johnston.
Posted: March 26, 2024, 12:49 pm
We speak with former top U.N. human rights official Craig Mokhiber after the Security Council voted Monday on a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all remaining hostages. The United States abstained from the vote, allowing it to pass after nearly six months of obstructing similar efforts at the Security Council. Mokhiber, who resigned in October over the U.N.'s failure to address rights violations in Israel-Palestine, says “Israel has the world record” for violating U.N. resolutions and is certain to violate this ceasefire resolution, as well, even though it expressed “the very broad consensus across the global community against Israel's onslaught on Gaza.” Israel continued bombing Gaza after Monday’s vote, and top Israeli leaders have vowed to continue the war that has killed over 32,000 Palestinians so far. “What this genocide has done is it has revealed the weaknesses, the political compromises, the moral failings of the United Nations and other international institutions,” says Mokhiber, who adds that continued pressure from civil society is needed to end the bloodshed.
Posted: March 26, 2024, 12:28 pm
Former U.K. Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reacts to the United Nations Security Council’s resolution for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, which passed 14-0 on Monday after the United States declined to use its veto by abstaining from the vote. Corbyn calls the war and suffering in Gaza “a global disgrace” and says the ceasefire must be enforced. “It’s time to stand with the Palestinian people.”
Posted: March 26, 2024, 12:23 pm
The British High Court in London has put the extradition of Julian Assange on hold until the United States provides assurances that he would get a fair trial in the U.S. without facing the death penalty. If those assurances are not met, Assange will be granted the right to a full appeal hearing. Speaking outside the court Tuesday, Stella Assange called for the Biden administration to “drop this shameful case” against her husband. “Julian should never have been imprisoned for a single day,” she said. We speak with MP Jeremy Corbyn, who led the U.K. Labour Party from 2015 to 2020 and who has been calling for all charges against Assange to be dropped. “The pressure needs to now go on to the Biden administration,” Corbyn says. “If Julian goes down for this, every serious journalist around the world is going to be slightly more cautious about exposing war crimes, about exposing corporate greed.”
Posted: March 26, 2024, 12:12 pm
U.K. High Court Delays Possible Extradition of Julian Assange Until U.S. Provides “Assurances”, UNSC Approves Its First Gaza Ceasefire Resolution Ater U.S. Abstains, Israeli Attack on Rafah Home Kills at Least 18 People, Half of Them Children, U.N.-Commissioned Report Lays Out Evidence of Israeli Genocide in Gaza, Baltimore Bridge Collapse Plunges Vehicles into Freezing River; Officials Warn of “Mass Casualties”, Bassirou Diomaye Faye Clinches Senegalese Presidency, Vows to Fight Corruption and Inequality, Ecuador’s Youngest Mayor Brigitte García Killed in Targeted Shooting, NBC News Faces Backlash After Hiring Former RNC Chair, Election Denier Ronna McDaniel, Trump’s Bond in Civil Fraud Case Lowered to $175M as Judge Sets April 15 Date for Hush Money Trial, SCOTUS Hearing Arguments in Case That Could Restrict Nationwide Access to Abortion Pill, NYC Home Health Aides End Hunger Strike, Vow to Continue Fighting for an End to 24-Hour Workdays
Posted: March 26, 2024, 12:00 pm
Sudan is on track to become the world’s worst hunger crisis, according to the United Nations. For over a year, fighting between the Sudanese military and the rival Rapid Support Forces has disrupted the country, displacing over 8 million people who experience extreme hunger in the areas with the most intense fighting. The increasing demand comes as the U.N.'s appeal for $2.7 billion for Sudan is less than 5% funded. Funding is also drying up in Chad, where some 1.2 million Sudanese have taken refuge. “This is the largest sort of mass mortality crisis that we are facing in the world and the largest that we have probably faced for many decades,” says Alex de Waal, the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine, who laments the “shocking” cuts to the World Food Programme that is essential to the global emergency response system. “If it doesn't work, we are going to find ourselves facing the kinds of crises of mass mortality that we have simply not seen for half a century or longer.”
Posted: March 25, 2024, 12:50 pm
In Gaza, millions of Palestinians are starving after five months of U.S.-backed attacks by Israel, while Israel continues to prevent the delivery of essential provisions. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini wrote on social media, “This man-made starvation under our watch is a stain on our collective humanity.” The head of the World Health Organization says children in Gaza are already dying of malnutrition. “This is fundamentally a political crisis,” says Alex de Waal, the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine, who explains that even with a ceasefire and humanitarian aid, “a crisis like this cannot be stopped overnight,” and that “This will be a calamity that will be felt for generations.”
Posted: March 25, 2024, 12:41 pm
ISIS-K, an affiliate of the Islamic State, has claimed responsibility for an attack on a popular concert hall in Moscow that killed at least 137. Authorities say gunmen opened fire inside the Crocus City Hall building during a sold-out rock concert and then set part of the venue on fire. More than 100 people were injured in the attack, and many remain in critical condition. Authorities have detained 11 suspects, four of whom, all reportedly citizens of Tajikistan, are charged with terrorism and face life sentences. As more details emerge about the attack, we speak with professor of international affairs at The New School Nina Khrushcheva about the history of Muslim fundamentalist attacks in Russia and Putin’s “unfortunate” decision to ignore Western intelligence warnings about terrorist attacks. We’re also joined by longtime Moscow correspondent for The New Yorker Joshua Yaffa, who details possible motivations for ISIS-K and how Putin is attempting to fit this attack into his narrative opposing Ukraine and the West. “First and foremost, he cares about preserving his own power and the continued stability of his ruling system,” says Yaffa, who explains how Putin tries to control political blowback by equating ISIS-K with any group he opposes, including Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption network and the so-called worldwide LGBT movement. “This is important to understand both in trying to determine how this attack happened in the first place and also what might Putin’s response be moving forward.”
Posted: March 25, 2024, 12:16 pm
At Least 137 People Killed in ISIS-Claimed Attack on Moscow Concert Hall, Israel Continues to Starve Gaza, Blocking Food Aid as It Escalates Attack on Gaza’s Ailing Hospitals, Kamala Harris Warns Against Israeli Invasion of Rafah, Does Not Rule Out “Consequences” from U.S., China, Russia Veto U.S.'s “Ambiguous” Conditional Ceasefire Resolution at U.N. Security Council, Bernie Sanders, AOC Among Lawmakers Who Opposed $1.2 Trillion Spending Bill over Defunding of UNRWA, Gaza Solidarity Protests Fill Streets of Dublin, Santiago and Other Large Cities, Activists Protest Metropolitan Museum's Complicity in Israel’s War and Occupation of Palestine, Senegalese Opposition Candidate Bassirou Diomaye Faye Leads Early Election Results, Russian and Ukrainian Attacks Hit Energy and Oil Targets, 150+ Kidnapped School Children Rescued in Northwestern Nigeria, Brazilian Police Arrest Suspected Masterminds of Marielle Franco’s Assassination, Trump’s Assets Could Be Imminently Seized by NY Attorney General Letitia James, Congress: Another GOP Rep. Quits; Tammy Murphy Exits NJ Senate Race; MJT Wants to Oust Mike Johnson
Posted: March 25, 2024, 12:00 pm
In Mississippi, six former sheriff’s deputies have been sentenced to between 10 and 40 years in prison for raiding a home and torturing, shooting and sexually abusing two Black men, Michael Jenkins and Eddie Parker, in January 2023. The six former deputies, all of whom are white, called themselves the “Goon Squad” and have been linked to at least four violent attacks on Black men since 2019. Two of the men attacked and tortured by the group subsequently died. To discuss the case and the verdict, we’re joined by Eddie Parker and attorneys Malik Shabazz and Trent Walker. “Never have we seen this many police officers sentenced to this kind of time in one week,” says Shabazz, who calls the verdict “historic.” Jenkins, Parker and Shabazz are currently suing the Rankin County Sheriff’s Department over its track record of civil rights violations and racist targeting of Black residents.
Posted: March 22, 2024, 12:43 pm
As Israel continues its relentless assault on Gaza, causing mass famine, injury and death, we get an update on the malnutrition and mental health crises in Gaza from Dr. Nahreen Ahmed, a pulmonary and critical care doctor and the medical director of the humanitarian aid group MedGlobal. She is recently back from a two-week volunteer trip to Gaza, where she says these crises are growing so rapidly “that even if aid was increased tomorrow, we would still be in a severe situation where the amount of food would not be enough in the immediate term.” It is a “horrific experience for all involved,” she concludes.
Posted: March 22, 2024, 12:28 pm
At the U.N. Security Council, China and Russia have vetoed a U.S. draft resolution on the war in Gaza. The U.S. resolution appeared to call for a ceasefire, but it was written in a way to make the resolution unenforceable. Our guest Phyllis Bennis says this was mere “wordplay” and a “convoluted” attempt by the Biden administration to play both sides, as it comes under increasing internal and external criticism over its close relationship with Israel. Bennis is a fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies and an international adviser to Jewish Voice for Peace. She has written several books on U.S. foreign policy and the Middle East. When it comes to dissent over U.S. support of Israel, “the pressure is mounting in ways that I’ve certainly never seen,” she says, adding that it’s imperative for the public to continue pushing for more action, as “it’s crucial that the weapons sales be cut” and a real ceasefire be reached immediately.
Posted: March 22, 2024, 12:12 pm
Al-Shifa Evacuees Describe Terror of Israeli Attack on Besieged Hospital, Video Shows Israeli Forces Targeting and Killing Group of Unarmed Gazans, Antony Blinken Meets Netanyahu in Tel Aviv as He Acknowledges Severe Hunger Crisis in Gaza, Dozens of Ex-U.S. Officials Warn Biden Against Enabling Israeli Abuses in Occupied West Bank, Sudan Could Soon Become the World’s Worst Hunger Crisis, Biden Admin Urged to Halt Haiti Deportations as Deadly Unrest Continues, 70+ Rohingya Refugees Could Be Dead After Boat Capsizes Off Aceh Coast, France Pushes Law to Curb Devastating Impacts of Fast Fashion, Russian Strikes Kill 3 People, Cut Off Power for 1 Million Ukrainians, DOJ Files Major Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple, New Florida Law Bans Unhoused People from Sleeping in Public Spaces, Home Health Aides in NYC Go on Hunger Strike to Demand End to 24-Hour Workdays, Georgia GOP Moves to Punish Employers Who Voluntarily Recognize Unions, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Reintroduce Green New Deal for Public Housing Act
Posted: March 22, 2024, 12:00 pm
A new report by the research group Forensic Architecture counters Israel’s argument at the International Court of Justice that it followed humanitarian policies to safeguard civilian life in Gaza. South Africa argued in January before the ICJ that Israel was guilty of genocide during its war on Gaza. The report argues that what Israel says are humanitarian evacuations in Gaza actually amount to the forced displacement of Palestinians, which is a war crime. It found that since October 7, Israel has issued imprecise and sometimes contradictory evacuation orders, attacked people even in so-called safe zones and evacuation routes, and failed to provide the necessities of life for those civilians, all while pushing the population further and further south into areas that are then also attacked or evacuated at a later time. “We cannot see it as anything else but part of the genocidal campaign,” says Forensic Architecture director Eyal Weizman, who accuses Israel of using humanitarian principles as yet another weapon against Palestinians in Gaza. He says Israel’s objective is to “exercise pain on the civilian population” in order to deter “ongoing resistance to the Israeli occupation.”
Posted: March 21, 2024, 12:33 pm
We speak with British surgeon Dr. Nick Maynard, who recently led an emergency medical team at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital, about Israel’s ongoing attacks on healthcare infrastructure and the worsening humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory, where Israel’s brutal assault has killed about 32,000 Palestinians since October 7. Maynard is part of a group of international doctors with experience in Gaza who met with officials at the United Nations and in Washington, D.C., this week to express alarm over civilian suffering. Medical workers in Gaza are “working under extremely challenging conditions with a huge lack of resources and working in a healthcare system that is being systematically dismantled by the attacks on it,” he tells Democracy Now! “It’s very, very clear to all of us who have been on the ground in Gaza that the only way to try and stop this humanitarian catastrophe is for an immediate ceasefire.”
Posted: March 21, 2024, 12:14 pm
Israel’s Assault on Al-Shifa Hospital Enters 4th Day, Attacks Continue Throughout Gaza Strip, U.S. Submits Ceasefire Resolution to UNSC; Netanyahu Tells GOP Israel Will Continue Attacking Gaza, Lawmakers Pushing to Cut Off U.S. Funding for UNRWA for Another Year Amid Soaring Hunger in Gaza, “Completely Contrary to Human Rights”: AMLO Blasts Texas’s SB4, Says Mexico Will not Accept Deportees, Georgia Executes Prisoner Willie Pye After 4-Year Pause in Capital Punishment, Two More “Goon Squad” Officers Sentenced to 40 and 17.5 Years for Torture of Two Black Men, Assange’s Lawyers Say No Deal on the Table After WSJ Reports DOJ Could Offer Plea Agreement, Irish Leader Leo Varadkar Resigns: “The Time Has Come to Pass on the Baton”, Hong Kong Passes New Hard-Line National Security Law, Further Aligning Territory with Beijing, Indonesian Election Authority Confirms Presidential Election Victory for Prabowo Subianto, EPA Announces New Limits on Tailpipe Emissions in Push to Transition to Electric Vehicles, Biden Administration Cancels Another $6 Billion in Federal Student loans, GOP Impeachment Campaign Against Biden Losing Steam as Even Conservative Support Wanes
Posted: March 21, 2024, 12:00 pm
Building on an unprecedented wave of settler violence in 2023, Israeli attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank have intensified since October 7, with over 400 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces and settlers over the past five months. Last week, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on three Israeli settlers and two Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank for assaulting, harassing and threatening Palestinians, and violently expelling many from their land. Investigative journalist Shane Bauer traveled to the territory to map out the violence against Palestinians that has escalated since October 7, and visited the illegal outposts of “two very dangerous men” targeted by the sanctions: Neria Ben-Pazi and Moshe Sharvit. “The elephant in the room here is that [Moshe Sharvit], along with Neria Ben-Pazi, is supported by the state of Israel directly,” says Bauer. “According to the language of the sanctions, that would mean that the State of Israel itself and all the various organizations that are supporting him should themselves be sanctioned, but of course they haven’t been.” Bauer describes how “the line between settlers and the army virtually disappeared after October 7,” as far-right Israeli cabinet members push for “a formalization of apartheid,” in the West Bank.
Posted: March 20, 2024, 12:34 pm
We speak with Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland about the U.S. response to Israel’s brutal offensive on Gaza, which has killed over 32,000 Palestinians. Van Hollen expresses “strong frustration with the Biden administration,” which “needs to do a lot more” to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accountable. Defying Biden’s warnings against a full-scale ground operation in Rafah, Netanyahu continues to promise an invasion of the city, where 1.4 million forcibly displaced people from across Gaza are sheltering. “At the end of the day, Prime Minister Netanyahu simply ignores the president of the United States, and so we need to do more to make Netanyahu accountable for our requests,” says Van Hollen, who warns Biden against “getting dragged into the planning of a Rafah invasion” and becoming “complicit in Netanyahu’s actions.” The senator also discusses U.S. funding of UNRWA and Israeli leaders blocking aid for Gaza. “For goodness’ sakes, lift the restrictions that are in place that are creating this humanitarian disaster in Gaza.”
Posted: March 20, 2024, 12:15 pm
Appeals Court Puts Texas Anti-Immigrant SB4 on Hold for Now, WHO Warns Infants in Gaza on the “Brink of Death” as Israel Keeps Limiting Aid Deliveries, Israel Kills Dozens in Ongoing Raid on Al-Shifa Hospital, Canada to Halt Weapons Shipments to Gaza, Trump-Backed Bernie Moreno Wins GOP Senate Primary in Ohio, Democratic Voters Voice Dismay over Biden’s Support for Israeli Assault on Gaza, Trump: Jewish Democrats “Should Be Ashamed of Themselves”, Kushner Praises Gaza’s “Valuable” Waterfront Property, Says Israel Should Force Palestinians Out, Doctors Without Borders Says EU-Funded Libyan Coast Guard Disrupt Attempts to Aid Migrants at Sea, Cuba Blasts U.S. Embargo as Protesters Decry Power Blackouts & Food Shortages, U.N. Weather Agency Issues “Red Alert” After 2023 Shattered Heat Records, Two Members of Mississippi Police “Goon Squad” Sentenced for Torturing Black Men, Arizona State Lawmaker Goes Public with Plan to Have an Abortion
Posted: March 20, 2024, 12:00 pm
As presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Joe Biden scapegoat and attack immigrants on the campaign trail, stoking racist and xenophobic fears for votes, we speak to the director of a groundbreaking new film, unseen, that aims to reframe the narrative. Using experimental cinematography to promote accessibility for blind and low-vision audiences, unseen follows Pedro, who is blind and undocumented, as he works toward a degree in social work. Director Set Hernandez, themself an undocumented immigrant and a co-founder of the Undocumented Filmmakers Collective, discusses the film’s uplifting of the “undocumented and disabled perspective,” in opposition to political narratives that exclude and dehumanize immigrant communities.
Posted: March 19, 2024, 12:48 pm
Haiti is being gripped by escalating violence and turmoil as armed groups battle for control in the streets. Last week, unelected Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry announced he would resign, after a coalition of armed groups opposing the de facto leader declared an uprising. Negotiations to establish a transitional presidential council are being led by the U.S.-backed Caribbean political alliance CARICOM as a refugee crisis brews, with the Biden administration floating the idea of housing Haitian asylum seekers in Guantánamo Bay. We speak to Dan Foote, who resigned from his post as U.S. special envoy for Haiti in September 2021 over the Biden administration’s “inhumane” treatment of Haitian asylum seekers and U.S. interference in Haitian politics. “We’re holding Haiti hostage through this CARICOM political process,” says Foote, who says Haitian sovereignty must be respected in order to break the cycle of intervention, unrest and violence. “Everybody has an answer for Haiti. Unfortunately, historically, none of those answers have worked.”
Posted: March 19, 2024, 12:34 pm
A new U.N.-backed report has found that famine is imminent in northern Gaza with nearly a third of Gaza’s population experiencing the highest levels of catastrophic hunger. This comes as Israel launches another major raid at Al-Shifa Hospital, where tens of thousands of displaced Palestinians have taken shelter since the start of the conflict. In the south, daily bombing continues while the Israeli government threatens a full-scale ground invasion on the border city of Rafah. “The world should impose sanctions on Israel,” says the Palestinian National Initiative’s Mustafa Barghouti, who joins us from the occupied West Bank. Barghouti responds to Israel’s latest military actions and claims, gives an update on the status of ceasefire negotiations, addresses conditions in Israeli prisons and more. “It’s a massacre. It’s a huge genocide,” he says. “The ultimate goal of Israel is ethnic cleansing.”
Posted: March 19, 2024, 12:14 pm
Famine in Northern Gaza Imminent; U.N., EU Blast “Man-Made” Hunger Crisis by Israel and U.S., Gazans Say Israel’s Assault on Rafah Has Already Started as Biden Warns Netanyahu Against Invasion, Journalist Ismail al-Ghoul Released After Al-Shifa Raid; Officer Who Secured Food Aid Is Among Dead, Israel Arrests West Bank Reporter Rula Hassanein; 13th Palestinian Dies in Israeli Prison Since Oct. 7, Gang Violence in Haiti Spills Over into Previously Shielded Upscale Areas of Capital, Armed Groups in Nigeria Kidnap 100+ People in Kaduna, Gambian Lawmakers Advance Repeal of Female Genital Mutilation Ban, South Sudan Schools Close Due to Extreme Heat, Two Dozen Civilians Reportedly Killed in Burmese Military Strikes in Rakhine, 30,000 Children and Women Held in Abusive Camps in Northern Syria, Protesters Condemn Javier Milei’s Austerity Regime Amid Social and Economic Crises, Trump Unable to Secure $454M Bond in NY Civil Case; Peter Navarro to Begin Sentence for Contempt, SCOTUS Considers Free Speech Cases Involving Guns, Government’s Authority Over Social Media, EPA Announces Total Ban on Asbestos
Posted: March 19, 2024, 12:00 pm
We mark the 21st anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie, the 23-year-old U.S. peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli soldier driving a military bulldozer on March 16, 2003. Corrie was in Rafah with the International Solidarity Movement to monitor human rights abuses and protect Palestinian homes from destruction when she was killed. To this day, nobody has been held accountable for her death, with the Israeli military ruling it an “accident” and the Supreme Court of Israel rejecting an appeal from her parents in 2015. Rachel Corrie has since become a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people, and her legacy must be used “to direct attention back to Rafah” and prevent an escalation in the war, says her friend and fellow activist Tom Dale, who witnessed her final moments. We also speak with Corrie’s parents, Cindy and Craig, who say they have met many Palestinians over the years who continue to honor their daughter’s memory. “For Palestinians everywhere, Rachel’s story has been very important,” says Cindy Corrie. “They tell us over and over again how much it meant.” After Corrie was killed, they devoted their lives to her cause and founded the nonprofit Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice.
Posted: March 18, 2024, 12:38 pm
We get an update from Rafah as the World Food Programme warns of worsening catastrophic hunger in the Gaza Strip and Israel continues to block most aid from entering the territory. Despite growing international criticism, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he plans for a full-scale ground invasion of Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinians are penned in after repeated forced evacuations from elsewhere in Gaza since October 7. “I’m hoping from the U.S. government to put a serious pressure on the Israeli government in order to prevent such a catastrophe,” says Mohammed Abu Lebda, a poet and translator from Rafah, who says an Israeli ground invasion could kill up to 100,000 more Palestinians. Abu Lebda describes the daily hardships in Rafah, including the severe mental toll, Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has unleashed. “I’m not sure that I’m going to be the person that I used to be before the war,” he says. “I’m 100% sure that I was changed, and I was changed forever.”

(Mohammed Abu Lebda is currently fundraising to leave Gaza with his family. Find details on his GoFundMe page.)

Posted: March 18, 2024, 12:17 pm
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Posted: March 18, 2024, 12:00 pm
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