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On the eastern shore of Lake Superior
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DemocracyNow! headlines
"Enormous Expansion of the Law": James Bamford on FISA Extension, U.S.-Israel Data Sharing
Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:49:57 -0400 President Biden has signed legislation to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act despite years of protest from rights groups and privacy experts who say the law is routinely used to conduct warrantless surveillance on millions of American citizens. The Senate approved the FISA bill on Friday in a 60-34 vote, and critics say it not only reauthorizes domestic spying but also dramatically expands its scope. “It’s an enormous amount of data that they’re collecting and very few rules” limiting its collection, says investigative journalist James Bamford. He warns that personal information collected by U.S. intelligence is also shared with Israel, which uses the data to target people in Gaza. “The U.S. has got to stop supplying all this data and the targeting materials,” he says. Bamford’s new article for The Nation is headlined “The NSA Wants Carte Blanche for Warrantless Surveillance.” "Collective Punishment": As Gaza Assault Continues, Israel Ramps Up Violence in Occupied West Bank Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:38:44 -0400 As the death toll in Gaza tops 34,000 Palestinians killed since October 7, Israeli forces and settlers have continued to ramp up violence in the occupied West Bank. The army killed at least 14 people during a two-day raid on the Nur Shams refugee camp near the city of Tulkarm over the weekend, and separately killed a Palestinian ambulance driver near Nablus as he was trying to reach Palestinians injured in an attack by Jewish settlers. Ramallah-based writer Mariam Barghouti says the Israeli military and armed settlers “are trying to continue the illegal annexation of lands in the West Bank” and says Israel is deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, just as in Gaza, to make life unbearable. She also responds to reports that the Biden administration is preparing to sanction the Netzah Yehuda battalion, a notorious unit within the Israeli military composed of ultra-Orthodox soldiers that is accused of carrying out human rights violations against Palestinians in the West Bank. “It should not be against a select few. This entire regime is engaging in crimes against humanity, and it is U.S.-sponsored. It is being paid for by American tax dollars.” "No Due Process": Columbia Prof. Mamdani Slams Arrests & Suspension of Students at Gaza Protests Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:28:52 -0400 We speak with Mahmood Mamdani, a professor of government at Columbia who has spoken with many of the pro-Palestine protesters camping out on school grounds to show solidarity with Gaza and demand the school divest from Israel. He says there is growing outrage from faculty after the school’s leadership called in the police to raid the Gaza Solidarity Encampment and conduct mass arrests, while administrators have started suspending and evicting some students. “There has been no due process on the Columbia campus,” says Mamdani. Historic Gaza Protests at Columbia U. Enter Day 6; Campus Protests Spread Across Country Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:15:01 -0400 Columbia University canceled in-person classes Monday as campus protests over the war in Gaza enter a sixth day. The protests have swelled after the school administration called in the police to clear a student encampment last week, resulting in over 100 arrests. Solidarity protests and encampments have now sprouted up on campuses across the country, including at Yale, MIT, Tufts, NYU, The New School and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Palestinian reporter Jude Taha, a journalism student at Columbia University, describes events on campus as “an unprecedented act of solidarity” that student organizers are modeling on antiwar protests in 1968. She says Columbia University President Minouche Shafik’s claims of an unsafe environment on campus are contradicted by the generally calm and productive atmosphere among the protesters, adding that the school’s heavy-handed response, including suspensions and evictions, is being seen as “an intimidation tactic” by organizers. Headlines for April 22, 2024 Mon, 22 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 House Approves $95B in Foreign Military Funding, Incl. Another $26B for Israel, Gaza: Over 200 Bodies, Including Children, Found in Mass Grave at Nasser Hospital, “She Came Out an Orphan”: Doctors Deliver Child of Pregnant Gazan Killed in Israeli Strike, West Bank Palestinians Go on General Strike After Israeli Massacre on Nur Shams Camp Kills 14, Israeli Settlers Shoot Dead Palestinian Medic as He Was Attempting to Aid Injured People, Israeli Military Intelligence Chief Resigns over Oct. 7 Attack, Columbia Cancels In-Person Classes as Gaza Campus Protests Multiply, USC Calls Off Prominent Guest Speeches at Graduation Amid Fallout over Censoring Valedictorian, Biden Signs Reauthorization of FISA’s Section 702 Despite Privacy and Rights Concerns, Trump’s Criminal Hush Money Trial Seats Jury; Opening Arguments Start, Ecuadorians Back President Noboa’s Security Plan Tackling Organized Crime, U.S. Military to Withdraw from Niger, Shut Down Drone Base, Volkswagen Workers in Tennessee Vote to Unionize with United Auto Workers, Biden Administration Expands Title IX Protections to Include LGBTQ+ Students, Alameda DA Charges 3 Police Officers with Manslaughter in 2021 Killing of Mario Gonzalez, China: Record Rainfall Kills 3, Displaces 60,000 in Guangdong, On Earth Day, Biden Announced $7 Billion in Solar Investments U.N. Photo Collection Shows Gaza War Through the Lens of Palestinian Journalists Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:41:40 -0400 The Gaza Collective Photo Essay project, organized by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), collected work from 14 Palestinian photographers who were each asked to share one image that captured the devastation of the Gaza Strip over the last six months. We speak with Charlotte Cans, head of photography at OCHA, about the project. “It’s one thing to say there’s a war and it’s horrible, and it’s another thing to see an image of a child being pulled out from the rubble. It really hits you differently,” Cans says of the motivation behind the project. “It was really important to elevate the stories coming from Palestinian photojournalists, who are the only window into what is going on in Gaza.” "Fear and Terror": Gaza Photographer Ahmed Zakot on Documenting the Carnage of Israel's Assault Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:27:48 -0400 As Israel continues bombarding the Gaza Strip, we speak with a Palestinian photographer who recently fled the territory with his family. Ahmed Zakot has been documenting Gaza for the last 25 years, and two of his photographs were just featured in a project by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and published by Rolling Stone earlier this month in a piece titled “Gaza’s Carnage Through the Eyes of Palestinian Photojournalists.” One of Zakot’s photos shows a Gaza neighborhood lit up by Israeli airstrikes at night, while the second is of thousands of Palestinians fleeing their homes with their belongings in a scene reminiscent of the 1948 Nakba that displaced some 700,000 Palestinians from their homes. “It reminds me [of] what my grandfather told me about this displacement. It’s the same [that] happened since 1948 — now we are in 2024,” Zakot says. Over 100 Arrested at Columbia After Univ. President Orders NYPD to Clear Pro-Palestine Student Protest Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:23:20 -0400 Columbia University President Nemat “Minouche” Shafik on Thursday called on New York police to forcibly clear a student occupation on the lawn of the school, which had been dubbed the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, resulting in over 100 arrests. The protesters were demanding the Ivy League school divest from firms and institutions that profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestine, but Shafik ordered the raid a day after being questioned on Capitol Hill about ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on campus. The move caused outrage among students and many faculty, who decried it as censorship and a violation of academic freedom. The renowned professor and presidential candidate Cornel West, chair of the Columbia-affiliated Union Theological Seminary, joined students Thursday in solidarity with their protest and told Democracy Now! they “represent the best ... of the human spirit,” and lauded them for “fighting in the face of domination and occupation and subjugation, and doing it with tremendous determination.” "No Palestinian Is Safe": Renowned Feminist Scholar Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian Arrested in Jerusalem Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:11:53 -0400 Israeli police arrested the internationally renowned feminist Palestinian academic Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian at her home in Jerusalem on Thursday on charges of incitement to violence. Shalhoub-Kevorkian, who holds both Israeli and U.S. citizenship, was suspended by Hebrew University last month after saying in an interview Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, though the university later reinstated her. We speak with anthropologist Sarah Ihmoud, who describes Shalhoub-Kevorkian as a mentor and inspiration to her and many others. “We hold the Hebrew University of Jerusalem responsible for the arrest and detention because of its persistent and public repression of her academic freedom, which led directly to yesterday’s arrest,” says Ihmoud, who teaches at College of the Holy Cross and is co-founder of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. “We see this as yet another example of Israel attacking Palestinians wherever they are, whoever they are. It underscores that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s racist apartheid rule.” Headlines for April 19, 2024 Fri, 19 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Israel Launches Retaliatory Strike in Iran as U.S. Issues New Sanctions Against Tehran, Columbia Protests Continue a Day After NYPD Arrests 100+, Dismantles Gaza Solidarity Encampment, USC Students Rally to Demand Commencement Speech by Valedictorian Asna Tabassum Be Reinstated, U.S. Vetoes Bid to Advance Full Palestinian Membership at U.N., New Report Refutes Israeli Account of 6-Year-Old Hind Rajab’s Killing by IOF, Activists Prepare to Set Sail on a New Gaza Freedom Flotilla, House Speaker Johnson Attaches TikTok Ban Bill to Ukraine, Israel Funding Package, U.S. Deports 70 Haitian Asylum Seekers Despite Humanitarian and Security Disaster in Haiti, U.S. Reinstates Venezuela Sanctions Ahead of July Elections, Senate Advances FISA’s Contested Section 702, Which Has Led to Warrantless Spying on U.S. Citizens, The Jury in Donald Trump’s NYC Criminal Trial Has Been Seated Israel Considers Attacking Iran and Invading Rafah as Netanyahu Seeks Lifelines to Stay in Power Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:52:11 -0400 New reporting indicates that the Biden administration has approved Israel’s plan to attack Rafah in exchange for Israel not launching counterstrikes on Iran. “Israel is almost certainly going to respond to the Iranian strike in some way,” says Mairav Zonszein, a senior Israel analyst for the International Crisis Group. Now “it has the benefit of being able to dangle both threats”: an invasion on Rafah that would heavily increase the death toll of Palestinians in Gaza, or an attack on Iran that would likely spark a wider regional war. While Israeli approval of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has drastically waned, Zonszein suggests that its military campaign shows no signs of stopping. “Israeli society is largely a right-wing society. It is a society that has not spoken about or thought about Palestinians or the occupation except when it’s forced to. And it’s a society that has gotten used to acting with impunity.” Columbia Students Risk Arrest, Suspension to Maintain Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Campus Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:45:38 -0400 Students at Columbia University and Barnard College in New York have set up dozens of tents to occupy the South Lawn of the campus to create a Gaza Solidarity Encampment. Democracy Now! spoke to some of the student-activists, who say they are occupying the space, despite the administration’s threats of suspension and disciplinary action, as part of a demand that the Ivy League school divest from companies and institutions that profit from Israeli occupation. “It seems like the repression is only getting worse and worse,” says Maryam Alwan, a student-activist with Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine. The New McCarthyism: Congress Grills Columbia Univ. President Amid Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Speech Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:23:12 -0400 In nearly four hours of grueling congressional testimony before the Republican-led Committee on Education and the Workforce, the president of Columbia University, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, said she had taken serious action against accusations of antisemitism on campus in recent months amid Israel’s assault on Gaza, including dismissing or removing five faculty members from the classroom, suspending 15 students and suspending two student groups — Students for Justice in Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace. Shafik’s visit to Capitol Hill is the latest in a series of hearings on alleged antisemitism at elite U.S. private schools. In December, similar hearings led to the resignations of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. Our guests Nara Milanich and Rebecca Jordan-Young, both professors at Barnard College and Columbia University, respond to the televised hearings. “What happened at those hearings yesterday should be of grave concern to everybody,” warns Jordan-Young. “What we got was a live performance [of President Shafik] throwing the entire university system under the bus.” Adds Milanich, “Antisemitism here is being used as a wedge. It’s being used as a Trojan horse for a very different political agenda.” Meet USC Valedictorian Asna Tabassum: School Cancels Commencement Speech by Pro-Palestinian Student Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:10:29 -0400 Amid widespread repression of pro-Palestinian voices on campuses across the United States, we speak to University of Southern California valedictorian Asna Tabassum, whose commencement speech has been canceled for what the university claimed were “safety” reasons after Tabassum became the subject of an online anti-Palestinian hate campaign led by pro-Israel groups. “When I had asked for details regarding the security concerns,” says Tabassum of learning about the cancellation, “I was offered no information and was told it was not appropriate for me to know.” Tabassum, a first-generation South Asian American Muslim graduating with a major in biomedical engineering and a minor in resistance to genocide, says the unprecedented cancellation of her speech has been “heartbreaking.” Headlines for April 18, 2024 Thu, 18 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Israel Continues to Pound the Gaza Strip Amid Reports U.S. Approves of Rafah Land Invasion, Palestinian Boy Who Narrowly Escaped Death in Nov. Israeli Airstrike Is Killed in Aid Airdrop, ProPublica: Blinken Ignored His Agency’s Recommendation to Disqualify Some Israeli Units from Aid, Detained U.N. Workers Accuse Israel of Obtaining False Confessions Through Torture, Journalist Attempts Citizen’s Arrest of EU Leader Ursula von der Leyen for Enabling Gaza Genocide, “McCarthyism Is Alive and Well”: Google Fires Employees for Protesting Contract with Israeli Military, 29 Writers Withdraw from PEN Prizes to Protest “Complicity in Normalizing Genocide”, “Stop Killing Palestinian Children!”: Activists Disrupt Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin Hearing, Speaker Johnson Unveils 3 Separate Bills to Fund Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, Senate Democrats Dismiss GOP-Led Impeachment Against Alejandro Mayorkas, Major Rains Lead to Death and Displacement Across the Gulf, in Kenya, Police Evict Hundreds from France’s Largest Squat Ahead of Paris Olympics, “This Is a Criminal Cover-Up”: Boeing Whistleblowers Slam Leadership for Ignoring Safety Issues Can UAW Unionize the South? Volkswagen Tennessee Vote Could Change U.S. Labor Landscape Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:51:02 -0400 On Wednesday, 4,000 Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee, begin voting in a closely watched election on whether to organize with the United Auto Workers in what could be the union’s first big victory as they try to expand into the southern United States after huge contract wins in 2023 with Detroit companies General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. Journalist Hamilton Nolan argues this is “probably the most important union election that this country has seen in years,” as unions attempt to challenge southern states’ economic policy of creating cheap, exploited labor to attract major corporations. “The South is really funneling money to international corporations for free, and the UAW is trying to put an end to that.” No Tech for Apartheid: Google Workers Arrested for Protesting Company's $1.2B Contract with Israel Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:33:43 -0400 Democracy Now! speaks with two of the Google employees who were arrested staging sit-ins on Tuesday at the company’s offices in New York City and in Sunnyvale, California, to protest the tech giant’s work with the Israeli government. Organized by the group No Tech for Apartheid, the protesters are demanding Google withdraw from Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud computing services to the Israeli military. “Google execs basically chose to arrest workers for speaking out against the use of our technology to power the first AI-powered genocide,” says Google software engineer Mohammad Khatami, who was arrested in New York. Google worker-organizer Ray Westrick, who was arrested occupying CEO Thomas Kurian’s office, says “more people are willing to organize and risk their jobs in order to take a stand against complicity in genocide.” We also speak with No Tech for Apartheid organizer and former Google worker Gabriel Schubiner, who calls on the tech industry to divest from Google and Amazon services. “Technology workers actually have a lot of power to shift this paradigm and to remove technology from this deep complicity with the Israeli occupation,” Schubiner says. One Year into War, Sudan Wracked by World's Largest Displacement and Hunger Crises Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:11:29 -0400 One year ago this week, a devastating conflict erupted in Sudan when a fragile alliance between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces collapsed. The war initially began around the capital city of Khartoum but quickly spread to other parts of Sudan, including Darfur, Port Sudan and the Gezira state, situated in the country’s agricultural heartland. One year on, the conflict has driven nearly 9 million people from their homes, collapsed the country’s health system and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crisis. “This is essentially a war between two generals,” says Khalid Mustafa Medani, chair of the African studies program at McGill University, who explains why the warring parties have “absolutely no legitimacy in civil society” and how the fighting is weaponizing international aid. “Despite the severity of this conflict, there is only one solution and only one interest on the part of the majority of Sudanese — 99% of Sudanese — and that is the restoration of full civilian democracy.” Headlines for April 17, 2024 Wed, 17 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 U.N.: Israel Is Still Unlawfully Restricting Aid into Gaza, Report: Israeli Assault on Gaza Has Left 19,000 Children Orphaned, U.K. Tells Israel: Do “As Little as Possible to Escalate” Tensions with Iran, Israel Urged to Stop Supporting Violent Jewish Settlers After Deadly West Bank Attacks, Nine Google Workers Arrested at Sit-In Protesting Firm’s Work with Israel, Columbia University Students Launch Gaza Solidarity Encampment, Seven Jurors Selected for Trump Hush Money Criminal Trial, Supreme Court Considers Tossing Out Jan. 6 Convictions for Violating Federal Obstruction Law, Extradition of Julian Assange Edges Closer as U.S. Gives Assurances to U.K. over His Rights, Indian Security Forces Kill 29 Maoist Rebels Ahead of Election, Rep. Massie Backs Ousting House Speaker Mike Johnson, Maine Joins National Popular Vote Compact, Former U.S. Marine Sentenced to Prison for Firebombing Planned Parenthood Clinic, Federal Court Blocks WV Transgender Sports Ban; Supreme Court Lets Idaho Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Now, New York Police Officers Cleared of Wrongdoing in Fatal Police Shooting of Kawaski Trawick "I'm Jewish, and I've Covered Wars. I Know War Crimes When I See Them": Reporter Peter Maass on Gaza Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:48:20 -0400 We speak with veteran journalist Peter Maass about the Israeli war on Gaza and his new opinion piece for The Washington Post headlined “I’m Jewish, and I’ve covered wars. I know war crimes when I see them.” Maass, who was a senior editor at The Intercept until earlier this year, has spent decades covering wars, including the Bosnian genocide in the 1990s that killed about 100,000 people over nearly four years. He says many of the same war crimes he reported then are part of Israel’s current assault, including sniper attacks on civilians, bombing of civilian infrastructure, attacks on bread lines and besieging whole populations by preventing food and other aid from entering. “What seems to be unfolding in Gaza is even worse than what I saw in Bosnia,” says Maass. Under Cover of War in Gaza, Assault on West Bank Intensifies: Palestinian Journalist Dalia Hatuqa Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:33:13 -0400 The Western corporate media is failing in its coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza, says Palestinian independent journalist Dalia Hatuqa. “A lot of what’s missing from the bigger portrait ... is the Palestinian voice,” says Hatuqa, who applauds local journalists in Gaza for providing the world a crucial window into what’s happening there while international reporters are blocked by Israel from entering the territory. “Nobody knows Gaza better than the Gazan journalists on the ground.” Hatuqa also speaks about her latest piece for The Century Foundation about rising Israeli state and settler violence in the occupied West Bank, which she says can accurately be described as pogroms. “The fog of war has allowed Israel to perpetuate crimes at a very large scale, not only throughout the West Bank, but including occupied East Jerusalem.” "Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism": Yanis Varoufakis on New Book & Why Assange Should Be Freed Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:24:54 -0400 Former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, one of the most vocal supporters of Julian Assange, says the United States must drop its espionage case against the jailed WikiLeaks founder. He faults the Australian government for pushing for a plea deal that would allow Assange to walk free from Belmarsh Prison in London in exchange for an admission of guilt. “Julian is never going to plead guilty as if journalism is a crime,” says Varoufakis. He also discusses his new book Technofeudalism, which argues that platforms like Amazon have destroyed the idea of buyers and sellers operating in an open market. “Capitalism was killed by capital,” he says. Yanis Varoufakis Banned from Germany as Berlin Police Raid & Shut Down Palestinian Conference Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:10:59 -0400 As Germany intensifies its crackdown on pro-Palestinian voices, we speak with Greek economist and politician Yanis Varoufakis, one of the planned speakers at a conference in Berlin last weekend that was forcibly shut down by police. The Palestine Congress was scheduled to be held for three days, but police stormed the venue as the first panelist spoke. Germany’s Interior Ministry had also banned some conference speakers from even entering the country, including Varoufakis, the Palestinian British surgeon Ghassan Abu-Sittah and the Palestinian researcher Salman Abu Sitta. “This is not about protecting Jewish lives and Jews from antisemitism. It’s all about protecting the right of Israel to commit any war crime of its choice,” says Varoufakis. Headlines for April 16, 2024 Tue, 16 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Gazans Continue to Lose Children, Parents, Loved Ones as Israeli Attacks Continue with Impunity, Palestinian Doctors Uncover New Mass Grave at Al-Shifa in Wake of Israeli Siege, Sheikh Jarrah: Israeli Court Orders Three Palestinian Families Be Forced Out of Their Homes, Iran and Israel Both Vow to Respond in Kind to Any Further Attacks, Coordinated Demonstrations Across the U.S. and the World Disrupt Travel, Weapons Industry, Yale Students Launch Hunger Strike; USC Cancels Graduation Speech by Muslim Student, Judge Threatens to Jail Trump If He Disrupts Hush Money Trial as Jury Selection Continues, 3 Iraqi Survivors of Abu Ghraib Bring Torture Case Against U.S. Contractor to Trial, Torrential Rains Kill at Least 100 People Across Pakistan and Afghanistan, NOAA Warns World Is Experiencing Its 4th Coral Bleaching Event Due to Warming Oceans, Fourth Body Recovered from Baltimore Key Bridge Collapse as FBI Launches Probe, Judge Sentences Armorer of Alec Baldwin Western “Rust” to 18 Months for Death of Halyna Hutchins, SCOTUS Declines to Hear Case Targeting Organizers of Group Protests, Faith Ringgold, Trailblazing Artist, Author and Activist, Dies at 93 Trump in the Dock: First Criminal Trial of a Former U.S. President Begins Today in NYC Mon, 15 Apr 2024 08:45:32 -0400 Donald Trump is making history today in New York as the first former U.S. president to stand trial for criminal charges. Trump faces 34 criminal charges of falsifying business records as part of a scheme to hide hush money payments he made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels and others, just weeks before winning the 2016 election. He is accused of violating federal campaign finance laws for failing to disclose the payments and instead recording them as a “legal expense.” Each of the 34 counts carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison. “What Donald Trump is accused of is the type of crime that’s prosecuted in New York every single day ... [a] garden-variety, ordinary grift,” says Ron Kuby, a longtime New York criminal defense and civil rights lawyer who is following the trial closely. Kuby explains what we can expect from the trial — the first of four different criminal cases Trump is currently embroiled in, but likely the only one he will stand for ahead of the 2024 election — in the coming days. Is Regional War at Stake as Israel Weighs Response to Iran? Roundtable from Tehran, Tel Aviv & D.C. Mon, 15 Apr 2024 08:11:24 -0400 The Middle East is bracing for the possibility of regional war after Iran responded to Israel’s bombing of the Iranian Consulate in Damascus with a major drone and missile attack Saturday. The attack caused little damage inside Israel, as it intercepted nearly all of the drones and missiles with help from the United States, Britain, France and Jordan. Iran’s government described the attack as a defensive maneuver after Israel’s unprovoked strike on its embassy killed some of Iran’s top military brass. This was “a performative operation to send a message,” says journalist Reza Sayah, who joins us from Tehran. But while Iran “does not want to escalate matters,” Israel may be preparing to do just that. Washington, D.C.-based analyst Trita Parsi says that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has been trying to instigate conflict between the U.S. and Iran for “more than two decades,” and given that Biden has demonstrated an unwillingness to “draw any red lines for Israel publicly,” these latest provocations could become a prime “opportunity” for such a war. Crucially, Iranian restraint “cannot last forever,” warns our final roundtable guest, the Israeli journalist Gideon Levy, who touches on both Iran’s own sovereignty and increasing global pressure for Israel to end its war on Gaza. “Gaza is still starving and bleeding, and we shouldn’t forget it,” says Levy. Headlines for April 15, 2024 Mon, 15 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 “The Middle East Is on the Brink”: U.N. Calls for Maximum Restraint After Iran Directly Attacks Israel for First Time, Death Toll from Israel’s War on Gaza Reaches 33,800 as Nuseirat Camp Comes Under Intense Fire, Israeli Settlers Attack Palestinian Villages in Occupied West Bank, Burning Homes, Killing at Least 1, Trump’s Criminal Hush Money Trial Kicks Off in New York, War in Sudan Marks 1 Year: 15,000 Killed, 8.6M Displaced, 25M in Need of Immediate Aid, Australian Police Say Mass Stabber at Sydney Mall Was Targeting Women, House Reauthorizes FISA Clause Which Has Been Used to Spy on U.S. Citizens, Kamala Harris Tells Arizona Voters Trump Is to Blame for State’s Draconian Abortion Ban, German Police Shut Down Palestine Congress After Barring Prominent Speakers, “——McCarthyism Is Real”: Hobart and William Smith Colleges Suspend Prof. for Defending Palestinians Israeli Scholar Neve Gordon on Israeli Mass Surveillance in Gaza & the Use of AI to Kill Palestinians Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:46:16 -0400 We go to Part 2 of our conversation with Israeli scholar Neve Gordon, professor of international law and human rights at Queen Mary University of London and chair of the Committee on Academic Freedom for British Society of Middle East Studies. Gordon talks about the “massive surveillance apparatus” Israel has imposed on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, the use of artificial intelligence tools to bomb targets despite the high error rate in those systems, and the shock of the October 7 attack by Hamas that killed some 1,200 Israelis. “The state seemed not to be functioning, so most Israelis were in great pain, were in great fear,” he says. “My fear is that most Israelis are still trapped, still stuck in that October 7th moment and unwilling to lift their eyes to see basically the genocide unfolding in the Gaza Strip.” Watch Part 1 of this interview: Road to Famine: Israeli Law Prof. Neve Gordon on Israel’s History of Weaponizing Food Access in Gaza Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:32:03 -0400 We speak with The New Yorker war correspondent Luke Mogelson about the war in Ukraine, where the government has just passed a controversial bill that expands military conscription and cracks down on draft dodgers in an effort to replenish the depleted ranks of the army, more than two years since Russia launched its invasion. Military leaders have warned that Russian forces outnumber Ukrainian troops tenfold in the east. Mogelson says the Ukrainian military ranks are filled with “predominantly working-class men from rural areas or smaller villages,” while people in Kyiv and other large cities, where the elites live, can more easily avoid the full impact of the war. “You can really feel the gap between the two worlds widening,” says Mogelson, adding that most people realize the war cannot be sustained indefinitely and that “at some point there needs to be a negotiation” to end the fighting. Mogelson is the winner of this year’s prestigious George Polk Award for magazine reporting for his article “Two Weeks at the Front in Ukraine.” "Council of War": Walden Bello on Biden's Trilateral Summit with Philippines & Japan to Contain China Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:10:21 -0400 President Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. at the White House on Thursday, the first meeting of its kind, which comes as the U.S. moves to expand its military presence in the South China Sea to counter China. The Philippines has deepened military ties with both the United States and Japan in recent years as maritime confrontations with China have escalated. The trilateral summit at the White House resembled a “council of war,” according to Filipino scholar Walden Bello. He says the U.S. is the primary driver of tensions with China, building up its military footprint in the region as Pentagon officials openly muse about war, while China has focused primarily on its economic reach. “This militarization of the Pacific is very dangerous,” says Bello. Headlines for April 12, 2024 Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Gazan Children Play Among Ruins as Israeli Bombs Rain Down on Eid, Samantha Power, Top USAID Official, Admits Northern Gaza Is Experiencing Famine, U.S. Sends Top General to Israel Amid Reports of Iranian Retaliation for Israel’s Damascus Attack, Morocco Sentences Activist to 5 Years for Criticizing Normalization Deal with Israel, Mexico Brings Grievances Against Ecuador to ICJ Amid Mounting Diplomatic Row, Ukraine Passes Contested Draft Bill with No Limits on Wartime Military Service, Poland Begins Debate on Rolling Back Abortion Ban Under New Liberal Leader, Biden Cancels Another $7.4 Billion in Student Debt, Biden Admin Closes “Gun Show Loophole”, Far-Right Flank of House Block Reauthorization of Controversial Section 702 of FISA, “Goon Squad” Convicts Get State Sentences of 15-45 Years for Torturing Black Men, Climate Crisis Triggers Great Barrier Reef’s Worst-Ever Coral Bleaching, 10 Years After Chibok Abduction, Leaders No Longer Fighting for Survivors and Remaining Captives As Arizona Reinstates 1864 Abortion Ban, Doctors & Organizers Fight Back to Preserve Access Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:43:55 -0400 In Arizona, Republican lawmakers have blocked efforts by Democrats to repeal an 1864 law — first written before women had the right to vote and recently revived by the state’s Supreme Court — that bans nearly all abortions under threat of criminal penalties including jail time. To respond, we host a trio of reproductive justice advocates in Arizona. Dr. DeShawn Taylor, an OB-GYN physician, abortion provider and the CEO of the only Black woman-operated abortion clinic in Arizona, emphasizes that her practice “will continue to provide abortions until we are made to stop,” but warns that in the future “abortions likely will not happen in Arizona because of those criminal penalties.” Meanwhile, organizers like Chris Love and Alejandra Pablos are fighting back. Love is a spokesperson for Arizona for Abortion Access, a coalition of reproductive rights organizations working to put a constitutional amendment on abortion on the state’s upcoming November ballot. The petition for the proposed ballot measure is still collecting signatures. “We know what we want, and we want people to have the care that they need,” concludes Pablos, who organizes for reproductive, racial and immigrant rights. "We're Responsible for This": American Surgeons Return from Gaza, Call for End of U.S. Culpability in Genocide Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:14:46 -0400 We speak with two doctors who’ve just returned after two weeks at the European Hospital in Gaza. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and Dr. Mark Perlmutter are co-authors of a new piece for Common Dreams titled “As Surgeons, We Have Never Seen Cruelty Like Israel’s Genocide in Gaza.” They describe a hospital “hanging on by a thread,” with the majority of patients being young children, and bombing targeted at Muslim Palestinians “concentrated at the time of evening prayer.” “Genocide was the overwhelming impression that I got,” says Perlmutter. “This is dehumanization. The purpose of this is to kill a population.” He also says, of U.S. responsibility in this genocide, “We’re buying the bullets and the gun for the gunman who’s going to the school and killing the children.” “If our support stops, the occupation stops,” adds Sidhwa, urging other Americans to push political leaders and public discourse against the country’s support of Israel. “We have to raise the domestic cost for these policies.” Dr. Sidhwa and Dr. Perlmutter worked with the Palestinian American Medical Association in collaboration with the World Health Organization in Gaza. Collectively, they have previously volunteered medical assistance in the West Bank, Haiti and Ukraine, and after 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and the Boston Marathon bombing. Headlines for April 11, 2024 Thu, 11 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Israel Kills Three Sons & Four Grandchildren of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh, UNICEF Convoy Hit by Israeli Gunfire, Preventing Delivery of Aid to Northern Gaza, U.S. Envoy Admits All of Gaza May Face “Imminent Risk of Starvation”, Biden Pledges “Ironclad” Support for Israel as Fears Grow Iran May Launch Retaliatory Attack, Republican Lawmakers in Arizona Block Repeal of 1864 Abortion Ban, Biden Hosts Japanese & Filipino Leaders as U.S. Expands Military Presence Near China, South Korea PM Offers to Resign After Conservatives Suffer Major Defeat, Russia Hits Major Power Plant Near Kyiv in Latest Strike on Ukrainian Energy Infrastructure, Mass Flooding in Kazakhstan and Russia Displaces Over 110,000 People, Ocean Heat Records Set Every Day for Past Year, Ex-VP in Ecuador on Hunger Strike After Arrest During Raid on Mexican Embassy, EPA Issues New Rules on PFAS & Chemical Plants, Biden Says He Is Considering Dropping Prosecution of Julian Assange, Ex-Trump CFO Sentenced to Five Months in Prison for Lying Under Oath, Cornel West Taps Black Lives Matter Activist Melina Abdullah to Be Running Mate, RFK Jr. Staffer Fired After Admitting Campaign Aims to Help Trump Win in November, Islamic Center at Rutgers University Vandalized as Eid Begins, Palestinian American Law Student Protests Backyard Dinner Hosted by UC Berkeley Law School Dean, German School Rescinds Job Offer to Jewish Philosopher Nancy Fraser over Her Criticism of Israel Breaking the Silence: Israeli Army Veterans Tour U.S. & Canada to Speak Out Against Occupation Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:43:28 -0400 Democracy Now! speaks with two former Israeli soldiers who are members of Breaking the Silence, an anti-occupation group of Israeli army veterans. The group’s education director, Tal Sagi, describes growing up in a settlement and joining the military without understanding what occupation was. “We’ve been told that this is security and we have to control millions of lives and we don’t have other options,” says Sagi, who says Israeli society is not open to ending the occupation. “We’re trying to say that there are other options.” We also speak with Breaking the Silence deputy director Nadav Weiman about why the group is touring U.S. colleges and calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. “We stood in checkpoints. We raided homes. We attacked Gaza from the air. We fought from the ground,” says Weiman. “So, when you bring reality, you bring real conversation about the occupation, and you bring real conversation about Gaza.” Israel's Ultimate Goal Is to Make Gaza Unfit for Human Habitation: Middle East Analyst Mouin Rabbani Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:21:51 -0400 President Biden called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies in Gaza a “mistake” and urged Israel to call for a temporary ceasefire to allow in more aid in a televised interview on Tuesday. While Israel has pledged to open new aid crossings, the U.N. said on Tuesday that there has been “no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza,” and the Biden administration has not actually changed its policies or withheld any arms transfers to Israel. “Words are cheap, and statements are a dime a dozen,” says Middle East analyst Mouin Rabbani, who explains Israel can safely ignore statements if policy remains unchanged. “What really matters is not what these people say, but what they do.” Rabbani also speaks about the United Nations considering Palestinian statehood, ongoing negotiations over a Gaza ceasefire, and Israel attacking the Iranian Consulate in Syria. Arizona Supreme Court Revives 1864 Abortion Ban Passed Before Women Could Even Vote Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:10:27 -0400 In a historic ruling, Arizona’s conservative Supreme Court has upheld an 1864 law banning almost all abortions in the state. The court sent out this warning: “Physicians are now on notice that all abortions, except those necessary to save a woman’s life, are illegal.” The 160-year-old law predates Arizona becoming a state and was passed decades before women could even vote. Although Arizona’s Attorney General Kris Mayes said she will not enforce the “draconian law,” the ruling sent shockwaves across the nation. “The central strategy of the anti-abortion movement is to roll back the clock to the Victorian era, because they know that they cannot win through the democratic process,” says Amy Littlefield, abortion access correspondent at The Nation, who says conservatives supporting these unpopular restrictions face an uphill battle this fall. “Democrats are banking on this being a huge way to lift their boats in the next election.” Activists are preparing a November ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the Arizona Constitution, and reproductive rights will be a key issue in the state’s closely watched Senate race. Headlines for April 10, 2024 Wed, 10 Apr 2024 08:00:00 -0400 Arizona Supreme Court Revives 1864 Law Banning Abortion, Biden: Israel Should “Just Call for a Ceasefire”; Netanyahu Is Making a “Mistake” in Gaza, Israel Continues to Attack Gaza as Palestinians Mark End of Ramadan, Lloyd Austin Denies Israel Is Commiting Genocide; About 50 Protesters Arrested on Capitol Hill, Turkey Restricts Exports to Israel to Protest Gaza Assault, Trump Loses 10th Attempt to Delay Hush Money Trial, Missouri Executes Brian Dorsey; 70 Prison Guards Pushed for His Life to Be Spared, Parents of Oxford High School Shooter Sentenced to Between 10-15 Years in Prison, NYC Reaches $28 Million Settlement over Hanging at Rikers Prison, Bodycam Video Shows Chicago Officers Fired Nearly 100 Shots at Dexter Reed During Fatal Shooting, Norfolk Southern Agrees to Pay $600 Million over East Palestine Derailment
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