Transcripts For ALJAZ UpFront 20240703

In the fight against terrorism as a med popped up by a wave of popular type, se to words west, a simple call waiting for the most the chance me to tell you who has sent in boulder to, to reduce the new policies in a decisive manner in order to kick totes thousands of french and your troops from the country. But when the last 2 assorted doesnt leave, some fee of up in the sheriffs, under the quick tongue under pound, tommy was only a few dozen russian advises might fail to hold it to the ground in the face of a multitude of the groups thought to them the country is 1300000 square kilometers of that land. How much fun are does. Yeah. Yeah, i mean, strong as president ceasing thing as arrived in funds for ref, visit with president and manuel macro that sent to discuss the trade and bring tensions between europe and china opening balance between chinas exports. And its your opinion boards. My call is also expected to push the chinese president to use his influence with the russian president Vladimir Putin ever. The war in ukraine was end in cave now where ukrainians are celebrating orthodox e start with traditional folk songs. 3 6 6 6 worship as the 1000 year old saying, sophia cathedral honored soldiers fighting on the front lines. Writing them letters on traditional postcards. A collection was also made for weapons to support the war effort against russia. Thats it from the diamond jordan. My colleague, Kerry Johnson will be here with more news on the top of the, so dont go away. The news continues here on august. The euro often upfront, expect you sense of watching . The im counting the calls for testers in the us to bond universities, divest some israel. How does schools make them money . Washington, once russia to pay for rebuilding, ukraine must go friends to retaliate. Plus, whats the future if its picked on to the American Market . Country with costs pulled out just a rough as the world march press freedom day. When we delving into 2 of the key stories affecting journalism today, later in the show will be speaking to a lawyer who has defended whistle blowers, Edward Snowden, and thomas drake. When he in fact that julian assizes expedition could have one press freedom worldwide. With 1st, as it is the most dangerous place on the planet to be a journalist within 100. 00 had been killed by israels since october 7th. So how are those on the ground continuing their reporting and our journalists in the west to enough to shine on life on the pipe . The power spending colleagues will ask one of alexs, it was all reporters. Hes been on the ground since day one. This weeks headliner from gaza. He who died the musical daddy thank so much for joining us in upfront. As the world marks press freedom day, the warren guys is in its 7th month more than 34000 palestinians, have been killed. This unprecedented destruction and people are in dire need of food and water journalists like yourself as well. Youre facing insurmountable odds on the ground doing this reporting during a time of war. Now youre based in guys it and youve been reporting since the war began. What have you and your colleagues been facing on the ground is like everything you have been seeing on the news and everything we have been reporting is an attorney. What we have been going through and living. We lost very dear people. We lost or houses where they have been phones ive age really forces. We have been diag dehydrated, we have been starving just like other people. It was hard for us to search for food report. Upload the materials during telecommunication blackouts, and displaced of not having closed, not having your gear, not having your like your equipment, everything on all aspects of life. We have been struggling every single day. But the most important thing and why we are here is to report and to continue talking about palestine and public students. Because we believe its very important. Especially the people in News Agencies rely on us. So we have, we feel like we have a lot of weight on our childrens and we have to do it, but it has been very high, but we are challenging our shows. We have been challenging all the circumstances that have been imposed on us and me continue to report over the course of the 6 or so months to what extent have things gotten worse. We see how bad is on the ground now. But how if things worse than from october 7th, until now, every single day it escalates and because it becomes worse, living all of this every single day and not even having time to process your emotions process everything youre seeing was reporting. So like now were talking about 7 months, 7 months, we dont, we do not see our comedy 7 months. We have been not eating proper for 7 months and we have been displaced. The situation itself on gaza is, is, is already collapse no health system. Um, garbage is everywhere, sewage is everywhere, like theres this constant fear everywhere about like like feeding in children feeding your shows, this thing live in like i really can put this into words. But every single day, its getting worse and every single day where with missing a new type of tire and, and a new type of fear. And the fear of losing someone, you know, a fear of losing a colleague in fear of losing parts of your body. Like because for example, 2 weeks ago, one of our colleagues was targeted with, is there any shedding and his like club and potatoes. And he has been calling to get evacuated to get his medical treatment. And he cant, hes still there without any medical treatment because we know that more than 50 percent of the hospitals in the guards are not facilitating anymore. So all of these circumstances are of these spheres are chasing us energy in our daily life. And so i how does that, how does it affect you as a how does that affect you as a journalist . I mean, you have the threat of these things happening and you have the reality that they already have happening to so many of your colleagues, friends, and family members, your stuff to do your job on the ground while its happening as a native of the territory. Well, how do you deal with it . How do you know when you postpone your feelings and you postpone everything your your feeling and everything youre going straight . You know, i think i lost very dear people. I lost my uncle. I left my cousin, i lost my friends, i lost my house. I lost lots, but im postponing all of these feeling until this is done. Because now i dont have time to process my motions. I dont have time to process anything. So i just work work quick break, so i get so tired and youre not using proper fluids. So youre always having your, your, your body is very weak. So use me it. So you dont think a lot about stuff, but all the thinking about is hope we can, we try to bring hope and theres a lot of resilience stories and a lot of Success Stories tricky happening. And this is where i get my strength is its affecting me. Of course it is. Im a human being, i have feelings, i have family, i have a lot, but im posting everything and i know im try my ties. Im 100 percent traumatized. I saw people without there, but like i saw people chattered into pieces, i saw a lot of plugs i, i saw people searching for bodies of their loved ones and not finding them. I know people who did not find their loved ones or months. There has been a lottery going to, but i need to stay strong because touched i get seen and by people need me and i need to tell their stories and any treat port. So thats what makes me strong, to be honest. But according to the committee, to protect the journalist, the warrant dies. It has been the deadliest period for journalists since the Organization Began tracking data back in 1992. There are stories of media personnel being killed in the field while wearing best, and helmets and equipment is clearly marked with the word press across it. Different what youve seen and what youve heard. Do you feel that journalists are being deliberately targeted . Of course, yes, and we have been constantly targeted and they know that we are, are targeted. They have very good ecology. They know who theyre targeting. They know their, our faces. They have artificial intelligence. They know who theyre targeting, the hands of the do with targeted in a car was just the garage was targeted on the gate of his house. A lot of our friends and colleagues had been targeting and do you know everyone think draining and this is a target like i, i maybe its sad and funny to share this, but people right now are scared of tremendous. Theyre scared to invite us to their home because theyre scared that we would be a target. So like i remember going to my aunts house on the 1st or 2nd margaret, shes like, and i think the, im sorry, dont come to my house because training this to a target the target to do it. And in the do a head son that he was killed in a school, they know who these treatments are. And like, especially working with as you read and being right, ill just need a screw has been continuous, may being target. People are scared to me and im like, im not trying to get, i didnt do anything wrong. You can trust me. But at the same time i feel for these people, they dont want to be killed because they hosted a drinking star. They host to someone like me or any other gender. And so we do feel that people are, are, are acting and, and, and, and, and feel like normal people and cause and they say, god bless you, they type it, they try to get to it. And it seems like there might be a double standard, at least thats what many people are pointing to. Uh, for example, if more than 100 journalist had been killed in say, ukraine in a period of just over 6 months, with the Global Response and not have been different of the upgrades where, where were brown and we have black hair, were, were not white. And we dont have a little here, but unfortunately the target list and because australia has been the only source since the 1st and the 7th of october, everyone is relying on us because media is not the entry. Thats why im on the White White House in there. With by then the last couple of days we were by cutting disconnect because you are talking about pressing feed. Um and youre talking about a sorry freedom of preston. Youre talking about journalism and all of these ethics and professionalism. And you are not standing with your colleagues in glosser, like from where are the 8 p from where are the reuters from . Where are all of these international News Agencies getting their footage and for their frontiers and their images. Theyre getting it from us, from the journals on the ground, from the cousins from the people who ive been starving and threatening their lives to show the world what strange currently happening happening. But during this involves, i had 0 protection like literally 0. Theres no protection for us every single day when we go out and report. We feel like thats our last day. Nothing protects us. I get injured. Theres no guarantee ive got medical treatment, theres no guarantee someones gonna fluctuate. Another piece of it is you all even being recognized as journalist. And there was a recent interview with cnn journalist and host christiane almond for, and she was talking about the war in gaza. And how its an unprecedented situation. Initially she said, quote, journalists are not on the ground in gaza that she later amended her words, acknowledging that there were guys in journalist, but no code independent of western reporters. But they have feel that title, city, and journalists are being dismissed or ignored. In the west. I heard the interview and then like, she was saying like there is no journalist on the ground. And i looked at her and my colleagues like guys, what are you doing . Are you not on the ground . Are we flying like how im not on the like, i really i wish i could ask her like, how are we not on the ground . I really dont understand how would mentioning like, Something Like this to policy and journalist has been living under this reporting this like living award and reporting on it. How would be this very hard and, and like, you should have like honor the mission of paint issue of this a lot. But you, instead you mentioned you, you, you say Something Like this. That was like, something very funny to us like entered, hurting a tree. We seen a surge of Young Palestinian journal is taking to social media to get the word out about whats going on in, in of as a looking at this. Does that make you hopeful for the future . A lot. Im so proud of every social media creature. Im proud of every journalist who has been using his social media. Im proud of everyone because for the 1st time the world got everything im nervous about whats happening cause of from policy and from us. So it has been very, very, very uninviting for us to do all of this work. And i have been getting like for example, a lot of requests from different people in the us regarding the incompetence and the protests. Theyre like, and you have to speak about this because all of the students are listening to people from because so you have to listen to them. And, and unfortunately, it seems as if we have lost our connection to hand. These types of connection issues are very common in gaza, especially during the war, but we think of for joining us in the front, we hope to talk to her again. So the for 5 years, julia massage, the fame, publisher, and founder of wiki weeks has been languishing and a high security prison in the u. K. As the british courts contest an effort by the Us Government to extradite him to american soil, describe the face of 17 espionage at charges and a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion for publishing some 400000. 00 classified u. S. Military documents relating to its involvement in wars in iraq and afghanistan, some of which exposed possible us war crimes. So what was the prosecution of julia massage mean for press freedom . Joining us to help answer that question is jeslane rabbit. Jocelyn is a National Security and human rights lawyer known for her defense of prominent whistleblowers, including Edward Snowden and thomas drake. She now has the whistle blower and Source Protection Program at expose facts. Definitely, thanks so much for joining me on upfront. Thank you so much for having me on this very important topic. Absolutely. You know, supporters of julie massage often state that his only crime was journalism that he dared to reveal alleged war crimes committed by the United States military. But what kind of precedent does this set for press freedom if he is extradited and ultimately prosecuted. I think it can have a very Chilling Effect because it really, in other countries enforce their own secrecy laws. The way the United States is trying to enforce its secrecy law. It would be the end of investigative journalism, particularly in the National Security context. So many other journalists have reported on the exact same information that a sanchez did. And he is being selectively prosecuted to make an example out. Let me push back to that just for a moment because their critics of assigns are going to say, well, they put peoples lives at risk, specifically dissidents in afghanistan, discipline, span. Iraq publish honestly directed classified documents. One of the lawyers for the u. S. Government argued that asides went a quote, considerable way beyond a journalist gathering information and even the famed n s. A whistleblower. Edward snowden noted that we can reach, quote, hostility to even modest generation is a mistake. What do you make of that . As a counter claim . I think your ration is different than reduction. I do know that they did redact documents that what you were quoting was the Us Government allocation that theyve made in a number of other espionage cases. The sources have revealed classified information and put lives at risk. And i can tell you in every single one of these cases, when it came time for the us to produce damages assessment of all the people whose lives you put at risk, they were unable to do so. So. So then if that is the case, whats at stake for press freedom . I want you to finish that thought. A sure i think this criminalizes ordinary journalistic activity. If you read the in time and this would criminalize things like cultivating a source, providing in an empty and publishing classified information, which the Washington Post and the guardian and the new york times, and every major newspaper around the world tubs on a routine basis. And thats why all the major media organizations in the United States have come out against this prosecution and saying what a deleterious effect it would have on journalism writ large. Whether you are a journalist or not, is not the question, it would affect publishers. Journalist bloggers, anyone, me and you, anyone who has a document that the government deems secret could be prosecuted under this law. I mean, it really, i always said that the war on whistle blowers was a backdoor war on journalist. In other words, when they started going after sources like thomas drake, chelsea, manning, jeffrey sterling, daniel hill, reality winner, a number of people who i have represented. I always said that eventually they were going to use that to go after journalist and here we are. This is about possessing and publishing information that the Government Team secret. But more often than not has proved to be only embarrassing g United States or even revealed its criminal activity such as torture. Warrantless fire tapping under cover drone strikes that were later lied about. So again, this has been incredibly important shown lives and that has one multiple awards, 1st launched over a decade and the amount of time that he has been in some form of confinement. In addition to the 5 years at the old merch exceeds all of the sentences served so far by other espionage app defendants. So lets, lets move to the actual extradition case. The u. K. Has asked the us to provide them with certain assurance is if they were to extradite julian massage, including a guarantee that he will not face the Death Penalty and assurance that he will be entitled to use a 1st amendment protections in a u. S. Trial. In mid april, the u. S embassy in london provided some of these assurances, but with some coffee at some note where the company at that i might add. But can you explain what the assurances are and whether you believe theyll actually be upheld in the us court . And does julian size have an actual shot at a fair trial here in the United States as well . In terms of the assurances um is attorneys and his wife still assigns and i a number people have said these are not worth the paper. They are written on, for example, among these assurances where that he would not face the Death Penalty. Well, this is not a death eligible offense. So thats a very peculiar assurance. They also assured that he would get the same 1st amendment protections as us citizens. Again, very strange because in all of these other espionage cases, the government has done motions to preclude the mention of the worst 1st amendment. And the way the law works because there is no Public Interest defense. If you havent been able to say, i did this because the public had a right to know what the government was doing in secret, or i could publish this information because the government had lied about drunk strikes or had lied about wiretapping people domestically. So again, that, you know, the government has lied about these things in the past and problem is normally you would be able to put that into evidence during trial and you would be able to talk about that stuff during trial. But in an espionage case, you can not talk about your intent and reviewing information until the sentencing phase. In other words, after youve been found guilty to say one more question around this death time or anything, it seems to me the Death Penalty isnt the only way that julian assigns his life is under attack under a salt vulnerable. Even one of the other concerns is insurance is around the Death Penalty to be sure, but there was an explosive report that came out a few years ago. A yahoo news revealed that senior officials inside the Central Intelligence agency, the c i a, and the trumpet administration, allegedly discuss options on how to assassinate julian aside after he published documents related to c, i a hacking tools. So thats totally off the tables. One thing, but if you have high ranking official talking, assassination, how much faith you have a hell be say, right . Not much at all. In fact that, that to lose that the c i a was entered tanning designs to kidnap or assassinate him. That alone would ordinarily be evidence enough for that, for this case to be dropped. Its out rages and the fact that this case is still kicking around and that theyre stored with a straight face trying to pursue it is a travesty of justice. And, and julian assigned has been punished enough. I mean, his health has been really, really fragile during not only his 5 years in the old marsh, but other, i mean, hes been in some form of detention or another for 10 years or longer. But yes, the designs to kill and assassinate a journalist. It is completely outrageous and i find that hypocritical right now that the us is condemning russia for imprisoning gross convention or american journalist on the espionage of charges. Yet we are the ones who are in prison, enjoy and assigned on espionage act charges for committing journalism. A few weeks ago, President Biden said he would consider a request from australia to drop. The prosecution of julian, a size does a single potential shift. In the case, and is there a chance that the charges could actually be dropped . There have been a number of exit ramps. The government could have taken, and i still think those ramps are available. I think the most positive reading of, by the end statement is that its signals or might be a just a matter solution and all of this. But then the negative reading is that the insurances were issued after he made that statement. So im not sure if he made that statement kind of looting a trial balloon. Um or if he his, he just kind of going back and forth on the case and maybe get in contradictory advice from different Government Agencies on which way the white house should message this. But really, this is not the case. I mean the dire, dire consequences on free speech 1st amendment, freedom of the press corps journalistic activity is going to be so imperiled by this and by the end could so easily for number different reasons. Take the off ramp and i hope teach us the right thing in doing so. I mean that he is campaigned on this idea of, of us being the beacon of democracy and the cornerstone of democracy is having a free and open democratic press adjustment radek. Thank you. So much for joining me on upfront. Thank you so much for having a lovely everyone that is our show upfront. Well be back the and ill just say around brings you in depth analysis the so comply take. Now what has been exposed to many of those companies that failed so miserably on that day they said residency fail us selling and testing with anything down. So as we speak, these really speak every was know were getting each dont finish and know the fact that each route is at the International Court of justice shows how much deeper than nothing on this goes, nothing you on whose success it may be better, maybe was but its the one has to address that suspended stay with us for the latest developments on out just sierra unique perspective. Why is it the doctors dont get to have a say in any of the medical workforce has been so and devalued by the British Government for such a long time on hub voices . Tick tock had been a place for organizing politically, for getting people to vote for getting people to protest, connect with our community and tap into conversations you werent find elsewhere. Why is our government taking us to work on the basis of live . We the public have to get out there and do something about it. The stream on al jazeera or calling attention to any quality, pollution meant extra disease. Ok, and can he has low income communities. Site. One brother was killed by police. They dont fit, we sees, but the one task to do one day and organize that are on the record. How old are these people off with the gun supplementing buffer . Then it has been put on the bus that april gorbinko who brought in generation change. Can you change is coming is no doubt about it on a disease. Which is the width of the lice that you only was a baby is among 8 family members killed and then is really strong and sent you a rough and southern guns. The brown carriage on smith is l, just very liberal, costing life and also on the latest round of gauze as the spot towards rep, pumping, colorado. The mass says its came from the agreements, but as well as the Prime Minister reiterates his refusal to end, the more permanent