Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy 20240703

It must be implement without delay. Amy as israel faces global condemnation over the killing of seven aid workers from the world central kitchen in gaza, a number of humanitarian groups suspend operation even as gaza descends into famine. We will speak with jan egeland. We will also look at a new israeli law which Prime Minister netanyahu says he will use to ban al jazeera. But first, as haiti faces spiraling turmoil, candidate is training troops for kenyan led mission to haiti. We will get an update. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Israel is continuing to face global condemnation over the killing of Six International aid seven aid workers from world central kitchen which had brought food into gaza by ship to feed starving palestinians. The aid workers were killed when an israeli drone fired three missiles at the groups clearly marked convoy. According to the israeli newspaper haaretz, the drone initially struck one car in the convoy. Then the drone attacked again after survivors from the first attack got into another vehicle. After the second strike, the injured passengers were taken to the third car in the convoy which was then bombed. The attack occurred over a 1. 5 mile stretch of road in gaza. On tuesday, israel admitted to carrying out the airstrike and vowed to investigate. At the United Nations, secretary general Antonio Guterres condemned the Israeli Attack. The devastating israeli airstrikes that killed world central kitchen personnel yesterday brings the number of aid workers killed in this conflict 196. It is unconscionable. It is an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted. Amy the killed aid workers included three british nationals, an australian, a polish national, an americancanadian dual citizen, and a palestinian. President biden said he was outraged and heartbroken over the deaths but at a White House Press briefing, National Security Council Spokesperson john kirby refused to say if israel had broken International Law. Not a violation of humanitarian law . The israelis have already admitted this was a mistake and they will get to the bottom of this. Lets not get ahead of that. The state department has a process in place. They have not found any incidents where israelis have violated International Humanitarian law. Amy on tuesday, world central kitchen and at least two other groups said they would halt or pause operations in gaza after the attack. A world central kitchen boat which still held 240 tons of aid on board left gaza on tuesday. Meanwhile, a group of u. S. Officials at usaid have privately warned the Biden Administration that the spread of hunger and malnutrition in gaza is unprecedented in modern history and that parts of gaza are already experiencing famine. Huffpost reports the cable states an immediate and substantial flow of food, health, nutrition and assistance, expanded humanitarian access, and safe unimpeded passage for humanitarian workers is paramount to addressing famine conditions in gaza. In israel, mass protests are continuing against israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On tuesday night, Israeli Police fired Water Cannons at protesters who had gathered outside of netanyahus residence in jerusalem. Thousands also protested outside the knesset. We are fighting a war and losing. I think the only way we can win the war is to have elections and to get the people the opportunity to choose again and to bring the hostages home and bring the soldiers home. And that is why i am here. Amy at the United Nations, iran has called on the Security Council to take action against israel for bombing the iranian consulate in damascus on monday. The Israeli Attack killed seven iranian officers, including three generals. Zahra ershadi is irans deputy u. N. Ambassador. Primary elections were held tuesday in wisconsin, connecticut, rhode island, and new york. On the democratic side, a sizeable number of voters refused to back joe biden to protest his support for israels assault on gaza. In connecticut and rhode island, more than 10 of democrats voted uncommitted. In wisconsin, over 8 voted uninstructed. Meanwhile, donald trump won every republican race on tuesday but nikki haley still received about 13 of the vote in connecticut, new york, and wisconsin even though she has suspended her campaign. The white house was forced to cancel its planned ramadan dinner after many Muslim American leaders refused to go to protest bidens support for israel. Instead of a dinner, biden held a scaledback meeting tuesday with Muslim American Community Figures but that too was met with protests. The palestinianamerican doctor thaer ahmad, who recently volunteered in gaza, walked out of the white house meeting after giving President Biden a letter from an eightyearold orphaned palestinian girl named hadeel that read, i beg you, President Biden, stop them from entering rafah. Dr. Thaer ahmad spoke to middle east eye after walking out of the white house. You cannot engage and try to get them to come out and show up in the primaries are in november 2000 pound bombs that is not something that our Community Just glosses over. Amy senegals new president Bassirou Diomaye faye has named Ousmane Sonko to be his Prime Minister, capping a remarkable three week period that saw the two opposition figures go from prison to ruling senegal. Faye and sonko were released from prison in midmarch just days before faye won senegals election to replace president mickey sall, who had attempted to delay the vote. On tuesday, faye was officially inaugurated as senegals new president. Under my leadership, senegal will be a country of hope, a country at peace, with an independent Justice System and strengthened democracy. This is my promise based on the oath i have just taken in your presence. I am aware that the result at the ballot box express a desire for systemic change. Through my election, the senegalese people have committed themselves to building a fair senegal, a prosperous senegal, progressing africa. Amy faye is the youngest president in africa. A mayoral candidate in mexico was assassinated monday at a Campaign Event in the city of celaya in the state of guanajuato. Bertha Gisela Gaytan was shot dead shortly after she outlined her plans to increase security in the city. The citizens are with us and look after us and of course we will have secured protocols which the Legal Department the party in the state is reviewing. Amy Gisela Gaytan was a member of the ruling morena party. The Associated Press reports at least 15 political candidates have been killed in mexico since january ahead of nationwide elections on june 2. Taiwan has been hit with its largest earthquake in 25 years. At least nine people have died and over 800 are injured. The 7. 4 magnitude quake toppled dozens of buildings and trapped at least 77 people. In other news from the region, President Biden and chinese president xi jinping spoke on tuesday for one hour and 45 minutes on the phone. It was their first call since a summit in november. Donald trumps former lawyer john eastman has been disbarred in california for his role in trying to help trump overturn the 2020 election. A california judge wrote in her ruling, eastmans wrongdoing constitutes exceptionally serious ethical violations warranting severe professional discipline. Eastman is a former Law School Dean at Chapman University school of law. In educational news, Pitzer College in claremont, california, has closed its Study Abroad Program with the university of haifa in israel in whats being viewed as a major victory for the bds boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement. The move comes after years of student organizing and a vote in february by pitzers Student Senate to suspend all institutional ties with israeli universities. According to the National Chapter of students for justice in palestine, pitzer has become the first u. S. School to impose an institutionwide boycott of an israel Study Abroad Program. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now s Juan Gonzalez in chicago. Hi, juan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. Amy we begin todays show in haiti, where deadly violence continues between armed groups and police in portauprince. On tuesday, u. N. Rights chief volker turk deplored what he called the unprecedented scale of rights abuses in haiti. There has been a shocking rise in killings and kidnappings, Sexual Violence, particularly targeting women and young girls and is pervasive and likely to have reached a level not seen before. As a number of people internally displaced rises, so, too, does the for the risk of Sexual Violence as people find themselves away in homes and their communities. The scale of human rights abuses is unprecedented. Amy the spiraling political turmoil in haiti appears to have no end in sight. Recently resigned Prime Minister ariel henry, who remains locked out of haiti by armed groups, raised questions this week over the constitutionality of a Transitional Council, which is being formed to serve as an interim governing body until elections are scheduled. This comes as Canadian Forces have been sent to jamaica to train troops from jamaica, belize and the bahamas to join the u. N. Authorized mission to haiti led by kenya. Last week, the u. N. Human rights chief called for an arms embargo on haiti, calling the situation there cataclysmic. The majority of guns pouring into haiti are smuggled in from florida and other parts of the United States. For more, we are joined by two guests. Here in new york, kim ives is the editor of the english language section of the weekly haiti liberte, where he also codirected the documentary series another vision. And in vancouver, canada, Jemima Pierre is a haitian american scholar, professor at the social Justice Institute at the university of British Columbia in canada, and Research Associate at the university of johannesburg. We welcome you both back to democracy now professor pierre, can you layout overall the situation at this point in haiti, with a resigned president not able to come back into haiti, condemning a transitional panel to rule haiti , and this group led by kenya training to move in socalled u. N. Peacekeepers. Thank you for having me back. What is going on in haiti, a number of armed groups at first coming together to say they were working together as an informal coalition. By the violence has been primarily in the portauprince area. I have to stress that because the west is presenting this as a countrywide civil war and someone, but and so on, but the majority of the violence, the gun shooting, is actually in the portauprince area primarily in the popular neighborhoods and especially now where you have some of these groups trying to take over you know, try to have battles with the police. The second thing we have to talk about then is this supposed president ial council that the u. S. Is putting together, using caricom as a front facing party. Caricom is the front facing party to basically say they have a supposedly haitianled solution for a transition in haiti. The problem with the socalled solution is the u. S. , france, canada about which we have known before the major forces that have destabilized haiti in the past 20 years. They are the ones leading the discussion along with the Caribbean Community but as we said before, there needs to be multiNational Security force to come in. Basically in order to participate in the conversation, you have to be ok with a foreign invasion. Which is self is a problem. It basically tells us the u. S. Is controlling the situation. Now this Foreign Military force, people will have to remember it is not a u. N. Force. It is u. N. Sanctioned, which is surprising, but it is a force coming in it is not even clear what its mandate is. 833 page document that talks about the Security Force a 33 page document that talks about the Security Force. We do not know the rules. We will cause acute the war crimes when you have foreigners coming in and shooting a populations. The other thing is canada is training jamaicans, bahamians to come in for as if they are coming into a war zone. That bodes badly for us and for people in haiti. This is a terrible situation in the sense what is happening in portauprince is the result of guns being brought into the country from the u. S. , dominican republic, and jamaica. The other thing is, whatever solution the u. S. Is having is inadequate and illegal soluti on. We have to remember they tried to get brazil to lead, canada to lead. They all said no. It was asked right in the legitimate government. Illegitimate government. The idea this is a haitianled solution coming is a false one and one that is misleading. Juan professor pierre, i want to ask about the Transitional Council. It is supposedly meeting now for several weeks. Nothing seems to have come out of it. How is the decisionmaking of this council is that transparent . Is it by consensus . Can you talk a little bit more about the council . We dont know much about the cancel. It is not transparent. Supposedly negotiations are happening with caricom and you know, very belligerent about the members of this community, the patients they have chosen your participate in the discussion haitians they have chosen to precipitate in this discussion. Members of the council have been chosen. Some have dropped out in terms of leadership. The council is made up of supposedly people chosen by the u. S. , members of the Political Class that people really dont want to have anything to do with becky members a few days ago come the president of guyana sit a letter to ariel henry to get his permission to ratify his Transitional Council which is self should tell us everything we need to know. The fact this ousted illegal illegitimate Prime Minister has to have a stake in this traditional council. I am not sure at first they said they were giving them 48 hours to come up with a counsel to allow this transition. The u. S. Think that needs it to seem of military is coming into haiti is legitimate. Im not sure how far we are going to get with that. I think for haitian people, this is a completely skilled process that leads regular people out of the discussion. Juan i would like to bring in kim ives of haiti liberte. You recently helped an american you to personality their who was kidnapped, obtained his release. Can you talk about what happened and your sense of what is going on in haiti . This was a youtuber who thought he was just going to drive from cape haitian where he flew into down to portauprince and interview jimmy barbecue cherizier. He was kidnapped along the way and spent 17 days in jail. He paid some ransom or his family and friends paid a ransom most of once they paid, they were not released. The kidnappers wanted more. That is when they published the thing last friday. Dan cohen and myself saw this, on c ome up on radar and said, what is going on . I thought you were going to shut down the kidnappers . Said, let me get on it. A few days later, he managed to convince or pressure the kidnapper to release your fellow arab, as this youtuber is called. I could say was a victory for the people of some coalition that cherizier put together, which is basically his anticrime groups versus the former criminal groups. Which are supposed to be dropping it, but we can see they are still doing some kidnapping. Amy can you talk more go ahead, juan. Juan i was just going to ask him about this issue of what we hear in the media is these are all criminal gangs that are operating but you have a different perspective on that. I am wondering if you could elaborate on the distinctions you have tried to make with some of these gang groups or these paramilitary groups, really . Sure. This is a revolutionary process we are washing unfold in haiti. These are basically armed neighborhood committees. Some of them have gone down a criminal road. Others are fighting against the criminals. As a result, the u. S. Is afraid of this because the anticriminal groups led by cherizier have a revolutionary agenda. They want to change the system in haiti. They want to overthrow it. The u. S. Flagged him as a danger early on. We have been looking into him carefully over the past four years and seen he is the Genuine Article as far as we can see. They are trying to always demonize the haitian people. They did this a century ago in 1915 when bandits, who sort of have been rural ruffians who would ride and of portauprince and overthrow governments and that sort of thing, but he forged them into a Guerrilla Force which fought the u. S. Marine occupation of 1915, was in the country until 1934. They were all called bandits. They always have to demonize, criminalize the peoples resistance. And that is what were seeing today when they tried to put all the armed groups of haitis public classes into one back called gangs. Amy i want to go to a documentary series you did called another vision, that tells the story of barbecue, jimmy cherizier. What do you have . Do you have pain . In your leg . I cant even stand up. Did you go to the hospital . Why didnt you go to the hospital . I have no money. I have nothing. Ok. Im going to finish this video to show the entire world the conditions were living in. This is a person. Amy that is q, jimmy cherizier, speaking to a man in a very poor neighborhood. Talk about how he got the name barbecue and what you see happening right now. As professor pierre was saying, why is ariel henry even weighing in now . Hadnt he resign . It was cherizier, along with other armed groups, that he not come back . Cherizier is the one keeping ariel out after getting ariel out. Essentially, to go to your first question come he got the name barbecue because in his ever growing up there were three jimmys and they gave each one a nickname of what their parent did and his mom sold barbecue to meet so he became jimmy barbecue. This has been spun by the disinformation agent that he burns people alive and that sort of thing. They have been trying to demonize him all along. This uprising is basically threatening this Political Class. The u. S. Was using ariel henry and holding on to too long. It is hard to shift horses when youre galloping down the road toward disaster. So they were loath to leave ariel until they absolutely had to. Finally that came on fiber 29 when cherizier more or less put together all of the armed groups of portauprince, even the criminal groups that he has been fighting for four years, basically said you cannot land at the airports. The people at the only other airport where ariel good have landed come also organized to block his plane landing there. He was out. The u. S. Had to shift. They created a seven headed monster which everyone is shocked at. All its members have discredited themselves, disgraced themselves. Amy the Transitional Council. Because they had agreed to a Foreign Military intervention. Haiti just finish with a Foreign Military intervention five years ago in 2019, which followed on another 13 years. Amy u. N. Peacekeeping forces. Right. After aristide was overthrown by the u. S. , u. S. Installed a cheaper priced military force to occupy haiti for 13 years, 20042017. And from 20172019, they had to wind they had a wind down force. 2019 is when they left. Here we are four years later back in the same problem. This is not a problem that can be solved with military force. This is a socioeconomic problem. People need to eat, they need schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, internet. They need the basics of life. And this is what cherizier has been fighting for. The essence of any of these revolutions, which we have seen throughout history the bolsheviks had the revolution based on land, peace, and bread. The people are demanding change and right now this Political Class, which basically the oligarchy was using the criminal gains to attack cherizier. They have been fighting for the past four years. Now cherizier has taken the board tried to take them into some kind of alliance. We will see how long it lasts. Yet the thing you have to think about the 1940s . With japanese and the chinese. We will see how far the coalition gets. It is going to be a messy process as revolutions always are. Juan professor pierre, i would like to get your take on the situation and also kim ives analysis that some of these groups have revolutionary potential or attempting a revolution . The truth is well, not the truth, but part of my the reality is, a lot of people have not seen it. Part of it is it is a controversial take from kim, whom i respect. I am a lot more agnostic about what is going on in terms of these armed groups and what they will end up doing in the future. But at this point, a lot of people in the popular neighborhoods and so on and so forth see these armed groups as the groups that have impacted their lives in the poor neighborhoods. They see them as people who are getting arms and money from the oligarch, the political elite, so they dont necessarily make that distinction. My point of view is that, if this a revolution, we are waiting for it to come to fruition. But in the meantime, what is happening is a lot of people are being displaced and are seeing these groups mixed together as one. What they see our bullets and here are bullets and what they see are theyre living in a space where there is a lot of violence in a lot of pain. If there is a revolution, there needs to be a particular ideology that takes over the entire country and that remains to be seen. Amy we will have to leave it there but we will continue to cover this issue. Jemima pierre, haitian american scholar, professor at the social Justice Institute at the university of British Columbia in canada, and Research Associate at the university of johannesburg. Her recent article is headlined haiti is empires laboratory. Kim ives is the editor of the english language section of the weekly haiti liberte. Next up, we go to jan egeland in norway, secretarygeneral of the Norwegian Refugee Council, as israel faces global condemnation over the killing of seven aid workers from the world central kitchen in gaza. Some humanitarian groups are suspending operations in gaza even as it descends into famine. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Israel is facing global condemnation over the killing of seven aid workers from world central kitchen who had brought food into gaza by ship to feed starving palestinians. The aid workers were killed when an israeli drone fired three missiles at the groups clearly marked convoy even though the charity had coordinated the convoys route with the israeli military. At the United Nations, secretary general Antonio Guterres condemned the Israeli Attack. The devastating israeli airstrikes that killed world central kitchen personnel yesterday brings a number of aid workers killed in this conflict to 196, including more than 175 members of u. N. Step. This is unconscionable. It is an inevitable result of the way the war is being conducted. Amy the killed aid workers included three british nationals, an australian, a polish national, an americancanadian dual citizen, and a palestinian. In a video address, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed Israel Attacked the convoy. Unfortunately, in the last day there was a tragic case of our forces unintentionally hitting innocent people in the gaza strip. This happens in war time. We are it and are in contact with the foreign governments of those killed and will do everything to ensure it does not happen again. Amy meanwhile, President Biden said he was outraged and heartbroken over the deaths but at a White House Press briefing , National Security Council Spokesperson john kirby refused to say if israel had broken International Law. Is firing a missile at people not a violation of International Community turned . The israelis have admitted this was a mistake they made. Theyre doing an investigation and looking to the bottom of this. The state department is a process in place. To date, they have not found any incidents where the israelis have violated International Humanitarian law. Amy on tuesday, world central kitchen and at least two other groups said they would pause operations in gaza after the attack. Meanwhile, huffpost reports a group at usaid have privately warned the Biden Administration that the spread of hunger and malnutrition in gaza is unprecedented in modern history and that parts of gaza are already experiencing famine. For more, we go to jan egeland, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Thank you for joining us. Can you start off by responding to the israeli airstrike on the threecar convoy that killed seven International Aid workers . It was horrific. Remember, this was targeted. It was repeated attacks. First one car, then the next car, then the third car and a couple of other cars were targeted several times. It is not likely that the israel is wanted to kill the colleagues from world central kitchen. World central kitchen had worked closely with the Israeli Forces to get out support to palestinians in northern gaza. But they surely hit cars that they did not know what was inside. And that is the story of this war. So when the state department says, we cannot see any violations of humanitarian law, they have not read the humanitarian law because there has to be precaution. There has to be distinction between military and civilian and there has to be proportionality. And after thousands of dead children, thousands of dead women all completely innocent of october 7 hundreds of doctors, hundreds of nurses, hundreds of teachers, and 200 humanitarian workers. It is clear this has been a disproportionate response to the horrors of october 7 in violation of International Law. Every day, basically, since midoctober. Juan ju jan egeland, i want to ask about a recent report in the observer over the weekend in england that a member of parliament, Alicia Kearns, conservative party member and the chair of the house of commons select committee, at a fundraiser and there was a leaked tape for remarks. She said that the British Foreign office has received official legal advice that israel has broken International Humanitarian law but that the government has not announced it and has kept it quiet. I am wondering, especially in the view three british nationals were killed in this latest attack, your response to the fact the British Government is hiding the fact its own lawyers have said israel is violating International Law . I just met Alicia Kearns in london and she is a very fine politician. She went to rafah. She saw all of the trucks that were lining up not able to go into gaza. She wrote letters to both the u. K. Government and approached the israelis. So many, as i see the injustice in what is happening to the population of gaza, whether the u. K. Government is concealing advice on this i cannot say. But the facts speak for themselves. If you have a conflict where there is a world record in killing, then the law is broken to pieces. Theres no other way to see it. Amy i want to go to a tweet where you said the u. S. , the u. N. , the eu and the rest of the world agree that we are at the brink of famine in northern gaza. Still, only 159 trucks were allowed into gaza yesterday and israel blocks all food convoys from unrwa to reach north gaza. There must be accountability for this. And you go on in another tweet the horrific targeted attack that killed seven debbie ck aid workers follow nearly 200 palestinians when insurance killed by israels military campaign now finally western governments providing arms to the killings say enough. In United States, President Biden talked about being heartbroken but as the New York Times reports, Biden Administration is pressing congress on 18 million sale of f15 jets to israel. This follows a deal made of f35 jets and many 2000 pound bombs and 500 pound bombs. Can you respond to the u. S. And other countries supplying these weapons at this point to israel . My own country norway, a nato country, has refrained from sending arms to israel for quite some time. So as many other countries. It is really mindboggling if the u. S. Now since these large bombs that are by nature and discriminate to a place with so many thousands of dead children indiscriminate to a place with so many thousands of dead children. Are they not thinking of the consequences for the moral authority and the rest of the world . What does this mean for the wests argument if ukraine if it is wrong, as it is, for russia to occupy ukraine and killed ukrainian civilians, target craney and infrastructure, how could it possibly be correct when the israeli students same to the palestinians . And with u. S. Arms . Juan your organization, like others, that invite assistance in gaza have to coordinate your activities, obviously, with the israeli military. What does this latest attack mean for those future efforts when, clearly, even organizations that coordinate closely with the military so they are not attacked and up still being attacked . We have coordinated with israel now for many years. I myself was in gaza and traveled to rafah and traveled around in rafah. We sought permission, as we have to, by israel. Israel controls everything going in and everyone going into gaza. We also coordinated my movements there and Nothing Happened to me. Nothing really has happened in our convoy operations. What we are largely in the southern third of gaza where the majority of the palestinians are. I think the whole thing shows the horrific killing of seven colleagues of world central kitchen that i know well. I ate one of their meals when i was in rafah. It was a very good meal. And the palestinians whom they feed millions and millions every day rely on this. I think what has happened will lead to a reboot of the system for protection for humanitarian work. The u. S. , u. K. , germany, and others cannot live with a war machine out of control that is sort of targeting cars without knowing what is inside come as they did in this case, and in multiple other cases. I think there will be a deacon flexion, notification system, coordination system there are many names for even in the northern parts of gaza where it has been most dangerous. Amy the world central kitchen still had 240 tons of food on board the boat. It left gaza tuesday. The wck said they are suspending operations. Other groups say that. What about the Norwegian Refugee Council . And can you talk about this in conjunction with the defunding of unrwa, the kind of umbrella that facilitates all of this, what this means as the region descends the strip descends into famine . The world central kitchen is withdrawing, so are some other groups, which is terrible because they were important for collective efforts to avoid famine in gaza. My own Norwegian Refugee Council, we are not leaving. We are continuing to work today and tomorrow. We will, however, we have, suspended some of our movements and were not going north for the time being because it is considered too difficult, too dangerous. Israel is not allowing conditions for that. The remaining population come in the worst famine. Unrwa is the backbone of social services for the palestinians. It was created by the United States and the other original members of United Nations when israel was created and it led to the nakba and hundreds of thousands of palestinian refugees. Unrwa was created to take care of the palestinians that were suffering because of the holocaust in europe and the creation of israel. Since then, unrwa has become essential in gaza. They are much bigger than all of the others combined. So when the u. S. Congress and the Biden Administration says we are not going to give you money because of allegations ash no evidence provided allegations that some of these 30,000 staff, perhaps a dozen participating in october 7, you cant believe it makes it difficult for us to have the palestinian people. Unrwa is essential. Stop the games with politicizing aid to children. Amy do you think use should stop weapons sales and weapons transfers to israel . I cannot see any nation giving arms to any war where there are these kinds of casualties among children, women, aid workers, journalists colleagues of you, amy, killed en masse. Of course they should not give arms. They could have their fingerprints all over a crime scene. Amy jan egeland, thank you for being with us, secretary general of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Next up, a new israeli law which Prime Minister netanyahu says he will use to ban al jazeera. Stay with us. [music break] amy this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Press freedom groups are denouncing plans by israel to ban al jazeera. On monday, israeli lawmakers passed a bill allowing for the temporary banning of foreign broadcasters they deem to be a National Security threat. Benjamin netanyahu wrote on social media al jazeera, which is funded by the qatari government, is the most widely viewed network and the arab world, one of the few outlets to have reporters inside gaza. The managing editor for al jazeeras arabic channel denounced israels move to ban the network. This move alleging al jazeera of siding with terrorists is baseless. It is alarming. Our work we upheld the highest standards of journalistic professionalism. Al jazeera has been in israel covering the war from both sides. Our work is collaborated and has been collaborated by so many outlets around the world. The fact we are on the ground covering from the field, giving voice to the voiceless, bringing this account which is not available on any other outlet, having respondents covering north, reporting on the starvation there is very important. And i think the Israeli Government what were doing is trying to give voice to the voiceless and try and make sure the suffering of civilians on the ground is heard by the entire world. Amy that was the managing editor for al jazeeras arabic channel. For more we go to london where were joined by daniel levy, president of the u. S. middle east project and a former israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers ehud barak and yitzhak rabin. Thank you so much for joining us. Start off by responding to what this means and what netanyahu is threatening. Netanyahu has passed a law. Its not alone in israel that al jazeera cannot broadcast. How that is implement it is equipment taken, people arrested, vendors who work with al jazeera are unable to do so. That has not played out yet, amy. That applies to Israel Occupied east jerusalem, occupied west bank, gaza a war zone. We are seeing at this stage al jazeera reports coming out of bonus spaces. Netanyahu has passed this law. Not a single zionist member of the knesset voted against the law. Before october 7, there were big protests. None of the opposition parties that are zionist chose to oppose this law, which the association for civil rights in israel has called political not securityrelated and a dangerous challenge to freedom of the press and freedom of expression. The two parties did vote against in the parliamentary vote. Juan daniel levy, what evidence is there, if any, as the government says al jazeera actively participated in the october 7 attack . There is none whatsoever. Israel has not presented any evidence. It has not intended to do so. Prime minister netanyahu in part is playing to a political audience. It has set qatar up to be a figure of hate. The level of censorship and selfcensorship inside the israeli media. This is redmeat to his own base, to the domestic politics in a situation in which the war is not going particularly well for israelis looking for distraction. The other thing is he does not want these images and this message to come out. We saw in may 2021, israel bombed the media tower in gaza were al jazeera and ap and others were located. Just under two years ago, Shireen Abu Akleh was killed by Israeli Forces. People have been killed. Another piece of this is netanyahu when not just against al jazeera, but trying to push back part of this effort against qatar. Qatar is mediating these talks. They have met with the members of the families of the hostages. They are involved with the head of the cia and mossad but netanyahu has systematically and frequently tried to undercut and undermine the negotiations. This is another example of him doing so. How can he get away with this . It is the same as the story of world central kitchen, how this has created the worst hunger crisis anywhere in the world according to the u. N. Secretarygeneral, the number of palestinian civilian deaths, aid workers, because he can get away with it because the United States, major backer and defender, continues to provide the arms and the weapons. The latest including 2000 pound bombs. Amy so your comment on this . Do you think the u. S. Should cut off the arms flow to israel . This is significant coming from you. Youre an advisor to pass Prime Ministers. You are a peace negotiator under two Prime Ministers of israel. Do you think the u. S. Should cut off the arms flow . It depends. If the administration wants to continue to see civilian deaths at an astronomical scale, a humanitarian catastrophe unparalleled, more than three times the number of children killed in this country in gaza as are killed in every cobbler to run the world in an entire year if they want to continue to seek that level of destruction come if they want to continue to see u. S. Complicity in that, the u. S. Violating the provisional measures of the international justice, the u. S. Being the prime violator of International Law rather than uphold it, then go ahead and continue to provide those destructive, horrific weapons. If by contrast, the u. S. Wants to be ending the war and successfully advance the negotiations to get a ceasefire and get the hostages out, if that is the goal of the Biden Administration, stop telling me this is so sad, lets work out how to do rafah. Stop telling me netanyahu is a problem. You are the problem because you are the enabler, the facilitator every single day you continue to back this horrendous war, which is tragic for palestinians. And i would argue, do nothing to advance israeli security. In fact, quite the opposite. And no risks a broader escalation of conflict array of the latest provocation in syria by israel. Juan daniel levy, will have about a minute, but this latest provocation he talked about, the attack in syria. Do you sense that netanyahu, given the deep unpopularity he has in the massive protest against him, is willing to escalate this conflict more to be able to maintain his power . It is a crucial question. I dont see how we cant take that seriously. We have to take that scarcely. We have to take that seriously. Will there be pressure on this . I think we have to take it seriously. Prime minister netanyahu needs this war to continue and has gone to extreme lengths to do so. There is a protest movement in israel to prioritize getting ideal for hostages released. We need everyone to lean into that, which requires real leverage and a real cost for israel for continuing on this devastating path. Amy daniel levy, thank you for being with us, president of the u. S. middle east project and a former israeli peace negotiator under Prime Ministers ehud barak and yitzhak rabin. That test it for todays show. Democracy now is currently accepting applications for our digital fellowship. Learn more and apply at democracynow. Org. I will be in berkeley celebrating kpfas 75th anniversary saturday night april 6. Go to our website democracynow. Org. [captioning made possible by democracy now ]