01/31/24 01/31/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i do hold them responsible. amy: widening war? president biden says he holds iran responsible for the drone killing three u.s. soldiers at a base in jordan and that he has

decided on a u.s. response. then jenin a shocking raid on a jenin hospital by undercover israeli forces dressed as doctors and muslim women in headscarves killed three palestinians. we will go to ramallah to speak with palestinian position and politician mustafa barghouti. and thousands of israelis gather in jerusalem for major conference calling for the israeli resettlement of gaza. >> we were settling our land, controlling it and fighting terror always and bringing with gods help security to all of israel. you know what the answer is. without settlement, there is no security post of amy: we will go to tel aviv to speak with an reporter who covered the conference. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

new satellite imagery shows at least 144,000 buildings in gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the israeli bombardment began nearly four months ago. that's more than half of all buildings in the gaza strip, including mosques, schools, and cultural sites. corey scher of the city university of new york told the bbc -- "we've done work over ukraine, we've also looked at aleppo and other cities, but the extent and the pace of damage is remarkable. i've never seen this much damage appear so quickly." in other news, the heads of multiple u.n. organizations are warning gaza will face catastrophic consequences if the palestinian refugee agency unrwa runs out of money. the united states and over a dozen other nations have paused funding for the agency after israel accused 12 of iraq's -- unrwa's 13,000 employees in gaza of taking part in the hamas

attack on meanwhile, israeli october 7. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is vowing to continue the war in gaza despite reports negotiators may be close to reaching a deal to pause fighting for at least six weeks to make time for israel and hamas to swap captives. health officials in the occupied west bank have denounced israel for sending in a team of undercover assassins into a jenin hospital to execute three palestinian militants in a hospital room on tuesday. the israeli special forces were disguised as medical workers in scrubs and muslim women wearing headscarves. palestinian officials say one of the men killed was recovering in the hospital after being paralyzed from an israeli drone strike in october. naji nazzal is the medical director at ibn sina hospital. >> they killed the three in the

room while they were sleeping on their beds. there were killed in cold blood with direct gunshots to their head. amy: in washington, state department spokesperson matthew miller refused to condemn the israeli raid on the jenin hospital. >> i'm not able to speak to the facts of the operation. you would have to pass some kind of legal judgment. no all of the facts of the operation. as a general matter, they have rights to bring people to justice. we want them to conduct their operations in compliance of international humanitarian law. amy: israel has admitted it has begun flooding tunnels in gaza with seawater despite warnings from the united nations that the move could damage palestinian drinking water and sewage systems. israel said hamas and other palestinian groups have built as many 450 miles of tunnels. where many leaders of hamas are believed to live, they say. in related news, the mother of

an israeli hostage who died in gaza has accused the israeli military of killing her son by pumping poison gas into a tunnel where he was being held. in december, dr. maayan sherman said israeli officials had told her that her son ron had been murdered by hamas in gaza, but she started questioning what happened after a pathologist revealed a ct scan showed ron's body had no injuries. in a facebook post, maayan sherman wrote -- "the inquiry's findings -- ron was indeed murdered. not by hamas, not by stray bullets and not in an exchange of fire. this was deliberate murder. bombing with poison gas." and news from israel, a house panel in the knesset overwhelmingly voted tuesday to expel lawmaker ofer cassif for signing a petition supporting south africa's genocide case

against israel. cassif will now face a vote from the full knesset. cassif is a jewish member of the left-wing, arab-jewish hadash party who has repeatedly called for a ceasefire in gaza. visit democracynow.org to see our recent interview with ofer cassif. republican presidential candidate nikki haley has called for the u.s. to assassinate iranian leaders after three u.s. troops were killed in a drone strike on a base in jordan. haley made the comment in an interview on fox news. >> first, you do this sanctions and you take out a couple of their leaders. if they're in their country or you do like soleimani, when they left the country. our special operations can do that. then you take them out. amy: the presidential candidate is the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations under president trump.

on tuesday, president biden said that he has made a decision on how to respond to the drone strike but did not disclose any details. he accused iran of supplying the weapons used in the attack but said, "i don't think we need a wider war in the middle east." a former irs contractor has been sentenced to five years in prison for leaking tax records that revealed donald trump, elon musk, jeff bezos, and other wealthy figures pay little to no federal income tax. the whistleblower, charles littlejohn, leaked the documents to "the new york times" and "propublica." prosecutors accused littlejohn of taking a job at the internal revenue service in 2017 with the intent of accessing president trump's tax records. littlejohn's attorney lisa massing said -- "he committed this offense out of a deep, moral belief that the american people had a right to know the information and sharing it was the only way to effect change."

an argentinian court has overturned labor regulations proposed by newly-elected far-right president javier milei that would have corroded this would have made it easier for workers who participate in union strikes and blockades and reducing severance benefits. the three-judge panel argued such reforms are unconstitutional, stating they first must be approved by argentina's congress. the ruling comes just days after labor unions led tens of thousands of protesters in a general strike against milei's austerity policies that have led to the severe devaluation of the argentine peso and other massive spending cuts. pakistan's former prime minister imran khan and his wife have been sentenced to 14 years in jail for selling gifts they had received while he was in office. the sentence came just a day after imran khan, who is already in prison, received a separate sentence of 10 years after leaking state secrets by waving a classified pakistani document during a public rally. it was later revealed that the

document exposed how the u.s. government encouraged pakistani officials to remove khan from office in 2022 after he took a neutral stance on russia's invasion of ukraine. imran was ousted from office in april 2022 after lawmakers passed a no-confidence vote. on tuesday, supporters of khan denounced the pakistani judiciary for targeting him just ahead of next week's elections. >> today's verdict has broken records of injustice, a bogus case proceeded in a manner that the rest on the first day was unconstitutional. the charge was framed in a way that was unlawful and unconstitutional. three orders of the high court were violated one after another. it was proceeded behind closed doors. amy: the republican-controlled house homeland security committee has approved two articles of impeachment against homeland security secretary alejandro mayorkas moving the house closer to impeaching a

cabinet official for the first time in nearly 150 years. republicans have accused mayorkas of failing to uphold immigration laws at the u.s.-mexico border. if the full house votes to impeach mayorkas, the articles would then be referred to the democratic-controlled senate. democratic lawmakers have denounced the republican impeachment effort. in other news from capitol hill, democratic congressmember cori bush has acknowledged she is under a justice department investigation for allegedly misusing campaign funds. in a statement, bush said -- "in recent months, right-wing organizations have lodged baseless complaints against me, peddling notions that i have misused campaign funds to pay for personal security services. that simply is not true." last year, the office of congressional ethics investigated bush's campaign spending and voted to dismiss the allegations.

bush's security needs increased after she faced numerous death threats. in ohio, a 20-year-old white supremacist has been sentenced to 18 years in prison after he firebombed a church where two drag events were scheduled. federal prosecutors said the man, aimenn penny, was a member of a white lives matter group. in october, penny had plead guilty to targeting the community church of chesterland. meanwhile, utah has become the latest state to enact legislation banning trans people from using bathrooms that match their gender identity. at least 10 other states have passed similar laws including florida, idaho, alabama, and arkansas. the new york city council on tuesday overwhelmingly approved two police and jail reform measures, overriding vetoes by new york city mayor eric adams. one bill would force new york police officers to report the

race, gender, and age of people they interact with or stop for questioning. the other legislation would limit the amount of time people in custody are placed in solitary confinement in the city's troubled jail system. councilmember supporting the override included the newly elected harlem councilmember yusef salaam, who was one of five black and latino teenagers wrongfully convicted of the 1989 beating and rape of a white woman in central park. salaam spent seven years in the prison, including in solitary confinement, before being exonerated. on tuesday he delivered emotional remarks before voting aye. >> today the new york city council is fighting for the implementation of two bills that would bring generational change in our criminal justice system. if these laws were in place in 1989 i vote aye.

amy: his vote came just days after he was pulled over by police while driving with his wife and daughters. he said the officer never responded to his request to know why he was being stopped. later the officer would say it was because his windows were tinted to dark and raised the issue of him having an out-of-state license plate. in texas, a man has sued macy's department store and sunglass hut after facial recognition technology falsely identified him as a robber, leading to his imprisonment and sexual assault while in detention. 61-year-old harvey murphy, jr. was jailed for two weeks before being released after authorities confirmed he was not even in the state of texas when the robberies occurred at a houston sunglass hut and macy's store. murphy's lawyers say he was raped by three prisoners while in jail.

in labor news, ups has announced it will cut 12,000 jobs this year. this comes just months after a labor deal was reached averting a potential strike. and other labor news, american federation of teachers has adopted a resolution supporting a cease-fire in gaza. the union represents more than 1.7 million teachers and staff. leaders of the national education association have also called for a cease-fire. chilean artist javier salinas, formally known as papas fritas, led a peaceful protest at a starbucks coffee shop in santiago last week, ordering over $1000 worth of coffee with the names of 300 children killed by israeli forces in gaza. the names of the children were read out loud over the span of about two hours. salinas named his action "$1198.80 for the 300 last breaths of hope."

> starbucks has faced widespread boycotts across the globe over its refusal to support a ceasefire in gaza. chile is home to more than half a million people of palestinian dissent, thought to be the largest diaspora outside the middle east. and puerto rican broadway icon and tony-award-winning artist chita rivera has died in new york at the age of 91. she began her career in broadway in the 1950's, performing in dozens of roles including in "west side story." in 2009, she received the presidential medal of freedom from president barack obama. new york congressmember nydia velazquez, who was the first puerto rican woman to ever serve

in the u.s. congress, said on social media -- "chita rivera was a trailblazer and broadway legend who took pride in her puerto rican heritage and helped pave the way for other latina artists." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. i joined by democracy now!'s am juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: iran has threatened to "decisively respond" to any u.s. attack on iran following president joe biden's linking of tehran to the killing of three u.s. soldiers and wounding 40 at a military base in jordan. president biden announced on tuesday that he had decided how to respond to the drone attack, though he did not say what that response would be. outside the white house, biden

responded to a reporter's question on whether he holds iran responsible for the deaths of the three u.s. soldiers. pres. biden: i do hold the responsible in the sense -- i don't think we need a wider war in the middle east. that is not what i'm looking for. amy: iran has denied any involvement in the attack, which targeted tower 22, a secretive u.s. base in northeastern jordan near the syrian border. responsibility for the strike was claimed by the islamic resistance in iraq, a term used to describe a loose coalition of militias that oppose u.s. support for israel's assault on gaza. meanwhile, a u.s. navy destroyer in the gulf of aden shot down an anti-ship cruise missile on tuesday launched by the houthis in yemen, the latest attack targeting u.s. forces in the region. for more, we're joined in washington, d.c., by trita parsi, executive vice president of the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. he has authored three books on u.s. foreign policy in the

middle east, with a particular focus on iran and israel. welcome back to democracy now! if you can talk about what took place at this remote base, the killing of the three u.s. soldiers, injury of about 40 others, and the drumbeat by republicans as well as democrats, as well as the media in the united states, for president biden to militarily respond. what would this mean? >> it depends on how five response. -- how biden response. if he is thinking about taking iran on iranian soil, is very likely there would be a forceful response by the iranians which will bring the unites states right into a shooting war. something the administration says they have been seeking to avoid. they repeated that message several times in the last couple

of days. it is important to note all of this was predicted. from the beginning it was clear. as long as there is no material pressure on israel, this eventually would lead to a situation in which the united states would be faced with an attack that left americans killed. if you take a look at the statistics, there were about 60 tax by the iraqi militia against u.s. troops and bases during the first 2.5 years of biden's presidency. since october 17, when israel went into gaza, more than 160 attacks in the last 100 days. at some point, one of those attacks was going to kill americans. the president essentially accepted this risk. allow israel to bombard gaza cut in its own words, indiscriminately, knowing very well the statistic was such that at some point iraqi militias

would succeed and americans would die. now we are in that situation. instead of raising questions about this entire strategy as to why we are putting u.s. troops at risk in order for israel to continue to indiscriminately bomb and kill and slaughter people in gaza, instead there has been a frenzy about pushing us further into war. that is how these andless ward -- endless wars begin. without any recognition that this is leading us into a war whose aims we have not defined, whose exit we cannot envision. juan: when you say these legitimate questions at attacks on u.s. troops, but what the heck are u.s. troops continuing to do -- be in these countries? this tower 22, for instance.

the u.s. troops in syria clearly have the authorization from congress to be there. importantly, in iraq, the iraqi government has been calling for the united states to withdraw if you troops is still has in iraq from the country but the u.s. is not even listening to the government of the country which is troops are still located. >> you are right. these are the moments where these questions should be asked, why are we there in the first place? as you noted, the troops in syria do not have any legal authorization to be there by the u.s. congress. troops in iraq, for such a long time we said they should be pulled out. nothing has happened yet. essentials are keeping their, which is to fight isis come has long expired. isis has been weekend. these countries who have far greater stake in isis are

capable of handling that on their own without direct u.s. involvement. certainly u.s. presence in the fight. we have to ask ourselves, why do we continue the broader policy in the middle east in which we are positioning thousands of american troops in various places in the region in which they are socially made to be sitting ducks. and a single attack against them -- immediately because a broader war in the region. it is to the detriment of our own interest. juan: and this whole issue of blaming iran as directly responsible for these attacks? every time we hear of one of these resistance groups, it is always with the adjective "the iran-backed" financed group? is the biden administration correct

in describing motivation coming from iran? >> i think there are two exaggerated narratives. one is iran and they're claiming they have no control over these groups at all and they are completely independent. that is not true. the other narrative, the washington narrative, is not true, that claims iran controls these different groups and they have no agency -- clearly, they do have agency of their own. on numerous occasions, they have acted against the express wishes of the iranians, particularly in the case of the houthis. even in the case of the iraqi militias, what happened in the last 48 hours -- clearly, between iranians and the united states, now the iraqi militia has come out and said they are ceasing their attacks on u.s. troops at this point. it is clear the iranians have put some pressure on them to

essentially de-escalate. i would success -- expect to present is considering for some form of attack inside iraq or syria, probably give the other side ample time to evacuate specific buildings. nevertheless, be able to say he has responded. make sure it is not to damaging but sufficiently strong to calm some of the voices in washington . ensure there is de-escalation afterward. in the short run, that may work. it may not be a bad play. and the longer run, as long as there is no cease-fire in gaza, it is difficult to pursue these attacks against u.s. troops will end indefinitely. as long as there no cease-fire, i expect they will resume at some point. which means continued warfare in gaza by the israelis is a direct threat to u.s. interest because it puts u.s. troops at risk in

the region. amy: trita parsi, your colleague bill hartung wrote on x --"on the question of iran's role in the death of three u.s. servicemen, president biden said i do hold them responsible in this sense there supplying the weapons to the people who did it . does he feel the same way about the 26,000 deaths caused by u.s. weapons in gaza?" your response? >> i think bill is correct. whether we agree or not with that argument, we have to recognize that is the sentiment throughout the middle east right now and probably a larger part of the world in which the united states is held responsible for what israel is doing. not just for providing weapons, more than 10,000 weapons -- the

president has bypassed congress twice. it also because of the very act by the biden administration to block the cease-fire. that means a large part of the world do see the united states as directly responsible for this. and that is to the severe detriment of the u.s. interest itself and the u.s. global standing. amy: trita parsi, thank you for being with this, executive vice president of the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. coming up, a shocking rate on a jenin hospital in the occupied west bank by undercover israeli forces dressed as doctors and muslim women in headscarves killed three palestinians. we will speak with dr. mustafa barghouti in ramallah. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!,

democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. thousands of palestinians took part in a funeral procession on tuesday in the occupied west bank for three palestinians killed by israeli assassins in a shocking undercover raid on a hospital in jenin. surveillance footage from the ibn sina hospital shows around a dozen undercover israeli forces storming the hospital, wearing doctors codes or hospital scrubs or dressed as women wearing headscarves. one of the undercover troops carried a rifle in one arm and a folded wheelchair in the other. the israeli military claimed the three men it targeted were involved in planning an imminent attack and were using the hospital as a hideout, without providing evidence. hospital officials said there was no exchange of fire and that the three men were asleep, indicating the raid was a targeted killing. one of the three men killed had

been receiving treatment at the hospital since being injured in an israeli drone attack on october 25 and was partially paralyzed. this is naji nazzal, medical director at ibn sina hospital. >> they kill the three youth in their room while they were sleeping in their beds. there were killed in cold blood with direct gunshots to their heads. amy: israeli soldiers and settlers have killed more than 380 palestinians in the west bank since october 7, while more than 6300 people have been arrested. for more, we go to ramallah, where we are joined by the palestinian physician, activist, and politician mustafa barghouti. he serves as general secretary of the palestinian national initiative. welcome back to democracy now!

dr. barghouti, if you can start off by laying out exactly what you understand about this assault on the jenin hospital, who was killed, who were these undercover assassins who moved in dressed as muslim women in headscarves, dressed as doctors and hospital staff? >> it is clear those assassinated, the three palestinians in the hospital, by israeli military group, special security group. they usually act and dressed as post-indians in various places. this is not the first crime they committed. by the way, this same group was taking photographs with the minister of internal security recently and he published that photo and praised them as heroes. what they have done is

unacceptable and represents international -- violation of international humanitarian law. first of all, they dressed as doctors and nurses and health professionals. one of the assassins was in a wheelchair. this way they are endangering all medical personnel because from now on, nobody will be sure they are dealing with the doctor or someone disguised as a doctor. second, they penetrated the hospital in an illegal manner. in the early hours of the morning. they have no right to enter the hospital without even notification and without any alarm. in principle, they are not allowed into the hospital. third, they attacked a patient who is handicapped, who is paralyzed, in his bed while he

was sleeping and shot him in the head. and shot two others who were accompanying him in the same room. three palestinians. in an act that can only be called an active assassination and illegal execution of palestinians. and in every aspect of international humanitarian law, they have violated the law. they are proud about it. they are praising themselves for doing it. and that is all happening because the world is allowing it to be a punitive to international law and to any law, as a matter of fact. juan: dr. barghouti, in terms of what is going on in the west bank and east jerusalem, more than 380 palestinians have been killed by israeli soldiers and civilians, supposedly there is no israeli military activity going on in the west bank and

east jerusalem. could you talk about that other war that the rest of the world is not paying any attention to? >> the israelis occupy the whole of the west bank. since october 7, not only have they killed 380 people, but more than that. they are allowing settlers to run around with guns and these people are terrorizing palestinians. 6300 palestinians in the west bank, including more than 200 children, including women. they put them in jail without trial, without any legal process, without any charges. in addition to that, they have divided the country into smaller islands with 650 military checkpoints from each of which have become a point of

harassment. palestinians -- the palestinian authority -- israel practically took over all of the west bank. all of the west bank is not under the government of hamas as claimed. but that is not the only thing. all of these violations happened. instead of punishing israel or blaming israel for its violations of international law, we see many western governments, including the united states of america, punishing the palestinians. if you allow me to speak about that, i think the worst case was used by israel to distract attention from the icj resolution, which indicted israel for genocide. instead of punishing israel, they took cap this case where israel is climbing some workers in unrwa have been engaging in military actions without proof, without investigation. then you found 12 european

countries and the united states of america, canada, japan, cut off support to the only organization that has provided humanitarian aid to gazan. that is the only bridge to aid in gaza. we're subjected to collective punishment. palestinians who are the victims of the israeli aggression come of the possibility of genocide, are subjected to collective punishment by these governments -- none of whom have condemned this israeli attack on the hospital. amy: i want to turn to a clip of u.s. state department spokesperson matthew miller at a briefing on tuesday. he was being questioned about the israeli raid by associated press reporter matt lee >> this operation launched in jenin, do you have any comment on that?

is this something you think is problematic or is it something you look at with envy, like this is some mission impossible mission that we wish we could also do? >> i would say we strongly urge caution whenever operations have the potential to impact civilians and civilian installations, including hospitals. we recognize the very real security challenges israel faces and is legitimate right to defend its people and its territory from terrorism. israel has the right to carry out operations to bring terrorists to justice, but they need to be in full compliance of their national military law. >> does that include going into hospitals and murdering people in their beds? regardless if they are suspects were known terrorists. >> there was a lot and the premise of that question. obviously, they --

>> they went in and kill people who are completely innocent. if you did think that, would be condemning it. >> i would say israel has said these were hamas operatives. i'm not able to speak to the facts of the operation. you would have to pass some kind of legal judgments, know all of the facts. as a general matter, that the right to carry out operations, bring terrorists to justice -- >> including in hospitals? >> we want them to conduct complaints in complaints of international humanitarian law. amy: that is matthew miller being questioned by the ap's matt lee. dr. most of our barghouti, if you could respond to what -- dr. mustafa a barghouti if you could respond and talk about the

health care system, nasser hospital, and southern gaza, and has been under siege for the last few days, but start with the spokesperson. >> we will start about the proper legal process. israel -- israelis should not enter the hospital. they should not have been disguised as doctors and nurses. this is a violation of international humanitarian law. but even if they wanted, they could have arrested these three guys and charged them. instead of executing them on the spot. just on the basis of their suspicion. what is the legal system here? israel can say about anybody that is a hamas terrorist or terrorist or anything else and kill them in the street and nobody would condemn that. the united states of america has

no right not to condemn this action. and it is unacceptable they continue to use the double standard because they don't want to criticize israel. why? because they know they are participating with israel in what could be perceived or condemned as an act of genocide by supplying israel with weapons, supplying israel with soldiers, supplying israel. on the other hand, gaza has been continuously persistent -- israel has been continuous and persistent attacking hospitals in gaza. subjected hospitals and gaza where they are bill barding hospitals, killing patients, killing doctors, killing nurses most of at to the fact israel has killed in gaza up to now 304

of our police. medical doctors, nurses. in addition, they injured 300 others. why? they were performing their medical duties. they arrested 90 of these health workers, including the director of al-shifa hospital who is now subjected to torture in an israeli concentration camp. this is the behavior of israel. do we hear any condemnation from the united states of america or from the united kingdom? no. although condemnation come all the collective punishment is directed only at one people, which are the palestinian people. we don't understand how could these countries that claim they are struggling, support human rights, claimed to support democracy, claim to support international law and at the same time, not only are they allowing these crimes to happen against the palestinians, but

they are participating. that is what happened in jenin like in gaza -- where, by the way, 32,000 palestinians have been killed so far. if we include the 7000 under the rubble. and more than 65,000 people have been injured. that is more than 4% of the population of gaza. had this happen in the united states of america, would be talking about 12 million people killed or injured in less than three months. proportionately, the number of palestinians killed in gaza after three months is more than all americans killed in all america's wars since the 18th century. is that acceptable? is that allowable? that is the question that should be directed toward the biden administration and the american administration. how they continue to allow israel to be so in punitive to international law? and how could they allow this active collective punishment against the palestinian population when it comes to

humanitarian services? by the way, the international court of justice decided there should be support to providing humanitarian supplies to palestinians and israel should be responsible for that. what we see in reality? i've been talking to our medical teams working there. they say there is a decline in the amount of support that is coming in in an unprecedented manner. what they get is absolutely not enough, less than 100 trucks daily when they need 1000 trucks daily considering the situation. we have people in the north and the center of gaza who are calling us saying they are starving. they have no food. they have no medical supplies. injured people are being operated on without anesthesia. 600,000 people, including to the world food program, now in gaza

are starving. what does the united states of america do about that? do they do anything or just protect israel and provide protection for the israeli administration? amy: we want to ask you to stay with us and we will talk about the conference that took place in israel. almost one third of the israeli cabinet where their post of a number of the members addressed the conference, calling for the israeli resettlement of gaza. we're talking to dr. mustapha barghouti, serves as general secretary of the palestinian national initiative. we will also be joined by a reporter for +972 magazine oren ziv from tel aviv. he covered the conference of thousands of israelis. back in 20 seconds.

♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report.

i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. thousands of israelis gathered in jerusalem sunday for a major conference calling for palestinians to be removed from gaza in order to regroup -- rebuild jewish settlements. the conference was dubbed settlement bring security in victory, attended by almost one third of the israeli cabinet. among the most high-profile speakers was israel's public security minister ben-gvir. >> today everyone already understands that fleeing brings war and if you don't want another seventh october, have to return home to control the territory. amy: speakers at the conference call for the is ready settlement in gaza -- israeli settlement gaza and the continued expansion. another prominent speaker was israel's finance minister smotrich. >> were settling our land,

controlling it and fighting to tear always and bringing with gods help security to all of israel. you know the answer is. without settlement, there is no security. amy: from where we go to tel aviv where we are joined by oren ziv, a reporter and photographer for +972 magazine. he covered the conference in jerusalem on sunday. his piece is headlined "turning zeitoun into shivat zion: israeli summit envisions gaza resettlement." staying with this is dr. barghouti, speaking to us from ramallah. oren, start off by describing that conference, its significance, and what shocked you most as you covered it. >> thank you for having me, first of all. i have to say this is the last event in a series of events and protests of the settler movement calling to what they say it is going back to gaza, returning to the settlements that were

affected by israel in 2005 engagement. this event was significant because thousands of people took part in aiding west jerusalem. they gathered in a big hall. have the participants were students. he had right-wing settlers. at the entrance, a big map showing the different settlements they plan to establish in the gaza strip. some of them literally on top of palestinian villages and towns. unfortunately, were destroyed by the israeli aggression in the recent months. inside the hall, we had stages administers, parliament members. four out of five of the representatives of the parties in the coalition of netanyahu's

government were there. 11 ministers and 15 parliament members. big support from the government. and also leaders and activists. for me personally, the most shocking thing was not only the plan to establish the settlements, but the fact people there were dancing and singing, being happy and joyful. this is important to understand the israeli public -- this is something you don't see publicly since october 7 where people are joyful. not because most of the israeli public ignored horrific reality in gaza, but because of the war, because of the attack of october 7, because the soldiers are being killed every day in the war. you don't see many of those events. it shocked me to see ministers and people making decisions

dancing. it was shocking for many people. i think this is because while a big part of the israeli public is still in shock, the settler movement sees the war as an opportunity to expand their plans to settle in gaza. juan: oren, apparently, the british foreign minister david cameron -- some reports are saying reacting to this conference over the weekend, reaffirmed britain's position that there must be a to state solution to the israeli-palestinian conflict. i'm wondering your thoughts about how some of these western countries continue to support the war in gaza and while maintaining the two state solution that they know the israeli government has make clear has no intention of following through on?

>> yes, i think this conference aid it very clear. because ahead of the hearing in the hague, the icj hearing, official netanyahu and other members of the more the center part of the government tried to paint a picture that israel will not settle gaza, this is a temporary war. and this event and the participants of senior members of the government makes it very clear that, aid, they don't want a two state solution. more importantly, that they don't care about the international law. they don't care about the icj procedure. continue to express those opinions. one could think after ministers and the prime minister quoted in the south african appeal to the court, evidence actually, what

the israeli politician, genocidal discourse they were promoted in the beginning of the war, one could say that would be a bit more careful. at the opposite. it is important to mention this is not only a conference talking about settling in gaza, it was clear and most of the speakers talked about what they call is encouraging emigration, forcing people from gaza. so it is very they the settlement movement is on the account of the residents of gaza. one of the leaders of the conference, when we asked what would happen to the palestinians if your plans come true, she said they would leave. they would have to leave. we don't give them food or water. she was talking about the siege. she said they would have to -- and another man who was a bit more careful in his leg was that

we have to encourage immigration -- careful about his language, so we have to encourage immigration. amy: we just played a clip of smoked rich, cap -- summit ridge, a cabinet member. i'm looking at an article that says -- from a few years ago, that the former deputy chief -- the former deputy had of the security service, reportedly told political gathering that smoked rich was a jewish terrorist who plan to blow up cars on a major highway during the 2005 gaza disengagement when the israeli settlers were forced out by israel of gaza. can you talk about the significance of this today, what, almost 20 years later? who smotrich is?

ultimately was not charged after being held, apparently they did not want to endanger their sources who talked about him being found, massive amounts of gasoline. >> yes. this is true. smotrich was a security prisoner. he was suspected but not convicted. this shows us together -- i personally document and saw him attack -- attacking activists in the years before he became part of a member and minister. people who are well-known from the right-wing extreme activities. unfortunately, today, they decided the policies -- israel. i think also why netanyahu and the more center-right part of the government cannot say this is not official israel. this is not official line. we have seen netanyahu and the

head of the icj and others say, well, they are ministers, parliament members, but they are not in the war cabinet, they don't make the decisions. this is just rhetoric to protect israel from being accountable. i think when we see such a big number of ministers, senior ministers and parliament members, taking part in this conference, open to transfer to displaced palestinians from gaza . and more important, encourage soldiers on the ground, right-wing soldiers, just ordering soldiers in media, encourage them to carry out war crimes. the war itself is horrific enough, but i'm afraid this rhetoric by members of the government encourages or gives

to the soldiers on the ground they can do anything. it israel, according to this conference, will eventually control the gaza strip, it means soldiers on the ground -- and we've seen that on tiktok and instagram social media -- can do whatever they want because it belongs to israel so they can explode houses, they can vandalize, they can the property. they can do whatever they want because this officially is israeli property. juan: i like to bring dr. mustafa barghouti back into the conversation. your reaction to this conference and to these postinvasion plans of the desk of a good portion of the israeli government? >> ben-gvir and smotrich are known to be fascist and sometimes they are described as psychopaths. they are the ones who are deciding the israeli government

policy. none of their fascist statements were ever negated by prime minister netanyahu. these guys are representing currently jewish extreme fundamentalism combined with jewish supremacy thinking. they believe the whole of the land of palestine and jordan and parts of saudi arabia and syria are supposed to be jewish land. these guys are practically [indiscernible] what happened in 1948 wind israel committed 50 massacres against palestinians and evicted people from 520 communities and then razed into the ground. they want to repeat 1948, another nakba. they are speaking openly about war crimes. the war crime of ethnic

cleansing, of collective punishment, and genocide. they want to evict everybody from gaza. and that is what netanyahu called for in the first days of this war. that is what gallant called for when he called them human animals. this is not just a bunch of extremists, it is the israeli government. 12 ministers of the israeli government attended that meeting and supported it. 15 members of the israeli parliament. you're talking practically about the official israeli policy, which is directed at ethnic cleansing of palestinians and settlements not only in gaza [indiscernible] also the west bank we are not subjected which have evicted already 30 palestinian communities from their land, from their homes in the west bank.

60% of the west bank is now practically forbidden for palestinians. we don't have to go far. all you need to do is show the mbappe that netanyahu has shown in the united nations to ask before the war in gaza. he showed the map of israel including the annexation of all of the west bank, all of gaza strip, and all of: heights. what everybody must understand is this is the israeli official government policy and that is why it has to be punished. that is why it has to be sanctioned and that is why it has to be exposed. israel cannot be allowed to continue to be absolutely unaccountable to international law and absolutely and punitive to international law. amy: i want to thank you both for being with us, dr. mustafa barghouti, palestinian physician, activist, and politician. we want to thank oren ziv in tel

aviv, reporter and photojournalist with +972 magazine. that does it for our show. we have a job opening at democracy now! major gifts , officer. learn more at democracynow.org. democracy now! is looking for feedback from peop