02/05/24 02/05/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] nermeen: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we have said many times we will not initiate an war. if anyone was to bully, iran will respond. nermeen: carried out new attacks on who the forces in yemen over

the weekend. we will speak with middle east scholar narges bajoghli about how the war in gaza revived the acts of resistance and the impact of by the gaza policy on his reelection bid. we will speak with matt duss. then we will speak with dr. tariq haddad who lost 80 family members in israel bombardment of gaza and refused to meet with u.s. secretary of state antony blinken in a roundtable. >> i realized i could not in good conscience meet with him knowing there has been no constructive effort whatsoever to actually change the situation on the ground to make that situation better, to stop the killing of my family members. that is ultimately why i decided not to show up. nermeen: and "unless israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation." >> people are almost dying and

their suffering really badly. it is complete chaos and famine, especially in the north, rafah and khan younis. nermeen: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. amy goodman will return tomorrow. the united states bombed 85 targets in syria and iraq on friday in retaliation for a recent drone strike by iranian-backed militants on a base in jordan that killed three u.s. troops. iran's foreign ministry spokesperson denounced the u.s. airstrikes as "another adventurous and strategic mistake by the united states that will result only in increased tension and instability." at least 40 people reportedly died in friday's attacks. on sunday, a drone struck a base housing u.s. troops in eastern syria. six kurdish fighters allied with

the u.s. died in the attack. president biden's national security council coordinator admiral john kirby appeared on fox news sunday. >> i am not going to talk about potential future military operations. this is a really important point, what he saw friday night was just the first round. there will be additional actions taken by the administration against these groups. nermeen: the u.s. also bombed yemen again on saturday and sunday targeting sites controlled by houthi forces who have vowed to keep targeting ships linked to israel and the united states until israel halts its assault on gaza. this comes as u.s. secretary of state tony blinken returns to the middle east from meetings in saudi arabia, egypt, and israel. israel is continuing to bomb the southern gaza city of rafah where hundreds of thousands of displaced palestinians had taken shelter seeking safety. on saturday, an israeli strike on a home in rafah killed at

least 14 people, including women and children. health officials in gaza say at least 230 four palestinians have died since friday, bringing the overall death toll since october 7 to over 27,300. meanwhile, a palestinian doctor who was jailed by israel for 45 days has described being tortured in israeli custody. dr. said abdulrahman maarouf was jailed after israeli forces raided al-ahli al-arab hospital in gaza city. >> the torture was very severe in israeli prisons. i'm am a doctor. i last more than 25 kilograms of my weight. i lost my balance, i lost focus. i lost all feeling. we were shackled for 45 days.

handcuffed for 45 days. you can never know the reality unless you have lived through it. nermeen: in other news from gaza, belgium summoned the israeli ambassador after israel bombed belgium's development agency in northern gaza. the bombing reportedly occurred on wednesday after belgium announced it would not pause funding for unrwa, the u.n. agency for palestinian refugees. protests are continuing across the u.s. against israel's assault on gaza. in louisville, kentucky, 15 people were arrested friday after they blocked the entrances to the military contractors raytheon and bae. meanwhile, 19 students at brown university have entered their fourth day on hunger strike to urge brown to divest from weapons manufacturers who are arming israel. a bipartisan group of senators have unveiled a $118 billion package that includes harsh new immigration measures with new military aid for ukraine, israel, and allies in the

pacific. president biden has backed the package, describing it as the toughest set of border reforms in decades. the aclu has warned the bipartisan deal would eviscerate longstanding asylum protections and force the government to summarily expel people from the border without due process. house speaker mike johnson has already said the bipartisan senate package is "dead on arrival" if it makes it to the house. meanwhile, independent senator bernie sanders has announced plans to introduce an amendment to remove $10.1 billion in military aid for israel. in a statement, sanders denounced what he called "netanyahu's illegal, immoral war against the palestinian people." in other immigration news, a dozen republican governors joined with texas governor greg abbot at the u.s.-mexico border to show support for texas' unprecedented standoff with the federal government. last month, the state of texas seized a portion of the

u.s.-mexico border and has refused to give border patrol agents access to the area. the standoff in texas comes with the presidential election nine months away. on saturday, president biden easily won the democratic primary in south carolina, the first primary recognized by the dnc. biden won more than 95% of the vote. marianne williamson placed second with about 2%. in chile, at least 112 people have been killed as the country's deadliest ever wildfires rage throughout the central coastal hills. hundreds of others are missing in the fires caused by a summer heatwave and drought. chile is observing two days of national mourning as president gabriel boric declared a state of emergency. the fires now threaten to engulf the cities of viña del mar and valparaíso, which have a combined population of over 1 million. this is a resident of viña del mar who lost her home this weekend.

>> from one moment to the next, the fire reached the botanical park. in 10 minutes, the fire was on us. there was smoke. the sky turned black. everything was dark. the wind felt like a hurricane. it was like being in hell. nermeen: wildfires are becoming more frequent and more lethal as the climate crisis worsens. in southern california, millions of people are at risk of life-threatening flooding and landslides as an atmospheric river started lashing down on the region sunday. parts of the los angeles area could receive around half a year's worth of rain by tuesday. a state of emergency has been put in place for at least eight counties, with some areas also issuing evacuation orders. nearly a million customers have experienced power outages. in the netherlands, police arrested around 1000 extinction rebellion climate activists as they blocked the a12 highway in the hague. activists are demanding the

dutch government speed up their pledge to end some in annual $50 billion fossil fuel subsidies. >> we still demand an end to fossil fuel subsidies. the plane to phase them out was supposed to be presented to the second chamber at the end of last year, but we are still waiting for that as well. we will return because the climate crisis is escalating. it is only getting worse. fossil fuel subsidies amount to approximately 46.5 billion euros per year. we will return to the a12 and road and sit there until fossil fuel subsidies are lifted. nermeen: in el salvador, president nayib bukele has declared victory in sunday's election, though the official results haven't been announced. early ballot counts showed bukele with over 80% of the votes. meanwhile, his political party, new ideas, is expected to win almost all of the seats in el salvador's legislative assembly,

where it already held a super majority. bukele addressed his supporters in the capital san salvador yesterday. >> we have started to defeat our biggest evil. we are on the cusp of winning the war against the gangs. it is not hyperbole. literally, we went from being the most dangerous country in the world to being the most secure and all the western hemisphere. nermeen: human rights advocates warned of holding sunday's election under a brutal state of emergency, enacted by bukele's government to crack down on gangs, which has led to heavy militarization and the mass arrest of tens of thousands of people since march 2022. rights groups have documented arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture, and violations of due process. they also estimate more than 200 people have died in jail and police custody. last year, el salvador's supreme electoral tribunal allowed

bukele to run for a second term even though the salvadoran constitution prohibits it. many fear bukele's grip to power will further erode democracy in el salvador and push the central american country to authoritarianism. in eastern ukraine, moscow-installed officials say at least 28 people were killed in the town of lysychansk in the russian-occupied region of luhansk. the attack hit a bakery saturday. at least one of the victims was a child. ukraine has not yet commented on the attack, which russian officials say was conducted with the u.s.-supplied high mobility artillery rocket system, or himars. in senegal, security forces used tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital dakar after president macky sall moved to postpone this month's elections. demonstrations took place as the national assembly gathered to debate the issue. >> we were only defending ourselves.

he metals with the constitution, the newspapers come the population. he does everything he can to put us in a difficult position. i repeat, we are not fighting for simple cause. we are fighting for freedom. nermeen: among the arrested were former prime minister aminata toure and current presidential candidate anta babacar. some have denounced sall's move as an institutional coup. the committee to protect journalists called on senegalese authorities to restore mobile internet after it was cut earlier today amid growing political turmoil. history has been made in northern ireland as sinn fein's michelle o'neill has been sworn in to the top post of northern ireland's parliament, marking the first time the position has been held by a politician who supports the reunification of ireland. this comes days after the pro-british democratic unionist party agreed to end its nearly two year-long boycott of the power-sharing government. michelle o'neill spoke on sunday.

>> today's opens the door to a future. i am honored to stand here is first minister. we mark a moment of equality and progress, new opportunity to work and grow together. confident that wherever we come from, whatever our aspirations are, we can and must build our future together. nermeen: in northwest pakistan, at least 10 police officers were killed earlier today when over two dozen militants attacked a police station in the khyber pakhtunkhwa region. the group claimed responsibility for the attack. this comes just days before thursday's elections in pakistan. meanwhile, pakistan's imprisoned former prime minister imran khan and his wife were sentenced saturday to seven more years in prison after a court ruled their marriage was unlawful. khan has now been sentenced in three separate cases over the past two weeks.

his supporters say the pakistani judiciary is unfairly targeting khan who was ousted from power in 2022. and the grammys were held sunday night. several artists used the event to call for a ceasefire in gaza. members of the band boygenius, which won the grammy for best alternative music album, took to the red carpet wearing pins with the logo for "artists call for ceasefire now." the musician annie lennox called for a ceasefire from the stage just after performing a version of "nothing compares 2 u," a song popularized by the late sinead o'connor. >> artists for ceasefire, peace in the world. nermeen: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. the united states bombed 85 targets in syria and iraq in retaliation for a recent drone

strike by iranian-backed militants on a base in jordan that killed three u.s. troops. the pentagon said it used long-range bombers flown directly from the u.s. in its largest action against iran-backed groups since the iraq war. white house national security spokesman john kirby said sunday on fox news that the strikes were just the "first round" and vowed more would follow. >> i am certainly not going to talk about potential future military operations. what i wouldn't say, this is important, what you saw friday night was just the first round. there will be additional actions taken by the administration against the irgc and the groups these are backing. nermeen: meanwhile, on saturday, iran's interior minister denounced the u.s. airstrikes in iraq and syria. >> we condemn any move against the resistance front and reject and condemn these attacks that will naturally lead to the

flames of the resistance and must act wisely, which is very unlikely. we do not see it in the americans. if they act wisely, they should stop supporting this zionist regime. nermeen: this comes as the syrian observatory for human rights reports five fighters from the kurdish-led syrian democratic forces were killed in an overnight attack sunday on an u.s. base in eastern syria. today, iran's security chief ali ahmadian has arrived in baghdad for talks to address the escalation in fighting. meanwhile, the u.s. also bombed yemen again on saturday and sunday, targeting sites controlled by houthi forces who have vowed to keep targeting ships linked to israel and the united states until israel halts its assault on gaza. for more, we are joined by narges bajoghli, professor of middle east studies at johns hopkins university. she co-authored the new book titled "how sanctions work: iran and the impact of economic warfare" and is also the author

of "iran reframed: anxieties of power in the islamic republic." her recent co-authored piece in foreign affairs is headlined "how the war in gaza revived the axis of resistance." welcome back to democracy now! if you could begin by responding to the latest news over the weekend, the u.s. lodging airstrikes in syria, iraq, and yemen, and the biden administration valley more attacks are to come. in particular on friday, the u.s. striking dozens of targets for the first time hitting facilities linked to iran's revolutionary guard? >> with the killing of the three u.s. servicemen in jordan and tower 22, that is one of the u.s. stated red lines in the region. that is something throughout the past 3.5 months as well as the lumber shadow work between iran, hezbollah, u.s., the region, has

been a redline that has been observed quite firmly by the forces that are fighting against the united states and israel. with the three servicemen killed, it was obvious the u.s. had to respond. the fact they responded in the way they did but iran quickly announced no iranians had been killed signals -- they are signaling back to the u.s. they understand the retaliation had to happen but they are not escalating at this moment because their own fighters have not been killed. nermeen: could you explain what were the locations? the u.s. hit 85 targets at seven facilities in iraq and syria. what were the locations that were hit? as you said, iran said there were no iranian casualties but there were iraqis and syrians who died. can you talk about the significance in the iranian media, it was made clear there were no iranian casualties? also

explain the targets that were hit by the u.s. >> the targets that were hit, command centers, spaces where weaponry is stored. these are linked to militias that are a part of what is called the axis of resistance on behalf of iran and its allied forces in the region. so these are spaces the u.s. identified and stated these locations are backed by the iranian revolutionary guard and they are belonging to militias that are fighting against the u.s., israel, and the region. the significance of the effect iranian media claims quickly that iranian -- no iranians had been killed in the attacks is because iran has said they're redline -- they have two major redlines for escalating this

inter broader war. one is any kind of strike on -- within iran's territory or spaces and the second is killing up iranian personnel and fighters. this was quickly after the attack they announced that people have been killed, iraqis and syrians, but no iranians have been killed. that was a clear signal to say, we understand your response but we will not escalate at this moment. nermeen: to talk more about that phrase "the axis of resistance," you have said iran-backed groups or iran proxies has been in the headlines for decades. is that inaccurate rendering, especially in light of the fact you have made the argument that in this case following israel's assault and ongoing assault on gaza, it is hezbollah that has taken the lead because it

recognizes the core issue now is palestine? >> the -- what is called the axis of resistance, it began after the u.s. invasion of iraq in 2003. the u.s. at the time under the george ii administration was clear and loud the next country after iraq would be iran. the quds forces come at time under the command of qassem soleimani, it became to create militias within iraq that would in essence bogged down u.s. and iraq and not allowed to turn and focus than on the -- throughout the 20 odd years of the global war on terror in the region, is the battleground spread throughout the region, iran began to form and give training and funding and

weaponry to different militias throughout the region. at first, mostly the shieh militias. that began to expand it to nonsectarian forces. iran's revolutionary guard and hezbollah have been instrumental in creating what is now the axis of resistance, which includes not only iran and hezbollah, syria, militias across iraq as well as houthis in yemen. and also in the gaza strip in civilian resistor groups within the west bank. these are sort of under the umbrella of what is called the axis of resistance. what is important to note is these are not proxy groups of iran. from the get-go, the revolutionary guard has set up these groups to be decentralized . after the assassination or killing of qassem soleimani by

the americans under the trump administration in 2020, his successor has decentralized these forces even more. what that means is all of these forces are aligned with iran and hezbollah's mission to drive the united states out of the middle east and to fight against what they did to be israeli colonialism not only over historic palestine, but more broadly across the region. all of these groups are also involved in this access for their local interest because they see united states and israel involved within their borders and within the fight they are involved in locally. the axis in essence, yes, it follows upon iran's strategic interest but it is decentralized access and make their own coordination. it is not as easy as iran says

do this and members of the ax is follow. nermeen: could you talk about the extent to which you have pointed out that neither iran nor the u.s. as officials from both countries have said are not interested in escalating, much less coming into direct conflict -- that is, the u.s. and iran? but many have been concerned at this point, one false move could set the entire region alight. especially so given as many have said, yourself included, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is actually creating the conditions for the u.s. and iran to have a direct confrontation. if you could talk a little bit about that and what you think the impact of this might be? >> at least from the perspective

of whether it is within iran or hezbollah, from their perspective in the region, the israelis have had a difficult time getting to their strategic objectives within gaza. there is a desire on behalf of benjamin netanyahu to expand this war into one that would drag the united states more fully into it, especially in direct confrontation with iran. from the point of israel and israeli leaders, this is what netanyahu has stated, iran is the head of the octopus. their desire to say in order to deal with what is going on in the region and this multipronged attack that is happening on israel from across various borders, iran needs to be dealt with directly. now, the united states does not want to get involved in a direct confrontation with iran because it is not just a direct confrontation with iran as the

axis of resistance makes clear. iran's strategy since the beginning of the global war on terror has been to create a network of spaces in which if the west were to get involved, it would be not just a war with iran but across the region. that is what makes this moment dangerous. as you said, there could be miscalculation on either end and it could develop into something much larger. so although the u.s. is saying they don't want to get involved in another large middle east war and instead want to focus on china and on a different part of the world, iran has also made the same claims that it does not seek to get into larger war. what is important is to note both iran and hezbollah, although they are striking back against israel and different kinds of u.s. forces or bases

across the region, what they are trying to do is put enough pressure on the u.s. and to create enough global outrage about what is going on in gaza in order to put public pressure on the united states to retreat from the region. because it knows -- iran and hezbollah and other forces know it will be extremely difficult and they cannot take on the u.s. militarily. but what they're are hoping to do is create unep public pressure -- create unep public pressure because of what is happening in gaza to force the u.s. to reconsider its strategies. nermeen: you talk about the increasing support for this axis of resistance in the region. if you could speak as you did in your foreign affairs piece of the rolled of the war in another domain, that is to say in media,

in particular social media, that is ongoing, kind of changing the nature of the conversation in the middle east about this war? >> right. both the commander of hezbollah and the supreme leader of iran have been clear in saying their main objectives -- they will not get into this larger sort of what they call trap netanyahu is like for them to engage more directly with the united states and instead they want to keep palestine at the forefront. why are they saying that? not only because what is happening in gaza and their allies shipped with the palestinians, but more to that also is the fact palestine is a global issue for the first time in many decades. because of social media, it has broken through much of the narrative of how conflict in the middle east more broadly,

especially israel-palestine, has been talked about and understood on a global stage is now no longer about finding islamic terrorism, but there is a more global understanding that this is an issue that is related to occupation of apartheid settler colonialism. or why is it important for the axis of resistance? because for decades, they have been involved in fighting united states, israel in the region but narratively, they have been sort of deemed as terrorists or bad actors or maligned actors that are fighting against the united states. for the first time pretty much and their existence over the past 44 decades, for the first time the cause by which at least they claim to be fighting for, which is driving u.s. out of the region and finishing off israeli colonialism -- for the first time, that is been understood globally not in the linkage of shiaism are religious and

ideology, but the language of human rights and genocide and international law. so for these reasons, this has been a really important war for thisaxis. hamas itself has been quite adept at utilizing media very effectively and communicating what it is facing an up against in the region as well as obviously the many palestinian journalists and influencers within the gaza strip and across the region who are tapping into a global sort of moment, deeper and deeper understanding of the kinds of geopolitical forces that are at play both in the middle east and beyond. so there's a confluence of things going on, but that confluence in this moment taps into the benefits of the axis of resistance. this is something they have been working on for a very long time

to be able to develop multilingual media that essentially is able to utilize social media as a strength to communicate brighter -- broader ideologies about what is going on in the middle east and move it out of the narrative terrain at the global war on terror, which is the u.s. and israel fighting islamic terrorism. it is been able to reframe all of that into a language of hegemony and colonialism and settler colonialism, specifically in apartheid. nermeen:, thank you so much, narges bajoghli, professor of middle east studies at johns hopkins university. co-author of the book "how sanctions work: iran and the impact of economic warfare." her recent co-authored piece in foreign affairs is headlined "how the war in gaza revived the axis of resistance." when we come back, we speak with

senator bernie sanders former foreign policy advisor matt duss and the palestinian-american doctor who just declined to meet with u.s. secretary of state antony blinken. ♪ [music break]

nermeen: the founding member and guitarist passed away friday at the age of 75. this is democracy now! i'm nermeen shaikh. u.s. secretary of state antony blinken is back in the middle east as hamas is set to respond to a ceasefire proposal to pause fighting and release more hostages. this comes as the u.s. launched airstrikes in syria, iraq, and yemen on friday in retaliation over the killings of u.s. soldiers by iranian-backed militants who attacked a base in jordan. president biden is facing more pressure. independent senator bernie sanders has announced plans to introduce an amendment to remove 10.1 billion dollars in military aid for israel. in a statement, he denounced what he called "netanyahu's illegal immoral war against the

palestinian people." elizabeth warner and brian schatz have sent a letter to blinken to pressure the biden administration to push back against netanyahu's rejection of a two state solution. the lawmakers wrote -- for more, we're joined a washington, d.c., by matt duss executive vice-president at the , center for international policy. he is the former foreign policy adviser to senator bernie sanders. welcome back to democracy now! if you can begin by giving your response to these recent round of u.s. strikes in iraq, syria, and yemen and what you think may, this? >> i think it shows clearly the biden administration's strategy

is failing. their approach since october 7 in the region has been twofold. one is to essentially back israel's assault on gaza unconditionally and the second was to try and contain the conflict to gaza, and that second part is clearly, steadily been failing over the past several weeks and months, but especially now in the wake of the attack in jordan with these attacks in syria and iraq and continuing in yemen. so this conflict steadily has been spreading as anyone should have expected it to because this kind of violence simply cannot be controlled. nermeen: if you can say, math, many have suggested, yourself included, that there are people in d.c. and the d.c. establishment who have been advocating for a war with iran for decades. what are your concerns about where they stand now and how much their voices maybe amplify?

how many of those are temper kratz -- are democrats? >> their people in washington and united states and u.s. politics for whom iran has already been a target. we saw this immediately after the war in iraq. there were people making clear their goal was to move on to iran next. anytime there's any kind of attack or crisis in which iran is involved, you see these voices trying to exploit the situation to once again drive the u.s. into an open conflict with iran -- which i think many understand would be an absolute catastrophe. if people thought the iraq war was bad, they -- you can only imagine what a war with iran would look like. these are military experts in the united states who have repeatedly warned and open conflict between the united states and iran would be absolutely disastrous. i think there's a political component here.

you have to take that into account. unfortunately, see voices in washington who see a political advantage in bashing the president and promoting this kind of hawkish approach to foreign policy. but i have to say has failed repeatedly and yet they continue to make these calls for more war ,,, or escalation with zero kind ability. nermeen: if you could respond to bernie sanders announcing plans to introduce an amendment to remove over $10 billion in funding and military aid to israel? >> i supported wholeheartedly. senator sanders is speaking for many americans. frankly, i think i'm majority of democratic voters. if you look at the polls of the opinions of the u.s. approach to the war, this is an over four-month conflict. i think clearly a massacre with close to 30,000 people killed.

huge parts of gaza obliterated. we have seen acknowledgments from israeli officials they understand they're not going to achieve the goal of eradicating hamas. frankly, no one seriously thought they could. the idea the united states is simply going to continue supporting this conflict with zero conditions as we have been i think is absolutely the wrong approach. i think senator sanders proposal here is the right one. nermeen: if you could speak about the role of israeli benjamin netanyahu, something you have spoken about recently as well, a poll found in january that only 15% of israelis want netanyahu to remain in power after the war in gaza in's, though many support his strategy -- his gaza strategy, effectively crushing hamas and much of the palestinian population there.

netanyahu only likely to remain in power so long as this war continues. if you could talk about that? >> i think that is what is particularly dangerous here. it gets to be a pernicious role of netanyahu himself. before october 7, he was facing multiple corruption indictments. he was facing mass protests that had been going on for months against his government's attempt to undermine judiciary. and now you have a belief by vast majority of israeli citizens he personally failed to protect israelis, that it was the atrocities that we all saw on tovar seven were the result of his failures. so he knows as soon as this war stops, so does his political career. the only hope he has of continuing to stay in power is to prolong and escalate this war as long as possible.

that is extremely dangerous. frankly, it is been very bad decision by president biden to tie himself so closely to netanyahu and to this strategy. i think we need to detach from them and show more distance from what israel is doing. nermeen: biden's reelection bid seems also to be in question given his gaza policy. you have said that his administration does not seem to understand the depth of the problem arising from his gaza policy. i will read a bit from this political article by jonathan martin where he says "a hot were in gaza this fall may mean 30,000 fewer votes apiece in madison, dearborn, and ann arbor and therefore, the presidency. biden especially came under criticism last month when he spoke 100 days since the october 7 attack and failed to mention

at all what happened in gaza, the devastation in gaza with tens of thousands killed and displaced." and all this a poll found 50% of self-described biden voters say what happened in gaza, israel's attack on gaza constitute a genocide. could you explain what you think the possible implications of this are no oh november -- are in november and given that young democratic base, why isn't someone even like bernie sanders calling for ceasefire? >> i'm hesitant to overestimate the impact foreign policy will have on a presidential election, but i do think you are seeing from many democratic voters, progressives -- particularly young progressives -- the issue of israel-palestine is an issue of social and racial justice. i think this is something the biden team simply does not

understand or only now starting to understand. again, this is going to be a very close election. it is going to kind and possibly a few hundred thousand votes in a few key states. if a lot of these voters you're referencing -- i doubt they will vote for trump. they may choose not to vote. they most certainly will not work to get out the vote. they will not to the volunteering, the phone banking, the knocking on doors. and that should very much concern them will stop what is going on here is not simply a matter of a difference in policy, i think everyone understands the stakes what a trump election or reelection would mean for this country. but the anger at biden's support for this assault on gaza is really incandescent. it is a matter of principle for many democrats, not just arab

and palestinian americans but more broadly. some groups of democratic voters simply cannot bring themselves to pull the lever or check the box for president who is supporting this. this is not going to be fixed by dispatching a few administration officials to certain neighborhoods in michigan or elsewhere. this will be fixed, if it can be fixed at all, by changing policy and ending support for this massacre. nermeen: matt, thank you so much for joining us, executive vice president at the center for international policy. former foreign policy adviser to senator bernie sanders. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh. before u.s. secretary of state antony blinken left for his fifth middle east trip since october 7, he held a roundtable meeting thursday to discuss the situation in gaza with a number of palestinian-americans. but some of them refused to attend in order to protest the biden administration's ongoing

support for israel's offensive -- assault on gaza. we're joined by one of those who refused. dr. tariq haddad is a practicing cardiologist and member of the virginia coalition for human rights. he laid out his reasoning in a 12 page letter to blinken. he joins us now from falls church, virginia. welcome to democracy now! our condolences to you for the many family members of yours who have been killed in gaza. if you could begin by talking about what you know of what happened in gaza to your family members and then explain this invitation you received for a meeting with secretary of state antony blinken and why you declined to attend.

>> thank you for having me. i appreciate the condolences. i think some context is necessary to better understand why i turned this invitation down. i have hundreds of family members in gaza, both sides of my family in khan younis and gaza city. i have about 100 family members at this point who have been killed, including physicians, pharmacists, lawyers, engineers, dozens and dozens of children, multiple small babies. i can't tell all of their stories but i want to tell a few for the audience. october 25, 10 members of my family -- three generations of one side of my family were all killed. my cousin and his son, physician , his wife who was pregnant, two of their beautiful daughters, his brother, wife and their

daughters. multiple generations all killed in one israeli strike. one of the younger women in the family, her wedding date she was killed. they were from modest means. the three brothers built their home themselves. ironically, the same home the israeli strikes destroyed. a couple of days later, my cousins from khan younis, lives literally 20 yards from where i grew up, were killed along with 14 other members of their family. seven of them were children. a pharmacist, credible community figure -- incredible community figure come available to help anyone who needed it. the day before he was killed, he had just gone up to my uncle and asked if he could house five

families were made homeless by the missile strikes in our grandparents house. the one child of the whole three generations survived ,hamza. he had an amputation. he woke up to find his siblings, his parents, uncles, aunts, grandparents had all died. excuse me. then he died himself in the next day from the trauma injuries from the israeli attacks because there was not adequate medical care to keep him alive. a couple of days after that, november 2, my cousins and their siblings were killed in gaza city along with my cousins wife and my aunt. there were teachers and interior decorator. my cousin initially survived -- as a physician i can take as a fairly minor leg injury but

he died the next day because he essentially bled to death. his brother survived and had to witness the horror five seeing his mother buried from the waist up in the rubble, dead. and he saw his sister in pieces. they are messaging me and telling me. my other cousin who are grew up with and played with as a kid literally had to bury all of his family members in a makeshift grave because he cannot access a cemetery. he is been going 24 hours at a time with no food or water. even though semi family who fled what was thought to be dangerous area to safe areas have been targeted. one of my cousins died in a refugee camp in rafah around the time she completed her doctorate for her phd. we were about to congratulate her on that doctorate when she

was killed. family members have died from lack of medical care. one of my cousins died because he was unable to reach a functional hospital after he was injured. four of my family members got killed in an israeli bombing of their car while they were ironically trying to go to a for shelter. then a few weeks ago, somebody -- one of my cousins died with seven of his sons. most recently, a few days ago, a baby in our family who is 20 days old froze to death in a died from hypothermia in the refugee camp that his family was in. this is after nine of his siblings and his father were murdered by the israeli military strikes a few weeks before. the people in my family who have not been killed are suffering a

fate worse than death. hundred semi family are displaced. not a single one of them is able to stay in their home. all of their homes are either damaged or destroyed. one of my family members had to give birth on the rubble of her home that was destroyed and did not even have clothing to put on her baby. famine is common. everyone of my family members has mentioned it. they have no access to clean water. they have had to recycle water. they have had dysentery and gastrointestinal illness. famine. one of my cousins messaged me all the time that says he goes 24 hours without food. to answer your question, knowing all this and knowing what i have gone through week after week, month after month checking every morning to see who is alive and dead and suffering and who can we help and as the dead rose to 100 in my family to 15,000 children all across gaza to

30,000 civilians, as i saw the famine happened, i just cap looking for -- kept looking for evidence that our government cares about the lives of my family. and i saw none. i kept waiting for his ceasefire that secretary blinken had the ability to do and he refused to do it. i kept waiting for a united nations resolution to call for a ceasefire, which u.s. continued to veto. i kept waiting for something. all i saw was the opposite. i saw our u.s. strategic middle -- military reserve been used to replenish the israeli ammunitions for this genocide. i saw cruelly a few days ago the withdrawal of funding for the united nations that was supplying military assistance to over too many people that are going through famine. -- 2 million people that are going through famine.

i wrote this letter to secretary blinken because i wanted him to see me and see palestinians as human beings, not as some part of political game or some sort of blame game. i wanted him to see us for who we were, human beings. i wanted him to put himself in my shoes and ask himself if he saw his family getting killed day after day, month after month as a direct result of the government's policies and he knew that somebody in that government could have done something to prevent those 100 people from dying, the suffering remaining hundreds of people, how could you sit in a room, given three minutes to face that person and face them knowing that that person has been directly responsible for the death of your family and all the suffering your family has seen? and do so simply as part of a political grandstanding? and

that is why i could not be there ethically because actions speak louder than words. i just wanted him to see as as human beings, to empathize and got -- and not play politics organs. nermeen: matt dr. tariq haddad,y give for joining us. and again our condolences for the horrific situation your family has lived through. dr. tariq haddad is a cardiologist and member of the virginia coalition for human rights. he refused to attend a meeting in d.c. with secretary state antony blinken. when we come back, we talk about starvation in gaza with alex de waal. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

nermeen: annie lennox performing billie holiday's "god bless the child." annie lennox called for a ceasefire at the end of her performance at the grammys. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm nermeen shaikh.

israel is being accused of using starvation as a weapon of war in gaza as israeli forces continue to severely restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid, food, and medical supplies to millions inside the besieged territory after four months of indiscriminate bombardment and mass displacement. u.n. human rights experts say -- guys as 2.3 million population is facing severe levels of hunger, with the risk of famine increasing every day. for more, we are joined by alex de waal, the executive director of the world peace foundation at tufts university and the author of "mass starvation: the history and future of famine." his piece for the guardian is "unless israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation." alex de waal, welcome to democracy now! layout the argument you have in your guardian peace. >> it is essentially while it may be possible to bomb a hospital, it is not possible to

create a famine by accident. and for some months now, particularly in mid december when the famine review committee -- which is sort of the highest level of humanitarian assessment in the world, independent, impartial, extremely discrete body of experts, said gaza is heading toward famine. it is already in catastrophe. these are technical terms. and unless there is an end to active hostilities by the israel i authorities and army and a full-spectrum of relief operations, it is inevitable that some time in the coming months -- they said beginning likely in early february -- under the technical definitions, gaza would be in famine.

so that is fair warning. the actions undertaken by the government of israel and the work of starvation is described does. using starvation of warfare by -- the main elements of the crime is destroying food, foodstuffs, hospitals, medical care, sanitation, shelter, etc. nermeen: alex, if you could clarify, we just have a minute, say palestinian children in gaza will die in the thousands even if the barriers to aid our lifted today. explain. >> humanitarian crisis is like a speeding freight train. even if the driver puts on the brakes as hard as he possibly

can come it will take many miles for that train to come to a stop. so the levels of malnutrition we are seeing, the exposure to infectious disease through polluted water, through lack of shelter, will mean this humanitarian crisis continues. this is not something that can be stopped overnight. and the fact even after these warnings were issued, even after the international court of justice issued its provisional measures instructing israel it had to undertake these key actions, that this has continued. and the united states has not stopped it makes them culpable for the crimes of starvation. nermeen: alex de waal, thank you for joining us, executive director of the world peace

foundation at tufts university. we will link to your article "unless israel changes course, it could be legally culpable for mass starvation." we will continue our conversation and post it on our website. thank you for joining us. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]