02/15/24 02/15/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> there was direct bombing to the hospital. they forced people inside the hospital -- including patients and health care workers to evacuate. amy: israeli troops storm the

largest hospital in southern gaza after a day's long siege. we'll get a report from a doctor inside nasser hospital and we'll go to rafah where fears are mounting that israel will launch a ground invasion. we'll also speak with the former head of human rights watch kenneth roth. then president biden is urging the house to vote on the multibillion-dollar foreign aid bill that includes $14 billion to israel. >> to help israel commit war crimes in gaza is an outrage. the senators who voted for it should be ashamed of themselves. we need a cease-fire, not more weapons to israel. amy: we will speak with bill hartung about washington skews the property. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in kansas city, missouri, at

least one person died and 22 were wounded during a shooting at the parade celebrating sunday's super bowl victory by the kansas city chiefs. a beloved local dj and mother named lisa lopez-galvan was killed in the shooting. she hosted a show on the local community radio station kkfi. they the kansas city fire department said eight of the shooting victims suffered "immediately life-threatening injuries." nine of the shooting victims were children. the kansas city schools were closed so kids could attend the parade. police have detained three people in connection to the shooting. police are still determining a motive but have ruled out terrorism. this is kansas city police chief stacey graves. >> i am angry at what happened today. the people who came to this

celebration should expect a safe environment. we had over 800 law enforcement officers, kansas city and other agencies, at the location to keep everyone safe. because of bad actors, which were very few, this tragedy occurred. even in the presence of uniformed law enforcement officers who ran towards them and took them to justice. amy: kansas city mayor quinton lucas said he and his wife had to run for safety during the shooting. >> parades, rallies, schools -- it seems like i must nothing is safe. we had hundreds of law enforcement working hard today. amy: missouri has some of the weakest gun control laws in the country with no universal background checks, no assault weapon restrictions, no bans on large capacity magazines, and no waiting periods to purchase a gun, and no domestic violence

gun laws. the shooting in kansas city came on the sixth anniversary of the parkland, florida, school massacre when a 19-year-old gunman shot dead 17 people and injured 17 others at marjory stoneman douglas high school. to mark the anniversary, gun control advocates traveled to washington to play for lawmakers a series of ai-generated audio messages featuring the voices of students killed in parkland. this is an ai-generated message from joaquin oliver, who was shot dead at the age of 17. >> hello, i am joaquin oliver. six years ago, i was a senior. many were murdered by a person using an ar-15 but you don't care. you never did. it has been six years and you have done nothing. not a thing to stop the shootings that have continued to happen since. the thing is, i died that day in parkland. my body was destroyed by a weapon of war.

i am back today because my parents used ai to re-create my voice to call you. other victims like me will be calling again and again to demand action. how many calls will it take for you to care? how many dead voices will you here before you finally listen? every day your inaction creates more voices. if you fail to act now, we will find someone who will. amy: the ai-generated audio appears on a new website called the shotline where the recordings can be sent to lawmakers. on wednesday, joaq oliver's parents manny and patricia were set to appear on cnn to talk about this new project when news broke about the shooting in kansas city. >> we had an entirely different interview that we were going to do here just to talk about some of the work you guys are doing on capitol hill trying to bring about awareness and change. and you see this happening as you are visiting washington. what is on your mind as you are watching this? >> i am not surprised at all.

it is like literally we interview -- we interrupt this interview because we have another mask shooting going on. you might be interrupting that one because there is going to be another one. amy: in news from gaza, israeli forces have bombed and raided nasser hospital in khan younis which the world health organization has described as the "backbone of the health system in southern gaza." the raid comes a day after israel ordered thousands of displaced palestinians and patients to evacuate. one doctor recorded an audio message from inside the hospital wednesday. >> now the drones -- they are announcing for all of those inside the hospital to move outside the hospital. the israeli soldiers and tanks surrounding the hospital from both sides, shootings continue. amy: israel is facing growing

international pressure to call out plans to launch a ground invasion of rafah, were over a million displaced palestinians have sought refuge. the leaders of canada, australia, new zealand have issued a joint statement calling for an immediate cease-fire warning and military operation into rafah would be "catastrophic." >> our effort is to do everything possible to stop israel from committing this crime of depopulated in the gaza strip and stopping the war immediately. the guarantee to do that is to have a resolution calling for a cease-fire and we hope the security council would elevate itself to that responsibility. amy: in other news from gaza, palestinian journalist mutaz al-ghafari was killed on wednesday in gaza city in an israeli airstrike that also

killed his wife and child. by one count, 125 journalists have been killed in gaza since october 7. ceasefire talks in egypt have broken down after israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu reportedly blocked israeli negotiators from returning to cairo for follow-up talks that -- to secure the release of israeli hostages held in gaza. in response, relatives of hostages have held protests outside the home of netanyahu and other members of israel's war cabinet. in a statement, one group of relatives said, "this decision amounts in effect to sacrificing knowingly all of the hostages' lives." at least 11 people, including six children, have been killed in southern lebanon in a wave of israeli strikes as tension along the israeli-lebanon border escalates. israel's attack came hours after a missile attack from lebanon killed an israeli soldier and wounded eight others. in news from russia, at least five people have died in a

suspected ukraine air attack on a shopping mall in the russian city of belgorod. 18 people were reportedly injured in the attack. this comes a day after ukrainian forces blew up a russian landing ship off the coast of occupied crimea. australia's parliament has overwhelmingly approved a motion calling for the release of imprisoned wikileaks founder julian assange, an al-shati and citizen. the vote came ahead of a critical appeal hearing before the british high court of justice in london next week. supporters of the resolution included australia's prime minister anthony albanese who has urged the united states to drop its request to extradite assange, who faces up to 175 years in a u.s. prison for publishing classified documents exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. assange has been held in london's infamous belmarsh prison since 2019 awaiting possible extradition to the u.s. prior to that, he spent seven

years inside ecuador's embassy in london. he had political exiles there. australian mp andrew wilkie introduced the resolution. >> this should be the time for all of us to take a stand, to stand up and take a stand and stand with julian assange, stand with the principles of justice. stand for the principles of media freedom and the rights of journalists to do their job. this has gone on too long. it must be brought to an end. i am confident this parliament can support this, then it will send a very powerful political signal to the british government and to the u.s. government. amy: to see the two tribunals held at the national press club last year, you can go to democracynow.org. in news from california, the bay area air quality management agency says it has won a decisive victory in a years-long legal battle against two oil refineries in the east bay.

in a pair of settlements, chevron and the martinez refining company have agreed to cut emissions and pay up to $138 million in penalties and fines for violating agency rules regulating airborne particulate matter. in labor news, thousands of uber and lyft drivers took part in a strike on wednesday demanding better pay and working conditions in what organizers say was the largest rideshare strike in u.s. history. delivery workers from doordash also took part. the valentine's day strike came on the same day that uber's stock price jumped to a new high after the company announced it would buy back up to $7 billion worth of company shares in a move that will benefit shareholders. in other labor news, flight attendants picketed at 30 airports tuesday in a national day of action demanding higher wages and a new contract. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york,

nermeen: and i am nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. israeli troops stormed the main hospital in southern gaza today after a days-long siege. nasser hospital in khan younis is the second largest hospital in gaza. thousands of displaced palestinians have been taking shelter there among hundreds of wounded. gaza's health ministry spokesperson ashraf al-qidra said in a statement that israeli forces demolished the southern wall of the complex and stormed the hospital, adding that they had turned it into a military barracks. he said troops targeted ambulances, tents of the displaced, and bulldozed mass graves inside the hospital. israeli troops have also ordered medical staff to transfer all patients to another wing of the complex, including patients in the intensive care unit and the nursery. hours earlier, israeli forces bombed a wing of the hospital, killing one patient and wounding several others. amy: democracy now! was able to

receive updates from inside the nasser hospital several hours before israeli troops stormed inside. dr. khaled alserr is one of the last remaining surgeons inside hospital. he described the bombing of the hospital as well as an incident when a quadcopter drone opened fire on doctors inside. you can hear the bombs falling in the background as he speaks. >> there was direct bombing to the hospital. they forced people inside the hospital, including patients -- oh, no. patients relatives and health-care workers evacuating immediately. you can hear in the background the continuous bombing in the hospital. an update just one hour ago, it

is 3:00 a.m. come at 2:00 a.m., the israeli army bombed the hospital directly which it directly into the patients's war ds. one of the patients died. the israeli army is trying to communicate with the people inside the hospital, try to warn them to evacuate immediately even after midnight -- shouting the people have to go out of the hospital immediately or they will bomb the hospital. unfortunately, they have committed the warning and bombed the hospital directly just one hour ago.

evacuation is getting worse every minute. yesterday i tried to evacuate my parents from the hospital because i have them here with me .

nermeen: that was dr. khaled al serr, one of the last remaining surgeons inside nasser hospital. israeli troops stormed inside

the hospital a few hours after he sent in those reports. the rate on nasser hospital -- raid on nasser hospital in khan younis comes as fears are mounting that israel will act on its stated plans to launch a ground invasion into rafah, the southernmost part of gaza. it had previously been declared a safe zone. over half of gaza's population, some 1.4 million people -- including over 600,00 children -- are crammed into rafah after being displaced from their homes and driven south during israel's brutal assault. massive tent encampments are pushing up to the egyptian border. international pressure is mounting for israel to call off its ground invasion. the u.n.'s top humanitarian official martin griffiths said that an assault on rafah "could lead to a slaughter." amy: we go now to rafah where we are joined by journalist akram al-satari. welcome back to democracy now! we have just heard these chilling reports from inside nasser hospital right before

israel occupied it and the bombing of it. you have sent out a picture of some of the ammunition used by the israeli military. explain what happened inside and also what is happening around you in rafah. >> the situation continues to be extremely dire. inside nasser medical, occupation forces have been targeting the facility. they were destroying the walls of the hospital come the exterior of the hospital. they targeted the surgery department in the hospital and injured at least -- when he was inside come the surgery department. they ask people to leave the hospital and when they leave the hospital, they shot them dead. they i asked him one guy a man was killed ande

ground. around 80 bodies in front of the gates of nasser hospital come up to 200 meters away from the hospital. fear, death, and shock are enslaving the people. the occupation forces continue targeting nasser hospital, continuing to ask people to leave and then when they leave they snipe them. there is disturbing video of people being eaten by the dogs and stray cats. people who are just describing the horrors and documenting -- and when they target nasser hospital and are still targeting

another hospital not far away. 2.5 kilometers. they continue the same policy. the policy of targeting the complexes, the medical personnel, the patients, escorts, and spreading the fear and destruction in the area. some of the people inside khan younis were pulling their beds -- they were pulling the beds for around five or six or seven kilometers to reach rafah. where i am located now has been receiving number seven to people who were inside nasser hospital. they are trying to expand the capacity of the hospital, accommodate the influx of people who are fleeing for safety, for their lives. they end up staying in

tents. a large number of people who are already staying inside the hospital, preventing them from accommodating any additional number of people injured. the health system has been struggling. the infrastructure of the whole city of rafah cannot accommodate the large number of palestinians inside rafah. around 1.2 million palestinians were staying in rafah and now tens of thousands of them are leaving rafah and are headed toward khan younis and gaza's central area with fear of the limited ground invasion that is likely to be a replication of everything that was done in gaza in the north and everything in khan younis. people were hopeful the icj, international court of justice, would at least make israel reconsider its tactics when it comes to humans and health

facilities and journalists. it looks like israel is continuing the same approach, the very same way of targeting. we were hopeful that israel would not be targeting nasser hospital. unfortunately, the cont targetis continuing. people are being targeted and killed most of even the ones injured are being left to die on the ground. people were describing the atrocities they have been saying. screaming for help but they could not help them. people are now crying over people still working in khan younis and cannot be reached or rescued and they are likely to lose their lives like many others who lost their lives very same way. rafah is the place for around

1.2 million callista indians. no good -- rafah is the place for around 1.2 million palestinians. no good infrastructure. it is overburdening the ministry of health and the international organizations. concern has been voiced by unrwa , unicef, united nations -- they are warning any ground offensive targeting rafah is going to result in a catastrophe. a catastrophe that is bigger and much more bigger than the one that took place in the gaza in the north and the one taking place right now in khan younis. people in gaza believe no single international power is able to bring an end to the ongoing misery that has been caused by the ongoing occupation and

indiscriminate targeting as described by some of the palestinians. some are already recovering and some are struggling for their lives and some of them are deprived from the basic humanitarian needs to food and water. water is missing in gaza. who'd is missing in gaza. people have been struggling not for their own food needs but for their children's foods needs. the situation is dire. it is life-threatening that needs imminent intervention for the sake of stopping any atrocities that are likely to happen and top and atrocities that are taking place. many of the gazans i spoke to, many worried about their safety and worried about the future and what it holds for them. they think it is about time that something happens.

they think they have suffered enough, have died enough, have been hungry enough, thirsty enough, homeless enough and this is the outcry not only of the 1.2 million gazans in rafah -- but also the millions who are in gaza in the north, khan younis, and rafah. people have been deprived from access to very basic essentials. food and water supplies. they have been struggling. they have been facing famine. they have seen children die from hunger. this is the cry from them to the world that this needs to stop. i'm quoting the people were talking to me, the madness needs to come to an end. as i'm talking to you, the unmanned drones are all over the gaza strip. continues bombardment in different parts of rafah and gaza at-large and they continue to take the lives and hopes of

the palestinians. those who live in rafah and gaza alike. the number of people injured is an conceivable. the number of people killed and the way they are being killed is also an conceivable. they expect more suffering is coming if the international community fails once again to protect them. nermeen: if you could right now standing outside the hospital, we can hear possibly a drone overhead, if you can describe the situation there. you mentioned how palestinians are lacking even the most basic essentials -- food, water. tell us what humanitarian aid is getting in, if any. >> i can describe the situation. i have to describe the way i'm feeling about things and how things are unfolding. every single time i walk one

step in gaza, i imagine myself being blown up by an unmanned drone or f-16 missile or quad copter or whatever weapon used by israel. and every single home i passed by, i feel this home like be targeted and i might be ending up dying and killed under the rubble of that house. every single place. i moved from my home six times. i am homeless and displaced six times now. people in rafah are deprived from everything, even the very basic essential things. essential things that are needed to live a normal life or seminormal life or life of displaced people. the people are unique and different. all over the world people are receiving water and food supplies.

for identifying the calories data for people to stay alive at the time of famine or conflict, man-made or natural disaster. people are not even accessing the very limited -- the threshold of food needed for people in gaza is not met. people in rafah and other areas have to do -- what would they have to do to survive? some people in the north ground corn to make sure they could make bread for the family. they don't have rice or water or canned food. they don't have anything. they have been calling for the world to stop that. the very emotional think about that is that everything that is happening, including the most

shocking things come are happening live on air. people are documenting deaths, hunger, thirst, injuries. people even documenting the hospitals when they are being raided by the israeli occupation forces and the whole world is watching and not doing anything. and that feeling of helplessness is another way to kill the palestinians. there killed once by the ongoing bombardment taking place that has been documented and the second time by not offering help for those people by serving justice and stopping aggression. the situation is extremely dire. you will never be able to imagine that things that are happening. when you're walking down the street and see small children crying for food, when you see hundreds of people lining up for a limited one pot of rice or

food and they are struggling to get some of that to bring back to their families, when you see small children staying unaccompanied because they lost their whole family, when you see one man who buried his whole family and is walking on the street losing his mind because he lost his wife, father, mother, house, hope in life. i saw many people talking to themselves down the street. i saw many people crying because they have no one to cry too. they have no one to look after them. they have no one to console them. know what to even offer them some kind words. they are driven insane because of that. the situation is an conceivable. it has affected all aspects of lives of gazans and has destroyed many lives and is likely to destroy any hope that

gaza would survive. and i think this is the plan, to break gaza and make it uninhabitable and destroy any possibility for gazans to rebuild or just retake their life again. amy: gaza now has the highest percentage of people facing acute food insecurity anywhere in the world. finally, akram al-satarri, as we watch on the ground in rafah, and we thank you and your cameraman and understand the risks you face, i am wondering if you question even whether to wear the vest you are wearing this as "press"? in this week, bringing to possibly over 120 the number of journalists killed, the israeli drones struck a pair of al jazeera journalists on tuesday seriously injuring correspondent

who had his leg amputated and his cameraman, in a european hospital. then yesterday, a palestinian journalist was killed in gaza city in an israeli airstrike that also killed his wife and his child. did you know these reporters? how are you protecting yourself? >> well, as a matter fact, one was a friend of mine. the last time i shook hands with him was three days ago. unfortunately, he has no hand now because his hand and his arm was amputated and he is struggling for his life right now. he is one of my neighbors, one of my friends. i know him well. he is a nice and kind person. i also know the one who struggling for his life now because of unexpected hemorrhage due to his injuries. i know many other journalists

who were targeted and killed because of the israeli bombardment. i know they had lives and families and careers that should be protected. i know they were targeted and killed despite the fact they're protected. i know it is not only the journalists who were killed, also some humanitarian aid people were killed and unrwa people working to serve the population that is displaced and they were killed also. i know many other people who are caring for other people and they ended up being killed. the killing is massive. i think no one in gaza is protected. no safe haven. i think there is every single person in gaza now lacks that since of safety and security. we all understand that we are going to be suspended killed people and we know it is just a matter of time when israel will reach anyone of us and kill

anyone of us or our families or friends. this is the situation. it is different when it is about the people you know. it is different when it is about the people you love. when they shake your hand, smile and say good morning or good night. it is the personal stories of the people that make sense sometimes on the verge of collapse and breaking, but we understand we have a miss hearing -- mission to fulfill which is to communicate the voices and show the suffering people have been enduring. it is a story of the whole population. it is a story of a whole nation that has been under considerable fear and horror because discriminate fire. it is the duty to continue to

work and ending this atrocity now. i think the consciousness of the world has been stained by the ongoing atrocities. i think once who were killed, the guiltless, those hoping they would survive and build their lives and continue growing and loving their friends and ended up killing, i think they deserve -- which is ending this aggression and enhancing and bringing about a cease-fire. amy: kenneth roth, --akram al-satarri, thank you so much for being with us, risking her life to bring us this report. gaza-based journalist, joining from rafah in southern gaza. next step, we speak with the former head of human rights watch can roth. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "alief" by haytham safia. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: south africa has urged the international court of justice to take action if israel goes ahead with its planned ground invasion of rafah. in a statement, the south african government said it is concerned israel's actions in rafah will result in "further large-scale killing, harm and destruction" and breach the genocide convention. >> south africa is totally horrified at what is happening, continuing to happen to the people of gaza and the west bank and now rafah. we believe this confirms the allegation we have tabled before the icj that genocide is

underway in the palestinian territories, in the occupied territories. clearly, the actions of the israeli government prove what we have said is -- amy: for more, we're joined in geneva, switzerland, ken roth, visiting professor at the princeton school of public and international affairs. he served for nearly three decades as the executive director of human rights watch. welcome to democracy now! we just heard this devastating report on the ground from a journalist in rafah in gaza, and then we hear the south african foreign affairs minister talking about the renewed appeal they're making to the international court of justice. can you explain what is happening and what this imminent ground invasion, that is what is about to happen in rafah means, and if you think international law can deal with this? >> i think as everybody knows,

the israeli military is gradually moving from northern to southern gaza. the last place left, the supposed safe place -- at this point we have heard 1.2 million palestinians have congregated -- is rafah. there's no place else to go within gaza. not surprisingly, there are hamas people there so netanyahu is saying we want to invade rafah. there's this problem, the review massive bloodshed if that happens. even the biden administration is saying, don't do it until you evacuate the civilian population. yet yahoo! has said, i will -- netanyahu a sit i will evacuate but there been no plans whatsoever. if you lead to the desk listen to the far right people in his cabinet, people whose vote netanyahu to pins on to stay in power and out of prison, they

say the only evacuation they want is into egypt, out of gaza, a forced deportation, probably another nakba. everybody is telling netanyahu the people someplace else within gaza but there is no place else that is say. netanyahu needs to keep the war going. once it ends, he is likely to be out of a job. we are sorted in this dilemma. the international court of justice could intervene. the order it issued last month had basically three elements to it. one was take far greater care not to kill civilians. two was to allow in humanitarian aid. and three was for israeli government officials to stop the incitement of genocide. as far as we can tell, it is only the statements that have

stopped. there is no greater aid. they killing has not stopped. israel has to report back to the international court of justice on february 23. i have no idea what they will say because they basically ignored the order. there is a possibility even before the 23rd, the we'll hear this emergency application from south africa. i think it is worth noting in the original case, south africa sought a cease-fire but i never thought that was in the cards because only the israeli governments, states are before the criminal court of justice. hamas was not there. rafah is different. there's not a lot of fighting by hamas from rafah, but rather this is a proposed invasion by israeli forces. it is conceivable the icj would order a halt to that. that begs the question who enforces that? the u.n. security council has that power that requires contending with u.s. veto, with biden.

the person who has the most power to stop this is joe biden. but so far, while he has been outspoken, he has not been willing to put any teeth in his words, most significantly, not willing to stop or even condition the $3.8 billion in annual u.s. military aid or the massive arm sales to israel. those are the kinds of steps that if taken, netanyahu would be forced to listen to. so far, biden's words are empty and netanyahu ignores them. nermeen: if you could say more about this enforcement or lack of enforcement mechanism at the international court of justice. you wrote a piece last month in the guardian in the political pressure despite the lack of enforcement mechanism that the political pressure on israel would be such they would have to in some sense comply. a couple of questions.

first, what would happen february 23 as israel is supposed report back, is a possible they do not report back? and then they international criminal court which takes individuals to court, who are the people you just mentioned ben-gvir and smotrich, who are the people icc could prosecute? and your response to what kareem con sofar has said? >> in terms of what is the pressure on israel, i think it can be broken down to three elements. one is just the utter embarrassment of having it found to be possibly committing genocide. most governments, that would be sufficient to force them to step back. but this is netanyahu. as i mentioned, netanyahu's political future and, frankly,

his personal liberty far at stake. netanyahu has always prioritized himself. ending the war means this political reckoning. this investigation into what happened. he just not want that to go forward so he keeps fighting, hoping somehow to survive, somehow to stay out of prison. this shaming is not working. the economic pressure that joe biden could exert on israel would be very powerful to stop the u.s. military aid, to stop the arms sales, that would be incredibly powerful as a statement. joe biden is nowhere near that. he is speaking nice words and saying take greater care for people, but there's nothing backing that out. netanyahu basically is thumbing his nose a joe biden because there is no clout behind the

nice words. the final source or pressure, the international criminal court. just to make clear, there are two tribunals in the hague. one is the international court of justice, which is a civil tribunal that hears complaints between states. that is were south africa brought its genocide case, the court made a ruling that israel is possibly committing genocide and issue the three basic orders i outline. the second is the international criminal court. it prosecute individuals. it tends to focus on the most senior responsible officials. that means it is going to look at the chain of command. it is quite clear in this case, the orders with respect to dropping these two 2000 pound bombs causing such devastation in gaza, the orders to allow it only drips indirect of humanitarian or medical aid and

these are orders that are coming from the top. i think the people most vulnerable would be benjamin netanyahu and the defense minister gallant. is karim khan, the chief prosecutor, going to act? we don't know. he has had the palestine kasich january 2021 but he has gone very slowly. so far all we have gotten from him is a couple of nice, eloquent statements before the media. he is very eloquent and these are nice statements, but nothing else. we are all waiting for the war crimes charges. what hamas did on october 7 is a blatant war crime. hamas leadership is very

vulnerable. i don't see karim khan only charging hamas given the pervasive starvation and deaths in gaza, so he is going to have to look at both sides and is not think quickly. if you were to move akleh, that would wake people -- move quickly, that would wake people up. amy: in terms of crimes against humanity, the cutting of aid to unrwa, the u.s. the largest contributor to the u.n. palestine relief agency, can you talk about the significance of this and the senate bill that was passed by democrats and republicans, not only giving $14 billion in military aid to israel, but cutting aid to unrwa that runs the hospitals, the schools, to millions of palestinians in gaza and in

other places as well? and israel particularly targeting hospitals? >> amy, the treatment of unrwa has been despicable. the israeli government claims that 12 unrwa employees out of 12,000 in gaza, that 12 took part in hamas's october 7 attack. we don't know whether that is true or not but unrwa did everything that israel conceivably could have imagined. it fired staff members, immediately launched an investigation. it did everything you would want. but israel's attack on unrwa is not about those 12 staff members. israel has wanted to get rid of unrwa forever. this is accentuated by the fact international justice relied

repeatedly on descriptions five unrwa of the awful reality, the starvation, attacks on hospitals and the like. but israel hates unrwa because it believes that unrwa is responsible for the palestinian refugee problem. this is utterly naïve. unrwa is a humanitarian aid agency. it runs schools and clinics not only in gaza and the west bank and east jerusalem, but also lebanon, syria, jordan -- wherever palestinian refugees are. the israeli government view is if unrwa were to disappear tomorrow, palestinian refugees would somehow forget they are palestinian refugees and this desire to return to their homes and israel would evaporate. this is a way of whitewashing history. we don't have to talk about

1948, don't have to talk about the fact there were 600,000 palestinians who were forcibly displaced by israeli forces that have never been permitted back to israel. that just disappears. we will forget about that and get rid of unrwa. this is naïve, but that is the israeli government line. what is despicable, joe biden fell for this and suspended aid to unrwa, followed by 18, 19 other governments. it would be one thing to believe this kind of propaganda in ordinary times, but this is in the middle of a war, in a situation where there is by all accounts widespread starvation in gaza, impending famine for significant part of the population, and unrwa is the

main vehicle to deliver the drips and wraps of aid. the other groups got together and issued a collective statement there is no way we can people come close to replicating unrwa's staff. if you devastate unrwa, which the funding suspension does, unrwa says they will have to shut down by mid-march. to get rid of unrwa is to condemn the palestinian population and gaza to death by starvation. that is what is going on right now because israel has this ideological vendetta against unrwa and his hopes that it can somehow disappear the palestinian refugee problem. amy: ken roth, we have to leave it there. next up, we go to bill hartung as president biden urges the house to vote on the senate's foreign aid bill that includes $14 billion to israel.

stay with us. ♪ [music br amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: here in the united states, president biden is urging house to approve a $95 billion for a bill that includes $14 billion of military aid to israel $60 billion in military , and economic aid for ukraine and $8 billion in aid for allies like taiwan. independent senator bernie sanders opposed the measure,

joined by two democratic senators who broke ranks with their party. jeff merkley and peter welch. this is welch. >> i voted against the supplemental for one key reason. i cannot in good conscience support sending millions of additional taxpayer dollars for prime minister netanyahu's military campaign in guys are. it is a campaign that has killed and wounded a shocking number of civilians. it has created a massive humanitarian crisis with no end in sight. it has inflamed tensions in the middle east, eroding support among arab states that have been aligned with israel. it has severely compromised any remaining hope, almost all remaining hope for the two state solution that we all know is ultimately essential for peace in the middle east.

amy: that is vermont senator peter welch, the foreign aid package now faces an uncertain teacher in the republican-controlled house. for more, we are in new york with william hartung national , security & foreign policy expert at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. his new piece for forbes is headlined "senate aid package underscores washington's skewed priorities." welcome back to democracy now! talk about what this bill represents, which is largely supported by democrats. >> the first thing that got to me is $95 billion, most of it to ship weapons overseas into war zones. this senate would never do an emergency bill to stop record homelessness, stop hunger, deal with the climate crisis. the u.s. has the worst record of

life expectancy of any industrialized country and yet we are putting the bulk of our resources into implements of war . of course, to give israel more money to continue the slaughter of gaza that we have seen laid out in this program is obscene. i think i members who voted for it should be ashamed of themselves. i think the real point is to stop the killing. there has to be a cease-fire. president biden, through cutting off conditioning military aid, has the strongest hand to try to do that. there has to be more pressure. i know there has been a lot of the grassroots level and some of the government level, but it has to continue. i think the goal has to be to stop the slaughter. nermeen: the senate vote came just after the eu policy chief urged the u.s. and other countries to stop providing arms to israel. if you could respond to that, how common is it, first of all, for the eu foreign policy chief

to make such a pronouncement? and whether this kind of pressure will affect the biden administration's policy? >> it is very unusual to see that kind of statement from an ally. but this is a very unprecedented and devastating situation. i don't know what exactly is going to move the president. it is clear it will hurt him electorally. it is running the risk of a wider middle east war. there is really no realistic point of view -- from a realistic point of view, no reason to be doing this. ideological issue that seems to be embedded in the president's consciousness that has to be dislodged. amy: bill hartung, of talked about how the military contractors are exploiting russia's invasion of ukraine to get special favors to push arms out the door without proper

vetting, building more factories without oversight. can you explain? >> the industry has had this long-standing list of things they wanted. push arms quickly, less human rights vetting, more subsidies to build factories. and of course this reduced scrutiny will make it easier for them to engage in price gouging. they have wrapped themselves in the flag with respect to ukraine. the president has called in the arsenal of democracy. i think it would be a surprise to the people of yemen and others. they are trying to run with this and change the whole argument about whether we should be spending more on the military at a time of the budget is soaring toward one trillion nose a year, this accounts for 40% of the world looks or spending -- military spending. there has to be some pushback. it is a new cold war atmosphere in its attempt to whitewash the

negative consequences of what these companies do. contractors in about half of that that was spent on the military. an code finally, if president biden says he is warning israel, for example, against a ground invasion of rafah, but then increasing funding to israel and military funding, what message is that sending? >> i think anything this administration says about human rights, rule of law, rules-based international order, rings hollow in respect to supporting israel in this war. i think it will reverberate well beyond -- the u.s. will not be taken as seriously when they raise these issues in the future. lee is it horrific for the people of gaza, but it undermines the united states where they would want to play

constructive role. it is hard to imagine a more damaging for policy situation. amy: bill hartung, thank you for being with us national security , & foreign policy expert at the quincy institute for responsible statecraft. we will link to your piece "senate aid package underscores washington's skewed priorities." [captioning made possible by democracy now!]