03/07/24 03/07/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> the fact there have been over 100 sales to israel authorized by the state department since october 7 demonstrates how the biden administration is just continuing to flow arms and the biden administration is not serious when they're talking about putting pressure on israel

opening humanitarian passages were a ceasefire. amy: as he biden administration expresses concern for division -- civilian casualties in gaza, a new investigation finds the white house has flooded israel with more than 100 separate weapon sales, almost all without congressional approval. we'll speak with former state department official josh paul who oversaw foreign arms sales and resigned in protest over u.s. support for israel's assault on gaza. we will also get the latest on ceasefire talks that remain at an impasse days before the muslim holy month of ramadan begins. and we go to pakistan where shehbaz sharif was sworn in as prime minister for a second time amid protests and accusations of election rigging. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

a gaza ceasefire before the start of ramadan and peers -- appears increasingly unlikely after talks ended in cairo without an agreement. hamas says negotiations will continue. israel reportedly boycotted the recent talks. the official death toll in gaza has topped 30,800 in the five months since israel's assault began. at least another 72,000 palestinians have been wounded. the group refugees international is warning israel's persistent blocking of humanitarian aid into gaza has created apocalyptic conditions inside the besieged territory. at least 20 gazans have starved to death. the youngest victim day old. , a as several countries have started conducting air drops into gaza, the world food program cautioned, "airdrops are

a last resort and will not avert famine." this is a soup kitchen volunteer in rafah. >> our hearts are being squeezed when a child comes over and says, "i want to have rice and chicken." we are unable to provide rice, let alone chicken. this is not only a war civilians, it is a war on food, starvation. we cannot find bread to eat. and because south africa has -- amy: south africa has requested the international court of justice take additional emergency measures in gaza, including ordering a ceasefire. south africa, which brought the genocide case against israel at the icj, said, "the threat of all-out famine has now materialized. the court needs to act now to stop the imminent tragedy." canada says it will resume funding to unrwa after it halted support for the u.n. agency in january following israeli claims

12 unrwa staff were involved in the october 7 attacks. 16 countries suspended their funding for the agency, ringing -- ringing it close to collapse amid a spiraling humanitarian disaster in gaza. a new investigation by "the washington post" reveals the biden administration has quietly approved over 100 weapons sales to israel while publicly calling for restraint and decrying the mounting civilian death toll. we will have more on that story later in the broadcast. u.s. military officials said wednesday a houthi missile attack on a commercial ship in the gulf of aden killed at least three people. it's the first known deaths as a result of the houthi campaign against israel- and u.s.-linked vessels. the ship that was attacked appears to have been barbados-flagged, greece-operated, and liberia-owned. u.s. and u.k. forces have launched multiple attacks inside

yemen since the houthi strikes started in protest of israel's war on gaza. here in new york, a delegation of palestinian-americans who have lost relatives in gaza joined u.n. palestinian envoy riyad mansour at a security council press conference wednesday. this is dr. rula ela-farra, who lost over 150 family members to -- since october 7. >> in december, one of our family members was murdered in his home by an israeli airstrike with his nine young children. his unfortunate wife survived. she was eight months pregnant. she was displaced to an evacuation cap where she gave birth to her baby boy one month later in january. her newborn infant died 20 days later from the cold and harsh conditions in the camps. every minute signifies the loss

of a life, starvation of a child. we need an immediate end permanent, not temporary, permanent ceasefire now. amy: in washington, d.c., activists have set up a protest in front of the israeli embassy. israeli-american activist miko peled says the protest has disrupted embassy business and is calling on more people to join the action until the embassy is forced to shut down. >> palestinian flags have clearly taken over the other flag that is being flown here. the flag of hope is clearly taking over the flag of hate and apartheid. this is the apartheid embassy. look at all this. it is brilliant. as far as the eye can see. amy: the son of a famous israeli general. in austin, texas, multiple musical acts have pulled out of

the south by southwest festival over its ties to the u.s. military and military contractors including rtx corporation, formerly known as raytheon. rtx supplies weapons to israel. outside the united states, brazil's central workers union, which represents over 7.4 million workers, has called on the brazilian government to cancel all military cooperation with israel. in canada, rights groups are suing the global affairs ministry for exporting military goods and technology to israel during its assault on gaza. in ukraine, a russian attack on the port city of odesa killed at least five people according to the ukrainian navy. the strike came as president volodymyr zelenskyy was taking greek prime minister kyriakos mitsotakis on a tour of the war-ravaged city where 12 people, including children, were killed in a drone attack last week. the greek prime minister spoke after wednesday's attack, which

the two leaders heard as they were getting into their cars following the tour. >> and i think this is one more reason why all european leaders should come to ukraine because it is one thing to hear the description from the mass media or president zelenskyy, with whom you regularly communicate, and it is completely different to experience the war firsthand. amy: in russia, yulia navalnaya, the widow of the late opposition leader alexei navalny, is urging voters to protest president vladimir putin at the polls in the march 17 election. >> we need to use the election date to show we exist and there are many of us. we are real, live, we are against putin. we need to come to the polling station at the same day and time. it is up to you to choose what

to do next. you can vote for any candidate but putin. you can write on it in big letters, "navalny." amy: "the miami herald" is reporting the biden administration is pressuring haiti's unelected prime minister ariel henry to resign amid an armed uprising against his rule. according to a u.s. document obtained by "the herald," the biden administration has proposed henry to "step down" in the near future. the state department pushed back on the report, but the u.n. ambassador linda thomas greenfield confirmed the u.s. has asked henry to form a transitional council that would involve the appointment of a new prime minister. over the past three years, the u.s. has been a key backer of henry, who is deeply popular in haiti. last week, henry visited kenya to discuss a plan to send 1000 international police officers to haiti. henry is now in puerto rico unable to safely return home.

nikki haley suspended her presidential campaign wednesday after losing all but vermont to donald trump on super tuesday. haley declined to endorse trump, or any other candidate, as she announced the end of her campaign. >> in all likelihood, donald trump will be the republican nominee when our party convention meets in july. i congratulate him and wish him well. it is now up to donald trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. and i hope he does that. amy: president biden made a pitch to haley's supporters, saying -- "i know there is a lot we won't agree on. but on the fundamental issues of preserving american democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving nato and standing up to america's adversaries, i hope and believe we can find common ground." on capitol hill, senate

republican leader mitch mcconnell, who is leaving his leadership post in november, endorsed donald trump. in 2021, mcconnell said trump was morally and practically responsible for the january 6 insurrection and called trump's actions a "disgraceful dereliction of duty." in more related news, the supreme court has set april 25 as the date to hear arguments over whether trump is immune from criminal prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss. president biden will deliver his state of the union address tonight before a joint session of congress. biden is expected to call for increasing taxes on billionaires and corporations. first lady dr. jill biden's guests include uaw president shawn fein and the prime minister of sweden. numerous lawmakers are inviting relatives of hostages held in gaza. congressmember cori bush is

bringing dr. intimaa salama, a palestinian dentist and graduate student from st. louis university who has lost 35 relatives in israel's assault on gaza. republican congressmember thomas massie has invited the brother of julian assange, the imprisoned wikileaks editor who is facing u.s. extradition and if found guilty in u.s. court, 175 years in jail he could have to serve. senator tim kaine is bringing elizabeth carr, the first woman born by ivf in the united states. and republican house speaker mike johnson has invited the parents of evan gershkovich, the "wall street journal" reporter imprisoned in russia. alabama republican governor kay ivey signed into law a bill protecting in-vitro fertilization clinics and doctors from lawsuits and prosecution. lawmakers scrambled to pass the

legislation after the alabama supreme court ruled last month frozen embryos have the same rights as children, sending shock waves through the medical community. at least three clinics suspended treatments in alabama in response to the ruling. two of those said they will now resume treatment. reproductive rights advocates cautioned the new law does not fully resolve the issue as it does not address whether a frozen embryo can be considered a child. to see our segments on ivf, go to democracynow.org. france became the first country in the world to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution. following the 780-to-72 vote, the eiffel tower was lit up with the phrase "my body my choice." abortion has been legal in france since 1975, but lawmakers decided to take the additional step in direct response to the

u.s. supreme court overturning roe v. wade in 2022. this is leftist lawmaker mathilde panot. >> we are celebrating a historic victory. our vote is a promise to the future. never will our children, grandchildren, great rain children have to relive the torment that preceded them. it is a promise to all women around the world, we are fighting for the right to have control over their bodies in argentina, united states, italy, hungary, poland. this vote tells them their fight is ours and this victory is theirs. amy: new york governor kathy hocul has announced a plan to deploy 1000 members of the national guard and state police to patrol new york city subway stations and to check bags of passengers. new york civil liberties union head donna lieberman condemned

to mental health care." and in new mexico, a jury found hannah gutierrez reed, the weapons handler on the film "rust," guilty of involuntary manslaughter for the 2022 killing of cinematographer halyna hutchins by a loaded prop gun. jurors agreed that gutierrez reed, whose father is a prominent armorer in hollywood, displayed "willful disregard for the safety of others." she faces up to 18 months in prison. alec baldwin, who fired the gun during a rehearsal, is the star and a producer of "rust."

he will face his own manslaughter trial in july. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. a hamas delegation in cairo for ceasefire talks has left egypt, accusing israel of "forging -- "thwarting" efforts to reach a deal but that talks would resume next week. senior hamas official sami abu zuhri told reuters that israel is insisting on rejecting israel's assault on gaza, ensuring the entry of aid, and facilitating the return of displaced palestinians back to their homes in gaza. negotiators from hamas, qatar, and egypt -- but not israel -- were in cairo trying to secure a 40-day ceasefire in time for the muslim holy month of ramadan, which begins early next week.

with the talks at an impasse and set to resume next week, that unofficial deadline for a deal appears highly unlikely. amy: on tuesday, president biden urged a to accept the terms on the table and claimed a rational offer had been made for ceasefire in exchange for the release of israeli hostages. he told reporters -- "it's in the hands of hamas right now. if we get to the circumstance that it continues to ramadan, it's going be very dangerous." as the talks have been underway, israel has continued its relentless bombardment of gaza. killing over 80 people in the last 24 hours. the death toll after nearly five months of the assault is at least 30,800 killed and nearly 73,000 wounded. meanwhile, hunger has reached catastrophic levels as a result of israel's siege. at least 20 palestinians have died from malnutrition and

dehydration according to the health ministry. for more, we are joined by tahani mustafa, senior palestine analyst at the international crisis group. she's normally based in ramallah in the occupied west bank, but is joining as today from qatar she is attending a symposium. welcome to democracy now! can you start off by talking about the situation on the ground and these ceasefire talks? hamas is saying israel sabotage the talks and hamas has left cairo. then we are getting word that some negotiations are still underway. >> negotiations at the moment are very precarious. we have seen the ceasefire deal being offered by israel and the u.s. -- by the what can unilaterally come up with conditions -- it appears to be politically

calculated move so they can essentially point the plaintiff at hamas if it fails. what we have seen what has been offered is they offer very little to both hamas and gaza. there's no guarantee in terms of aid. israel is already climbing there allowing sufficient amount of aid, contrary to what human rights organizations are saying. we have already seen they are -- hamas and gazans, they see it as a positive killing machine where hamas has ever hostages, surrenders, and the killing machine resumes. nermeen: could you explain why what is remarkable about the talks, israel is refusing to participate in the talks that were held in caressing hamas

must provide a list of elderly and sick hostages that would be the first to be released. can you explain what the obstacles are too revealing such a list and why hamas is hesitant to do so? >> is not necessarily hesitancy, it is the difficulty in terms of trying to -- how many are alive. there could very well be hostages being held captive by other groups. given the difficulty in terms of movement due to the -- it has made it difficult to gather any concrete numbers, especially in terms of how many are actually alive. it is more the logistics of being able to provide proper list that is holding hamas back. nermeen: what are the risks of an agreement not being reac

hed next week? there were concerns israel would go ahead with its rafah invasion. >> next week marks the beginning of ramadan. for the last couple of years, we have seen ramadan has been a provocative time. it had everything to do with provocations and east jerusalem. if we don't see, which we are most likely not going to end up saying, ceasefire or some kind of pause before ramadan, given the escalation of violence, this could be catastrophic. not just for gaza in terms of what is looming invasion of rafah, which israeli analysts are warning not if but when, in east jerusalem where israel has so far claimed it is not going

to limit access but we've seen in the past it has done that. it has been arbitrary in terms of that time and tradition they put in terms of limitation on access. how that has led, especially in the last two years, the escalation of violence. amy: in the next segment, we're going to talk more extensive about this "washington post" exposé that says the u.s. has flooded israel quietly with about 100 weapons transfers that have not been -- most of them -- approved by congress. can you talk about the significance of president biden saying we must get more aid into gaza, there are no excuses, none, yet at the same time the things that stopping them is the

israeli bombardment, the stopping of the aid groups, the u.s. as supported when it comes to gaza, back cap by bombs, missiles, and ammunition. >> precisely. the u.s. have done very little in terms of putting any pressure on israel to limit some of the violence on the ground, limit the intensity of its military campaign. at the same time, complaining there are not sufficient aid routes. the u.s. has the leverage to ensure there are sufficient aid. they have the leverage to ensure israel abides by the provisional measures set out by the icj when it is claimed -- when it comes to genocide. but it has not done that. there is no redline, no pressure being put on israel. we are saying things like aid drops were even in terms of nutritional value, sufficiency,

they don't even come close to meeting the needs of must gazans in the north. it is more of a kind of posturing of u.s. efforts in diplomacy more than anything. nermeen: apart from what is going on in gaza, if you could talk about what the situation in the occupied west bank has been since october 7. >> the situation has been incredibly dire. given all the media attention on gaza, there hasn't been much focus in terms of a lot of the violations that have been happening in the west bank wherein the first month alone, we saw an uptick in israeli settler violence. 16 communities displaced. we saw the west bank being put under an economic siege which has lasted until today, by the way. there have been restrictions on movement where you had people

cut off from the northern part of the west bank. road closures and roadblocks. worse yet, most of the flashpoints in the west bank were primarily in the north and places like jenin and that is pretty much spread across the board. you are seeing places where militancy was not an issue prior to october. worse yet, you are seeing similar images to where using the destruction of localities in gaza where you are now seeing those exact same images but on a smaller scale in places like jenin refugee camp where israeli soldiers have razed these neighborhoods to the groundcover destroyed electricity lines, sanitation, water, cultural centers which use serve as a form of civic expression and mechanisms for younger

palestinians to present and more peaceful forms. now out of necessity, they are moving toward militancy and armed resistance. where these neighborhoods have become practically uninhabitable. you've seen a significant uptick in terms of the violence not from settlers, but in the west bank alone, something like 420 palestinians killed and the majority of those have been through search and arrest and targeted assassinations. amy: one of the reported parts of the ceasefire are hostages released as well as palestinian prisoners. talk about the number of palestinians who had been arrested just tense october 7. for example, the occupied west bank. is it something like, well, over 7000? how many are children? how many are under 18? what have they been charged

with? >> the majority of those that have been arrested or something like 7000. a significant proportion of those are children, people under the age of 18. in terms of charge, that is the point. they have not been charged with anything. they can be held indefinitely without charge or trial. that can range from any kind of activity whether it is lacking a facebook post or simply expressing any solidarity with gaza. the israelis don't really need any legitimate excuse for reasoning to arrest people in the west bank. these have been arbitrary arrest and they can range between 50 to 100 day. i think it is worth reminding viewers, this is a population that had nothing to do with the event of october 7.

the pa president came out immediately after the attacks october 7 and condemned hamas and armed resistance and armed resistance was not a means toward self-determination and yet we have seen a collective punishment upon a population that had nothing to do with the event of october 7. nermeen: there have been a number of gaza detainees, 27, who have died in custody. if you could explain how many you know of an who these people are? >> these arrests are incredibly arbitrary. they have been effectively arresting men, women, children. we have seen israeli soldiers quite literally posting images and videos of themselves torturing and arresting and withholding young men, women, children on social media accounts like telegram, tiktok.

posting what amounts to effectively war crimes on social media, which goes to show the level of impunity that israel knows they can get away with. these arrests have been very arbitrary. these people often are not related to hamas. a couple of months ago we saw -- many of those that have been arrested our regular civilians that have no affiliation to any particular political faction. amy: i want to ask about south africa once again going to the international court of justice, taking additional -- asking it to take additional emergency measures in gaza, including ordering a ceasefire. of course, south africa brought the genocide case against israel before the court but said the threat of all-out famine has now materialized. the court needs to act now to

stop imminent tragedy. tahani? >> i think in practice, international law is useless. it is only useful as the powerful allow it to be. in many ways, the icj hearings have been empowering. this is the first time israel has been held to account in a decades long luxury of impunity that it has been able to get away with. but at the same time, we have seen since the icj ordered israel take provisional measures, they have yet to do so. worse yet, there's been no pressure to ensure israel do so. we saw the defunding of unrwa, primary source of things like aid and assistance to those on the ground. we have seen i think something like over 15 if not 20,000

palestinians killed since the icj issuing a provisional measures. we've seen absolutely no pressure on israel to try for ceasefire or any kind of force. nermeen: i want to ask about unrwa. canada says it will resume funding to the agency after it halted support in january following israeli claims 12 staff were involved in the october 7 attack. could you talk about what is happening with funding for the agency and what the impact has been so many countries pulling out, including the u.s., which is the largest funder -- were it was? >> right now unrwa is holding on by a thread. we have seen some resumption of funding and some extra funding from various other sources. unrwa is really holding onto a thread. the worst part about this is there's absolutely no

organization capable of filling the void. there has been attempts to try to get organizations like the world food program, but they don't have the capacity. no organization is as embedded into the for of gaza the way unrwa is. more importantly, it cannot constitute most of the services it provides. right now unrwa is holding on by a thread and consequences of any kind of potential drying up of funds, which hopefully it won't come to that, but if it does, it will be incredibly catastrophic. amy: we wanted to ask about benny gantz, part of the israel war cabinet, going unauthorized, apparently, by netanyahu to washington, meeting with blinken and vice president harris, netanyahu telling the israeli

embassy not to cooperate with what he called this unauthorized trip. are you seeing a split that could take down netanyahu? >> there has been a split within the israeli administration. something that is starting to surface over the last couple of months between the political and military establishment, even internally. obviously, the welcoming of gantz essential for israeli politics. again, it is a sign of diplomacy whereby to reiterate their discontent with netanyahu's policy, there welcoming and opposition politician. but it does nothing to change the reality on the ground for palestinians. nothing came out of that meeting where israel -- there were no red lines late in terms of what israel cannick can't do in gaza. no pressure being put on israel.

it isn't enough to change the reality on the ground for palestinians. amy: tahani mustafa, thank you for being with us, senior palestine analyst at the international crisis group. she's normally based in ramallah but is joining us today from d o oha. when we'd come back, a new "washington post" exposé finds isra u.s. has flooded israel with weapons. we will talk to a state department official who quit over u.s. foreign policy when it comes to israel-palestine. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "bisan" by fairuz. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: over the past few weeks, the biden administration has been publicly voicing reservations over the mounting

death toll in gaza while calling on israel to protect civilians and allow in more humanitarian aid. but behind the scenes, the biden administration has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate weapons sales to israel over the last five months, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, and other lethal aid. this according to a new investigation by "the washington post." amy: only two approved foreign military sales to israel have been made public since the launch of israel's assault on october 7, amounting to over $250 million worth of tank shells and ammunition, which the administration authorized using emergency authority to bypass congress. but in the case of the 100 other weapons sales, known as foreign military sales, the arms transfers were made without any public debate because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify congress. for more, we are joined by josh

paul, a veteran state department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to israel amid its assault on gaza. josh paul is the former director of congressional and public affairs for the bureau of political-military affairs in the state department, where he worked for 11 years. he's now a non-resident at dawn, democracy for the arab world now. he joins us from new haven, connecticut. welcome to democracy now! can you talk about the significance of this exposé, what we have learned about u.s. flooding israel with weapons as resident biden talks about saying he is putting pressure on israel to let food aid in? >> thank you for having me. i think what we have learned from this story should not be a surprise to anyone. it is present continues to facilitate the flow of arms to

israel despite a change in tone. we had hoped the administration called for humanitarian assistance, at least a temporary cease fire. but at the same time, continues to provide the arms and enable israel to continue its operations. that is pretty consistent with what the white house has said, including john kirby from the podium this week that this remains u.s. policy. i think many of your viewers may be shocked to hear their have been 100 sales in the last few months since october 7, but i don't think anyone in the state department will be particularly moved by this. much of the process does move like a production line when it comes to cases that do not require -- what we have is a policy problem but also a lack of transparency that is built into the system and which can only be remedied by change in law. nermeen: let's go to what national security communications

advisor john kirby said. he was questioned by the journalist andrew feinberg, a correspondent for the independent in britain. >> what is preventing the president from communicating to the israeli government that if they do not allow aid, we will not continue supplying weapons? why is that not a fair trade? no aid, no bombs? >> the president still believes it is important for israel to have what it needs to defend itself against a still viable hamas threat. maybe some people have forgotten what happened on october 7, that president biden has not. nermeen: your response to the question and kirby's response? >> there you have it. i think the question have noted under u.s. law under section 620i, it is illegal to provide military assistance to a country that is restricting u.s. funded humanitarian assistance.

jake sullivan himself has said it is a problem and would not be air dropping aid into gaza were we leaning on israel to open humanitarian aid routes. there is a clear case that we are not -- certainly out of step with international law. at the same time, the biden administration position remains, we will continue to provide arms to israel, whatever it requests and requires. nermeen: how much does this differ from the procedure that has been in place regarding u.s. arms transfers to ukraine? in this case, as we have said, only two approved foreign military sales to israel have been made public. what about to ukraine? >> the most part, the procedures and process through which we provide arms to ukraine are different. ukraine requires an authorization under presidential

authority as well as novel funding, for example, department of defense -- those have expired. we are out of those. without additional funding, we will not be able to provide arms to ukraine. israel come on the other hand, is capable of using his own money to secure weapons. the foreign military sales system, direct promotional cell system -- which by the way public with the washington post" did not touch on. it is quite possible there are 100 more sales through that channel that we don't know about. we are providing israel with military assistance which he can tap into and does it will be able to tap into because it has a tenure commitment for us to continue providing billions of dollars a year, unlike ukraine. amy: democratic colorado congressmember jason crow told "the washington post" that the

biden administration should apply "existing standards" stipulating that the united states "shouldn't transfer arms or equipment to places where it's reasonably likely that those will be used to inflict civilian casualties, or to harm civilian infrastructure." crow, a former army ranger who served in iraq and afghanistan, told "the post" -- "i am concerned that the widespread use of artillery and air power in gaza -- and the resulting level of civilian casualties -- is both a strategic and moral error." crow is not usually a dove on all of these issues, but it is very interesting to see him talk about his response, his critical response to the u.s. when it comes to israel. and this is particularly interesting on the day of president biden state of the union address tonight -- we don't know exactly what he is

going to say. we know there are a number of americans who have family members who are being held hostage in gaza. we don't know if the biden family or administration will be inviting any palestinians and that biden wanted to be able to a nasa ceasefire, which is clear, it looks like, will not be happening. your response to this and how these weapons sales, do you feel, perpetuate the war? >> i think that people who have served in the military were to the middle east, like crow, and austin, understand what israel is doing is not going to lead to success on israel's own terms. it will lead to strategic failure. that is why i think the same is true on the israeli side. yet former has a mossad saying this is a dead-end road, what they're doing is damaging to the whole interest. but i think that is separate from the political question

here. the political question is one in which we have a president and a set of policies and congress, for the most part, that remains set on this course regardless of the hard it is doing --harm it is doing to so many. amy: josh paul, were in the state department for 11 years and you were involved with these kinds of arms deals. you resigned in protest of a push to increase arms to israel. i wanted to ask you, how much does protests on the ground affect what is going on in the state department, in the white house? how much do you hear it? there is a massive amount of protest in the united states and no matter who wants to insulate biden from it, honest everywhere he goes he is hearing the chants of "ceasefire." one of his guests tonight will be sean fain, the uaw, what of

the early unions to call for a ceasefire. how much does it matter? >> i think protest is very important. protest when it manifests at the ballot box, the uncommitted or the other vote that we've seen in states and will continue to see in the coming days because that signals to the biden administration they have a political problem here. that is one of the only means we have of getting this administration to change course in the time it has left. i think it is important. most important when it manifests directly in of local process and when it comes with the organization. there is a momentum around this issue and we have to maintain that momentum for the months and years ahead because this is not going to be a long-term shift where machen policy is and has been for many years. amy: you were inside for years the state department. now that you have resigned, and we sort of ask you this every time since then, how many people

inside the administration have reached out to you? do you feel that is increasing? how many times do they tell you that they have been discussing this with biden or the inner circle of biden and what their views are? biden was no fan of netanyahu from the beginning yet he is embracing him now, what they are saying. >> i'm still hearing from people who are saying this is not working, i. to my stomach of being involved in this, i am trying to make changes and it is just not working. i had several of those conversations in the last week with people have not spoken to before. the internal pressure, discussed, is still there. but i think the white house and the president have surrounded the president with council of advisors who are for the most part like with him.

i don't know how much it would change the president's decision making. i think he is where he is. absent significant political pressure, that is not going to change. amy: josh paul, thank you for being with us, veteran state department official who worked on arms deals and resigned in protest of a push to increase arms sales to israel amid its siege on gaza. he is the former director of congressional and public affairs for the bureau of political-military affairs in the state department, where he worked for 11 years. he's now a non-resident at dawn. that is democracy for the arab world now. womankind back, we go to pakistan where shehbaz sharif has been sworn in as prime minister for a second time amid protests and accusation of election rigging. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen

shaikh. nermeen: we end today's show in pakistan where shehbaz sharif was sworn in monday as prime minister for a second time, days after newly elected members of parliament were seated amid protests by lawmakers from the party of ousted and jailed former prime minister imran khan. he is expected to form a new government after none of the major parties won a major never of for them receipts. on x, the u.s. embassy islamabad congratulated shehbaz on "his assumption of office." here in the united states, over amy:here in the united states, over 30 congressmembers had sent an open letter to president biden asking him to withhold u.s. recognition of the new " thorough, transparent, and credible investigation of election interference has been conducted." >> there was a competitive

election in pakistan. millions made their voices heard. a new government has been formed and we will work with that new government. there were reported irregularities and challenges brought to the result and we want to see those challenges, irregularities fully investigated. amy: for more, we are joined in islamabad by aasim sajjad akhtar, associate professor of political economy at quaid-i-azam university in islamabad. he's also affiliated with pakistan workers party. thank you for being with us. can you say the name of your university? i'm sorry i mispronounced it. >could you talk about the national assembly selecting shehbaz sharif as a new prime minister? who he is and what has really taken place in this election? >> shehbaz sharif come as you

noted in your intro, is a second time prime minister. he was prime minister most recently -- april 2022-2023. he hails from the sharif family that has been in and out of power for many years now. as you also noted in your intro, this election was marred sort of an understatement, by rigging and vote tampering. even after the election results came out in which imran khan's party clearly by any objective measure won the most seats, we saw systematic process of changing the outcome to reduce imran's seats by about 25 to 30 seats. nermeen: could you explain pti

and imran khan's popularity? he has been imprisoned. there are multiple cases against him and yet all of these people voted for independent candidates aligned with him. what explains that? >> again, some of your listeners will know imran khan himself was prime minister between 2018-2022. during that period, prior to that, he appealed in the vein of many i would say strongmen around the world the last decade or so to i think particularly the young population. i think having been jailed and his supporters eys, adjustably

-- unjustifiably removed, and replaced by the same sharif and another old family, that have been in power intermittently and of course all at the behest of pakistan primitive force, the army, i think that combination of factors in the underlying structural crises that just get worse, i think that contributes to imran khan's growing popularity. nermeen: you said receives have systematically not responded to the needs of ordinary pakistanis, but explain what exactly did imran khan do the people, or for that matter, you have written about this, marginal -- so-called marginal areas and pakistan? what were his policies? >> in practice and principle, that is exactly right.

it is not as if khan's time and power was marred by any major departures. the rhetoric khan rings, the perception he is an outsider and that is why i made reference to i think many other similar examples around the world, not to mention what you're dealing with in the united states, the renewed appeal, after four years of biden, liberal. listen. you have this cycle and imran khan is very much part of that cycle. country ravaged by debt, climate breakdown events. some of your listeners will know it was only less than two years ago one third of pakistan was ravaged by floods. 30 finally people were displaced from their homes. khan did not really do anything that different. i think what ended up happening was because he was removed from office prior to his term been

completed, i think that reinforced the already existing sort of sense, perception amongst his supporters that, look, he was going to get there eventually. he was going to change the system but he was not allowed to do so. and that rhetoric ratcheted up further with his wave of repression. amy: intercept revealed the classified pakistani cable that outlined how the u.s. state department had encouraged the pakistani government to remove former prime minister imran khan from office in march 2022, just weeks after russia had invaded ukraine. the document stated the u.s. objected to khan's neutral stance on the war. according to the memo, one state department official warned pakistan's ambassador to the u.s. that "all will be forgiven in washington is khan is removed." the u.s. official, assistant secretary of state donald lu, then went on to say, "otherwise, i think it will be tough going ahead."

of course come imran khan was in moscow with putin when russia invaded ukraine. talk overall about the significance of u.s. support for pakistan and how much does it determine what the pakistani government does or the direction it goes in. >> i think -- again, this contributes to the sit among supporters. there's a long history. pakistan has been ruled by the military -- even when generals are not in the seat of government, they are thede facto power that be. three long periods of dictatorship, twice during the cold war, and then under the war on terror regime, all of these regimes were fully backed by washington. whether or not imran khan was explicitly removed by the americans is by the by. what matters is there is the

long history. that reinforces this perception that the americans come in, do what they want, remove who they want, put into power who they want -- obviously, via their primary go-between, which is the army -- and that is why i think you had this groundswell of opinion. which is both anti-domestic elite and anti-foreign elite. for what it is worth, it is something we have to pay attention to. it is another matter altogether that pakistan, like so many other countries, is missing a progressive left to tap into that sentiment. that is why think you have strongmen like khan acquiring so much popularity. nermeen: is it your sense, pti supporters believe this about him but was he really in and type aerial president, the prime minister? >> look, from our perspective,

to be anti-american or be anti-western is different from being anti-imperialist. you asked earlier about what he did in power. in practice, there are few policies steps to change. i think for us, the challenge for us on the left is how do we take this burgeoning sentiment amongst the young population and deepen it in more progressive directions? that is a hard task but i don't see any other way for us to break this cycle between liberal censure -- center that keeps paving the way for far right figures to become popular and come to power. nermeen: aasim sajjad akhtar, associate professor at quaid-i-azam university in islamabad. also affiliated with pakistan's leftwing awami workers party. amy: that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed

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