♪ amy: from new york, this is democracy now. >> netanyahu is embraced by the americans, being provided by meals and drinks, he is being hosted in congress while we are being killed and slaughtered. amy: as the official death toll from israel's war on gaza tops 39,100, israeli prime minister

benjamin netanyahu is addressing a joint session of the u.s. congress. dozens of lawmakers from senators to congress members are boycotting the speech. >> netanyahu is a right wing extremist, a war criminal who has devoted his career to killing the prospects of a two state solution and lasting peace in the region. he should not be welcome to the united states congress. amy: tens of thousands are expected to protest netanyahu's speech. on tuesday 400 activists including over one dozen rabbis were arrested in a sit-in at the capitol. we will speak to the president of the israel academy of sciences and humanities.

in then sonya massey. a 35-year-old black woman shot in her home after she called 911 for help. police initially claimed she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but then police body cam footage proved they were lying. >> it remind you a lot of the tragic video that we saw like george floyd where there is a narration to the tragedy. he narrates that i'm going to shoot you in the face and then he shoots her in the face. amy: we will speak to civil rights attorney ben crump. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in washington, d.c. organizers

expect thousands of protesters to march on capitol hill today as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addresses a joint session of congress. demonstrators are demanding an end to u.s. support for israel's war on gaza and for netanyahu to be arrested and tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity. their demand comes just weeks after the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court announced he was seeking an arrest warrant for netanyahu. dozens of democratic members of congress plan to boycott netanyahu's speech; meanwhile republican house speaker mike johnson welcomed netanyahu back to the halls of congress. >> i am happy to welcome israeli prime minister netanyahu to a joint session of congress. he will set the record, surpassing winston churchill as the foreign leader who has addressed congress the most times. amy: speaker johnson blasted vice president kamala harris for planning to skip netanyahu's speech, calling her absence "outrageous" and "inexcusable".

vice president harris plans to meet privately with netanyahu on thursday as does president biden. she will be in indiana today. meanwhile, vermont independent bernie sanders condemned netanyahu as a “war criminal” who never should have been extended an invitation to speak to the u.s. congress. sanders spoke from the senate floor on tuesday. >> it will be the first time in american history that a war criminal has been given that honor. frankly, this invitation to netanyahu is a disgrace and something that we will look back on with regret. amy: on tuesday ahead of netanyahu's address, hundreds of them as traitors organized -- hundreds of demonstrators organized by jewish voice for peace flooded the capitol.

they wore red t-shirts reading, “not in our name”; unfurled signs reading, "let gaza live!" and "jews stay stop arming israel." this is protester talia eraester. >> we are willing to put our bodies on the line to say that our values as people. amy: 400 jewish activists including one dozen rabbis were arrested. with more large-scale protests planned for today, the u.s. capitol police swore in 200 new york police officers who deployed to washington, d.c. ahead of netanyahu's speech. meanwhile, family members of israelis held hostage by hamas rallied on the national mall tuesday. protesters wore t-shirts reading "sign the deal now" and displayed images of loved ones. they're demanding u.s. and israeli officials to finalize a cease fire and prisoner exchange to bring all the hostages home. this is alon gat, whose sister carmel was taken hostage on october 7th.

>> we are seeing here in the states that biden and the other people need to push harder on netanyahu and hamas to get to this deal. our loved ones will not last another two months, another three months, maybe even another two weeks so we need them back. amy: the palestinian health ministry says the death toll from israel's war on gaza has passed 39,000, after one of the bloodiest ground assaults of israel's nine-month-old military campaign. gaza officials say at least 121 people, most of them women and children, have been killed since israel launched its latest offensive in khan younis, where an estimated 150,000 people were forced to flee within a single day. this week israel's knesset advanced a trio of bills that would ban the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees, known as unrwa, and declare it a terrorist organization. the assault on gaza has killed

at least 195 native nations staff members -- united nations staff members and at least hundred 72 members of their families. meanwhile in the occupied west bank, israeli forces killed four palestinians killed in less than 12 hours including a 16-year-old who was shot dead at the qalandiya refugee camp. president biden returned to the white house tuesday after testing negative for covid. biden is planning a prime-time address from the oval office this evening where, for the first time, he will explain his decision not to seek re-election in november. on tuesday vice president kamala harris traveled to milwaukee, wisconsin for her first campaign rally since she replaced biden as the democrats' presumptive nominee. she further cemented her status as the front-runner when senate majority leader chuck schumer and house minority leader hakeem jeffries endorsed her candidacy. since biden stepped down, kamala harris has raised more than $120 million, a record in presidential campaign

fundraising history. meanwhile republican elected officials continue to attack harris based on her race and gender. this is tennessee congressmember cam burchett -- tim burchett speaking with cnn's manu raju. >> first of all, a black female for vice president. what about white females? what about any other group? when you go down that route, you take mediocrity and that is what they have right now as vice president. 100%, she was a dii hire. amy: separately wisconsin republican congressman glenn grossman said they were only supporting harris because of her ethnic background. on tuesday national republican congressional committee chairman richard hudson told a closed-door meeting of gop lawmakers they should criticize harris over biden administration policies and should avoid racist and sexist attacks.

new jersey democrat bob menendez will resign august 20 following his conviction by a federal jury on 16 corruption counts. he was found guilty of robbery, wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy and acting as a foreign agent for egypt. menendez faces years in prison when he is sentenced in october. new jersey's democratic governor phil murphy will appoint a replacement to carry out the remainder of menendez's term which expires in january. u.s. secret service director kimberly cheatle resigned tuesday over security failures ahead of the july 13 trump assassination attempt when a 20-year-old would assassin fired eight bullets in under six seconds before he was killed. her recognition desk resignation came a day after she faced intense questioning by members of the house oversight committee with lawmakers of both parties calling for her to step down.

in kenya, youth-led nationwide protests have entered a sixth week as police continues to violently crackdown on demonstrators. armed forces on tuesday fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government protesters in nairobi. dozens have been killed by police since last month but protesters are not standing down, vowing a "total shutdown" of kenya as they seized control of nairobi's main international airport. anger against president -- in ethiopia, at least 229 people, including children, have been killed in two landslides triggered by torrential rains in the remote southern region of gofa. the death toll is expected to rise as the search for survivors continued for a second day. heavy rains in the region have worsened due to the climate crisis while other parts of ethiopia experience severe drought. united nations warned millions face malnutrition due to climate-related events. in more climate news, scientists have confirmed that monday was the hottest day ever recorded globally as deadly heatwaves continue to scorch large swaths

of the world. monday's record broke the previous all-time high temperature set just one day earlier. carlo buontempo, director of the european union's copernicus climate change service, said the latest record is unlikely to stand for long as the climate crisis continues to worsen. >> something we need to get used to because the climate keeps warming. we are bound to see more records being broken. amy: gaza has also been hit by a blistering heatwave, worsening living conditions for palestinians who have been repeatedly displaced due to israel's war. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, war, peace and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. i'm joined by juan gonzalez in chicago. juan: hi to our listeners and

viewers around the world. amy: in washington, d.c. thousands of protesters are planning to march on capitol hill today as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu addresses a joint session of congress as the death toll from israel's war on gaza tops 39,100. on tuesday 400 jewish activists including over a dozen rabbis were arrested during a sit-in inside the capitol to protest netanyahu's visit and to demand an immediate u.s. weapons embargo on the israeli government. dozens of democratic lawmakers are boycotting netanyahu's speech including senators dick durbin, who is the majority whip, chris van hollen, jeff merkley, patty murray and bernie sanders who spoke on tuesday. >> netanyahu is a right wing extremist and a war criminal who has devoted his career to

killing the prospects of a two state solution and lasting peace in the region. he should not be welcomed to the united states congress. amy: maryland senator ben cardin will preside over the senate during netanyahu's speech after vice president and presidential candidate kamala harris decline to go. in the house, democratic congressmember rashida tlaib called for netanyahu to be arrested and sent to the international criminal court. in a statement she said quote "netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the palestinian people." new york congressmember jerry nadler, the most senior jewish member of the house, said he will attend netanyahu's speech out of respect for the state of israel but nadler called netanyahu the quote "worst leader in jewish history since the maccabean king who invited the romans into jerusalem over 2100 years ago." a number of prominent israelis

have also criticized congressional leaders for inviting netanyahu. last month the new york times published an essay headlined, “we are israelis calling on congress to disinvite netanyahu.” the essay was co-authored by six prominent israelis including former israeli president ehud barak and former mossad director tamir pardo. another one of the co-authors joins us now. david harel is the president of the israel academy of sciences and humanities and a professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the weizmann institute of science. he is joining us from rehovot, israel. welcome to democracynow. why do you think it is wrong for netanyahu, your prime minister, to address this joint session of congress? david: good afternoon here. good morning over there. i think congress has made a terrible mistake inviting netanyahu.

first of all he does not represent the majority of israelis. he clings to power because of a coalition which includes some very extreme people. we feel deeply and many israelis feel that the actions of this government are bringing israel downhill to the point that we may be losing our country. it is not just a crisis. it is not just something happening that we are not happy with. we feel that the existence of the country that we so love and all six of us observed for many decades in various capacities is at grave risk of collapsing the country down to nothing. at the very least we feel that such an invitation to netanyahu should have been contingent on doing essentially three things. returning the 120 hostages home.

there was a way to do that six or seven months ago. there is a way to do it right now which he seems to be pushing off time after time. the second thing is to stop the war in gaza. we here in israel are bleeding daily with members of the military getting killed almost daily. i don't even want to mention the scores of civilians in gaza who have died and keep on dying. this war has to stop immediately. it should have stopped a long time ago. and the third thing, he should have called for elections. there was a clear majority of 60% or 70% of israelis who want elections. if these things were to take place, i would understand the invitation for netanyahu to speak at congress. right now the citizenship at large has lost faith in him and his government and their actions. let me quote you a father of one

of the hostages. i think it was yesterday or today in washington who said what netanyahu is going to be doing in congress is political theater. he has really one main goal and that is to speak before congress to get the ovations and to strengthen his base in israel. by the way, strengthening the base in israel might sadly and terrifyingly have the consequence of the war being prolonged even further and the return of the hostages being delayed even further and that includes some of the hostages who are u.s. citizens. in any case, it is not only a farce, political theater as this person said, but is also something that might have very bad additional consequences on the situation rather than making things even better.

juan: professor, what has been the reaction within israeli society to your letter? especially in light of the fact that just last week the knesset overwhelming we voted to reject a two state solution of palestinian statehood? david: to your last point, what i failed to mention and i will mention now is there are really two things on the table right now that netanyahu has to decide upon. one is the deal that is similar to the one that he took forward some weeks ago for returning hostages. the other is that we would come together with some kind of normalization of the relationship with saudi arabia letting a palestinian set up rule gaza and this comes to the point that you just made, making the possibility of moves toward

a two state solution much more viable than they are now. it is not just a one war or one hostage problem. this touches on a much more global and significant issue of perhaps moving toward the so badly needed steps to peace in the middle east. afterward they -- as to the reactions, we got some flack from people who thought that, not only people who disagree with the content of our essay in the new york times but people who say even if you are right, you should not be washing your dirty laundry outside of the country. some people say this problem should have been solved within the country. you can raise your alarm and your voice here but not outside. to that, i have two things to say. one is netanyahu himself goes abroad to voice his opinions to

put forward he believes in often to put forward things that are incorrect in order to garner support. his government can take their laundry outside of the country and show what they want then there is no reason why ordinary citizens like ourselves cannot do so. we have gotten a lot of support. i have gotten lots of mail and telephone calls following the new york times essay that we wrote with supporters and some people even saying that the courage needed to do that is tremendous. i don't know about courage. what i can say is that out of the six people who authored this essay that i am the only one who holds a position and gets paid by the government as president of our academy. in that sense i do want to say that it was not easy for me to

decide to lead the writing. i could have said no, i have this role and i should not be doing this. the situation is so terrible and a danger to the state of israel and to the jewish people at large. it is so devastatingly alarming that i would be willing to give up anything including my post with the government in order to voice what i think is the absolute truth outside. in terms of dirty laundry outside, this is not just dirty laundry. the situation is terrible. sometimes you need a foreign washing machine to clean your laundry. i am not saying this as a joke. this is one of the reasons we decided to do this. juan: you mentioned you are president of the israel academy of sciences and humanities which

has urged academic institutions around the world to resist and avoid research institutions and scientists in israel. can you explain why? david: there are three narratives that i identify when i try to listen to the music that you hear on campus in the united states and in some places in europe, the riots, the slogans. if we want to bring this down to the real essence, there are three things you can hear people chanting or shouting. one is antisemitism which very simply put is let the juice disappear -- let the jews disappear. the other is anti-zionism which is almost the same thing which is that the state of israel disappears somehow. the third is anti-what the israeli government is doing. i go around at the top of my

voice in israel and abroad fighting against the first two. whatever israel is doing, what is happening in gaza and the way the government is carrying itself including internally, the judicial reform, the attacks on academia and cultural institutions, that is no reason at all to call for antisemitism or even to call for the israeli state to disappear. i will fight with all my might against those two things, antisemitism and anti-israelism. i will also do whatever i feel i should do personally as an israeli citizen to bring about a better government. science is universal. it is borderless. i do not collaborate with a colleague in great britain or the united states or france or germany because i am a mediocre scientist and the person there

is a better scientist. we collaborate because international collaboration is the essence of science especially in the natural sciences. boycotting israeli science is damaging science in general. just to give you an example, a nobel prize chemist at our institute who decided the structure of the ribosome, she did not do her work alone. she collaborated with several collaborators in europe. she did her work using international grants from international bodies that grant research money. and what is even more important, the results of her research are not just going to bring about improvements locally. her work is poised to help medicine in general. not only me, but also you and

people everywhere around the world. boycotting signs has the opposite effect. scientists and humanity, experts and intellectuals, they very often lead the battle against fascism, against fake news for reasonable and logical thinking and critical thinking. if you week in science, -- if you weaken science, not only weaken science in general but you weaken the kind of logic and critical thinking that is needed in order to counter the violent trends that one sees not only in his early days but throughout the world -- not only in israel these days but around the world. stop these boycotts. there is no need for them. they will only do harm globally. amy: do you agree that the presumptive democratic nominee for president kamala harris is correct in not presiding over today's joint session of congress that netanyahu will be

addressing? david: definitely. she is definitely right. in fact, i don't want to take credit but rsa appeared one month ago -- our essay appeared a month ago and since then we have gotten a lot of followers calling on members of congress to boycott, if i may use the same word we used a few minutes ago, to boycott his speech in congress. i am very happy that kamala harris will not be sitting behind him and having to clap every time he says something for which he will get some kind of ovation. i am very happy that something i presume between 50 and 100 members who will not show up. i am happy there will be protests outside the capitol to protest his invitation and to protest his speech. if we have made a minor contribution to that by voicing our opinion, then i'm very happy about that. amy: professor david harel,

thank you for being with us, professor of computer science and applied mathematics at the weizmann institute of science. speaking to us from rehovot. we will link the new york time author -- article you recently co-authored. co-authors include the former israeli prime minister and the former mossad director. coming up on tuesday four hundred jewish activists were arrested at a sit in at the capital to protest netanyahu's speech to congress. back in 20 seconds.

"right where it belongs" by nine inch nails. this is democracynow, democracynow.org. this is war, peace and the presidency. i'm amy goodwin. in washington, d.c., tens of thousands of protesters are planning to march on capitol hill today to protest israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu address to a joint session of congress. there were a number of protests

on tuesday on capitol hill. 400 jewish activists including over a dozen rabbis were arrested during a sit-in inside the capitol to protest netanyahu's visit and to demand an immediate u.s. weapons embargo on israel. the protest was organized by jewish voice for peace. >> [singing] >> i am jewish-american. my grandparents survived the holocaust. i was always told that we should never let anything like the holocaust happened again. that's why i'm here protesting the genocide of the palestinian people and calling on the government to enact an embargo and deliver no more weapons to the israeli military. >> we are willing to put our bodies on the line to say that our values as people mean that we cannot be fronting them. amy: voices from the jewish

voice for peace sit in inside the capitol on tuesday. palestinians have also criticized u.s. lawmakers for inviting netanyahu. a displaced palestinian from rafah. >> netanyahu is embraced by the americans. he's being provided with meals, food and drinks, he is being hosted in congress while we are being slaughtered. we are being slaughtered by american planes, american ships and american troops. everything we are killed with his american. by blesses any operation and any killing, the u.s. presses it -- blesses it, biden blesses it. the u.s. is the reason for the war. amy: we are joined by three guests. noa grayevsky is an israeli-born member of jewish voice for peace

. linda sarsour and beth miller. beth, describe what you did yesterday and what your demands are. dozens of congress members and senators not to mention kamala harris herself who is a person who would be presiding over this joint session of congress but because netanyahu is addressing will not be there. beth: thank you for having me on. yesterday jewish voice for peace organized a sit in at the capital to make it very clear that we as american jews think it is absolutely shameful that congressional leadership has invited a war criminal who is currently leading a genocide of palestinians in gaza to address the joint session of congress. it is an affront to the ideals of human rights and of freedom and democracy. in this moment we felt it was

absolutely critical, jewish voice for peace to make clear that we as jewish americans are speaking out and saying that this cannot happen in our name and more specifically to make clear that we need to keep the focus on what our government is doing. we are not simply watching something terrible unfold in gaza. the biden administration and congress have sent weapons and billions of dollars in military funding to the israeli government that is using those weapons and that funding to carry out the slaughter of palestinians in gaza, almost 40,000 people killed including 15,000 children. starvation, we are on the brink of famine in gaza. the message of these protests was to say we are calling for an arms embargo now. our government, the united states government has to end its complicity in this genocide. if we want to reach a desperately needed cease fire,

we need to pressure the israeli government. pressure the netanyahu regime and say enough. we are not sending any more weapons. we are enacting an arms embargo now. that was the goal of much of this protest. juan: beth miller, in previous years there has been basically complete unanimity in congress in support of these actions. how do you assess what is happening this time especially in terms of members of congress either staying away or voicing their displeasure and their opposition to netanyahu's speech? beth: for so many years there has been bipartisan unquestioning complicity in israel's atrocities and human rights abuses against palestinians. right now what we are seeing is that more and more democrats in congress are starting to catch up to where the democratic voting base is. most democrats do not want to

see our tax dollars funding human rights abuses, apartheid and now genocide in gaza. what we are seeing now is more democrats who are seeing that actually americans and the democratic voting base is done with this. we are fed up and we are taking action and we are demanding an end to this complicity. for this reason we are seeing more democrats start to take a stand. today that means people who will be bill clotting -- boycotting and we applaud all the members of congress who are protesting and boycotting, that is absolutely what needs to happen. members of congress who chose to vote no on the additional military supplemental bill that passed in april, members of congress who are calling for a cease-fire and an end to the complicity of our government. juan: i would like to bring in linda sarsour as well.

can you talk about your reaction especially to the decision of vice president kamala harris to be absent in congress from this speech by netanyahu? linda: thank you. i want to send a message to our movement. we have created the political circumstances to make standing behind netanyahu, a war criminal, untenable. kamala harris and her team knew from the months of mobilizations, organizing and the payment support for cease fire and for the palestinian people that there was no way she could be in the same room with netanyahu and engage in any applause. that is the reason for our movement. we created the space for kamala harris to decline to preside over the speech. amy: talk about the organizing that is going on today as we

hear about busloads of people coming in from around the country. yesterday 400 jewish activists including one dozen rabbis arrested in the rotunda. today, thousands. linda: this is the result of our young people. young people across this country who have been leading mass mobilizations in every corner in every city including here in washington, d.c.. this protest is not just about netanyahu specifically. the demand is to the united states government, arrest netanyahu. he is a war criminal and the international criminal court is seeking to issue an arrest warrant. there is leadership across the world who has said it is netanyahu who sets foot in our country, we will arrest him. both democrats and republicans have invited and rolled out a bloodsoaked red carpet for a war criminal. we are here to send a message to the rest of the world that while

our leadership cowers to a war criminal, we say netanyahu is unwelcome here in the united states. amy: i wanted to bring noa grayevsky into this conversation, israeli-born member of jewish voice for peace . she was in the rotunda as hundreds of people got arrested. on the eve of netanyahu's address. can you talk about the hostage family protest outside? they too were calling for netanyahu and for the u.s. to immediately sign off on this cease-fire deal and to bring the hostages home. you yourself no one of the hostages in gaza right now. noa: i do. thank you for having me. my cousins very close friend was 23 years old when he was taken

hostage from a music festival on october 7. we don't know if he is currently alive. while i cannot speak for the immediate families of the hostages, what i can say is that it is clear that while this genocidal war campaign is waged against gazans and palestinians and has killed over 39,100 people, probably many more, hostages are being held in gaza as well and their lives are in danger both in terms of how they are being treated as hostages and because they are in a war zone where there is an extraordinary number of bombs dropping and incredible violence. we don't know if our family friend is alive. we pray that he is. ending this genocidal war campaign while it will most positively affect gazans, palestinians in the west bank as well, palestinians in the diaspora will protect israeli

hostages and israeli citizens. juan: noa, can you talk to us about your family history? you are a palestinian jew, multiple generations in palestine? noa: the phrase palestinian jew is not widely known and used but it is used to describe the small percentage probably around 1% to 2% of jewish people in jewish community that lived in the region of palestine before the state of israel was established. my family has been in the region of palestine for hundreds of years before the state of israel was established. for most of those generations in the city of jerusalem my jewish family members spoke arabic, lived in integrated communities with palestinians who are both muslim and christian. something that i think about often is how in 1948 during the

establishment of the state of israel, many people, my grandmother, my great-grandfather were friends with, colleagues with, worked with, people who worked for them , were displaced from their homes. their neighbors, their friends. my grandmother has told me that my great-grandfather worked tirelessly to try to bring people who are close to their family who were palestinian christians and muslims back into jerusalem after 1948 unsuccessfully. when i see ceaseless bombs dropping, famine escalating, virus is spreading among refugees in gaza and violence against refugees in the west bank, i feel personally both responsible and implicated because the same palestinian,

arab, muslim and christian families and their descendant who protected my family for generations and who were good neighbors to my jewish family for generations, i imagine they are those who are being slaughtered. while they were my grandmother and great-grandfathers friends and neighbors and while they were at times protected by their friends and neighbors, not allowed to get economic security and fair and equal standing within society, it is my response ability as a descendant of my lineage to be vocal and take risks to protect their safety. amy: democratic congressmember tlaib of michigan, the only palestinian member of congress said, "netanyahu is committing genocide against the palestinian people. it is disgraceful. members of both parties have invited him to address congress. he should be arrested and sent

to the international criminal court. make no mistake. this event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of palestinians. it is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo op with a man who is actively committing genocide." linda sarsour, wu than with you -- we will end with you. while kamala harris is not there today and many congress members and senators are boycotted, she will meet with him tomorrow as well president biden. your final thoughts. what do you want her to say? linda: i want to make sure we've put this on the record that joe biden is also a war criminal. i was not surprised to see there was an indentation -- invitation to netanyahu to address congress. kamala harris will be meeting privately with netanyahu and we want hurt to say the things that need to be said. she understands what is needed. if she wants to become the next

president of the united states, she needs to demonstrate to voters, pro cease fire voters across the country, that she will disassociate from the policies of joe biden. she has to demand a permanent cease-fire. no temporary ceases. we want a permanent cease-fire. we also want the release of hostages including palestinian hostages. that is a very important demand that kamala harris needs to present to netanyahu. she also needs to support the increased aid to the palestinian people. there is famine, there is disease all across the gaza strip. we need to make sure all routes are open. kamala harris has to reaffirm her commitment to the self-determination of the palestinian people. we will not take anything less and we will continue to push her on an arms embargo. we have had support from members in congress in ways we've never seen before.

we need to stop all military aid to israel and we know we have the support of the american people. the people in this country are suffering economically. instead of sending billions of taxpayer dollars to bomb and kill palestinians, let's keep that money at home and help alleviate the suffering of the american people. we are watching kamala harris. we want to see what she will do. we want to see if she's different than joe biden. i will tell you this much, the democratic party knew it was untenable to keep joe biden at the top of the ticket and that they would lose key states like michigan and wisconsin and georgia and arizona because our communities were not going to vote for a war criminal. our movement right now, the wait and see with kamala harris over the next few weeks to see how she will be different than joe biden on gaza. the killing continues. over 90 people just in the last 24 hours were slaughtered. we want this to end now. amy: lin linda sarsour,

palestinian-american organizer, beth miller and noa grayevsky jewish voice for peace. , israeli born member of. next, we speak about sonya massey shot in her own home in her face when she called 911 for help. stay with us.

♪ "cheikhna demba" by toumani diabete and ballake sissoko. mali's "king of kora" diabate died last week at the age of 58. this is democracynow, democracynow.org. i am aidan goodwin with juan

gonzalez. a warning to our listeners and viewers, we are about to discuss graphic details of police violence. the family of sonya massey is demanding justice. police initially claimed she died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but police body cam footage has just been released and has proved that all to be a lie. former sangamon county sheriff's deputy sean grayson has been fired and is charged with first-degree murder for fatally shooting sonya massey. he did not activate his bodycam until after he killed her but the other officers body camera was activated after they arrived at her house. it shows the two men speaking with her before one says that her stove is on and says we do not need a fire while we are here. when massey goes to turn off a

stove where a pot of water is boiling, a deputy tells her to step “away from your hot steaming water." massey can be heard saying "i rebuke you in the name of jesus" as grayson responds quote “you better f-ing not or i swear to god i'll f-ing shoot you in the f-ing face." as sonya massey appears to duck and twice says i'm sorry, footage shows grayson firing at her three times, ultimately shooting her in the face. this is a clip. >> what is your last name? you are not in trouble. >> massey. >> do you have an id? that would make things so much easier. a drivers license will do. >> i have paperwork. >> let's get your id first. let's do the id and then you can

dig around for your paperwork. do you have a stack right there? >> one second. >> we don't need a fire while we are here. >> what are you doing? >> getting away from the hot steaming water. >> i rebuke you in the name of jesus. amy: after that sean grayson should sonya massey. body camera footage recorded grayson telling his partner not to render aid to her. records show grayson has worked for six days in -- six different law enforcement agencies. the guardian newspaper obtained audio of the call in which the deputy told the dispatcher that massey's wound was "self-inflicted." the family

said it was also given misleading information given by police that she was shot by a neighbor. this is massey's father james wilburn at a news conference. >> i was under the impression that a neighbor had killed my baby. never did they say there was a deputy involved shooting in so my brother read it on the internet. when he shared it with me he said brother, what was sonya's address? i told him and he says to me, this says it was a deputy involved shooting. a deputy involved shooting, what are you talking about? amy: sonya massey was a mother of two, a 15-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son. her killing fireplace has

prompted protests including by vice president kamla harris who issued a statement saying massey's family deserves justice. vice president harris said sonya massey deserve to be safe. we send strength and prayers to her family and friends and join them in grieving her senseless death. aris called -- here's called -- harris also called for congress to pass the george floyd justice in policing act. ben crump, civil rights attorney. he is currently representing the families of sonya massey. can you exclude what has happened and talk about the cover up as well? ben: it is tragic beyond proportion. this is the worst police shooting vehicle -- video i have seen. it is so senseless. the video is disturbing but the audio is equally disturbing.

when you look at that video and you see him move around the counter, even as he is trying to allege he shot her was because he feared that she was going to throw hot water in his face from the pot, the very pot that he sent her to get. then he moves around the counter i think from an objective observation, it looked like to get a better shot. then he has no remorse. no remorse whatsoever when his partner says i'm going to go get my cpr kit. he says, it is a headshot. don't worry about that. it is not going to make a difference. she is gone. at one point in the video he says, just let her f--ing and he

does not finish his statement but a logical person can conclude he said just let her die. she needed a helping hand. she did not need a bullet to the face. juan: equally disturbing is the fact that the authorities first withheld the information of what happened. talk about that and how you were able to uncover what really occurred. ben: the family said when they initially got to her home they kept asking what happened. who did this? they asked questions, did she have a history with the neighbor? we were trying to find out. the family said they were told

it is under investigation. they never told them it was a police involved shooting. in fact, one of the relatives said that nurse at the hospital said they said it was self-inflicted. we saw radio scanner back and forth where they talked about whether it was self-inflicted or not. we don't know what the narrative was initially but we asked for a thorough investigation of that as well. what led up to the killing, the killing itself and then the aftermath of the killing with the sheriff department because we don't believe deputy grayson should have never been hired in the first place. he was convicted of two duis. we understand that he was discharged from the army. he had six jobs in a four year span with different law enforcement agencies.

we have reason to believe he might have been terminated from some of those law enforcement agencies jobs. the question is why did he even have a job as a sheriff's deputy. the judge said at the bond hearing after watching the video that was released yesterday that he believed officer grayson was a threat to public safety. amy: ben crump, before you go, we wanted to follow-up on another ca