amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and i will not be silent payment. amy: kamala harris meets

privately with benjamin netanyahu after skipping his joint address to congress. we will speak to two of the 45 doctors who volunteered in gaza and wrote an open letter to president biden and kamala harris to demand an immediate ceasefire. >> we want in the administration to know what we saw there, who the violence is being directed against. we also want to make sure that they know the death toll is much higher than what has been reported previously. amy: then, as the opening ceremony for the 2024 olympics happens today in paris and we'll speak with lebanese photojournalist christina assi of agence france-presse, who carried the olympic torch in paris sunday to honor journalists wounded or killed on the job. she lost her leg in the same israeli attack that killed a reuters videographer. >> of course smith is all for my

best friend, all the other journalists we have lost this year. to honor them. i will keep his memory alive in everything i do. it is all for him. amy: we will also go to paris to speak with journalist jules boykoff about how the olympics are a lesson in greenwashing. and with activist paul alauzy to talk about on house people and other vulnerable communities ahead of the olympics. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org. this is war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. 96% of gaza's population is

already facing acute food insecurity, and un human rights experts have accused israel of carrying out a “targeted starvation campaign.” on thursday, gazans reacted to prime minister netanyahu's address to u.s. congress members pay. >> 90% of those killed in the gaza strip are civilians which is contrary to what netanyahu said in congress. the speech that was delivered yesterday was a trivial speech, trying to mock us like little children. the united states is mocking people, gathering supporters in congress to applaud after every two words. was that a speech? amy: the six men and two women told reporters they were denied medical treatment by israeli interrogators as they demanded information.

here in the united states, prime minister benjamin netanyahu met with president biden and then vice president and preventive nominee kamala harris on thursday. harris says she urged netanyahu to move forward with a proposed ceasefire deal that would bring about a "permanent end to the hostilities.” and condemned the civilian toll of the war. >> what has happened in gaza over the past nine months is devastating. the images of dead children, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second or third or fourth time. we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. amy: harris also reaffirmed u.s. support for israel and, earlier in the day, released a statement condemning the burning of the us flag during anti-war protests on wednesday. ahead of netanyahu's visit yesterday with biden, protesters poured gallons of fake blood on streets near the white house as demonstrations against us

backing of israel's war on gaza continued. this is catholic nun and peace activist carol gilbert. >> i think it is criminal. this is what should have happened to him. there should have a warrant of arrest given to him when he entered u.s. soil. he should've never been allowed on u.s. soil. amy: in election news, kamala harris is reportedly preparing to announce her running mate by aug. 7, ahead of the dnc. former president barack obama and former house speaker nancy pelosi have become the latest high-profile democrats to endorse harris for president. meanwhile, harris says she is ready to face off with trump on a debate stage after trump's campaign refused to commit to debating the presumptive democratic nominee. >> i am ready to debate donald trump. i have agreed to the previously agreed-upon rules.

now it appears he is backpedaling. i am ready. the voters deserve to see the split screen that exists in this race on the debate stage. i am ready. let's go. amy: thursday evening, harris's campaign set the record for the largest zoom meeting ever. more than 150,000 people attended the event, raising more than $1 million for the presidential campaign in less than one hour. this followed another zoom call, events that raised nearly $3 million for the harris campaign. california gov. gavin newsom has ordered officials to begin removing encampments of unhoused people on state property and will encourage local officials to carry out similar sweeps. newsom announced his executive order on thursday just weeks after the u.s. supreme court voted to criminalize sleeping and camping on public property. >> we have to clean up these

sites to focus on public health and public safety. there are no longer any excuses. a billion dollars the state has invested to clean up these encampments. now we have no excuse for the supreme court decision. the executive order is about pushing them out further and getting the urgency that is required for local government to do their jobs. amy: housing rights advocates blasted newsom's executive order as "cowardly" and "cruel.” national low income housing coalition president diane yentel said, "you didn't provide the needed affordable housing. you're choosing political expediency over real solutions. that's not leadership, it's cowardice. this will only worsen homelessness.” new information has emerged in the police killing of sonya massey, an unarmed 36-year-old black mother who was shot dead in her own home after calling 911 for help. the former illinois sheriff's deputy who killed massey, sean grayson, had held six police jobs over the past four years.

the ex-officer, who has been charged with first degree murder, had previously been discharged by the army for "serious" misconduct. meanwhile, sonya massey's family has revealed she is a descendant of william donnegan, a black man who survived being lynched by a white mob during a 1908 race riot that killed 17 black people over a two-day span. the massacre led to the creation of the naacp. federal authorities in el paso, texas have arrested two alleged leaders of the sinaloa cartel. the justice department says it took into custody ismael zambada garcia, the co-founder of the sinaloa narcotrafficking organization, as well as joaquin guzman lopez, son of the group's other co-founder known as “el chapo”, who's serving life in prison in the u.s. the pair face multiple indictments for allegedly smuggling cocaine, fentanyl and heroin into the united states. in kenya, beleaguered president william ruto appointed four members of the main opposition party to a new cabinet, and announced new anti-corruption

measures, as he attempts to quell a nationwide anti-government uprising. earlier this month, ruto dismissed his previous cabinet amid the mounting protests, which were triggered by proposed tax hikes. the brutal crackdown on protests has killed some 50 people, with hundreds of others injured. young activists in kenya say they will continue to protest to remove the president. >> everyone is contributing whatever they can contribute. the president is doing everything in his capability to take this country backwards. kenya has become a police state. they can even come to residential areas with guns and water cannons. young people are abducted in their homes. i have to keep looking over my shoulder in case someone is coming to abduct me. amy: protests inspired by the uprising in kenya have now taken place in uganda and are being planned in nigeria. venezuela's presidential

candidates have wrapped up their campaigns with competing rallies that brought thousands of supporters into the streets of the capital caracas this week. on sunday, voters will decide whether to elect president nicolas maduro to a third term in office. his main challenger is former diplomat and opposition candidate edmundo gonzalez urrutia. the un refugee agency estimates more than 7.7 million people have left venezuela since 2014 as sanctions imposed by the us and european union devastated venezuela's economy. in france, a series of coordinated arson and vandalism attacks have shut down the high-speed rail network near paris and was ahead of the opening ceremony of the summer olympics. 800,000 travelers were impacted by cancellations and delays. services between london and paris have also been affected. we will have more in the broadcast. un secretary-general antonio guterres is calling for a global shift away from fossil fuels in

the face of what he called the extreme heat epidemic. a series of high temperature records were broken this week. >> it is estimated to kill half a million people a year, 70 times more than tropical cyclone sis. we know what is driving it, human induced climate change. and we know it is going to get worse. extreme heat is the new abnormal. amy: this week saw two of the hottest days on record in the world. a new un study this week found over 70% of the global workforce is at high risk of extreme heat. california's largest wildfire of the saws and has exploded, forcing thousands to evacuate. the park fire north of sacramento has scorched more

than 160 thousand acres and is just 3% contained. it is one of dozens of active wildfires across the u.s. and canada. in alberta, canada, a wildfire sweat through the town of jasper overnight, forcing 25,000 people to flee. alberta's premier said up to half of jasper structures were damaged or destroyed. >> homes and businesses have been lost to a wildfire that people are calling a wall of flames. there is no denying this is the worst nightmare for any community. right now, the wildfire is still out of control. crews are working in dangerous condition to try to protect critical infrastructure in the town. amy: a study finds pesticides used on crops are becoming increasingly laced with "forever chemicals," also known as pfas. the findings, published in environmental health perspectives, indicate the spread of pfas, which have been linked with a host of health conditions, in our foods and waterways is even more widespread than previously thought.

the chemicals industry has been fighting efforts to regulate pfas. here in new york, gov. kathy hochul has been hit with two new lawsuits this week, challenging her suspension last month of manhattan's long-awaited congestion program just weeks before it was set to start. one of the lawsuits claims hochul's move violates a new york law requiring a 40% reduction in emissions by 2030. in labor news, the american federation of teachers passed a resolution to join a possible nationwide strike on may 1, 2028. the united auto workers union is calling on labor unions around the country to back may 1, 2028 as the expiration date for all local contracts, uniting workers in a possible massive work stoppage if employers fail to agree on fair terms for new contracts. those are some of the headlines.

i'm amy goodman. as israel carries out new air strikes in the gaza strip, the united nations palestinian refugee agency unrwa is reporting nine in every 10 palestinians in gaza have been forcibly displaced. meanwhile, the world food program is warning israel is blocking delivery of aid, and says it has been forced to reduce food rations "to ensure broader coverage for newly displaced people." un experts are blaming israel for the onset of famine in gaza, accusing it of carrying out a "targeted starvation campaign.” here in the united states, days after launching her white house campaign, and skipping israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu's joint address to congress, vice president kamala harris met with netanyahu thursday, and he also met with president s biden earlier in the day. harris spoke afterward. >> what has happened in gaza over the past nine months is devastating.

the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time. we cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. and i will not be silent. amy: harris described her private meeting with netanyahu as "frank and constructive.” she said nothing about cutting military assistance for israel even as she reiterated calls to finalize a ceasefire deal. this comes as a group of 45 u.s. doctors, surgeons and nurses who have volunteered in gaza since oct. 7 have written an open letter to president biden and vice president harris, the demanding an immediate ceasefire and an international arms embargo of israel. the group of health workers include evidence of a much higher death toll than is usually cited -- more than 92,000 people, which represents

over 4% of gaza's population. two of the doctors join us now. in south bend, indiana, thalia pachiyannakis is an obstetrician and gynecologist who returned from gaza earlier this month after having worked at nasser medical complex in khan younis. and joining us from stockton, california, dr. feroze sidhwa is a trauma surgeon who volunteered at the european hospital in khan younis, gaza, in the early spring. he worked with the palestinian american medical association in collaboration with the world health organization. he recently co-wrote the recent politico article, “we volunteered at a gaza hospital. what we saw was unspeakable.” we welcome you both to democracy now! dr. thalia pachiyannakis, talk about what you saw and when you are calling on president biden and vice president harris to do right now. >> the conditions in guys that

were unacceptable and difficult. we had no soap to wash our hands in the hospital, no drapes, no sterile gowns. we would go to work and others is what say we don't even have water to drink. imagine the situation for the patients who would want one hour or two hours to the hospital. patients with suspected cancer would be walking to the hospital or taking three hours to get there because of transportation issues. there is no sanitation. it is unbelievable the situation over there. amy: talk specifically about what women face. you are an obstetrician gynecologist. >> yes. the pregnant women, when i was there, in one week, we had four fetal deaths because we were unable to monitor the babies.

they didn't have any monitors to monitor the women in labor. we had fetal deaths. we also had women come into the hospital delayed with babies dying, suffering severe wound infections, going to the icu because of the lack sanitation and sterility. amy: you addressed in the letter not only to president biden and vice president kamala harris but also in jill biden, the first lady, dr. of education. why did you add her as well? >> the whole infrastructure in gaza is destroyed. children not being in school for nine months. we have medical students not able to complete their studies.

the universities have been bombed. with education being important to dr. biden, this is why we addressed her. amy: let me bring dr. feroze sidhwa into the conversation. thanks for joining us once again. we spoke to you after you were at european hospital in khan yunis. talk about the organizing of this letter, the significance of what happened this week. you have president biden stepping aside in the presidential race, kamala harris being the presumptive nominee. yesterday, if you can respond to what she said, if you feel there is a difference in kamala harris' approach to what is happening in gaza. she skipped netanyahu's address to congress. she joined about 100 congress members and senators in skipping that event.

file different messages being sent? >> thanks for having me again. the organizing of the letter, a lot of american physicians have been to gaza since october 7, plenty before that, but we want to focus on the conditions since october 7. we basically all saw the same thing. the medical community is not that big, we all talk to each other. i met thalia because she happens to be married to a buddy of mine from high school, so these relationships blossomed. it was very clear to us, we all saw the same thing, we saw evidence of a ductile that is certainly much higher than what is reported by the gaza ministry of health, which is not unusual in more time at all. but for unusual reasons here. we all saw the targeting of our

own health worker colleagues which really struck us as being unconscionable, just utterly unacceptable. we all saw the violence directed against children specifically. the way the violence impacts women, especially pregnant women, like thalia was saying. we decided to just get together and write a letter. we probably could have written a 30-page letter but we tried to limit it to four pages so it is readable. there is an appendix to the letter that we put together that is more data-driven than our personal observations if people are interested. regarding vice president harris, i was actually listening to the word that you were playing from her.

not the exact words, but what has happened is terrible, people are being displaced for the second or third or fourth time, we cannot look away, i will not be silent. those are all very nice sentiments but israel has made clear what it is planning on doing to gaza. it has destroyed the entire place. that is already done. oxfam put out a report recently called "water war crimes" that points out it is really concentrates gaza's population, like they are trying to, palestinians will have 2.5 liters of water per person per day while there. there will be one toilet for every 4500 people. that is totally outrageous. there is nothing to not be silent about. if she becomes the president of the united states, she should stop arms transfers to israel,

and not just israel. i would hope the united states would lead an arms embargo against palestinians and israelis. amy: let me go back to kamala harris. netanyahu did not mention a cease-fire in his joint address. this is what she said after meeting with him privately, after president biden did yesterday. again, this is kamala harris speaking after her meeting with netanyahu. >> the first phase of the deal would bring about april cease-fire, including a withdrawal of the israeli military from population centers in gaza. the second phase, the israeli military would withdraw from gaza entirely, and it would lead to a permanent end to the hostilities. it is time for this war to end

. amy: do you see a difference, is there a daylight between president biden and vice president harris in dealing with netanyahu and israel? >> honestly, it is hard to know. it would hard to be worse. the real question -- this is a political question, not a medical one. with the end of any, what changes, the question is what will change? if the more ends, but israel goes back to the blockade since they have had since 2005 until october 6 at 2023, then nothing will change. it is not just there's more that needs to end. the israeli-palestinian conflict needs to end, and the u.s. is fueling it with weapons transfers, not participating in

a weapons blockade which amnesty international has called for. amy: dr. thalia pachiyannakis, having been to the complex in khan yunis, the message that you are putting out your medical counterparts, what you want people to do in this country at a time when people are particularly galvanized around this issue? we have seen protests in washington, d.c., leading up to the democratic convention in chicago. >> i want everyone to speak up. people know this is wrong but nobody is speaking up. women are having surgery without anesthesia or pain medicine. major surgeries only with tylenol. imagine that. you have sisters, mothers,

wives. imagine that. i want everyone to speak up. there needs to be a cease-fire. amy: dr. thalia pachiyannakis, obstetrician and gynecologist, was at nasser medical complex in khan younis. dr. feroze sidhwa, trauma surgeon in khan younis, gaza. now back in stockton where he works. part of a group of 45 u.s. doctors, surgeons, and nurses who volunteered in gaza since october 7, who wrote an open letter to president biden and vice president harris demanding an immediate ceasefire and an international arms embargo of israel. next, the opening ceremony for the 2024 olympics is happening today. we will speak with a lebanese photojournalist who carried the olympic torch on sunday to honor journalists wounded or killed on the job. she herself lost her own leg

when israel struck an area of southern lebanon. she also mourns her reuters colleague who was killed. stay with us. ♪ [music break] amy: "don't drink the water" by

dave matthews band. dave matthews join the thousands and to protest prime minister benjamin netanyahu his joint address to congress. dave matthews says he is ashamed , calling it disgusting, also calling out from recent concerts. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the opening ceremony for the summer olympics as happening today in paris. we begin our coverage with lebanese photojournalist christina assi of agence france-presse, who carried the olympic torch in paris on sunday to honor journalists wounded or killed on the job. she lost her leg in the same israeli attack on southern lebanon that killed reuters videographer issam abdallah. christina assi spoke sunday. >> of course this is all for my best friend issam abdallah, all the other journalists we have lost this year. this is all for them to tribute

and honor their memory. i will keep issam's memory alive and everything i do. it is all for him. amy: it was october 13th last year when an israeli tank strike killed reuters journalist issam abdallah while he was reporting in southern lebanon with six other journalists. a video produced by amnesty international shows how they determined that abdallah was killed by an israeli tank shell. >> in many cases when we work on conflicts, the weapon directly leads us to a perpetrator. this is the key piece of evidence. my colleague, i'm a weapons analyst, knew immediately what this weapon is. >> it was a 120 millimeter tank around. that confirms it was the israeli military that fired on the journalists. hezbollah and the armed groups

in south lebanon do not use those kinds of weapons. >> more importantly, we did identify this weapon before being used by the israeli forces in the context of different strikes on gaza. this is at least the third time where we are able to link this type of weapon with the israeli forces. amy: for more, we are joined in beirut, lebanon by christina assi, one of the journalists who survived this attack. she had to have her leg amputated and she carried the olympic torch in paris sunday to honor journalists wounded or killed on the job. the committee to protect journalists reports since october 7 at least 108 journalists have been killed, the majority palestinian targeted by israeli strikes on the gaza strip. christina assi, welcome to democracy now! so sorry about what happened to you, and also in your case, the

lebanese photojournalist issam abdallah. we did a story on him after he was killed. can you describe what happened after october 13? he had just set up the video in your position in southern lebanon so that people around the world, particularly journalists observing the video, saw when you were all attacked. >> thank you for having me. on october 13, we were doing our job, a group of journalists and the french agencies. we heard there was a bombardment in a village nearby, so we all moved there. we saw an exposed area, so that we don't look suspicious, and there was a grown monitoring us for the entire time. we were there around 40, 50 minutes. out of nowhere, we were attacked. i immediately hit the ground. i didn't see my legs, so i was

screaming to my colleague to help me. unfortunately, a few seconds later, we were attacked again. there was a car burning next to me. i was afraid so i had to do something. i started moving away from it by crawling. it was a horrific experience. i had no idea that we had lost issam abdallah. i found out later on after i woke up in the hospital. amy: can you talk about, now, what you did on sunday? is this a first? the olympics honored journalists wounded or dead, like you, like issam, killed. what was your experience like carrying the torch in paris? >> it was an opportunity to shed

light on what is happening to journalists, especially those choosing to report despite all of the mental and physical toll. we just wanted to send this message to the world so they could hear us, know our story, know about the atrocities happening in this region. amy: after you were struck by the israeli tank missile, issam killed, talk about how you made it to the hospital, your long road to recovery, and finally, what has israel said to you? have they accepted responsibility? >> i was in an induced coma for 12 days, so after i woke up i realized my life had changed. i had to stay for five months.

it is nine months and i am still doing surgeries, i cannot walk. i am hoping to be able to stand again and do my duty, do my mission. regarding israel, no, they did not take responsibility. they said this is a war zone, this is a mistake, and i don't take responsibility for what happened. however, all investigations and experts prove it was a targeted attack. we were targeted twice, and there was a machine gun as well. i'm not sure how it could have been a mistake. amy: what about al jones france-presse, afp, what have they demanded? >> there is an investigation going on, they have been collaborating with amnesty, all the other organizations trying to get us justice. however, we all know, when it comes to israel, justice is

far-fetched. i hope the collective effort they have been working on will actually reach something. amy: let me ask you, in march, you and investigation accused israel of breaking international law for the killing of issam abdallah. you have his family, this past week, setting out the basis upon which there are strong grounds to constitute israel is conducting a war crime, evidence of a long-running practice of the targeting of journalists. >> yes. the family of issam abdallah has also been working to get justice for his killing. it is a more crime. all the investigations,

collective investigation that have been done prove that it was a targeted attack and results in a war crime. under international law, geneva convention, journalists must be protected. that is why we wear our vests, while we take all of our measurements, we wear our helmets, we had things on to our car. all indications are we are press. we are doing our jobs. we are not holding guns, we are holding cameras. after the attack, we also lost three other colleagues because they were also attacked. then another attack. they were just trying to scare the journalists. that is why journalists are no longer going to the southern border of lebanon. amy: funnily, christina assi, as you bring attention to what took

place, carrying the torch in paris -- we will be going there in a minute to cover what is happening with the olympics today. do you plan to continue as a war photojournalist, dominated by men thus far, after losing your leg. what motivates you? >> i feel like everything has been taken away from my life. even my mobility. nine months i have not been working. when someone goes through something as horrendous, i fight every day to survive mentally and physically. nothing can stop you anymore. of course i will not let them silence me, i want to do my duty and mission, however, given that journalists have a mission to document what is happening, we do not accept the global culture of impunity. something needs to happen.

we need action, we don't need words anymore. journalists and civilians have to be protected. amy: christina assi, thank you for being with those and for your bravery. lebanese journalist with agence france press who lost her leg in the same attack that killed reuters photographer issam abdallah. christina carried the olympic torch on sunday to honor journalists wounded on the job. next, we go to paris where the opening ceremony takes place for the olympics. we will look at greenwashing and displacement of vulnerable communities ahead of the games. stay with us.

♪ [music break]

amy: waving flag by the somali musician canine singing in our studios in 2009 before it became the anthem of the world cup. he has just won a grammy for his song "refugee." we end today's show in paris, where just hours before the 2024 summer olympics opening ceremony, a series of apparently coordinated arson and vandalism attacks were reported on france's high-speed rail network, euro star, impacting thousands of travelers. tens of thousands are expected to stream into paris today for the start of the opening ceremonies when close to 7000 athletes from around the world are set to sail on boats along a four-mile stretch on the seine

river. meanwhile, protests have taken place, condemning the displacement of migrants, on house people and other vulnerable communities in a month-long campaign by authorities that activists denounced as a social cleansing. yesterday, another group of mostly african migrants sleeping on the streets of paris were rounded up by police, driven out of paris. displaced migrants have spoken out against violence. >> the ngos who take care of us give us a place to bathe, food to eat will shut down soon. we don't know what will come of us and we we will go during the olympic games. >> i have two children. because we are living on the streets, one fell ill with asthma. it is difficult with the olympic games. we do all of our activities in paris. what will happen to us now? can anybody find a solution for

us? >> go to the train stations. everywhere you go there are policeman. they are here for security, but for us, they are here to catch us. there are millions of undocumented migrants in france. amy: voices of two congolese migrant mothers. hundreds of people have also marched on paris over the weekend to protest the participation of the israeli delegation to the summer olympics despite their endless war in gaza. >> israeli athletes participation in the olympics is very shocking, especially when we know what has been happening for eight months in gaza. there are dozens of young palestinian athletes will never be able to participate in the olympic games. they can say thank you to israel for that and the international community. israel allows itself to behave like this because the international community has only been giving it little slaps for

decades. amy: hundreds of coaches and athletes have been killed since october 7. eight palestinian athletes are competing in the paris of summer games this year, the most in history, including an 18-year-old tae kwon do fighter. amnesty international's land authorities over a policy banning france's muslim athletes from where headscarves. we go to paris where we are joined by two guests. jules boykoff is a former professional athlete. his latest piece for the scientific american is headlined "the paris olympics are a lesson in greenwashing.” he's also co-written several pieces on the olympics alongside sports editor at the nation dave zirin including their latest, "the appalling social cleansing of olympic paris" published on the nation. paul alauzy is a paris-based activist with the medical ngo medecins du monde, doctors of the world, and an organizer with other side of the medal.

so glad that you can join us in our studios in paris. paul alauzy, if you could explain what french authorities are calling sabotage of the high-speed rails. almost one billion people affected. then talk about when you are calling social cleansing and preparation for these summer olympics? >> thank you so much for having us. i don't have much to say about the sabotage this morning because our collective, ngos, association lived through the violence, social cleansing the whole year. in a year we had more than 12,500 homeless people, refugees , sex workers, drug workers, people from eastern europe who were taken away from tent cities.

it has risen 40% from two years ago. this past week, 300 people removed yesterday. 500 people removed from tent cities last week. the number of expulsions to want a the more marginalized people in paris has exploded because of the organization of the olympics. amy: jules boykoff, describe, set the scene for us, how paris has planned for these olympics and how extensive, you are calling this ethnic cleansing, is? >> back in 2017 when paris was bidding on the olympics, they promised their olympics would be different. the subtext would be that they would try to avoid the problems that have become endemic downsides to the olympics, overspending, militarization of public space, displacement of

marginalized populations, greenwashing, and corruption. unfortunately, seven years later, they have totally conformed to the plan. 115% cost overrun i feel like i am attending a police convention here. it is intense. they also instituted a high-powered surveillance that will be used throughout the games. paul talked about the displacement happening here. this has been a thorough greenwashing. we can talk about that. there are numerous open investigations here related to bribery around the games. they said they would be different but how different are they really? amy: talk about when you are describing as the greenwashing. we are talking about a week that has seen not two but three of the hottest days on record in the world. if you can talk about what this

greenwashing is about. >> absolutely. since the 1990's, the international olympic committee has really talked a lot about sustainability, trying to embed it into the olympic games. but a recent academic study found those most recent installations of the olympics, tokyo, sochi, rio are some of the most egregious green washers around. in that context, paris sort of tiptoed around and very low bar. they have limited the amount of fresh construction they are doing. they are reusing materials, so a lot of the seats in the venues are made of recycled plastic. they are leaning on wood, more vegan options in the cafeterias. but the problem is this event is fundamentally unsustainable. take a look at tahiti. they are hosting the surfing competition, 9000 miles away

from here, so we are racking up carbon miles to do that. even worse, when they were creating the power to allow nbc and other broadcasters to transmit the best pictures of the surfers to the world, they brought a barge in that ran over the top of a delicate coral reef. you can watch the videos of locals into shooting screaming out in pain. i don't know how that conforms to green promises around the olympics. basically what i'm saying to you is, in paris, we are seeing a pale green form of pale green capitalism, when in reality what is required is a systematic transformation in technicolor. amy: jules, you are an olympic soccer player yourself formerly. i am looking at an article right now about the 2024 olympics,

likely the hottest ever. are athletes themselves repaired to deal with the heat as they compete in the heat? >> you are right. i had the good fortune of representing the united states at the under 23 level. i am concerned about athletes. like you mentioned, these are some of the hottest days of the world that we are living. if you want to know why we are having the olympics in july and august, the hottest month of the year, it makes sense to look at the contract that nbc signed with the olympic committee. they paid $7.5 billion for the rights to run the games through 2032. nbc does not want to have the olympics interfering with u.s. american football which starts in september basically. that is why they are putting athletes into this intense heat. last olympics, we learned athletes were forced to sign

waivers that if they died from coronavirus or heat exhaustion, they could not sue the international olympic committee. that is the situation that athletes have to deal with if they want to compete in the olympics in the modern era. amy: looking at some stats and figures. 20% of olympic nations face extension from sea level rise a by 2030. international air travel, a huge impact on the carbon from the games. >> that's absolutely correct. some 85% of the pollution and carbon associated with sports mega events comes from the travel. that is not being sufficiently dealt with here in paris. if the olympics or other big sporting events like the world cup actually want to be green, there are a number of things they can do. they can make the games smaller.

they suffer from gigantism. two, they can figure out ways to institute measures that are more transparent for all of us to see what they are doing. it is un transparent what paris is doing right now. there are lots of things that we can do right but we need to scale back the size of these events if we want to make them green. amy: paul, i want to talk to you about the level of protest around paris right now. there was a counter opening ceremony. describe that for us. also talk about the paris mayor who is a socialist. the swimming in the seine, politicians showing it is clean enough. the french president wanted to swim in it. you can describe what people wanted to do if he swim in the

seine. >> [laughter] yes, to talk about the organization around the games, it is really tricky to organize. it is a big propaganda mission, very strong. they have an insane security system around this. of course they want to prevent any risk of terrorism, nobody wants that, but for an activist it is tricky. we organize a lot of direct action. when the flame arrived in paris, in front of tourist places. we managed to have the images of the protest go around the world which is good. the social cleansing continued. i spent i don't know how many days being in tent cities, living along the seine, then we

have politicians taking a bath, making a big spectacle. a lot of french people threatened to -- part in the expression -- but to take a -- in the seine, disrupt the bath of the politicians. they use $1.4 billion to clean up the seine. we are asking for just 1% of that budget in order to put in an emergency plan to help the refugees and all of those depending on the public spaces. they didn't accept that. we can see where the political priorities are. amy: if you could talk about your organization, the other side of the coin. revers de la medaille. what does that mean?

the other side of the medal. >> it means that we are not anti-olympics. i come from a small village, friends love the olympics, they don't know what is happening in the streets. it doesn't make them be mean people who are anti-migrants, anti-poverty. we wanted to showcase to the people and spread the word around that. you can support the games but you need to know that they have a big social impact, and they come with a cost. they come with a cost of the lives of hundreds of thousands of people being mistreated. they go through migration, they went through libya, the mediterranean sea. they arrived here, and what they have is a police response. it is so violent to live through that. the games were so different 130 years ago, only for males, my

people, even organize with the nazis. even after a year of protesting the games, unconvinced that if we continue to do so, we can improve for the better. amy: jules boykoff, talk about the calls for israel to not be included in the olympics. eight palestinian athletes are competing in this year's olympics. your co-writer in the nation said that seven of them have universality places, which allows them to take part in the games even if they come up short of formally qualifying. >> absolutely. at the protest that paul organized last night, there was a huge pro-palestinian rights

presence there. i have seen it all over the city. if you want to understand israel and its inclusion in the olympics, it does compared to russia. only 12 athletes at these olympic games, normally they bring up to 300. that is two reasons because of the olympic committee gave. russia violated the olympic truth when it invaded ukraine right after the beijing olympics and before the paralympics. two, that they had violated the territorial integrity of ukraine, and in doing so, took over four areas that encompass sports areas from ukraine, and russia took over those sports clubs. compared to israel, i want to be clear, history does not give us identical twins, if you will. but there are similar elements. as you have been reporting today, the atrocities continue at pace in gaza.

two, if you look at the stadiums in gaza, nearly every soccer stadium has been totally decimated. the fields are unplayable. probably the most storied football stadium in gaza, yarmuk stadium, was overtaken by israeli forces and used to interrogate palestinians. that sounds like taking over the territorial integrity of gaza. people are wondering out loud here and around the world, my is israel not treated like russia? russia is sending 12 athletes here and they will not participate under their flag. they participate under individual neutral athletes. a lot of people have been raising the question, why is israel not also being asked to participate as individual neutral athletes? the international olympic committee has shown zero interest in entertaining this question, and that is why you

see israeli athletes participating under their flag, with their national anthem here in paris. amy: jules, you have been writing about the use of ai at the olympics. we just have 30 seconds, but if you could explain. >> in march 2023, the french national assembly passed a law legalizing ai-powered video surveillance to police the olympic games. the law as opposed to sunset in march 2025 after the olympics, but it doesn't take the imagination of an avant garde poet in which the government decide to keep them in place. as we have seen with previous olympics, they use it as a pretext to get all the special weapons and laws they would never be able to get the room normal political times, and all too often those that stay on the books and become part of normalize policing of the games. normalize policing into many

places is also racialized policing. you could argue that ai is increasing the racialized policing in society. amy: thank you so much for being with us. jules boykoff, five books on the olympics, former olympic soccer player. we will link to your pieces. paul