01/10/18 01/10/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! we will notay succumb to blackmail. amy: president trump threatens to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of annual eight to the u.n. relief agency for palestinian refugees in a move that could further destabilize the region. this comes as the international criminal court may soon open a war crimes probe into israel's 2014 assault on gaza and the ongoing expansion of settlements in the occupied west bank. we will look at the crisis in

gaza with scholar norman finkelstein, author of the new book, "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom." basic facts people should know about gaza are, number one, gaza consists overwhelmingly of refugees. number two, gaza consists overwhelmingly of children. israeli been under occupation for the past half century, and it has been under a brutal, some might even call it medieval, siege for more than a decade. amy: today, norman finkelstein for the hour. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a major blow to president trump's anti-immigration agenda, a u.s. judge in san francisco has temporarily stopped the trump administration from ending

the daca program, that's deferred action for childhood arrivals. the obama-era program gave nearly 800,000 young undocumented people legal permission to live and work in the united states. president trump announced he was ending the program late last year. on tuesday, u.s. district judge william alsup ruled the daca program must remain in place amid multiple lawsuits over trump's decision to rescind the program. this comes after president trump held an extraordinary meeting with democratic and republican lawmakers at the white house monday in which trump appeared to support a wide reaching deal on immigration that could grant millions of undocumented people the pathway to citizenship. during the meeting, trump repeatedly said he would take the heat for sweeping immigration deal, which would likely be opposed by much of his far right wing anti-immigrant base. president trump also said he wanted a bill of love to protect the 800,000 young undocumented people known as dreamers, whose

protection see attempted to rescind last year. to the surprise of many, the majority of the meeting was televised, which aides said was meant to show the president's mental acuity amidst mounting questions about the president's mental health. but much of what trump said during the televised meeting appeared to run counter to his campaign promises and immigration policies, which have included demanding $18 billion in funding for militarized andar wall, resending dac, resending gps -- tps. a number of his supporters attacked trump will stuff he is are ready began walking back his comments from the meeting tweeting -- amy: the guardian is reporting the trump administration is planning to loosen the

restrictions on the use of nuclear weapons and develop a nuclear warhead for u.s. trident missiles. this nuclear policy was outlined in a draft seen by a former obama arms control official. it's significantly more hawkish than the previous administration's nuclear policy. this comes as president trump has repeatedly threatened to deploy nuclear weapons against north korea, proposed building up the u.s. nuclear arsenal, and has reportedly repeatedly asked about nuclear weapons " if we had them, why can't we use them?" meanwhile, south korean president moon jae-in said he would be willing to sit down with north korea's leader kim jong-un. the potential meeting comes after high-level officials from north and south korea met in the demilitarized zone between the two countries for the first official talks in more than two years. at the talks, north korea said it would send a delegation to the winter olympic games being held next month in south korea. the diplomacy is seeking to deescalate the threat of nuclear war on the korean peninsula, which has been largely sparked by president trump's repeated threats to launch a nuclear

strike against north korea. trump's former chief strategist steve bannon has left his position as head of the far-right-wing news outlet breitbart news, which has been described as an online haven for white nationalists and frequently publishes white nationalist propaganda. his departure from breitbart comes after bannon and president trump had a public falling out over bannon's quotes in the recently released book "fire and fury: inside the trump white house." in the book, bannon is quoted as accusing donald trump jr. of treason, predicting robert mueller's russia investigation will find evidence of money laundering, and portraying his former boss as wholly unprepared for the presidency. following the publication of the book, bannon lost public support from many of his supporters, including billionaire backer rebecca mercer. in news from washington, california senator dianne feinstein released the transcript of a congressional interview with the founder of the research firm, fusion gps, which was behind the dossier on

the alleged collusion between president trump's campaign and the russian government. the dossier was compiled by a former british spy named christopher steele. it alleges there was a conspiracy of cooperation between the trump campaign and russian officials. this is democratic senator dianne feinstein, explaining why she released the transcript. >> i think people are entitled to know what was said and the released.so wanted it i see no problem with releasing it. >> senator graham says he has jeopardized the ability to get witnesses like kushner? >> oh, i don't think so. that has been difficult in any event. to my knowledge, there has not been a single fact in that report that has been proven to be incorrect. it is really to muddy the waters and create a problem.

steele brought this information into the fbi. it is quite amazing that you get punished for providing information. amy: the founders of fusion gps asked the transcript to be released publicly. president trump's lawyer sued fusion gps and buzz feed some of the news outlet that first published the dossier. the notorious racist former arizona sheriff joe arpaio has announced he is running for senate in the race to replace retiring republican senator jeff flake. arpaio has been a major supporter of president trump, who pardoned the convicted ex-sheriff last year, after he was convicted of contempt of court for defying an order to stop his deputies from racial profiling. for years, arpaio ran a notoriously racist sheriff's department. he once bragged that he ran his open-air tent city jail like a concentration camp. arpaio was first elected in 1992 and was voted out of office in 2016 after latinos organized a

massive get-out-the-vote campaign. in an unprecedented ruling, federal judges have ruled north carolina's congressional map unconstitutionally favors republicans. the ruling marks the first time a federal court has struck down a congressional map because of political gerrymandering. the judges ruled the map violates the 14th amendment's guarantee of equal protection. republicans have vowed to appeal tuesday's ruling. the ruling gives republicans two weeks to present a remedial plan to remap the congressional districts. in libya, the coast guard says as many as 100 people may have died when a boat carrying refugees seeking to reach europe sunk off libya's coast tuesday. those who did survive were brought to a naval base in tripoli, libya. this is one of the survivors, zainab abdesalam. >> i feel so disappointed

because i could not make it to where i wanted to go. i don't want to go to prison. i don't want to go to prison. i don't want to go to prison. amy: in pakistan, at least six people were killed in a suicide bomb attack targeting police officers in the southwestern city of quetta tuesday. the group known as the pakistan taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was in retaliation for the killing of its fighters by the pakistani military. at least 16 more people were wounded in the explosion. egypt has jailed 262 people for participating in the 2013 sit-in protests against the ouster of former president mohamed morsi. the sentences ranged from life in prison to three years in jail. israel is facing a possible international criminal court probe over its 2014 assault on gaza and continued expansion of in prison to three years in settlements in the occupied west bank. according to the israeli tv station channel 10, israel's national security council recently warned israeli lawmakers that the icc could open an investigation at some

point this year. this comes as the israeli defense minister said israel will approve the construction of hundreds of new settlement homes in the israeli-occupied west bank. meanwhile, israel prime minister benjamin netanyahu is facing a domestic political controversy after an israeli tv station aired a secret audio recording of his son from outside a strip club in 2015. in the recording yair netanyahu , can be heard talking about prostitutes and demanding money from the son of a israeli gas tycoon. he implies his father helped push through a $20 billion deal to benefit the businessman saying -- "my dad arranged $20 billion for your dad, and you're whining with me about 400 shekels." this comes at a time when benjamin netanyahu is facing multiple corruption probes. we will have more on israel and palestine after the headlines. a gore's foreign minister says

wikileaks founder julian assange's stay in the ecuadorian embassy in london is untenable. assange first sought refuge and political asylum in the ecuadorian embassy in 2012, when he faced possible extradition to sweden amid a sexual assault investigation. the investigation has since been dropped. assange denies the allegations and calls the investigation a pretext for his ultimate extradition to the united states to face prosecution under the espionage act. ecuador is now calling on assange's stay to be ended through international mediation. back in the united states, the senate foreign relations committee held a hearing tuesday on a series of bizarre, unexplained health problems suffered by u.s. diplomats in cuba. officials originally said the health problems were caused by a likely sonic attack. but a new fbi report says there is no evidence of sonic waves being used in an attack in havana. at tuesday's senate committee hearing, officials suggested the unexplained health problems might have been caused by an intentionally deployed virus.

the cuban government has denied any involvement in the alleged attack and says it's helping to investigate the incidents. in financial news, the international business times reports the trump administration has quietly waived part of the punishment for five major banks who were convicted of manipulating global interest rates. the banks are citigroup, jpmorgan, barclays, ubs, and deutsche bank -- to which president trump and his business empire owes at least $130 million in loans. the global interest rate manipulation scandal, known as the libor scandal, involved banks illegally manipulating the interest rate which underpins trillions in global transactions. in california, at least 13 people have died after torrential rains triggered mudslides in santa barbara county. at least two dozen more people are missing, and authorities expect the death toll to rise. scientists have linked extreme rainfall events to climate change. this is santa barbara county sheriff bill brown.

>> while we hope it will not, we expect that this number will increase as we continue to look for people who are still missing and unaccounted for. we had a very difficult time assessing the area and responding to many of those areas to assist those people. the only words i can really think of to describe what it looked like as it is like a world wabattlefield. amy: the torrential downpours and deadly mudslides in santa barbara, california, come only weeks after the region was ravaged by historic and deadly winter wildfires. in madagascar, at least 29 people have been killed and tens of thousands more displaced from their homes after a cyclone hit the island nation off the southeastern coast of africa over the weekend. this is haingo tina, who was displaced by the cyclone. our family andnd our houses completely submerged in water. a strongy child has

fever. we decided to come here. you are forced to walk in water. it is everywhere. amy: meanwhile, a tsunami alert has been issued for wide swathes of central america and the caribbean, after a magnitude-7.6 earthquake struck off the coast of honduras. new york city mayor bill de blasio is slated to announce today that new york city is divesting the city's five pension funds of $5 billion in fossil fuel investments. the new york city officials are citing climate change as the reason for the divestment, which they say is the largest of any municipality so far. new york city comptroller scott stringer said -- "safeguarding the retirement of our city's police officers, teachers, and firefighters is our top priority, and we believe that their financial future is linked to the sustainability of the planet." in response, 350.org co-founder bill mckibben tweeted -- "one of the biggest days in 30 years of the climate fight. earth's mightiest city now in full-on fight with its richest, most irresponsible industry."

the trump administration has announced it's dropped plans to open up the waters off the coast of florida to off-shore oil and gas drilling, following fierce opposition by florida's republican governor rick scott. the announcement comes after the interior department moved last week to allow offshore oil and gas drilling in nearly all of the united states' coastal waters. the reversal of the obama-era restrictions would open more than one billion acres of water in the arctic, pacific, atlantic , and gulf of mexico. the reversal came after the interior secretary ryan zinke met with governor scott in florida. in louisiana, a middle school english teacher named deyshia hargrave was arrested in a now viral video after she stood up at a school board meeting and questioned why the superintendent was getting a raise when the teachers hadn't gotten a raise in years. how are you going to take a

raise? when i first started 21ching ela, there were like kids in the class and now there are 29 kids in the class that we are now having, and we have not gotten raises. how are you going to take that money that is basically taking money out of our pockets, teachers -- >> stop. that is not your name. >> come on, how are you -- >> what is on the agenda is the superintendent's contract. >> a raise. >> is an against policy -- the after her questioning, teacher voluntarily left the room and was then forcibly arrested in the hallway by a marshal. since monday, the video has been seen by more than 1.5 million people. actor james franco has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women online, including

an actress who tweeted -- franco wore a "time's up" pin at the golden globes on sunday. the "times up" initiative was launched to combat sexual harassment and assault. this is james franco denying the accusations during an interview last night on "the late show" with steven colbert. >> in my life, i pride myself on taking responsibility for things that i have done. i have to do that to maintain my well-being. i do it whenever i know that there's something wrong or needs to be changed. i make a point to do it. the things that i heard that were on twitter are not accurate. amy: james franco won a golden globe for best actor in a motion picture. and some lawmakers are planning to wear black during president trump's first state of the union address later this month to

protest sexual harassment and assault and to show solidarity with the #metoo and #timesup movements, seeking to end gender violence and abuse. president trump has been accused of sexual harassment, assault or misconduct by at least 16 women. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back from break, we turn to israel and palestine. israel facing a possible international criminal court war crimes probe over its 2014 assault on gaza. our guest, scholar norman finkelstein, out with a new book, "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel is facing a possible international criminal court war crimes probe over its 2014

assault on gaza and the ongoing expansion of settlements in the occupied west bank. according to the israeli tv station channel 10, israel's national security council recently warned israeli lawmakers that the icc could open an investigation at some point this year. despite the warning, the israeli defense minister announced tuesday israel will approve the construction of hundreds of new settlement homes in the west bank. palestinian leaders began calling for an icc probe soon after the 2014 assault on gaza, which killed more than 2100 palestinians, including over 500 children. this comes as israel and the united states are facing growing international condemnation over their treatment of palestinians. last month, the united nations voted 128 to 9 in favor of a resolution calling for the united states to drop its recent

recognition of jerusalem as israel's capital. meanwhile, on tuesday, sweden criticized the trump administration for threatening to cut off hundreds of millions of dollars of annual aid to the u.n.'s relief agency for palestinian refugees. sweden's ambassador to the u.n. said the cutting off of aid "would be destabilizing for the region." palestinian legislator hanan ashrawi compared president trump's threat to cut off aid money to blackmail. palestinians are not for sale and we will not succumb to blackmail. unilaterally, president trump has destroyed them. he has even sabotaged our efforts at achieving a just peace and getting freedom and a midi for the palestinian people. i recognizing occupied jerusalem as the capital of israel, he is not only disqualified himself as a peace broker or a mediator by

taking sides and by the becoming complicit in israel's occupation, he has also totally sabotaged, totally destroy the very foundations of peace. amy: part of the u.n. aid money goes to refugees living in occupied gaza, the most densely populated area in the world. for years, the united nations and aid groups have warned that conditions in gaza are almost unlivable due to the decade-long israeli military blockade by -- and by multiple israeli assaults on the region. in gazat of 10 people live off humanitarian aid. the unemployment rate, 44%. electricity cuts can reach up to 20 hours every day. gaza is the subject of a new gaza is the subject of a new book by the author and scholar norman finkelstein. it is titled "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom." norman finkelstein is the son of holocaust survivors.

he is the author of many other books including "the holocaust industry: reflections on the exploitation of human suffering," and "knowing too much: why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end." norman finkelstein, welcome back to democracy now! let's begin with the latest news of this report of a possible icc international criminal court am a war crimes probe into the israeli assault on gaza in 2014. >> there has been long-standing icc investigations of israeli conduct and this is another pressin the israeli smoothing along the two prosecutor thought to have -- who has been very soft, as has the previous icc two prosecutor when it comes to prosecuting anyone except africans. ince the founding of the icc

1998, the only persons ever tried our african leaders or africans accused of significant human rights fines. it is called by many african states, the international caucasian court, not criminal court. what will come of this is unclear. it is possible the two use theor will palestine case to demonstrate that not only africans are prosecuted as a way of demonstrating that she is going to break the president. i myself have contacted her of the ongoing process. and what happened in 2014, which i discuss at length in my book, is part of the investigation. and people know her and have about myusiastic

manuscript have also contacted her. want to make one point. of course, an investigation would be a good thing. of course, an investigation is warranted. however, we have to bear in mind the palestinians have won many important political and legal victories. in 2004, the international court of justice found in favor of the palestinians across the board. then there was the goldstone report, which is another important victory. the problem is not the palestinians lack in political and legal victories. the problem is the palestinian leadership, or so-called leadership, has never translated the legal and political victories into something practical on the ground. and so even if -- and i'm hoping it will happen -- but even if there is an icc victory for the

palestinians, even on that remote possibility, the problem is, what do you do with it? in the palestinian leadership has never done anything with its victories. into yourfore we get inquest into gaza, i want to also ask about this threat of the u.s. cutting off millions of dollars to the palestinian refugee agency. explain the significance of this agency and why palestinians rely on this so much. >> first of all, you have to bear in mind that 70% of palestinians in gaza, let's just call them gazans, 70% of gazans are classified as refugees. that means technically come actual refugees and children of refugees. it under the categorization used in gaza, they are all classified as refugees. so that is 70%.

secondly, half of gaza's population were slightly more our children -- were slightly more our children. you have this overwhelmingly refugee-child population, and they rely overwhelmingly on the united nations relief and works agency. 25% andfinanced between 30% by the united states and that comes to about $300 million in year. so the threat of cutting the money tounru would be devastating for an already devastated population, overwhelmingly children. nonetheless, i would like to keep things in proportion. so it would be a catastrophe, no doubt about it, if unru is defunded by the united states. however, let's look at the numbers.

we're talking about $300 million annually. mohammad bin salman, the crown prince of saudi arabia, he takes $500 million for a yacht. that would have covered all of expenses, the american portion, for more than a year. a daid $450 million for vinci painting. that would have covered all u.s. expenses, again, for more than a year. he paid $300 million for a house in versailles. that would have covered all of the unru expenses by the united states. and god only knows how much friedman'sid for tom column in "the new york times." amy: why do you explain what you're referring to, the op-ed piece in "the new york times" about the crown prince of saudi arabia. >> there are young people here,

so i have to be careful about my language. but all it was was a very expensive -- joint amy: be careful. no cursing. of bloas a protraction --w, probably the most expensivej one and world history, that was administered toob the ground prince of saudi arabia. the problem he wrote in the times, it was vintage tom friedman, he goes in to saudi arabia for three days, says everything is wonderful, talks to the crown prince's sister, is representative of the people of saudi arabia, says they're all very enthusiastic about him and then he walks away and writes this column. in his column, among other issues, yemen. mohammad bin salman, who is in charge of the u.s.-backed saudi

assault on yemen. >> yes. look, the reactionary come every regressive movement in the air world is financed by the saudis, whether it is yemen or bahrain or syria or egypt, everywhere it is the saudi money and also incidentally, the saudi money that keeps the palestinian authority afloat. that is why they have to pay -- that is why they have to pay deference to the saudis. it is a wretched, parasitic regime. amy: what about jared kushner's relationship with the crown prince? how does that play in here? he has gone repeatedly to saudi arabia. jared kushner, senior advisor to his father-in-law president trump, apparently in charge of the middle east peace process, and they have, apparently, cooked up a plan, jared kushner and the homage been solman, for

peace in the middle east. all, we have to look at the context. jared kushner knows nothing about anything. jared kushner is only there because he is married to trump's daughter. he is the son of charles kushner . charles kushner is a real estate hasl, a billionaire who distinction characteristics of actually having been arrested and spending time in jail. amy: by chris christie when he was a prosecutor in new jersey. >> that is rare in the united states for a billionaire to spend time in jail. among other things, he hired a prostitute and had her photographed in order -- hired a prostitute to have his brother-in-law photographed, and then presented the video to his wife as a family gathering. jared kushner, he got into

harvard university because the year he applied, his father gave $2.3 million to harvard. everybody agreed he did not have the grades or the test scores. these are people who profit from their parents profits. there is no knowledge that he possesses about the middle east. incidentally, it is the same thing with mohammad bin salman. his only interest -- he only has one interest. of course, the interest is to maintain his power that the saudi regime is a parasitic regime. work, literally, it is the four letter word. if you say you have a job that you work, the saudi class looks at you with contempt. "you work?" know in theirdis

now battle with iran, they know that they could not prevail against iran on a military level, strategic level. a 5000 year-old civilization, very impressive place. so they are hoping the united states and israel will take their chestnuts out of the fire. so they want israel and the united states to go to war with iran. so there will he do anything. they will give away palestine. they will give away this studio. they will purchase it and give it away to get united states and israel to do their bidding. we're not really talking about a peace plan. we are talking about handing israel everything it wants in exchange for israel and the a ran.states taking out amy: i want to ask you about benjamin netanyahu and the corruption investigations he is facing. of course, benjamin netanyahu recently speaking about his very close relationship with the

kushner's, sleeping injured kushner's bedroom when he visited the united states when he was a little boy. the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu facing domestic political controversy after an israeli tv station aired a secret audio recording of his son from outside a strip club in 2015. in the recording, he can be heard talking about prostitutes, demanding money from a gas tycoon. his father helped push through a $20 billion deal saying -- "my dad arranged $20 billion for your dad, and you're whining with me about 400 shekels." this comes at a time when criminals to netanyahu is facing multiple corruption investigations. in september, yair posted in anti-semitic cartoon on facebook. white supremacists, including former plan leader david duke,

praise 10, posting an image depicting billionaire -- depicting a billionaire and then being tweeted "praised by david duke." it is an astounding story. can you talk about what is happening now and does the corruption investigations jeopardize netanyahu and what about his son? >> i will look at the last point briefly and then get to, in my opinion, the heart of the questions you're asking. the relationship between his son and netanyahu, yair and his father benjamin netanyahu, is very similar to toured kushner and donald trump. these are privileged, spoiled, and remarkably unremarkable

individuals. but the question you asked about the corruption in general. it is an interesting question. you're not quite as old as me, but you can go back far enough to remember that when we were growing up, israel is a very austere, a simple, and pretty honest place. and that is the image of israel that retains in the minds of many americans use them a say over the age of 50. say you taket's ministers, the prime had to leave office. he was forced out of office because his wife had opened up a bank account. one bank account in the united states. a carefully, there wasn't even any money deposited in it, if my memory is correct. just oneays, it is

scandal after another scandal after another scandal after another scandal. the remarkable thing is, it doesn't really affect benjamin netanyahu's standing. you can have a secession of scandals, but he has been in office for a remarkably long period of time. and the question is, why? i think the answer is, because whether one likes it or not, benjamin netanyahu is the true face of israel. he is an of noxious, loudmouth, racist, jewish supremacist, and that is the whole population now. i am a saying it is in their dna. i'm not saying it is genetic. thing thea very sorry state of israel has degenerated into. amy: it is clearly not the entire population.

you have so many critics. >> amy, i would wish that were the case. i would wish that were the case. but if you ask the critics themselves, if you ask gideon aas, ask that h , breaking the silence from the soldiers group. they will tell you they represent nobody. they will play they don't represent -- there was a period where they represented at least a factor in israeli life, but it is still longer true. the fact that benjamin netanyahu endures despite the secession of scandals is a manifestation of how much their society has degenerated. heeon levy, the columnist, made a comment the other day which i found very interesting. you see ahe israelis,

fellow in a wheelchair. he lost both his legs in gaza. he is holding a flag. eyes,hoot him between the a sharpshooter. everybody sees the video. no israelis cared. then another kid is killed. in this case, the second case, a kid is killed, and third is killed. nobody cares. one thing they care about, the tamimi smacks in israeli soldier. that causes hysteria. how dare a palestinian smack in israeli soldier. at the daily -- amy: the smacking of the soldier after her 14-year-old cousin who was shot at very close range in the face, just coming out of a coma right now, by israeli soldiers. >> and living through an occupation, living through the ransacking, the ravaging of your home, your neighborhoods. these soldiers constantly harassing you, browbeating you.

but the only question for israel smacked are this girl soldier in the face? but the killings are meaningless. amy: before we speak more extensively about gaza, i want to quickly ask you what you felt the motivation was for president trump recognizing jerusalem as the capital saying he would move the u.s. embassy from tel aviv, the massive response in the united nations after he announced this recognition, the overwhelming vote against the united states and the united states threatened people who voted against them? >> well, it is a little complicated question, how u.s.-israeli policy works. but in general you could say, when major u.s. national are at stake, the israel lobby has very little power. we saw that, for example, during

the negotiations over the agreement with iran. that was a major u.s. international interest. the lobby was dead set against it. netanyahu was dead set against it. and the agreement went through. and many of israel's strongest supporters, diane feinstein, nancy pelosi, again, they supported the agreement. but when the major u.s. interest is not at stake, the lobby is quite powerful. so you take in this particular case, it was clear the saudis, which is the u.s. major interest, did not care what the u.s. did with jerusalem. they gave the green light. if you want to give to israel, we don't care. natural interest is at stake -- national interest is at stake. trump rewards his donors. in this case, it was sheldon adelson, the casino billionaire who was strongly supporting the u.s. recognition of jerusalem as

the undivided capital of israel. but we have to bear in mind, it wasn't just trump. sometimes the media wants to pile up on trump. they forget it is not just trump. charles schumer, the current senate minority leader, was constantly attacking trump right after he got elected, "why are you recognizing jerusalem as the undivided capital?" when trump did recognize it, charles schumer said "he did it because of me. i was the one that urged him to recognize jerusalem as israel's capital." so that is the senate minority leader speaking. and for the same reason. if you look at trial simmers money, he gets it mostly from -- schumer's money, he gets a from right-wing jews and wall street from the same sources of income as trump, the same strings of

income. and on these questions, a lot of the democrats, including schumer or especially schumer, i should say, are worse than trump. marviample, after the 10ma incident after passengers were killed, charles schumer went before a group of orthodox jews and said, "the people of gaza voted for hamas and therefore, economic strangulation is the way to go. what that means. we're talking about a population , more than half of which are children, or living under a medieval siege. what he is effectively saying is we should continue starving them until theychildren, or living vf

hamas. what you say about something like that? bernie sanders and schumer went to my high school. i did not know him. i think he was four years ahead of me. i knew his sister pretty well, fran. extremely bright. looking back must a half century, she still stands vividly in my memory. they were decent, actually. chuck, as he was called, his father was an exterminator. that is really rising -- it was rising. bright.xtremely he was way ahead of everyone else, as was fran. -- i passed say, he the house every day because i bicycled to the pool. what do you say about a person

who recommends starving children ? that is what he did. he is a moral monster. you have to say -- face up to that fact. he is a moral monster. get everyone wants to dump on trump. what about people like schumer? amy: we're going to go to break. when we come back, we're going to talk about the situation you are describing in gaza. your new book, "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom." we are speaking with author and scholar norman finkelstein. the book has just been published. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. amy: our guest today is author and scholar norman finkelstein, author of the new book "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom." many wereublished as

killed in gaza. the want to turn to benjamin and young talking about the 2014 military offensive in gaza. he was speaking to brian williams of nbc news. >> at a certain point he said, what would you do if american cities -- where are you sitting now, brian -- would be hit with rockets? do you know what you would say? usage your leader, "a man has got to do what a man has got to do and a country's got to do what a country has got to do." you have to defend ourselves. we try to do it with a minimum amount of force were with targeting -- military targets as best as we can, but we will act to defend ourselves. no country can live like this. amy: that is benjamin netanyahu justifying the 2014 military offensive in gaza. the international criminal court is apparently about to open up a war crimes investigation into. >> well, benjamin netanyahu says

two things. number one, israel had no option . and number two, that it used the minimum amount of force. let's look quickly at those two points. point number one, everybody agreed that the reason they went -- once the fighting began, hamas had one goal. it was to end the siege of gaza. to lift the siege. under international law, that siege is illegal. it constitutes collective punishment, which is illegal under international law. the siege has been condemned by everybody in the international community. he had an option. he did not have to use force. he simply had to lift the siege. then there would not have in a conflict with gaza. number two, he claims he used minimum force. there's a lot to say about that. you can decide for yourself

whether it is minimum force when israel leveled 18,000 homes. how many israeli homes were leveled? one. israel killed 550 children. common is really children were killed? one. you might say, well, that is because israel has sophisticated civil defense system or israel has the iron dome. i won't go into that. i don't have time now. there's a simple test. the test is, what did the israeli combatants themselves see? what did they themselves say? we have the documentation, report put out by the israeli excerpt is -- x combatant organization breaking the silence. it is about 110 pages. you could not believe it. i will tell you, amy, i still remember when i was reading it.

i was in turkey. i was going to a book festival. i was sitting in the back of a car in reading these descriptions of what the soldiers did. my skin was crawling. i was like shaking. soldier after soldier after soldier. bear in mind, you want to say they are partisan, the soldiers? read the testimonies. they are not contrite. a are not remorseful. whatare just describing happened. there's no contrition. these are not supporters of bds. what do they describe? one after another after another says "our orders were shoot to kill anything that moves and anything that doesn't move." one after another after another says, "israel used insane amounts of firepower in gaza. israel used lunatic amounts of firepower in gaza." amy: is worthy israeli soldiers. >> the soldiers, describing it.

one after another said we blew up, destroyed, methodically raised every house in sight. what does that mean? every house insight? gaza, theypeople in are refugees. it means they lost their homeland. the last thing they have -- the only thing they have, the only thing that have ever had, is their home. the israelis went in like a wrecking crew with their bulldozers. amy: explain how i began. how the 2014 israeli military invasion -- >> these are hard to explain because it depends on where you want to start. where i start is end of april 2014, a national unity government was formed between the palestinian authority and hamas. the united states and the eu surprisingly, they did not break off negotiations with the state

unity government -- although, it included a terrorist organization and it enraged -- line amy: you are using air quotes. a terroristel calls organization. at that time, the u.s. was willing to negotiate. netanyahu went into a rage because he was being ignored over iran. now he is being ignored over hamas. so he finds the pretext -- i don't want to go into the details now -- he finds the pretext to try to provoke hamas into reacting so that he can say "you see, there are a terrorist organization." and then it quickly spirals downwards, as it typically does. then israel went in. it was the air assault. and then july 17, the day the malaysian airliner went down usedthe ukraine, netanyahu that moment. the plane was down in the

afternoon, and he launches the ground invasion in the evening. you would be surprised how finely attuned the israelis are to the american youth cycle. they begin operation protected ith obama's election november 4. they begin the ground invasion of gaza -- 2004 was operation cast lead. in 2008 when obama is elected president, they begin operation protected edge host of on july 17, when the airliner is downed over ukraine, all of the cameras are now riveted over there. and so they launch the attack. and the attack was -- well, let quote do you did head of the international red cross.

surprised. i'm paraphrasing almost verbatim. dieter said, in my entire professional life, i have never seen destruction as i saw in gaza. that is coming from the head of the international committee of the red cross who is accustomed to witnessing war zones. , it was aone there crime against humanity. you take a very densely populated neighborhood of 90,000 people. israel dropped, believe it or not, it is hard to even fathom, 1-ton bombs on the city. more than 100 1-ton bombs. raffa andme thing to

kuza and the whole gaza strip. then you have this guy come along and he said, we used to discriminate force, used proportionate force. amy: i want to go to after an attack on a you and shelter into -- 2014, the israeli military attacking gaza which killed many palestinian civilians. the spokesperson for the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees broke down and cried during interview in al jazeera. his name is christopher gunness. folks the right for palestinians -- amy:n of children, he is starting to cry. amy: list for gunness as the

camera turns away from him, his head in his hands. later tweeting -- "there are times when tears speak more eloquently than words. mine pale into insignificance compared with gaza's." we have two minutes left. >> i know chris gunness. he is a terrific guy. i hope he doesn't lose his job. a special guy, an unusual guy. he worked in gaza. is married to a man, to a jewish man, and he is married to an israeli man, so you can imagine that hamas was not thrilled with him, but he is very principled and the tears were real. anybody who lives there has even passed through there, the heartbreaks and what has been done to the people of gaza. amy: what do you think needs to be done now? >> the first thing that has to

be done is the siege has to be lifted and the un's human rights council, although the report was a complete whitewash and disgrace, mayor mcgowan davis was the author of it, they did say, according to the law am a besiege has to be lifted immediately and unconditionally. that is the law. it has to be lifted immediately and unconditionally. that is the first thing that has to be done. the siege has to and. the occupation has to and. the people of gaza, after 50 godforsaken years, should have the right to breathe and live a normal life. amy: how do you think that is going to happen? >> it is a very tough moment right now, but there are always possibilities. in my opinion, there is the possibility in gaza of a nonviolent mass resistance trying to force open the --ckpoints and the west bank

i don't have time to go through it now -- i think ms strategy is smacking israe soldiers, wome and girls, in the footsteps ofahmed tamimi. amy: who faces many years in prison. >> no one says it is without risk. but just as the children of gaza through stones of the israelis in 1988, joined the first intifada, shifted international public opinion, i think the women of gaza, if they have a metoo campaign, i smacked an israeli soldier today, i think that can win international public opinion also. amy: you talked about a nonviolent campaign. >> i'm in the tradition of gandhi. when you're facing huge odds against you and you use kinds of force like scratching, slapping, kicking, gandhi said that is nonviolent. amy: norman finkelstein

co-author of "gaza: an inquest into its martyrdom."

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