07/11/14 07/11/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! while we intend you the right thing by these children, their parents need to know that this is an incredibly dangerous situation and it is unlikely the children will be able to stay. >> president obama has called for close to $4 billion to address the humanitarian crisis unfolding at the u.s.-mexico border where more than 52,000

unaccompanied children have been detained. part of the money will be used to speed up deportations. we'll speak with commerce member luis gutierrez and with enrique morones, who was there when anti-immigrant protesters tried to block buses of migrants coming into the town in california. then, gaza. the battle is progressing as planned but we can expect further stages in the future. up till now, we have hit hamas and the terrorist organizations hard. we will increase strikes on them. >> with the government of the israeli occupation is doing, air striking civilians for children in their homes, is a war crime. this is a contravention of all laws, most notably the geneva convention. >> close to 100 palestinians have been killed in gaza. no israelis have been killed. we will host a debate. all of that and more coming up.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. .'m amy goodman israel is escalating its bombardment of the gaza strip with at least eight palestinians killed overnight with the potential of the ground invasion looming. palestinian health officials say nearly 100 people have been killed, it would have of them women and children, since israel launched what it calls operation protective edge. on thursday, hundreds of gazans attended a funeral procession for the victims of an israeli military strike that killed eight members of a single family, including five children. no deaths have been reported on the israeli side. earlier today, rocket from gaza hit a gas station in southern israel, injuring one person. the rockets were fired from lebanon, causing israel to respond with her tillery fire. germany has ordered the top u.s. intelligence official in the country to leave amidst tensions

over u.s. spying. over the past several days, two german government workers have been accused of spying for the united states. the cases of renewed anger over edward snowden that showed u.s. was monitoring the communication of millions of germans and tapping chancellor angela merkel's cellphone. on thursday, the german government announced it was expelling the cia statement chief -- station chief in berlin, citing both the recent allegations and -- said thefense minister move sends an message. >> the german government has reacted and asked you us intelligence service official responsible for germany to leave the country. we have made it clear we do not tolerate this approach. there's also a chance now, especially for the american side, to wipe the slate clean. government has set the right example today and

showed it will not tolerate such a breach of confidence and we need a reset. >> newly declassified documents show the obama administration knew ahead of time about the british government's plan to force the guardian newspaper to destroy hard drives containing documents leaked by snowden. the associated press obtained the records, which show the nsa officials called the planned destruction "the news." the united auto workers have announced the formation of a local union at a volkswagen plant in chattanooga, tennessee, which was the site of a major defeat for the union earlier this year. in february, workers at the plant voted against joining the uaw following intense opposition from republican lawmakers, including threats the plant might miss out on financial incentives for a planned expansion if the union won. now say, following talks with volkswagen, they are confident the company will if anize the local union meaningful portion of workers sign up.

the electronics company samsung is under fire over reports of child labor in its supply chain. "the new york times" spoke to three teenage girls who work at a plant in china that makes cellphone parts for samsung. the three workers were 14 and 15 years old. michigan, at least eight people were arrested thursday in an act of civil disobedience to stop the city's shutoff of water to thousands of households. the group of clergy members and other residents blocked the entrance of a private corporation hired by detroit to cut off the taps of residents who have fallen behind on their water bills by as little as two months. are you in panel has called the shutoffs a violation of the human right to water. the coordinator of the detroit the "detroit 02 free press" at thursday's protest. >> the statement that the shutoffs must and and we're also making a commitment to fight for

detroit. >> one of the activists at the forefront of the fighting or fighting the water shutoffs in detroit was charity hicks, an environmental and food justice organizer. in may, hicks was left in a coma after being struck by car new york city. she died on tuesday. in north dakota, more than one million gallons of saltwater from oil joint operations has leaked from a pipeline on native american reservation, covering nearly two miles. saltwater is a byproduct of oil and gas sterling. crestwood midstream services has killed vegetation and may have reached a bay connected to a drinking water source for the fort berthold reservation. has madess laverne cox history, becoming the first transgender person nominated for an emmy award. forrne cox was nominated outstanding guest actress in a

comedy series. to see our two-part interview from february, you can go to democracynow.org. in upstate, new york, a peace activist and grandmother has been sentenced to year in prison for her role in a peaceful protest at a base where u.s. drones are piloted remotely. mary anne grady flores had issued an order protection aimed at keeping her away from hancock bayfield air national guard base after she participated in an act of civil disobedience there in 2012. attended, she said she another peace action, but did not participate, instead photographing it from the roadway, beyond what she believed was the base's boundary. she was later told the base's property extended into the road. on thursday, judge david gideon sentenced her to the maximum year in prison for violating the protection order and fined her $1000. in a courtroom packed with about 150 supporters, grady flores spoke about what she called the four perversions of justice in her case. >> [indiscernible]

who is the real victim here? a military base involved in killing innocent people have prayer on the world -- halfway around the world or those innocent people themselves who are the real ones in need of orders of protection? so i, as a nonviolent grandmother and caregiver for my own mother, deserve jail, several perversion? i stand before you remorseful. i am remorseful about my own country and its continued perpetuating of violence and injustice. >> mary anne grady flores was taken into custody following the sentencing. she is appealing the verdict. earlier in the day, her supporters marched six miles from the drone base to the courtroom, caring a coffin bearing the words "first amendment." those are some of the headlines.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. at then today looking humanitarian crisis unfolding at the us-mexico border. president obama is calling on congress to back his request for emergency funding to address the 52,000 unaccompanied migrant children who have flooded into the united states over the last eight months. the $3.7 billion would be used to speed up deportations as well as improve care for thousands of kids being held in detention centers, holding pens, and temporary housing facilities. >> right now, congress has the us, workto work with with state officials, local groupsls, and fate-based a not-for-profit's are helping care for these kids. , says the capacity to work with all parties concerned to directly address this situation.

they have said they want to see a solution. the supplemental offers them the capacity to vote immediately to get it done. of the emergency funding would be used to deal migrant children already in the country. but republicans say they will only support the plan if it puts more emphasis on immediate deportation. they've called for changes to immigration law that would let the united states deport children from guatemala, honduras, and el salvador as quickly as it does those from mexico. >> a 2008 antitrafficking law says children from countries that do not directly border the united states must be allowed to stay here while their cases are processed. any democrats have opposed changing the policy. for more, we go to washington, d.c. to the cannon rotunda in the house of representatives to be joined by congress member luis gutierrez, the democrat from illinois, chuck immigration task worse of the congressional

hispanic caucus. last month, he took the house floor to declare conference of immigration reform dead will stop congressman, welcome back to democracy now! what do you fill needs to be done right now? >> first and foremost, protect the children and follow the locked only and. the law the land is established in 2008, the congress of the united states adopted a position when children come to our country in seek of asylum, as the children are being treated as asylum seekers first and foremost, that when they come, within 72 hours, border patrol agent must cease to have them in their custody. they must be put with the department of health and human services and they must be put in the least restrictive setting. this is the law. and if you have a family member, put them there. with the law specifically says, there would be no expedited removal.

that would mean you get your day in court before a judge to plead your case about why you should be able to stay in the united states. i just want to make clear, amy, that is the law that michele bachmann voted for. from texas,comer every time he speaks about immigrants, he says, they're always bringing diseases. mr. king from iowa? he is the one who thinks we should electrify a fence between the united states and mexico. time, he never fails, it is criminal. andeven king and comer michele bachmann, tea party queen, all voted for the 2008 anti-human trafficking law. we all voted. why? because cooler heads were prevailing at that point. there was administering prices at the border that you wanted to exploit for political purposes.

that init is shameful the congress of the united states, we see members of congress creating fear of children. we should be protecting children, not creating fear of them. what he said it is republicans who say it is president obama's immigration policy instead of the blame for the crisis at the border? this is richard shelby of alabama speaking thursday. >> the result to president obama's failure, i believe, can force immigration laws currently on the blokes has been has beenle -- books predictable, and that is one reason we get this afternoon. now we're being asked by president obama to approve a $3.7 billion request to resolve the current crisis at our border. there are several questions that i think need to be answered. what exactly is the $3.7 billion

going to address? will this request be the end were willoughby the beginning of many new request by the administration -- or will it be the beginning of many new request by the administration from urgency funds? >> many republicans are saying the surge is a reaction to the potential for young people to be kept in the united states as a result of president obama's previous daca policy. >> let's look at the facts. at the height of the george bush administration, over one million people were crossing illegally into the united states between the mexico-u.s. border. it is down to a little over 300,000, and that is including the surge of children. that is a pretty dramatic effect. we have tripled the border patrol agents. as you know, we spend more money on immigration enforcement and we do on the dea, atf, the fbi, and all other law enforcement

federal offices. what more would you want us to put on the border? and this crisis we're looking at right now? if you put national guardsmen every other foot across the border, children would continue to come, fleeing the violence and drug cartels. they will continue to be exploited by the struck car tells that have now created a human smuggling operation, which they are exploiting. it is the financial gain of the drug cartels and human smugglers is incredible and how it is they use the violence in their own country and the fact children want to -- to charge them to come to united states. look, you are right when you say, they want to expedite deportations. really, let's understand something. all of the children are under removal proceedings as we speak. that's what happens under our law. they deserve their day in court

to say why they should not ultimately be deported from the u.s. i'm going to support the supplement. i will support the supplemental because i want to get the kids judges, give them a trial, i want to expedite their day in court and the petition for justice. i think we should do it as quickly and expeditiously as possible. but one thing we should never do, is undermined the law. the law created to protect children. i think they should have their day in court. simply because we want to exploited politically, undermines the right to these children. i want everybody -- i want your viewers and listeners to know that when did army in 2002 introduced the homeland security and created the department of homeland security in 2002, he created -- he included identical provisions to protect children. we had a vote in 2007 on antitrafficking law.

like five people voted against it. five people. in 2008, there was a voice vote. on three different occasions, the congress of the united states has voted to protect children. i don't think we should undermine it will stop why do we do it? because it was the right, sensible policy. exploitle want to si children. i think it is just terrible. the tea party leader in the congress of the united dates, but a very good lawyer and an expert on immigration policy, just go on a news network on a sunday morning and say, well, i know this is hard and i know it might even sound cruel, but the president should just support the kids. comet is not cruel, raul it would be illegal for the president. and this after the republicans is that the us, the reason we want to immigration reform is because we don't trust the president to carry out the laws of the land.

and when he does carry out the laws of the land, they want him to a bridge the very rights we have afforded children according to the laws of the land. which one is it? we have to fix the program. the poorest country in central america, nicaragua. there are virtually no children coming from nicaragua. they're coming from honduras, el salvador, and guatemala -- 80% of them. want to know why my suspicion is they're not coming from nicaragua? it in 1997 anded granted 100,000 nicaraguans that fled the conflict in nicaragua, we granted them american citizenship and that had the last 14 years to legally bring their children, spouses, and

families to the united states. look, if it worked in nicaragua, then why is the -- why are they coming from costa rica or panama? what are those countries receiving unprecedented numbers of refugees from the three countries? honduras is the murder capital of the world. fabric ofe democratic central american society were broken down during the 1970's and 1980's touring civil war conflicts. we put a lot of money when it came to guns and when it came to bullets. it is time for us to help reconstruct civil society in those countries where children know if they have to call upon the police, the police are there to protect them. >> congressman gutierrez, i want to ask you what the impact of this current crisis over the massive surge of children, what impact in the debate on this additional money will have on the potential for president obama to take some

administrative action in terms of immigration? earlier, illuded to want you to know i worked hard. when the republican said, we can do the senate bill in the house of representatives, said, good, let's do a house bill. when they said, we can do this in a complete package. the president and i said, fine, let's do it in part. when they said everyone can't become a citizen right away, we did not walk what from the table. it's like they could not take a yes from the democrats to get this done. what is the solution now? i think is for the president. states wouldnited not allow this humanitarian crisis to continue to break down and destroy families already here in the united states of america. here is my hope. my hope is that as small and

mean-spirited as the republicans have shown themselves to be with the border crisis that we have and the humanitarian crisis we have an with immigration policy in totality, i hope the president will be as wide and broad and generous as they have been small and mean-spirited. and i hope he takes a senate bill and finds ways to stop the deportation of all those that could benefit on the senate bill. the senate bill may not be the law the land, though we all understand it is the will of the people of the united states of america. barack obama got 51% of the vote . he won the election. there was a referendum. it was for immigration reform. let's do the right thing. senators voted for it. let's do with the american public wants to do, and that is,

number one, protect the children and number two, stop the deportations. >> the call but house speaker john boehner that he is going to sue president obama and others like sarah palin saying they want him impeached? >> i say, mr. president, do your job. we elected you. tired thatmy, i am democrats and my party always brands itself as not being as bad as republican. that is not our position when it comes to defending the environment. we don't say, we are just not "as bad as." great party, a grand party, a party that has values and principles, the president of the united states with the authority he or he has under the law to stop the deportations --

5 million american citizenship and have undocumented parents. let's stop destroying the future of those american citizen children by taking away their moms and dad simply because 25 members of the tea party won't allow a vote in the house of representatives. you on your broadcast have seen dozens upon dozens upon dozens of republican members of the house of representatives echo the sentiment a broad base communities. they want to vote for immigration reform. let us vote for it. just let democracy flourished one day in the house of representatives. that one republican will have to risk the reelection to get immigration reform. only those that are happily, willingly and with a joyful heart that want to vote for immigration for and guess what we got? immigration reform bill that fixes our broken immigration system. >> congress member luis gutierrez, thank you for being with us, chair of immigration

task force of the congressional hispanic task force. -- task force of the congressional hispanic caucus. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we continue now to look at the humanitarian crisis unfolding with thousands of migrants arriving at the u.s.-mexico border. this week, the texas town of league city passed a resolution banning undocumented children from entering its municipality and refusing to accept federal funds to operation -- operate detention centers in the city. the move echoes sentiments that flared up just before july 4 in southern california, when right-wing demonstrators blocked three buses of migrants from reaching a federal immigration facility in the town a myriad of. the buses were carrying dozens of children flown in from an overcrowded detention center in texas.

demonstrators blocked the road and chanted anti-immigrant slogans. >> this week, immigrant supporters gathered in marietta to hold a vigil calling for compassion. among them, the parents of two detained minors, aged 10 and seven, who were taken into custody in texas and are now being held in a shelter awaiting processing. this is their mother. >> at this moment, my only wish is to have my children and have them close and tell them i love them. i want to be able to recuperate the missed time that has passed without them, but sometimes it is not possible to make up that time. i just want to make sure they're ok. guatemalamily is from , and they're among thousands were fleeing violence there as well as in honduras and el salvador. times" reports honduran children are increasingly being targeted by gang violence. in june, 32 children were murdered in honduras, bringing the number of youths killed

under 18 since january of last year to more than 400. the border patrol statistics show a strong correlation between cities with high homicide rates and waves of young people who come to the u.s. wreckage nations agency says it is witnessing extreme violence on the ground in guatemala, honduras, and el salvador. otheromes as the aclu and groups have sued the u.s. government for its full-year to provide legal representation to immigrant children in deportation proceedings. the class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the eight immigrants aged 10 to 17 who the aclu says have not been able to find a lawyer. for more, we're joined in san diego by enrique morones the director of order angels. welcome to democracy now! can you tell us what happened in the confrontation with migrants, young migrants coming into town and the police and the anti-immigrant activists who blocked them? >> sure.

a pleasure to be here. a couple of tuesdays ago, i was here in san diego, very busy with our work with border angels, when i got a call -- maybe i should go up to murrie ta because were protesters. nowhere north of san diego. i went up there. i did a couple of interviews and went to observe. what i observed was the freedom whichech in action, everyone supports. the protesters were on the sidewalk yelling their chants and so forth. i was minding my own business. then i saw the three buses. juan mentioned they were turned back. i will make it clear. they were turned back by the police, not the protesters. as the buses were approaching, the muriatic police stepped in front of the buses and blocked them, which made no sense because they could've kept on driving and got to the border patrol facility.

i asked the officers why they were stopping the buses. a protester came out and another am out and of the 50 protesters there in total, about half of them eventually came out in front of the bus as did about 25 or 30 media people. the protesters were banging the american fight against the bus, screaming racist taunts. it was terrific to see because the children inside the bus and their moms were crying. they don't speak english, but they understand hate. it brought tears to my eyes. we saw the worst of the american spirit. regardless of how you feel about this issue, these are children. these are children and we need to embrace and love our children. a society is judged on how we treat our children. what we witnessed that day was the worst of the american spirit. i really believe that moment will live in infamy. point, asthe turning

it already has become a little bit, and this immigration issue. we really need to have humane immigration policies. they don't exist in this country right now. the whole world saw that people andlay of those 50 people, in the consciousness of this country saying, that is not who we are. that is not who we are. , whenking president obama his two girls say, daddy, are you doing anything possible to help those children? he can be honest and say, yes, i am. is youed it is an ministering crisis. it is. >> one interview do last week on the subject, you told me you recognized a lot of the most vocal of these into immigrant , protesters, from other right-wing movements and causes that you have witnessed in southern california.

could you talk about that? >> yes. thank god, the minutemen movement has shut down. some of the individuals are still around and some are there in murrieta. they're not from murrieta. of the 50 people, i was about half are from murrieta and these other were these minutemen-type people. people that have been practicing hate for a long time. they have gathered there, like they did earlier and escondido when they said they don't want the children in escondido, and they have the same signs. the exact same signs. that the same sayings about disease and criminals and so forth. it is a very scary group. it only takes one. my example i used to use, a member of the federation of american immigration reform, a hate group, in washington, comes to san diego and trains with the

san diego minutemen. those to arizona and kills a nine-year-old child. lou dobbs people like and glenn beck, hate talk leads to hate action. withwe saw in murrieta those people, they were motivated by some of these right wing nativists that promote these ideas and messages that aren't true, but these people riled up. we saw the hate talk. >> enrique morones, i want you to respond to the right-wing pundit glenn beck who asked supporters to donate money so he could bring food, water, and teddy bears to the migrant children held in detention at the border. in the same show, he also said he would be going to the border to document immigrants being released from custody after they were caught. >> through no fault of their own, they are caught and political crossfire. and while we continue to put pressure on washington and change its course of lawlessness, we must also help.

either/or.n it is both. we have to be active in the political game and we must open our heart. i have never taken a position more deadly to my career than this, and i have never, ever taken a position that is more right than this. i am going down on the border on july 18, saturday the 19th, and i'm going to bring my cameras. i'm trying to see if we can maybe spend the night that night at the border with some night vision cameras to show you how bad it is. you know how bad it is. i am going to show you the illegals who are being caught and released. >> that is the right-wing pundit went back. enrique morones, your response?

and going back to the point of it not just in the activists, but the police, reminding us, for example, selma. >> that's right. i believe that murrieta moment, it brought me back to selma, alabama, and how people remember what was taking place then and now what people think about murrieta. they don't think about murrieta in a positive manner. when they see it, their thinking, summit, alabama, jackson, mississippi in the horrific treatment of african-american brethren back then. the glenn beck issue, the best thing he could do if he is serious, because he is a very dangerous person, is get off the air. he is partially responsible for what happened in murrieta with that hate talk that he preaches. he is using the term illegal and that. there's no such thing as an illegal human being. he is from promoting hate and fear for a long time. he is somebody that should be off the air. if he is serious about

compassion and helping this issue, get off the air. the border angels started a campaign to help these children three weeks ago when the flights were coming in arizona. when they started moving in the california little over a week ago, and the murrieta took place, now we received over 40 tons of food, clothing, toys. we started a project called project teddy bear about eight days ago. we collect teddy bears and stuffed animals for children. we have housed several of the families. we helped three families yesterday right here in san diego. we love these children, not only in words, but action. some he like glenn beck is not somebody we want in front of these children were observing the situation because he has helped this promote does she has helped promote this fear. people need to know what is really taking place. >> i want to bring in shelly pitterman, head of the united

nations high commissioner for refugees often washington, d.c., representing the office to the united states and the crew been governments. shelly pitterman, could you talk about what you believe needs to be done with a refugee situation of children across -- crossing into texas? >> thank you very much for having me. artie been said, this is a humanitarian situation. there is a refugee dimension to this influx of individuals, children as well as families and adults. it has been going on for some time. it has been framed as an immigration challenge, but we also know there are refugees included in this mixed population. some are coming for economic reasons, but there are children and we know from having interviewed several hundred of them last year and we issued a

report to that effect, there are many who have also expressed, articulated very clearly fears to leave driven them their families and homes and to come to the united states, as well as to other countries in central america. what we need to do is give them, as we would refugees anywhere else in the world, access to territory and access to procedures in order to establish their status and to care for them as people who need protection -- international protection. >> shelly pitterman, the issue about other countries, most people here are not aware there is an acute surge in asylum applications in panama, costa rica, belize, mexico -- not just the united states. >> that's true. the absolute numbers are much

the united states, but as we also heard yesterday in the testimony before the senate appropriations committee, there has been seven fold increase over the last five years and the number of applications -- in the number of applications from quantum fromai hunters, and -- guatemala, honduras, and el salvador. >> i want your response to jeh johnson who told government officials from guatemala and mexico the obama administration speed up deportations and children will not be exempt. >> we believe it is important that we have additional quickers for more to centralns like america, more efficiently. we're building resources to accomplish that including the children. we are pledged to do so

insistent with our laws in a humanitarian fashion. >> shelly pitterman, your response to the homeland security secretary? >> the key is, it is consistent with the laws. in other statements, secretary johnson has spoken to the moral values of americans. that is clear and very welcome. we think the department of justice needs more resources as well to do with the backlog, and prioritize the individuals that are coming now, especially the children, and to provide legal representation so they are able -- before an authority, not necessarily a judge, but in asylum officer as well as the department of homeland security -- to articulate their claim and to give protection, if they need --

get protection, if they need it. there are mixed movements of population around the world. there are conventions international, national laws as states indied ideviding protection -- gu states in providing protection for those who have a well justified fear of harm should they be returned to their home country. >> shelly pitterman, thank you for being with us, head of the united nations high commissioner for refugees office and washington, d.c., representing the office of the united states and caribbean governments. we want to thank our previous guest, enrique morones, director of border angels. that does it for this segment as we turn to the debate on gaza. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

>> this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. >> the death toll in the gaza strip continues to rise in the fourth day of israel's aerial offensive. medical officials in gaza estimate more than 22 people were killed thursday, bringing the number of palestinian fidelity's to at least 101 dead and more than 700 have been injured. half of those killed were reportedly women and children. on thursday, hundreds of gazans attended a funeral procession for the victims of an israeli

military strike that killed eight members of a single family, including five children. in another attack, an israeli missile hit a small beach café on wednesday where a group of young men were watching the world cup semifinal between the netherlands and argentina. the café was obliterated and is currently being combed for dead bodies. the israeli military says it has onpped hundreds of bombs thousands of targets throughout gaza. more during the eight-day assault been in -- in late 2012. the intensification of israeli air strikes has been met with a barrage of rockets fired from gaza and israel. the israeli military estimates that 442 projectiles have been fired since tuesday, including billy 100 on thursday. so far, there've been no reports of israeli deaths, but nine of been treated for injuries and dozens more for shock. the and military has mobilized ys.e 20,000 reservis

on thursday, these really prime minister pitterman netanyahu vowed to fight on. so far the battle is progressing as planned that we can expect further stages in the future. until now, we've hit hamas and the terror organizations hard and as the battle continues, we will increase strikes on them. >> the obama administration has backed the israeli offensive on gaza, saying the u.s. fully supports israel's right to defend itself. nina all, palestinian prime minister denounced israel's offensive on the gaza strip saying it violates the geneva convention. with the government of the israeli occupation is doing, air striking civilians, children in their homes, is a war crime. this is a contravention of all laws and international regulations, most notably, the geneva convention. >> the crisis in israel and the

occupied territories follows months of growing tensions on both sides debate on the latest flareup began. three israeli teenagers were kidnapped in the west bank last month. their dead bodies found weeks later. during that time, israel launched a massive raids on the occupied territories, killing around a dozen people, arresting hundreds and seizing property. israel particularly targeted hamas, who may blame for the teens kidnapping. rocket attacks on southern israel from militants in gaza followed come intensifying earlier this month. israel has launched deadly raids rep the year including the unfinished feelings of two palestinian children whose shootings were caught on video in may. housed in a leaders have accused the israeli government of exploiting the teen subduction to destroy the palestinian recent unity deal with hamas and maintain the divide between palestinian factions. for more we go to washington, d.c., where we're joined by joshua hantman, former

spokesperson for the israeli ministry of defense. we're also joined by noura erakat, a palestinian woman rights attorney and legal scholar. she is adjunct professor of georgetown university and cofounder of jadaliyya ezine. joshua hantman and noura erakat, we want to welcome you to democracy now! let us begin with noura erakat. can you talk about what is happening right now? >> absolutely. what is happening is an absolute atrocity. it is cruel we're watching on as the death toll of palestinians mount. it has reached 100. it is cruelty even count those numbers because they remain nameless and faceless when each of those lives affects an entire family. approximately 300,000 palestinians have been asked to move or be displaced in preparation for an imminent attack. what is happening right now amounts to a massacre. it is not a war. we should all be concerned.

israel claimed it has the right to self-defense, but occupying powers does not have the right to self-defense, it has an obligation and duty to protect the civilians under its occupation. even if it fails to meet that duty, and must abide by humanitarian law, principles of distinction, proportionality, of necessity. it has not abide by any of those. what is happening in gaza amounts to war crime. it is a repeat to what happened in 2008 and 2009, repeat of 2012. unfortunately, we can see this repeated again unless israel is held to account under international humanitarian law, criminal law, under sanctions by other governments in order to stop these massacres. not just now, but in the long run. more importantly than that, to address the root causes of these flareups or symptoms of a much deeper problem, which is the structural violence of apartheid.

>> joshua hantman, what about the issue of disproportionate nature of the siblings being killed in these strikes? >> let's be clear, israel is currently under attack. the professor talked about occupation. let me remind you, israel left the gaza strip in 2005. we removed all of our settlements, the forces. we took out 10,000 jews from their houses as a step for peace because israel wants peace and has extended its hand for. that was in 2005. since then, over 8000 rockets, missiles, and mortars have been indiscriminately fired at our civilians. the professor also talked about human rights and about international law. hamas, the internationally recognized terrorist organization, controls the gaza strip. they're hiding behind civilians while firing at our civilians. just yesterday, the hamas interior ministry, called for

their people and further civilians, to act as human shields. her spokesperson came out and said, come and act as human shields. while we mourn every civilian death on for sides -- on both sides, hamas celebrates civilian deaths. i blame hamas for every civilian death. ande we send text message vocals and even send out fromngs, hamas fire mosques, next to houses, from schools. they keep their missiles and rockets and the basis of houses. -- basements of houses. there are firing indiscriminate lee at our civilians. they fired yesterday toward jerusalem. there firing a jerusalem indiscriminate lee. what would happen if it landed in an arab site? it is a war crime. i spoke to a lawyer yesterday

who told me there were five or six were crimes that hamas is tokyo. you cannot claim occupation because we left in 2005 -- >> let me put your response to noura erakat. >> absolutely not. it has been well established while israel removed 8000 of its settlers, which were already there illegally and replace them in the west bank, in 2005, a maintain control of the naval borders of the land and streets and exits of the population registry of gaza, maintained the and continue its military occupation under international law, the occupation -- israel's occupation of gaza has never ended. it remains an occupying power. israel can repeat its propaganda over and over again, but on the

ground, the occupation remains and is well and alive, unfortunately. that is why palestinians in gaza cannot leave, even if they want to become refugees right now, they don't have the right to become refugees because they are held captive in this open-air prison. as for blaming hamas for every civilian death, we should be alarmed that the fourth-largest nuclear power in the world is blaming the victims for their own deaths. 11 homes have been targeted with israeli rocket fire. hamas has crude weaponry and is and is currently firing, i don't dispute that. israel is targeting homes where 11 families have been targeted, thisding -- disproportionate attack by what we consider the only democracy in the middle east, by the u.s. most unique ally to whom we

write things of dollars the year and u.s. taxpayers can hold to account rep back joshua hantman your response? an international lawyer, soon as you put munitions within house or fire from within a house were within a schoolyard, that becomes a military target. no country in the world would accept the situation whereby over three quarters of the population are under direct rocket fire. ma'am, just imagine if the united states had over 200 million of its population under rocket fire from an internationally recognized terrorist organization? by the way, i'm sure you're not defending here, because hamas would not allow a young, liberal , secular woman to express her views like you do, ma'am. they would not allow my gay friends to express their sexuality freely. they would not allow jews to open synagogues were christians to open churches. this is an islamist but most organization you are defending.

don't justify the use of human shields, which they openly talk of? i take it you would join me in condemning this. >> noura erakat? >> first of all, put it in context. this is not israel responding to rocket fire. troop -- maintained truce and israel has broken the truce. -- afters blamed killing 100 civilians in gaza, after killing a dozen palestinians during its operation brothers keeper has provide proof that hamas is responsible. netanyahu is responding to domestic considerations enforcement, using palestinians as cannon fodder. and because of the dehumanization globally, everybody is watching. because one of the palestinian lives has become so normalized just because 100 houston and

lives has become so blessed and crudely excepted that it has not been condemned. amnesty international, human rights watch, the israeli breaking the silence, group of former soldiers -- of it. are proud >> to the same allegation. reports about the same allegations. i encourage the listeners and viewers to look up those reports that have disproved that there used as human shields. our palestinians robots -- our palestinians robots? why do humanize them and accuse them of mindlessly listing to hamas to whom they protest against? this is a the humanizing discourse. >> i want to ask about the israeli prime minister's actual tweet where he said vengeance

for the blood of a small child statement has not created, we mourn every child. in the latest assault in gaza, you have over 100 palestinians killed, estimated at least 22 of them children from about half of them are women and children. how do you square that with what you're prime minister says? >> the me correct you because this escalation was started by hamas. what the professor said is incorrect. the truce was not held by hamas. every single month for the last decade, rockets have been fired into it israel. even after november 2012 when we -- you know how many rockets were fired in 2013? there were still 76 rockets fired at israel. fired atinate rockets our kids and old people and are women. >> could you respond to the

issues with black i'm going to get to it. first of all, i've already said that for israel, any civilian death is not only a tragedy, but it is a sillier as well. we view every single strike to see how we can improve. stop thiso indiscriminate missile fire against our civilians. out of those 800 targets, i will be honest, the precision is quite outstanding. there is no military in the history of the world that has actually used such precision targets. think about it. we tell our enemies -- we tell hamas where we are going to hit. we tell them with text messages and phone calls. we tell them in order to get the billions out of harms way. for them, civilian deaths is actually a success. this is what they want. >> noura erakat, your response? >> by counterpart would not

condemn his use of human shields, which hamas is proud about. they call for it on tv. their spokesperson said it yesterday, their interior ministries and a press release saying palestinians, come to the roofs. stay in the homes where we're firing the rockets from. it is disgusting. i would like her to actually condemn it. consider it reprehensible. what straight minded person would actually accept that? that's not the point. a repeatedly explained palestinians are not robots listening to hamas. they care about their children and families. >> what do you think needs to happen, noura erakat? >> what really needs to happen is what is needed to happen for over 66 years of the displacement and dispossession of palestinians over 47 years of military occupation and continuing colonial expansion, which is the lifting of the siege, the end of the occupation, equality for all and palestine without distinction to

religion as israel would have us leave. the entirety of the israeli state is built on the premise of a democrat equation that needs to necessitate a jewish majority. that should make us all concerned and raise red flags for us and make us stop before we call it the only democracy the middle east and continue to fund it with $3.1 billion without any accountability. >> what would stop the israeli assault on gaza, joshua hantman? long-termtment for cease-fire will know more rocket fire. i'm not talking by the trickling in a warm rockets and missiles, theactually hamas stopping rocket fire. let me remind you, the palestinian authority, by the way, controlled area a and the -- >> five seconds. >> used to have control also in the gaza strip. they just join a unity government with hamas -- >> we have to end it here. folks we call on them to and it

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