07/15/14 07/15/14 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] >> from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> we reached the egyptian proposal in order to give the demilitarization from missiles and rockets and tunnels through diplomatic means. if hamas does not accept the cease-fire proposal, israel would have all international legitimacy to broaden the military operation to achieve the required quiet. accepts theys it

proposal of cease-fire, but threatens more attacks if hamas rejects it. hamas is when the path while its military wing calls it is surrender. the israeli assault has killed close to 200 palestinians. no israelis have been killed. more than 17,000 palestinians have been displaced. come here to save our own souls, but those of our children who woke up at 1:00 a.m. terrified and came here barefoot. we came here walking. >> we will speak with israeli journalist amira hass, in rome a lot, mouin rabbani and with author and scholar norman finkelstein. two animal rights activists have been indicted as terrorists for setting thousands of mink free from a fur farm. we'll get the latest from will potter and speak about his campaign to buy a drone to monitor abuses on factory farms. what are they trying to hide?

with your help, i will find out. these startling images were compiled and pulled from satellite imagery. when i saw these, oh so startled startledes -- i was so by the images from satellite, i thought, what will we see from drug photography? >> and we will look at "of our mental crime, the prosecution gap." all of that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel says it has accepted an egyptian plane for an immediate cease-fire after its airstrikes on gaza killed at least 190 two palestinians. the spokesman said it would continue to reject the deal. >> we said all along our goal is to bring sustained peace and security to the citizens of

israel and two and the rocket fire on our cities. nevertheless fire continues, if hamas rejects the egyptian proposal, we are ready to continue our operation to intensify operation if need be to protect our citizens. >> the united nations estimates more than 80% of gaza's that are civilians, including 36 children. more than 700 rockets from gaza have hit israel, but no is really just a been reported. more on gaza after the headlines. in afghanistan, at least 50 people have been killed after car bomb exploded in a crowded market. all the dead are believed to be civilians. the blast came hours after a roadside bomb killed two employees of outgoing afghan president karzai in the capital kabul. the taliban claimed responsibility for that attack. traincow, russia, subway

has derailed, killing at least 10 people and injuring more than 100, about half of them critically. the derailment appears to been called -- caused by a power surge. united nations is pulling its staff out of libya amidst some of the worst violence since the u.s.-backed ouster of moammar gadhafi in 2011. heavy fighting has killed at least 15 people since sunday and shelling has destroyed 90% of planes at the main airport. the closures of the airport in shortly and another have effectively cut libya off from nearly all international flights. john kerryf state says he is returning to washington, d.c. to consult with president obama following talks with his iranian counterpart over iran's took a program. speaking today, john kerry cited tangible progress on key issues but said very real gaps remain ahead of a sunday deadline. in an interview with "the new york times" iran's foreign minister said iran could agree to freeze its new capacity in exchange for sanctions relief.

the john kerry refused to say if the u.s. would accept that deal. the united nations security council has unanimously approved a resolution to allow the cross-border delivery of humanitarian aid into rebel held areas in syria, without the syrian government approval. the move could help millions of people in need of food and other basic resources after the syrian government has been accused of blocking aid. the obama administration has deported 38 honduran women and children, some of them as young as 18 months old, in what is said was "just the initial wave" of deportations, amidst a rise in children fleeing poverty and violence in central america. ae migrants were flown to honduran city with the highest homicide rate in the world. in june, children were murdered at a rate of more than one per day in honduras. one of those deported spoke after arriving in honduras. >> they did not give me any rights, nor lawyer, nothing.

they took is in the morning and did not tell us anything. >> why did you leave the country? >> the economy. >> in an interview with a mexican newspaper covers monday, the honduran president blamed u.s.-backed drug wars in mexico and colombia for pushing drug traffickers into honduras and fueling the violence that is helping to drive migration to the united states. the united states has agreed to sell $11 million worth of apache attack helicopters as well as patriot and javelin missiles to qatar in what is reportedly the largest u.s. arms sale this year. qatar is a close u.s. ally that hosts a key us military base, the combined air operations center. citigroup has agreed to pay $7 billion to settle a federal of toxicr its sale mortgage-backed securities which helped sink the economy and displace millions of people. the deal includes $2.5 billion in relief for those who lost

their homes. at a news conference monday, attorney general eric holder said citigroup purposefully hid the risks it knew were associated with the loans. >> the banks misconduct was egregious. under the terms of the settlement, they're committed to its misdeeds in great detail. the bank has activities shattered lives and livelihoods throughout the country and around the world. >> eric holder said the settlement includes a civil thelty of $4 billion, largest guilty to date of its kind. but in a statement, the group public citizen called the deal too lenient, noting no criminal charges have been announced. the accounting firm ernst & young has agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle claims one of its units lobbied on behalf of two companies it had been hired to audit. the securities and exchange commission accused ernst and young of violating rules meant to preserve independence, but did not name the other two firms. the colombian military has carried out the deadliest attack against farc rebels in more than

a year, just before peace talks are set to resume. colombian troops killed 13 rebels and captured one over the weekend in the country's northwest. peace talks aimed at ending the 50 year conflict are set to resume today. juan reelection last month after guy to continue the talks, but military operations against the farc have continued. the latest round of documents from edward snowden reveal how the british spy agency gchq has developed a range of secret tools to manipulate the internet by disseminating propaganda, rigging online polls, inflating page views, conducting mass delivery of e-mails, and monitoring skype users in real-time. the news website the intercept published the document, which reads like a menu of covert tools with code names like angry pirate, concrete donkey, stealth moose, and enteral barge, a term that refers to the ability to connect two unsuspecting phone

users together in a call. the revelations come as the british parliament is set to begin debate on a fast tracked go to expand government spying powers. a new york times investigation has revealed brutal attacks by corrections officers against prisoners are, occurrences at rikers island jail in new york. a secret internal study conducted by the city's health department obtained by the times found over 11 month last year, 129 prisoners suffered serious injuries at the hands of corrections staff. in not -- and 77% of the cases, the prisoner had a mental illness. in one case, corrections officers intervened when a prisoner tried to hang himself but forced the prisoner to lie face down on the floor and pummeled him so hard, he suffered a perforated bowel and needed emergency surgery. another prisoner, andre lane, said he was beaten so badly he nearly died. took a knuckle praise and put it on his hand and started hitting me. boom. boom.

that is when i got dizzy and dizzy and dizzy. of the guards involved in any of of 100 china nine -- none the guards involved in any of the 129 cases document a by the city has ever been prosecuted. rikers now houses roughly the same number of mentally ill people as 24 psychiatric hospitals in york stay combined. in washington, d.c., 24 people opposed to the gasoline technique known as fracking were arrested monday after blockading the entrances to the federal energy regulatory commission. they were protesting what they call the agency's rubber stamping of the industry's push to export natural gas. they focused on cove point, liquefied natural gas export terminal proposed by dominion resources in maryland, which the agency is due to issue a final decision on next month. on sunday, more than 1000 people joined a people's march against cove point and the boom in u.s. fracking, which they say

imperils health, safety, and the climate. missouri is set to execute a prisoner despite newly surfaced evidence he may be innocent. john middleton is scheduled to die by lethal injection just after midnight they for three murders. his lawyers say new evidence may implicate two other men and prove that on the day of one killing, middleton was actually 40 miles away in a jail in iowa. his lawyers have petitioned a federal appeals court to halt the execution. the south african writer nadime gordimer has died at the age of 90. she wrote more than two dozen works of fiction, three of which were banned under the apartheid regime. in 1991, she won the nobel prize for literature. in a statement, her family said her proudest moments included her testimony at a 1986 trial in defense of 22 members of the african national congress who were accused of treason. the nobel committee particularly highlighted her 1981 novel

"july's people" about a black servant who rescues his white employers from civil war. mortimer spoke about that at a conference in 2007. >> i was looking out what was very likely them it seemed to me, we were in that country, we were right at the edge of the cliff from a ready to fall over into a civil war. this of course precipitated by .he white regime there "july's people" was my look into a possible karen this future, and what a blessing that it didn't happen. >> nadime gordimer died in her sleep at her home in johannesburg, south africa on sunday. she was 90 years old.

alice coachman, the first african-american woman to win an olympic gold medal has died in albany, georgia at the age of 90. coachman won gold for the high jump at the 1948 london games and was honored at the white house before returning to the segregated south. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. >> welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. the next phase of the violence that killed nearly 200 palestinians in gaza is in flux today with a cease-fire still on the table. on tuesday, the egyptian government proposed a temporary halt to violence in the reopening of gaza's border crossings, followed by talks in cairo a long-term truce. israel security cabinet has endorsed a proposal, but hamas has yet to officially respond. the hamas military wing has rejected the pact as a surrender, saying the cease-fire fails to meet any of its core demands. these include a lifting of the siege of gaza, the release of

prisoners recently detained in israeli raids, and and to is really attacks on the occupied territories, and respect for the palestinian government. earlier today, israeli prime minister and human netanyahu vowed to widen the attack on gaza if hamas reject the cease-fire and if rocket fire continues. >> we agreed to the egyptian proposal in order to give an opportunity for the demilitarization of the gaza strip from missiles and rocket and tunnels. through diplomatic means. if hamas does not accepted cease-fire proposal, israel would have all international just agenda missy -- legitimacy to achieve the required quiet. >> the threat of more violence follows a week that saw israel kill at least 192 palestinians in a massive bombing campaign on one of the world's most densely populated areas. the united nations estimates more than 80% of gaza's dead are civilians, including 36 children. more than 1000 rockets from gaza

have hit israel over the same period, with just a fraction landing in urban areas. around one dozen israelis have been wounded. there have been no israelis reported killed. for more we're joined by amira hass, the only israeli journalist to have spent years having in and reporting from gaza and the west bank. she is joining us from ra mallah. can you talk about the latest development, the egyptian proposal for cease-fire, israel hamas weighing it? hamasis exactly because feels this was a proposal boiled up with israel, without any consultation with hamas. this is something forced on them and reported to the media and not through negotiations. everybody knows leadership of

egypt right now is an enemy of hamas, an enemy of the muslim brothers. they feel humiliated and feel it is not meant to bring progress and change for the palestinians in gaza, but to further marginalize them as a movement, as a political movement. >> you have spoken to members of hamas and interview them. what demand do they have for cease-fire that they would respect? are to returnds first to the 2012 agreement or understandings, that israel should open the crossing for at material,s and raw and then allow people to leave.

they more or less neglected the deal. they hoped israel would allow palestinians leaving from the northern west -- northern gaza strip to the west bank. this is something they have neglected. they don't have much hope about this. but at least for goods and raw materials, and people moving through egypt. this is one. another thing, they see israel does not abide by commitments. we need guarantees that it does. time we had some understanding for for example, the fishermen. it was agreed in 2012, the fisherman would be able to fish .nd not be shot at

as israel does shoot at them. another one is the release of all of the prisoners in the last theor three years, with shalit exchange of prisoners. israel in the past two months arrested most of them for many of them, the great majority of them who are associated with hamas. there is a demand to release them again. there is a demand -- these are hamassic demands that activists in the west bank the been arrested should also be released. , he was told by somebody

said these demands are very reasonable and even minimal. we should even demand more. we should demand that israel does not hide the reconsolidation government, for example, but allow -- we should demand people leave gaza strip and be able to reconnect with the west bank. are amiraas demands hass quite basic. quick so far amira hass,, in the u.s., the coverage of the egyptian says fire proposal is here is the seas file that israel says it will embrace, it will stop the attack, and hamas is probably going to reject it. that is the story here in the united states and is being told. >> unfortunately, just as the story has been told that israel will protect in the palestinians are the aggressor. i don't remember which channel, but there was this absurd report

showing destruction of the palestinian homes bombed by israel, and it was an israeli house. >> that was diane sawyer's report on abc, showing weeping palestinian mother in front of her destroyed home and said palestinians destroy this israeli home. >> so far, at least the western community, is not appalled by onslaught, and, as somebody told me, this is according to international law, then there is something stinks with international law. a diplomat told me that. convincing his government to have a clear stance -- it is true according to the international law, palestinian law -- palestinian rockets are against international law and

also targeting civilians. [indiscernible] israelis. many, many somehow, ridiculing the security that hamas has suffered a big blow, a gray blue, which has --pened, militarily speaking a great blow, which is happened, militarily speaking. , also the opened end of hamas behind hamas. of people see the ability hamas and jihad to launch missiles at israel, toward israel, while they're being detected so severely by such chong military power has always

been an achievement. somebody told me it is not about killings, but a message -- a message that if you expect palestinian's to give up the struggle against the occupation, this is how palestinians understand the launching of missiles. mediatrue international and is really gives a lot of prominence -- israeli gives a lot of prominence. but the feeling one is standing up against israel, and something the palestinian authority has not done. humiliating the palestinian authority for so many years, even though the palestinian authority has made some concessions and agreed with the many demands of the israeli government. people are weighing one against the other.

even secular, feel that right now hamas has protected them and saying, no, we're not going to give up the struggle against occupation. us aira hass, can you give rundown of what you see as israel's goal here in the gaza conflict? >> that is even more difficult. israel did everything possible weakil the very, very reconciliation government. which is not a unity government, because hamas has left it. it does over and over what people say our mistake, but we say it is not a mistake. it is had a policy for the past 20 years to connect gaza from the west bank. [indiscernible]

especially when creating the two governments, the gaza and the west bank. but now palestinians show signs there's so much against their struggle, this between gaza and the west bank, of the palestinian movement, and tried to change it [indiscernible] which was the separation between gaza and the west bank. the two state solution is based that only assumption, but the principle that gaza and the west bank are the palestinian states alongside israel. and have done everything possible to foil it from 1993, 19 94 -- actually, since 1991. war, again,e, this

has been ordered to protect our maintain the israeli policy over the past 20 something years. in the past five or six years, both the hamas played into the -- hamasthe israeli government does not think about reconnecting with the west bank. and they made mistakes to let it [indiscernible] and now they try to fix it. because of the popular demand. i think in the west bank, people -- it has been so people in the west bank fill very far away, detached from gaza.

we see during the attacks on gaza, the reason mobilization and the west bank has showed the shock that people feel. there isn't much movement except some villagers were gunman of also refugee camps -- were young men of refugee camps. but this is the main goal. the main goal is to maintain or repress any resistance. -- maintain occupation or repress any resistance. [indiscernible] intense colonization or more construction, sometimes the negotiation process, this leads nowhere. and sometimes there are bloody

attacks. >> amira hass, thank you for being with us, ha'aretz correspondent for the occupied palestinian territories, the only israeli journalist -- well, lived in gaza, reporting from there. she was awarded the courage in journalism award by the international women's media foundation, presented by christian alone for. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

recorded in an east jerusalem recording studio with israeli palestinian and american musicians. the jerusalem youth choir, comprised of both palestinian and israeli members, lends their voice to the recording. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. >> with the potential for cease-fire between israel and

palestinian in gaza, we turn to the roots of the latest crisis and what can be done to avoid another in the future. it is widely thought the flare up again with the kidnappings of three israeli teens and the west bank just over a month ago. their dead bodies were found later. our next guest argue that narrative ignores the broader context of decades of occupation, and the expansionist goals of the israeli government and the palestinian land under its control. click for more we're joined by normal finkelstein, author and scholar. his most recent book saarc, "old wine, broken bottle: ari shavit's promised land" and "knowing too much: why the american jewish romance with israel is coming to an end." and we're joined by mouin rabbani, palestinian political an analyst, formally with the international crisis group. today, both have co-authored a forthcoming book on how to resolve the israel-houston conflict.

this latest news of the egyptian cease-fire, israel accepting and hamas weighing this. explained amira hass it quite well, so far as we can tell, hamas has been noted directly or indirectly consulted on the proposal that basically the egyptian concocted together with tony blair and the israelis on some other parties, the purpose of which appears to be that hamas cannot accept and then used to legitimize intensification of the israeli assault on the gaza strip. the problem for hamas is twofold. on the one hand, as amira explain, basically, it restores an acceptable status quo while on the other hand, has been endorsed by the arab league, but

most of the western powers, and so on. them will be difficult for to either accept or reject this, so to speak, while at the same time i think the parties that are proposing this cease-fire are making it clear they're not really interested in any further negotiation of its terms. finkelstein, give us a sketch of the broader context for how this latest flareup began. >> before i do, i want to briefly comment on the cease-fire. the cease-fire, first of all, says nothing about the rampages by israel against hamas in the west bank. it was those rampages which caused the current conflict to escalate. it gives israel a green light to continue arresting hamas members, blowing up homes in the west bank, ransacked in homes, and killing palestinians come a which was the prelude to the current fighting. secondly, if you look at the cease-fire, it is exactly was june 2008 inthe

the same cease-fire that was agreed to in november 2012. namely in both cases, it was said there would be a relaxing of the illegal blockade of gaza. in both cases, after the cease-fire was signed, the blockade was maintained and in fact, it was escalated. so now on the current version of the cease-fire, is said the blockade will be lifted after there has been calm restored and the security situation has been established. but israel says hamas is a terrorist organization. the security situation can never gaza, therefore, there'll never be a lifting of the blockade of gaza. so we are right back to where we 2008, november 2012. of course, hamas is going to reject that kind of agreement.

it means it legalizes and legitimizes the illegal blockade of gaza. as to where we got to where we general context is perfectly obvious for anyone who wants to see it. the unity government was formed between the pa and hamas. this unityas enraged government. they called on the west and the eu to break relations with the palestinian authority. surprisingly, the u.s. said, no, we're going to give this unity government time and see whether it works or not. thin that you came in and said, it will also give the unity government time -- then the eu it would giveid, let's se them time and see what happens. netanyahu went berserk. he found his pretext with the israeli teenagers kidnapped. there is not a scrap of evidence

that hamas was involved. even if you look at the july 3 report of human rights watch, they said, nobody knows who is behind the abductions. even the u.s. state department on july 7, there was a news u.s. stateand the department says, we don't have hard evidence about who was raised on civil. that had nothing to do it. it was just a pretext. the pretext was to go into the west bank, attack hamas, arrest 700 members of hamas, blowup two homes, carry on these rampages -- these ransacking's, and try to develop a reaction from hamas. this is what israel always does. anybody knows the history, it is what the's really political scientist, the main street -- he said it is these palestinian peace offenses. whenever the palestinians seem like they're trying to reach a settlement of the conflict, which the unity government was, at that point, israel does

everything it can to provoke a violent reaction -- in this case, from hamas -- break up the unity government and israel has its pretext. we can't negotiate with the palestinian authority because they only represent some of the palestinian people. they don't represent all of the palestinian people. and so netanyahu does what he always does -- excuse me, what the israeli government does, poundingnding hamas, hamas, try to evoke a reaction and when a reaction comes, well, when the reaction comes they say, we can do with these people, they're terrorists. >> mouin rabbani, on the issue of the israeli teens who were kidnapped and then killed, when did the israeli government understand that they have been murdered, as they carried out the siege to try to find them? >> what we know is that one of these youths called the police emergency line immediately after

they were abducted. gunshots can clearly be heard on the recording of that telephone conversation. on that basis, the israeli security establishment concluded that the youth had been killed almost as soon as they were abducted. this information is known to the israeli government. nevertheless, netanyahu deliberately suppressed this information using the broad censorship powers that the israeli government has and , launcheds period into this organized -- >> put a gag order on reporters from reporting this? >> basically, yes. this was treated as sensitive security information, subject to military censorship. there were only allusions to it and only days after by some

israeli journalist, and then only referring to some elliptical statements being made by israeli military commanders suggesting that this is not a astage rescue situation netanyahu was presenting it, but more likely to be a search for bodies, which is how it turned out. and the reason netanyahu suppress this information is because it gave them the opportunity to launch this organized rampage throughout the west bank to start reinvesting prisoners who had been released in 2011 and the prisoner exchange between hamas and bombingo intensify the of the gaza strip. and january, with the mass hysteria, within israel, which resulted in the burning death of

a 16-year-old palestinian from jerusalem. >> mouin rabbani, you have interviewed hamas leaders. the response from the israeli government is always that hamas is committed to israel's distraction, so how can we possibly negotiate with the unity government that includes them? what is your sense of hamas's willingness over a long-term to reach some sort of agreement or long-term truce with israel? hamas, or at least the organization and not necessarily all of its members private key leaders, long since have reconciled themselves with a two state settlement. i think what has been surprising in the past several months has been that hamas leadership has gone well beyond that in the context of the reconciliation

agreement signed on april 23 between -- in that agreement, they agreed to the formation of a new government, which neither hamas or fatah would answer the, but the political program of the government would be the political program or the pa president would be basically -- what we basically have is in stating publicly that he not so-called coree tech conditions, but that in addition, he would continue security coordination with israel and was making the statements almost on a daily basis. hamas more or less looked the other way and did not withdraw from the government. and i think this reflects, and in some respects, the increasing difficulty hamas was

experiencing in governing the gaza strip and funding its government because of the increasing hostility [indiscernible] its relations with iran, the inability to replace those funding from other resources. you effectively had a government that was not only [indiscernible] it went significantly further. [indiscernible] it was marginally truck to that directed at hamas.

this is a key reason why netanyahu sought to undermine the agreement. >> norman finkelstein, why do you think israel hesitated to launch the invasion? there are thousands of soldiers lined up along the gaza border. >> it is interesting because there are large number of theories. the answer to that i think is pretty obvious. the israeli domestic population won't tolerate a large number of israeli combatant casualties. israel likes to fight, not unlike president obama. israel likes to fight high-tech -- likes to commit high-tech massacres and doesn't want to fight a real war. in 2008, israel carried out are executed a big high-tech massacre and killed about 1400

palestinians from up to 1200 of whom were civilians, left behind 600,000 tons of rubble, dropped a white phosphorus and so forth. and for the first time, the international community reacted very harshly to with, the climax, of course, was the goldstone report. at that point, israel was placed in a very difficult position. on the one hand, it can't stop the rocket attacks unless the conducts a ground invasion, which is exactly the situation it based in lebanon in 2006 also. the air force cannot knock out these rockets. their short range rockets, mostly. they're not even rockets, but we will call them that. the air force can't dump them out. tilde way to get rid of them exactly -- the only way to get rid of them is by launching a ground invasion. the domestic population won't accept a large number of casualties. the only way you don't have a large number of casualties is if you blast everything in sight

a miles radius, which is what israel did in 2008 2009. there are only 10 casualties and 10 and a half -- of those 10, half of them were friendly fire. after the goldstone report and after 2008, 2009, they can't do that again. they can't carry out the kind of massive distraction. the 22 days of death and distraction, as amnesty international calls it. they can't do that in. there is a restraint placed on israel's critical and military echelon. that is the dilemma for them. domestically, they can't a writ large numbers of combatant casualties, but the only way to prevent that is blasting everything in sight. international commodities he says you can do that. you kill hundred 50 and 200 -- killing 200 palestinians base

that was not a war crime, does collective punishment. only hamas commits war crimes because one woman, current, died of a heart attack while tried to enter shelter. that is horrible, awful, that is a war crime. but when you killed 200 palestinians, 80% of whom were civilians, about 20% of whom are children, according to human rights watch, that is not a war crime. but the international community will accept that much. 200. it even human rights watch won't 2008, if you go in and do 2009. so the israeli government is faced with a real dilemma. that is the problem for netanyahu. domestically, he loses if there are large number of casualties, combatant casualties. internationally, he loses if he tries to do 2008, 2009 all over again. >> which resulted in how many deaths? >> they said about 1400, of whom .p to 1200 were civilians

600,000 tons of rubble. they left nothing there. by the way, that was demanded by tzipi livni. , thenuary 18, tzipi livni foreign minister then, the justice minister now, called a moderate by j street, tzipi livni posted -- she went on tv and boated, we demanded hooliganism in gaza. according to jay street, she is a moderate. >> what needs to be done? >> it is obvious. amnesty international, which is a real and rights organization under like -- unlike human right watch, they issued a statement saying, number one, there has to be a conference of arms embargo on israel and palestine. perfectly reasonable, because under international law, it is illegal to transfer weapons to countries which are major violators of human rights. so copper ends of arms embargo

in israel and palestine. number two, and your national investigation of war crimes on both sides. i'm saying number three. number three has to be the imposition of sanctions on israel until and unless it negotiates an end to occupation according to international law. that is not my suggestion. i'm basing it on the international order of justice. south africa occupied namibia. the international court of justice at a 1971, if south africa does not engage in good-faith negotiations to end its occupation of namibia, that occupation is illegal under international law. israel has refused to engage in good-faith negotiations to end the occupation of palestine could just like in the case of namibia. it is now an illegal occupier palestine, and there should be a conference of or sanctions imposed on israel until and

unless it into the occupation of palestine under the terms of international law. >> we will either there, normal finkelstein, author and scholar. ofin rabbani, senior fellow palestine studies. that does it for this discussion today. we will continue the discussion of what is happening in gaza. back in a moment. ♪ [music break]

on monday was woody guthrie's birthday. he would've been 102. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with aaron maté. >> we turn now to look at new developments in what critics dub the green scare. on friday, the government unveiled federal tourism charges against two animal activists accused of helping to free minks and foxes from fur farms and

illinois. the government accuses tyler lang and kevin oliff of freeing about 2000 mink from their cages on a fur farm, and then removing parts of the fence surrounding the properly so the mink could escape. there accused of spraying "liberation of love" on the farms walls. now a grand jury has indicted them under the animal enterprise terrorism act will start each count they face faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. >> last year kevin oliff was sentenced to 30 months for possessing burglary tools after police pulled over and searched the car he and tyler lang were bold cuttersound and wire cutters. we ask u.s. attorney's office handling the case to join us, but they declined saying they do not interview on pending cases once charges have been announced. for more we're joined from washington, d.c. barroom order will potter who has been following the case closely. he covers animal rights and

environment all movements at green is the new red.com. his book is called, "green is the new red: an insider's account of a social movement under siege." has a kickstarter campaign underway right now to purchase a drone and use it to photograph abuses at factory farms. will potter, welcome back to democracy now! explain what these two young men have been charged with. >> kevin and tyler have been charged with two counts each of violating a law called the animal enterprise terrorism act. this was a law passed in 2006 and lobbied for heavily but people like the for industry and the meat and dairy industry and pharmaceutical and biotech companies. it turns existing crimes like mentalism or theft of releasing animals and things like that and elevates it into a terrorism offense. because of that, their beach facing up to 10 years in prison right now. >> the context here in addition enterpriseal tourism

law, is the guy gag laws pay statewide across the country. >> the rhetoric from the industry and corporations for a long time now is that these new terrorism powers are needed for radical underground groups like the animal liberation front. in other words, in theory, actions like the ones that are alleged in this case that were indicted just last week, over the last two years what i've been documenting is this radical expansion of this terrorism charges -- powers to things like photography and undercover video investigation. right now the baghdad bills -- are in multiple states and make it illegal to photograph animal abuse. >> will potter, can you talk about the timing of the indictments? >> the timing was not accidental, i don't think. it happened -- i just arrived in los angeles along with unders of other peoples for the national animal rights conference. i was veronica we had in their

to speak about my work about government -- i was ironically going there to speak about my work. the same day the agents announces indictment of tyler lang and kevin oliff for allegedly losing mink from fur farms. it was telling for tyler's bail hearing, the government was making statements about how he was a risk because of his "extreme activism." they said what he described as nonprofit work, the government called "violent civil disobedience." i think this was really setting the tone a lot of ways, not just up,this legal battle coming but also sending a very clear message to the hundreds of political activist gathered in los angeles to instill fear and to elevate this terrorism rhetoric once again. >> one of the industry reactions to your campaign to buy a

drone, was online. emily meredith of the animal ever culture alliance wrote -- you have launched this campaign to purchase a drone. >> i have. see theit is telling to industry, the agriculture industry compare cameras, in their view, to the death star from "star wars" which the power to destroy entire planet. it makes you wonder, what is the threat of photography and what is it the industry is trying to hide? in a lot of ways, i think that is what is going on with this prosecution of tyler lang and kevin oliff as well. at worst, they destroyed or allegedly destroyed some property and broke some cages

and released animals. but in doing so, they really shone a spotlight or put a spotlight on the animal abuse taking place every day. across the board, i think that is with these industries are terrified about. that is what has motivated me as a journalist to try to get around some of these new laws by purchasing a drone and shooting photographs from the air. >> and finally, this issue of terrorism. will, if you can explain how these actions are being called terrorists. >> this campaign by corporations to label this type of activity and even nonviolent civil disobedience as terrorism has been going on for decades now. in my book, i really charges emergence of that eco-terror rhetoric. it all changed after september 11. that is really how we got to the point of this new law, the animal enterprise terrorism act, which is so broad that according to his supporters in not only includes things like stealing farms andom fur

laboratories, but also civil disobedience and protest activity. to me, it it is a radical expansion of tourism power in the name of protecting corporate interest. -- terrorism power in the name of protecting corporate interests. as i'm watching this court case unfold in los angeles and these ag-gag laws, doesn't matter how you fill about animal rights groups are these alleged crimes dealing animals, it is really about a corporate campaign to demonize the opposition and use terrorism resources to shut down a movement. >> will potter, thank you for being with us, author of, "green is the new red: an insider's account of a social movement under siege." end today's show with a look at an eight month investigation by the crime report published monday. it documents how corporations are must never face criminal investigations for their environment violations. just one halfows of 1% of environmental

violations trigger criminal prosecution. for more we're joined by graham kates, deputy managing editor of the crime report. welcome. tell us what you found and what you mean by criminal investigations? what needs to be investigated? >> the epa tracks violations across 800,000 facilities in the country, and 64,000 of them have in some way violated either the clean air act, clean water act, or other federal environment laws. they have a choice of how they handle those. they can sue them, sadly board ministry deadly, or criminal action. just 297 of the 64,000 we found in the last year were investigated for crimes. >> what would criminal investigation mean? >> law enforcement. seeing how the law was violated, was the company purposefully negligent? or were they doing it excessively? >> give us examples. >> one case involved out for natural resources, which is one

of the largest coal companies in the country. from 2000--- sorry, 2006, a former massey energy, which used to be the largest company in the country, violated the laws with truck in west virginia. >> the same company with the upper big branch mining disaster. they violated the law 4500 times in just six years. they settled for $29 million. alpha bought massey. the next six years after that, violated the law another 6000 times. they settled again for $27.5 million. when you ask the epa, given that history, is this a good way to handle this multitude of violations? well, yeah, they basically promised they would stop doing and paid us over $40 million. >> the figure is less than one half of 1% trigger criminal

probes. what kind of resources are government officials working with in terms of the agents assigned to this case? >> very little. across the country, there are just 200 investigators who focused specifically on environmental crime and the department of justice has just 38 prosecutors. >> we have to leave it there, but we will link to your report. graham kates, his investigation is called "environment of crime: the prosecution gap." we will link to it at democracynow.org. that does it for our show. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

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