>> from pacifica this is democracy now! >> many of the world's problems are so intractable, that it is hard to think of ways even to take steps towards mitigating them. israel-palestine conflict is not one of these. on the contrary, the general outlines of a diplomatic solution have been clear for at least 40 years.

>> we spent the hour with world-renowned linguist and dissident noam chomsky in speech and conversation before an audience in the hall of the u.n. general assembly. u.n. secretary of general ban ki moon has just announced plan to investigate israel's attacks on un shelters during its recent assault on gaza, we spend the -- all that and more, coming up. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. pentagon spokesman john kirby shows a video on youtube. it appears to show a cache of weapons. >> they are certainly the kinds of materials that were dropped.

it is not out of the realm of the possible in that regard. we are taking a look at this. we just do not know. when we have something definitive, we will do that. i do want to add that we are very confident that the vast majority of the bundles did end up in the right hands. we are only aware of one that did not. admiral kirby said the us had targeted the one bundle that went astray with an airstrike. the obama administration had previously said kobani was not a part of its strategic objective, but the wall street journal reports the u.s. was actually working very closely with syrian

-- kurdish commanders in secret to defend kobani. islamic state militants have renewed their assault on yazidi religious minorities around sinjar mountain in iraq. the world health organization has announced trials for vaccines without the people in west africa -- for thousands of people in west africa. they are expected to expand to volunteers in the united states, europe and africa. earlier today, a top red cross official said the ebola epidemic in west africa can be contained six months. the obama administration has imposed new travel restrictions to passages from the countries hardest hit from ebola. the rules forced have best passengers coming from ginny, sierra leone to pass through five airports that have commented enhanced screening.

an american camera person being treated for ebola in nebraska and a spanish nurse who is the first person to contract the virus outside of africa have both been declared ebola-free. the cultivation of opium poppies in afghanistan reached an all-time high despite $7 billion in u.s. funds to combat the drug trade. ko saidw report, john sop the record levels call into question the long-term success and sustainability of u.s. efforts. anth korea has released american prisoner that had been held for five months. jeffrey fowle was arrested in may after leading a bible in his hotel room. state department spokesperson marie harf said the obama administration is continuing to push for the release of two

-- americans in the area. people around the world are joining an international day of action today over the disappearance of 43 students ambushed by police the mexican state of guerrero. three soldiers are facing murder charges. a u.s. marine suspected of murdering a transgendered woman in the philippines has been transferred to a military camp in manila after protesters said he had received special treatment joseph scott pemberton . joseph scott pemberton had previously being kept on a u.s. navy ship. he has been moved to an air-conditioned van where he is guarded by fellow marines. theests have targeted

enforcement. the president defended the court. >> it serves a purpose for our country and for america. we are imperfect beings, and this is an imperfect world. -- it has happened, but the tragedy will be settled and the guilty will be moved on. >> in the united states, federal safety regulators are urging the owners of 7.8 million vehicles to act immediately to replace defective airbags. the airbags, made by the japanese company takata, can explode when activated. the defect has been linked to four deaths. wyoming has become the 32nd state where same-sex marriage is now legal.

former washington post editor ben bradley has died at the age of 93. he served as executive editor of the washington post from 1968 to 1961. presiding over its publication of the pentagon papers and its coverage of the watergate scandal, which forced president richard nixon to resign. in 1971, washington post reporter betty medsger received documents stolen by activists from an fbi office in media, pennsylvania, including one bearing the mysterious term cointelpro. medsger spoke on democracy now about how ben bradlee fought to publish the story, even though the post's publisher, katherine graham initially had qualms. >> it was the first time that she had been faced with a demand administration that she suppressed a story, and she did not want to publish. , then-house counselors

lawyers did not want to publish, but two editors realized it was an important story and pushed it radlee.brad -- ben b ben bradlee died at home of natural causes on tuesday. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. u.n. secretary-general ban ki- moon said tuesday he was setting up an investigation into the attacks on united nations facilities during israel's recent assault on gaza. some 2,100 palestinians, most of them civilians, were killed in the conflict, along with 67 israeli soldiers and six civilians in israel. well, today we spend the hour with professor noam chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author. he is institute professor emeritus at massachusetts institute of technology, where he has taught for more than 50 -- half a century. in a real event that took place last tuesday, 800 people packed the hall of the un's general

assembly to sit -- to see noam chomsky. hosted by the exercise of the inalienable rights of the palestinian people. speech and igave a followed with an interview. first, the speech. >> a pleasure to be with you and then discuss with you afterwards. many of the world problems are hardtractable that it is to think of ways even to take steps toward mitigating the. the israel-palestine conflict is not one of these. on the contrary, the general outlines of the diplomat solution have been clear for at least 40 years. not the end of the road. nothing ever is, but a significant step forward.

the obstacles to a resolution are also quite clear. the basic outlines were presented here in a resolution brought to the un security council in january, 1976. it called for a two-state settlement on the internationally recognized border, and now i am quoting, "with hearing tees for the rights of both states to exist -- with guarantees for the rights of both states to exist in peace and security with secure and recognized borders." the resolution was brought by the three major arab states -- egypt, jordan, syria, sometimes called the confrontation states. israel refused to attend the session. the resolution was vetoed by the united states.

typically is a double veto. the resolution is not implemented, and the event is vetoed from history, so you have to look hard to find the record, but it is there. that has set the pattern that has continued since. the most recent u.s. veto was in february, 2011, president obama, when his administration vetoed a resolution calling for implementation of official u.s. policy opposition to expansion of settlements and it is worth bearing in mind that expansion of settlements is not really the issue. settlements, unquestionably legal along with the infrastructure projects

supporting them. for a long time there has been an overwhelming international consensus in support of a settlement along these general lines. the pattern that was set in january, 1976, continues to the present. israel rejects a settlement of these terms, and for many years, has been devoting extensive resources to ensuring it will not be implemented with the unremitting and decisive support of the united states -- military, economic, diplomatic, and indeed ideological by establishing how the conflict is interpreted by the united states and within its broad sphere of influence.

there is not time to review here the record, but the general characters look at the -- what has happened in gaza the past decade, carrying forward a long history of earlier crimes. last august, august 26, a cease-fire was reached between israel and the palestinian authority. the question on all of our minds is what are the prospects for our future? well, one reasonable way to try to answer that question is to look at the record, and here, too, there is a definite pattern. a cease-fire is reached. andel disregards it, continues its steady assault on gaza, including continued siege, intermittent acts of violence, more settlement and development

projects, often violence in the west bank. hamas observes the cease-fire as israel officially recognizes, until some israeli escalation... illicits ation... -- morense with each episode instructive than the last. thefirst of the series was agreement on movement and access in november, 2005. to give a close paraphrase of it, it called for a crossing at roccoaza and egypt for the -- raw file at the -- rafa for the transferring of

people, the import of goods and the transport of people, reduction of obstacles to movement within the west bank, bus and truck convoys between the west bank and gaza, the building of a seaport in gaza, the reopening of the airport in gaza that israel had recently destroyed. these are, essentially, the terms of successive cease-fires, including the one just reached a few weeks ago. the november, 2005 agreement is significant. this was the moment of israel's disengagement, as it is called, from gaza -- the removal of several thousand israeli settlers from gaza. depicted as a noble

effort to seek peace and development, but the reality is rather different. described very quickly by the israeli official negotiatingharge of and implementing the cease-fire, a close confidant of then-prime minister ariel sharon, as he expressed to the israeli press, the goal of the disengagement, "was the freezing of the peace process so as to prevent the establishment of a palestinian state and to ensure that diplomacy has been removed indefinitely from our agenda." the reality on the ground is leadingd by israel's specialist on the occupation, a

respected historian, israel's leading diplomatic correspondent who wrote the major book "lords of the land" referring to the settlors, and what they say about the "thegagement is this -- ruined territory -- by then it was not released for even a single day from israel's military grip or from the price of the occupation that the inhabitants pay every day. after the disengagement, israel behind scorched earth, devastated services, and people or aneither a present future. the settlements were destroyed in an ungenerous move by an

unenlightened occupier which, in fact, continues to control the harassry and to kill and inhabitants by means of its formidable military might." that is inaccurate description from the most respected israeli source. the oslo accords, 20 years ago, established that gaza and the in indivisible, territory toil -- territorial unity whose integrity could not be broken up. for 20 years, the united states and israel have been dedicated to separate gaza and the west bank in violation of the accords that they had accepted, and a look at the map explains why. gaza offers the only access to the outside world of palestine.

if gaza is separated from the west bank, whatever autonomy might ultimately be granted in the west bank would be imprisoned. israel on one side, a hostile jordan, ally of israel, on the other side, and in addition, one of israel's slow and steady u.s.-backed policies is to take ,ver the jordan valley one-third of the west bank, which would essentially imprison the rest, even more tightly, if gaza is separated from the west think. geostrategicajor, reason for the israeli insistence with u.s.-backing on separating the two in violation

of the oslo agreement and the series of cease-fires that have been reached since november, 2005. well, the november, 2005 agreement lasted for a few weeks. january, 2006, a very important event took place -- the first full, free election in the arab world, carefully monitored, recognize to be free .nd fair -- it had one flaw it came out the wrong way. control of parliament. the u.s. and israel did not want that. you may recall at that period the slogan on everyone's lips promotion."cy the highest u.s. commitment in the world was democracy promotion. it was a good test.

democracy. the election came out the wrong way. the u.s. instantly decided along with israel to punish the palestinians for the crime of voting the wrong way. a harsh siege was instituted. other punishments. violence increased. the united states immediately began to organize a military coup to overthrow the unacceptable government. that is quite familiar practice. i will not go through the record. the european union, to its shame and discredit went along with this. israelis an immediate escalation, and that was the end of the november agreement, followed by major israeli onslaught. in 2007, a year later, hamas committed an even greater crime than winning a fair election. it preempted the planned

coupary to and -- military and took over gaza and that is described in the united states and most of the west as a mosque taking over gaza -- as hamas taking over gaza by force, which but there is something omitted. it is bad enough to vote the wrong way in a free election, but to preempt the u.s.-planned military coup is far more serious. increased on gaza substantially at that point, major israeli onslaught. finally, in january, 2008, another cease-fire was reached. terms were pretty much the same as those that i quoted. israel publicly rejected the cease-fire. it said it would not abide by

it. hamas observed the cease-fire as israel officially recognizes despite israel's refusal to do so. that continued until november 4, 2008. on november 4, which was the day of the u.s. election, israeli forces invaded gaza, killed half a dozen hamas militants. that led to rockets attacking israeli response, , allof killings palestinians, as usual. by the end of december, a couple of years later, hamas offered to renew the cease-fire. the israeli cabinet considered it, rejected it. this was a dovish cabinet.

they rejected it and decided to launch the next major military operation that was cast lead, operation, horrible so much so that it wants -- it action, international investigations by amnesty international, human rights watch. in the middle of the assault -- the assault, incidentally, was carefully timed to end immediately before president obama's inauguration. he'd already been elected, but he was not inaugurated yet, so when he was asked to comment on the atrocities, he responded by saying he could not do so, the united states has only one was nott, and he president yet. he was talking about lots of other things, but not this.

the attack was timed to end immediately before the inauguration so he could therefore respond to the questions by saying now is not the time to look at the past, let's look forward to the future. diplomats know that is a standard slogan for those who are engaged in serious crime. let's forget about the past. let's look forward to a glorious future. well, that was right in the middle of the assault. the security counsel did pass a resolution, unanimously. the u.s. abstaining. calling for an immediate cease-fire with the usual terms. that was january 8, 2009. it was never observed, and it broke down completely with the next major episode of mowing the lawn in november, 2012.

you could get a good sense of what was going on looking at the casualty figures for the year 2012. 79 people were killed. 78 of them palestinians. the usual story. professor noam chomsky speaking last tuesday before 800 people. andill return to his speech my public interview with him in a moment. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we return to the speech delivered by professor noam chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author. last week, chomsky spoke at the rare event in the hall of the u.n. general assembly.

he talked about the aftermath of the november 2012 israeli assault on gaza. >> after the november assault, there was a cease-fire reached with the usual terms. i will describe what happened next by quoting the leading leadingst, nathan, the middle east analyst for the international crisis group, as he writes "israel recognize that hamas was observing the terms of the cease-fire, and therefore saw little incentive in doing the same. the military attacks on gaza increased, along with more stringent increases on imports. exports were blocked. exit permits were blocked. that continued until april, 2014, when palestinians committed another crime.

bankbased hamas and west -based palestinian authority signed a unity agreement. israel was infuriated, infuriated even more when the world mostly supported it. even the united states gave week, but actual support. several reasons for the israeli reaction. the one is that unity between gaza and the west bank between the two movements were threatened the long-standing policies of separating the two for the reasons that i mentioned. another reason was that a unity government undermines one of the refusal tor israel's participate in negotiation seriously, namely, how can we negotiate with an entity that is internally divided. well, if they are unified, that

pretext disappears. infuriated. it launched major assault on the palestinians in the west bank, primarily targeting hamas. hundreds of people arrested -- mostly hamas members. also, gaza, also, killings. there was a pretext, of course. there always is. the pretext was that three israeli teenagers in the settlements had been brutally murdered -- captured and murdered. israel claimed officially that they thought they were alive, so therefore launched a long, several-weeks assault on the west bank, alleging that they were trying to find them alive, meanwhile the arrests, attacks, theyo on -- it turns out knew immediately that they had been killed. they also knew immediately that

it was very unlikely that hamas was involved. the government said they had certain knowledge that hamas had done it, but their own leading -- had pointedt out right away that the assault, which was a brutal crime, was very likely committed by members clan,reakaway plan -- which was not given a green light by hamas and had been a thorn in their sides. and that, apparently, is true, if you look at a later arrests and punishments. anyway, that was in the text for this assault. killings in gaza, too. hamas response, and then came operation protective edge, no one that was just completed, and more brutal

and destructive than the ones that preceded it. the pattern is very clear. so far, at least, it appears to be continuing. the latest cease-fire was reached on august 26. it was followed at once by israel's greatest land grab in inyears, almost 1000 acres what is called greater jerusalem, five times the size of anything jerusalem ever was, taken over by israel, and next in violation of security -- and annexed in violation of security orders. activity undermines american efforts to protect israel at the united nations and urged that israel should not provide ammunition for those of

the united nations who would interpret israel's position as hardening." actually, that warning was given 47 years ago in september, 1967, at the time of israel's first colonization -- illegal .olonization the israeli historian recently reminded us of this. little has changed since, in the last 47 years, apart from the scale of the crimes, which continue without a break with constant u.s. support. well, as for the prospect, there is a conventional picture. it is repeated constantly on all sides. israel, palestine, independent commentators, diplomats -- the picture that is presented is that there are two alternatives.

either the two-state settlement, which represents an overwhelming international consensus -- virtually everyone -- and if that fails, there will have to be one state. israel will take over the west bank. the palestinians will hand over the keys, as it is sometimes said. palestinians have often favored that. they say they will then be able to carry out the civil rights struggle, maybe modeled on the anti-apartheid struggle in south africa -- fight for civil rights within the one state controlled by israel. israelis criticize not on the grounds of what is called the demographic problem, the fact that there will be too many non-jews in a jewish state, in fact, pretty soon a majority.

those are the alternatives that are presented overwhelmingly. hardly an exception. haven opinion, which i written about repeatedly without convincing many people, apparently, but i will try to convince you. it is a total illusion. those are not the tw alternatives. there are two alternatives. they are different once. the one alternative is an international consensus on a two -state settlement, basically the terms of 1976. by now, it is virtually everyone -- the arab league, the organization of islamic states that includes iran, europe, latin america. that is one option. the realistic other option, is that israel will continue doing exactly what it is doing right now before our eyes, visible,

with u.s. support, which is also visible, and what is happening is not a secret. you can open the newspapers and read it. israel is taking over what they call jerusalem -- as i mentioned, a huge area, maybe five times the area of historic jerusalem, greater jerusalem -- a big area in the west bank that includes many arab villages being dispossessed, destroyed, bringing settlers in. all of this is doubly illegal. all of the settlements are illegal, as determined by the security council advisor opinion of the international court of justice, but the visitation of settlements are ugly illegal because they are in -- and the bully illegal because they are -- and doubly illegal.

it continues, and that is greater jerusalem. there are then corridors extending to the east. one major corridor extending two jerusalem almost jericho, virtually bisecting the west bank. it includes an israeli town that was built largely during the clinton administration, and in years, with the obvious purpose of bisecting the west bank. it is a little contested territory, but that is the goal. there is another corridor further to the north including a town that partially bisects or remains. another further to the north. if you look at the map, these essentially break up the west take into pretty much cantons. as though athe map

large territory is left, but that is misleading. most of that is uninhabitable desert, and that is separate from what i mentioned before, the slow, steady takeover of the jordan valley to the east. then, about one-third of country, israel has no official policy of taking it over, but they are pursuing the policy in a way that has been carried out now 400 years, -- for 100 years, literally. small steps so that people do not notice or pretend not to notice, establish a military zone so that palestinians who live there have to be this waste, it is a military -- displaced, it is a military zone. sooner or later it becomes an actual settlement, and meanwhile did well -- dig wells, and set

up green zones. a large variety of tactics that have by now reduce the arab population from about 300,000 in ,967 to roughly 60,000 today not to mention that that essentially imprisons what is left. i do not think israel has any intention of taking over the concentrations, which are left out of these plans. there are analogies often made to south africa, but they are quite misleading. south africa relied on its black population. that was 85% of the population. that was its workforce. they had to sustain them just like slaveowners have to maintain their capital. they tried to sustain the population. they even tried to gain international support. israel has no such attitude toward the palestinians.

they do not want to have anything to do with them. if they leave, that is fine. if they die, that is fine. in standard, neocolonial pattern, israel is establishing permitting the establishment of a center for palestinian elites in ramallah, where you have nice restaurants, theaters, and so on. in thehird world country colonial system had something like that. that is the picture that is emerging, taking shape for our eyes. it has so far worked very well. if it continues, israel will not face the demographic problem. when these regions are integrated slowly into israel -- actually, the proportion of jews in greater israel will increase. there are very few palestinians there. those that are there are being dispossessed, kicked out. that is what is taking shape before our eyes.

i think that is the realistic -stateative to a two settlement, and there is every reason to expect that to continue as long as the united states supports it. professor -- >> professor noam last tuesday in the hall of the u.s. general assembly before 800 people, ambassadors and the public alike. it was hosted by the united nations committee on the exercise of the inalienable rights of the palestinian people. after i spoke i interviewed him in front of the audience. we will play highlights after the break. ♪ [music break]

this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we return to m.i.t. professor noam chomsky, world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author. last week he spoke before 800 people in the hall of the united nations general assembly before ambassadors and the public alike on the issue of israel and

palestine. after his speech, i conducted a professorerview with noam chomsky. >> would you think is the single most important step the united states could take and its role over the years -- what is its interest here? >> one important action the united states could take is to live up to its own laws. of course, it would be nice if it lived up to international law. -- maybe that is too much to asked, but live up to its own laws. [applause] there are several. here, incidentally, i have in mind advice to activists also, who i think all to be organizing and educating in this direction. there are two crucial cases. one is called the leahy law. patrick leahy introduced legislation called the leahy law which bars sending weapons to

any military units which are involved in consistent human rights violations. there is not the slightest doubt that the israeli army is involved in massive human rights violations, which means that all dispatch of u.s. arms to israel is in violation of u.s. law. i think that is significant. the u.s. should be called upon by its own citizens and by u.s. law,adhere to which also happens to conform to international law in this case. amnesty international, for example, for years, has been calling for an arms embargo against israel for this reason. these are all steps that can be taken. the second is the tax exempt status that is given to organizations in the united states which are directly

involved in the occupation, and on humanicant attacks and civil rights within israel itself, like the jewish national fund. take a look at its charter with the state of israel, which to the it to acting benefit of people with jewish race, religion, and origin within israel. at one of the consequences of that is that by a complex array of laws and administrative practices, the fund pretty much administers about 90% of the land to the country with real consequences for who can live places. they get tax-exempt status, also for their activities in the west bank, which are strictly criminal. i think that is also in

violation of u.s. law. those are important things. i think the u.s. should be pressured internationally and domestically to abandon it's virtually unique role -- unilateral role in blocking the political settlement for the past 40 years, ever since the first veto in january, 1976. that should be a major issue in the media, in convocations like this, the united nations, domestic politics, government politics, and so on. >> the role of the media -- can you talk about that, particularly in the united you think that the opinion in the united states -- public opinion -- is shifting on this issue? >> the role of the media is

somewhat shifting from uniform support from virtually everything israel does, and, of course, silence about the u.s. role -- and that is not just in the case of israel, but in innumerable other cases as well. it is slowly shifting, but nevertheless, say operation protective edge, one can read in news reporting in "the new york times," a major journal, the assault onf hamas' israel during protective age -- protective edge. israel --sault on that is not exactly what happened, but that is what people are reading. thate over and over read israel is under attack has the right to self-defense.

everyone agrees to that. actually, i agree to that, but that is not the question. the question is do you have a right of self-defense by force, by violence, and the answer is no for anyone, whether it is an individual or state, unless you have exhausted peaceful means. if you will not even permit peaceful means, which is the case here, then you have no right of self-defense by violence, but try to find a word about that in the meeting. self-defense.s when president obama rarely says anything about what is happening, it is usually "if my daughters were being attacked by rockets, i would do anything to stop it." he is referring, not to the hundreds of palestinian kids that are being slaughtered, but the children in an israeli town that is under attack by

missiles, and remember that israel knows exactly how to stop those missiles, namely live up to a cease-fire for the first time, and then they would stop, as in the past, even when israel did not live up to a cease-fire. that framework, and of course, the rest of the framework is the united states is an honest broker trying hard to bring the two sides together, doing its best in this noble endeavor. it has nothing to do with the case heard some of the u.s. negotiators have occasionally acknowledged israel's lawyer. if there were serious negotiations going on, they would be led by some neutral party, maybe brazil, which has some international respect, and they would bring together the two sides. on the one side, israel and the

united states. on the other side, the palestinians. those would be possible, realistic negotiations, but the chances of anyone in the media either -- i will not even say pointing it out, but even thinking about it, is miniscule. is so deep,nation that really elementary facts like these, and they are elementary, are almost incomprehensible, but to get back to the last point that you mentioned, it is very important. opinion in the united states is shifting, not as fast as in most of the world, not as fast as in europe -- it is not reaching the point where you can get a vote in congress, anything like the british parliament couple of days ago, but it is changing, mostly among young people, and changing substantially. i just illustrate with personal .xperience, amy

it is the same experience. until very recently, when i get talks on these topics, which i have been doing for 40 years, i literally had to have police protection, even at my own university, and i.t.. police would insist on walking me back to my car because of threats -- at m.i.t.. police would insist on walking me back to my car because of threats they had picked up and so on. that is all gone. just a few days ago i had a talk on these topics at m.i.t.. the meeting was not broken up. no police protection. 8500, 600 students were there, all enthusiastic, engaged, wanted to do something about it. that is happening all over the country. all over the country, palestinian solidarity is one of the biggest issues on campus. an enormous change in the last few years. that is the way things tend to change. it often starts with younger people.

gradually, it gets to the rest of the population. efforts of the time that i mentioned, trying to get the united states government to live up to its own laws but could be undertaken -- laws could be undertaken on a substantial scale domestically and with support from international institutions. that could lead to further changes. the two things that i mentioned would have a considerable appeal to much of the united states -- the american public. why should they be funding the military units that are carrying out massive human rights violations. why should they be permitting tax exemptions -- meaning we pay for it -- that is what a tax exemption means -- why should we be compelled to pay for violations of fundamental human rights in another country, even occupied territories where it is criminal? theink that can appeal to

american population and can lead to the kinds of changes we have seen in other cases. >> final question, before we open it up to the rest of you, your thoughts on the bds divestingthe boycott movement. >> these are tactics that you deploy in a way to be affected. tactics are not principals. they are not actions you undertake no matter what because you think they are right. tactics are undertaken if you are serious because you think you're going to help the victims. that is how you adjust your tactics, not just because i think they are right in principle, but because i think they will be beneficial. that ought to be second agent to activists. also second -- second nature to activists. also second nature should be a crucial distinction between

opposing and advocating. i can propose now that we should all live in peace and love each other. i just propose that. .t is not a serious proposal it becomes a serious proposal ien it becomes advocacy, sketch out a path for getting from here to there. then it becomes serious. otherwise, it is empty words. that is crucial, and related to this. well, when you take a look at movement, which is separate, incidentally from bds tactics -- that may make that clear. so, when the european union issued its tactics, or when the gates foundation withdraws investment in security operations that are being carried out, not on any occupied territories, but elsewhere, that is very important.

but that is not the bds movement. tactics, boycott beentment and movement has a positive one, but i think it has failed should reflect on it so far unwillingness to face what are crucial questions for activists -- what is going to help the victims, and what is going to harm them? what is a proposal, and what israel advocacy? you have to think that through. it has not been sufficiently done. so, you take a look at the principals of the bds movement, there are 3 -- they vary slightly in wording, but basically, three. one is actions should be directed against the occupation.

that has been extremely successful in many ways, and it makes sense. it also helps educate the western populations that are being appealed to to participate here -- anticipate. it is an opening -- participate. it is an opening to discuss, investigate participation in the occupation. it is very successful. a second principle is that bds actions should be continued until israel allows they refugees -- the refugees to return. that has had no success, and to the extent that it has been tried, it has been a negative that leads to a backlash. no basis has been laid for it among the population. it is simply interpreted as saying you want to destroy the state of israel. you cannot undertake actions that you think are principled when in the real world they are going to have a harmful effect

on the victims. category having to do with civil rights within israel, and there are things that could be done here. one of the ones i mentioned, in fact, the tax-free status for u.s. organizations that are engaged in civil rights and human rights violations, and remember, a tax exemption means i pay for it. that is an action to be undertaken. others that have been undertaken have had backlash is that are harmful, and i will not go through the record, but these are the kinds of questions that always have to be asked when you are involved in serious activism , if you care about the victims, not just feeling good, but caring about the victims. that is critically important. >> m.i.t. professor, world-renowned linguist, speaking, noam chomsky

last tuesday in the hall of the u.s. general assembly before 800 people. if you would like a copy of today's show, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. we wish a very happy birthday to robby karran. for all our new york viewers, you can see our co-host juan gonzalez as one of the panelists questioning the gubernatorial candidates in tonight's debate, which will be broadcast live on pbs stations across new york. i will be speaking in vienna on austria, the unit, friday. then saturday, speaking at the elevate festival in austria. again, you can go to democracynow.org for more details. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. email your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to: democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, ny 10013.

we're honored to welcome dr. (clapping.) thank you. i'm very pleased to have been invited to attendants quorum each candidates b will have one minute to answer the questions every candidate will answer every question the time keepers homicide up a yellow card for 30 seconds and red card when time to stop every aspect has been faired to each candidate and all candidates ask their supporters to be respected