10/19/18 10/19/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! pres. trump: is certainly looks that way to me. it is very sad. and i think we will be making a statement, very strong statement, but we're waiting for the results of about three different investigations. then we should build it to the bottom of very soon. amy: after weeks of defending saudi arabia, president trump says he believes "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi is dead.

evidence is mounting that saudi crown prince mohamammed bin saln is directly implicated in the assassination. though saudi arabia may try to pin it on someone else. we speak with saudi dissident and scholar madawi al-rasheed, who was stripped of her saudi citizenship in 2005 for criticizing saudi authorities. then fears are growing as israel implements a "zero tolerance" policy towards protesters s in gaza. >> the gaza strip with a population of 2 million,, essentially has become an open-a-air prison. its inmamates have been staging protesests for the p past six ms teter sufferining for more thana decade under a an israeli-i-impd blocockade that has led too economic collapse, soaring unemployment rates, , polluted drinking water, dwdwindling powr supplies, and u ultimatelely, to deep despair. amy: we will speak with hagai el-ad who testified before the

u.n. security council on thursday. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peacace report. i'm amy goodman. "the new york times" reported thursday the saudis are considering blaming a top adviser to crown prince mohammed bin salman for the killing of saudi journalist "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. the saudis will claim that killed al-assiri khashoggi. he served as a spokesman for the u.s.-backed saudi led coalition in yemen. turkish officials say khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a squad of 15 saudi hit men shortly after entering the saudi his symbol october 2. video and on your recordings

from inside the consnsulate reportedly show khashoggi was beaten, tortured,d, dismembered, beheaded with h his fingers cut off. four of the men implicated in khashoggi's thahat are repoporty linked to mbs's security detail. president trump said thursday he now believes khashoggi is dedead and acknowledged allegations against the saudis. it certainly looks that way to me. it i is very sad. >> what are e you considering fr possible consequences? pres. trump: it will have to be very severe. it is bad, bad stuff, but we will see what happens. amy: "the new york times" reports jared kushner has advised president trump to defend the crown prince despite mounting evidence against saudi arabia. the united states received $100 million payment from saudi arabia on tuesday, the same day

secretary of state mike pompeo met with the crown prince and his father king salman in riyadh. one u.s. official said "the timing of this is no coincidence." treasury secretary steven mnuchin said thursday he will not attend the weeks future investment initiative summit in saudi arabia. dozens of others have also pulled out of the event, including the heads of the world bank and the imf, top executives from j.p. morgan chase, uber, blackstone, and "the new york times" and every other major western news media organization. meanwhile, also in turkey, it is believed that there was a car accident in one of the 15 hitmen was killed. we will have more on the latest of jamal khashoggi after headlines. at a rally in montana thursday, president trump praised montana congressman greg gianforte for physically assaulting a

reporter. pres. trtrump: greg isis smart. anand by the wayay, never w wree him.m. never. any guy ththat can do body slam, he is my kind ofuyuy. he is my g guy. amy: last year, gianforte body-slammed the guardian reporter ben jacobs after he asked gianforte a question about the republicans' healthcare proposal. this is the audio jacobs captured of the attack. >> i will talk to about that later. i am sick and tired of you guys. the last guy that came in here did the same thing. get the hell out of here. you just broke my glasses. >> the last guy did my same damn

thing. >> i would also like to call t e police. elected to congress, but he ultimately pled guilty to assaulting jacobs. after trump praised june 40th a rally thursday night, the guardian john a hole in the aftermath of the murder of jamal khashoggi, it runs the risk of inviting other assaults on journalists both here and across the world were they often face far greater threats. we hope decent people will denounce these, and the president will see fit to apologize for them. during the rally trump also , attacked again massachusetts senator elizabeth warren over her recent dna test claiaiming r native american n ancestry. pres. trump: the one gooood thig about her test, is that there was so little, she lessen the average american.

mored to say, i have indian blood in me than she does, and i have none. amy: to see our full coverage of elizabeth warren's dna test go to democracynow.org. a new investstigatioion by wnycd propublica reveals t that the trump family regularly engaged in patterns of deceptive practices in their real estate deals around the world the report finds that president trump and his daughter ivanka regularly misled investors and buyers by inflating property sales numbers, giving a false sense of the viability of the projects. this comes as the trump name was removed from yet another new york city building on thursday after residents complained of antipathy, security risks and reduced property values associated with h the trump nam. back in washington, d.c.c., newy releaseded official emails show that president trump was more involved than previously though

-- thought in preventing the planned move of fbi headquarters out of washington to the d.c. suburbs. many speculate that the move was designed to benefit trump's namesake hotel, which is located one block away from the fbi's current headquarters. the trump p international hotel has s been the subject of a high-profile lawsuit charging trump profits from the hotel and therefore dignitaries may choose to stay there to curry favor with the president, possible emolumentsf the clause in the constitution. if the fbi were to move out of washington, d.c., that property could be developed as another hotel just about a block away hotel.ump's in immigration news, a migrant caravan is about -- of about 4000 hondurans is continuing its journey toward u.s. border, as the migrants flee rampant violence and economic deprivation. trump has lashed against the caravan on twitter, attacking at turns democrats, his central

american counterparts, and the migrants. trump has also threatened to cut foreign aid to central american countries, nullify the u.s.-mexico-canada trade deal if mexico doesn't stop the migrants, and even deploy troops to close the border. the united states faced widespread criticism last year for backing the re-election of honduran president juan orlando hernandez, despite allegations of widespread election fraud. in brazil, the far right front running presidential candidate jair bolsonaro, is being accused of profiting from a misinformation campaign smearing his opponent fernando haddad. haddad's leftist worker's party is calling for an investigation into the campaign allegedly funded by pro-bolsonaro entrepreneurs, using the popular social networking platform whatsapp. meanwhile, a campaign video released by haddad is drawing attention to the link between bolsonaro and steve bannon.

stephen bannon is accused of step a time she democratic regimes -- steve bannon is .ccused of bolsonaro has been the last 30 years doing this in brazil. amy: haddad and bolsonaro are set to face off in the final round of elections on october 28. in afghanistan, the taliban is claiming an attack thahat killed top afghan general abdbdul raziq along with a top intelligencnce chief, in the southern p provine of kandahar. top u.s. general scott miller was also a target of the attack but survived uninjured. general raziq was seen by u.s. forces as essential in maintaining a level of stability in kandahar. raziq has also been accused of corruption, drug smuggling, and major human rights abuses including killings and torture. the killings have prompted the delay of an upcoming parliamentary vote in kandahar. israel's supreme coururhas overturned u.s. student lara

alqasem's deportation order, granting her the right to stay and study in israel. alqasem, who is of palestinian descent, was held at israel's ben gurion airport for over two weeks after arriving in the country toto start a master's program. israel said it had denied her entry over her past support for the boycott, divestment, and sasanctions movement, an international palestinian solidarity campaign. in 2017, israel passed a law denying entry to foreign nationonals who support any kikd of boycott against the country. the u.s. justice department has opened an investigation into catholic dioceses in pennsylvania involved in the cover up of widespread systematic child sexual abuse among its clergygy, the first statewidide federal ininvestigan oftsts kind. the justice department is also investigation the diocese in buffalo, new york. the justice department investigations come after a pennsylvania grand jury report

revealed more than 300 catholic priests sexually abused 1000 children, and possibly thousands morere, over a span of seven decades. "the new york times" is reporting that a prominent former doctor at the rockefeller university hospital likely sexually abused many of his former patients, mostly young and teenage boys who sought treatment for growth problems. dr. reginald archibald worked at the hospital from the 1940's to 1980, during which time he reportedly forced patients to masturbate in front of him, touched them in a sexual manner, and took pictures of them naked. he died in 2007. meanwhile in california, more 93 women have accused university of southern california gynecologist dr. george tyndall of sexual abuse, bringing the number of his accusers to about 150. survivors say dr. tyndall raped or forcibly touched them, and made racist and misogynistic comments while he sexually abused them. in florida, three former police

officers pleaded guilty in connection with the framing of innocent black men in biscayne park. the officers a admitted to makig false arrests as part of a scheme orchestrated by former police chief raimundo atesiano to benefit his department's crimes record. atesiano pleaded guilty last month to depriving three innocent black men of their civil rights by framing them. a white man who shot three black men as they were evacuating hurricane katrina-ravaged new new orleans has pleaded guilty to a hate crime, admitting he shot the men because of their race. roland bourgeois reportedly told his neighbor -- "anything coming up this street darker than a brown paper bag is getting shot." the case is one of several high profile, racism-fueled crimes that took place in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane. in 2016, four former new orleans police officers pled guilty to

shootings six unarmed black civilians on the danziger bridge days after hurricane katrina, killing two and wounding the four others. and in dallas, texas, two pipeline protetesters werere arrested thursday after disrupting an energy transfer partners' shareholder meeting. indigenous rights activists waniya locke and cherri foytlin face disorderly conduct charges after interrupting speakers at a meeting about the 163-mile bayou bridge pipeline. foytlin recorded the protest on facebook live. >> injured children. that they're going to act like -- they're going to act like they are the innocent ones, but they are not. they are not. they are not innocent. get to do this. you don't get to continue to bother people and injure people and hurt people. you don't get to do that. just because you are rich.

amy: cherri foytlin appears to be tackled as she continues to speak. the water protectors can also be -- dozens of protesters also gathered outside of the hotel to protest energy transfer partners and its ceo kelcy warren. the turkish press is reporting that one of the 15 saudi men involved in jamal khashoggi'i's murder has died in a car accident. the accident occurred in riyada, saudi arabia, not in turkey. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we begin today's show with the disappearance and probable murder of saudi journalist and "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi, as evidence unts that crown prince mohammed bin salman directly to the implicated to his assassination. turkish officials say khashoggi was tortured and murdered by a squad of 15 saudi hit men shortly after entering the saudi consulate in istanbul on october 2. video and audio recordings from

inside the consusulate reportedy show khahashoggi was beaten, tortured, and beheadaded, with s fingers cut off and his body dismembered. four of the men implicated in khashoggi's death are reportedly linked to mbs's security detail. securitybin salman's detail. there are reports in the turkish press one of the fifth team in involved in khashoggi's murder has died in a car accident in riyadh, saudi arabia. after weeks of defending saudi arabia, president trump thursday said he believes khashoggi is dead and acknowledged allegations against the saudis. pres. trump: it certainly looks that way to me. it is very sad. it's really looks that way. and i think we will be making a very strong statement. but we are waiting for the results of about three different investigations.

we should build into the bottom fairly soon. >> what he considered for possible consesequences for saui based on those? pres. trump: it will have to be very severe. it is bad, bad stuff, but we will see what happens. amy: "the new york times" reports that trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner has advised trump to defend the crown prince, despite mounting evidence against saudi arabia. treasury secretary steven mnuchin said on thursday he will not attend next week's future investment initiative summit in riyadh. "the new york times" reports the saudis are now considering lending a top adviser to mohammed bin salman for khashoggi's killing by claiminig general ahmed al-assiri killed khashoggi after the crown prince ordered him to capture the journalist for an interrogation. al-assiri previously served as the spokesman for the u.s.-backed saudi-led coalition in yemen. this comes as the united states received $100 million payment from saudi arabia tuesday, the

same day secretary of state mike pompeo met with mohammed bin salman and his father king salman in saudi arabia. one u.s. official said "the timing of this is no coincidence." that meeting is remembered for mike pompeo smiling and laughing , both with the crown prince and with his father the king. well for more, we go to london, where we're joined by madawi al-rasheed, a saudi dissident and visiting professor at the middle east center at the london school of economics. she was stripped of her saudi citizenship in 2005 for criticizing saudi authorities. her new piece in "the new york times" is headlined "why king salman must replace mbs." her edited collection titled "salman's legacy: the dilemmas of a new era in saudi arabia" was published earlier this year. welcome to democracy now! thank you so much for joining us. beginsor, why don't you

by responding to this latest news that president trump has acknowledged that jamal khashoggi is probably dead. >> yes. but this is in line with a series of tweets and statements made by mr. trump from the very beginning on the second of october. i think we are getting contradictory messages from the american president over the khashoggi affair. so the latest is that he is dead were probably dead, but the investigation will actually lead, hopefully, also to a clear resolution. because it has been more than two weeks now and we keep hearing leaks and news about .ideo that are not made public most of the sources come from

turkish newspapers or from sources in the turkish investigation team. we really i think need to concentrate on the context of all of this and how the united states is still not wanting to make a break or maybe acknowledge that the saududi regime, whether it is mohammed bin salman or his so-called rogue elements within the regime, are responsible for this. how acan't imagine journalist injury the saudi state disappeared, and we have the video of that. without actually the fingers pointing to the involvement of the saudi regime and possibly the top person in the saudi regime, and that is crown pririe mohammed bin salman. has a horrific crime, if it

happened inside the embassy or the consulate, nobody could take the initiative and execute someone without orders from above. amy: i think many in this country and around the world are shocked that president trump as secretary of state mike pompeo continue to say i'm a we simply await the saudi investigation. this is a saudi investigation of themselves. when the fbi was asked are they investigating they said, no, there were no orders to investigate. so the u.s. government is waiting for those accused to come up with their own investigation. and when secretary of state pompeo on the termite in riyadh after visiting with the crown prince and his father some of the king, and with the video shown of them laughing and smiling together was asked what

he learned, he said it was not a factual discussion. >> well, it is bizarre. it has never happened, as far as i know, that the accused are involved in the investigation. inequality inw this world works. it is an inequality between countries that are wealthy that are capable of transferring $100 million to the u.s. on the day state,visit of secretary and it is that money that actually leads us to stagnate in the relationship with the saudi regime that continues to attack basic human rights inside its country. but this act, if it actually happened inside the consulate in istanbul, is a new phase that we are seeing in saudi arabia.

but if the saudi regime is allowed to find a scapegoat or a cover story that would absolve it from any responsibility for the murder of jamal khahashoggii would atattribute that to the purchasing power of the e saudi regime, rather than its integrity and the integrity of , the united states of america. amy: so talk about that relationship. talk about president trump and his son-in-law jared kushner's relationship. clearly, what is called a bro- kushner andn jared the crown prince. some have talked about the crown prince, mohammed bin salman, and the clown prince jared kushner, why they're so close. although, it should not be confused with the u.s. not supporting saudi arabia. you had saudi arabia -- you had

president obama visiting saudi arabia something like four times. president trump's first foreign visit was to saudi arabia where he did the famous sword dance, etc. >> well, the history of this relationship goes back after the second world war and the discovery of oil in saudi arabia. the united states did not have any interest in arabia at the time, as it was called, until by ans discovered american company. and it is the oil company that brought the u.s. government into saudi arabia, rather than the other way around. so we have the oil, we have the money that needed to be protected after the signing of a contract for further exploration of the possibility of oil on the soil of arabia.

some the united states government was brought into protect the interest of the corporation. the oil company that discovered the oil and started pumping it. and the united states found in saudi arabia a strategic ally. it had initially a military base in the eastern province of saudi arabia where oil was found, and that military base was used by to united states as a place stop on the way to the far east during the 1940's and late 1950's. so oil was extremely important. at that time saudi arabia was important for the united states and the rest of the world. at the moment we find the u.s. is less dependent on saudi oil. the justification for this close partnership between saudi arabia and the united states from the u.s. perspective has always been

that we need saudi arabia because saudi arabia is a force of stability in the middle east. they used saudi arabia and the cold war to launch the jihad in afghanistan with u.s. approval and support. in saudi arabia was actually conveying that as actively participating in that jihad in the 1980's. but also in addition to the economic importance of saudi arabia, the strategic location of saudi arabia, the importance of saudi arabia to the rest of the muslim world in the cold war, saudi arabia and specifically its religious tradition that is known to convenientwas a very anti-imperialist 1960's, arabn the nationalism, and also socialism. some islamic fundamentalism was

promoted by saudi arabia i in corporation with the united states as a counter strategy to all of those threatening forces in the world at the time from the perspective of both the u.s. and saudi arabia. however, when we come to the present and we come to the election of mr. donald trump, saudi arabia, as you said, of course it did receive president obama in saudi arabia and, frankly, president obama sold more weapons to saudi arabia than any other president, but there was one issue that they did not agree on. and that is the iran nuclear agreement, which allowed iran to be into the international community and except the toditions of the e agreement

stop nuclear program. in saudi arabia felt threatened by that because it felt that president obama went behind its. , behind closed doors, and did not involve them in the agreement or the negotiation. in fact, saudi arabia at the time wanted the united states to bomb iran together with israel. and wanted to keep the momentum thehe rivalry and antagonism between the u.s. and iran to make sure that it had -- it is the only regional power that the u.s. could rely on in its relation with the rest of the air world. but this agreement with ahead and the relationship went into some kind of tension at the time. until the election of mr. trump, who wanted to turn the page and reverse all of these agreements. in he felt there was an opportunity, money is saudi arabia, and mohammed bin salman

was the right person to negotiate because i think they both share some common characteristics in the sense that they are both eclectic, after money, use a lot of media and pr, and also do not look at the facts. so what happened is there is a project at the moment that mohammed bin salman is critical for its -- and that is, first of all, opening the saudi economy to international capital and also involving american corporations even more in ththe developmenent of a kind of neoliberal economy in saudi arabia. but at the same time, there are the political issues. saudi arabia is enlisted in a new project to actually y reach some kind of agreeeement between .he palestininians and israel

from the perspective of mr. trump, the saudi role is extremely important. for example, when the u.s. embassy moved to jerusalem, that was an agreement that saudi arabia would not make a big fuss. in fact, it did not make a big fuss. their economic issues in this relationship, strategic, and also the political aspects of that relationship should not be ignored. however, i think at the moment mohammed bin salman in the saudi regime are increasingly becoming an embarrassment and a burden on their partners, especially the and, because the world human rights organizations are very vocal in condemning the abuses that take place inside saudi arabia. therefore, public opinion is shifting.

should ask themselves the question, is america just an arms dealer, a manufacturer of heavy armament to be sold to dictatorships around the world, or is there something else that america stands for? does it stand for democracy? does it stand for human rights? does it stand for a global order where individuals are respected and secure? if there are journalists like jamal khashoggi, how are the saudis going to get away with this murder if it is proven they are responsible for it? in fact, the k khashoggi affairs not only about saudi arabia. it is unfortunate if the man has disappeared and would never come back. but it is also about the so-called free world and its ability to actually stand to its name as a free world. so the underlining of the values

---- the undermining of the vals of human rights and people shrugging them off, they're not even on the agenda. it is a very worrying world, i think. amy: madawi al-rasheed please stay with us. we're going to break for 30 seconds. madawi al-rasheed is a visiting professor at the middle east center at the london school of economics. when we come back, president trump himself, well, when he was campaigning, talked about his financial links to saudi arabia. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. after weeks of defending saudi arabia, president trump says he now believes washington post columnist jamal khashoggi is dead and that evidence -- but

has not said that evidence is mounting. the saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman is directly implicated in the assassination. on tuesday morning, trump try to deflect claims his financial ties to saudi arabia may have clouded his judgment on possible saudi involvement in khashoggi's disappearance. trump tweeted, for the record, i have no financial interest in saudi arabia or russia, for that matter. any suggestion that i have is just more fake news of which there is plenty." a 2015 campaign rally in mobile, alabama, trump boasted about how he financially benefited from saudi clients. pres. trump: saudi arabia, and i get along great with all of them. moneypend $40 million, 50 dollars. i like them very much. amy: that was president trump in 2015. our guest is madawi al-rasheed

from the london school of economics. can you respond to what he is saying there? >> the big thing a business and politics that has gone too far, i think. it is extremely difficult to actually run political affairs if it is entangled with business, especially in a foreign country. and i think this is probably going to continue unless people do something about it. and it is the first condition that leads to undermining universal values that the whole told is looking forward implementing. it is about humans. it is about whether freedom of speech is respected in countries like saudi arabia and many, many other countries, not only in the arab world, but elsewhere. and if this kind of behavior continues in the place that boasts about upholding

democratic values, the rule of law, separation of powers, if that is not happening in the place where it should happen, then i think we have no hope for other countries, especially in a country like saudi arabia. the acquisition of mr. trump actually undermines the argument of people like myself who see themselves as looking for a country with serious respect of human rights, with political representation where there is no corruption, and no dubious relations that undermine the security of people. but now if we have examples from the united states and even from britain, w were certrtain rights that we take for granted are being eroded, then people like myself can't actually argue because the saudis would say to

me, well, if we did it, it is ok because so many other so-called democratic countries do it. has a setback on the development of respectable world order and also the accoununtabilility of regimes le the saudi one. amy: professor, you were stripped of your citizenship for being a saudi dissident in 2005. i was wondering if you could talk about who jamal khashoggi was. deeply enmeshed in the washington establishment, not to mention the saudi establishment. there is no word a group of right-wing u.s. congress members are going to try to develop a smear campaign against him. can you talk about his history? >> yes. jamal khashoggi is not a usual or typical dissident or opposition figure.

he started his career in saudi arabia as a journalist. he was very close to the saudi government. to me explain what it means be a journalist in saudi arabia. it is nothing like being a ,ournalist in any other country in the west, for example. all of the newspapers are either owned by the government or by individual printers. therefore, he was an employee of the state in his capacity as a journalist. and he developed his career writing in arabic in several saudi newspapers, some of them directed toward the airborne. -- arab world. she continued to be very, very close to the saudi regime. as a writer, but also as a defender of policies that were introduced over the years. so to give you an example, he

probably had his best days were during the rule of king abdulla. he was promoting not democracy because if you did that at the time, he would have ended up in prison. but he was almost like praising king abdulla and his so-called reforms. the word "reform" comes up every time we have a new king. but we don't go far in that reform. also, there was -- he was close to probably known to western audiences as the tycoon, the businessman who owns the media empire that he started in saudi arabia. jamal khashoggi to be the director of a new news channel based in bahrain. khashoggi was meant to go there and inaugurate this news

channel. but it is very, very interesting that that news channel lasted two hours, and it was shut down on orders from the saudi regime. therefore, khashoggi returned to saudi arabia and continued to write until king salman and mohammed bin salman came to power. began tois when he have a difficult relationship. also, let's not forget that one of his main jobs was as an to aor and spokesperson prince who wasas the x direcectf intelligencece in saudi arabia. later he became the ambassador of saudi arabia in washington and london. so he was very close to that person. then khashoggi, at the time when mohammed bin salman came to power, he almost like had no

patron anymore because he wasn't close to the new guard that came with mohammed bin salman. fromfore, he was banned writing. he was suspended. and until, suddenly, he appeared in washington and started writing for "the washington post." so my guess is jamal khashoggi should not be regarded as an opposition figure, as a dissident. he is a defector from within the corridors of power of the saudi regime, and he moved to washington, which really worried the saudis i think because simply he is close to the patron -- the protectors of the saudi regime. let's not forget that saudi arabia depends for its security on the u.s. therefore, he began to write critically of the time of mohammed bin salman and his

reform. not all of them. he appreciated some of them. for example, giving women the right to drive, introducing cinema and theater in saudi arabia. havee was desperate to freedom of speech and saudi arabia as a journalist. for arted writing different audience, and english speaking audience, which probably worried the saudi khashoggi knows too much perhaps, and they did not want this to go further. himhere was the story of attending conferences in london and going also to is simple until we saw that video of him entering -- going to is simple and to we saw him in the video going into the consulate looking for a document, the story we g t from h his fiancee, who is waitg for him outside the consulate, that he needed a document to say

he divorceced his wife in saudi arabia and therefore he willll e able to remarry in turkey. this is the story we had. amy: professor -- close i could w wh jamal khashoggi on television and on radio when he was a spokesperson of the prince turkey, the ambassador in london. we disagreed about so many things, but i must say he was very polite who was defending the realm, defending the king, the policies of the kingdom at the time in his role as the spokesperson for the ambassador. amy: the middle east is reporting saudi a 40's band khashoggi from writing in newspapers appearing on tv and hisnding conferences after remarks to representation he made at a washington think tank on november 10. in which she was critical of donald trump's ascension to the presidency. it was right after comes election.

in the last minute that we have, your piece in "the new yorkk times, talk about what you think has to happen now. leave the we should investigation of the possible murder of jamal to the right people whoho know what they're doing. what is going to happen in saudi arabia and what should happen is that, first, we need to know who the murdrderers are and who gave them orders. and if it is proven that mohammed bin salman is responsible, there are two things that could save saudi arabia at this moment. find ang salman must alternative crown prince. he should go -- sink into oblivion because his name associated with this murder. if there is evidence to prove that. the second thing, i believe,

just replacing mohammed bin salman with another prince is not enough. there has to be a political change in saudi arabia to mitigate against the murders of a new mbs, an absolute monarchy. we can't simply wait and hope the future king will be better than the previous one. there is no mechanism in saudi arabia to mitigate against the murders of somebody like mbs or previous kings. we focus on mbs as if saudi arabia had enjoyed a certain kind of openness or democracy war the elements -- or the elements of free speech. it is never been a free country. , if herore, king salman wants to save saudi arabia from future upheaval, civil wars, etc., he needs to start thinking and making a pledge that saudi arabia will become a constitutional monarchy inhich it will become symbolic figuress

in order to allow a transition to more democratic systems. amy: and we have not even mentioned -- >> i do not support any monarchy, whether it is s an absolute monarchy o or a constitutution monarchy likeke e ones that we have in the arab world. even in the e constitutionalal arrangement, we still have the king interferes in everything. and we have examples. period, totional prepare saudi arabia for a better future, then the king must act now. however, i have my doubts because king salman is very old and he may not be aware of the severity of what his son may have done. therefore, to focus the mind of the world on this change is extremely important because

saudi arabia is not a country with resources for its own people. it is a country that is relevant to the world economy. and if we have a situation in saudi arabia along the lines of syria may yemen, or iraq, then ththe whole world will feel the shock. amy: we have not even talked about yemen. as the crown prince is being accused of orchestrating the killing of jamal khashoggi, dismembering him piece by piece, you have the children of yemen being blown to pieces. you have a country being destroyed by saudi arabia backed by the u united states. we just have 30 seconds. >> absolutely. i think from the very beginning, almost 201015, i predicted the yemen war, the saudis are

launchingg a a war impossible to win. you cannot bomb a very, very poor country and kill over a,000 civivilians and stabilize country. it is just not going to happen. the saudis should have stayed outside e that country and not interfered so much in its internal politics. there had been a struggle for power in yemen, but the saudi intervention hasasade it wororse and has actually contributed to that struggle for power, not ending soon. so the war in yemen should stop immediately because it is going nowhere. and it has become -- yemen itself has become a training ground for an inexperienced saudi army that has never actually participated in a war or launched a war or, let alone, achieved victory in a war. 1991 whenmber, in

saddam hussein invaded kuwait, the saudi regime had to invite 500,000 troops to defend itself byinst a possible invasion saddam hussein. therefore, the saudi army now is using yemen as a training ground, even if it doesn't achieve victory there, it still a battleground where they practice. in practice killings in yemen, which should not go uncheckeded. in portltland, the uniteted stas and britain, the twoo countriris that are actually extremelyy heavily involved d in this war through selling arms to saudi arabia, are keeping quiet. and they keep assuring us that they have constructive engagement with the saudis to minimize civilian deaths. a day after day, we have targets being hit and they happen to be a bus with school children.

so i'm not sure how this precision bombing in a constructive engagement of the two western country supporting the war is leading to some kind of improvement. , we thanki al-rasheed you very much for joining us. there is so much to discuss. madawi al-rasheed is a saudi dissident, visiting professor at the middle east center at the london school of economics. stripped of her citizenship more than a dozen years ago. her recent piece in "the new york times" is titled "why king salman must replace mbs." the trump administration has no ambassador in saudi arabia, no ambassssador in turkey. whenen we come back, b'tselem testifies before the u.n. security council. we will speak with the execucute director who did. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. fears are growing as israel escalates its military presence along its heavily militarized separation barrier with gaza apples not israel has deployed 60 tanks to agree palestinian protesters gathering today to protest the ongoing israeli occupation and demand the right of return for those displaced from their homes. israel has announced it is lamenting a zero-tolerance policy toward protesters in gaza who have been staging would be friday protests and's march 30

-- since march 30. at least 170 palestinians have been killed including more than 30 children and injured, it's believed, close to 20,000 more palestinians. on thursday, the israeli human rights organization b'tselem was invited to address the united nations security council about the crisis in gaza and the west bank. this is the group's executive director hagai el-ad addressing the security council. >> the gaza strip, with a population of nearly 2 million, it is essentially become an open-air prison. its inmates have been staging protests for the past t six mons after suffering g for more thana decade ununder an israeli imimpd blockade thahat has led d to economic collapse, soaring unemployment rates, polluted drinking water, dwindling power deepies, and ultimately, despair. amy: israeli officials have roundly slammed b'tselem executive director hagai el-ad's

speech. benjamin netanyahu tweeted -- "b'tselem's conduct is a disgrace to be remembered as a short and transient episode in the history of our people." we spend the rest of the hour with hagai el-ad, the executive director of b'tselem. welcome to democracy now! can you expand on what you said yesterday at the u.n. security council? this just the second time you have been invited there. you have enraged netanyahu, the israeli prime minister. >> it is essential for us to try bring about an end to the occupation. welleality is so documented. this is all happening in broad daylight. we have been working on this issue promised 30 years. the place where i would've agreed with the prime minister, we wish this would have been a short episode in our countries history. as long asexist only

the occupation exists. our mandate is to bring about an end to o that reality. but of course, this is been going on for more than half a century already. the only nonviable path that we identified could change this reality, also because of the huge imbalance of power to the occupied palestinians and ruling israelis, is through assertive sort of national action. that is the voice we have been repeating already a number of times in recent years, and the onone place, the most impmportat place perhaps on the planet, to assert that point precisely is the u.n. security council. amy: talk about the facts on the ground in gaza. what is happening there just since much 30th has gotten almost no attention in the u.s. media. people might have thought i misspoke when i said -- when i talked about the casualties, both the dead and the number of palestinians who have been shot and injured by israeli forces.

gazae entire situation in in many ways is getting closer and closer to a humanitarian catastrophe. in some aspects, we have already arrived at that point. i think witten people usually discuss humanitarian calamities, it is the result of some natural disaster. in gaza, everything we are seeing is the result of consistent policies that have been applied by this point, already for more than 10 years. in discussions of issues such as deteriorating quality of water, the most basic essential need for human living, that is not something that people woke up to a week ago. it has been years. that is something we have all been walking toward, stepping toward are ready for quite a while. and now we are reaching those results. people say that gaza is in crisis mode when there is three hours of electricity a day.

but when they're six hours of electricity a day, then that is somehow acceptable a reasonable? we're also not talking about the reality that is happening in some distant corner of the world. this is at israel's doorstep. this is an hour strike from tel aviv,, barely, right next door o the first world economy of the , one nextat i live in to the other. in this is the way we police the reality in gaza. it is not a coincidence that we described earlier, the largest open-air prison on earth will necessarilydon't even have to understand this is already one of the most crowded places on the planet. the people can almost never leave the gaza strip. even the lucky ones that occasionally are successful in doing thatatecause they can cross into egypt to travelel abroad, in manany cases, they won't even know when they will be able to come back into the gaza strip because that crossing

is only open for short periods of time. amy: what are the casualty figures since march 30? >> more than 170 palestinians that died through israeli soldiers firing inside israel and demonstrators inside the gaza strip. and there are more than 5300 that were injured just through the usage of gunfire, live gunfire. amy: and how many injured beyond the live gunfire? >> we don't have that data. amy: i want to turn to what just happened on wednesday, israel bombed the gaza strip and killed yet another palestinian? >> i was not able to follow the news on that day. amy: and what about israeli public opinion? you are in israeli. what does b'tselem mean? >> it means "in the image." the idea is we want to spread one of universal and jewish

value that all human beings were created an image of god. amy: what do you believe needs to happen? >> we believe the only feature that we would embrace, that we will accept is a future that is based on the realization of rightsts, dignity, inequality fr all people that live within the meta-trained in come the jordan river. all people. i don't know and we have no , whaton how many states states, two-state, five and have states that will be the right political answer to that. peaceful organization, so let's focus on that. the essential question is, what would be the rights, what would be the level of equality and dignity for people who live in that future agreed-upon solution? there is one absolutelely incompatible future with the realization of those rights, which is what we are living in. it includes perpetual occupation.

amy: we will continue with part two of this discussion and post it at democracynow.org. hagai el-ad is executive director of the human rights group b'tselem. he testified for only the second time before the u.n. security council.

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