03/08/19 03/08/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from pacifica, this is democracy now! >> i have people every single day on fox news and everywhere posting that i am a threat to this country. so i know what fear looks like. where i pray in minnesota got bombed. amy: as the house passes a broad

resolutition condemning anti-semitism, anti-muslim bigotry, and other forms of hate, we will hear from congresswoman ilhan omar in her words. her recent comments on u.s. foreign policy on israel sparked an intense debate in the house about anti-semitism, but little attention has been paid to her larger message. response to the house resolution from israeli journalist gideon levy and phyllis bennis and remi kanazi. and on's international women's day, we speak with the mexican-american author valeria luiselli, author of the new novel "the lost children archive." >> these children coming from central america are not to be that areigrants refugees because of the situation they are fleeing.

to seseek asylum. they turn themselvlves into borr patrol a and seek asylum.. they are not here trying to get in illegally. they do not want to remaiain undocumented. no one does. was longria luiselli listed for the 2019 women's prize for fiction. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. a federal judge in virginia has sentenced donald trump's former campaign chair paul manafort thursday to 47 months in prison for eight counts of bank fraud and tax evasion, far less than the 19-to-24-year prison term recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. u.s. district judge t.s. ellis, who was nominated to the bench by president ronald reagan, called the sentencing guidelines outlined by special counsel

robert mueller's to excessive and said manafort had led and otherwise blameless life. in response, new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted -- "paul manafort getting such little jail time for such serious crimes lays out for the world how it's almost impossible for rich people to go to jail for the same amount of time as someone who is lower income. in our current broken system, 'justice' isn't blind. it's bought." paul manafort faces a second sentencing hearing at a federal court in the district of columbia next week on two additional counts of conspiracy. the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution thursday condemning anti-semitism, anti-muslim discrimination, whwhite supremay and other forms of hate. the vote was 407-23 with nearly two dozen republicans voting against it. the vote capped a week of intense debate among congressional democrats that began after some lawmakers accused democratic congresswoman

ilhan omar of invoking anti-semitic tropes while questioning u.s. foreign policy on israel. at an event last week omar said , -- "i want to talk about political influence in this country that says it is ok for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country." democrat eliot engel, chair of the house foreign affairs committee, then accused omar of making a "vile anti-semitic slur." the house leadership initially drafted a resolution condemning anti-semitism in what was seen as a direct rebuke of omar. but many progressive democrats said omar, who is one of the first two muslim congresswomen in u.s. history, was unfairly being singled out. later in the broadcast, we'll speak with the israeli and alist gideon levy discussion about congressmember ilhan omar's comments in the resolution that was passed yesterday. in venezuela, president nicolas maduro is blaming the u.s. government for a prolonged power outage that plunged most of the

country into darkness thursday. maduro says anti-government saboteurs backed by the u.s. took the nation's main hydroelectric power station at the guri dam offline. the blackout compounded the misery of venezuelans already enduring a severe economic crisis amid crippling u.s.-led sanctions. u.s. secretary of state mike pompeo blamed maduro's government for the outage and threatened regime change, tweeting -- "no food. no medicine. now no power. next, no maduro." meanwhile, president trump's special envoy to venezuela, elliott abrams, told a senate panel thursday that the trump administration will sanction banks that trade with the maduro government. >> a number of financial areitutions already, and we going to expand the n net. we h have under r consideration other institutions which i won't name because we do not want them to get advance notice, but there will be more sanctions on

financial institutions that are carrying out the orders of the maduro regime to steal funds from venezuela and hide it all around the world. amy: on thursday, 16 progressive house democrats, including ro khanna, ilhan omar, and alexandria ocasio-cortez, sent a letter to secretary of state pompeo condemning u.s. threats of military intervention in venezuela and u.s. sanctions. the letter read, in part -- "the president's recent economic sanctions threaten to exacerbate the country's grave economic crisis, causing immense suffering for the most vulnerable in society who bear no responsibility for the situation in the country." israel's election committee has banned an alliance of israeli arab parties from fielding candidates in april's general election. the move will bar candidates from the balad-united arab list, which represents palestinian citizens of israel, from running for israel's parliament, the knesset. the ban was celebrated by israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu, who said in a statement -- "those who support terrorism will not be in the israeli knesset!" palestinian candidate heba yazbak said the measure had nothing to do with t terror and was instead aimed at stifling palestinian rights. --actually banning representatives and leaders. we will go to the high court and will continue and will not accept this discrimination against us and our people in israel. amy: the ban on israeli arab candidates came as israel's election committee said it would allow members of the far-right jewish power party to run in april's election. the party is tied to the jewish defense league, a far-right group that was c classified in 2000 by the fbi as a right-wing terrorist group. this all comes as israel's attorney general says he is prepared to indict netanyahu on corruption charges. in france, a court on thursday sentenced cardinal philippe

barbarin, the roman catholic archbishop of lyon, to a six-month suspended prison sentence for failing to act on the sexual abuse of boy scouts in his diocese. the archbishop was found guilty of failing to report allegations of abuse in the 1980's and 1990's by a priest who is set to go on trial later this year. in climate news, a new study finds rainstorms are becoming far more frequent across greenland, even in winter, accelerating the melting of vast areas of ice and setting the stage for global sea level rise that could inundate coastal areas home to hundreds of millions of people. the study published in the journal cryosphere found warmer temperatures have led to far more frequent rainfall in greenland, which triggers widespread ice melt and runoff, contributing to the 270 billion tons of greenland's ice added each year to the earth's oceans. u.s. army whistleblower chelsea manning says she's headed to federal court today where she'll face possible jail time for

criminal contempt after she declined to offer questions before a grand jury. -- to answer questions. manning says she was subpoenaed by federal prosecutors in virginia's eastern district to appear for questioning wednesday about her 2010 release to wikileaks of hundreds of thousands of state department and pentagon documents about the u.s. wars in iraq and afghanistan. last year, the prosecutors inadvertently revealed they've indicted wikileaks founder julian assange under a sealed indictment, but the charges against assange remain unknown. in sacramento, california, prototests are continuing g ovee police killing of stephon clark, a 22-year-old unarmed african american who was shot dead in his grandmother's backyard last year. demonstrations erupted over the weekend after county prosecutors said they would not press criminal charges against the officers, who unleashed 20 bullets at clark within just seven seconds and waited for over five minutes before approaching him to administer

medical attention. on tuesday, angry residents protested the killing at sacramento's city council meeting, briefly disrupting proceedings. and on thursday, hundreds of students from sacramento city college and c.k. mcclatchy high school walked out of classes to protest the decision not to prosecute the officers who killed stephon clark. in florida, a jury in west palm beach found former police officer nouman raja guilty thursday of manslaughter and attempted murder for shooting and killing 31-year-old corey jones in october of 2015. jones, who was african-american, was having car trouble and waiting for a tow truck when the officer drove the wrong way up a one-way ramp and approached him in an unmarked van. at the time, the officer was wearing plain clothes and did not identify himself as a police officer. jones apparently feared he was being robbed and pulled out a legally-purchased handgun. the officer then opened fire and shot jones multiple times.

the officer is the first on-duty florida officer convicted in a shooting in 30 years. police in boulder, colorado, have launched an internal affairs probe after video surfaced showiwing a white polie officer drawing a pistol on a black man who was pipicking up trash outside his own homeme lat week. ththe video shows the officerr apprproaching ththe man, w w was using a trash pipicker andnd but to clean up p his yard. >> you're on my property with a gun in your hand. i am picking up trash. >> he is picking up trash and you have your hand on your gun? go home. amy: in a police report, the officer claimed the man was uncooperative and unwilling to put down a blunt object, even though the man and his roommate repeatatedly identified thobobjt as a trash picker.r. the officecer who drew his weapn has been placed on paid administrative l leave pending e

investigation. in new york city, prosecutors have dropped rape charges against a pair of officers accused of assaulting a woman they'd arrested and handcuffed in their police van in 2017. prosecutors initially said former nypd detectives edward martins and richard hall rate 18 euro and a chambers after stopping her car and finding a small amount of marijuana and a few anti-anxiety pills in her purse. testing shows the dna of both officers was found on the teenager, who testified she was raped. the former police officers claimed the acts were consensual as their defense. at the time, it was not unlawful for new york police officers to have sex with someone in their custody, although the law has since been changed to define such an act as rape. prosecutors now say they'll seek to charge the men with official misconduct and bribery. in erie, pennsylvania, union workers have agreed to end their nine-day-old strike at a locomotive plant, the largest work stoppage at a u.s. factory

since donald trump became president. in late february, more than 1700 members of the united electrical workers union decided to strike after the wabtec company took control of their plant from ge, and refused to honor the union's prior contract. thursday's agreement will provide a 90-day window for the union and plant managers to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement. el salvador's supreme court has ordered the release of three women imprisoned under the country's anti-abortion laws, which are among the harshest in the world. the women were among dozens who've been sentenced to up to 30 years for abortion-related crimes. this is alba rodriguez, who was freed thursday after she was jailed for more than eight years. >> we thank the citizens associations, the national and international organizations that supported us, and we hope the state also recognizes that many women inside here that are also innocent, and god willing, one day can gn their frdom, too. amy: wen around e world are

marking internatiol women's day wi protest for pay equity, and end sexual violence. in spain, thousands of women have gone on strike today to violence.der in paris, women gathered outside saudi arabia's embassy for a protest led by amnesty international demanding the release of jailed women activists. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution thursday condemning anti-semitism, anti-muslim discrimination, white supremacy, and other forms of hate. the vote was 407-23 with nearly two dozen n republicans voting agagainst it.. the vote capped a week of intense debate among congressional democrats that began after some lawmakers accused democratic congresswoman ilhan omar of invoking anti-semitic tropes while questioning u.s. foreign policy on israel. at an event last week,

congressmember omar said -- "i want to talk about political influence in this country that says it is ok for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country." democrat eliot engel, chair of the house foreign affairs committee then accused omar of , making a "vile anti-semitic slur." the house leadership initially drafted a resolution condemning anti-semitism in what was seen as a direct rebuke of omar. but many progressive democrats and omar, who is one of the first two muslim congresswomen in u.s. history, was unfairly being singled out. vermont senator bernie sanders wrote -- "we must not equate anti-semitism with legitimate criticism of the right-wing, netanyahu government in israel." new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez tweeted -- "incidents like these do beg the question, where are the resolutions against homophobic statements? for anti-blackness? for xenophobia? for a member saying he'll 'send obama home to kenya?'"

key members of the congressional black caucus also questioned the treatment of omar. the split within the democratic party forced the leadership to withdraw its initial resolution and present a much broader one. congressmember ilhan omar voted for and praised the new resolution. she issued a joint statement with fellow muslim lawmakers, rashida tlaib of michigan and andre carson of f indiana, sayig -- "we are tremendously proud to be part of a body that has put forth a condemnation of all forms of bigotry including anti-semitism, racism and white supremacy. our nation is having a difficult conversation and we believe this is great progress." they went on to write -- "today is historic on many fronts. it's the first time we have voted on a resolution condemning anti-muslim bigotry." later in the show we will go to tel aviv and washington for response to the controversy, but first, let's turn to ilhan omar inin her own wordsds speaking lt week busboys & poets in washington.

while the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. this is part of what she said. >> it is almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that it is supposed to be about foreign policy or engagement, advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human , we and wanting dignity could to be labeled in something and thatends the discussion because we end up defending that and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with palestine. so for me, i want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is ok for

people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. i want to ask why is it ok for me to talk about the influence of the nra, fossil fuel industries, or big pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group thatt is influencing policy? right? question -- ithe want to ask the question of why is it ok for you to push, for you -- - there are soso many pe. i mean, most of us are new, but many members of congress have been there forever. some of them have been there before we were born. so i know many of them, many of them were fighting -- were fighting for people to be free, for people to live in dignity and south africa.

i know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity to have self-determination. so i know that they care about these things. but now w that you have two muslims who are saying, here's a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have, we get to be called names and we get to be labeled as hateful? we know what hate looks like. we experience it every single day. i have colleagues who talk about death threats. i have colleagues who talk about death threats. and sometimes -- there are cities in my state where the gas stations have written on their bathrooms, "assassinate ilhan omar." i have people driving around my

district looking for my home, causing the harm. i have people every single day on fox news and everywhere posting that i am a threat to this country. like.now what fear looks where i pray in minnesota got bombed by two domestic white terrorists. what it feels to be someone -- a faith that is vilified. i know what it means to be of someone who is ethnicity is vilified. to be -- t it feels >> we love you. >> of a race -- like, i am an immigrant, so i don't have historical drama that some of my

black sisters and brothers have in this country, but i know what it means for people to just see me as a black person and to treat me as less than human. say, you areeople bringing hate, i know what their intention is. their intention is to make sure our lights are dimmed, that we walk around with our heads bowed, that we lower our face and our voice. but we have news for people. you can call as any kind of name. you can threaten us any kind of way. ourselves. i are not every single day we walk in the halls of congress, we have people who have never had the they arety to walk --

walking with us. we are here and here to stay and represent the voices of people who have been silenced for many decades and generations. and we are here to fight for the people of our district who want to make sure that there is actualprosperity, prosperity being guaranteed because there is a direct correlation between not having starting endless wars. is all about the profit and who gets benefit of it. there's a direct correlation -- there is a direct correlation between corporations that are getting rich and the fact that we have students that are shackled with debt. there is a direct correlation between the white house and the people who are benefiting from having detention beds that are

privatized. so what people are afraid of is not that there are two muslims in congress. what people are afraid of is there are two muslims in congress that have their eyes wide opened, have their feet to the ground, that know what they're talking about, that our fearless, and that understand that they have the same election certificate as everyone else in congress. [applause] amy: democratic congresswoman ilhan omar speaking last week at busboys and poets in washington, d.c. she was speaking just after rashida tlaib, the other muslim congresswoman. ilhan omar and rashida tlaib are the first two muslim congresswomen in u.s. history. when we come back, we will host a discussion on the debate sparked by omar's comments. aviv, too to tel

washington, and new york. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. on thursday, the house of representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution condemning anti-semitism, anti-muslim discrimination, white supremacy, and other forms of hateful stuff the resolution was largely seen as a direct rebuke of ilhan omar , her comments about u.s. foreign policy with israel. the vote capped a week of intense debate among congressional democrats about anti-semitism in u.s. policy on israel. we're joined now by three guests. gideon levy is a ha'aretz columnist. his latest piece is headlined "keep it up, ilhan omar." he is also the author of "the punishment of gaza." phyllis bennis is in washington. she is a fellow at the institute for policy studies, and serves on the national board of jewish voice for peace. her recent piece for in these times is headlined "why false accusations of anti-semitism against ilhan omar are so harmful." and remi kanazi is with us here

in new york palestinian-american , a poet and activist. his latest book is "before the next bomb drops: rising up from brooklyn to palestine." we welcome you all to democracy now! let's go to tel aviv. gideon levy, your response to the debate in the final passage of the resolution on thursday in the house of representatives. >> it is wonderful that the house deals with anti-semitism. it is wonderful the house condemns anti-semitism. it should be condemned. but the context is very suspspicious and very troubling. let me be very frank with you, amy. we have to say the truth. the israeli lobby, the jewish lobby, are by far toooo strong d too aggressive. it is not good for the jewish community or for israel. what is happening now is some kind of fresh and, some kind of

new voices are emerging from capitol hill, raising legitimate questions about israel and america's foreign-policy, and thet the israeli lobby in state. those are very legitimate questions. and it is more than needed to raise them. but the israeli propaganda and jewish propaganda in recent years made it as systematic methods whenever anybody dares to raise questions or to isticize israel, he automatically labeled as anti-semitic and then has to shut his mouth. because after this, what can he say? these vicious circles should be great, and i really hope great politicians like mrs. omar and others will be courageous enough to stand in front of this

accusations and a say, yes, it is legitimate to criticize israel. yes, it is legitimate to raise questions, and this does not mean we are anti-semites. we are not ready to play this game anymore in which they shut our mouths with those accusations, which are most of the cases, are hollow. amy: what kind of effect does this debate -- now, ilhan omar, ,ashida tlaib, and andre carson applauded the final resolution saying it is the first time there was this, , basically, anti-islamophobia resolution that was passed by the house of representatives. of course, in addition to the anti-semitism issue. what kind of affect does this debate have in israel? you're just about to have your elections. the prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, is just about to be indicted for corruption.

as you probably know, amy, the campaign in israel deals only with one question. netanyahu, yes or no? maybe more important questions and crucial questions are not being discussed. but in any case, mrs. omar will also be portrayed in israel as any other place with jewish community's as an anti-semi it, as a dangerous woman, as an enemy of peace and enemy of israel and the jewish people. they propaganda -- this proper desk type of propaganda is very, very efficient and i just got does after my last piece, someone asked me, how can a je s support such a woman? i answered him, veryry easily.

very, very easily. because she seems to be courageous and she seems to say the truth. it is about time to say the truth. yes, amy, to ask, do we support automatically and bliley the occupation? is it legitimate to criticize the occupation? maybe it is legitimate to handle isisrael as south africa was handled. maybe bds is something we should consider. are even notns legitimate to raise in the united states. maybe now this vicious circle will be broken and people will have the courage, the guts, and the power to ask questions. even god is questionable. so the relationships with israel is not questionable? i saw the other day, a congressman say that nobody should question the relations between n the united states and israel. excuse me? nobody should question the relalaonship betetween israel ad

the united states? from tel aviv, i claim those andtionships are corrupted are best for peace and that for israel in the long run because the united states let israel go crazy, continue the occupation, do whatever it wants and get this automatic and blind support. amamy: gideon levy is speaking o us from tel aviv, jewish reporter with haaretz newspaper and on the editorial board. remi kanazi, you have been tweeting nonstop about this debate unfolding on the floor of the house, a debate amongst democrats. the more progressive, younger democrats taking on the leadership of the democratic party and the house of representatives, and clearly having a major effect. what was most significant to you about this week? to theink the response smearing of ilhan omar. what were they seeking to do?

they were seekining to intimidae and to silence, and they thought after this week was over that she and others would never speak up again. i think there was an amazing amount of backlash against -- if you look at the crux for argument, she talked about dignity for all people. when you look at the larger situation, the attacks on ilhan omar and angela davis and michelle alelexander, communit's and people are saying enough is enough. we want to have open and honest discourse on this issue. we want to be able to talk about boycott, divestment, and sanctions. it is not that she is just speaking about palestinian dignity, she is putting action to it.t. same would not only need to talk about the siege and military, we have to cut direct lines with occupation and apartheid. amy: phyllis bennis and washington, d.c., the whole issue, what you think was talked about and what wasn't. >> i very glad at the beginning of this show you played

congresswoman omar's actual words. so many of the articles, so much of the discourse in recent days, has not been based at all on what she actually said. it has been based on what we think she meant, what it must have been really meaning, whether it was a dog whistle -- not on what she said. in fact, the congresswoman is being attacked for hsm extent with she never made -- anti-semitic stemmons she never made, for jewish president she does not hold, and a kind of hatred of jews she is never addressed. she was being accused of something she never talked about. she never talked about jews having allegiance to israel. she talked about the issue of allegiance to israel by lobby, which includes not only aipac, one of the most powerful parts of it, but an organization like christians united for israeael. is not a jewish lobby. it is a pro-israel lobby. it is increasingly republican.

it is very right-wing. its aim is, as both of my colleagues have said, to shut down the debate, to dim the light as congresswoman omar so poetically put it. but their lights are not going dim. they are brighter than ever. , thistraordinary thing was a moment when we actually saw the impact in the immediate context of not only outside protest -- there were massive demonstrations. there were articles being written. a small piece in the nation that included mainly the words of congress woman omar was going viral than anything i think i've ever written. even within the congress, what we saw is that the black caucus, the progressive caucus -- not just the young people. this was partly generational, for sure, but it was also political.

the device in the democratic party over this between the right and the left on thehe questions of u.s. foreign-policy were out there to be seen. the progressives won. this was an amazing thing. where we had an entirely different resolution. there's no doubt this resolution, like the earlier one, was in response to democratic leadership fears that there was going to be too much debate about this and it was going to detract from the democratic agenda. the democracy issues they want to put on the table. bubut what we saw was that they actually were forced to listen to other components of the democratic party and craft an entirely different resolution that not only did not name congress woman omar -- which the first one did not, either -- but it was not aimed solely at the question of anti-somebody is him. it was aimed at all of the issues of racial and f the prejudice that are systemic in this country -- prejudice that are systemic in this country. change the

reality of islamophobia that people have to deal with and live with every day. it does not prevent the kind of violence we saw against jews in pittsburgh were charlottesville. it what it does do is say that this is a new era, that there is a new discourse underway, and that it is no longer r going toe possible for the leadership of the democratic party or leadership of congress or anyone else to assume they can slap 70 on the wrist for something they did not say but that they thought might be interpreted in the wrong way, and then go on as if nothing had happened. too many people are watching. asas gideon said, this is a momt when the question of the influence of aipac, the and thee of cui, pro-israel lobby in general, is being questioned by whole set of new actors. when the new york times has a headline that says "does t this show the infnfluence of test the power of aipac is too big" and

proceeded to write an article that essentially said, yes, , it isis too big. amy: you have "the wall street journal" tweeting a week or two ago -- this is not ilhan omar, this is the wall street journal. >> there's been someone on twitter that conveniently put together a list of all of the times "the new york times" and the chicago tribune and "the washington post have used this of israel, aence pro-israel sentiment attributed to congress, a true did to the white house, and this notion that somehow only an anti-semi would use this language does it turns out it just isn't true. allegiance is a word that all of these newspapers routinely use.

it goes direrectly to the pointt that ilhan omar was being targeted not so much for what she said but who she was while saying it, that she is a black african i immigrant, that she ia somali refugee, that she's a prououd muslim woman who wears r hair job in the halls of -- hi jab in the halls of congress. that is what was seen as unacceptable. that could be said by jewish critics and christian critics, but if a muslim critic says it, it is taken as a whole different kind o of response. i think that is what we have to be very conscious of r right now when we have this new extraordinarily broad and diverse crew of progressives in congress. this is not only about identity. it is not just because someone happens to be a muslim or jewish or h happens to be young or happens to be black, it is because we have a bunch of progressives who are young and jewish and muslim and black and isina and whatever that

changing not just t the demographics, but the politics of how this congress is operating. amy: the congressional black in support came out of ilhan omar. i want to ask about this generational shift ,remi, and also the progressive jewish palestinian alliance in this country, not to mention leading african-american until actual like marc lamont hill, angela davis, michelle alexander, coming out in support of palestinian rights, extremely strongly, and then being thatted by the very groups are very active right now. >> you are seeing an incredible seachange. solidarity, a the group just went over to palestinian -- palestine. you look at the movement for black lives endorsing divestment as a way to cut complicity from

israeli occupation and apartheid. so i think it is happening in the halls of congress slowly but surely, but happening on the ground. you have more than 200 students for justice in palestine chapters in the u.s. and canada. --ens of jewish for voice jewish voice for peace chapters. folks,ck folks, we're palestinians, arabs, muslims antiwar socialist all across the spectrum. i think you're looking at palestine moving to a space where is becoming a progressive issue. not in the same way as medicare for all or five for 15, but the way people are talking about yemen and the u.s.-mexico border, and a tie black racism in the prison industrial complex, people are saying, are you on the side of freedom or apartheid? not?ty for all or i think that is the question that is coming up. that is scaring not just

bipartisan establishment democrats and republicans in congress, but the aipac that stand with us that are saying, look, black and brown communities, leftist community's are coming together to say enough is enough. talking about the right of return for palestinian refugees, ending the siege on gaza after 200 people were executed on friday, or looking at the fact that israel controls the air, border, c, imports, taxes, tariffs, population registry, in every facet of life. even as we talk about ilhan omar this week, there's a 15-year-old palestinian boy executed in gaza. a village that was demolished for the 141st time. it is about what is being done to the palestinian people, what side you are standing on, and how communities can come together to battttle all forms f injustice. amy: it also comes out at a time the u.n. human rights council

report on what is happening in gaza and alleging possible war crimes. gideon leavy, i was wondering if you can talk about the response to this report in israel? the worst thing is there was no response. it was almost not on the table. itself thecreated shield in which any criticism is immediately delegitimized and immediately ignored and immediately labeled as anti-semitic because also this committee is anti-semitic and anti-israel, and nobody would listen to them. so this committee was another example of how israel lives in this denial byby the way off collaboration of israeli media hardly has reported about it. there were some small stories,

but nobody really took it too seriously. while we know for the past months, over 200 people, almost all of them unarmed, or he killed in vain, were killed for nothing, and nothing can touch israel society because it is so brainwhed right now. and it became so apathetic and so in different to the life of palestinians. really, i think there is nothing cheaper in israel than palestinian lives. you see day after day, nobody cares. one week ago, i wrote a horrible story about soldiers beating up a blind man in his bed. i was sure at least -- i mean, ill andhe is blind and lies in bed. they come into his house by

force and start to beat him in his bed. do you t think anybody reacted o it? do you think anybody cared about it? no. israel closed all of the curtains. we're living in a bubble, so sure we are always right and the whole world is always wrong, that anybody who dares to say anything about israel is an anti-semite. and i must tell you, until now it was quite efficient because the effectct is -- the fact is, they're still great fear both in your country and even in europe to criticize europe. there still great fear to ask major questions like until when will this occupation continue? until israel decides to put an end to it and the world will stand and look at it in a difference and do nothing? is the world ready for another apartheid state in 2019? so all of those questions are

hardly discussed here in israel. we leave the questions of netanyahu to get a free meal. the onlyore or less question raised here. amy: i want to play a clip of a member of the u.n. mission that wrote the report, describing how is really forces targeted civilians and journalalists in gaza. >> have intentionally shot children, intentionally shot people with disabilities, have intentionally shot journalists knowing them to be children, people with disabilities, and journalists. amy: that was sarah hossain. this hardly got any attention, not only in israel proper, phyllis bennis, but here in the united states and midst this whole discussion about hate. >> this is one of the key points that we have to carry so much

further. this was an opening. what happened this week was an opening. opening a curtain that has blocked any discussion of this issue. but getting into this issue is crucial. the question of how the united states has consistently protected israel and the united nations so not israel as a government and note israeli ofofficial can ever be h held accountable in the international court of justice -- sorry, international criminal court for potential war crimes. we do not hear the questioions about u.s. complicity. night.ome numbers last the u.s. is still sending $3.8 billion every year to the israel i military, unquestioned about what they do about it. if that money was kept at home -- that is real money in the real world. the same amount of money for one year could pay insteadad for 68,400 and infrastructure jobs, good union jobs to rebuild this

country. it could pay for 367,000 veterans getting health care, or it could pay for 426,000 or hundred 55 kids to get into head start and get a real education starting at a young age. what is going to make us safer in this country are those who care only about this country, look at customers. amy: remi kanazi, icing on the snow palestinian or muslim comment in the mainstream media on television around this debate. does the result of this whole furor this week and the final resolution give you hope? >> it does because i do think the palestinian in question is being pushed back to the forefront. palestinian question is being pushed back to the forefront. if you look at congress, what created that was the grassroots organizing, the political action on the ground, the campus organizing, the response of the repression that is come from years before. i think going forward, you are

seeing people come together in a way they have not before. omar'slook at ilhan comments, she speaking frankly and unapologetically. she was back on twitter last night with some amazing tweets and calling out john mccain. i think we're going to move forward. his daughter as well. i think the palestinian voice is getting stronger within the united states. think the palestinian rights and issues are coming back to the forefront. the right of return for palestinian and refugees, ending the siege on gaza, building with other communities in different ways, on campus and local community's, now the halls of congress. amy: thank you for being with us, remi kanazi, gideon levy in whoaviv and phyllis bennis serves on the national board of jewish voice for peace. back, the lost children's archiveves. stay with us.

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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show with the ongoing crisis at the border. homeland security secretary kirstjen nielsen defended president trump's declaration of a national emergency at the southern border wednesday, telling lawmakers in an explosive hearing that officials are on track to detain more than 900,000 mimigrants a at the u.s.-mexico border this year. nielsen pushed back against widespread reports that the trump administration routinely denies migrants a chance to apply for asylum in the u.s., claiming no one would be turned awaw at a u.s.s. port of e entr. this is nananette barragan o ofe house homeland securitity committee speaeaking at the hearing. >> either you're lying to this committee or you don't know what is happening at the border. amy: when she was asked d how my childrenen remain detatained ate border, , nielsen replied she didn't have thehe number handy. and she denied that migrgrant prisoners are beining held in

cages. this is bennie thompson questionining nielsen. >> yes or no, are we still putting children in cages? >> to my knowledge, never put a child in a cage purposefully. folklks purposefully or whateve, are we putting children in cages as of todayay? >> children are processed at the facilities you have been up. assume them in cages. i just want you u to admit cages exist. >> sir, they are not cages. there is at the border facility carved out for the safety and protection of those who remain there while being processed. amy: our next guest has seen firsthand what our immigration system does to children who come to this country seeking asylum after working as a volunteer . interpreter for children in court, valeria luiselli wrote a celebrated book called "tell me

how it ends: an essay in forty questions." she is out now with her fifth book, her first novel written in english, titled "lost children archive." valeria luiselli, welcome back to democracy now! significance, why you wrote archive"?dren >> i started writing it on a road trip down to arizona from new york. i was trying to write another completely different novel back then about growing up in postapartheid south africa. amy: you were born in mexico. >> but grew up in severeral countries, among them, south africa. i arrived in south africa when mandela became president. it was if you kill your -- the kill your -- you kill your difficult time. me reality in front of

started basically caving in. i started making notes. it was the summer of 2014 and what we can now call the ongoing diaspora of central americans fleeing unspeakable violence. it was a year of the surge. a started documenting not only traveling across the u.s. in ,hat moment and the landscapes not just abandonment i was saying but also the way the crisis was being recounted and reported on in different states by local newspapers, radio. so this novel is about immigration, but more than that, it is a novel about how to bear witness and how to tell the story of what i think is going to be one of the most important discussions in the 21st century, which isis global diaspora. amy: whited you call it "lost

children archive"? >> the title has unfortunately somehow gained a new meaning. that is also the power of language. when i first thought of the title, it was my working title in 2014. i was thinking about children who had lost the right to childhood and children who were not being seen or heard. i was not thinking about children, like the children we think of now, as lost children who have been lost by this administration separation policy and having lost track of whose kid is whose parent and are therefore lost within the loop of this system. unfortunately now, this title also referencess that, what we think of now as lost children. amy: you write that lost children archive is more a questioning of how and where we

should stand in order to document political violence. >> right. i started writing this novel and at the same time as i was writing it, i was working as a volunteer screener and translator in the court of immigration here in your, listening to children's testimony and stories in an attempt, among many other volunteers, by the way, in an s stories get their clear and find a lawyer that might rerepresent them and helpp them against a deportation order. this is right after the priority by the administration ththat served a as a way to expedite removals of undocumented, unaccompanied children. of course, i started using the novel as a kind of depository politicall of my own frustration, rage, sadness, confusion, and also started

ruining the novel, stuffing it with all of that will also not really doing justice to the issue. i was trying to thread it into fictional narrative. so i stopped writing it altogether. i wrote another book, much more straightforward take, x-ray of the american immigration system and an x-ray of this particular diaspora involving children. once i wrote that book, i was able to return to the novel and think of it as a space that was more multilayered and less stuffed, more porous that reflects on where we should stand to bear witness and not so ach -- it is not so much political hammer as it is a space of reflection about our own space of enunciation will we think about popolitical violene. amy: you have written about your time as an interpreter saying the children stories were always

shuffled, studdard, always shattered beyond the repair of a narrative order most of the problem with china tell their stories is it has no beginning, no middle, and no end. so this book is a kind of meditation on storytelling you have said? explained. >> it is a meditatioion on the politics of the documentary form , about how -- what are the limits of our right to tell another person story are, always confusing them. it is also meditation on how we hand down stories to the next generation, accounts of the world narrative around the world, and how the generation recompose his them and then also gives them back to us. occupies they that

first half of the novel -- more than the first half, really, traveling down for the border from new york. the children are listening to --ir parents talk about their mother is talking about how to document the crisis of the border and the kits start confusing blue coats with border thisl and start reenacting way history repeats itself, the way it consistently marginalizes those who would see it as lesser citizens or lesser humans. black and brown population. amy: we're going to do part two of this discussion and post it online at democracynow.org. valeria luiselli, award-winning mexican american writer. her latest book is "lost children archive." it was just long list support for2019 women's prize

fiction. thank you so much for being with us. have future national women's day. 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!]

>> that's madness. >> maybe so, but it's not half as mad as the idea that brought us to this point. >> is there such a thing as a