03/26/19 03/26/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> israel will not tolerate this. i will not tolerate this. as we speak, as i told you, mr. president just now, israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression. i have a simple message to israel's enemies. we will do whatever we must do to defend our people and defend

our state. amy: israeli warplanes have bombed gaza for a third day in row and d mobilizeze dozens of tanks, raising fearsrs of anothr israel invasion. on monday, a homemade rocket fired from gaza hit and israeli home for thehe tel aviv, injurig seven. this all c came as israeli prime minister netanyahu said the white house monday as president trump signed a declaration officially recognizing israel's control of the golan heights in defiance of international law. we will get the latest. then it has been a tragic week survivedudents who last year school massacre in parkland, florida, died by suicide, as did the father of a child who was killed the sandy hook school shooting in connecticut. we will speak to a leading psychiatririst who worked on a suicide prevention event in parkland last arar. a major public hehealthrisisis. it i ithe leading cause of death across theororld, rossss as.

is incredibly prevantnt and devastating public health issue. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel carriried out a new wavef airstrikikes in gaza mononday in retaliation for rocket israeli authorities say was fired by hamas which destroyed a house there tel aviv and injured at least seven people. the airstrikes, which injured at least seven people in gaza and destroyed several buildings, were met by additional rocket strikes from gaza. an egyptian-brokered truce between hamas and israel was announced late monday, but gaza residents reported more explosions and a build-up of tanks by the separation barrier with israel on tuesday. this is gaza resident yousef abu shaban speaking among the wreckage of monday's airstrikes. >> i do not know what to tell you.

where are we supposed to go? where we supposed to live? our children and families have become homeless. we do not know where to go anymore. amy: the escalating attacks came as president trump officially recognized the golan heights as israeli territory at a signing ceremony with prime minister benjamin netanyahu at the white house monday. trump announced the move last week by tweet, which reverses decades of u.s. policy and is in defifiance of international law. israel annexed the golan heights in 1981 after capturing the territory from syria during the 1967 war. as president trump and republican lawmakers continued to celebrate attorney general william barr's summary of the special counsel's report congressional democrats are , pushing for the report to be made fully available to the public, as well as to hold hearings with our. the long interested -- it is a bitter report found the trump campaign did not collude with russia in 2016. the attorney general also exonerated trump from

obstruction charges come although mueller's report did not come to a definitive conclusion on the issue. attorney general barr is currently scheduled to appear before the house appropriations committee on april 9 for a budget hearing but lawmakers may press him on the report. house judiciary chair jerrold nadler is requesting barr appear before his committee as well. meanwhile, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell blocked a vote on a non-binding resolution to release the special counsel's full report, although president trump declared it wouldn't bother him at all if the report was made public. speaking to reporters, trump suggested he might seek to pursue unnamed individuals for treasonous acts now w that the mumueller prprobe was over. pres. trump: there are a lot of people outut there thahat have e some very committedery evil things, vevery bad things. i would say treasonous things against our country. those people will certaininly be looked up. i have been looking at them for

a long time. i'm saying, why haven't they been looked at they have lied to congress, many of them. you know who they are. amy: the pentagon has authorized the transfer of $1 billion to begin building a wall on the u.s. mexico border, over which trump declared a national emergency. the first phase of funding will reportedly go toward 57 miles of 18-foot-high fencing along the yuma and el paso sections of the border. democratic lawmakers immediately condemned the news, saying the administration did not go through the appropriate channels and request permission from the senate appropriationons committ. to divert the money from military personnel funds. in a letter to acting defense secretary patrick shanahan, democratic senators on the committee wrote -- "we have serious concerns the department has allowed political interference and pet projects to come ahead of many near-term critical readiness issues facing our military." the father of a 6-year-old girl who was killed in the 2012 mass

shooting at sandy hook elementary school was found dead by apparent suicide monday. jeremy richman was a neuroscientist who, after the death of his daughter avielle, devoted his life to finding solutions to brain abnormalities that lead to violence. he founded the avielle foundation to support brain science research, with the ultimate goal of preventing violence and building compassion. his death follows two apparent suicides in the last week by survivors of the parkland massacre in florida. an unnamed student who survived last year's mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school died by suicide saturday and 19-year-old sydney aiello, former student and survivor from parkland, died the previous weekend. she suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder and survrvivor's guguilt according to her mother. we will have more of preventing suicide with columbia university professor kelly posner gerstenhaber later in the broadcast.

you can reach the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800 hoffman 273, 8255. that is one of-800-0-273-talk. massacre of the 2018 and gun control activists gathered in washington, d.c., monday, to deland -- demand lawmakers pass the actct that ws introduced in january. 17 students, staff, and teachers were killed at marjory stoneman douglas high school said you're a 14, 2018 and what of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. the action came one year after the historic march for our lives, which was inspired and led by students and took place in over 700 locations around the world. this is gun control activist, survivor of the mass shooting, m a gonzalez, reading her message to lawmakers. >> dear senator. every year 1600 children across

the country lose their lives due to gun violence. the fabric you hold in your hands represents 16 lives you can save i voting yes. what will you do? amy: in more gun control news, the federal ban on bump stocks, accessories that turn semiautomatic rivals in a fully automatic shooting guns, is going into affect today, despite last ditch efforts from so-called gun rights groups to appeal the new law. the justice department said monday the affordable care act should be fully overturned, reversing course from a previous position that primarily opposed the so-called healthcare penalty. in a filing with the 5th circuit court of appeals, administration officials said they agreed with the ruling of a federal judge in texas that declared president obama's signature health plan unconstitutional last december. in the mexican state of sinaloa, local radio sports journalist omar ivan camacho was found dead in an apparent homicide sunday,

making him at least the fifth reporter to be killed in the country so far this year. protesters gathered d to call fr justice for the slain journalilist. this is fellowow reporter and activist alejandro sicairos. >> while there is insececurity, wewe'rere at a high risk not jut from criminals who attacked us, but also from authorities who do not do their job. and there is a great indifference to journalist. amy: in venezuela, a new power outage has hit over half the country according to local reports. venezuela's vice president, delcy rodriguez, blamed the blackout on the opposition and their "imperial masters" in washington, d.c. power was restored in some parts of venezuela by late monday, inclcluding ththe capital cacar, but residents s in other s stats said they are still in the dark. it comes less than three weeks after a massive power outage plunged most of venezuela into darkness for days and reportedly resulted in n at least 21 dedea.

in boston, 12 defendants in the elite college admissions scandal pleaded not guilty in a federal court monday. the suspects include coaches and test administrators from some of the schools implicated in the scandal, including georgetown, university of southern california, and wake forrest. one of the suspects, a former tennis coach at georgetown university, is accused of accepting over $2.7 million in bribes to get at least 12 students recruited to the school as tennis players, including students who did not actually play tennis. defendants in the case face hefty fines and a maximum prison sentence of 20 years if found guilty. more defendants are expected to appear in court in the coming days. meanwhile, yale university rescinded the admission of a current student who applied to the ivy league school with fabricated endorsements from a soccer coach. senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is holding a vote on

the green new deal today in what is being called a stunt vote, designed to force democrats to take a stand on a still-divisive resolution which has no chance of passing in the republican-controlled senate. democrats reportedly plan to block the move by voting "present" rather than for or against the resolution. republicans have been spreading misinformation about the green new deal, while democrats have accused them of failing to offer any solutions to the climate crisis. democratic leadership has resisted backing the deal, although all official 2020 hopefuls in congressional office have come out in support of it. new york congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez, who has become the political face of the green new deal and introduced its house version, blasted the move by republicans, tweeting -- "the gop's whole game of wasting votes in congress to target 'on the record,' for leg -- legislation they have no intent to pass, is a disgrace.

stop wasting the american peoples' time + learn to govern. our jobs aren't for campaigning, and that's exactly what these bluff-votes s are for." attorney michael avenatti was charged with extortion, bank fraud, and wire fraud d in two separate cases monday. in los angeles, avenatti -- who first came into the public spotlight as stormy daniel's lawyer in her hush money case against president trump -- was accused of embezzling $1.6 million from a california client and using it to pay for expenses related to his coffee shop business. meanwhile, in new york, federal prosecutors accused avenatti of attempting to extort nike to the tune of over $20 million in what the manhattan u.s. attorney called an old-fashioned shakedown. avenatti of allegedly threatened to reveal damaging information on improper payments made by nike to student athletes unless they either paid him off or retained his services. unless nike did. avenatti, who was arrested and later released o on bond, has denied the charges.

police in escondido, california, are investigating a fire and acts of vandalism at a mosque as a possible hate crime. after fire crews were called to the islamic center of escondido on sunday, they found graffiti referencing the recent mass murder in new zealand, which was carried out by a white supremacist terrorist and killed 50 muslim worshipers at two mosques. police confirmed the reports but have not revealed the contents of the graffiti messages or identified any suspects. congregants were able to contain the blaze and there are no reported injuries. the head of the local council of american-islamic relations said in a statement -- "while the majority of humanity has responded to the tragedy to draw closer to one another and refute hatred, a violent and hate-filled minority seeks further divisions. we stand in solidarity with our community members." and in mexico, president andres

manuel lopez obrador is calling on spain and the vatican to apologize for the abuses of colonialism. amlo released a video monday, speaking in front of the archaeaeological site of comalcalco in the state of tabasco. >> i i sent a letter to the spanish king and another letter to pope francis for an accoununt of incidents and to ask for an apology to the first peoples for the violations of what is now known as human rights. there were massacres, force known as the conquest. it was done with the sword and the cross. they raised churches on top of temples. amy: the government of spain has rejected the request, saying events from 500 years ago "cannot be judged in the light of contemporary considerations." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. juan: and i'm juan gonzalez. welcome to all of our listeners

and viewers from around the country and around the world. israel has bombed gaza for a third day in a row and mobilized dozens of tanks, raising fears that the israeli government could launch another invasion. the latest airstrikes came earlier this morning after hamas announced it had reached an egyptian-brokered ceasefire with israel. tension has been escalating for days in gaza. on friday, israeli soldiers shot dead two palestinians taking part in the weekly great march of return protests. 62 other palestinians were injured. on sunday, israeli air raids struck parts of gaza, including a refugee camp. then on monday, militants inside gaza launched a series of homemade rockets toward israel. house those rockets hit a north of tel aviv, injuring seven members of a british-israeli family. israel blamed hamas for the rocket attack and retaliated by launching heavy air strikes in gaza city, targeting the office

of hamas's political leader and the group's military intelligence headquarters. seven palestinians were reportedly injured in the strikes. amy: this all occurred as israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu was in washington monday to meet with president trump, who signed an order on monday officially recognizing israel's control of the golan heights in defiance of international law. netanyahu had been scheduled to address aipac, the american israel public affairs committee, today but he cut his trip short short due to the situation in gaza. speaking at the white house netanyahu defended israel's use , of force. .srael will not tolerate this i will not tolerate this. told you,speak, as i mr. president, just out, israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression. i have a simple message to israel's enemies. we will do whatever we must do

to defend our people and defend our state. amy: the tension in gaza comes as netanyahu is facing an uphill battle ahead of the israeli elections on and as hamas is april 9 facing internal protests over recent tax increases and deteriorating living conditions. to talk more about the situation in gaza, as well as the golan heights and other issues we are , joined by y two guests. jehad abusalim, palestine-israel program associate of the american friends service committee's gaza unlocked campaign. in jerusalem budour hassan is a , palestinian writer and project coordinator for the jerusalem center for legal aid and human rights. we welcome you both to democracy now! you can statartf off by talking about what happened in washington yesterday. president trump signing, just before the israeli elections in

which the embattled prime minister is running, though the attornrney of israel says hehe l be an diving him, the significance of the annexation of the u.s. recognizing the annexation? sovereignty over the occupied golan heights, the united states -- tri-state glorifying the violation of human rights. it is significant that after the case of refusing to recognize sovereignty, donald trump has given this massive election boost to netanyahu by recognizing the sovereignty of the golan heights. and what is missing, amy, from of the whole set of recognizing the golan heieights, is no one is talking about the people of the golan heights. what they want and what they see. and the syrian people in the golan heights have reiterated

time can again that their land is syrian. it is not disputed land. it is syrian land. a have done everything in their power in order to define israel's attempt to -- their land. since 1967, specially since the annexation in 1981, the people of golan heights have written several times against israel's annexation. , february 1982, they waged a five-month general stririke in civil l disobedience campaign that would go on to inspire palestinians during the first intifada, stressing they refuse to hold israeli identification cards and refuse all it tends to erase their syrian identity. again, in 2018, last october, israel try to impose this in golan heights as a gesture of it sovereignty over the territory. syrians in the occupied golan heights took to the streets in

order to oppose holding electoral municipal elections in their land and saying -- stressing they are syrian. ofing this decade, just 6% the entire residents of the golan heights have applied for israeli citizenship, meaning the vavast majority of people, the overwhelming majority of syrians in the g golan heights, recognie and identify themselves as sysyrians. the curriculum that tries to erase syrian identity and replace it with an artificial identity. we're talking about 27,000 people living, mainly syrians, living in the occupied golan heights who have been systematically discriminated against in terms of resources. we''re also talkining about 2300 syrians who have been displaced in 1967. more than 500,000 syrian refugees from the golan heights to continue to be denied the

right of return. we are talking about families that have been fragmented between the golan heights in syria. we're also talking about israel's continuing its exploitation of the soil rich area an attempt to controlol -- claim sovereignty over the territory. ,nd trump's move recognizing signing this executive order, gives the blessing to these continued violations and erases the entire peoeople off the map. a friend in n the golan heigighs told m me it is bizarrere a pson that probablbly has never heardf the e golan heheights before tht gives himself the rightht and entitltles himselflf to acknowle israel's sovovereignty o over te golan heights. it is not trump to recognize the sovereignty. it is neither israel's to t tak. we've seen this happen in jerusalem last are with israel moved its embassy. except for a few rhetoric and

condemnation here or there, nothing happened. no measures haven't taken mcinst u.s. move e to move the to jerusalem and recognized jerusalem as the capital of israel. is the danger. obviously, people in the golan will continue to resist and continue to protest as they have always done, but t this is an extremely dangerous step. it is a signal the united states, again, does not give any regard to human rights or international law or to international humanitarian law. juan: i would like to ask jehad abusalim of the american friends service committee gaza unlocked campaign, your reaction to the president's announcement was specifically how the international community -- we have often heard much more about the israeli occupations in the prior occupations

in gaza, but very little about the golan heights. how is the international unity dealt with the golan heights and what has been the evolution of israel's own policies for the golan heights? >> thank you so much for having me. i think what has been happening in the golan heights is insufferable from israel's wawar policies seizing arab and palestinian land and continuing to control duties -- ththese lands. the golan heights like the west bank and the gaza strip, as a territory that have been -- the people like my colleagues said, their voices have been rendered unheard and silent over the years. i think president trump's as to the legacy of his a administration and says much

about the place, the occupation of arab and palestinian lands, and the larger conversation in the u.s. today. this is a legacy of her separated refugee children on the border. this is a president who has been talking about building walls and separating people. this is the legacy of an administraration that has been y to separate people and divide them on n the basis of their rae and religion and so on. and so by rushing to recognize israel's sovereignty over the golan heights, president trump gave netanyahu a present as part of boosting him for the sake of the upcoming elections in israel. but this moment says a lot about

where the u.s. stands today and the united states role in the region. juan: but where does the reststf the international community stand on this? >> unfortunately, we're living in a global moment where there is rise of right-wing populism. there has been a decline in the ability of the international community through the traditional institutions that have emerged after world war ii to at least exercise the minimum. in the minimum here -- we're talking about condemnation. we are talking about denouncing such steps. unfortunately, the international community has been watching for a long time. and the inability of the international community to hold israel accountable and to challenge the united states' negative role not only when it comes to the palestinian issue -- the palestinian issue in the

occupation of the golan heights is part of a larger package of how the united states behaves in the middle east and how it exercises its foreign-policy and what considerations informed that policy. i think it is about time for us to think about and for the international community to think about taking serious steps to challenge this approach and to challenge the united states and israel and to hold israel accountable and to act beyond condemnation in issuing statements. for as long as the international community has been issuing the statement of condemnation, and now the fewer countries are talking about what is going on in the middle east and palestine and syria and so on.n. and i thinkk this s is the resut ofof years and years of postpong the big issues anand only highlighting certain aspspects f the narrative and of the problem

. i think it is about t time to go beyond these narratives and to challenge the negative role the u.s. has played and hold israel accountable. amy: jehad abusalim, can you talk about what is happening in gaza where your family is? can you talk about, well, now three days of israeli bombardment of gaza? they are saying in response to homemade rocket of hamas, which hit an israeli home north of tel aviv and injured seven people. talk about the developments over the weekend. >> what is happening in gaza and the rest of palestine goes beyond the past three days. propaganda once to show that israeli actions in the gaza

strip yesterday in the past few days have happened as a response to palestinian militants watching a rocket. limiting the discourse to talking about this incident limits our ability to understand how violence unfolds not only in the gaza strip, but in all of palestine. the palestinian people in gaza and beyond are victims two years and years of legal and structural violence that have been inflicted on them. and this violence that israel exercises, palestinians experience on a daily basis. we see the manifestations of this violence affecting palestinian lives in the gaza strip. for example, the decade-long blockade that render the gaza strip unlivable.

forle living in gaza with hours to six hours of electricity a day, more than 90% of gaza's water has been undrinkable and polluted, and people do not have access to clean water. we are talking about a gaza strip that was to popoint to ben people, the majority of whom have never had the chance to travel and see the outside world. but it goes beyond gaza. the palestinians have been subject to israeli violence. inside israel itself, palestinian citizens arare victs to laws like the nation state law that diminished any hope for them to enjoy any kind of self-determination and a from israel is not a statate for allf

its citizens. palestinians in the diaspora have been not -- have been denied their right to return. only talk about violence, we're talking about decades and decades of violence that have been inflicted on palestinians. in response to the years of violence, palestinians would some violentng methods in response. but israeli propaganda is trying to show its actions are responses to some palestinians resorting to violence as though it is the right to defend themselves according to to national law and with accordance with international law.. but again, it is important to remember what is happening in the gaza strip is part of that larger context of violence that israel practices against the paleststinians. it i is important for us to remember and remember that in our narrative and in our discourse, because if we don't do so in the next few days or

weweeks, if israel launches 2014-like operation, many will be rendered homeless or lose their lives. juan: i want to ask about the upcoming elections in israel. i'm wondering if you could talk about the corruption allegations against prime minister netanyahu and also the whole issue of what will the palestinian and arab citizens of israel who might be eligible to vote, what your senses of what their role, if any, will be in these elections? ok, first, we will talk about palestinians and their position from elections. and how we see the elections. i personally going to vote in these elections. i have always done because i believe participating is only going to grant legitimacy and

promote its image as some sort of a democratic haven, when it is anything but. and many palestinians, after having voted in the previous elections, they have also realized that the soul exercise of giving legitimacy to the sham israeli democracy is futile. for going to work ideological reasons or believing this is just pointless. what we are seeing in the mainli elections, the two opposing parties -- if we can call that opposing, is on the one hand we have netanyahu and his far right allies that have been talking about and practicing annexation and violating the rights of palestinians, and doing basically what all is really governments have been doing but doing it in a naked fashion as to not make it appear they are different.

but on the other hand, with the so-called blue-and-white acts as somech sort of moderate opposition to netanyahu. but the leader of this movement, benny gantz, is a warmonger. just today, in response to the recent escalation in gaza, he a targetedfor assassination. so this is the person who represents themselves as a moderate, even when he talks about ending or when he talks about ending the occupation and part of the west bank, he's only talking about that to get palestinians a sham control, not because he calls for liberating or because he wants an end to the occupation. right now among all is really parties, there is not a single israeli party that is actually serious about ending the occupation, that is serious about recognizing palestinian

rights. they're all the same, regardless of where they sit on the spectrum, regardless of whether they represent themselves as liberal or conservative. this is precisely why many of us palestinians who carry israeli citizenship are insisting we this erasureute to of our rights. because also we believe we have other venues to resist israeli violations of our rights, especially on the streets, by taking to the streets. not by participating in the parliament. regarding the ququestion off netanyahu's possible indictment, we all know there is a decision by the israeli attorney general to indict netanyahu in one case of bribery charges and on a breach of trust charges pending a hearing. to defend trying himself, netanyahu has exploded

this possible indictment in order to even further promote represented ase a source of conspiracy by the left against him. -- and represent as a source of conspiracy by the left against him. so trying to use this move, especially after trips declaration of occupied golan heights as being part of dust technology israel's sovereignty over it, netanyahu is using every card he has in order to win elections for another time. ,egardless of what will happen if there will be an i indictmen, it is very clear now netanyahu is immersed in corruption. the thing is, even if he is iscountable or if he health net campbell, only a very small portion -- there are very

serious crimes no one is talking about. there have been almost 200 palestinians who have been murdered in these protest. there are 7000 wounded palestinians and no one is talking about holding netanyahu and his government accountable. they just talk about violations when it comes to corruption. but no one is talking about the violations that the military under netanyahu has committed. i think that is why many palestinians within the green line have reached t this conclusion that afterer decadesf israeli colonialism and expansion and continued violations and continued escalation of racist blows that have always beenen the norm inin israel sin 1 1948, it is time

change our strtrategy. thisad of giving legitimacy to israel, it is time this s and adopt other strategies. amy: budour hassan, thanks for being with us palelestinian wrir , and project coordinator for the jerusalem center for legal aid and human rights. speaking to us from jerusalem. and thank you to jehad abusalim, scholalar. he runs the american friends service committee's gaza unlocked campaign. this is democracy now! when we come back, and the last week, three suicides related to mass shootings. two survivors of the parkland massacre, a young man in the young woman, took their own lives. and then just yesterday morning, the father of a victim of the sandy hook massacre killed himself.

we will speak with a leading psychologist on suicide prevention. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman and juan gonzalez. juan: we turn now to the public health crisis of suicide. the father of a six-year-old rl who w killed the 201 ss shootg at san hook ementarychool wafound de bypparent icide moay. jeremy richmanas a ururoscitistst w, after e deh of his daughteavielle, devoted s life tfinding solutis to bra abnormaties

that ld d to vlencnce. he found the avielle foundation tsupport ain science resech, with the ultimateoal of pventntin violencendnd buiingg compsion. this is remy rican speakin in 2013. >> we ne to facend take .ction on rd isss ere'not gointo be on simpolution. but feel it is essenential to get t a deeper understanding of mental health in terms of research, education, a p polic juan: that was jememy riman,n, the ndndy ho fatathewho toto his own life yesterd.. the newsf f his ath h ca justt dadays after two students who survived last year's shooting massacre at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida, died by suicide. an unnamed student died saturday according to local authorities, and 19-year-old sydney aiello died last weekend. aiello suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and survivor's guilt according to her mother.

17 students, staff, and teachers were killed in parkland on february 14, 2018, in one of the deadliest school shootings in u.s. history. amy: david hogg, a parkland massacre survivor and gun control activist tweeted sunday , -- "how many more kids have to be taken from us as a result of suicide for the government/school district to do anything? rip 17+2." this is ryan petty, whose daughter alaina died in the parkland shooting, speaking to cnn n on monday. >> i think parents are wanting answers. they have a lot of questions and they are wondering, could this be my son or daughter? we talked about yesterday in our emergency meeting was we really need to drive awareness, we need to make sure that everyone in the community -- especially parents -- understand that their child

may be at risk or their loved one may be at risk. so we wanted to drive that awareness, not to scare them or to create more concern, but to make sure that they understand what to look for. and then we wanted to equip those parents with the right questions to ask. so we want to drive awareness, but make sure they have the right questions and the knowledge to determine whether or not their child is at risk. juan: suicide rates are continuing to rise in the united states. a report out last year by the centers for disease control and prevention found the u.s. suicide rate increased by 25% over the past two decades. topping the list was north dakota, where suicides rose by 57% from 1999 levels. suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the united states. the report found that nearly 45,000 suicides occurred in the country in more than twice the 2016, number of homicides.

firearms accounted for 51% of all suicides in the same year. among g people ages 15 to 34, suicide was the second-leading cause of death. amy: if you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-2 73-8255. we're joined now by kelly posner gerstenhaber, founder and director of the columbia lighthouse project. int year she worked parkland. her recent article for "the miami herald" is titled, "to help prevent suicide, all we have to do is ask." thank you so much for being with us. can you first respond to what happened this weekend? you spent time in parkland advising people after the massacre.

he feared exactly this would happen. the good start with news, because i think we all need a little bit of that. suicide is preventable and there is help out there for people suffering. but you started to say how this is one of the world's public health crises. let me reinforce that for a minute. the number one cause o of deathn adolescent girls across the globe, takes more lives than car thanents, more firemen fire, more police and crime, and 135 people are effective for every death. it is across generations because of the silence that often follows. we can save lives. what do we need to do? did you know 50% of suicide see the primary care doctor the month before they die? we need to be asking the what we monitor for blood pressure. many adolescents who show up to the emergency department whwho have try to take their own lives are not there for psychiatric reasons. but we know even that is not enough in terms of finding the people suffering in silence.

the under secretary wrote this urgent memo ththat we must go beyond the doctor's office with something called the columbia protocol that ryan petty was talking about giving to every parent and a community. we need to find people where they live -- teachers, coaches, peers if they ever get to a doctor. so we can better identify the people who need help and connect them to that care that they need. you know what? when people are suffering, they actually want help. my colleagues who survived jumping off the golden gate bridge said people who are suicidal want to be saved. wheree e need is a cultlture no one is afraid to ask so it can find them and get that help. and what is really empowering is that there are things we can do. and that is what we started talking about last year, and that is what ryan petty and parker have been talking about every day now. we need to equip the community. these few simple questions are a way that everybody can be part of the solution.

amy: talk about what those questions are. is a few simple questions that identififies suicidal thinking and suicidal behavior for the first time. what does that mean? we used to just ask about a suicide attempt and then you missed the person that brought the gun or wrote the note are collected the pills, things we absolutely cannot afford to miss. it is the first time we know the right questions to figure out whose thoughghts actually indice imminent risk. it also has a connection to prevention of gun violence, which is how i first got together with parkland and many other commodities. did you know 90% of shooters have suicidal issues? if we ask a few questions, we might be able to find people who need help before it is too late. early identification. these simple questions to connect the right people to care have many, many positive outcomes. experience, given his exploding suicide rate in the

country, especially among young people, what do you think is sparking or causing this? -- there hasal been a growth of anxiety among young people, especially -- your sense of what are the underlying causes of this increase? >> let me be clear. it is been a very slow and steady rise, about 1% a year of the last 30 years. recently, it has been slightly higher than that will stop but this has been a problem. you know a massive problem. the biggest cause of suicide is a treatable medical illness called depepression, but we do't think of depression like we think of cancer. did you know depression is the number one cause of global disability, cost humanity more than anything? guess what? because people do not think of this like a medical illness, snap out of it, i am weekek of i ask for help, it prevents them from actually getting the life-saving ring medication and

treatment they need. we very much have to break down barriers, the stigma, and misunderstanding so we can identify people suffering in silence and connect them to the care they need. we know not treating depression is actually what kills people. amy: we're going to get to those questions, what you ask someone -- does it have to be a professional asking? can it be a friend? we will get to that in 30 seconds because we're going to go to break down. we're speaking to kelly posner gerstenhaber, professor of psychiatry at columbia university, founder and director of the columbia lighthouse project. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. our guest is dr. kelly posner ofstenhaber, professor psychiatry at columbia university. you are the principal author of the columbia protococol. what is it? what are the questions that need to be asked? >> a few simple questions that can and should be in everybody's amber, go us follows -- have you wished you were dead or wished you could go to sleep and not wake up? have you actually had any thoughts about killing yourself? if that is yes, then have you , thought about how you might do this? he started to work at the details of how to kill yourself? do you intend to carry out this

plan? in them, have you started to do anything or prepared to do anything too in your life like collecting pills, writing a note, buying a gun? we know if they say i had some intention to act on these thoughts, that is when risk goes up 50% and summit is that more imminent risk and needs help. also if they had any of those behaviors, thinks we were never asking about before. juan: would do parents or loved ones or friends ask this question? obviously, there's a reluctance to even broach the subject. >> and that is what people need to understand. when people are suffering, they want to be asked. in the past, friends or parents did not know what questions to ask. they do not know to do with answers. they did not know if someone wanted to be asked. now we have the tools. every set of these questions comes with the next steps. and the most important -- - when you think something is just not right or somebody looks like they are not themselves, ask the questions.

if you go to the primary care office, you'll get a blood pressure. it here, every family member, every community member, every loved one,e, every teacher can actually have a set of questions that they can use if they feel itit would be helpful. so often, at a very difficult time, person either goes into a shell, becomes less communicative, or the opposite -- much more aggressive, alienating people. it seems to be the mostt difficult titime to ask questios like these. >> i think that is not what we find. when people are suffering is islands and they are feeling depressed -- in silence and they're feeling depressed, they want to be asked. we assume they will have the will to come to us. they often don't. that is why we need to come to them. when people are suffering, they want to o feel better, they just don't know that they can. so it is to connect them and identify that pain they're going through.

and very often, depression does present like that -- aggression, irritability. he could be a symptom of the same thing. again, the more we ask him of the more we identified, directly identify suicidal feelings, the more we will help people get the treatment they need to save their lives and reduce this terrible suffering. in the beautiful part of this or one of the positive outcomes is now the community can be engaged in something positive and meaningful that can actually help save lives and prevent these terrible tragedies we are dealing with, again, and the last few days. juan: there were two stanford university students who died by suicide recently. one was an athlete who had won a silver medal with her cycling team at the 2016 olympic games. are there any particular groups of young people that might be subjected to more pressures that might get them to think of

suicide? i'm thinking of athletes in particular that you have dealt with. >> not really. this is the biggest cause is this medical illness called depression. your point is important one. princeton came to me. let's give these questions to be a hot it coaches, to the resident advisors. the point is everybody suffers is at high risk for depression. and for suicide. but how do we find them and connect them? putting these questions in the hands of the coach and the teacher and the fear is really, really important. this is not about pressure or being at the school were academic pressure is bad or is increased o or come you know, yu are a nap league and yet more pressure because of those demands. it is really because the biggest cause is this medicalal illness that we suffer from and when

each identify. amy: what do you say to schools for how they should deal with this? mention the two stanford students, one after the other in the same division and math engineer, grad students, one in her dorm room, the other in his lab. what should schools do? our kids afraid of coming beward that they might thrown out of school because they don't want to solely the reputation? the school was to make sure someone like this does not wreck the record? >> students are afraid to speak out and get help because of all of that stigma.a. we don't think of this like any other medical illness. is screen ascan do much as they can come on people with a way to identify people. college presidents worry very ofh about the liability suicide. a history of a suicide attempt as the number one risk factor when they come in for their

health screens. ask a few questions. find people who need ongoing monitoring. when we start to treat this like any other illness like asthma,a, blood pressure, etc., we will break k down those barriers and get kids the help they need. juanan: what about the situatio, for instance, the two students , those e who survive mass shootings? just's generating generally immediate grief counseling provided by schools, but now this happens a year later. what kind of ongoing support is necessary for young people who survive mass shootings? >> long-term outcomes for survivors of shootings are really improved with community connection and continuing access to meet the health treatment. so empowering them with particularly student and

-- in theefforts short term we know medications help very much with anxiety reduction and ptsd is a form of of incentive. we know there are skills that can be given. mechanisms come in addition to medication, that will continue to reinforce thinking and writing and talking about the traumas they've gone through. amy: sydney aiello long, the 19-year-old young woman, survivor of the massacre who just took her life last weekend, she said she suffered from ptsd and from survivor's guilt. what does that mean and what did you find when you went to parkland and talking to students and family members? >> i originally want to parkland to work with the community to help them start to figure out how to identify and put the columbia protocol in people's hands. but what we know is survivor guilt has long been connected to

traumatic lots of incidents. we know when you add that on top of a baseline mental health issue like depression or anxiety, the risk goes up even farther. and people don't know how to deal with the distorted beliefs that they have from the ptsd. perceived responsibility, they could have done something, etc. helpingy need to get at give them the tools to address the trauma that they're dealing with, probably on top of other anxieties and depression after these terrible incidents. juan: what is the medical community, in your view, not doing? i would include in the medical community the insurance companies have a lot to say over what kind of treatment people get in terms of dealing with

these mental health issues? >> i think one of the most important things that we are dealing with as a society in the medical community, the biggest barrier to effective treatment is stigma will l stop since with antidepressants, for example, the student test suicide rate has dropped across the world, reversing a trend prior to their introduction. however, 50% to 75% ofof people who need those medications do not get them because of stigma in people e not wanting to acces treatment because they don't think of this like any other medical illness. amy: we're going to ask you to stay and post online part two of this discussion. we want to ask about veterans come also to talk to you about just every day in workplaces how things should be to defied, when people don't want -- to be identified, when people don't want to be riding on some and,

but deeply concerned about someone's behavior and feelings. dr. kelly posner gerstenhaber is the founder and director of the columbia lighthouse project. if you are someone may be considering suicide, contact the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-

thank you for joining us on nhk "newsline". i'm kyoko tashiro in tokyo. israel's defense force says it has carried out fresh airstrikes against palestinian militant group hamas in the gaza strip. it is further retaliation after a rocket attack from gaza wounded seven people near tel aviv earlier this week.