04/10/19 04/10/19 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! --it is a night of cocolossal colossal. i am very moved the people of israel put their trust in me again for the fifth time, a greater trust, even. amy: is really prime minister benjamin netanyahu appears to be headed to a record fifth term in office following a tight race in tuesday's election.

the israeli election can just after netanyahu vowed to annexes israeli settlements in the occupied west bank into fines of international law. we will go to tel aviv and haifa for response and look at what the election means for the ongoing occupation. " i think we have witnessed clear-cut war by the israelis to maintain the status quo as far as we, palestinians, are concerned. this was a vote to maintain the status quo. amamy: them wispy to professor henry reichman about his new book. >> what is happening in higher education, what we might call academic capitalism,m, the tendency of universities to run more like businesesses. the result is the capitalization of labor. securityccess to jobb and no access to academic of the, noo protections

tenure system designed to do that. that i think is the single biggest challenge to academic freedom today. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in israel, as votes continue to be tallied, prime minister benjamin netanyahu appears to be on the verge of securing a record fifth term in office. netanyahu and his main challenger, ex-military chief benny gantz, both claimed victory in the tight race tuesday night as both the likud and the newly formed blue and white party both won 35 seats in the knesset. netanyahu, however, has a clearer path to forming a coalition government with other far right parties. tuesday's election came just days after netanyahu vowed to annex illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west bank if he won. on election day, netanyahu's likud party placed 1200 hidden cameras at polling stations in arab neighborhoods in what was widely viewed as an attempt to intimidate potential voters.

turnout was reportedly lower than usual in the neighborhoods. palestinians living in the west bank and gaza are not israeli citizens and cannot vote. many palestinians and arab israelis argued there was no real choice in this election as both front-running parties have repeatedly expressed anti-palestinian and anti-arab views and policies. we'll have more on the elections and the significance of the results after headlines with palestinian attorney diana buttu and israeli journalist and -- journalist haggai mattar. the purge of department of homeland security leadership continued tuesday with the resignation of acting deputy secretary claire grady. this comes two days after homeland security secretary kristjen nielsen's ouster and one day y after directoror of te secret service "tex" alles was removed. grady's exit clears the path for kevin mcaleenan, head of customs

and border protection, to become the dhs secretary. the purging of high ranking dhs officials is said to be part of trump adviser stephen miller's plan to steer the administration towards and even more hard-line policies. reports also emerged tuesday the trump administration is pushing for border patrol agents to be put in charge of interviewing asylum seekers at the border. miller reportedly argues it would make it more difficult for migrants to argue a credible fear of persecution in their country of origin and move forward in the asylum process. initial interviews are currently conducted by citizenship and immigration services officials. attorney general william barr appeared before the house appropriations committee tuesday where lawmakers pressed for more details on the release of special counsel robert mueller's report. barr said he would release the redacted report within a week but that he had no plans to release the full report to congress. barr also said that he offered mueller the opportunity to review his conclusions on the report but that mueller declined. this is congressmember nita lowey questioning barr. >> president trump has publicly

stated that this report is a complete and total exoneration. can you tell us who -- if that is accurate and will the release report include details on the obstruction issue and why the president is not exonerated, or will that information be redirected --redacted? >> i've already when the information that will be report, them the four categories. that is what will cover the redactions. amy: last week the house judiciary committee authorized a subpoena for the full mueller report. barr will appear before a senate panel today where lawmakers are expected to question him again abouout the mueller report. at a hearing before the house financial services committee tuesday, treasury secretary steve mnuchin told lawmakers that white house lawyers consulted with his agency about the possible release of president trump's tax records, leading democrats to raise concerns about political interference.

last week, house democrats formally requested the irs give congress copies of president trump's tax returns over the past six years. this is new york congressmember carolyn maloney. >> at think the fact that theree was anyy communicatition with te white house about this is deeply troubling and certainly violates the spirit of the law, i notot the letterer of the law. anand i think we need t to get o the bobottom of this. amy: mnuchin did not say how his department would respopond to te intended toing he follow the law, while defending trump's right to keep his tax returns private. mnuchin also clashed with committee chair maxine waters. after a tense back-and-forth over whether he could leave the hearing, mnuchin told waters she was supposed to "take the gavel and bang it" to end the session. to which waters responded, "please do not instruct me as to how i am to conduct this committee." a new tax bill with bi-partisan backing in both the house and

senate could make it illegal for the irs to create its own online system for filing taxes. a provision in the house's taxpayer first act would bar the agency from offering an easier, low-cost or cost-free way of filing, even though an estimated 70% of americans are eligible to file for free based on their incomes. tax filing companies such as turbotax and h&r block have long lobbied to block the irs from offering the service in order to maintain their share of the e-filing market. airbnb has reversed its previous decision to bar listings from illegal israeli settlements in the occupied west bank. the online vacation rental site decided to allow the homes to be listed after facing a class action lawsuit by the affected hosts. airbnb said it will not take any profits from the listings and will instead donate them to humanitarian causes. responding to the news, the center for constitutional rights

said -- "we are dismayed that airbnb has caved to the legal bullying of israeli settlers. in backing down from its decision not to list properties in occupied palestinian territory, airbnb is in breach of its international human rights obligations, and is discriminating against palestinians." new york city has declared a public health emergency over the growing measles outbreak. mayor bill de blasio said people in affected areas will face fines of up to $1000 if they fail to get vaccinated or vaccinate their children. he also said schools in certain areas that permitted attendance by un-vaccinated students could be fined or temporarily closed. the epicenter of the outbreak is in williamsburg, brooklyn, where vaccination rates among orthodox jews are particularly low. 285 cases have been confirmed in new york city since the fall. this is new york city mayor bill de blasio announcing the new measures tuesday.

>> the only way to stop this outbreak is too ensure that thoe two have not been vaccinated get the vaccine. it is crucial for people to understand the measles vaccine rks. it is safe. it is effective. it is time tested. amy: the centers for disease control reported 465 cases of measles so far this year -- the second-highest number since it wawas declarared eliminated in . buzzfeed news is reporting house republicans are warning drug companies against complying with a house investigation into drug prices. in a letter sent to ceo's of major drug companies, republicans on the house oversight committee warned that information n they provide to te committee cocould be leaked to e public by dedemocratic chair elijah cummimings in an effort o tatank their stock priceces. cummings requested infnformation from 12 drug giants, i including pfizer inc.,., johnson & johnso,

and novartis , , in january as part of a broad investigationn into h how the industry setsts presescription drug prices. federal prosecutors brought new money laundering charges tuesday against 16 parents who paid bribes to get their children into top schools as part of the college admissions scandal known as operation varsity blues. actress lori loughlin and her husband mossimo giannulli are among the parents facing the additional charges, along with previously announced fraud charges, after they allegedly paid $500,000 to get their daughters into the university of southern california by getting them recruited by the crew team, even though they did not practice the sport. 14 defendants pleaded guilty yesterday to fraudud charges. president trump is expected to sign two executive orders today, to facilitate the approval of pipeline projects at a federal level, limiting states' ability to regulate such projects. the move is intended in part to clear the way for permitting on the northeastern constitution pipeline, which has stalled after nenew york i invoked the n

water act to reject t the projot on environonmental grorounds. 350.org executive director may boeve said in a statement -- "this is a massive abuse of power that does nothing other than line the pockets of trump's fossil fuel billionaire friends, all at the expense of our democracy and our safety. trump can try to rewrite regulations in favor of big oil, but he can't stop people power and our movement." in more environmental news, average temperatures across alaska this spring are 20 .egrees higher than normal most reports find that climate change is warming the arctic at roughly twice the speed as other regions. representatives from google and facebook, as well as civil rights groups testified in front , of congress tuesday on the rise of white nationalism and the spread of hate speech through social media. lawmakers called the hearing in the wake of the deadly massacre

in christchurch new zealand, in , which a white supremacist gunman killed 50 people at two mosques, a and livestreamed the mamassacre. this is kristen clarke of lawyers' committee for civil rights under law. > corrosive white supremacist movements are tearing away the fabric of our nation. and withouout questionthey are using online platforms to recruit new members, activate followers, target communities, organize rallies, stream their murders, and incite violence. amy: partway through the hearing, youtube had to turn off comments on a livestream of the hearing as users inundated the platform with racist and other hateful comments. white supremacists were responsible for more than three quarters of the domestic extremist murders in 2018 according to reports. amy: and in new zealand, lawmakers voted 119-1 on a gun reform bill that bans all

semi-automatic weapons and assault rifles. the bill comes less than a month after the massacre at two christchurch mosques when a white supremacist terrorist gunned down 50 people. prime minister jacinda ardern announced changes to new zealand's gun laws in the immediate aftermath of the attack. ardern said the change was able to take place because of the victims and their families. >> they will carry disabilities for a lifetime. them. here because of and i believe they are here with us, supporting what we're doing here today as well because these weapons were designed to kill. they were designed to maim. and that is what they did on the 15th of march. amy: the bill is expected to become law in new zealand in the next few days. 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 thee country anand around the wororl. israeli prime minister benjamin

netanyahu appears to be on the verge of securing a record fifth term in office as votes continue to be counted in tuesday's election. last night, netanyahu and his top challenger, ex-military chief benny gantz, both claimed victory in the tight race. with most of the votes counted, netanyahu's likud party and gantz's newly formed blue and white party have both secured 35 seats in the knesset, but netanyahu has a clearer path to forming a coalition government with the help of his right-wing allies. on tuesday night, netanyahu addressed supporters who repeatedlyly chanted, "bibi, kig of israel." >> it is a night of colossal victory. colossal. i am very moved the people of israel put their trust in me again for the fifth time. a greater trust, even. i intend to quickly finish the work in order to form a national stable government.

amy: tuesday's election came just days after benjamin netanyahu vowed to annex israeli settlements in the occupied west bank in defiance of international law and a week after netanyahu thanked president trump for recognizing israel's sovereignty over the occupied golan heights. netanyahu ran for re-election despite facing possible criminal indictments in three corruption cases. netanyahu's chief rival was benny gantz, a former chief of staff of the israel defense forces. on tuesday, he, too, claimed victory. >> this historic event never happened in israel before. i'm sure we can do it. thank you very much. juan: many palestinians living in israel boycotted tuesday's election. netayahu's likud party was also accused of voter intimidation by placing 1200 hidden cameras at polling stations in arab neighborhoods inside israel.

palestinian chief negotiator saeb erekat spoke earlier today about the impact of tuesday's elections. >> i think we have just witnessed a clear-cut vote by the israelis to maintain the status quo as far as we, palestinians, are concerned. this was able to maintain the status quo are to maintain apartheid. i think the new elections, exit polls, i think their only 18 seats in the 120 seat knesset that support the two state .olution amy: we are joined now by two guests. haggai matar is an israeli journalist, activist, and union organizer. he is the executive director of "972 - advancement of citizen journalism," the nonprofit that publishes plus 972 magazine. he joins us from tel aviv and in the israeli city of haifa we are joined by the palestinian attorney diana buttu.

she is a former adviser to palestinian presidenent mahmhmod abbas and has served as a legal adviser to the palestinians in negotiations with israel. she is a palestinian citizen of israel. welcome both to democracy now! explain n the significance of these elections, haggai matar, although we do not know the final results, does look like netanyahu has won a record fifth term. >> they give her a much for having me. i think we can clearly say netanyahu will be the next prime minister, will have a fifth term. said, the vote is a vote of the status quo. this has been a vote where israelis have said they want to keep things just as they are. if you look at a jewish israel is, is a clear wide vote to keep things as they are on all different political, social,

economical fronts in israel. juan: and yet the number of mr.s that the likud won relatively small. how do you account for the fractures nature of israeli politics was so many different policies always requiring a coalition to govern? netanyahu gotl, more votes this time and more seats in knesset than he did the last time, which i think is very considerable, especially considering he is facing several very serious criminal charges for political corruption. to be able to get more seats with these criminal charges is quite an accomplishment. at the same time, we need to understand the other parties that will be joining his coalition government have all stated in advance they will join him. so a vote for the religious parties, for example, for the extreme right settler parties, and others, was actually for

voters a boat to support netanyahu v via his allies. amy:y: do you see thisis as a referendum on netanyahu's 10 year rule and also the significance of these last two moves t made in the last week, one with trump in the united states right before netanyahu flew back to israel, trump announcing the acceptance of recognizing the sovereignty of israel over the occupied golan heights and then the last announcement the day before the election that israel would annex the west bank settlements, what that means? >> definitely. we can also add to that the moving of the american embassy to jerusalalem last year. it seems like a long time ago, but it is relevant. what all of these measures are doing and saying is that there is an old kind of balance that we use t to talk about in israei

politics. the two things that israel can get moving toward ending the occupation are, one, safety and security. two, international recognition and legitimacy for all sorts of things that israel once. basically what trump has been doing to support netanyahu isis israelg legitimacy y to without any condititions. moving the embassy to jerusalem without conditioning a partition of the city. recognizing the annexation o of golan heights, basically giving up on any sort of negotiations -- in this case, with the syrians -- basically, giving netanyahu the green light to annex part of the west bank because you do not need palestinians to agree because you have international legitimacy even without any negotiation. with that, and at the same time with netanyahu succeeding to offer israelisis safety and sesecurity, very low mortality rate as part of the conflict, as part of the occupation, unlike

palestinians who are being killed en mass. israelis are not being killed as much. this is a rational choice for israelis to support with safety and security and an economy generally blooming, why not continue? juan: we're also joined by diana buttu, palestinian attorney, advisor to president mahmoud abbas. the electionsto and also to what appears to be historically low turnout by the palestinian citizens of israel, what the significance of that is? i in terms of the reactionn, vis-a-vis the ououtcome that we are saying, this was for palestinians, and election in which you either choose trurumpr trumump. the positioions that both likud gantz took wereny

indistinguishable, particularlyy when it came to paleststinians. they bragged a about how m muchy wewere going to o beat up on paleststinians and then n took r voters, , as a result. it is not atat all surprprisinge see this outcome given we really had two candidates moehring onee anotheher when it came to th elelection. in terms of the voter t turnout, ththere are a number of factorsn terms of low palestitinian voter tuturnout. one e was the factct a number of pepeople in ideoeologically chon boycotttt and then another was because the was a level of voter intimidation and people also believing that their members of knesset were unable to deliver. the big problem, however, is that we're seeeeing a risese in fascism in israel. inststead of people boycotting,e were hoping to see people would have come out in greater numbers to try to at least push back against that tide. as it stands right now, although the ballots have not been completely counted, we really only have about 15 out of 120

members of knesset who believe to thelity and an end occupation. that is a set indication of where e israel i is. amy: can you explain who can vote in the israeli elections and who can't? also, respond to these 1200 cameras being put in the the: places in, arab n neighborhoodsds -- the polling places in arab neighborhoods? >> in teterms of who o can votet is onlcicitizens off israel who are allowed to vote. about 60%att cititizenry, of the people who are eligible to vote are palestinians who are citizens of israel. you look at the vast remainder of people that israel controls, whether it is people that live in the west bank, in the gaza i occupiedin israel use jerusalem, you're looking at

close to 6 million individuals who are in eligible to vote in israeli elections and yet are bebeing governed by israel. in terms of the cameras, this is not only a violation of israeli law, but something the prime outster is supporting, came and said, yes, we should not be worried about this. there should be cameras in all polling stations. the reason this is so alarming is the fact this leads to voter intimidation. there are a number of palestinians who are working either as teachers, and other ministries, and seeing there is a camera in place feel, rightfully so, their votes are being monitored, whether they show up to the polls or who it is they're going to be voting for. this type of intimidation is the type of action that netanyahu has done n o only whenen it cano this election, but in previous elections where he tried to claim arabs were voting in droves. ideologically opposed to paleststinian freedodom,

ideologically opposed to palestinians having equalality, and wiwill do anytything it tako try to intimidate and try to make sure there is perpetual control over palestinian lives. amy: we're going to go to break and come back to our discussion. we're speaking with diana buttu in haifa, palestinian attorney, and haggai matar, israeli journalist, activist, and union organizer speaking to us from tel aviv. ♪ [music break]

amy: a shout out to the students from the community college visiting democracy now! today. this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. our guest, palestinian attorney diana buttu joining us from anfa and haggai matar, israeli journalist, activist and union organizer. he is joining us from tel aviv. juan: i want to ask haggai matar , given the reality that it looks likely that netanyahu will

be able to set up a governing coalition, what about the corruption, the multiple corruption investigations circling around him and a possibility how that may affect his ability to govern? could you talk about that? >> sure. that is actually the main question facing netanyahu right now because he will be forming a new coalition government. the question the israelis are talking about today is will he be able to form an indictment coalition? that means a coalition that would support netanyahu through an indictment and actually pass legislation that would either prevent presenting criminal charges against the prime minister or allow him to continue ruling while facing charges. challllengehe main for netanyahu u right now. if he fails to do that, he probably has less than one year before he actually has to face criminal charges and go to

trial. and probably step down. question we'ren looking at. if he does have to step down, we have already heard certain indications from the centrist party that came in at the same ,evel as the likud party basically saying they would be willing to go into national unity without netanyahu, implying that would be willing to cooperate with likud if nenetanyahu steps down. that is something that might happen but we might also be looking at another general election within the year. juan: unlike the u.s., a sitting national leader can be brought to trial? >> yes, he can. amy: i would like to turn to the controversy around some of the campaign ads leading up to the election. netanyahu's main rival any gantz released a video showing a counter marking a rising death toll of palestinians susuperimposed over a video of a funeral.

a second campaign ad promised that, if elelected, gantz z woud bomb gaza "back to the stone age." memeanwhile, a m member of parliaiament seeking reelelectin came under f fire over a c campn advertisemenent depicting g him shooting and killing a palestinian cocolleague. in t the ad,reren han, a a lawmaker with the ruruling likud party whrerepresen a a jewish-only westst bank settlement, is depicted as a character inin the clintnt easod film, , "the good,d, the bad ane ugly." hazan's face is superimposed over a charactcter whohohoots d kills jamal zahalklka, paleinian citizen of iael and member of israel's parliament, the knesset. zahalka has called for police to arrest haz ovever the ad.. another political f feature right-wing justice minister ayelet shaked in a spoof of a perfume ad. the name of the perfumisis itteten the bottle, "fcismsm." akaked says ititn and says, memells ke dememocracy to ."

ggai matatarif you cld reond firsand then we will get to dna buttu >> f most ofhat you mentiod, theommon thad we see, d this unfornately has been a reating tme in isel i politi, is basally an inter-wish disssion abt how do wtreat paltinians? at is the qstion toe decid, how mh forceo we e againspalestinns to ke them dow becausee'reot gog to giv upn the occupati, we're not gng to give up on theiege. so how mh violen are we willinto use t maintn the statusuo? what we have beeseseeingith h formerat even generais sayin loo i am not lessiolent than nenyahu. i not leswilling u brutforce ainst lestini's and kill mass and geoeye

military operations. i'vee done it before and i can do it again. we see a statement that, yes, i'm happy to curtail the power of the judiciary and i want the government to rule without the checks and balances of the court. that is something i want. i call democracy, do you agree that go luckily, her party is probably not going to make it into the new knesset. there's a lotttu, of attention focused on internationally on what happens with palestinians in gaza or the west bank. very little about the palestinian citizens of israel. especially in the light of this increasing fascist tendencies within israel about what life is like for palestinianan citizensf israel? >> d definitelely. one of t the things we saw in ts last part them intoecession, with a lotf attentn,n, a lot

of the focus w was directed palestininian citizens of israel while bombing gaza at the same time trying to go after palestinians to do since o of israel.. so onehing that this knesset did was they p passed what they call t the jewish nation state of, which is actually a law supremacy and formalizes apapartheid. this is something that they did in order to o send a mesessage o papalestinians i in israeael thy are not equals and they w will t be equal in fact, netanyahu made during thehe election cacampaig, mamade it clear r that the natitistate -- israel is the natitionstate for the jewish people only.y. of incitement a against palelestinians andnd israel, whr it is against the palestinians who arare memberers of the knest or in a day-to-day life e is ben onone of which we are increasiny seeingng more and momore laws tt are d designed to dcrcriminatee direct agagainst palesestinians wiwith less anddess restrictions being placed on the governrnmen. in f fact, we now w see the isri high c crt, equivalent tohe

u.s. supreme c court, has rubberstamped virtually all of these racist lawaws and allowedt isrsrael is ablele to continuee its apartheid practices.. in effect, w what i it means for palestinians is not only are we secocond-classss citizens, but e artreaeated as a fififth cololun with some members ofof k knesse, inclcluding one whoho once agaie electedd in,n, a former r forein mininister liebermanan, who once called for t the beheading of paleststinian citizezens of isr. and during t this electionon andaign, , called for the statement of the death penalty for palestinians who are political prisoners. thisis is the flavor we are livg in. it is fascism. and you to turn to the reaction the streets of bethlehem to hear how sosome palestinians are reacting to the elecection results. natural. and aggressive regime.

netanyahu or any other person will not make change for us as palestinian people. the result, if it was right-wing parties or left-wing parties, that the same mission against us, which is killing and displacement. >> it was obvious from the beginning, netanyahu's campaign was strong because it was about the paleststinians blood also te settlement expandiding and the sanctions on the palestinians. it was obvious. amy: those are residents of bethlehem. tuesday's election can just days after prime minister netanyahu vowed to annex is really settlements in the occupied west bank in defiance of international law. let's turn to secretary of state mike pompeo who was asked about u.s. policy on the west bank as polls were closising in israraen tuesday. he was questioned in the senate by democratic senator chris van hollen. >> is it still a policy of the united states to oppose israel's unilateral annexation of any or all of the west bank? >> here is what i i can sayay.

i will give the same answer i gave the senator. we are in the process of laying down our vision for how to resolve the problem -- >> esther secretary, i asked about unilateral annexation. that by itself indicates no agreement. with the palestinians. it soundstion is, like you have already abandoned what has been a bipartisan foreign-policy of opposing the annexation of any or part of the west bank by israel. is that what you're t telling u? >> i think was senator durbin who critiqued our situation on the golan were you would characterize that. >> i'm not asking about that right now. i'm asking you about the west bank. >> and i'm telling you you will see our proposal. >> thehe polls a are closing rit now. right now. in israel.

and things could move very quickly. as you know, the prime minister is a candidate, said he would annex all or part of the west bank. he said settlemements, including outpost's. today you cannot tell us what u.s. policy is on this issue. it so thei think of question as i'm going to answer the question. any code that was mike pompeo being questioned by senator chris van hollen. diana buttu, if you can respond to what he was asking and also just talk about the threat to annex the settlements in the west bank and the occupied golan heighthts. this is the part that is the most alarming. one of the fundndamental,l, basc principleses of internrnationalw t tritorynot acquire by fororce. you cannot steteal another cocountry's s landr anotothe peoplele's land. have e beensraelis

doing for decades and d now with the trump administratition is giving a green light to isis tht very principle of turning international law on its head and allowing states to actually tatake more and morere land. what itit is doing g is sendinge message, not just in the palestinian context, but around the world, that might is right and it doesn'tt matterr what international law is. it does not matter what international legagal order is.. what matteters is how ststrong u arare. and the morere you exert your force,xerted her power, the more t than you take, in ththe , you will be given thee greenligt light to do so and you will be rewarded for doing so. this is what was particularly troublesome about this election was that going back to some of the a ads, this was not a referendum or even a questioning about whether israrael is interesteded in peace and what t wants to o do vis-a-visis the palestiniaians a t termsf whetether it should be palestinn freedom or equality. instead, it was a question about how much theyey can beat up o on palestininians, how mumuch more papalestinia land they can take,

anand whether ththey can be rerd for r it. as netanyahuhu was d doing throughout the entntire election campaign, he kept pointing to president trumump and s sing tht herere is my frienend, here is e man who has s given us everythig that we want. in effect, he is right. trump has giving him just given him every single thing he wanted. exchanget about this with pompeo yesterday and to what degree you have been following over the years, our most israelis now supportive of the whole idea of annexing the west bank? i think if asked, most israel annexationpose full of the entire west bank. especially assuming such an would mean giving those palestinians citizenship. that kind of a vision of a one state solution where this is one

state and everybody has citizenship is something most is will object to. however, i think we should note annexation is not a new practice. in my estimation, what we will be seeing now is just a continued process of slow, gradual annexation, not a one-off, not like tomorrow morning. ont netanyahu says from now it is annexed. we will be seeing more morelos just like the ones we have seen in the previous government -- seeing more and more laws just like the ones we've seen in previous governments. slightly more subordinate to the israeli legal system, make settlers little more closer israel to israeli citizens and all sorts of ways. it will be a gradual process and in no point will anyone stop and say, wait a second, we have annexed the west bank. amy: i want to ask diana buttu, there is a hunger strike that has begun in jails by palestinians who are imprisoned.

you have the u.n. report saying gaza, theappened in response to the right of return marches that have been going on for a year, well over 200 palestinians have been killed. it looks something like 20,000 people at least have been injured. thousands of them shot by israel i military. what does this mean, the israeli election, for this? n netanyahu yet another grgreen light toto conte to do what hehe h has done agait paleststinians in the e gaza st, against palalestinians in the wt bank, against palestinian prisonerers, against palesestins eveverywhere. the fact we e have not seen an international response against israel h h in effect said to -- has allllowed netanyahuhu to tun around and say, this is not costing meme anything.

and this is the part that is s o veryry troroublesome, amy, w whu lolook at thnunumber o papalestinians w who have been injured, direcect fire by the israeli army in the gaza ststri, we're talkiking about more e pee injujured in the year 20188 t th these great return mares t than were injnjur doing t the entiree bombing campaigign in n 2014. what israel l has done effececty is i it has managed d to send up just send off f any internatioil criticicism. i hope we are sasaying the government is whwhat it take s e with peoeople who are openly supportiti not only y annexatio, but were cririmes, that wewe wil see e stronger international response that at this point i'm not holding my breath because we have seen this for more than 50 yeyears. amy: diana buttutu, thank you fr being with us, palestinian attorney joining us from haifa. served as a legal adviser to the palestinians in negotiations with israel. she was previously an adviser to palestinian president mahmoud abbas. haggai matar is an israeli

journalist, activist and union organizer. executive director of "972 advancement of c citizen journalism," the nonprofit that publishes plus 972 magazine. when we come back, henry his new joins us about book. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. juan: federal prosecutors brought new money laundering charges tuesday against 16 parents who paid bribes to get their children into top schools as part of the college admissions scandal known as operatioion varsity blues. actress lori loughlin and her husband mossimo giannulli are among the parents facing the additional charges, along with previously announced fraud charges, after allegedly paying $500,000 to get their daughters into the university of southern california. they were recruited by the crew team, even though they did not practice the sport. 14 defendants pleaded guilty tuesday to fraud charges in the case, including the actress

felicity huffman who said in a statement -- "i want to apologize to the students who work hard every day to get into college, and to their parents who make tremendous sacrifices to support their children and do so honestly." amy: since breaking, the college admissions scandal has laid bare the many ways higher education is rigged for the wealthy -- from the ability to pay for tutors and test prep to the staggering number of legacy admissions at many of the nation's top schools. meanwhile, higher education faces an increasingly dire crisis of underfunding. we turn now to look at one of the consequences of this crisis: the growing threat to academic freedom. academic and author henry reichman takes on this threat in a new book out this week titled "the future of academic freedom." in it, he writes -- "academic capitalism -- or, as

many term it, 'corporatization' -- has greatly impacted academic work and the ability of the faculty to unite in defense of professional norms, including academic freedom." academic capitalism is just one of a number of topics reichman tackles in the book's essays, which start by asking what academic freedom is and expands to look at the loss of public funding for institutions of higher education and the harassment of faculty members for political speech. our studio byin henry reichman, chair of the committee on academic freedom and tenure at the american association of university professors. welcome to democracy now! describe what is happening on american campuses, what you are so concerned about. >> what i'm particularly concerned about is in the past several decades, your seen a shift from understanding higher education as a common good for the entire society and more and more as something for the to get t out ofnt it. it is all about a career, entry-level job, etc. and this is reflected in the whole structure of higher

education where it is all about bottom lines and not really tout the contribution research, teaching, and service universities and colleges contribute to society as a whole. i think the scandal with full city has been -- felicity huffman and others is one example of what happens here were increasingly a handful of people are struggling for ever small number of spaces and the kinds of colleges and universities like here in new cuny and others are underfunded as her student bodies become more and more less white, shall we say, more diverse. so this is a real problem. it is reflected for the faculty and the way that cramps or ability to serve the public good. juan: one of the things you get into is the increasing corporate impact on how institutions make

their decisions, the donors some of -- everything from the speakers that if universities. you go into how folks like ann coulter and others are invited to speak at universities but often subsidized or funded by outside, private groups like the koch brothers or others. can you talk about the impact on the decisions universities make about who comes to speak and what kinds of institutes that developed or research they go into? >> the more publblic funding is eroded and the more public ission of the universityty made secondary, the more university administrators look resources of funding, look for money, and it makes them vulnerable to the efforts of politicized groups frfrom the ououtside. there have always been donors who want to fund that the things they support and other things they don't support. that is obvious. but in the past, hopefully, most colleges and universities held,

well, it has to be subject to the oversight of our faculty and fit in with our curriculum. agreementsy, these are becoming secret. they are not really in the interest of the entire university. in the same funders are also funding outside speakers. we hear these occasions where a controversial speaker like coulter comes to campus becausee a ststudent group i invited h h, maybe like the republicans. at the group d ds not necessarily have the money to pay her fee. she is in it for the provocation but also -- juan: $20,000, 30,000 dollars, $40,000 a speech >> so she gets supported by an outside organization. there's a concerted campaign. there is -- that is the right to do it. it is imbalanced, isn't fair. the impact on the institution is serious. amy: talk about one of the cases in your book of trinity college

professor johnny williams. >> johnny williams is an african-american sociology professor at trinity college. each we did something about white supremacy in response to the police shooting. some said a hash tyga abdicated violence. i don't think it did. he washours, delusional of death threats against him and his family. forced to go in hiding. administrators of the college even close the school for half a day. unfortunately, this is bad enough, but what is unfortunate is the trinity college and administration, rather than standing up initially right away for his academic freedom -- amy: this is in connecticut. >> yes. they said, we will investigate. what does that say?

fortunately, we have a chapter at trinity and they vote -- mobilize the faculty international office helped out and ultimately trinity was acknowledged to force there's nothing that johnny williams should be subjected to discipline at all. -- juan: you whole have a whole chapter on social media on academic freedom, on faculties right speak. could you talk about that? we get a lot of attention paid from presidentnt trump and othes about the rights of these conservative outside speakers. a far bigger danger right now is are the systematic threats come often to blacklist, things like a professor watchlist, that list professors who are allegedly to left or too liberal. actions,s in these mop literally online, and it is bad enough but one has to think about the people look at it and go, oh, i have to be careful.

i'm notot going to st. nick and controversial from now on. it is not just on twitter and social media, it is often sometimes they send students into class to surreptitiously film what professors are saying and then edit it out of context. of course, the professor sometimes will say something controversial not because he or she believes it, but to revoke discussion. that is the whole purpose of education. trumpmp. is donald pres. trump: in america, the very heart of the universities mission is preparing students for life as citizens in a free society. but even as universities have received billions and billions of dollars from taxpayers, many have become increasingly hostile to free speech and to the first amendment. you see it all the time. under the guise of speech codes and say spaces and trigger warnings, these universities have tried to restrict free

thought imposed total conformity, and shut down the voices of great young americans like those here today. taxpayer dollars should not subsidize anti-first amendment institutions, then that is exactly what they are, anti-first amendment. universities that want taxpayer dollars should promote free speech, not silencece free spee. amy: that is president trump. talk about campuses under the trump -- during the years of president trump.p. >> first of all, the, the trump made, frankly, they are ridiculous. there is more free expression, more discussion going on on campuses from all perspectives in the united states every day then i would say in any other institution in the united states. imagine the kind of discussions we have on college campuses taking place in corporate boardrooms or other workplaces.

i think it is kind of ridiculous. he talks about trigger warnings being a problem. to be honest, i know of no college or university that imposes anything that could be called a trigger warning on its faculty or r its students. i think this is all rather phony. it is highlighted by the fact donald trump's favoritete university run by jerry falwell wearing fact precisely what he describes is the norm. you are not allow there to say what you think. there is no free speech academic freedom on a campus in the way we commonly understand it at most american colleges and universities. are there incidents where conservative speakers have been silenced? yes. it occasionally happens. i was say in every case, the ministration of the university has taken action to protect future speakers to make suree those things don't happen again. i think this is something better read hearing. it is very dangerous because it

creates a nanosphere on campus of fear,r, of fright. at best, the trump executive order will simply add to the paperwork that university ministrations have to do to justify their funding. juan: i want to ask you about the issue of how the working conditions of faculty at the university affects academic freedom. several decades ago, two thirds of most of the faculty of most universities were tenured faculty post up today, it is the reverse. only about one third are tenured . the rest are contingent, part-time lecturers, have to cobble jobs at three or four different colleges together to make a full-time job. how has that affected the academic freedom? also, what about the argument that some people say, hey, nobody is guaranteed a lifetime job. why should university professors toe tenure and be allowowed

stay the same job no matter what they do? >> let me ststart with the last. i think there's a big misconception around tenure. it is not guaranteed lifetime job. it is simply a tenured professor should only be dismissed for cause. obvious things, not showing for class, research fraud, sexual harassment. those are obvious things. but then only after a due process procedure with essentially a jury of their peers. it is a protection for academic freedom. you are right, the erosion of the tenure system in the last several decades is i would argue the single b biggest threat toto academic freedom. ultimately, to the quality of higher education in the united states. people whouarters of teach in american colleges and universities have not only not tenure, they have no access to the tenure track.

the image of the elite professor who is tenured is a shrinking group in every university, even elite schoolols. the result is very dangerous. if i can, let me give you i think a very good example. there was acutely college instructor -- community college instructor in colorado, taught an introductory class and a been teaching it for a number of yearars. a part-time adjunct. he was instructed to start teaching a new curriculum designed to encourage student graduation. he thought it was a curriculum more suitable to middle school than college and when a prepare his students for a four year school. and he dutifully taught it. he decided to write a letter to the crediting agency saying -- raising questions about it. he judiciously gave it to the ministration and said, make sure i am not making any factual mistakes. within two days, no administration was observing and

four days later, he was some really dismissed a allegedly for teaching violations so severe -- it was a pretense. credulity toe believe that is why he was fired. it highlights a number of things. towas exercising his right speak o of the nature of the curriculum he was teteaching and he had no job security. there are no unions allowed in colorado community colleges, so he could simply be dismissed. the irony here is, we were able to investigated and we put out what we call our censure list. but have they been a little more clever, less brazen, and not fired him, sibley let him finish teaching and that s said, oh, we are not rehiring you, we would have been in a much more difficult position to show how this was a violation of his academic freedom. we would have known it was the real reason.

this is the kind of thing i think that we see happening and that really is my biggest concern about academic freedom. amy: in the role of protest? give students occupying an admin building in johns hopkins because of their involvement with ice, the students and faculty at hampshire have now gotten a president thrown out protesting the corporatization of the university and the threat to hampshire? juan: wheeled have about 30 seconds. >> a lot of people think students pose a threat to free speech. i think sometimes they make, but i would rather an active student body that protests andnd gets involved because students make mistakes and learn because that is what it is meant to be a student. juan and i did that in college and i think our schools are better for it and so were we. amy: want to thank you for being with us, henry reichman, chair of the committee on academic freedom and tenure at the american association of university professors.

his new book "the future of , academic freedom." he is emeritus professor of history at california state university, east bay. happy birthday david prude! and matt ely! democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to