>> presidedent trump ousts his hawkish national security advisor john bolton. we will look at what it means thethe relations as well as war in afghanistan. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu vows sue -- a third of the occupied west bank. the move has been denounced across the globe but not in washington. >> to allow that to enable him to enact the jordan rally. it is paramount. go to newark, new jersey,

where thousands of residents are unable to -- tap water. an enduring nightmare. all of that coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace rereport. i'm amy goodman. point of 2 2500 peopople after therricane dorian hit bahamas. a category five e storm. warmed minister wewednesday the number is likely to soar, compounding the bahamas misery is a massive oil spill that spread d off the southern coast of the island after hurricane dorian blew the lid's off of six giant crude oil tanks. this comes as multiple news outlets reported the trump administration has decided not to grant temporary protected status to bohemians which would

allow them to work and live in the united states until it is safe to them to return home. in response, the national immigration law center tweeted, for the trump administration to denied gps for those seeking shelter r is yet another example of their sheer cruelty, they said. on wednesday, the miami herald reported a 12 euro bohemian grove's home was destroyed by the hurricane was separated by -- from her family by u.s. authorities. the girl had arrived with her godmother and at airport in west palm beach and was taken into the custody of the health and human services department and moved to a facility from accompanied children. the u.s. supreme court allowed the trump administration's ban to take-- most migrants effect while legal challenges against it proceed. wednesday us order overturned federal appeals court injunction

against trumps policy, which bars migrants from seeking asylum in the united states unless they first apply for refugee status on their way to the u.s. dissented, , writing, alalthough this nation has long kept its doors open to refugees and although the stakes for asylum seekers could not be higher, the government implemented its rule without first providing the public notice and inviting public input generally required by law. hill, two young immigrants testified that the attempt -- is a virtual death sentence pair told the house they werecommittee abruptly ordered by u.s. citizenship and immigration services to leave the u.s. within 33 days even though they have lived in the united states immigrants who

would otherwise not have access to life-saving treatment. this is massachusetts democratic congress member -- administration cannot reach any new lows. they go even lower, deciding to give seriously ill children and their families 33 dadays to leae the cocountry or risk being deported. amy: testifying is someone with a rare genetic disorder, mps. rock to the u.s. from guatemala at age seven to seek treatment. told -- jonathan testified his life was saved at the age of 12 when his parents brought him from honduras for treatment in boston. >> told us that the medical

deferred action program was canceled. i started crying and told my mom i don't want to die, i don't want to die. if i go back to honduras, i will die. amy: it came without any advance notice where public announcement after it sparked a backlash from immigrant rights groups, medical professionals, democratic lawmakers, officials partially backtracked and said they would reopen previously pending cases for consideration. however, it is unclear what the longer-term fate of the program will be. in illinois, a 37-year-old mexican man became a if emigrant in less than a year to die after being jailed by u.s. immigration officials. that is according to buzz feed news who died after he was jailed by ice immigration and adults enforcement at the correctional facility in woodstock, illinois.

the -- large tents in brownsville, texas. the program for smile and 42,000 people who sought asylum to wait before they sought their court dates. hearings via video teleconference and lawyers reported -- reported multiple technical glitches. immigration courts are usually open to public but officials denied access to those there to observe. meanwhile, they say they face kidnapping and this -- and extortion as the government failed to provide promised to humanitarian aid. purdue pharma has reached a potential settlement with tribal governments over the company's role in fueling the u.s. opioid crisis after emerging details of purdue wouldt, personally pay $3 billion in cash plus another $1.5 billion

after the pending sale of the company was completed. purdue would declare bankruptcy and resolve after reforming. profits would be used to pay plaintiffs. some doubt to oppose the deal. josh superior said in a statement, this apparent settlement is a slap in the face to everyone who has had to bury a loved one due to this family's distraction and greed and it allows the familily to walk away billionaires and admit no wrongdoing. the pennsylvania attorney general said. president trump says the fda is poised to remove flavored e-cigarettes from the market. trump made the announcement in a oval office meetingng alex azar. president trump: we cannot allow people to get sick and cannot have our youth be so affected.

the first lady has got a son, together, a beautiful young man. she feels very strongly about it. she sees it, a lot of people are reading it, but people are dying from vaping. afterixision cocomes -- six people died after mysterious lung disease tied to vaping. warning a syrian and russian assault could create a catastrophe in the nearly eight-year-old conflict. u.s. led forces may have carried out war crimes in syria. released wednesday, the investigation found that during a u.s. led assault on isis, the international coalition forces failed to deploy the necessary cost --

precautions to discriminate adequately between military --ections and syrian forces may have committed war crimes by intentionally targeting civilian sites clinicng hospital and schools, farmlands, and markets. running for mayor in in colombia,- another candidate in the municipal elections has been killed. hernando orley garcia vasquez, who was running for mayor in the region of antioquia, was shot 13 times over the weekend in the city of medellin. this comes just weeks after mayoral candidate karina garcia was brutally murdered along with at least four others while campaigning in the cauca region. the skyrocketing violence triggered colombia's human rights ombudsman to warn earlier this week that more than half ththe country is at risk of violence related to the upcoming local elections. also in colombia, human rights activist yunier moreno was shot to death in his home in the rural region of caqueta sunday. two other indigenous women activists were also killed in recent days in the region of cauca.

republican lawmakers in north carolina voted wednesday to override governor r roy cooper's veto of the state budget, in a surprise vote that was rammed through with barely half of state representatives present. democrats say they were tricked by their republican colleagues, who promised there would be no votes during wednesday morning's session of north carolina's house of representatives, in order to allow lawmakers to attend 9/11 memorial services. as the vote was called, one of the few remaining democrats on the floor - state representative deb butler - led a protetest. >> how dear you do this, mr.'s bigger. i will not yield. i will not yield. amy: repepresentatative tlerer refusesed to yield the floor for several minutes - even as republicans ordered her crcropho cutut o, and d uniformed police ented the

house chbeber. the mease ultimaly p pasd onon a vote of -t-to-9,ith h 56 lawmers absent. last june,ovov. coer v vetd north calina's s budg, saying its republicanan authors s sougo ununderpay teachers, while rejecting federal dollars to expand the state's medicaid program. in a statement condemning wednesday's surprise vote, cooper accused republicans of exploiting the 9/11 anniversary for political purposes. >> on a day when tragedy united our country, we should be standing together despite party. --tead, republicans polled pulled their most deceptive stunt yet. amy: republicans hoping to override the governor's veto still need a supermajority in the state senate. the republican state representative who called the motion for wednesday morning's vote, jason saine, defended his actions, saying, quote, "as a former firefighter and an

american, i am appalled that anyone in our country would stop going about their normal business on this day. when we stop being a beacon of freedom, hope and democracy, then the terrorists win." in washington, d.c., families of passengers who died in the crash of ethiopian airlines flight 302 marked the six-month anniversary of the disaster by demanding the faa a deny boeing a recertification of its 737 max airliner. all 157 people aboard the ethiopian airlinines flight were killed after the plane's software put it into a dive that the pilolots were unable to recover from. the disaster followed another crash of a boeing 737 max plane less than five months earlier, which killed all 189 people aboard a lion air flight off the coast of indonesia. clariss moore, whose 24-year-old daughter danielle was killed in the ethiopian crash, joined a protest tuesday outside the transportation department's headquarters in washington, d.c.

>> we all got robbed. this is a preventable accident. this is not an accident. they should of ground the plane after the first crash. yet they took a late one of the most imporortant people in our lives. >> her great uncle is ralph nader and her grandmother is laura nader. and in mexico, renowned artist and activist francisco toledo died last thursday at his home in oaxaca city. he was 79 years old. toledo's artwork and activism drew global attention to the indigenous traditions of his home state of oaxaca in southern mexico -- one of the poorest regions of the country.

toledo, who was widely known as el maestro, the teacher, was a painter, photographer, sculptor and ceramist who tirelessly defended the authentic oaxacan indigenous traditions. his father was a zapotec shoemaker. in 2002, when mcdonald's announced plans to build a fast food restaurant in the nearly 500-year-old town square in the heart of oaxaca city, toledo threatened to protest naked at the site. instead, he led a march with hundreds of people chanting "tamales yes!" "hamburgers, no!" as he gave out free tamales. friend and filmmaker david riker mourned the loss of toledo. in a statement he said quote "in an age when celebrity has become an end in itself, toledo offered a radical alternative of what an artist can be. immensely successful, he never enriched himself. instead he donated everything he had to create free and open spaces throughout the city - art centers, libraries, and museums." and those are some of the

headlines.... this is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. >> welcome to our listeners and viewers throughout the country and around the world. we begin today's show looking at president trump's ousting of john bolton, his hawkish national security advisor. bloomberg is reporting bolton's firing came after he opposed a proposal to ease sanctions on iran and for trurump to possibly meet with iranian presidenent hassan r rouhani later this monh on the sidelines of the unitited nations general l assembly. bolton has long bebeen a fierce critic of diplomacy. he had strongly y backed trump's decision to pupull out of the in nuclear deal. he also opposed negotiations with north korea as well as the taliban in afghanistan. and he was a key supporter of the attempted u.s.backed coup in venezuela and an advocate of regime change inin cuba andd nicaragua. amy: on wednesday president trump made his first televised

remarks about bolton's ouster. he repeatedly criticized bolton's support for the 2003 invasion of iraq. president trump: john was not in line with what we were doing and in some cases, he thought what we were doing was to toss. esther tough guy. you have to go into iraq. that was something he felt very strongly about. we are in for over $7 trillion in the middle east. i don't say it was his decision. you had a president and other people also but he was very out there. we were set back very badly when john bolton talked but the libya model. and d he made a mistake. as soon as he mentioned the libyan model, what a disaster. take a look at what happened with gaddafi. he is using that to make a deal with north korea? i don't claim kim jong-un for what he said after that. do withd nothing to john bolton. that is not a question of being tough. it is a question o of being nott

smart toto say something like that.. amy: john bolton becomes the third national security adviser to be ousted by president trump so far. trump is expected to announced a replacacement next week.k. wewe are joined now by phyllis bennis, , fellow at the institue for policy s studies. she's written n several books, includuding most r recently "understanding the palestinian-israeli conflict: a primer." we thank you veryy much, phylli, for being with us. why don't you talk about john boltonon's role during the trump administration and before. >> one of the things about john bolton that is so crucially important is his consistent commitment to militarism. this man does not believe in diplomacy anywhere. he does not believe there are any international crises that other solved by anything than direct military intervention, whether it is bombing, hiss, op-ed in the wall street journal calling for a first strike against north korea, his consistent years of calling for bombining iran, his calls for

regime change in vast well a, most recently his oppositionn to evenen negotiating with the taliban in afghanistan, let alone a partial small-scale troop withdrawal. of af this is of a piece, consistent position that says america first t means america military first and only. so this has been a consistent pattern that helped to lead to the iraq war. it doesn't happen very often. presidident trtrump was right tw he described b bolton's role as not just a major cheerleader, but somebody who actually orchestrated some of the things that made possible the u.s. war in 202003. whoifically, it was bolton was the deputy secretary of state for arms control and disarmament affairs. thave the director

of the un's chemical weapons watchdog agency, the organization of chemical weapons, he arranged his firing on the basis that he was trying theet iraq to join anti-checal weapss ganinizaon so o would be obgateted have e en more dire insctions throughout the cotrtry tomprorove indeed that there w no chemal weapons programand instd of lowing tt to goorward to prent the ssibilitof war bolton got him fired so he could install someone who refused to allow it. he tried to do the same thing with the director of the u.n. nuclear w watchdog when he had e toerity to actually testify the security council that no, iraq did not have a viable nuclear weapons program. in response, bolton tried to get him fired but failed on that

account. he consistently worked around the administrations with one goal, the deploying of military force by the united states. not in thehe interest of nationbuilding, democratatizati. he does not even talk like a neocon in that sense. his goal i is purely military ad that has beeeen a consistent position. >> as you say, and there is ample evevidence, , as you outl, his positions were i know means a secret. why to you think trump appointed him in the first place? think the appointment had less to do with militarism then with the fact that he at spent a year or so on n fox news praisig president trumump. we know that is what motivates trump to want to bring p people into the administration, those

who praise him on tv. .hat is what bolton was doing secondly, we should be very clear that while there are differences between trump and bolton, trump is by no means opposed to u.s. military assaults. the notion that he was against the wawar in iraq is simply fal. the notion that he did not want to ever use military force, simply not true. he just had a different view on some of these specific issues that bolton had, and he has a very short memory, as we know. i think you'd either forgotten or did not care that in the past , there had been a consistent bolton pattern of calling for more military force them trump mighght have chosen n at any gin moment. in the case we see now, why was he ousted, i think it was primarily cumulative. there were specific events inin the e recent time, one of which was the negotiations with the taliban and, which bolton had

stronglyly opposed. he had wanted the u.s. to remain as a militant -- a major military power in afghanistan for the indefinite future. when these negotiations were underway particularly when the negotiations lookeked like they were succeeding after almost a year with bolton's former replacement in the united t there it looked like was agreement on what we might call step one of a process in afghanistan which would have outt the united states put most of us troops even though there is likely to be a continuing war. it would significantly lessen the number of civilian casualties in afghanistan that are primarily because of u.s. backed airstrikes. that was not going to be allowed to happen if john bolton had his way. so t that was one of the big pas of the impetus for the immediate

part we are now hearing there is also a possibility of negotiations underway with iran, talks between trump and president rouhani on the sideliness of the un's general assembly, which memeets in a couplele of weeks in new york, d i don't know of those reports are true, there are often these kinds of reports as ways of testing the waters to sesee what the response might b be, but certainly, the iranians hahave made clear that if there was an easing of sanctions s and not before, they are very eager for new talks with the united states and anyone else particularly with the former signatories of the iran nuclear deal. things were underway just in recent weeks. but i would say the overall decision of trump to get rid of his national security advisor had more to do with the consistency of these agreements and the fact that bolton had no compunctions about going on television and condemning his

boss or trumped is not like being upstaged on television. >> let's go back to november of 2015 or trump characterized as aagua and venezuela quote "troika of tyranny". >> it has finally met its match. this "troika of tyranny". terrore of tyranny and is the cause of human suffering. the impetus of enormous regioiol inststability in the genesesis a sorted cradle of communism in the western hemisphere. to presidentack trump speaking yesterday. president trump speaking yesterday. president trump: we will see what happens. i disagreed with john bolton on his attitudes and venezuela. i thought he was way out of line

and i think i have proven to be right. we are watching venezuela closely. expect a change in policy or is he very much representing what trump deals in the area? hise does pompeo fit, as nemesis is being talked about us possibly replacing him but remaining as secretary of state. the only time that was done with -- was with henry kissinger. phyllis: at the time the u.s. launched its massive escalation of sanctions against venezuela that have had a devastating impact on the people of venezuela, there was no question president trumump agreed and was eager to impose those sanctions. where he seems to have had a disagreement with alton --

bolton was how easy it might be .o carry out a u.s. backed coup attempted coup by quite go, the opposition leader who president trump had been very eager to recognize as the susupposedly legitimate leader of venezuela, it turned out of course that the so-called coup failed and did not get support from the military and venezuela and what we hear is bolton had promised trump in the language of what people promised president bush during the run-up to the war in iraq, that it will be a cakewalk, it will be easy, we can n do this without any probl. it turns out i it did not work. difficultiesle in remain very tough for that population and there are huge both to theallenges diminished support for the opposition and increasing opposition to the elected what weip of venezuela,

are now seeing is trump is singling out this one area where withd a disagreement bolton and implying somehow that was a disagreement on the entire range of venezuelan polilicies. i do not think we e can exexpeca serious transformation of that policy in the form of withdrawing crippling sanctions for instance. more likely we will see a stasis position, we will leave in place the sanctions in place now, we won't go any further towoward a mililitary coup or direct milily leaveention, but we will in place these very dramatically devastating sanctions that are having a crippling impact on the economy and venezuela. on pompeo, we seeing he has been very successful as secretary of state in anticipating the trajectory of where trump is likely to want to go and getting andahead of that position

then turning to his boss and saying, i think we should do x, hoping, and in most case, it seems like he has a good sense of what trump might want to do, trump says yes, let's go in that direction. pompeo does not seem to be basing his positions on any any sort ofible, consistent foreign policy, other than making his boss happy. in that context, though there are half a dozen people being touted as possibilities to replace olson as the national security advisor, it is possible trump might simply throw up his hands and say this guy seems ok and he likes me, i like him and he likes what i like, let's keep him around. that is a definite possibility. oflet's go to the question bolton's successor. the new york times said the

assident's naming of bolton national security advisor in 2018 was itself an instance of trump in chaos. trump wanted to pursue an end to hostilities in afghanistan and prove wary of conflict in iran and -- and venezuela yet he -- thinkss diplomacy, and bombing g north korea a and iras to neutralize their nuclear threat. meanwhile, democratic senator chris murphy said in a statement , "no one of any quality is going to take a job in the nation's national secururity as everyone'sg head is permanently hovering slightly above the chopping block. your assessment of f what has been said and who you think will actually replace bolton, and if it will make a difference? question, think the

it depends on how you define quality. if you define it as getting higher on the hierarchical ladders of foreign policy establishment, there are plenty of people who will do it. the acting national security advisor. this position will have very little power to we will see that with bolton. he had the president's and was able to get his ideas into trump's mind but on some of the key issues where there were these tactical disagreements, we did not see his position prevailing because while the title is national security advisor, for a president who does not take advice, that does not have a huge amount of influence. we should be very careful not to get into the assumption that trump somehow represents a diplomatically based foreign policy. trump is as scornful of

as bolton is. the difference is trump sees diplomacy as a way where he can promote himself as a great showman, a leader who has made possible all of these things no one else could poll off. "i stepped foot in north korea. i shook hands with the north korean leader." this is the kind of circus that he wants to be able to carry out. that w was the basis for wanting the taliban to come to camp david. it was not becauatiohe that he t talks could solve. thi very dramatic and world altering ceremony. this is very much a symbolic set of positions. i think what is true and what has been relatively consistent with trump is that he doesn't think it was worth it to deployed large -- to deploy

largee numbers abroad whwhen the is nothing politically for him or some he could claim for u.s. policy. the notion that he is somehow concerned about what happened to gaddafi, who was captured and tortured to death by opposition forces backed by nato and the united states, in a nato carriedention that was out somewhat reluctantly but regardrdless of that by presisit obamama at the behest and urging this was aclinton, horrific end to that regime. the notion that president trump was somehow concerned about what happened to gaddafi rather than u.s. credibility that again took a dive because it was seen by so many around the world as carrying out this absolutely illegal intervention and bombing peoplen in which so many

died and so many people continue to die in libya, creating an enormous set of humanitarian crises that included a refugee aisis, it just set in motion regigional disaster acacross the middle et.t. i don't think president trump is concerned about that. >> i ask you to stay with h us s we move our next subject. phyllis is a fellow at the institute of policy studies serving on the international , and has written several books. when we come back, benjamin netanyahu has failed to annex a third of the occupied west bank. phyllis is staying with us and we will be joined by the palestinian human rights attorney as s well. stay with us. ♪

♪ ♪ how my supposed to live without you ♪

singing "howbolton my supposed to live without you." condemnationdwide -- israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu is facing worldwide condemnation for vowing to annex nearly a third of the occupied west bank if he wins next week's snap election. the united nations, the arab league, the european union and russia have all criticized netanyahu's plan which he unveiled on tuesday. >> today i announce my intention to comply with israeli sovereignty on the jordan valley and northern dixie. nermeen: netanyahu''s pledge cae days israeli voters return to ththe polls on tuesday for new elections after netanyahu failed to form a coalition government following israel's april 9th election. netanyahu's annexation plan would crush hopes of an eventual palestinian state. longtime palestinian negotiator saeb erekat said the move would add to israel's long history of violating international law.

>> what prime minister netanyahu said tonight about asking people for a mandate enabled him to enact the jordan rally, it is paramount to the war crime. >> well for more we're joined by noura erakat, a palestinian human rights attorney and legal scholar. she is an assistant professor at rutgers university. her new book is titled, "justice for some: law and the question of palestine." and phyllis bennis is still with us. she is a fellolow at the instite fofor policy studies. she's written several books, including most recently "understanding the palestinian-israeli conflict: a primer." we welcome you both. let's go to you first in montreal. if you could just respond to what the prime minister, who knows how long he will be the prime minister -- said if he the thirdill and in of the west bank? request thank you for having me. it is important to point out as

you have that one third of the bank is the jordan valley. some of the richest sources of water in the west bank is sort -- including the jordan river basin and the dead sea as well as numerous springs. the world bank said if palestinians have access to these lands, it could be there breadbasasket increasing their agricultural yield by $1.6 million annually. about a rich area where palestinian farmers and palestinians cannot access for leisure, for livelihood, for home, and this is what is at stake. the other thing to point out is there is already de facto annexation and a lot of attention is being placed on netanyahu as he makes more bold and racist claims to his constituent base ahead of elections. it is important to know this is not about netanyahu. it is not even about the israeli riright. this is israeli policy. in the aftermath of the 1967 war, israel declared 67% of the

jordan valley as a closed military zone and build three military outposts in 1968 and under a labor government, built those into civilian settlements in the early 1970's. the israeli labor minister got along and declared the jordan valley would be part of israel's defensible borders. said it would be part of israel's final borders. it was under the peace process that 90% of the jordan valley came under full is really military control. what netanyahu is doing now is basically taking this awful policy, this study policy of removal ofonial palestinian and encroachment of palestinian lands to its logical end, which is to say, now it is just hours. it is really disingenuous and

dishonest to be angry with ---nyahu and his own claims his bold claims, and not be angry at the fact that u.s. foreign policy has steadily created this fact on the ground, said it won'tw rerecognize these moves and stil fails to apply sanctions in order to punish the policy in order to deter it. whether is no condemnation of one is paying attention to the fact that since 1967, the palestinian population of the jordan valley has been reduced from three hundred 20,000 in 1967 to 60,000 today. most of those 60,000 are concentrated in jericho, the palestinian -- in the jordan valley. this is unfortunate. it is also really disingenuous not to discuss it in the length

and context of what has been steady israeli policy and steady u.s. policy and international policy that has made it possible. there has already been de facto annexation. why or whatain netanyahu is proposing would definitively put an end to any possible two state solution and explain the geography, where the the northern and dead sea, where they fall within israeli bank and what formal annexation would mean for that area? >> absolutely are the jordan valley, 30% of the west bank is located on the eastern most board -- border of the palestine israel and borders the jordan river and the dead sea. which palestinians have not had access to peer what i mean i do

factor annexation is that since 1967, israel has declared that 67% of the area is a closed military zone pair palestinians cannot be on it. they cannot dig into water wells. they cannot have access to agriculture even for their own drinking purposes. thatt now, the settlers live there, approximately 11,000, have access to six times the water palestinians. israel has declared 26 nature preserves. they basically said these lands for naturereserve purposes, which means palestinians cannot be on those lands as they continue to build up settlements. settlements now in the jordan valley, 11,000 settlers, stand over one of the most productive settlement industries of agribusiness. that should be the object of campaigns. fact,atter of

palestinians cannot live there or go there. they cannot have livelihood. now's a matter of law, israel is telling the world, we will stop the sham. it will become a part of israel and make it on the ground and it will be a part of what we call thensible borders palestinians have to accept. under the peace process agreement, that is what the agreement is. israel has steadily -- steadily taken the land. the cousin is not regulated by any international law but is israel's'se u.s., primary ally, they can then establish that all of the land they take his there's, when they come back to the negotiating table, and they say palestinians must accept this or take nothing. this is a war crime and really disheartening, yes, this is horrible, but it is also the logical end of a policy we

have stood by and watched and instead of discussing this as settler colonial removal and apartheid and racial discrimination, we have discussed this as a question of sovereignty and negotiations in two states where the objective facts on the ground mean that there has not been a palestinian state and will not be a palestinian state. what israel has articulated in the plan, and now brought to fruition is that palestinians will be in semiautonomous regions where they can govern themselves and israel will control the rest of their lives around them. that is what we see. this year, the trump administration recognize sovereignty in a reversal of decades a few -- of policy in defiance of international law, netanyahu later unveiled plans to build a new settlement named trump heighthts in the area to thank president trump for his decision and then during a televised address in may, netanyahu held up an updated

state department map of israel signed by president trump. next to the map, the word "nice" was written with an arrow pointing to the golan heights shown as part of israel. netanyahu said the map was a gift from trump's son-in-law and senior adviser jared kushner. israel annexed the golan heights in 1981 after capturing the territory from syria during the 1967 war. if you couldld respond to the significance of all of t this? up.'m glad you brought that here we have the jordan valley, a legal fiction that there is no sovereignty and used its legal strategies in order to basically say they could negotiate and use the peace process in alliance with the u.s. to take palestinian lands. steadily and shortly, to fulfill a greater vision with israel. there is no controversy over the fact that the syrian -- this is syrian sovereign territory. there is no controversy over the fact this should be returned to syria.

we saw israel declare its sovereignty blatantly in contradiction of international opinion, international law, a clear war -- were crime. nothing to be discussed. despite all of the law on the side of international communities, including articles of state responsibility, which puts the responsibility on thihd state parties in order to react to this egregious maneuver, nothing has been done. done besideseen nonrecognition, which should tell us that much of what is going on in the region from the international community and not just from the trump administration and decades of u.s. administrations, is a lot of theater and political theater around the middle east, but very little political will to act. right now, there should be political will to act, impose sanctions, to support what cut the vestments and sanctions, and when netanyahu caven 2011 to sabotage obama's pauses iran deal, he also said he was going

to keep the jordan valley and congress gave him 27 standing ovations. now congress, which continues the legacy of being part of the problem, is proposing a bill that would criminalize nonviolent protests in the united states, rather than reverse this course and actually hold israel to account. we can anticipate in the political theater of what israel and netanyahu is doing andd promising to his base and have discussions about kushner and but this is all a distraction. ththe facts on the ground are tt pol -- palestinians are living in segregation on reservations. they cannot even axis the dead sea for leisure. can you imagine living near the dead sea, which people from all over the world travel to, and you cannot access it because you are palestinian? you cannot float in the water because you are palestinian. we are talking about and

apartheid system that we are not addressing. finally, i wanted to get a quick comment f from you on the snap election comingng up, lieutenant general versus netanyahu and the fact that the white house has just announced that the new middle east peace envoy will be 30-year-old white house administrative assessment -- assistant berkowitz. , trump'slacing jason friend real estate lawyer. what did former white house spokesperson hope hicks, berkowitz'sescribed duties as? correlatingee and meetings. as we wrap up the significance of all of this. think that point is very important. who is playing the role is very important -- not as important. a was educated partly at

right-wing yeshiva in israel. this is a consistent piece. the more important point from what normal was talking about in terms of changes afoot in the united states where there are possibilities now, not yet congress but the shift in public discourse and media discourse about the question of palestinian rights, is a massive shift underway. things may become possible in the future. what has been different with president trump in office, the blatant nature of his recognition, no one before was willing to say the u.s. recognizes or does not mind the u.s. of that pine. his official recognition of it did bring expressions of opposition. that gives us a way in to build that challenge, to build the movements for palestinian rights in this country, that says it is not ok for the u.s. to remain as

the enabler of this kind of settler colonialism, the kind of apartheid and occupation that the u.s. has indeed supported all these years. a is differerent when you havee u.s. official position recognizing jerusalem as the sole capital of israel. that will be much harder for future presidents toto reverse. it doeoebecome impmportant whent is official. it also means there are morere people willing to say, wait a minute, this is not ok. it was all right that we stayed while the expulsion of palestinians from their land continues. when we do it officially, we have to stand up and say no, that is not ok. this isn't a moment of opportunity. the elections are not likely to change very much. the former general whose campaign was based on a helicopter trip over devastated gaza in 2014, where he commanded the troops that were responsible

for the deaths of 2200 palestinians in that 50 day attack, that is the basis of his campaign. he is no peacenik runnnning against netanyahu. ant it does give us opportunity here in the united states to change the congressional and political calculus as they become forced to realize congress that they are voters, their base, their constituents, are massively changing. amy: thank you both for beining with us. when we come back, we look at the growing water crisis with thousands remain unable to drink have water due to let contaminations. stay with us. lead contaminanations. stay with us. ♪

true love wilill find you in the end you'll find out just who was your friend don't be sad, i know you will. but don't give up until true love will find you in the end ♪ now ands is democracy i'm amy goodman. nermeen: we end today's show with the water crisis in newark, new jersey, where thousands of residents remain unable to drink their tap water in an enduring public health nightmare. lead contamination has plagued the city for years, but lead levels have spiked even higher in 2019.

the crisis recently came to a head following revelations that water filters distributed to residents may not have been effefective. the news came in august, when the environmental protection agency ordered newark officials to distribute bottled water to 15,000 residenents, saying water filters were not fully shielding thousands of homes from lead exposure. newark residents waiteted in lie for hours to receive their water. the city then stopped handing out the bottles after discovering many of them had exceeded their best-by date. this is newark mayor ras baraka at a news conference last month. -- the water crisis primarily affects its poor and black community. 113% -- 3.8% of the states children living there. joined here in new york by a teacher at new york's central -- for more, we're joined here in our new

york studio by yvette jordan, teacher at newark's central high school and resident of newark's south ward. she started a group called newark education workers --or new -- caucus in 2012 with other educators to teach studentss about socialal justice. and, in chicago, illinois we''re joined by erik olson, a top official at the natural resources defense council, which filed a lawsuit against newark over the summer, accusing it of violating federal safe drinking water laws. we want to thank you both for being with us. lay out the issue in newark right now. >> basically what we have is a public health crisis in newark. the lead levels in the jury he water in newark are some of the highest in the country. that have been reported in recent years in the city. basically what is happening is bottled water is being distributed to some citizens in newark because the soldiers didn't look like they were working. more tests going on to figure out why that is the case. but we have got a lot of people across the city, especially children, who are really put at risk. best estimates from 2017 are that at least 700 kids in newark have an elevated blood levels -- lead levels.

we do not know how much is from drinking water the bottom-line as we have real health risks in newark and need to fix the problem in the city has been pretty slow to getting around to taking action on it. amy: what is astounding about all of this is flint. the country has been going through this for years. .he flint water poisoned you are a teacher at central high. the principal of central high is now the mayor. can you explain when you first learned that the water is lead contaminated and what you feel now needs to happen? how you are told and how the story has changed? >> initially, in february of 2018, new caucus, which is newark education workers caucus.

plaintiff in the federal lawsuit. they approached us and said i do not know if you are aware that there is lead in the water in newark. areactually, your numbers rivaling f flint. when we heard this, we were taken aback and extremely flabbergasted. ande said we had no idea they said, we are looking for a plaintiff and will you serve as this? as educators, we said absolutely. we w were concerned about our students and residents of the city of newark in general and i am a homeowner so i was really concerned. eventually, i had my home tested. almost three times the federal action level. once we said we are filing, the mayor said everything is fine

and there is no problem. we were concerned about that even though data showed there is one. after the lawsuit was filed in he was still pushing back and saying it is not a problem. octoberly acquiesced in of 2018 and said ok, we will hand out filters. not filters for everybody. concern.as a also, as. alluded to, we are really concerned about pregnant .omen and children under six we're still concerned about that. filters, only to filters, seemingly failed, and the mayor saiaid ok, we are goig to now handout bottled water, only because there was an onslaught of attention and

everyone is saying what is going on, some people are getting the water now. misinformationof and how it is mananaged is realy still an a area of concern. it is an area of concern for myself as an individual, as from new caucus, newark, water coalition is extremely involved. i saw footage earlier from the protest. you talk about specifically pregnant women and children under six? ?hat are the effects of lead eric is the expert and he can address that. an educator, i'm concerned about cognitive issues in the classroom. i see that everyday. what you are demanding of the city?

make surete action to every citizen in newark has safe drinking water, titled water for people at risk and filters if those workout. treat thethey have to water so that it does not corrode the lead pipes and cause contamination.