05/18/21 05/18/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> what israel is doing is a continuation of the green light from washington to continue oppressing and killing palestinians with impunity. amy: the israeli human rights group b'tselem is accusing israel of committing war crimes in its assault on gaza, which has killed at least 213 palestinians, including 61 children.

we will speak with the head of b'tselem,, plus speak to two palestinian doctors about how israel is destroying gaza's public health system, from bombing it's only covid-19 lab to killing doctors. plus, as palestinians across israel, gaza, and the west bank stage a general strike, we will eak to a palestinian activist in the israeli city of haifa. >> palestinians in palestine have been going through -- hundreds of casuaies. for the first time, paleinian houses andpartmes are being marked in cities in israel. very, very dangerous and the world needs to hear about it. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

the death toll in gaza has reached 213 as israel continues to attack the besieged territory by air, land, and sea using u.s.-made warplanes and u. -made bombs. health officials in gaza say the dead include 61 children and 36 women. over 1400 palestinians have been injured. other are internally displaced 58,000 and facing shortages of food, medicine, and supplies. on sunday, six-year-old suzy eshkuntana was pulled from the rubble of her gaza city home after an airstrike killed her mother andll four of her siblings. her father riyad was the only other member of her family to survive. >> i ran to check on the girls. we took the girls out of the room and then a second airstrike at the room. i could feel the ceilings wer destroyed and i was left under the rubble. the last moment, i saw my wife.

she threw herself on the floor and concrete fell on her head. amy: an israeli airstrike monday damaged the office of qatar's red crescent. another strike damaged the only covid-19 testing laboratory in gaza. meanwhile, a clinic run by doctors without borders was hit by an israeli strike on sunday. the world health organization reports israeli attacks have damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics in gaza. meanwhile, the white house said president biden expressed his support for a ceasefire during a phone call monday with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, but biden did not directly demand israel halt its assault. biden faces pressure from over two dozen democratic senators who are calling for a ceasefire. meanwhile, minnesota democratic congressmember ilhan omar is demanding the biden administration halt a planned arms sale to israel, writing -- "it would be appalling for the biden administration to go through with $735 million in

precision-guided weaponry to netanyahu without any strings attached in the wake of escalating violence and attacks on civilians." after headlines, we'll go to gaza for the latest and spend the rest of the hour on the crisis. in ethiopia, cnn reports eritrean troops disguised as ethiopian soldiers are blocking critical aid from reaching starving populations in the conflict-torn tigray region. the world health organization says almost 5 million people in tigray are in need of humanitarian aid, with severe and acute malnutrition becoming rampant. some have already died of hunger and there are reports of indiscriminate killings and widespread sexual violence by combatants. over the weekend, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken called on the governments of ethiopia and eritrea to stop blocking humanitarian access to the region. in india, at least 21 people are dead and nearly 100 others missing after the most powerful

tropical cyclone ever to hit western india made landfall late monday. the storm pummeled gujarat state with the force of a category 3 hurricane, compounding india's coronavirus catastrophe. 200,000 people evacuated ahead of the storm, including hundreds of covid-19 patients, and vaccination sites were forced to close. this came as india reported more than 4300 covid-19 deaths tuesday, making it the deadliest day of the pandemic for any country. in the united states, a weekly average of coronavirus deaths has fallen to its lowest level in 14 months, while hospitalizations and new cases continue to decline. nearly half of all u.s. residents have received at least one dose of a covid-19 vaccine, though the pace of inoculations continues to fall with vaccine supplies outpacing demand. on monday, president biden said the u.s. would send at least 20 million vaccine doses to other nations by the end of june.

pres. biden: we will share these vaccines everywhere. we will not use our vaccines to secure favors from other countries. amy: 20 million doses represents a small fraction of what's needed to vaccinate most of the world's 7.8 billion people. fewer than 5% of asia's population and about 1% of africans have been vaccinated. on monday, world health organization director-general dr. tedros adhanom ghebreyesus blasted the growing gap between rich and poor naons as vaccine apartheid. >> vaccine apartheid. high income countries account for 15% of the world population, but have 45% of the rules vaccines. amy: the u.s. supreme court agreed monday to hear a challenge to a mississippi law banning nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, even in cases of rape or incest. it's the first time that trump-appointed justices amy coney barrett, brett kavanaugh,

and neil gorsuch will preside over a major challenge to the court's landmark 1973 ruling roe v. wade. oral arguments are set for the next term, which starts in october. a ruling is expected next year stacfox of pnned parenthood southeast advocates said in a statement -- "we knew the day would come when that dangerous legislation would not only threaten the health, lives, and freedoms of mississippians, but the entire country. that day is finally here." in new york on the federal trial against environmental and human rights lawyer steve danziger wrapped up without a single witness after dismissing the trial as a charade. he has been on house arrest for over 600 days and allegations of contempt of court after he refused to turn over his computer and cell phone. the case stems from chevron's unprecedented legal campaign against danziger over his role in winning an $18 million

settlement on behalf of 30,000 amazonian and indigenous people who suffer the effects of toxic waste from chevron's oil drilling in the amazon. in an unusual legal twist, the judge appointed a private law firm with ties to chevron to prosecute danziger after federal prosecutors declined to bring charges. steve danziger spo to reporters ahead of the trials close. >> chevron witsses admitted they had multiple meetings with the private corporate prosecutors from a chevron law firm to help them prepare the public prosecution of me an -- in an effort to convict me. this is a process structurally designed to favor chevron and to trample on my duprocess rights. i cannot get a fair trial.

amy: a verdict is expected in june. to see our full interview, go to democracynow.org. in arizona, republican leaders in maricopa county are demanding an end to the gop-ordered vote recount in the 2020 presidential election results, calling it a mockery and a grift disguised as an audit. last month, arizona state senate republicans used their subpoena power to take possession of 2.1 million ballots, ballot-counting machines, and computer hard drives in maricopa county -- arizona's most populous region. the recount is being overseen by cyber ninjas, a company with no record of working in election security. the company's ceo has espoused conspiracy theories claiming the election was stolen from former president trump. this is maricopa county board of supervisors chair jack sellers speaking monday. >> this board is done explaining anything to these people who are

playing investigator with our constituents, balance, and equipment paid for with real people's tax dollars. people's ballots and money are not make-believe. it is time to be done with this laziness and get on with our counties critical business. amy: in immigration news, a new report by the american civil liberties union says immigration and customs enforcement, or ice, did close to nothing to prevent covid-19 outbreaks inside immigrant jails and has even concealed the number of people in its custody hospitalized during the pandemic. a total of over 14,000 people have tested positive for covid-19 while in ice custody. officially, nine people have died of covid in ice jails, but several others died shortly after their release. this comes as over 20,000 immigrants are currently jailed by ice -- a jump from just under 15,000 people at the end of the trump administration. in a letter signed by more than

30 house democrats, congressmember alexandria ocasio-cortez writes -- "we are in a moment of racial reckoning in this country, with communities across the country calling for an end to mass incarceration and racist policing. it is time to end the carceral approach to immigration, which relies on these same flawed systems." spanish authorities have apprehended about rugees wh 5000 swam from morocco tthe spanish enclave of ceuta monday. among them were about 1500 children. a spanish government spokesperson said one person died in the attempt. meanwhile, the german humanitarian aid group sea eye says its rescued at least 330 refugees in recent days as they attempted the perilous journey to flee poverty and violence in their homelands. and in el salvador, transgender leaders took to the streets of the capital san salvador monday to mark the internatiol day against transphobia, biphobia, and homophobia, and to demand

the salvadoran government enact protections for the trans community. this is trans activist britany garcia. >> we are marching to demand the legislative assembly debate and crew the law and gender identity. it is about a change of name and gender in identification. trans people don't exist in el salvador. amy: el salvador, as well as neighboring guatemala and honduras, are among the most violent countries for trans and all lgbtq people. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman in new york, with my co-host juan gonzalez in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: the death toll in gaza has reached 213 as israel continues to attack the besieged area by

air, land, and sea using u.s.-made warplanes and u.s. made bombs. health officials in gaza say the dead include 61 children and 36 women. over 1400 palestinians have been injured. the united nations has 58,000 palestinians have been displaced. meanwhile, the death toll in israel stands at 11 from rocket attacks fired from gaza. palestinians across gaza, the west bank, and israel are staging a general strike today. and at west bank, rubber bullets have been fired at protesters in bethlehem. on monday, president biden expressed his support for a ceasefire during a phone call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. but biden stopped short of directly demanding israel halt its assault despite growing pressure from congress where overwo dozen democratic senars have baed an immediate ceasefire. after biden's call, israel continued its attack on gaza, which hanow ented its ninth

day. at the united nations, the united states once again blocked the u.n. security council from backing a ceasefire. israel is the largest recipient of u. military aid, receiving some 3.8 billion a year. in recent weeks, the biden administration approved the sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to israel. house foreign affairs committee chair gregory meeks is expected to ask the biden admintration to be delayed to give lawmakers more time to review it. israel has relied heavily on u.s.-made weapons during its assault. israel reportedly used a gbu-31 bomb made by lockheed martin to bring down a high rise building on saturday, which housed the offices of the associated press -- any media outlets including the associated pre and al jazeer isra is also facing increang criticism for targeting doctors and health clinics. on monday, an israeli strike

damaged the only covid-19 laboratory in gaza. on sunday, a massive israeli air strike killed dr. ayman abu al-ouf who headed the coronavirus response at shifa hospital, gaza's largest hospital. he and two of his teenage children died in an israeli airstrike on a residential area of gaza city that killed a total of 30 people. another prominent doctor from shifa hospital, mooein ahmad al-aloul, one of the only neurologists in gaza, was killed in an airstrike on his home. israel has also bombed many of the roads leading to shifa hospital, making it hard for ambulances to bring patients. according to the world health organization, israeli strikes and shelling have damaged at least 18 hospitals and clinics. we are joined now by two palestinian doctors. joining us from the west bank city of ramallah is dr. mustafa barghouti. he is a member of the palestinian parliament and head of the palestinian medical relief society who has been

leading efforts to manage the pandemic in the west bank and gaza. and in gaza, we are joined by dr. rasha. to protect her safety, dr. rasha has asked we only use her first name and not show her face. dr. rasha, let's begin with you. you are at ground zero in gaza. he knew the doctors who were killed. can you start off by describing the situation on the ground? close yes. hello and thank you for allowing me to speak about gaza. the humanitarian aspects [indiscernible] and as a mother. [indiscernible]

there is no single part of the city that is not targeted. people walking, on bikes, motorbikes, their car -- there is no part of the city that is not targeted. it makes it difficulfor t ambulance which are going to the hospital. the entry to the shifa hospital, the roads leading to the hospital have be destroyed.

[indiscernible] there is no electricity. electricity is only two to three hours a day. we are using generators and there is not enough fuel for some generators now there is no electricity. we have little access to internet. it prevents us from talking. the schools, the factories commit ministry buildings, including the clinics, have been targeted.

[indiscernible] as you mtion, two doctors have been killed. it was a nightmare. i remember the night very well. he lived close to shifa hospital . we used to say he was living in the hospital because whenever you went to the hospital, he was there. he was a very committed person. he was my teacher. he was a member of the community. he was training medical school doctors. he is a big loss in gaza.

i cannot imagine he has been killed. it is a nightmare. i remember that night. around four clock a.m. -- 4:00 a.m. [indiscernible] i said, don't say that. he had been killed. his children and his wife and father -- early in the morning. he is skilled. -- he is killed. no news about whether his family is alive.

we're hoping anyone in his family survived. unfortunately, we know no one from his family survived. it is a huge loss to humanity and the medical field in gaza. [indiscernible] killed in the same strike. it is awful. there is no alarm as they claim. most of the time they are not sending alarms. including a refugee camp.

they tarted aome. many people from one family were killed. it was -- i can't imagine as a mother [indiscernible] who will take care of him, how he will think about the future -- [indiscernible] keep them with my children, my home. juan: dr. rasha, my condolences to you and your colleagues for the death of dr. ayman abu al-ouf and the terrible destruction. other medical facilities he been hit as well. doctors without borders said on

sunday there was an israeli missile that struck a clinic they were running. is it your sense the medical facilities are being targeted by the israelis? >> yeah, i think it starts to be into targeted. it is intentionally targeted. [indiscernible] even the roads going to the clinic have been completely destructed. i think it was targeted because to increase -- the already

overwhelmed health care system. [indiscernible] the health care system will be overwhelmed, which is already limited. the streets leading to the hospital have been targeted. [indiscernible] killed and burned the hospital during this target -- killed in front of the hospital during this target. this is a crime they should be accountable for. juan: and the main clinic

responsible for covid care and that laboratory doing testing work struck? gaza was already facing huge problem as the rest of the world, even worse than other parts of the world in terms of the pandemic. how have you been able to manage in this situation? >> actually, it was almost complete lockdown in a gaza. the health care system was overwhelmed. my friends working in the icu ward [indiscernible] to control the pandemic. there is one central level in

gaza -- lab in gaza and it was targeted. [indiscernible] no one knows thectual number of cases. the minister of health [indiscernible]

humanitarian and health care disaster. [indiscernible] amy: dr. rasha, thank you for being with us. please, stay safe. palestinian internal medicine physician working in gaza. as we turn now to the west bank to another doctor, dr. mustafa barghouti, position, member of the palestinian parliament, and head of the palestinian medical relief society who has been leading efforts to manage the pandemic in the west bank and gaza. when we last spoke to you, dr.

barghouti, you had covid-19. more recently, were at the mosque when the israeli forces began their raid. you have said palestinian first responders were attacked and beaten as they tried to help the wounded. if you can talk about just what juan asked dr. dr. rasha when it comes to covid but the attacking of the medical facilities, the killings of the doctors, and the significance of all this -- of course, you are a figure as well. benjamin netanyahu, the prime minister, says they will not stop the bombing. >> thank you for hosting me. let me say what we see inaza,

especially the loss of our colleagues in the hospital. but what is happening is in active genocide. it is not just barbaric attack on the civilian population. the reality, netanyahu has failed drastically. he does not have military success. does not even have military targets. this made and the government is using palestinian's blood to stay in power. he is doing anything to keep his seat. what is happening in gaza is totally unacceptable. by the way, the 230 people killed coming into and 25 palestinians also killed in the west bank during the last week. there are 1400 serious injuries but also 3000 injured in the west bank.

while we are talking, the army is still shooting people. some of them are at high risk because they were struck with high velocity bullets. what happened in gaza, very important to mention the israeli army eliminated 14 families completely. i mean, they killed a grandfather, grandmother, father, mother, and all the children. 14 families have been eliminated. this is a horrible. out of these 14 familiesone child oy is alive. a two-month-old child who lost nine others and sisters as well as mother and father. what future is going to be for this chi? this is what worries me most. the other thing i want to mention, besides bombardment and construction -- there is no

justification whatsoever for destroying the high-rise buildings which are american-made. there's no justification of shooting people's homes and destroying them completely while people are asleep. knowing the civilians do not have equipment. knowing gaza has been under destruction for 15 years. the civil defense goes back to 1996. not only are people stuck -- imagine the feeling of a person who is the voice of a child, mother or a man under the rubble, and you cannot reach out to him and he suffocates to death? this is the worst that can happen. in other countries an earthquake happens, other countries rushed to help. what do we have from other countries today except state was that israel has the right to

defend itself? defend itself? it is occupying this. it is the entity that is practicing apartheid against the palestinian people. you cannot even -- they're favoring israel. let me tell you something about what is happening in gaza. the mothers and fathers and colleagues there working on the ground, the worst thing is the psychological threat against the children. environment after bombardment the whole night. what you see in gaza gives the palestinian population, especially gives the children from the psychological terror. i call it psychological terror against the people. while we were busy trying to stop the covid-19 epidemic, and

the ratio of infection is 70% meaning out of every 100 test you do, give a case of covenant in. that means you have community in danger. now we cannot do anything because tests cannot be done, vaccines are not available, what i call vaccination apartheid is the palestinian people. they give nothing to the palestinians. now gaza has a shortage of vaccines and cannot provide the vaccines even the ones they have because i blocking of health care because of the environment. now ey have lost the lab that tests for covid-19. our teams that are present everywhere in gaza have to shift from dealing with covid-19 to providing care to the injured

people who cannot stay in hospital because of the number of injurieand they have to be treated at home. we have to go treat the injured. go to the unwra schools were 45,000 people have been displaced from their homes. they need like, food, water. they need everything. it a comnation of problems. because of this terrible massacre the israelis -- there is no justification. we had peaceful worshipers who were just praying in the mosque. i was there. i saw them attacking not only the wohipers, they even attacked the first providers. we had 1000 israelis in jerusalem because of attacks.

six have lost their eyes because of injuries. on top of that, they want to ethnically cleanse the sheikh jarrah area. 500 people, several families in sheikh jarrah who have been there since the 1950's. these families -- they were ethnically cleansed in 1948 by israel. people came from was jerusalem because the israeli army forced them out and now they come to their home and want to evict them one more time and as negley cleanse them -- ethnically cleanse them to replace them with illegal settlers were supported by the state government. this is the worst system of apartheid. not only military occupation, this is a combination of occupation, settler colonial system, and the worst kind of

apartheid that humanity has ever seen. much worse than the apartheid in south africa at one point in time. and this has to stop. that is why i am very proud to say that today the palestinian people, all the palestinian people, people and in the west bank and gaza, people in the diaspora -- all palestinians for the first time maybe since 1948 are all unified and united in one struggle to end occupation, suffering from the system of apartheid that has lasted longer. unified people who in my opinion are going way had of their leaders and their leaders must understand this is a time for

unity and joint struggle for all palestinians. amy: dr. barghouti, i want to ask you about the role of the united states and also the other arab states before this renewed crisis here, especially the bombing -- the destruction of the high-rise were the associated press come al jazeera, and other news organizations were. secretary of state blinken of the united states said yesterday he has no evidence, see no evidence that this was being used by hamas in the israeli government continues to say it was. the administration says nothing about the attacks on the press that have resulted here. i am wondering your sense of where the biden administration is right now and what it be doing? also, the deafening silence from the other arab states at this time? >> first of all, let me say of

course anything after 12 looks better. -- after 12 looks at her. trump was the worst ever, worst president anywhere in the world. that man tries to completely liquidate the palestinian issue. the biden administration is not doing much better. this commitment to the alliance with israel and this -- it is unacceptable. i do not understand mr. blinken and mr. biden talking about israel's right to defend itself does not mention a word about the right of palestinians to resist apartheid and to defend itself as well. this symmetry, behavior come is

encouraging. i don't understand why the united states three times blocked the possibility of a resolution by the security council. why? just because israel wants it. we do not understand how the administration find an agreement about sending more bombs to israelmore rockets to israel, why it is committing war crimes against the palestinian people. what is happening in gaza is nothing more than a war crime, a crime against humanity. we do not understand why biden does not listen to the good people in the democratic party like ilhan omar and bernie sanders who are saying enough is enough. why should the united states continue to protect occupation? why should they continue to protect the system of apartheid?

this is totally unacceptable. this has to change. it shocked us mr. biden has changed the policy on many issues, has liberated the american administration that trump put them in regarding role organizations, environment, relationship to european countries but when it comes to palestine, [indiscernible] the even praise the normalization agreements which are misleading and -- this has to change. the united states has to stop doing that and has to be fair they have to accept our right as palestinians to be free, free from occupation and from the system of israeli apartheid. this will be good for everyone, not just palestinians. regarding erb countries, we are

not happy and we are disappointed because up to now, the arab countries are not doing what they should do. we're not asking them to fight israel, we are asking them to stop having normalizations with this system of apartheid and occupation. to cut the relationship with israel stop this oppression of the palestinian people. we think they should do much more. of course, we cannot put them -- some countries are doing a good job and others are not doing enough. i know one thingome the people of the arab world are on the side of the palestinian people. that is what we have seen in huge demonstrations. hundreds of thousands in yemen and iraq and tunisia and so many others, and most important in jordan where people tried to reach us. i think there is a great discrepancy, great difference

between the peoples of this country and the positions of the government. amy: dr. mustafa barghouti, thank you for being with us, physician, member of the palestinian parliament, and head of the palestinian medical releases that, speaking to us from the west bank. next up, the leader of b'tselem. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as the death toll tops 213, b'tselem is accusing israel of committing war crimes by killing blockaded civilians and destroying infrastructure on a massive scale. on monday, i got a chance to speak with hagai el-ad in jerusalem. he is the executive director of the human rights group b'tselem. earlier this year, b'tselem released a landmark report denouncing israel as an "apartheid regime." i began by asking hagai el-ad to respond to what's taking place now in israel and the occupied territories. >> is difficult to count. 2008, 2 thousand 9, 2020, then 2014, and now 2021 stop we're at the beginning of week two of this assault and i think we should all be reminded th back in 2014, 7 years ago, the

minister of operation some seven weeks with more than 2000 patel tallies in gaza, more than 500 were children. this is already horrific but we should also bear in mind it has gotten much worse in the past -- god for bid this would be allowed to continue in the way it has been allowed to continue in the past. amy: where is israeli society on this? the israeli-jewish community at this point? >> first receiving domestic media, very different view than what people are experiencing in gaza and what people are seeing around the world. military censorship -- reporting on hamas rockets attacking israeli civilians as they should

report on that, but very reporting about the situation in gaza. from the -- this is not new. it is been one-sided reporting domestically by the media, must a limit israeli tv, also on the previous israeli assault. it is a story of israel under attack and almost never a story about the situation in the gaza strip. amy: talk about why you're saying israel is guilty of war crimes right now. >> we are saying that because that is the way it is. i feel almost embarrassed to try and quote the relevant aspects of international law that are meant to protect civilians and times of war and to talk about distinction personality, t two key principles of international law.

they seem to cmble in israeli stragies of the way the israel i army is using military force in the gaza strip again and again and again and again. this is not new. we have seen this before with horrific consequences. we have seen war crimes in previous military assault on gaza. in fact, the impunity of their previous times in which work crimes were committed is what has paved the way for the continuation of more such crimes being committed post for instance, if one thinks for a second about attacks on wiping out residential tower, apartment buildings in the gaza strip where in a second dozens of families lose their homes, how can that a military target? how is the consistent with the principle of distinction?

the army then explains there has does there is an hamas office. if that is the case and provide convincing evidence that is indeed the case but let's assume for a second it is come how is that attack proportional? the numbers add up. the numbers in terms of fatalities, some 200 already, many children commit in terms of injuries, numbers in terms of destruction, numbers in terms of people that have to flee from one part of the gaza strip to another part of the gaza strip, talking about tens of thousands of people. but what we have seen in the previous assault, sometimes people fled from one part of the strip to another and have been killed by an israeli strike at the point they fled to because nowhere in the gaza strip is really safe from the israeli

shelling that is the context of what we are saying, what has unfolded in the past, and what is continued to unfold in front of our eyes. amy: i want to turn to prime minister netanyahu. after speaking to president biden on saturday, he vowed israel would continue to strike gaza as long as necessary. >> we will continue to act with full force. we're hitting the terrorist organization with crushing blows who have let the fire. but unlike hamas, which deliberately intends to harm civilians, we are doing everything to avoid or limit as much as possible, harming civilians and to directly strike terrorists instead. israel has responded forcefully to these attacks and we will continue to respond forcefully. amy: that is the indicted now on

trial for corruption prime minister of israel benjamin netanyahu. hagai el-ad, your response? >> is outrageous propaganda that was used in the past to try to whitewash work crimes against a defenseless civilian population and blockaded the gaza strip. it is painful to speak from this experience, but we can already project the way the israeli army and legal system in the future if they have to try and explain away what has happened. think about some of the most horrific incidents of the current assault on gaza, the bombing of a number of homes with more than 40 fatalities and they are still digging under the rubble and perhaps that horrific number will continue to rise.

the army eventually is going to say if they will have to is that this has been a legal assault because it was a military target and they did not know some of the aspects of the expected collateral damage so they would say it follows distinction and proportionality because they did not know. you have to ask yourself is that acceptable? i want to answer, that is acceptable because we have seen that dozens of times before. on the one hand, they like to talk about surgical strikes based on meticulous intelligence gathering with the utmost effort to protect civilians. and then there was a, regretfully, we did not know. we did not know that families were sheltering in the building. we did not know the building would collapse. we did not know there was a coffee shop next door was to we

did not know, we did not know. well it was legal, entire family was wiped out or three families were wiped out. 10 children are dead as a result. it is unacceptable that they would continue like copy/paste format making these statements that are trying to explain away these war crimes. this is not unprecedented. this could happen, should have been anticipated. you use the same military strategy that you have used before, dropping these kinds of bombs in the heart of populated neighborhoods, then these are the outcomes. these outcomes should have been dissipated. and because of that, these excuses by israel simply unacceptable. amy: that is hagai el-ad in

jerusalem, director of b'tselem. to see the flow interview, go to democracynow.org. we also have a link to his "washington post" piece "israel titled "israel has chosen a two-tiered society. violence is the inevitable result." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. as the israeli bombing of gaza continues through the ninth i, palestinians across the occupied west bank, gaza, inside israel are staging historic general strike. from where we go to haifa in israel to speak with rami younis, palestinian journalist and activist who is originally from the city of lyd. if you can talk about the general significance of this strike and talk about you being from lyd. the mob violence, the attacks on palestinians taking place right now? the strike is an historical event for the first time since 1936, 12 years before the nakb, for the first time ever we are striking from the river to the sea. what is happening right now, every thing started a few weeks ago with a popular uprising.

you see youth demonstrating everywhere in palestine. offer jerusalem, all for sheikh jarrah. these were countered by a lot of police brutality itantly and resulting in the violent clashes that then turn into basically palestinians defending themselves every night against attacks by israeli settlers and police. let me describe lyd lyd what is happening in. lyd, i hometown was a posting city occupied in 1948. now -- what happened in the mixed city, 15 years ago when they evicted those settlers from gaza, they move them into lyd. the settlers moved into lyd with a clear goal of judaizing the city, meaning jewish supremacists were removed from

gaza, went into -- lyd is only 10 minutes from tel aviv, five minutes from the airport. they started judaizing the place. started building their own settlements and moving into palestinian neighborhoods. we have been seeing a rise in houston relations for policy and people in the past 15 years. the average of houses being demolished a year is somewhere between 10 to 15 houses. before the settlers moved into lyd, only two or three houses a year got demolished. the demolitions, because 80% of the people live there, the houses were built without a building permit because the authorities will not issue one. they can come later, music as a way to punish -- and use it as a way to punish the population. with all of this teaching and background, palestinians, especially the young people

under the age of 20, started demonstrating. when they were encountered by the brutal israeli police closed up the israeli right-wingers started attacking them and shooting them on the streets and that is when all hell broke loose. every day i reach for my phone and i pray to god this is not the morning i am going to be seeing a horrifying text message, not the morning i will be receiving catastrophic news. we are very, very worried. what is even more worrying is the settlers are openly attacking palestinians is police are allowing settlers from the west bank -- people who became professionals in burningolive groves, they are roaming free at

night and the city streets, breaking curfew while the israeli police not only allow them to break curfew while the palestinians are locked in their homes, but escorting them, and more often than not, actually attack palestinians with settlers. we have some evidence to show for that. juan: could you talk about the role of the israeli media in propagating and legitimizing hateful and violent or zionist rhetoric? >> you know, the israeli media and the way they behave these days is a perfect example of how violence is maintained and nurtured in israel. i was in a tv interview last week when there were demonstrations. before it was basically palestinians defending themselves against the mobs and the police. i was in an interview on israeli

tv and the anchor said that maybe it is time to reload the gun magazines. and throughout the live broadcast, we counted incitement by him eight times. he incited eight times to kill palestinians on the streets. two or three days agoan israi journalist on israeli tv criticized the polic criticized and said it doesn't make any sense, why are you allowing sellers to come to lyd from the west bank and creating all of this unrest? he was immediately silenced by the anchor. what are we seeing not only incitement by the israeli police, but also trying to silence voices that are coming from israeli journalism, voices criticizing the action of israeli government and the israeli police. not only that -- i just want to

say the israeli police are not telling the whole truth. if you confront them with evidence, they basically will call you a liar. amy: we will do part two with you and post it online at democracynow.org and play a clip y>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>y>é>é>é>

♪ welcome back. thank you for joining us again on nhk "newsline." violence between israelis and palestinians is spreading in many parts of the gaza strip and west bank, showing no signs of abating. the israeli military on tuesday carried out air raids on tunnels said to be built by the palestinian militant group hamas which controls the gaza strip.