06/07/21 06/07/21 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, th is democracy now! >> global minimum tax would get the race to the bottom under corporate taxation and ensure fairness to the middle-class and working people in the u.s. and around the world. amy: the united states and other wealthy nations have backed to set a global minimum corporate tax rate, but many said proposed 15% is far too low.

we will speak to nobel prize-winning economist joe stiglitz. plus, we look at israel's ongoing crackdown on palestinians. on sunday, israeli forces briefly detained muna and mohammed el-kurd. >> what happened today was a clear tactic of intimidation. they don't want anyone speaking about the abuses it is doing against palestinian residents in sheikh jarrar. we are not afraid. we will continue to speak out against the injustices. we will continue. amy: plus, how the biden administration placed a gag order on "the new york times" as the department of justice waged an effort started under trump to obtain the final records of four "times" reporters. all that and more, coming up.

welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. west virginia democratic senator joe manchin said sunday he would not support the "for the people act" -- which would restore and expand the protections of the 1965 voting rights act, gutted by the supreme court in a 5-4 ruling in 2013. the house passed the act in march without the support of a single republican. it appears doomed in the senate unless democrats move to eliminate the legislative filibuster -- something that senator manchin has said he will not support. in an op-ed published sunday, manchin wrote -- "i believe that partisan voting legislation will destroy the already weakening binds of our democracy, and for that reason, i will vote against the for the people act. furthermore, i will not vote to weaken or eliminate the filibuster." senator manchin's decision set

off a torrent of criticism from his democratic colleagues. new york congressmember mondaire jones says h.r. 1 is "of foundational importance" to preserving u.s. democracy against republican attacks on voting. he tweeted sunday -- "manchin's op-ed might as well be titled, 'why i'll vote to preserve jim crow.'" at least 14 states have enacted 22 new laws this year restricting access to the vote, with republicans pushing hundreds of similar bills at state legislatures. meanwhile, huffpo reports grant woods, who prominently but aquatic senator kyrsten sinema's election, says she does not belong in office anymore unless she helps abolish the filibuster. finance ministers from seven of the world's wealthiest nations have backed a plan to set a global minimum corporate tax

rate of at least 15% on multinational companies. the agreement was reached during a g7, or group of 7. german finance minister olaf scholz welcomed the deal. >> tax evasion more difficult for big companies all over the world and th is a good message for the meeting of our countries, especially the big tech giants who have to pay their fair share. this is also a good success. amy: oxfam criticized the g7 agreement. in a statement, the group said -- "it's absurd for the g7 to claim it is overhauling a broken global tax system by setting up a global minimum corporate tax rate that is similar to the soft rates charged by tax havens like ireland, switzerland, and singapore. they are setting the bar so low that companies can just step over it." we will have more on this story with economist joe stiglitz. the captain of brazil's national soccer team suggested his entire squad wants to postpone a major

soccer tournament while covid-19 continues to spread. the latest high profile brazilian to oppose hosting the copa america soccer tournament in brazil, which has recorded 17 million covid cases in nearly 475,000eaths, though the true toll is likelfar higher columbia was originally slated to host the tournament but withdrew amid massive antigovernment protests and late last month the south american football confederation ruled out argentina as a host as it recorded some of the highest daily caseloads of covid-19 in the world. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has claimed without evidence that any inconclusive march 23 election was rigged. digging to members of his party, netanyahu -- speaking to members of his right-wing likud party, netanyahu said an inconclusive march 23 election was marred by the "biggest election fraud in the history of any democracy."

netanyahu's remarks drew comparisons to former president donald trump's false claims about the 2020 election. they came as netanyahu faces a corruption trial and as a coalition of opposition parties led by far-right nationalist politician naftali bennett is poised to end netanyahu's 12-year term as prime minister. israel is cracking down on palestinians living in the occupied west bank, occupied east jerusalem, and inside israel. the newspaper haaretz reports israeli police have arrested nearly 2000 palestinians over the past month in an attempt to quell protests and uprisings against the occupation. on saturday, israeli police arrested al jazeera journalist givara budeiri as she covered a protest in sheikh jarrar. during the arrest, officers fractured her left hand and destroyed the equipment of her camera operator. she told al jazeera she was beaten while being taken to an israeli police interrogation center. >>hey broke my hand. i spent the night in the

hospital. my back hurt me a lot. here is my hand from the cuffs. they also hurt because the soldiers in the car work tightening all the time. i have a headache in my -- i cannot walk very well. amy: al jazeera denounced budeiri's violent arrest as a crime against the journalistic profession. the foreign press association called it the "latest in a long line of heavy-handed tactics by israeli police." meanwhile, on sunday, israeli police in east jerusalem detained muna and mohammed el-kurd. the 23-year-old twins have been leading efforts to fight the forced expulsion of palestinians living in the sheikh jarrar neighborhood of jerusalem where their family lives. jewish settlers already live in part of their home. we'll have more from the occupied palestinian territories later in the broadcast. in burkina faso, at least 132 people were killed and dozens more injured friday as gunmen swept through a village near the

northern border with niger, burning homes and razing a market to the ground. it was among the deadliest assaults burkina faso has faced in years, as militants linked to al-qaida and the self-proclaimed islamic state have stepped up attacks. the conflict has forced 1.2 million people in burkina faso to flee their homes. nigeria has ordered prosecutors to arrest anyone using twitter after banning the social media platform nationwide. nigeria's ministry of information announced friday -- ironically, in a tweet -- that it had suspended twitter operations in nigeria. the crkdown came after twitter deleted a tweet by president muhammadu buhari that threatened secessionists in southeastern nigeria with violence. many saw the buhari's tweet as a threat of genocide against members of the minority igbo group, who make up about 20% of nigeria's population. in mexico, voters cast their ballots sunday in one of the country's largest election in

history as about 21,000 local and national seats were up for grabs. preliminary midterm election results show president manuel -- president lópez obrador's political party has won over half of the 500 seats in mexico's lower house, but have failed to secure a supermajority. this would prevent amlo from passing any major legislation or enacting constitutional reforms, which require a two-thirds approval, without support from the opposition. this election was largely seen as a referendum on his government, which rose to power in 2018. final results are expected next week. deadly human remains were found in at least two voting booths. at least 89 politicians were killed, including 35 candidates running for sunday's vote. in peru, the presidential runoff between leftist candidate pedro

castillo and right-wing keiko fujimori, the daughter of former president alberto fujimori, is still too close to call. fujimori had strong support in urban areas. meanwhile, castillo was a favorite among peru's rural communities. voters cast their ballots sunday as peru faces mounting covid-19 cases and one of the highest covid mortality rates in the world. in columbia, another social leader has been murdered. josé alonso was from the region of valle del cauca and a signatory of the 2016 peace accord between the colombian state and the revolutionary armed forces of colombia, or farc. the 56- year-old was a community organizer for some three decades and served as president of the moralia's communal council until his assassination. this killing comes as massive protest against right-wing government continue. in guatemala, u.s. vice president kamala harris is meeting with guatemalan

president alejandro giammattei today to discuss u.s. economic interests in the central american country and efforts to further militarize the region to prevent asylum seekers from reaching the u.s.-mexico border. this is vice president harris' first international trip as vice president. meanwhile, many central american advocates continue to denounce u.s. intervention in the region, which they argue is at the root of corruption, extreme poverty and violence in central america. harris will also travel to mexico city tuesday to meet with mexican president andrés manuel lópez obrador. at the vatican, pope francis on sunday acknowledged the discovery of the bodies of 215 indigenous children on the grounds of the kamloops indian residential school in british colombia -- which was run by the catholic church until 1969 -- but didn't offer a formal apologies that indigenous advocates had demanded. >> i joined the canadian bishops and the entire catholic church in canada in expressing my

closeness to the canadian people traumatized by the shocking news. further raises awareness the pain and suffering of the past. amy: the school opened in 1980 and was used to house indigenous children forcibly separated from their families by the canadian government. the school officially closed in 1970. to see our interview on the subject, go to democracynow.org. back in the united states federal judge has overturned , a california's longstanding ban on assault weapons, declaring it an unconstitutional failed experiment. u.s. district judge roger benitez, a george w. bush appointee, wrote in his ruling -- "like the swiss army knife, the popular ar-15 rifle is a perfect combination of home defense weapon and homeland defense equipment." the judge stayed his ruling for 30 days, giving california attorney general rob bonta time to appeal. bonta wrote -- "there is no sound basis in law, fact, or common sense for

equating assault rifles with swiss army knives -- especially on gun violence awareness day and after the recent shootings in our own california communities. we need to take action to end gun violence now." and in north carolina, there's mountingutcry after a high school in asheboro refused to give student ever lópez his diploma for wearing a mexican flag over s gown ahis graduation ceremony last week. the moment was captured on a tiktok video that has since gone viral. lopez was born in the u.s. to mexican immigrant parents and said he wanted to honor his mexican roots as he would become the first member of his immediate family to graduate high school. the family says school officials denied lópez his diploma in a closed-door meeting with his parents and that they were escorted from the building by four police officers. lópez has still not received his diploma. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman.

finance ministers from seven of the world's wealthiest nations have backed a plan to set a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15% on multinational companies. the agreement was reached during a meeting in britain of the g7, that is the group of 7. u.s. treasury secretary janet yellen praised the agreement. >> g7 has taken significant steps this weekend to end the existing harmful dynamic, making commitments today that provide tremendous momentum toward achieving a robust global and mom tax at a rate of at least 15%. the global minimum tax would end the race to the bottom in corporate taxation and ensure fairness for the middle class and working people in the u.s. and around the world. amy: oxfam criticized the g7 agreement. saying in a statement -- "it's absurd for the g7 to claim

it is overhauling a broken global tax system by setting up a global minimum corporate tax rate that is similar to the soft rates charged by tax havens like ireland, switzerland and singapore. they are setting the bar so low that companies can just step over it." for more, we go to nobel prize winning economist joseph stiglitz. he is a columbia university professor and chief economist for the roosevelt institute. served as chair of the council of economic advisers under president bill clinton and as chief economist of the world bank. he recently wrote a piece in the financial times headlined "g7 leaders can strike a blow on global corporate tax." he is joining us from spain. joe stiglitz, thank you for joininus once again on democracy now! >> nice to be here. amy: why do you start off talking about what the g7 agreed to and why you think it has failed in trying to hold corporationsccountable. >> well, let's be clear, it is

historic. we have not had any agreement like this beginning of a change. but at the same time, it is inadequate. they embraced some very useful language. they said at least 15%. finance is arguing for higher than 15%. oxfam -- i believe strongly, i am part of an international society group that has been looking a reforms of the multinational tax system. we argued for a minimum tax at 25%. the danger is that if you have too low of a tax rate, that minimum tax becomes defective -- defacto, the actual tax. oxfam, for instance, has exprsed concern the rate actually is not that different

from some of the lowest rates in the world. on the other hand, what they forget is the actual amount paid is not the official tax rate. google, apple -- all of these companies that produce the products that we love also excel in tax avoidance. the tax rate that apple paid, for instance in ireland, was not 12.5%, which is the official rate, but a fraction of 1%. amy: let me bring in what the french finance minister bruno le maire said the 15% minimum corporate tax rate, saying it is just the starting point. >> will be a taxation. there will be a global corporate tax in order -- tax avoidance. it iin a vicious agreement.

-- a minimum of 15%. it is a starting point in t coming months, we will fight for that minimum corporate tax to be as high as possible. amy: that is the french nance minister. joe stiglitz? >> i think he is absolutely right. we should view this as a minimum of 10 minimum. we need a minimum tax rate, otherwise there is a global race to the bottom that has been going on for a very long time. what the g7 has done is begin to stop that race to the bottom, and it is going to be critical that bruno le maire's view, the view i have taken, it needs to be substantially higher than 15%

. there's another provision in what the g7 did that i want to call attention to, which is it used to be very difficult -- still is very difficult for countries to tax the new digital giants because was a provision that said you could not impose a tax if there is not physical presence in the country. these were rules that were made before the days of the internet. illustrating the international tax framework for multinational is terribly broken. what they're beginning to do -- again, totally inadequate -- at least it is a star to ensure the digital gets tax. amy: i want to ask you this pointed out in among other places, the guardian, experts raising concerns that amazon may escape pain significantly more

tax than some of its bgest markets unless world leaders close a large loophole in an historic global deal, communicate for minister suggest the deal only applies to profit exceeding 10% margin -- which could rule out amazon. >> well, i think that whole framework of saying the rules only apply to -- actually, only 20% owe the profits in excess of 10% [indiscernible] the fact is the corporate profits the my call our excess profits, monopoly profits, because you allow a deduction of capital cost, labor cost, of any other costs so this is what economist cl pure profits. all of them should be subject to the new kinds of rules.

again, minimum tax -- the positive side is to see this as a beginning and an arena in which getting any agreement has really been very, very difficult. amy: finally, back in the united states, don't know how much attention you're paying to what is happening here at the moment, but biden proposing scrapping his plan to raise the corporate tax rate and for republican lawmakers support at least $1 trillion in infrastructure spending. he previously called for rolling back trump's corporate tax cut by calling rush increasing the rate from 21% -- increasing the rate from 21% to 28%. >> i think biden's initial proposal was absolutely right. as i and others have emphasized, raising the corporate income tax is a matter of equity, but also

a matter of efficiency. the fact is when the tax was lowered from 35% to 21%, it did not lead to more investment, just led to more share buybacks. raising the tax from the current level of 21% to 28% is not going to adversely affect investment, particularly if we can get global cooperation so that there are not these incentives for moving investments abroad. because the tax rate -- the tax structure allows the deductibility of investment, including [indiscernible] as we have seen. i am very disappointed they are

even thinking about giving up on this important provision. amy: joe stiglitz, thank you for being with us, nobel prize winning economist, columbia university professor, and chief economist for the roosevelt institute. former chair of the council of economic advisers under bill clinton and as chief economist of the world bank. we will link to your financial times piece "g7 leaders can strike a blow on global corporate tax." coming up, we look at how the by the administration placed a gag order on "the new york times" at the department of justice waged an effort started under trump to obtain the email records of four "times" reporters. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "we shall overcome" by the legendary singer and activist joan baez, who was celebrated along with a number of others at the 43rd kennedy center honors, broadcast sunday night. it also showed democratic senator joe manchin singing along to the civil rights anthem. mansion said he plans to vote against the sweeping voting reform measure, the for the people act. baez attended the ceremony with capital police officer michael fanone as her special guest. baez said in january of the honors -- "it has been my life's joy to make art. it's also been my life's joy to make, as the late congressman john lewis called it, 'good trouble.' what luck to have been born with the ability to do both -- each one giving strength and credibility to the other." this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we turn now to look at a fight over press freedom. "the nework times" has revealed shocking details about

an unsuccessful attempt by the trump administration -- and then the biden administration -- to secretly obtain the email logs of four reporters at "the new york times." as part of the campaign, the biden justice department placed a gag order on "the times" in march to prevent many at the paper, including its executive editor from even knowing about the request. "the times" reported on the story friday after a federal court lifted the gag order. in recent weeks, the justice department also disclosed the trump administration had secretly obtained the call records of four journalists at "the times" as well as three journalists at "the washington post" and one, barbara starr, at cnn. on saturday, the justice department reversed course and announced it is changing its policy and will no longer force media companies to hand over source information as part of leak investigations. on sunday, "new york times" reporter adam goldman appeared on cnn's program "reliable

source." his phone records were seized by both the obama and trump administrations. >> it certainly is disappointing, but i was not rprised. some of the same prosecutors who were involved in seizing my phone records earlier this year and unsuccessfully trying get my emails were involved in secretly obtaining my phone records in 2013 when i worked at the associated pre. this office, the was attorney's office in d.c. has a history of trampling on the first amendment. that is what i was not surprised. they treat the media, they treat newspapers like drug gangs. amy: in late may, president biden spoke out against the seizing of records from journalists at the very time when "the new york times" was still under a gag order. he was questioned by cnn's kaitlyn collins. >> do you just seizing reporters else, would you prevent them from doing that?

pres. biden: it is wrong. simply wrong. >> so you will your justice department -- i'm cool i will let that happen. amy: we are joined now by jameel jaffer, the founding director of the knight first amendment institute at columbia university. previously the deputy legal director at the aclu. it is great to have you back. can you first respond to what we learned this weekend? >> sure. thank you for inviting me. these kinds of subpoenas are really troubling for number of reasons. not so much about journalists rights but the right of the public to have access to information about the government. if reporters sources are available to the government, then reporters won't be able to get the information they need in order to write the stories we want them to write. so there is a wreck and sign these kinds of subpoenas have a

chilling effect -- so there is a worry these kinds of subpoenas have a chilling effect. journalism that goes to the ability of the public to hold government officials accountable for the decisions. that is why i think these reports are so disturbing, these reports of trump administration subpoenas directed at news organizatis, intended to uncover the identities of reporters sources. as your intro noted, we have seen now a number of these over the last weeks, never have come to light. one background fact that is important to recognize here is that the supreme court has not weighed in on this set of issues for 50 years. the result is whatever protections journalists have in this context are really a matter of executive grace, a matter of what protections the justice department wants to give them

rather than what protections the first amendment requires. the first amendment is strangely absent in this context. the relevant set of rules has come the last few years from the attorney general's guidelines, which were strengthened under president obama, attorney general holder tigened those restrictions, tightened the rules in some ways to make a slightly different. more difficult for prosecutors to obtain reporters' sources, the identities. but even with that tightening, the justice department has found it possible to serve these subpoenas. not to serve the subpoenas, but the most recent report out of "the new york times" involves notust a subpoena intended to obtain reporters phone a dino records or subpoenas to obtain those records, but a gag order on "times executives that

prevented initially the lawyer of "the times" from disclosing the fact of the subpoena and court order to other "times" officials. i think that is an independent first amendmenproblem, not just the subpoena directed intended to uncover the reporters sources, but a gag order that prevents "the times" from sharing the kind of information even within the organization, let alone with the public. amy: of course we don't know if there are the biden justice department says they're not going to engage, whether there are anywhere gag orders because people can't talk about them. goldman and mehta puzo had been the justice department had gone out after them both under the obama administration, worked for api now at "the new york times" and him saying they treat us like drug gangs, using the same

laws? >> well, i do think there is a real risk here that people will come to see journalists as extensions of law enforcement or extensions of the intelligence agencies, andould be sources won't go to people like a puzo or goldman with information that is crucial for the public to have. i do think the concerns are justified. i know president biden has now said his administration won't tolerate these kinds of subpoenas and the justice department has said is going to implement that direction, which is obviously a good thing. what i was say about that, though, just to temper it a little, number one, again, it is really troubling this is not constitutional law. there should be a set of rules independent of whoever is in

office right now that limits what kinds of information the justice department can get and when and in these kinds of investigations. the other thing i would say is there are real questions about implementation. the definitions matter. who counts as a journalist? what counts as a leak investigation? attorney guidelines have historically had exception for foreign intelligence investigations. and that means subpoenas and court orders served under the foreign intelligence surveillance act were national security letters that are sometimes served on technology companies or telecoms, those are essentially exempt from the attorney general guidelines that were put in place under the obama administration, so there is a real question now, great, the biden administration seems willing to go in a different direction but i think we should ask some questions about the

precise scope of the commitment the justice department is now made. amy: would be up to congress to pass laws? >> well, many states have shield laws that protect journalists when state law enforcement seeks access to their records. there's no federal shield law, so again, we have no background first amendment are almost no background first amendment low. there is one last on the supreme court weighed in in this context. at that case is very, very muddy, notoriously muddy and does not really give journalists any kind of confidence the records can be kept secret. so you have that and on the other hand, have no federal shield law. there is no congressionally enacted protections for journalists. again, without leaves journalists is whatever protections the justice

department wants to get. i don't think that is really defensible. in a society that is committed to press freedom. you cannot call yourself a society that is committed to press freedom of the only is freedom that exists is the one the government wants to provide, the executive branch wants to provide. amy: out to ask about the pc recently co-authored an "the new york times" headlined "what is america's spy court hiding from the public?" it cites a petition the knight first amendment institute and the american civil liberties union, among others, submitted to the supreme court to review whether the public has a right to access the decisions of the special federal court that rules on the legality of government surveillance, known as the foreign intelligence surveillance court or fisa court. lay out your argument. >> this is a court that has been around since 1978. i think it is probably fair to say most americans have never heard of it but it is an

tremely influentl court. in its original form come had a relatively numeral -- narrow format. there were not that my foreign intelligence and that many wiretaps. just a couple hundred every year in the first years of the court's existence. at that it been around now for 40 years and over time, congress has gradually expanded the courts ruled, especially after 9/11 when congress, to the patriot act and other laws come expanded the government surveillance authority. the foreign intelligence court grew dramatically. now the court routinely issues rulings that have far-reaching implications for americans individual rights, privacy rights as well as the freedoms of speech and association. just to give one example, the court authorized the government

to order telecoms to turn over all call records relating to virtually every phone call made or received in the united states for many years after 9/11. that came to light when snowden disclosed what he did in 2013. with the surveillance had gone on for many years, implicating most everybody's privacy and re-speech and associative freedom rights, and yet it was withheld from public view. nobody knew about it. the argument we have made is a petition the aclu,he petitioner, but we at thenight institute are among the lawyers representing the aclu, and the argument we are making is the first amendment guarantees the public a right of access to the foreign intelligence surveillance court's rulings, especially the rulings that have real implications for individual rights.

every other court in the united states, every article iii court recognizes the right of access. in other words, recognizes the first amendment protects the public's ability to read the court's rulings, but the fisa court doesn't. they've reached it on the grounds it is a national security court. but many courts in the u.s. do with national security issues all the time and yet they routinely publish the rulings. so the argument we are making is that the fisa court should be publishing publicly as well. amy: let me ask you about facebook. the social media giant has announced it is suspending former president donald trump's account until a least 2023. he was initially suspended for comments to supporters who stormed the u.s. capitol on january 6. trump slammed facebook's decision during a speech saturday at the north carolina

republican party convention. this is what he said. trumka their alumni back into two years, i'm not doing -- clubs they may alumni back in two years. we cannot let it happen. so unfair. shutting down an entire group appear. shutting down the voice of a tremendously powerful, in my opinion, much more powerful -- amy: interestingly, he shut down his own blog after less than a month, reportedly because heico below readership made him look small. facebook suspension could have implications for other world leaders who use facebook like the brazilian president jair, indian prime minister modi. the significance of this? >> i find it difficult to shed tears for trump here. i do think it is a good thing

for the social media companies, especially big ones like facebook, have a heavy presumption in favor of leaving speech, especially political speech and the speech of political leaders. that is not because i believe political leaders have the right to be on social media, but because the public needs access to their speech in order to evaluate their decisions and hold them accountable. now, that said, there are limits. i think facebook also has a responsibility to ensure that the people are using its platform are not using it to undermine democracy for insight violence. i think facebo's decision here is, with respect to trump come is a defensible one. i am not sure it struck the right balance. i think reasonable people can disagree. but i think the decision is defensible. i think the bigger issue here, and it is a little frustrating everybody is predictable and

frustrating everyone is so focused on the ruling with respect to trump, the much bigger issue here is not content moderation -- questions about which accounts stay up or which stay down or which content stays up or down. the much bigger issue has to do with facebook some engineering and design decisions. those desions are the decisions that determine which speech gets traction in public discourse and which voices get heard, which get amplified, which get marginalized. that is not about content moderation. that is a result of the engineering decisions. its ranking algorithms, policies with respect to political advertisin -- all of those things are much more important than who is on the platform and who is off. i think that is where the public's attention should be complied facebook's design and engineering. facebook sometimes as we don't want to be the orders of truth.

that is true. i don't want facebook to be the arbiter of truth but i do want facebook to take responsibility for its engineering and design decisions and take responsibility for the ways those decisions shape and often distort public discourse. i jumped to the company doing that right now. to the contrary, if you look at the response filed last week when they announced the continued deplatforming of trump, many groups i called on facebook to commission an independent study of the ways in which its design decisions might have contributed to the events of january 6. facebook not only rejected that proposal, but there is a pretty remarkable paragraph in the 20-page statement in which it says the responsibility for january 6 events lies entirely

with the people who engaged in those acts. essentially saying, facebook does not your responsibility. obviously, the people who were washington on january 6 before breaking into the capital bear responsibility for their acts, but facebook, too, bears responsibility for its engineering and design decisions that resulted in misinformation being spread so freely on the platform, people being shunted into echo chambers. that is the result of facebook's own decisions and it is disturbing that facebook does not seem even to acknowledge it. amy: what about the fact you're talking about these mega multinational corporations, for example, like facebook -- they're are the ones who are determining who should have the right to free speech. i mean, it is mark zuckerberg

appointing this committee that then makes the recommendations, essentially under his control. >> i actually am not unsympathetic to the argument that some conservatives that the social media companies -- i am thinking mainly of facebook and google, but the big companies have too much power over public discourse. what the right answer to that i think -- what is the right answer to that? it is a difficult question. i don'think it would be better if the government made these decisions rather than facebook, but there are other ways to tackle monopoly power. antitrust action is one possibility. there were also regulations that could require the companies to be more transparent than they are ght now. i will give you just one example here. political ads on facebook are pretty opaque. you can target a political ad to

a very narrow community on facebook. some of those political ads include misinfortion. if you target a narrow community on facebook with that kind of misinformation, it is very difficult for others to determine whichommunity has been targeted in that way and to respond to the speech or correct the speech, and that has implications for public discourse. i think that congress could require that facebook be more transparent about pnkitical advertising. that is just one way in which at least at the margin we could limit the power of these companies have over public discourse that is closely connected to the health of our democracy. amy: we just have about 30 seconds. senator maria cantwell proposing $2.3 billion in grants and tax credits to sustain local newspapers and broadcasters as part of the infrastructure act, the idea that newspaper after

newspaper is going over, little journalism is so deeply threatened, hedge funds are taking over the newspapers that have survived. what do you make of this? >> i don't know the details of that bill but in principle i think it is a good idea. i do think journalism should be seen as per structural in a way -- infrastructural. it will be undersupplied by the market. you should have asked joe stiglitz about this. as a result, the government has a role to play in ensuring that good is applied. that said, it is important the government's role here carefully limited because we don't want to create a situation where the government is picking and choosing which journalism gets supported. the structure here is really, really important. i have not seen the details of that bill. i do think in principle it is a good ideal. amy: jameel jaffer, thank you

for being here director of the , knight first amendment institute at columbia university. next up, we look at israel's ongoing crack down on palestinians. on sunday, once again, israeli versus detained mohammed el-kurd , this type along with his twin sister u.n., fighting --muna, fighting eviction in sheikh jarrar. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodn. while the ceasefire continues to hold between israel and gaza, israel is cracking down on palestinians living in the occupied west bank, occupied east jerusalem, and inside israel. the newspaper haaretz reports israeli police have arrested nearly 2000 palestinians over the past month in an attempt to quell protests and uprisings against the occupation. on saturday, israeli police arrested al jazeera journalist givara budeiri as she covered a protest in sheikh jarrar. during the arrest, officers broke her hand and destroyed the equipment of her camera operator. she was also reportedly beaten while being taken to an israeli police interrogation center. on sunday, police in east jerusalem detained muna and mohammedl-kurd.

the 23-year-old twins have been helping to lead efforts to fight the eviction of palestinians living in the sheikh jarrar neighborhood of jerusalem where their family lives. jewish settlers already live in part of their home. mohammed spoke out after he and his sister were released sunday night. >> what happened today was a clear tactic of intimidation. the occupation doesn't want anyone to be speaking about the abuses it is doing against the palestinian residents in sheikh jarrar. but we are not afraid. we will continue to speak out against all of these injustices and we will continue -- amy: just as we went to air on democracy now!, residents of sheikh jarrar held -- were dealt a legal setback making it more likely the palestinians will be evicted. we go to ramallah where we are joined by mariam barghouti, palestinian writer and researcher. welcome back to democracy now!

explain what the israeli attorney general just ruled. >> thank you for having me. right now the attorney general of israel basically said they will not be involved with the case of sheikh jarrar and the decision is left to the israeli supreme court. the excuse is the case of the families is too weak. at the same time, this is an internal legal system that is built on ensuring the erasure of palestinians. of course the case is going to be too weak. i think it would have been false also to assume the attorney general of israel would help in bringing out any other result for palestinians. amy: so right now what does this mean for people like, well, the

palestinian twinsuna and mohammed? they were arrested yesterday. first muna and then mohammed turned himself in. what were they interrogated about? they have been released since. >> they have been released since then. in terms of the interrogation, well, the charges being put in front for the twins, who are 23 years old, is participating in activities which impact the security of the state of israel and in participating in riot acts with a nationalistic motive. let's emphasize the nationalistic motive was the basically any palestinian saying "we are palestinian," especially for those who have israeli citizenship. the tactics are for intimidation. they are for coercion.

often they have palestinians sign false confessions in hebrew doing very well the person in front of them, the palestinian does not speak hebrew. it is not just mohammed and muna . this is the same tactic being used against all palestinians. two others were also arrested with them. it shows you how israel is targeting all palestinian neighborhoods that are confronting their forced expulsion. amy: some may be surprised to hear this. they might say, wait, i thought there was a cease-fire between israel and gaza? that is how it is described in the mainstream media. if you could describe what continues to happen? you have mohammed reporting on saturday jewish settlers were throwing stones at his house, that the israeli police were standing by. if you could talk about the settler-police relationship and

what happened to the al jazeera reporter? >> right. in terms of givara budeiri, she was violently attacked by israel i police in jerusalem as she was trying to cover sheikh jarrar coy knowing israel is trying to give a blackout on palestinians. in terms of the cease-fire, this is the cease-fire where israel agrees not to bomb but this is each minute continues. that healing and rebuilding and recovery process -- in terms of attacking palestinians in the west bank, in jerusalem, in other palestinian cities, it continues. the israeli police basically provide protection for settlers but also joined them in violence. three weeks ago, you had israeli police dressed in civilian

clothing so they could participate. givara budeiri, the al jazeera correspondent, who was violently attacked and faced with interrogation despite --israel on al jazeera offices associated press offices on live television. just yesterday, that you're a stun grenade on another correspondent with al jazeera. it injured her in the leg. these violations are systemic. we often assume just because you are in the please, you are an israeli lawyer, or not participating in the ethnic cleansing. but they're colluding. amy: i want to go to the al jazeera reporter givara budeiri describing her arrest and breaking of her hand on al jazeera. >> they broke my hand. i spent the night in the hospital my back hurts me a lot.

here's my hand from t cuffs. they hurt because the soldiers under the car were tightening it all the time. i have a headache. i leg, i can't walk very well. amy: if you can also talk about overall the cracking down on palestinians living in the occupied west bank, occupied east jerusalem come inside israel, thousands of arrests in the last month? >> that's true, there have been thousands of arrest. just this morning, 17 palestinians were taken into arrest overnight. there was a raid on their homes where families were beaten, children were terrorized. i know couple of incidents with friends who are speaking how their children are completely horrified, the violence of

israeli forces. this is coming as part of israel trs to settlthe score, as police i, for everyone that spoke up against their ethnic cleansing. israel is criminalizing our right to say we are palestini, to want to stay in our homes in dignity, our right to be free. it is doing it by using legal violence. it is using economic violence. also so they can fine them. they are trying to sustain these horrifying measures by letting palestinians, forcing palestinians to cover the expenses of it. amy: as we speak, i want to ask you about the forming of this new government, the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu climbing without evidence, sounding like trump, the election was rigged. trump saying it right about the same time in his first speech you get in north carolina, netanyahu was saying the election was marred by the

biggest election fraud in the history of any democracy. his remarks drawing comparison to trump. but i want to ask you about the new government, the deal that would see far-right polician beett served as prime minister for two years alibi the opposition leader for two years after that. then previously led the israeli settler movement in the occupied west bank, calling for an annexation of palestinian lands, as compared palestinian citizens of israel to a fifth column. looks right. well, i think the new government is not really new, it is just a lot more blunt in its racist measures, low more blunt it's colonial measures. let's not forget netanyahu used to constantly say they're the ones that dictate the rules and palestinians will remain palestinian subjects. i think we will see a lomore violent -- violence right now.

it will be in the form of detainment, the form of criminalizing the palestinian voices. it will be in the form of the continued impunity of settlers and police that shoot down palestinians. let's not forget many of these settler organizations -- and they are terrorist organizations -- are based out of the u.s. he to look at the role of that in terms of continuing the cycle of violence we are experiencing here. amy: and if you could talk about for the first time the united arab joining this coalition that would rule? >> right. at this point, what we need to look at is the demands of palestinians for justice and freedom. anyonehat does not represent that, we need to look at as aiding and abetting israeli

apartheid and persecution of palestinians. sometimes we might get misguided under the labels but in the end, let's look at the reality on the ground, on the actions on the ground and holding accountability for palestinians against the criminals that are perpetuating this. amy: givara budeiri,

♪ hello there. welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm catherine kobayashi in new york. families of people struggling with altz h also him have had little relief. now u.s. regulators have approved a new medication for the disease. researchers with u.s. drugmaker biogen and