07/14/22 07/14/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: now as president, i am proud to say our relationship with the state of israel is deeper and stronger in my view than it has ever been. with this vision, we are strengthening our connections even further. amy: president biden arrives in israel bound to deepen the united states even if you basis [indiscernible]

u.s. embassy in jerusalem located on land confiscated by israel from palestinians in 1948. we will speak with palestinian-american scholar, clumber university professor rashid khalidi, descendant of some of the owners of these properties, author of the hundred-years war on palestine." after israel, biden heads to saudi arabia despite biden's campaign pledge to make them a private the state-sponsored killing of jamal khashogg we will get response from sarah leah whitson. >> saudi arabia is not going to make any human rights secessions because the united states is demanding it. it never has. amy: covid-19 cases continue to rise most of the ba. variant puts more people in the hospital amidst high rates of reinfection. >> emergency committee met on friday last week and concluded

the virus remains a public health emergency of international concern. amy: we will speak with ed yong of the atlantic about his new piece "is ba.5 the 'reinfection wave'?" and we will ask him about his book just out. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden arrived in israel wednesday for a four-day middle east visit that includes a stop in saudi arabia. israel's interim prime minister yair lapid held a red carpet ceremony as biden landed at ben gurion airport, giving him what "the new york times" called a "rapturous welcome" and calling him "our brother joseph." before departing the airport, biden toured a u.s.-funded advanced missile defense system. on friday, biden will visit the

occupied west bank and meet with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. ahead of biden's trip, biden activists hung banners hung in bethlehem that read, "mr. president, this is apartheid." earlier today, biden met with israeli prime minister yair lapid in jerusalem, where the pair discussed iran's nuclear program and the war in ukraine. the u.s. and israel are expected to announce a joint declaration building on past calls to take military action halt iran's nuclear program. biden has promised he won't agree to any deal that would restore the landmark 2015 iran nuclear agreement, which the united states unilaterally withdrew from in 2018, if it means removing iran's revolutionary guard corps from a list of foreign terrorist organizations. president biden was asked about that pledge in an interview with israeli tv. >> already committed to keeping the tears -- on the terrorist

organization list? pres. biden: yes. >> and in the past you said you would do anything to ensure iran would not acquire nuclear weapons. doesn't that mean using force against iran? biden: if that was the last resort, yes. amy: after headlines, more on president biden's trip to israel, the occupied territories, and saudi arabia. the house of representatives is set to vote this week on a record-shattering $839 billion military budget. the 2023 national defense authorization act contains $37 billion more than president biden requested, which in turn surpassed former president trump's record military budget requests. progressive democrats mark pocan and barbara lee have proposed an amendment that would slash $100

billion from the military budget. congressmember lee said, "more guns and tanks are of no use to americans without housing, education, or healthcare." in sri lanka, one person was killed and scores of others injured after police attacked government protests in the capital colombo. this comes after president gotabaya rajapaksa fled the country for the maldives wednesday where he was met with protests. he reportedly has left bound for singapore, though this is not clear -- [indiscernible] ukrainian officials say at least 12 people were killed and more than two dozen injured after russian missiles fell on an office building and homes in the central city of vinnytsia. in a southern ukraine, russian shells blasted a hole in a high-rise hotel in the city of

mykolaiv, where five people were reportedly killed by russian shelling. in easternkraine, russian strike destroyed a school in the city of kostiantynivka, leaving behind a massive crater. no one was injured in the attack but students were left traumatized the loss of their school. >> let this war end soon and let everything be like it was before. when we all played together. now they shall us. it is difficult to believe what is happening. amy: on wednesday, negotiators from russia and ukraine held their first direct talks since march in istanbul, turkey, where they are reportedly nearing a deal that would allow ukraine to export more than 20 million tons of grain from the black sea port city of odesa. u.n. secretary-general antonio guterres called the reported breakthrough a "ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world."

abortion providers in south carolina have filed a lawsuit seeking to block senate bill 1, the state's ban on abortion after just six weeks of pregnancy when many people are not yet aware that they are pregnant. the challenge comes less than a month after the u.s. supreme court overturned roe v. wade, ending the federal constitutional right to abortion. in a statement, planned parenthood called the laa direct assault on health care and fundamental human rights, adding -- "without cou intervention, south carolinians will continue to suffer in a state with dangerously high rates of maternal mortality and infant mortality, particularly among black women and babies." a warning to our audience, this next story contains descriptions of sexual violence. in ohio, police have arrested a man accused of raping an impregnating a 10-year-old girl. 27-year-old gerson fuentes was arraigned in columbus wednesday and is being held on $2 million bond. prosecutors say he confessed to raping the girl on at least two occasions. a police detective testified the

10-year-d survivor underwent a medil abortion in indianapolis on june 30. her family was forced to travel to the neighboring state because ohio state l bans abortions just six weeks into pregnancy with no exceptio for rape or incest. this case drew internaonal attentioafter it was first reported by the indianapolis star on july 1 and was cited by president biden as evidence of the cruelty of the supreme court's decision overturning roe . many republicans, including ohio governor mike dewine, questioned the validity of the story. ohio congressmember jim jordan tweeted -- "another lie. anyone surprised?" jordin's tweet was later deleted without explanation. on monday, ohio attorney general dave yost went on fox news to voice doubts, telling host jesse watters his office hadn't heard a whisper anywhere about the case. >> the rate of a 10-year-old means life in prison. i know our prosecutors and cops

in this state. there is not one of them that would not be turning over every rock in their jurisdiction if they had t slightest hint this occurred there. amy: on wednesday, yost refuse to apologize for questioning the girl's story on national levision. the justice department has asked the house committee investigating the january 6 attack on the capitol to turn over evidence it has collected about plans by trump and his allies to put forward false slates of pro-trump electors in battleground states won by joe biden in the 2020 election. this comes as a growing number of democratic lawmakers are calling on attorney general merrick garland to bring criminal charges against trump based on the committee's findings. congressional progressive caucus chair pramila jayapal tweeted -- "all of it points to the urgent need for doj to prosecute donald trump. if he is not held accountable, there will be enormous consequences to our democracy."

meanwhile, a 48-year-old has been arrested in seattle on suspicion of hate crime after he allegedly threatened to kill congressmember jayapal. officers found the man outside jayapal's home saturday night with a .40-caliber handgun holstered on his waist. a neighbor reportedly overheard the man yell, "go back to india, i'm going to kill you." jayapal is the first indian-american woman to serve in the house of representatives. and in washington, d.c., parents of children murdered in uvalde and survivors of the highland park mass shooting gathered at the u.s. capitol wednesday to demand a federal assault weapons ban. this is kimberly rubio, whose daughter lexi was one of 19 fourth graders and two teachers killed by an 18-year-old gunman with an assault rifle at robb elementary school in may. >> but there is one question that should be on the forefront of their minds, what if the

government never had access to an assault weapon? -- gunman never had access to the assault weapon? i want that question to be the first thing to cross their mind in the mornings and the last thought they have before they go to bed each night because we are no longer asking for change. we are demanding it and we are angry as hell. . amy: president biden will become the first u.s. president to fly directly from israel to saudi arabia, not the first u.s. president to visit jedah. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, mocracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman, joined by my co-host nermeen shaikh. hi, nermeen. nermeen: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: president biden arrived in israel wednesday for a four-day visit that includes a stop in saudi arabia. israel's interim prime minister yair lapid held a red carpet

ceremony as biden landed in tel aviv, giving him what "the new york times" called a "rapturous welcome" and calling him "our brother joseph." meanwhile, biden vowed to deepen israel's ties with the u.s. pres. biden: now as president, i am proud to say our relationship with the state of israel is deeper and stronger in my view that it has ever been. with this vision, we are strengthening our connections even further. we reaffirmed the unshakable commitment united states to israel security, including partnering with israel on the most cutting edge different systems in the world. amy: today president biden with prime minister lapid about iran's nuclear program and the war inkraine. the u.s. and israel are expected to announce a joint declaration building on past calls to take military action to halt iran's nuclear program. biden and lapid will also participate in the first-ever i2u2 virtual summit -- i2u2

stands for india, israel, the uae -- along with prime minister narendra modi and the head of the united arab emirates. on friday, biden will visit the occupied west bank and meet with palestinian president mahmoud abbas. ahead of biden's trip, activists hung banners hung in bethlehem that read, "mr. president, this is apartheid." this is kareem jubran with israeli human rights group b'tselem. >> this campaign which involves hanging banners reading "mr. president, this is apartheid, identifies israel as a country of apartheid. we hold the american administration responsible for supporting the israeli apartheid regime. the united states of america come as a democratic country, should push for an end to the system. amy: biden's first to the middle east as president is also aimed at normalizing relations between israel and saudi arabia.

on friday, biden will fly to udi arabiaor talks with saudi officis, which we will discuss more later in thshow. but first, the middle east trip comes as the biden administration is facing pressure to scrap plans to build a u.s. embassy in jerusalem after a palestinian legal group revealed the proposed diplomatic compound is located on land that was illegally confiscated by israel from palestinians in 1948. the historical documents were made public by the palestinian legal group adalah ahead of biden's trip to israel and the occupied west bank. for more, we are joined by rashid khalidi, a palestinian-american who is a descendant of some of the owners of these properties. rashid khalidi is edward said professor of modern arab studies at columbia university. the author of a number of books, including his latest, "the hundred-years war on palestine." he's joining us from near aix en provence in france. professor, welcome back to

democracy now! why don't we start there. around this issue of the proposed u.s. embassy, already very controversy to be built in jerusalem and the property it is proposed to be built on. >> as you mentioned, the palestinian civil rights legal groups based in haifa has come up with a bunch of new documents which show the ownership of a number of families of this land going back before 1948. in planning to build on the property of these families, the u.s. government is actively engaged in infringing on the property rights of legitimate owners of this land who are u.s. citizens. so that in a nutshell is what is going on. this is something that would not happen new or else in the world if a regime legitimately took

the property of u.s. citizens. nermeen: can you explain how it is this land was chosen and what the families are calling for, including her own, of course? >> right. well, it is a plot that is empty right now. ever since 1948, until which was the headquarters of the british militaries in palestine, it was called -- in those days. until 1948 and the british military occupied it -- in fact, even after that, britain paid all of the owners rent. memories of my family, my uncle and cousin were receiving rent from the british government for this property well into the 1950's. so this is a large tract. it is more than seven acres. there are multiple owners, including my family. amy: we are showing the deeds. can you explain what these are and what has been the response

of united states? >> it is interesting. these are things that adalah discovered in the archives. their rental agreements between the ministry of war and different families or different owners of different families, both muslim and christian. they are approved this is property that was owned by our family and these other families right up until 1948. as i mentioned, i was talking to one of my cousins and she said her father was receiving rent from the british well into the 1950's. the british rented our property from us another families. what the families are demanding is perfectly simple. we are demanding the united states not build an embassy on our land. this is our property, another property of the state of israel to give or rent or lease to the united states.

in fact, this has come up before. the israeli government put through a plan to do this in the 1990's. back in 1999, writing on behalf of of the owners of the property, i wrote [indiscernible] providing the u.s. government with evidence of our ownership, collective ownership of this property. we asked at that time that first of all they not do this and we asked for a meeting, which of course we never got. but we did get a response from the state department many months after our original letter in which they said they understood, they put the information on file. our government knows. and if they don't, they should know. because i wrote them a letter on behalf of the families back in october 1999. in week -- adalah has discovered

new information. we said the information in our possession at that time and the plants stopped in at that point, whether because of our intervention or -- i really don't know. nermeen: professor, biden is there. do you expect the question of the u.s. embassy in jerusalem to come up at all? >> well, it should come up on two levels. biden, by putting the u.s. embassy in jerusalem, the united states is violating for jerusalem to be an international city and for nothing to be done in jerusalem that would jeopardize the final status of that city. so united states is violating policy by building and the busy anywhere in jerusalem. moreover, they are infringing on the property rights of u.s. citizens in so doing. our demands that they not do this, first of all. adalah will be going forward on

behalf of the families to try and make israel obey its own laws say if owners of so-called absentee property -- that is basically stolen property. the legal term is absentee property. there members of my family living a kilometer away, so how are the absentees? but at any rate, the israeli government to obeyts own laws and for the custodian of that absentee property so-called return this property to its rightful owners, i don't expect that to happen but i hope during this visit, the present will be confronted, hopefully by journalist or someone else, with the fact the u.s. is about to build on land that bongs to u.s. citizens, among others. nermeen: professor, biden is expected to meet palestinians tomorrow, possibly abbas, but expected not to revive peace

discussions as previous presidents have done. could you elaborate on that? [indiscernible] >> well i think what the president is supposed to do, according to the news report, is to throw a few chaty [indiscernible] security and freedom for both israelis and posting is. i not engaging in dismantling the structures of discrimination and oppression, which someone rightly called apartheid. giving these release the right to go to the beach anytime they want. the west bank residents have to

get permission from israel. arrested simply for trying to go to the beach. what he did not have a permit. that is the kind of discrimination which is accredited by not opening up all of these political issues is in fact supported with our tax dollars, with american diplomatic support, american weapons. so i would hope those issues are approached with the president. equality for palestinians and israelis. that is what we don't have right now. we have a system of systemic -- discriminatory. amy: i want to ask you about shireen the latest of elements. so many news organizations from "the new york times" to cnn to al jazeera have investigated the killing with the is really

letter that killed --israeli military that killed the famous journalist. president biden is visiting [indiscernible] meeting president abbas on friday. professor, we last spoke to you after shireen abu akleh was shot dead -- the family of shireen abu akleh -- in a letter to biden, the family wrote -- "your administration's actions can only be seen as an attempt to erase the extrajudicial killing of shireen and further entrench the systemic impunity enjoyed by israeli forces and officials for unlawfully killing palestinians." yesterday, wednesday, u.s. secretary of state antony blinken invited shireen abu akleh's family to visit the united states.

this is shireen abu akleh's niece lina abu akleh responding to the state department's inconclusive findings after investigating the bullet that killed her. >> we were expecting that such an investigation was actually to hold the perpetrators accountable and would carry out the transparent investigation that is free from any political pressure. however, that was not the case. we will continue to call for justice. we will contie to call on the u.s. to carry out a transparent investigation by an independent body. inddition, we continue to call on the u.n. and icc to carry out an investigation and hold israel accountable and put an end to this grotesque impunitthat israel continues to endure. amy: can you, professor, talk about the significance of what is happening here? biden will not be meeting with shireen abu akleh's family but

blinken has invited them to washington. >> i think as she put it quite accurately, the state department basically carried out a whitewash rather than an investigation. no israeli soldiers as far as we know were interrogated by any american investigator. the people who looked into it, the person who looked into it was a lieutenant general come and not a train investigator. there's a cover-up and a whitewash in order to guarantee israel's impunity and to make sure there would not -- he will pick her to see visit. it is really a visit to israel. this whitewash was intended i think to make it easier in terms of american-israeli relations. what we're seeing is an american

citizen is killed or detained if an american citizens property is illegitimately taken, the united states government would normally do something about it. according to every account by every investigation you mentioned, and yet the u.s. government basically pretended it did and said issue is close. lincoln is generously offered to meet with the family -- blinken has generously offered to meet with the family. the u.s. government has already [indiscernible] i think what should be demanded in every case is justice for you citizens as you would demand such justicenywhere outside of the world. rachel corrie was murdered by an israeli bulldozer. and nation posting american died in israel.

it happened about nine months ago. this is the third american citizen we know about killed by the israelis about which the united states has done absoluly nothing. i don't think if that happened somewhere else, we would see the same -- [indiscernible] amy: we are just about to go to sarah leah whitson to talk about this unprecedented trip, the first u.s. president to fly from israel to saudi arabia, the country where prince bahama been salman has been directly implicated in the killing of the washington post correspondent -- columnist jamal khashoggi. you go from shireen abu akleh to khashoggi. >> there is a pattern.

i'm can citizens can be killed with impunity by regimes that the states wants to stay on good terms with. that is what is happening in israel and what will happen in saudi arabia. amy: rashid khalidi, edward said professor of modern arab studies at columa university. author of a number of books including "the hundred-years war on palestine." after israel, biden will go to saudi arabia, despite his campaign pledge to make saudi arabia a pariah for the state-sponsored killing of "the washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. we will go to sarah ah whitson with dawn. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "if i could go back in time" by dam and amal murkus. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. on friday, president biden will continue -- he will be making his first trip to the middle east of his administration as he goes to saudi arabia for talks with saudi officials and to attend a summit of gulf lies. he is the first u.s. president to fly directly from israel to the saudi port city ojeddah and pected ask bin salman to pump more oil. the trip comes despite biden's pledge during e debate in 2019 to make saudi arabia a pariah for the state-sponsored killing of "washington post" columnist jamal khashoggi. >> president trump has not published senior saudi leaders. would you? >> yes.

a set at the time khashoggi was murdered and dismembered and i believe in the order of the crown prince and i would make it very clear we were not going to sell more weapons to them and were going to make them pay the price and make them in fact the pariah that they are. amy: that was then-presidential candidate joe biden speaking at a presidential debate in 2019. bere his trip, he wrote op-ed at appeared in the very paper where jamal khashoggi was a columnist, "the washington post." saying -- "in saudi arabia, we reverse the blank-check policy we inherited. i released the intelligence community's report on the murder of jamal khashoggi, issued new sanctions, including on the saudi arabia's rapid intervention force involved in his killing, and issued 76 visa bans under a new rule barring entry into the united states for anyone found to be involved in harassing dissidents abroad. my administration has made clear that the united states will not

tolerate extraterritorial threats and harassment against dissidents and activists by any government." lester president biden [indisceible] for more we're joined by sarah leah whitson, executive director of democracy for the arab world now, or dawn. she's a coplaintiff with a lawsuit against the saudi arabian crown prince mohammed bin salman for jamal khashoggi's murder. her recent article in the american prospect is headlined "america's middle east 'withdrawal' breathes its last breath." explain what you mean by america's middle east withdrawal, sarah leah whitson. >> successes ministrations have talked about their desire to pivot to asia to address the

threat from china and russia to end america [indiscernible] more recently, the yemen war. i think ththe van and genuinely believes it can use the momentum of mass by person popular revulsion to in fact end the deep entanglement with saudi arabia in the uae in, but also [indiscernible] he has reversed and gone full force and unprecedented way

america's military support for the abusive regimes in the middle east, in particular saudi arabia and uae. nermeen: explain what exactly is this eminent defense alliance that the new u.s. is negotiating or discussing with saudi arabia as well as with the uae? >> well, i wish i could tell you more other than we know this defense agreement is probably -- if the israeli prime minister said the agreement has been signed and being implement it and has already been [indiscernible] to shield off the tax. the defense agreement as far as we know at minimum includes unified air defenses, unified intelligence sharing, unified

and to aerial threats. what it obligates the united states to do, what exactly the commitments are that president biden is making to the autocracy and apartheid government to the middle east, we don't know because he has not told us. i believe the reason the biden administration is keeping this secret from the america people is the same reason he penned the op-ed in the washington post. it is shameful. he knows it is shameful. if it was something to be proud about, they would have been posting to the rafters. he knows it is a conciliatory, humiliating capitulation to the golf governments and to israel in order to win them back as i reassuring them that the united states has their backs no matter what nermeen:. this is perhaps especially striking because as you point out in your piece and a prospect magazine, the saudi's appear to have repeatedly spurned u.s.

demands with respect to russia following their invasion of ukraine. could you elaborate on that and united arab emirates has not been any more forthcoming. >> i think across the board, is not just in the middle east, you have seen much of the world turned its back on the united states in terms of its demand for unquestioned support to fight against russia. this does not coincide with their interests. in the case of the middle east and saudi arabia, in the case of uae, two government that depend entirely -- protection for their survival, they refuse [indiscernible] distinction russia. the only agreed to resolution stemming the invasion after a great deal of pressure from the united states [indiscernible]

just recently we have had the head of state and the uae travel to russia. we know [indiscernible] so while these gulf states -- amy: what is your response? clearly going to lower prices at -- tell us about the investigation into jamal khashoggi and don's lawsuit together with the khashoggi's fiancé against the

crown prince. -- [indiscernible] for the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of people. this does not serve america's interest to prop up in unaccountable, unelected, sociopathic murderer who will be

around for decades to come once he gets the security agreement in particular. with respect to the lawsuit against mohammed bin salman and his co-conspirators, the judge just last week asked the biden administration to weigh in on whether or not they want to grant immunity to mohammed bin salman, immunity he should not be entitled to. his father is the head of state. we are waiting to see whether the biden administration will really go as far as the opposite of what biden promised not to hold mohammed bin salman accountable, but to make sure he is immune from accountability in the one remaining lawsuit to hold my for this murder. u.s. court several in the pt crown prince's are not entitled to sovereign immunity.

if the biden administration creates new law by asking the court to grant him immunity, that will be a really shocking stab in the back and a total break of president biden's own promises. nermeen: you mentioned the question of arms sales in your piece and you also say saudi arabia is the largest importer of u.s. weapons. you point out in the piece of a secretary of state antony blinken and defense secretary lloyd austin have "deep and long-standing commercial and personal ties to the defense industry." could you elaborate on that? >> sure. secretary blinken has yet to disclose what is widely known to be -- during his prior commercial venture in investment advisory firm that he managed

and ran. of course defense secretary lloyd austin sits on the board, until he became secretary, of raytheon, i'm pretty sure has long-standing ties with the defense industry. we have to understand the defense industry, 70% of the lobbyists are former defense, pentagon, u.s. government officials. the ties to the highest levels of the government are very deep and profound. the entire incentive system of the was government in terms of foreign policy is to continue arms sales, push arms sales as much as possible was not when you couple that incentive structure, intense lobbying, intertwining conflict of interest of our elected officials with the defense industry, coupled with the foreign government lobbying in

the foreign government infiltration into our government, not least of course israeli government lobbying and support of their lobbying partners here in the united states, but widely expanded saudi government lobbying and infiltration, and marotta government lobbying and infiltration, yet a very strong incentive structure for any administration to always go back to where arms sales men were protection for dictators and apartheid government, despite the american national interest. i think this has very little about oil. first of all the biden administration has already told us that even if saudi and uae increase oil output, which by the way they said they will do, it will have a negligible impact on oil prices in the united states. second of all, if oil prices are such a priority for the biden administration that they're willing to go and kiss and

makeup and resume with the worst dictators in the world, why not remove sanctions on venezuela and iran? why not se up on sanctions on russian oil? that is not necessary in terms of -- if we are willing to sacrifice for oil prices, there look much less heinous sacrifices to beade then continue military support for the government to saudi arabia and uae. nermeen: can you talk about the fact family members of those detained on charges of dissent in saudi arabia are hoping that biden will make efforts toward the release? what do expect will happen? of course saudi arabia denies there are any people imprisoned as political prisoners in the kingdom. >> well, we know the biden administration has asked whether the human rights community would like biden to do and our

organization has asked president biden to meet with families of activists or detained or recently released activists in saudi arabia as a show support for civil society and in the country. we doubt very much that he will do any of that in saudi arabia, nor do we have much faith that american demand for human rights reforms in saudi arabia, including the release of imprisoned scholars, academics, writers, journalts and the country will be heard by mohammed bin salman. we can expect bin salman to respond exactly as he did reportedly in meeting with jake sullivan, which is to tell them to shut up was the shut up because he does not want to hear it. he has already made clear he does not want to be question ever again about the murder of jamal khashoggi or, for example,

where his body is hidden, what they have done with his remains. president biden just today said, well, i'm not going to bring up, khashoggi because i have already said what i have to say on that. beautiful and artful dodge. that is very indicative of the fact that president biden will do very little to help imprisoned saudi activists, some who are facing the death penalty because they criticized the prince. sarah leah whitson amy:sarah leah whitson, thank you for being with us executive director , of democracy for the arab world now, or dawn. we willing to your piece in the american prospect headlined "america's middle east 'withdrawal' breathes its last breath." next outcome is ba.5 the reinfection wave? we will speak with ed yong.

♪♪ [music break] amy: "walk it out," unk featuring outkast and jim jones. it was blasted wednesday and amazon warehouse workers as they walked out of their jobs to demand higher wages and more of a focus on safety during amazon's prime. workers meanwhile, the german warehouses, so when on a prime day strike in recent days calling for good and healthy work. this idemocracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. we areow about two point five years into the coronavirus pandemic and health experts said this week the most infectious

transmissible covid-19 is now a global health emergency. this is world health organization director-general tedros adhanom ghebreyesus speaking on tuesday at a virtual news conference in geneva. >> i am concerned cases of covid-19 continue to rise, putting further pressure on fragile health systems and health workers and also concerned about increasing trend of death. the emergency committee on covid-19 met on friday last week and concluded that the virus remains a public health emergency of international concern. amy: for more we are joined by ed yong, pulitzer prize-winning science writer at the atlantic . his most recent piece is titled "is ba.5 the 'reinfection wave'?" welcome back to democracy now! well, is it? explain exactly what it is an a level of possible as nation and deaths. >> moderna is a late -- ba.5 is

the latest version of omicron variant's to hit the u.s. it is displacing its predecessor and causing a surge. ba.5's most important property is its ability to sneak past some of the immune defenses acquired by those who have been vaccinated by four or those who have been infected by earlier variants. that means everyone is a little less protected than they were a few months ago. some people who have even recently been affected are getting affected again. now, this does not mean previous immunities are back down to zero. far from it. some people have some degree of community still have -- immunity still have some protection even from ba.5, but it is less than before which is why we are seeing more reinfection's now than before. the good news is that the most severe outcomes, things like being sick enough to warrant

into baiter or needing oxygen and dying. the vaccine seemed to be protecting against those. but it is still important to prevent infection. i think a lot of this country, including the highest political echelon, have seem to have forgotten that basic goal, preventing infectionis really important for preventing long covid, staring the health care system, and more. because of that, ba.5 is very much still a problem. nermeen: can you expend why you think the biden administration has made the decisions that it has with respect to covid and restrictions? and why it is so important -- you set a little right now -- why it is so important to focus on infections when, as you say, vaccination and prior infection to provide some degree of community against severe

illness? >> i think for much of the last year plus, the biden administration is been being toward individual responsibility. it is down to you specifically to take actions that will protect yourself rather than what i think is true,hat it i the governments job to protect the health oentire populations. this is the goal of public health more generally, to protect entire communities in the most vulnerable among them first. i don't think this is what the administration is currently doing. it has taken up this posture of preventing the most severe outcomes, severe hospitalizations and deaths, and in terms of preventing protection post a preventing infection really matters. there are loads of reasons. firstly, people can still get long covid. people can be disabled by months or even years of lingering symptoms and often in such cases, these were infections

that were not sending people to the hospital but were nonetheless incapacitating them. there's the fact there is a health care system is still kind of broken. it has been severely infected by the last two plus years of the pandemic most of a lot of health care workers resigned and those who are remaining in their jobs are exhaustednaemememememememert

given up on it. >> i think there is this vicious cycle going on where our political leaders and our media have claimed everyone is passed the pandemic most of people then ritly think, ok, we have been told it is over and those two things feed off each other. and yet it's a pretty recently, support things like masking, support for measures that would protect large groups of people was actually still very high.

there is been is self-defeang process we told ourselves people are passed to people are like, we're past that? ok, we are past it. the measures we need are still the same as before regardless of whether it is ba.5r th original omicron. firstly, vaccinations are still massively important. not enough people are boosted. that remains a crucial part of protecting all of us from infection and severe outcome. masking remains really important. i think mandates can still help. we need people to be masking up in public places where people are gathering. things like ventilation have really never been taken into -- seriously throughout the pandemic. this virus spreads through the air between people. we need better policies to improve ventilation and all kinds of public settings. instead of pushing for these kinds of measures as well as things like testing, paid sick leave, and other social

supports, a lot of that is going away. covid funding has been stalled in congress for a long time. so even some of the meager protections we already have, the testing infrastructure and vaccine for structure in place, are starting to be dismantled right now and yet as we have seen, this is ju going to keep happening. we are now locked in this perpetual cat and mouse game between the virus and our immunity. our immunity builds up across the population, new variant arises to erode it, immunity will build up again, newariant will emerge again. we are going to see this keep on happening. we either choose to continue ignoring or we will finally take it seriously. those are our choices. we can still choose to be better at this. nermeen: could you talk about, do you think one of the priorities -- i mean, it is still the case, rather

shockingly, one in three americans are still not vaccinated at all. do you think that should also be a priority? also, obviously, much of the world outside the euro-american world has yet to receive sufficient vaccines to vaccinate populations. what role does that play in the development and spread of these variants and subvariants? if more people are vaccinated, will there be fewer variants? >> i think it will help. vaccines are really important. but i don't tnk -- i think the mistake this administration has made for at least over a year is to assume vaccines alone are going to do all the work for us. they do a lot of the heavy lifting but they're not going to bring the pandemic to an end by themselves. we need to put in all the other measures that people have been calling for for the longer time. we need cleaner air.

we need a stronger social safety net so people can take care of their own health without risking the healthf their families or their coworkers. we need all of those things from t start. i ink america's problem is assume they can tech its way o of the problem. as we have seen, you can have great vaccines and they' not going to make the differences theyhould if there's a population that simply does not trust them. were getting them is difficult. it is this field of dreams approach, we say if we build it they will come. if you have a population with weak social safety nets, with weak trust in each other and government, that is just not going to work. there is sort of a fundamental deficit in an american society that needs to be addressed, like, right now to make sure

these kinds of biomedical interventions actually work in the way people hope they will do. amy: we are going to continue after the show to do a post show with you on your new book. your new book is just out called "an immense world: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us." but give us a synopsis. you also wrote called "how animals see themselves." >> the book is about the wondrous ways in which animals can see the world around us. every creature, human or elephant or dog come is trapped in his own sensory bubble. it can perceive certain sights and sounds and textures, but those can be different to what other creatures are experiencing. i can't smell the world and the way my dog can. i can't since the magnetic field

of the earth the way the sparrows outside my window can. this book is about expanding people's idea of the world around them to show what other animals can see. i that, i hope it shows the world thought they knew in a completely new and magical life. when i walk the neighborhood with my dog, i get to understand all the things that he is smelling that i don't and that means even mundane aspects of my life become newly magical. america we will continue this discussion because the book is magical. ed yong, pulitzer prize-winning science writer at the atlantic. his new book is "an immense world: how animal senses reveal the hidden realms around us." and we will into your piece in the atlantic "is ba.5 the 'reinfection wave'?" democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who

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[water dripping] [indistinct chatter] man: just watch your steps, yeah? voice-over: most of the people that work here, they used to work at mines before. so when the mine decides to shut down, they have nothing to do but to go down there and dig for themselves. [coal crunching underfoot] man 2: we find that coal is our national resources. it's the only thing that can generate electricity at this point in time. woman: the own