02/24/23 024/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> norfolk southern and the other freight rail company stay to stop fighting us every time we try to do a regulation. amy: transportation secretary pete buttigieg has visited east palestine, ohio, for the first time since a norfolk southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed three wks blanketing

the town with a toxic brew of spilled chemicals and gasses. it was 100% preventable. that is what the national transportation safety board says about the accident. we will go to ohio for the latest. presidential candidate donald trump was also an east palestine this week. we will talk to a union official about how trump sided with railroad companies on critical safety issues. will the biden administration reverse those rollbacks? then we go to the west bank where palestinians held a general strike thursday after israeli forces killed 11 palestinians and injured 500 in a rare daytime military rate in nablus. >> it is a day of mourning. how will we be able to work and eat and drink when our brothers in nablus are being killed? we should stand in solidarity with the people of nablus and

there should be a general strike. amy: we will speak to the israeli journalist amira hass and the palestinian activist issa amro, who was recently beaten by an israeli soldier while giving an interview. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united nations general assembly has voted in favor of a resolution condemning russia over its invasion of ukraine and demanding moscow withdraw its forces. thursday's vote came on the eve of the anniversary of the war. first>> and a favor, 141. against, 7. abstentions, 32. dropped resolution -- draft

resolution is adopted. amy: china, india, and south africa were among the 32 nations abstaining from thursday's vote. china's foreign ministry is calling for an end to sanctions on russia and for a negotiated end to the war. ukraine's foreign minister dmytro kuleba said thursday's vote showed support for ukraine's resistance to russian occupation extends beyond powerful western nations. >> this vote to fives the argument that global south's not stand on ukraine's -- just not stand on ukraine's site. many countries representing latin america, africa, asia voted in favor today. in moscow, president vladimir putin pledged thursday to strengthen russia's nuclear forces with the deployment of a new generation of intercontinental ballistic missiles. putin also promised to speed mass production of air- and sea-based hypersonic missiles and other conventional weapons. putin's remarks came two days after he said russia was

suspending much of its participation in new start, the last remaining nuclear arms reduction treaty between the u.s. and russia. prident biden called the move a big mistake. neither russia nor the u.s. have signed or ratified the u.n.'s treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons. north korea tested four long-range crews missiles thursday as part of another drill pyongyang says demonstrated its ability to counr an attack on the isolated nation. the test came as the u.s. and south korea carried out a simulated military exercise in washington, d.c., and a day after the u.s., japan, and south korea held a trilateral ballistic missile drill in the sea of japan. the u.s. will expand it troop presence in taiwan by more than four times according to "the wall street journal." the pentagon will reportedly send between 100 and 200 more

troops to train the taiwanese military against the threat of a chinese invasion or blockade of the island. iran acknowledged it has enriched uranium to 84% purity for the first time, just below the weapons-grade level of 90%. but an iranian nuclear official dismissed the idea it was part of a weapons program, saying it is a temporary side effect of producing 60% purity uranium and calling such accusations a conspiracy against tehran. israel's far-right prime minister benjamin netanyahu has already threatened possible military action against iran. meanwhile, germany has expelled two iranian diplomats after sentencing to death of a german-iranian citizen earlier this week. tehran is accusing journalist jamshid sharmahd, who is also a u.s. resident, of plotting a deadly 2008 bombing and other terrorist activities. the biden administration has released two more prisoners from

the guantánamo naval base in cuba. mohammed and abdul rabbani, two brothers now in their mid-50's, were repatriated to pakistan after they were held without charge for nearly two decades. the u.s. accused them of providing low-level logistical support to al-qaeda but never provided evidence in a court of law. both brothers say they were tortured at a secret cia prison in afghanistan for about 550 days before they were transferred to guantanamo in 2004. the u.s. continues to hold 32 -- prison 32 men at guantanamo. here in new york, representatives from all 193 u.n. member nations are convening in hopes of agreeing on a new treaty to protect the world's oceans and their biodiversity. a round of talks last summer were suspended after participants were unable to reach an agreement on financing, among other issues.

earlier this week, actor and activist jane fonda addressed delegates at the u.n. headquarters. >> this treaty that will lay the groundwork for creating 30% of the ocean into marine sanctuaries that cannot be fished in is so important. we have to save these creatures who basically are fighting to save us. they are our strongest allies in the fight against the climate crisis. the ocean is one of our strongest allies. amy: nearly one million customers in the midwest were left without power amid freezing temperatures thursday as a historic winter storm brought extreme weather to most of the united states. about 75 million people in 29 states have faced winter weather advisories. in california, officials in los angeles and surrounding counties issued a rare blizzard warning through saturday. meanwhile, many southern states

are experiencing record heat. thursday's high temperature in washington, d.c., topped 80 degrees fahrenheit, shattering a 150-year-old record for the date. president joe biden has nominated former mastercard ceo ajay banga to lead the world bank. if approved, banga would be the first-ever indian-american and first sikh-american to lead either the world bank or the imf. he previously worked for nestle, pepsico, and citigroup and now serves as vice chairman at the wall street investment firm general atlantic. the anti-corruption group the revolving door project condemned the selection, writing -- "president joe biden and secretary yellen have literally named the vice chairman of a rapacious international private equity firm to take his first job ever in public service at nearly the highest level in the world possible. nothing in banga's resume inspires confidence that he will turn the world bank away from a path of neocolonialism and predation by global north corporations upon global south

countries." a judge in texas is expected to issue a ruling as soon as today that could block access to the common abortion medication mifepristone nationwide. plaintiffs in the case are challenging the food and drug administration's approval of the pill over two decades ago. the move would impact even states like new york and california, where abortion is still legal following the overturning of roe v. wade. the drug is used in more than half of the abortions provided by clinics and physicians in the u.s. in a january, the fda announced retail and mail order pharmacies can now sell the abortion pill directly to patients with a prescription. in florida, a petition seeking to release a pregnant woman from jail argues her fetus is being held in "unlawful and illegal

detention" and being deprived of its due process rights. natalia harrell, who's eight months pregnant and charged with murder, also accuses the jail of endangering the fetus by failing to provide proper prenatal and medical care. the filing argues that the fetus "is a person under the florida constitution and the united states constitution." so-called fetal personhood laws have been fundamental in the anti-abortion movement. reproductive rights advocates say recognizing fetal personhood helps strengthen the criminalization of abortion. a new report by the united nations finds one person dies during pregnancy or childbirth every two minutes, revealing an alarming setback in reproductive health in recent years. the report tracked these deaths from 2000 to 2020. europe and north america, as well as latin america and the

caribbean, had the largest increase of pregnancy or childbirth deaths. from who thousand 16-2020. -- from 2016-2020. but as a whole, these deaths continue to be largely concentrated in the poorest parts of the world and in countries impacted by conflict. in the united states, research shows childbirth is deadlier for black families regardless of their socioeconomic background. black pregnant people and their babies are still twice as likely to die than their white counterparts. millions of people around the country will lose their additional disbursement of federal food assistance starting next week on march 1. the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or snap, had increased benefits as part of the emergency response to the covid-19 pandemic. households will lose a minimum of $95 a month as families continue to face increased food prices and data show at least

one-in-eight u.s. kids regularly face hunger. in los angeles, harvey weinstein was sentenced thursday to 16 years in prison for rape. the sentence is to be served after his 23-year term stemming from his new york sexual assault conviction, effectively ensures -- ensuring the one-time hollywood mogul will spend the rest of his life behind bars. weinstein's los angeles conviction was based on his assault of one survivor, though dozens have accused him of rape and other sexual crimes. attorney gloria allred filed appeals on behalf of two survivors who were denied the right to deliver victim impact statements before the sentencing. >> you may say, well, he was sentenced today. it is never too late to argue or to assert to the constitutional right that we think has been violated. amy: in chicago, a court sentenced r. kelly to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes. but the former r&b star and sexual predator will be able to

serve all but one year of that sentence concurrently with a previous 30-year term handed down in new york for racketeering and sex trafficking. a victim impact statement read in court thursday asked for the longest possible sentence for kelly that was allowed under the law, with the survivor saying she will be permanently scarred and that "no amount of therapy will make me normal." and in alabama, hundreds of striking miners could soon return to work at the warrior met coal company after nearly two years spent on picket lines. thpresident of the united mine workers of america recently sent a letter granting the company an unconditional offer to return to work on march 2 all the two parties continue negotiate a new contract. the offer to end the strike came after warrior met suld large profits after successful use replacement workers to keep its mines running.

the union called the strike in april of 2021. it is believed to be the longest in the history of alabama, a so-called right-to-work state with strong anti-union laws. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, 100% preventable. that is what the national transportation safety board says about the toxic train derailment in east palestine, ohio. we will go to ohio for the latest. and then to palestine. israel and palestine. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "crossroads" by tracy chapman. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. transportation secretary pete buttigieg finally visited east palestine, ohio, thursday for the first time since a norfolk southern train carrying toxic

chemicals to real earlier this month, blanketing the town with a toxic brew of spilled chemicals and gasses. buttigieg has faced widespread criticism for his response to the bomb train disaster in east palestine, where residents fear their health has been put at risk from the chemical spill and the controlled burn. buttigieg's trip came a day after former president trump visited east palestine. trump criticized president biden for going to ukraine instead of the site of the train derailment in ohio. trump made no mention of why he rescinded an obama-era rule that would have required more sophisticated brakes on trains carrying hazardous materials. on thursday, buttigieg accused trump for siding with the railroad companies while he was president. >> they got their way on a christmas tree of regulatory changes the last administration made on its way out the door in december 2020. i think they are getting their

way on the fines being too low. i'm sorry, if the biggest fine we can charge on a violation is 250 thousand dollars or less and that is an egregious hazmat violation that can get somebody killed, that is not enough for a multibillion dollar company. amy: transportation secretary pete buttigieg's visit to east palestine, ohio, came as the national transportation safety board released a preliminary report on the train derailment blaming a wheel bearing failure for the crash. ntsb chair jennifer homendy described the derailment as 100% preventable. >> but i can tell you this much, this was 100% preventable. we call things accidents. there is no accident. every single event that we investigate is preventable. so our hearts are with you. amy: the norfolk southern train that derailed had 141 cars and

stretched for two miles. there were just three crew members on board. we are joined now by three guests. topher sanders is a reporter at propublica covering railroad safety. his new article is headlined "a norfolk southern policy lets officials order crews to ignore safety alerts." gregory hynes joins us from washington, d.c. he is national legislative director at smart. and emily wright is on the ground in the east palestine area in ohio. she is development director for river valley organizing in colombia on a county. we welcome you all to democracy now! let's start on the ground, emily. a lot of visitors this week. yet former president trump, you had pete buttigieg, but the question is, what is actually

happening on the ground right now. can you talk about how people are feeling, what their questions and demands are? >> las night we had a town hall with independent scientists and environmental legal experts, lawyers, and retired fire chief who was a hazmat trainer for decades. people were very happy that someone was just listening to them and answering their questions. people's questions are, what is norfolk southern going to do right now to help us? because a lot of them are involved -- we are not doing any type of class action lawsuit or anything, we are just offering free legal clinics that will be coming up for people to get unbiased advice. people are concerned about, do they make decisions now because they don't have the money and

they need the money? do they wait to make decisions? are their family safe? they have 50% of the people at the meeting last night saying they had well water. at this point, they're still getting instructions to drink bottled water because they are not sure it is safe. everybody wants questions answered. i think everybody is not really looking at even the high profile visits. they want action. we give -- a lot of people are pointing fingers right now, but everybody is pretty disgusted with everybody. you talked about how trump rolled back the safety regulations. then we have two years of the biden administration where they had a chance to reinstate those and they did not. so people are upset with all political officials right now. they are upset our governor and

our house of representative came and took a sip of water in east palestine as a political stunt. said the water is safe. but people are waking up in the same area, the same home with rashes and nausea and asthma symptoms in the morning who are just being exposed to all of the soil contaminants right now. there were a lot of people that are visibly upset and really feel like they are not being represented on all levels -- local, state, and federal government. people are going to be taking action. they're going to be writing letters and making calls. we are going to be doing more petitions because this is, unfortunately, our safety is something that can change from

administration to administration. so what we're going to push for at river valley also is change at the congressional level. we need laws made. we need things that can't be taken away by executive order. that is what we are pushing for is lasting change. and it needs to be bipartisan. everybody needs to get a taste of this. amy: you held a town hall last night. tonight i know aaron brockovich is holding a meeting, who took on pg&e 30 years ago for contamination in california. on wednesday night, cnn hosted its own town hall meeting in east palestine. this is one local resident jim stewart addressing the norfolk southern ceo alan shaw. >> i came home, put the garage were up. we pulled in, got out of the car, put the garage down.

as soon as we got out of that car, the smell came back to us. right away. i am 65-year-old and diabetic, heart disease, everything. did you shorten my life now? i went to retire and enjoy it. how are we going to enjoy it? you burned me. we were going to sell our house. our value went down. do them mother grass? can i plant tomatoes next summer? what can i do. i'm afraid to. it is in the air. every day i cough. a little one here and there. i have never had that. i have rashes on my cheeks and my arms from the -- i don't call it a derailment, i call it a disaster. amy: emily wright, talk about what people are feeling. he is diabetic, 65 years old. this was the participant in the

cnn town hall challenging the norfolk southern ceo stop what about his presence on the groundalan shaw, who says norfolk southern won't be leaving anytime soon? >> that statement was almost verbatim, most things we heard last night. this is a good time to highlight something new that has come up. we are all aware a health clinic was established for these people to go to. they were told if they have these symptoms, to gto the free health clinic and i believe it was through the health department of ohio and our own. this is not a clinic. people are not being treated. this is 100% -- i have everything to back this up -- just for background, i am a registered nurse. i worked in the medical field

for 20 yea before this. i can tell you this is not an actual treatment clinic, this is a documentation and referral ation. there arno doctors. there are no lab tests the is no diagnoses and no real assessment. usually a nse. they have some type of toxicologist that may be there and they refer you to somewhere. so there's no actual treatment. so these people are not only not receiving that, but we have several people that have come out this week to tell us home health agencies are not coming to these homes because they're worried about being exposed. we have people that are bedridden. one person asked to remain anonymous. they have a child that is -- has total care needs. th can't get home health to come out and take care of their child. it has been a struggle. these are real things happening on the ground. as far as for alan shaw, there

is nothing that he can say that is going to make this better that he is willing to say because this is what norfolk southern does. they had these things, they poison us, they try to sweep it under the rug, and they think we are all just stupid enough here, all just hill jack and a to sit back. i can tell you from the meeting, people are very angry and they are ready to take action with not only policy changes, but they're ready to take action and make sure norfolk southern really does pay. not just cleans up and gives us some money, but they pay because these people have lost everything. they don't understand if their home is safe enough. like he said about mowing his grass with chemicals that fall. someone was speaking last night about this.

people are scared if they mow the grass because they're walking outside or in their homes are sitting on our couches and their noticing their feeling shortness of breath or sick because of the particulates coming up. so people are not being properly taking care of. it is not enough. it is a good first step epa forced norfolk southern to clean it up right and they will monitor it, but it is not enough. instead of finger-pointing right now, what i would really like everyone to do is get on the ball of doing immediate change through this administration and the transportation department, and in working on congressional change. because we are tired of the finger-pointing. amy: i want to bring in gregory hynes, national legislative director at smart. greg, this description of this

train, we're talking about february 3, passed through three temperature sensors as it was going along, to my long train -- two mile long train. the sensors are designed to detect hot barons. a deal the one that registered at a sufficiently high temperature to sound the alarm was one less than a mile from the accident site according to the ntsb initial report. at least 20 of the cars are filled with toxic chemicals. and there are only three workers, engineers, conductors on board? the guy driving the train, the conductor -- i'm not sure you will have to correct nana titles -- and a trainee? how is this possible? as people saw miles before, the wheels were on fire. >> let me first say my heart

goes out to the people of east palestine with this terrible accident. the detectors you speak of, there are no regulations requiring the railroads to have detectors at all no regulations requiring the real roads to calibrate and maintain those detectors. we are part of the ntsb investigation, so there are only certain things i can say. but the crew is not alerted with any problem from the prious detectors. the detector that did find the problem, it happened pretty close to the same time the derailment happened. as far as the crew members, there was a conductor and engineer and a trainee. all the class one railroads in america currently have a minimum of two people on the crew. they just happen have an extra one because they had a trainee. the railroads want to go to

single person crews and then no people crews. that is our goal. they fight tooth and nail in washington, d.c., to not have any additional regulations and to rollback the regulations that they do have. amy: this is astounding. these trains go on for miles. art they supposed to spend a certain amount of time inspecting each car that has toxic chemicals? >> absolutely. there are supposed to be class one brake tests on all cars. but they have rolled back the tests. they have laid off 30% of the workforce in the last five years. it is all about it hearing to the wishes and whims of wall street and lori the operation ratio. the other thing people are talking about as well, the employees they do have, recently

they cut the training program in half so the only get half the training they used to get. they are rolling the dice. on the class one oh roads. the thing i would like to highlight, nothing has changed with the freight railroads and america since this accident happened. they're not taking any action to change anything. the only way they will changes if they are forced to. amy: the derailment took place outside of detroit with the same company. let me bring in topher sanders to this conversation. you just wrote this piece "a norfolk southern policy lets officials order crews to ignore safety alerts." explain what you found. give us background. also the overall picture of the major railroad conglomerates in the united states, there are like seven of them, right? >> yes. a team of us reporters started

looking into various accidents, the derailment, policies, and the internal operation rules of norfolk southern. we were able to learn about this one particular policy where some years ago created something like the way detector help desk and it is basically a team of personnel that review data comi from the hotbox that you mentioned earlier. that team does -- they understand data, they understand some of the workings of the train. they can make determinations that when crews receive certain alerts from these hot boxes, that that crew, if they deem it necessary based on the information they have, they can tell that crew to ignore

that alarm coming from the hotbox or the detector or whatever kind of detector it is. they can continue on to say they have cremation that otherwise tells us it is safe to do so. amy: let me ask about what has been found and the number of derailments that there are. over the past 20 years, overheated bearings have led to 416 derailments according to the federal railroad administration data on train accidents. most have not been nearly as catastrophic as what happened in east palestine. is the federal railroad administration able to regulate hotbox detectors? does it require railroads to report data on how they perform? and how has the regulation of trains, its direct relation to lobbying in washington? >> there is no requirement for

the class ones reporting data related to hot boxes. all that information as you mentioned earlier, it is held tightly within each organization. there is no rules or regulations about having the hotbox is or what those thresholds should be. one of the key things that came out of their preliminary report everyone should pay attentn to and be very attuned to is the idea he thresholds that should trigger alarms on a crew for any class of railroad are widely different. on one railroad, that to which a threshold could be x and on another it could be 20, 30, 40 degrees different. in this case, they were obviously trending hot. they went from about 60 degrees above and it temperature -- ambient temperature to 100 above

ambient before they got to east palestine but that 60 degree change come that 40 degree change, that wasn't enough for the norfolk southern to determine that needed to be dealt with at that moment. despite what we all saw on the security camera that there was a fiery glow under the train 40 miles before the derailment. so the chair of the ntsb likely -- saiconsidering what these thresholds should be, needs to be some uniformity around the temperature gauges is definitely something to look into. amy: topher, propublica is learned norfolk southern disregarded similar mechanical problem on another train months earlier that jumped the tracks in ohio come a train headed to cleveland. what happened in the city of sandusky where thousands of gallons of some kind of molten paraffin whacks was dumped?

>> that his candle lacks, by the way. it would've been quite catastrophic had it made contact with anyone when it jarrell. they received data about the same kind of issue. saw something trending hot come a wheel or bearing trending hot. they did instruct the train to stop but they brought out a mechanic to see what was going on and surprisingly, there were able to look at this train, something that had a trending hot mechanism, and they told this crew to musher on. after they did stop the train said, ok, mush on. there was indications that is not with the tree wanted --crew wanted to do, and then spilt hot paraffin wax on the city of

sandky after data was given to them that the train should have been taken out of commission. that is according to experts we have spoken to. amy: gregory hynes, you're with a union. i want to talk more about the workers, the real strike that just was threatened and the biden administration or president biden signing off on a law that says it could not strike. what their issues were then and if you see any relation to what is happening right now, specifically when it comes to east palestine where you have these three workers who are on the train -- what you think needs to happen? the republicans are having a heyday right now. they're saying of course is happened under biden and

buttigieg did not go there. try went there. it was trump who signed off on the deregulation of the trains, caving to the lobbyist. could biden in one fell swoop reverse what trump did and go back to the obama-biden administration rules that were supposed to go into effect this year in 2023? >> all of the waivers that were put forward in the trumpet administration should be looked at. the ones that were granted, many of them within minutes of being asked for. the two-person crew rule which was the minimum staffing rule was done during the obama administration and it was ready to be released at the end of his term. the trump administration came in, he appointed a retired railroad co2 head of the fra who decided we don't need any regulations on crew staffing and

just basically got rid of the entire rulemaking and not only that, he said by fra taking no action on crew staffing, we're going to preempt all the states that have passed two-person crew laws, meaning we aren't going to do anything about it, we will not allow the states to do anything about it stop the current administration has revisited the crew staffing rule. it is already had its public comment period, hearing, and their work urging thousand comments submitted. they have taken all that information in and they're going to be releasing a crew staffing rule. i agree that all the regulations , waivers that have been granted through the trump administration should all be reevaluated. amy: what about the threatened strike, especially around issues of like six days? that railroad workers -- and this is in the time of pandemic -- can't take off sick days? >> it is still that way.

as far as the strike goes, it was never about money. it was about quality of life ins a few. because of the business model the road are operating under, which they just want to cut -- they don't want to let people to take time off. they don't want to -- they find new polls in the hours of service so people never get time off. -- they find loopholes in the hours of service so people never get time off. we can't live like this. we can't take off without the threat of being fired. it ia strong arm system and the strike was never about money stuff it was about safety and quality of life. amy: back to emily wright on the ground in east palestine, what you're demanding right now? >> we are demanding first that the

norfolk southern corporation basicay pay. not just pay for this, but change practices in every way like greg was just discussing. it is absolutely ridiculouthe staffing -- there's no need, it is a multibillion dollar corporation. amy: posting record profits this year. >> we are demanding policy change. we don't care a letter behind your name, we are demanding policy change now into many congressional move on this so we have lasting changes. amy: emily wright, thank you for being with us development , director for river valley organizing in ohio. gregory hynes is national legislative director at smart. and topher sanders, we will link to your pieces that pro pickup but just propublica as you continue covering railroad safety.

stay with us. ♪♪ [music break] amy: "the long march" by the palestinian band le trio joubran. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we go now to the occupied west bank, where palestinians held a general strike thursday after israeli forces killed 11

palestinians and injured 500 in a rare daytime military raid in the city of nablus. >> it is a day of mourning peri od. how can we work or eat or drink when our brothers in nablus are being killed? we should stand with the people and there should be a general strike. thank god the strike is in all the west bank and gaza. amy: so far this year, israel has killed at least 65 palestinians, including 13 children. early this morning, a 22-year-old palestinian man named mohammad jawabreh died a day after being shot in the head during an israeli raid on the arroub refugee camp north of hebron. on thursday, palestinians held funerals for the victims of israel's rate in nablus. 72-year-old adnan baara was among those killed. his son ashraf said that his father was on way to market when

he was killed. >> in the morning my father went from the shop to buy some stuff and then the israeli army raided the head. they were surrounding the neighborhood from all sides. finally somebody call me and said your father is injured. i was at my shop besieged. i could leave after the army left the city. amy: we're joined by journalist amira hass, ha'aretz correspondent for the occupied palestinian, based in ramallah. her latest piece is headlined "israel's raid on nablus proves willingness of more young palestinians to die in an unwinnable battle." she is the only israeli jewish journalist to have spent 30 years living in and reporting from gaza and the west bank. we're also joined by the palestinian activist issa amro who is in have run, founder of the hebron-based direct action group youth against settlements and now leads the american charity friends of hebron.

let's begin with you. you are in hebron. we just reported on a killing of a palestinian man. can you talk about what is happening and what happened in this rare daytime raid in nablus were so many palestinians were killed and hundreds injured? >> two days ago, the military forces raided nablus and shot many palestinians. palestinians all over where -- were very sad and the announced a strike. the israeli soldiers shot many in a refugee camp.

there was a funeral, huge anger among the palestinians for what is happening from the racist and fascist government are fighting to kill more and more palestinians. a massacre that happened 29 years ago -- supporters of that massacre are the ones who are in power. they are the ones now leading this occupation all of the west bank and east jerusalem. amy: amira hass, you wrote in detail about what is happening in nablus. taught in new york at nyu as well and if you can explain to an audience outside come around the world, what are the details of this attack from the drones

that opened fire to the unmarked cars? give us the picture of nablus. >> hi, amy. i haven't been in nablus after the raid. i was in nablus after an earlier raid and in jenin. and it is really undercover unit enters a palestinian -- disguised as a food company or something most the inter-and they find shooting positions. armed activists. usually this is correct and then they are supposed to demand them

leave. if they refuse, they keep shooting until people are killed and their hiding place or not hiding place. it happened in jenin --it has been happening a lot over the years. the recent intensification of this during the last year, when the palestinian-armed activists decide to give themselves in, it might not end up in 70 casualties. you see the young people who are not full within 30 at most, they just decide they don't want to go to prison. they want to convey a message in the name of the entire palestinian people they have had

enough and they are ready to die. i think this is a very clear message of the last -- of the activists over the past year. out of the 11 people killed, six were armed people. i think we should remember this, they decide to take arms and fight the invading army. they decide to not give themselves in. but of course when the army decides to enter the city so big as nablus in the daytime at 9:30 and then stay until 12:30 kids go back to school and be near the marketplace, it is clear the army and the police -- because they were doing the shooting in these cases -- it is clear they decide -- they don't care about how many people they kill and

how many people they i njure. amy: the roads a packed because this is the middle of the day. >> sure. i still have to check. there were drones as there were in former raids but 'm not sure yet these drones were shooting. but even the knowled that those drones not only are surveillance drones or drones that launch teargas canisters, or teargas, but they also shoot. you can imagine how much it as to theear. not only fear. there is enough footage -- th don't allow england'ss -- ambulances journalists to approach for several of these raids. what what i saw, you see there

hundredsf young m so brave they go out without arms, only with stones, and throw at the military vehicles. i guess many of them were injured if not killed. amy: that may go to issa amro -- >>ut what is important to know is also to stress the resistance. in every raid, people resisted. it is not just a quiet scene where all of the sudden the army comes. people resisted. amy: issa amro, an israeli soldier was recently jailed for 10 days after he attacked you. as you are being interviewed by author lawrence wright.

i want to play a short clip of what happened. >> hey! leave him! what is the matter with you? amy: after video of the attack on you went viral, israel's far right national security manager -- minister itamar ben-gvir who has been convicted on inciting racist charges, expressed full support for the israeli soldier that attacked you. describe the scene and what happened. >> what happened, i was in my own city to show israeli nationals, palestinians, the real piece of the israeli occupation in my city.

the markets come the checkpoints . there are streets where i am not allowed to walk. i was born there. i was raised there. he was walking on the main street and i was walking -- i'm not allowed to walk on the main street. i was speaking to mr. wright showing him the closed shops and markets and have few palestinian families use the back door because the main door is closed. the soldier approached me and asked me to leave. i said, no, i am allowed.

then i reached a point i'm allowed to meet lawrence and the photographer. i told him i was allowed, we are allowed film this. the tiny rights we have as palestinians, we are allowed to do it. the soldier got very angry. tossed me from my shoulder. detained me in the street. intimidated me. he threw me to the ground and kicked me again and hit me again. other soldiers took him away from me because of the camera. in the case of all the palestinians living under israel i like a patient, the soldiers.

--israeli occupation, the soldiers. amy: i hate to keep traumatizing you further but i wanted to ask you about the israeli by 30's arresting you lester shortly after you posted a video showing an soldier the right and activist to the ground and then punching them in the face in the city of hebron in the occupied west bank. before you were released, were beaten at the police station. your home was raided. the israeli activist tweeted -- "isso's life is in danger and there must be guarantees of his safety." talk about that. >> he is receiving online deaf

threats for doing this kind of thing -- death threats for doing this kind of thing. i found another soldier filming that made me a target. didn't blame the soldier for what they did to me, they blamed me for filming it. israel tried to hide the truth. they don't want to document the human rights violations. the soldier attacked me and the israeli official who is national security minister backed up the soldier and gave a green light

as opposed -- the israeli media described me as a propagator -- provocater. the soldiers have a real atmosphere of incitement. they went to really be following to show palestinians more brutality for those who document the human rights violations. i fear from my left from what i see from the israeli soldiers and the backup from the army and the backup from even the israel media which is giving the soldiers excuses for what they are doing. it was so obvioubut the media

lied about this. amy: amira hass, we are going to end with you. you havehe attack nablus. you hear what issa is describing. rockets fired at southern israel this week with the nablus being a huge provocation. where is this going? we have 30 seconds. >> look, everything that has been described here has happened before. also under former government. the problem -- israel was experimenting after the nba. forced expulsion. what'm afraid now is if we have the strongest people in the esent he's realovernment --israel government, politicians

who have openly advocated for mass expulsion of palestinians. if you go to hebron -- amy: we have to leave it there. i thank you both for being with us, amira hass and issa amro.