12/27/23 12/27/23 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> there is blood everywhere. and these hospitals, at a skill quite difficult to believe. it is a bloodbath.

amy: as the death toll tops 21000 and gaza, including over 8000 children, the bombardment has led to growing health catastrophe as disease spreads due to lack of clean water and medical care. we will go to rafah for an update. then concerns grow over a wider regional war as human and houthi forces show solidarity with palestinians in gaza. >> coordination around the gaza war, hezbollah, hamas, according to together, raising each other skip abilities, facing down the israelis, challenging the americans. it is a huge story. it is totally unrecognized in america. amy: "watching the watchdogs: why the west misinterprets middle east power shifts." we will speak with palestinian-american analyst rami khouri. and to investigative journalist

james bamford who asks in the nation, "who is funding canary mission? inside the doxxing operation targeting anti-zionist students and professors." and we will look at growing resistance, what some call the palestine exception to free speech on college campuses. >> the most prominent discrimination and harassment on campus has been through not only other students and faculty on campus, but the administration's vilification of palestinians through the university-white emails they have been sending. amy: we will hear from a college student and a professor who signed a widely shared statement in solidarity in opposition to the repressive climate on u.s. campuses. all of that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and

peace report. i'm amy goodman. gaza's health ministry says at least 241 palestinians have been killed over the past 24 hours as israel intensifies its assault on gaza where the overall death toll has topped 21,000, including over 8000 children. meanwhile, in the occupied west bank, an israeli drone strike has killed six palestinians in the nur shams refugee camp in tulkarem. al jazeera reports israeli forces blocked ambulances from reaching the victims of the strike. the youngest victim was 16 years old. israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 300 palestinians in the occupied west bank since hamas attacked israel on october 7. egypt has proposed a plan for a permanent ceasefire in gaza, but on tuesday, israel's army chief said israel's military operation in gaza would continue for "many more months." hamas has also rejected elements of the egyptian proposal. on tuesday, the bodies of about 80 unidentified palestinians

were buried in a mass grave in rafah in southern gaza. israel had seized the bodies in northern gaza in order to determine if any of them were dead israeli hostages. israel then returned the bodies to gaza through the kerem shalom crossing. meanwhile, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has reportedly endorsed expelling all palestinians from gaza. israeli news outlets report netanyahu told a group of israeli lawmakers on monday "regarding voluntary immigration. this is the direction we are going in." palestinian leaders denounced netanyahu for embracing what they describe as ethnic cleansing. the 11-week israeli assault has already forced more than 85% of palestinians in gaza to leave their homes, and many have no homes to return to. displaced palestinians say there are no safe places remaining in gaza. >> we were displaced.

we were bombed aircraft. the school is not safe so we went out. while we were leaving, there were snipers and people were martyred. we have been out for two days and the situation has not improved. amy: israel's bombardment of gaza has also led to a growing public health catastrophe as disease spreads due to contaminated water supplies, the buildup of untreated sewage, and the lack of medical care. some israeli officials have openly praised the spread of diseases in gaza. in november, retired major general giora eiland, who still advises israel's defense minister, wrote, "severe epidemics in the south of the gaza strip will bring victory closer." the public health crisis in gaza is also impacting israeli soldiers. "the times of israel" reports one soldier died after being infected by a harmful fungus in gaza. at least 10 other israeli troops were infected after being exposed to soil contaminated with sewage waste.

meanwhile, three more israeli soldiers have died in gaza, 154 have been killed in gaza since israel launched its ground invasion. an 18-year-old israeli teenager who refused to enlist in the israeli army has been sentenced to 30 days in prison. tal mitnick spoke out against israel's assault on gaza before his sentencing on tuesday. >> i am refusing to enlist. i believe slaughter cannot solve slaughter. the criminal attack on gaza will not -- violence will not solve violence and that is why i refuse. amy: israel has announced it will stop automatically granting visas to employees of the united nations after it accused the u.n. of being "complicit partners" with hamas. top united nations officials have repeatedly called for a ceasefire in gaza while demanding more humanitarian aid into the besieged territory. the pentagon is saying it

intercepted and shot down 12 drone attacks, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land attack cruise missiles launched by yemeni houthi forces in the red sea during a 10-hour period on tuesday. this comes as concerns grow over a wider regional war in the middle east. the houthis have vowed to keep carrying out attacks on ships in the red sea to show solidarity with palestinians in gaza. >> in support of the palestinian peoples oppression who continue to suffer from kills, instruction, starvation, the naval forces of the yemeni armed forces, with the help of allah, carried out a targeted attack against a commercial ship using suitable naval missiles. amy: ukrainian forces have a struck a large russian warship at a port in occupied crimea in what's been described as one of the most significant attacks against moscow's black sea fleet in months.

but the attack comes as ukrainian officials have acknowledged russia has seized the frontline town of maryinka in eastern ukraine after a month long battle in the latest setback to ukraine's failed counteroffensive. sweden is a step closer to joining the nato military alliance. on tuesday, a parliamentary committee in turkey approved sweden's application to join nato. turkey's full parliament must now vote on the issue but a vote has not yet been scheduled. turkey and hungary are the only nato nations which not yet approved sweden's bid to join nato. last week, turkish president recep tayyip erdogan said the final vote hinges on whether the u.s. congress approves selling 40 f-16 fighter jets to turkey. erdogan is also calling on canada to lift an arms embargo on turkey. u.s. secretary of state tony blinken, homeland security chief alejandro mayorkas, and white house homeland security advisor liz sherwood-randall are meeting today with mexican president amlo andrés manuel lópez obrador

, in mexico city. blinken is preparing to discuss what his office has described as border security challenges and "unprecedented irregular migration in the western hemisphere." andrés manuel lópez obrador is expected to call again for the biden administration to lift sanctions on cuba and venezuela, which amlo says has driven an increase in migration. this comes as a caravan with over 6000 migrants are heading towards the u.s.-mexico border. some participants on the caravan are holding banners that read, "exodus from poverty." other caravan participants said they were fleeing violence at home. this is jose santos from honduras. >> i came here escaping from the ms 13 criminal gang. i worked as a security guard. ms 13 asked pastor money that we did not have any.

as guards, we only received a limited amount of ammunition. they threatened to kill me three times. i was scared so i decided to come to mexico, hoping i will be allowed to go to the u.s. amy: in related news, cnn is reporting more than 11,000 people seeking refuge in the united states are waiting in shelters and camps on the mexican side of the border. opposition candidates in the democratic republic of congo are accusing the nation's electoral commission of committing massive fraud during last week's election. initial results show incumbent felix tshisekedi has a large lead over more than two dozen rivals, including nobel peace laureate dr. denis mukwege. oppositions parties have announced plans to defy a ban on election-related protests by staging a march in the capital kinshasa today. in nigeria, armed groups have killed at least 160 people in a series of attacks on villages in the central nigerian state of plateau. amnesty international criticized

the federal government of nigeria for failing to do more to protect rural communities in the region which have come under numerous deadly attacks. japan is moving closer to reopening the world's largest nuclear power plant, which was shut down following the fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. earlier today, japan's nuclear regulator lifted its safety ban on the plant, which is run by tokyo electric power tepco. , local government bodies still need to sign off on the plant's reopening. to see are broadcast from tokyo, go to democracynow.org. the u.s. state department has placed several prosecutors in guatemala on a corruption blacklist over their attempts to block guatemala's president-elect bernardo arevalo from taking office. arevalo, who is scheduled to be inaugurated on january 14, has accused his opponents of waging a slow-motion coup d'état. by attempting to overturn his

election victory. the longtime new york activist ralph poynter has died. poynter was a retired new york school teacher who was a longtime advocate for political prisoners and a radio host on wbai here in new york. he was married to the prominent radical attorney lynne stewart, who died in 2017. poynter helped lead efforts to free lynne stewart who was jailed for four years for distributing press releases on behalf of her jailed client egyptian cleric omar abdel-rahman. and the acclaimed south korean actor lee sun-kyun has died at the age of 48. he starred in the film "parasite," which in 2020 became the first foreign language film to win best picture at the oscars. police found lee sun-kyun unconscious in a car in seoul shortly after his wife had reported that he had left behind what appeared to be a suicide note. he had been under investigation for violating south korea's

strict drug laws. he was recently questioned by police for 19 hours. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by democracy now!'s juan gonzález in chicago. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. and make a we had hoped we would begin today's show and gaza where the health ministry says at least 241 palestinians have -- 21,000, including over 8000 children. communications and gaza are down and neither we nor our colleagues with the associated press can reach our guests in rafah, in southern gaza. as reported in headlines, the pentagon is saying it intercepted and shot down 12 drone attacks, three antiship

ballistic missiles, and two land attack crews missiles launched by houthi forces during a 10 hour period on tuesday as concerns grow over a wider regional war in the middle east. the yemen-based houthis have vowed to keep carrying out attacks and the ships to show solidarity with palestinians in gaza. this comes as the pentagon said it carried out three strikes on iraqi territory monday at president biden's direction and response to a drone attack on an air base in erbil. iraq's government said the u.s. attacks killed one member of the iraqi security forces and wounded 18 people, including civilians. it condemned the pentagon's "unacceptable attack on iraqi sovereignty." meanwhile, turkey's military launched airstrikes in northern iraq and syria over the weekend. the attacks came after the

turkish defense ministry said 12 of its soldiers were killed and northern iraq and battles with pkk fighters. elsewhere, an israeli airstrike on northern syria on monday killed a senior adviser in iran's revolutionary guard corps. the attack was condemned saying -- for more on all of this, we're joined in boston by rami khouri, palestinian american journalist and a senior public policy fellow at the american university of beirut. his new piece for al jazeera is headlined "watching the watchdogs: why the west misinterprets middle east power shifts." why don't you tell us why the west misinterprets these power shifts, rami khouri? and do you see what is happening in gaza and the west bank as leading to a wider middle east

war? >> thank you for having me. thank you for the great work you do every morning. the second part of your russian i can pretty surely say i don't expect the wider war, but wider wars don't usually happen by planning but often by accident. first of all, a wider war isn't going to solve anything. second of all, people generally on both sides don't white a wide -- don't want a wider war. your first question, the short answer of why the mainstream media in the u.s. and most of the western world doesn't follow , analyze, acknowledge what i think are the biggest geostrategic changes taking place in this middle east region in the last maybe 30, 40 years -- the short answer is the u.s. and israel are joined in a

settler colonial assault on palestinian rights. they have been for half a century. the british and the zionists started this and that israel has created after 67, the u.s. became the main supporter of israel. this was a century long conflict that has pitted israel zionism and western supporters against palestinian rights. other arabs got involved, but it is essentially an israeli- palestinian-zionist struggle. the u.s. mainstream media does not want to acknowledge anything that doesn't fit a script that the united states has a righteous policy that the israel is have a moral army, that what they are doing is legitimate defense, and that all of the

other people in the region who challenge them or fight them are either terrorists or just, you know, violence-loving muslims and arabs beyond any help that anybody can give them. they just love to kill jews and americans. this is the kind of nonsense that permeates the mainstream media. this is why i mentioned in this column that this tremendously important sign that we had just last week really needs to be appreciated, and that sign was that the yemeni -- the people call them the houthis. one side of good reporting is to use people's proper name. so hezbollah, hamas -- it makes a difference. these three groups are part of a regional network of groups, arab

groups nationally anchored. according very closely with each other and coordinate and get assistance from iran, just as israel coordinates and get huge assistance from the u.s. this is how the world works. the difference is that hezbollah and hamas have already shown they can develop technical, military, and other capabilities that can check the israeli -american assault on palestinian rights. the u.s. and israel can wipe out the entire middle east if they want. with nuclear weapons another facilities. this would not solve anything. but the u.s. and israel at some point need to acknowledge that the palestinian people have rights that are equal to the israeli people and the two

should live side-by-side, or if they want to live in one state that is up to them. probably two adjacent states. the hezbollah, hamas, houthi combination brought us last week to a situation where at one moment, and it is kind of still going on, the u.s. and/or israel were exchanging military fire with houthi -- hezbollah, hamas, some other palestinian groups, in yemen, the popular mobilization forces the iranian-backed military groups in iraq, and the syrian government, which is supported by iran. u.s. and israel were actively engaged in small levels -- low levels but actively engaged against six opponents. but those opponents were all coordinating together. the more important point, not

just that they corded together, but we have seen hezbollah and hamas and others that they are increasing the technical capabilities steadily and significantly. the -- israel government with its massive attack against palestine, using over 500, bombs were reported yesterday, and other massive ethnic cleansing, everything they have done is they have not made any significant gains on their three strategic goals, which is to eliminate hamas, release the hostages, and to bring about a new political situation in gaza. this is quite extraordinary, when you get two of the most powerful militaries in the world, israel and the united states, with a lot of other military support -- unable to achieve basic goals after 2.5 months of barbaric attacks, that is pretty significant.

the last point i make here is one of the reasons they are not able to make significant gains is that these other groups, these arab groups were close to iran, they work together in something called the axis of resistance. this axis of resistance is starting to become much more effective in deterring or checking the israeli-american military assault and/or the political demands that they want. we will see this down in the negotiations that will happen -- they are negotiating another exchange of prisoners, hostages, and other things and a peace negotiation might happen later. you will see the power of this resistance axis manifesting itself politically rather than just militarily. this is a huge development. juan: rami khouri, i wanted to

ask you, the israeli prime minister netanyahu had an op-ed piece in the wall street journal the past few days and one of the points he raised in terms of the goals of israel in the assault on gaza is to be a completely new point he has raised here. he said not only do they want to destroy hamas and demilitarized gaza, but they want to do radicalize the palestinians, in essence, it sounds to me to stamp out all potential opposition to israel in the future. nothing about a long-term settlement of the israeli -palestinian dispute. i'm wondering your reaction to that opinion piece? >> i don't take it very seriously. i don't take anything seriously that benjamin netanyahu says these days very seriously.

he is running from the law. his own law in israel. the only way he can stay out of jail is to keep making himself indispensable by being a tough guy. all it is doing is killing more israelis, killing more hostages. the fighting is getting higher and higher. i don't take anything he says very seriously, neither should anybody else. he is the prime minister of israel and he does head this barbaric right-wing a fascist that has been let loose. but i would also make the more important point that when he says he wants to do radicalize palestine, this is keeping with a century of zionist lies and propaganda and pr and spin which the israelis now do their their

government. and one of their key propaganda techniques, nonstop since the 1920's or 1930's, has been to associate any of their foes in the region, whether it is palestinians or iranians or saddam hussein or gaza or anybody they might not like in the region, they link them with the most awful person or group that is most awful for the people in the west. with the palestinians, netanyahu has compared them to isis, to hitler, two in a group that does terrible things around the world. he said that is what the palestinians are like. the reality is if you go to any place in palestine, including

gaza and you sit with ordinary people, see this is a bunch of nonsense. but this is their strategy. one of the critical things happening now -- i am working on a long article on this that will come out soon -- is along with the ability of the resistance access and other popular support that they have a lot of popular support in the region as polls show us, including 90% of people in saudi arabia don't want to make peace with israel until the israelis make peace with the palestinians, and along with this major development -- which i mentioned, the second one which i think is absolutely critical and explains a lot of the stuff that is happening not just in the region but you're in the u.s. where palestinians are thrown out of their jobs because of a tweet they did two years ago were for wearing a scarf that is part of their identity or for colin firth cease-fire --

palestinians are punished for this. this is because a century long legacy of zionist and israeli government public relations spin, diversion, lies, exaggerations, distortions is still going on but it does not work as well. they do not fully world like they used to because everything they do is out in the open. you go on social media and you see everything the israelis are doing this now being documented and prepared for the international criminal court. this is why the israelis have become extremely more violent and outrageous in their political statements. it also explains why i believe they focus heavily on the anti-semitism accusations, which of course anti-semitism and the holocaust are seen as the worst

human crimes in modern history. even the anti-semitism goes way back. so they are focusing a lot on anti-semitism and accuse people of being anti-semitic or terrorists because most of their other arguments don't work anymore. this is an important moment. that is why it is so important now for a credible group of people, not the u.s. government which is not credible in this, but a credible group of people that includes the u.s. but not run by the u.s. put together some kind of serious proposal to stop the fighting, get the prisoners and hostages released, and start a serious political negotiation that can move the palestinians and the israelis in the whole region toward a permanent peace agreement. it is very hard -- juan: you mentioned saudi arabia and 90% support the axis of

resistance within the country. could you comment on saudi arabia's role right now, for instance, declining to join the coalition that the united states is trying to set up to protect shipping in the red sea? what do you make of saudi arabia's stance right now? >> well, saudi arabia waged war against yemen for five years with american and british technical support, refueling, intelligence, and all this stuff. and they lost. they were driven out. the saudis had to get out, and marotta -- the emirates hunkered down to set up some new country or something. we don't know what they're doing. the saudis got out. they understand the capabilities of the yemeni people. over time the yemenis have

defeated almost every single person who has tried to come into their country and dominate them or occupy them or order them around. the second fact is the united states is radioactive politically in the middle east. and most of the global south. i would say about 80% of the population of the entire world once nothing to do with joe biden or his amateur state department and defense department leaders and even the defense department and the u.s. is hesitant to get into any kind of military interaction in yemen because they understand how difficult it is. the saudis understand. they don't want to be sucked into some cockamamie american plan drawn into some underground bunker in iowa or kansas -- i don't know where these things are -- where they come up with these incredible ideas.

i am old enough to remember the 1960's and 1970's when i was in college until today, the uss tried four or five times over the last 50, 60 years that i have been a journalist too, with coalitions of israelis, americans, and arabs against some bad guy in the region. could be iraq, iran, the communitsts. every time they have tried to do this, doesn't work because the people running american foreign policy do not have the fundamental decency or strategic knowledge to understand that you can't go into an arab country were 90% of the people support the palestinians and what the palestinians to live peacefully within an israeli state. we are not against it but it has to live with the palestinians peacefully. 90% of the people across most of

the region what palestinian rights to be resolved and they don't want 25 american bases around the region. you can't get arab governments to just run roughshod over their people and say to hell with you, we're going to make an alliance. they have learned the hard way the populations in the arab countries are not perpetually docile. we have 10 years of uprising from 2010-2020 and there still things happening in many arab countries. but there is no realistic way you can get serious arab governments to go into an alliance with the u.s. and israel, whether it is to protect shipping or to do anything else. the way protect shipping in the red sea, stop the assault on gaza. that is what the yemenis have made clear. they are only firing at israeli

ships because of what israel is doing and gaza. stop the assault on gaza and we will stop the shooting. these are fundamental, common sense elements of foreign policy which for some odd reason do not pertain in washington. washington does not know how, broadly speaking, how to engage in foreign policy. they use their warfare capabilities, they use sanctions, they veto stuff at the u.n., they make threats, they try to come up with these grandiose coalitions. most of these have failed since vietnam, afghanistan, iraq, yemen. they don't work. they keep trying them. it is very puzzling. this is one of the great puzzles that american political scientists and psychiatrists have studied, why does the u.s.

refused to see realities across the world and then they get defeated and then negotiate? they will negotiate with hamas as they negotiated with the plo. you'll will see american officials sitting with hamas i would say 6, 8 months down the road. they start quietly meeting and cafés in vienna and stuff. there's something about american foreign policy that is formulated in the public sphere that is both irrational and ineffective and it is largely because the people doing it do not understand how the world works and respond to political, financial, electoral pressures in their own constituencies, political leaderships in the u.s. are highly deficient in conducting moral foreign policy. they are highly efficient at

conducting a profitable mercantile policy where they get votes, where they get support privatizing, where they get favorable media. this is a tragedy for the united states, which tells the world it is for human rights, equal rights. the world believed this for 30, 40, 50 years but not anymore. gaza is the exclamation mark on this, where the u.s. actively supports this an aside, will not to a cease-fire, and therefore this is the consequence. the saudis don't want anything to do with this. rami khouri, thank you for being with us palestinian american , journalist and a senior public policy fellow at the american university of beirut. we will link to your piece in al jazeera headlined "watching the watchdogs: why the west misinterprets middle east power shifts." when we come back, we will go to

james bamford who has a new piece in the nation magazine, then a professor at columbia university and we will hear from a student at bernard talking about what is happening and censorship on college campuses. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "winter song" performed by leslie odom, jr. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we look now at what some are calling the palestine exception to free speech and academic freedom on college campuses across the united states. soon we will hear from a student and professor, but we begin with a new report by longtime investigative journalist james bamford in his series for the nation magazine on israel's spying and covert actions in the united states against pro-palestinian students, supporters, and groups. it is headlined "who is funding canary mission? inside the doxxing operation targeting anti-zionist students and professors."

last month, jim bamford wrote a piece headlined "israel's war on american student activists." he joins us now from washington, d.c. james bamford, welcome back to democracy now! tell us what the canary mission is. >> it is a very massive program that has been going on for years and years. it is secretly run out of israel and the purpose is to blacklist and dox students, professors, largely anybody the disagrees largely with israel or is pro-palestinian. many, many people suddenly wake up and find out that people are calling them and saying your name is on a blacklist. the canary mission blacklist. it is designed to intimidate these people, to get them to stop joining pro-palestinian groups or to stop being

activists and to comply with whatever the people behind canary mission wants. and that is basically to silence them. the threat is if you don't be silent, your name is going to go on the blacklist and if you go look for a job when you get out of -- we graduate or if you're trying to rise up in the professional ranks or professorship, it will be blocked because your name is on this list. it is all most impossible to get off the list. that is just one of the many ways the israeli government has been pushing the american public, basically, to steer away from pro-palestinian activism. amy: how do you know the israeli government runs the canary commission and why is it called the canary commission?

>> i don't know why it is called the canary mission. it had something to do with the canaries and the miners. the organization that runs it is very secret. two of the organizations that looked into it were the jewish forward magazine and the israeli newspaper haaretz and they determined that it was being run secretly from a place in israel, a very secret place in israel and there was a rabbi behind it. tracing all of these links back is difficult but that is where they traced it, to these people in israel that were basically running it. a lot of the funding comes -- again, this is from haaretz and also from "the ford." a lot of the funding comes from

american wealthy jewish americans and jewish american foundations. millions of dollars worth. that is where the funding comes from. but the israeli government gets involved because they use canary mission as a tool. so if people are coming over from the united states, either jewish or palestinian, maybe going to visit families, they look at canary mission. they actually have it there and they look at it and they will kick people out of israel. they will land at the airport, they will be questioned because their name is on canary mission, and then be deported, held in confinement for, you know, a couple of days or whatever and then deported. that is happened numerous times to people. they tried keeping secret effect

they're using canary mission but a number of the professors and students who have been thrown out have seen their name is on -- the guards or inspectors are checking their name off the canary mission list. there is a heavy involvement of the israeli government. it is run by mysterious israelis and funded by pro-israeli money in the united states. israel has its finger all over canary mission. juan: james bamford, could you talk about the reasoning and context in which they created online profiles, for student newspapers? >> soon after october 7, the attack, the student newspaper came out -- about 33 organization supported a

statement basically saying this all did not start on october 7, these activities have been going on for a long time. the fighting between israel and palestine with the palestinians, obviously, being on the losing side of the war against them by the israelis. they were basically saying, it did not start october 7. that created a storm of opposition. almost immediately, almost all of the people involved found themselves on the canary mission. even people that happened to sign this letter. that is how it works. you want to intimidate these people into not being an activist, then you create this blacklist and doxxin that tells who they are, where they are, and basically creates a dossier

of them on this list. amy: didn't that happen when the harvard crimson had an editorial supporting bds, boycott, divestment, sanctions? >> exactly. it is not just at harvard. it is at schools all over the united states. harvard was one perfect example. they had that student letter come out and it was published in "the harvard crimson." a lot of people who signed that letter ended up on the blacklist , canary mission. it is a tool for intimidation. a lot of times it works. juan: and who are some of the prominent american donors who were involved in funding this effort? >> it was very difficult to find that because it is secret who donates money to the

organization, largely secret. there was a mistake some group made on a tax form. what that showed, at least one of the groups, the diller family in california, one of the wealthiest families in california, billionaires, they had donated $100,000 to the front organization of canary mission. it is a thing called -- basically come a front organization in israel. what they did was they donated $100,000 through the jewish community -- jewish community federation of san francisco. from there, it went to another organization, the central fund for israel, which is set up in new york. because if they send the money

directly to israel, they don't get a tax advantage. by sending it through the sort of front organization, the central fund of israel in new york, then they get a tax advantage and the central fund of israel forwards the money to the front organization for canary mission and then it goes to canary mission. again, this was difficult to figure out because there are so many obstacles to try to find out how the money actually goes from these wealthy individuals and organizations to this group in israel. amy: you are saying the canary mission should have just signed up as a foreign agent? >> well, yeah. i am saying that people -- first of all, this is a clandestine

organization, very secretive. it is behind a front organization in israel and being used by the israeli intelligence to find people they can deny entry at the airport and support and so forth. so this is an organization that is secret, it is being used by the israeli government to the detriment of american citizens. if your contributing to it, could be centered a desk contributing to a foreign entity and you could be considered an agent of the foreign government. those are issues that should be looked into. in doing these stories, i have talked to numerous fbi agent's and the fbi agent are fully and in favor of actually taking cases from this -- was they try to bring these cases at the channels to the justice department, nothing ever happens. amy: we were going to have to

leave it there. we will be speaking with a bernard professor but you do write about a columbia university law school professor catherine frankie who at one time sat on the academic advisory council steering committee of jewish voice for peace. upon her landing in tel aviv, write an official at the airport showed her what appeared to be her canary mission profile. after being held for 14 hours, she was deported and informed she would be permanently banned from israel. this is just one example. jim bamford, thanks for being with us, investigative journalist well known for exposing cia. the new york times has called him the premier journalist on the subject of the nsa. the new yorker calls him the nsa's chief chronicler. we will eat your series and the nation, including the last one, "who is funding canary mission?" back with the bartered professor -- barnard professor in moment.

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amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. we are going to a bernard professor but we just learned we're joined now come if we can reach him, by akram al-sarri, a gaza-based journalist, talking to us from rafah in southern gaza. it is so hard to get him that we want to go directly to him. he is on the line. are you there? >> yes, i am there. amy: thank you for being with us. can you tell us what is happening right now in rafah and southern gaza? >> it is actually difficult to describe the situation in southern gaza. the area has been subjected to a complete shutdown of communication, that the israelis

keep the truth from the world. every few seconds, a bombardment . i have just learned a hospital was just hit. in rafah and khan younis and elsewhere. it is a very heavy bombardment. missiles are hitting houses. juan: i can't imagine how

difficult it is for you as a journalist working in gaza to be able to report. can you talk about some of the problems that you face? >> one of the problems i am facing is that the complete lack of communication. it was supposed to be starting around two hours ago and because of the complete blackout of the communication, i could not join you. [indiscernible] journalists are people, fathers, mothers. i personally have been struggling to live. i have been moving from one area where i live to another place to another place. palestinians and journalists, survival becomes --

[indiscernible] you might end up being targeted. now you will see the people walking down the streets. they are confused. they are in fear because of the ongoing bombardment. they end up being killed when they are walking, sleeping, trying to secure food. when it comes to journalists -- they have been struggling to secure whatever connection they can. me and three other journalists [indiscernible] find internet connection. we could not make a connection until a few seconds ago.

it is a continuous struggle to live, to survive, and to secure the very basic needs. it is a professional and humanitarian duty as well. they are torn between their duty to work, their families. amy: so why do you do it, akram al-sarri? akram? well, it looks like we lost akram al-sarri. we are going to try to get him back on and we will post that interview at democracynow.org. he is a gaza-based journalist, incredibly brave, very difficult to get this connection, talking to us from rafah in southern gaza. we're going to end now with a bernard professor and student as

we continue to look at what some are calling the palestine exception to free speech and academic freedom on college campuses across the united states. a new york times story this past weekend noted that "a sustained antiwar protest like the one against the gaza invasion has not been seen for decades." but many schools have tried to shut down students and teachers who comment on gaza or call for a cease-fire. in one of the latest developments, professors at syracuse university say upper-level administrators surveilled, harassed, and intimidated undergraduates peacefully gathering for a study-in in support of palestine earlier this month. they issued a statement of solidarity in opposition to the repressive climate on u.s. campuses, what the letter was called, signed by more than 900 educators at this nationwide. pointthe list is growing. in a minute, we will be joined by professor from barnard

college, sister school of columbia university. the new york civil liberties union recently sent to the president of barnard to protest a new policy that requires departments to submit content for their websites for approval by the office of the provost. democracy now! spoke with safiya o'brien, a political science and human rights major at barnard college and a student organizer with colombia university chapter of students for justice in palestine. >> the most prominent discrimination and harassment on campus has been through not only other students and faculty on campus, but the administrations vilification of palestinians through these university-white emails they have been sending. this is not only vilifying us as groups advocating for an end to the violence as it ensues, but even allowing professors and adults that have very prominent positions in the university to speak so harshly against us and call for harm against students of color that are advocating for palestine. and with impunity.

we have documented hundreds of harassment complaints because the administration has not helped us at all with these harassment cases. amy: that is barnard college student safiya o'brien, an organizer with the colombia university chapter of students for justice in palestine. for more, we are joined by premilla nadasen, professor of history at barnard college and also co-director of the barnard center for research on women and author of the recent book "care: the highest stage of capitalism." welcome to democracy now! we just have a minute then we will do a post show interview and post it at democracynow.org. but if you can talk about what is happening on campus and why you signed this letter? >> what we've seen over the past couple of months is a whole series of strategies that universities have deployed, including barnard college and columbia university, to censor students and faculty speech and

curtail academic freedom. this includes suspension of students for justice of palestine and jewish voice for peace on campus, the cancellation of events, the police in of content on departmental websites. the presence of nypd on campus. this relates back to what you started with, the palestine exception. what barnard college has been doing is writing new policy as a way to then retroactively decide that events are unauthorized or in fact do not follow procedure. i think there are some critical issues here and one of the critical issues is how our decisions at the university made? a lot of these have been made unilaterally without consultation by faculty or students and in fact is a violation of the university's own conduct guidelines. and clearly, there's a tremendous amount of influence

by trustees, administrators, alumni, and donors who are making decisions about what kinds of speech ought to take place on college campuses and what can and cannot be posted. amy: we're talking to professor premilla nadasen. we want to thank you for being with us. we will do part two at