can feel the winds of change. >> on this new hour of aman. california democrats ask, will donald trump withhold disaster aid to california over politics? and what's next in this tale of two justice systems? the president elect is a convicted felon but faces no punishment. plus, the biden administration's narrow and shifting definition of genocide. i'm ayman mohyeldin. let's do it. we continue our breaking news coverage of the california wildfires, where firefighters this hour gained crucial ground against deadly wildfires. but

more wind is coming, and the fires continue to blaze through densely populated urban areas in and around los angeles at this hour. here's where things stand at the moment. officials say more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed or damaged since the fires began on tuesday, and thousands more remain under threat. 16 people are believed to have died due to fire related causes. the two largest fires, known as the palisades and eden fires, while they have consumed nearly 38,000 acres of land and firefighters made progress against these fires overnight. but the palisades fire still grew by 1000 acres, and strong winds are expected to pick up again overnight tonight. meanwhile, the first fire in the san fernando san fernando valley. excuse me, now north of la is 89% contained and under enough control that officials have lifted the last evacuation orders for that area. california governor gavin newsom acknowledged the tough road ahead for his state in an exclusive interview with jacob

soboroff for meet the press watch. >> in your opinion, is this or will it be the worst natural disaster in the history of the united states? >> i think it will be in terms of just the costs associated with it, in terms of the scale and scope. >> and governor newsom called for a rebuilding plan on a massive scale, but also the opportunity, i think, to rebuild at the same time. >> and that's why we're already organizing a marshall plan. we already have a team of looking and reimagining la 2.0, and we're making sure everyone is included, not just the folks on the coast, people here that were ravaged by this disaster. >> but there could be one big problem for residents of la as they look to rebuild. while newsom thanked and acknowledged the help they're getting from the federal government now in eight days, they might be a different story. the government will be run by donald trump. as politico reported today, los angeles residents are dreading trump's return for many reasons, including a stunning report that trump had previously refused to

give california wildfire aid in 2018 until he was told how many people there voted for him. this is on top of trump's partizan attacks on california officials and his repeated spreading of misinformation about these very same fires. but californians may also be fearful when they remember trump's first term record during times of crises. remember his administration's indifference to the suffering in puerto rico, exemplified by flipping paper towels into a crowd and blocking federal aid? and i'm sure most of you have tried memory holing the disaster that was the covid pandemic, which featured daily chaos misinformation, including trump suggesting that we drink bleach, and, of course, mass death. governor newsom was asked today about his state's history with donald trump multiple times. >> mr. trump has threatened to withhold aid for california wildfires, both as president and now again as president elect.

>> are you worried that he might actually do that? >> i mean, he's done it. utah. he's done to michigan native puerto rico. he did it to california back before i was even governor in 2018, until he found out folks in orange county voted for him. and then he decided to give the money. so he's been at this for years and years and years. it transcends states, including, by the way, georgia, he threatened similarly. so that's just that's his style. and you know, we take it seriously. >> very serious challenges ahead for california indeed kicking us off this hour. julie roginsky, a democratic strategist and author of the salty politics newsletter on substack, and elie mystal, justice correspondent at the nation and author of the upcoming book bad law ten popular laws that are ruining america. and julie, i'll start with you. i mean, gavin newsom wants to take this opportunity to rebuild. he's considering it of a sort of a marshall plan to rebuild la once we get through this chapter. but he may not have a willing partner in the in

the white house, given donald trump's track record on not just california, but natural disasters in places where he may not like the politics of that place. >> look, donald trump is going to demand that governor newsom either fly to the white house or to mar-a-lago and kiss the ring. that is exactly what he's going to expect and demand until before california gets a penny from the federal government. he's got supposedly kristi noem, who's known for politicizing her own tragedies and her own state by sending the national guard down to the border, as opposed to actually addressing problems in her own state with the national guard. she's going to be in charge of fema by virtue of being in the agency overseeing fema. and so this is not even a situation where if you're a californian, you will expect anything from this federal government until gavin newsom is being made to grovel. and that's the kind of country that we're getting ready to live in. i mean, sadly, this is the kind of, you know, putin esque obeisance that this president is going to demand from the governor of the most populous

and actually the most wealthy state that sends much more to washington than the state gets back from the federal government, by the way, which is the state of california. >> and he certainly has his trump that is, has the republicans in congress, which obviously with the power of the purse will determine what kind of long term rebuilding or economic aid a state like california gets. >> and you see john barrasso of wyoming already saying today that california is not going to get any money without any strings attached. well, i don't remember any strings being attached to texas, to florida or to texas when you remember that grid went down because they wouldn't weatherize it. and all of a sudden greg abbott got everything he wanted. ted cruz fled to cancun. democratic senators didn't say, wait a second. we're not going to send a penny down to texas because greg abbott's not kissing the ring. if this is how they're going to play the game, i truly hope and expect that democrats in the senate remind them that what they reap is what they will. so eventually they're not going to be in power forever. this is a very dangerous game that donald trump and republicans in the senate and the house are playing. yeah. >> and, you know, i was thinking

of joe biden going down to florida after the floods hit there. and, you know, working with ron desantis, who at the time, obviously no love between ron love lost between ron desantis and president joe biden. and yet there he was as the president, sending money, sending resources, declaring an emergency in florida. trump is attacking democrats for how they have handled this crisis. his record of crisis management is pretty awful, as we outlined there in the setup. and instead of withholding aid or threatening to withhold aid, you know, trump will probably use this opportunity to do something, you know, to try to take credit for helping people in rebuilding los angeles. when he comes into office in eight days. >> yeah. >> look, i'm going to need something a little bit more from democratic senators and democratic elected officials than a stern reminder about how this can flip the other way in some far off future if democrats ever get power back again. because i think most of us know that if democrats do ever get power again, they won't play

this kind of hardball with republican states and republican governors, because democrats never do. >> and the republicans consistently count on democratic weakness when they play these games. >> so julie actually set up something, set up something that i think is extremely important. >> california is not without options here. california's gdp rivals that of great britain. we're talking about one of the largest economies on earth by itself that, as julie says, sends way more money to washington than they get back to washington from washington. if trump wants to play hardball, if trump wants to make gavin newsom come out there and kiss the ring, if trump is going to withhold aid to desperate people and abdicating his duties as president of the united states. >> california needs to not send the federal government that kind of money. >> it's as simple as that. california needs to not send the money to the federal government and look after its own right. 6 million voters in california

voted for donald trump this time. that was a near record number in the kind of post reagan era in terms of republican turnout in california. and i would like those 6 million california voters y'all call trump, y'all go kiss some rings. y'all go ask for trump to play nice with you. democrats should have no part of that. newsom needs to do what he needs to do to protect his state, to protect the people living in his state, because gavin newsom is the governor of all california, not just the people who elected him. it's a it's a thought that donald trump has not yet figured out and ain't about to figure out now. >> yeah. >> so newsom needs to take care of his own state and not worry about the federal government, because what the democrats need to stop playing this game of doing whatever trump wants them to do, of shucking and jiving for trump and then saying, oh, well, you know, when it comes back around, we'll be meaner next time because you never are meaner next time. >> let me read for you, julie, if i can, something that was written by our colleague alex seitz-wald on nbcnews.com. he has a report, wildfires

complicate california democrats plans to lead trump defiance. it points out that california was supposed to be this big state, governed by democrats, with the ability to both resist trump, but also lay out an alternative path to governance. does this national natural disaster a national tragedy, impact the state of california's ability to be both a bastion of resistance and defy trump? >> cannot disagree with that article more. in fact, this gives a perfect opportunity. as ellie pointed out, to governor newsom and to every leader in california, to show what good governance is. they had a tragedy. they will rebuild. they have the money to do it. i understand that the state budget has to be balanced, and i understand that they obviously have constraints. but as ellie points out, they are the fifth largest economy in the world. they have the opportunity to show the rest of this country what it means to govern well and to stand up to donald trump while doing it. and i hope and expect that governor newsom is going to be the leader of doing that. i think he wants to be,

obviously, for reasons of his own political ambition. but despite all of that, ellie is absolutely right. if the democrats in the senate and the house don't get with the program and start backing up their democratic governors and the democratic states that are going to be screwed by donald trump because donald trump doesn't like them, purely because those states didn't give him the electoral college votes that he wanted to get to. 538, which is what he expected to have. right, because there are some states out there that just wouldn't do it. if they're not going to do that, then i don't know what they're doing. in washington, this era of comedy is over, and it was destroyed by donald trump. so let's get with the program, because the days of the robert byrd senate, where everybody kumbaya together, you know, after after session was over, everybody went to morton's and had a drink together over goodbye. >> and the thing about donald trump is it's not. also put the politics aside for a moment. that's a big issue, but also just sheer incompetence as we saw throughout covid, right? i mean, we are we are still talking about hundreds of

thousands of americans who lost their lives in covid because this was a president who did not take covid seriously. and his response? >> he's not interested in governing. yeah, let's let's let's say let's call this for what this is. he's interested in grandstanding. he's interested in people kissing the ring. he's interested in the fact that all these people who thought he was a big loser from queens are now going down to mar-a-lago and kissing the ring, and that's what he expects everybody to do. but the actual work of governing, the actual work of rebuilding california, the actual work of caring about caring about people. look, if they gave him another star on the hollywood walk of fame or gave it to ivanka or gave it to his kids, maybe he'd be interested in la. right now. he's not interested in la. that's kind of in his, you know, past world. and i don't think he really cares. you know, taylor swift went down there and begged him and gave him the gratification that he wants. maybe he'd care. but i mean, the reality is he doesn't care. everything is about disruption. everything is about creating enemies, chaos and enemies. and of course, he needs gavin newsom and karen bass and everybody else to fight against because god forbid we actually join together. he wouldn't know how to breathe if he had to actually have some sort of comedy in his

life. >> hi, julie, thank you so much, ali, please stick around. we've got a lot more to discuss with you throughout the course of the next hour, we're going to talk about another thing that makes president elect trump unprecedented his felony unprecedented his felony convictions. that's why visionworks makes it simple to schedule an eye exam that works for you. even if you have a big trip to plan around. thanks! i mean, i can see you right now if that's...convenient. visionworks. see the difference. speaker: who's coming in the driveway? speaker: dad. dad, we missed you. daddy, hi. speaker: goodness. my daughter is being treated for leukemia. [music playing] i hope that she lives a long, great, happy life and that she will never forget how mom and daddy love her. saint jude-- maybe this is what's keeping my baby girl alive. [music playing] narrator: you can join the battle to save lives by supporting st. jude children's research

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the sentence being the operative word here. that is because trump received what's called an unconditional discharge for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. again, no jail time, no probation. the only thing that really sticks is the title of convicted felon. so you can fully understand why this is rather nuts. each of the felony counts trump was convicted of is punishable by up to four years in prison, and fines of up to $5,000 for each count. again, donald trump has 34. so i'm going to let you do the math and ask yourself, who else could walk out of that courtroom unscathed? trump, slap on the wrist shines a bright light on the inequities of our justice system. and according to the macarthur justice center, more than 70% of the us jail population that is roughly 536,000 people are in pretrial detention, meaning that they have not even been convicted of

a crime, just charged, unable to afford bail. yet trump. he's going to get the white house. he won't have to serve any jail time. instead, he gets the distinct honor of becoming leader of the free world as a convicted felon. elie mystal is back with me. elie, in announcing the decision friday, judge merchan cited the immunity and legal protections that trump will soon have as president. could he have gone another way here? was he stuck at this point? >> i if i was marshon, i would have gone a different way, but he would have been overturned. and so the question i think marshon had was, was he going to make a symbolic sentence that would have kind of kept his own head high, only to be eventually overturned by the corrupt justices on the supreme court? and instead, marshon went the other way. and perhaps the more practical way, perhaps the less honorable way, perhaps the more

cowardly way, and let trump walk with, with with not even a slap on the wrist. a slap on the wrist would have been more than what trump got. and the reason why we're here is, i mean, there are so many reasons, but the one that is shining in my face right now is the whiteness, right? this is something that is only available to white people in this country. it's particularly only available to rich white people in this country. but even a rich you know, wealth is not the deciding factor here. rich black man wouldn't have gotten nothing in the way that marshon just gave trump. only a rich white man like donald trump could achieve this version of a legal victory, and everybody knows it, right? i mean, like, i am not saying anything controversial. everybody in their core, in their gut, understands that trump's wealth and whiteness are why he was put in this situation. right. everybody gets that. and yet

nobody seems to want to do anything about that, ever. everybody just seems like it is. it is a fact of life. it is a fact of our system. it is a fact of our country that we just kind of accept as a fact, as immutable, as intractable. and that's where we are. >> you know, you bring up a very important point about privilege here, racial and socioeconomic privilege are good friend of the show, charles coleman jr wrote an msnbc op ed, and he writes that friday's sentencing, echoing what you just said, is a meaningless bark from a system that has otherwise licked trump's hand going forward. ali, what precedent does this set for future us presidents and for our legal system? >> well, republican presidents or democratic presidents again, right. because i'm going to go back to what i was saying before. obviously, republican presidents know that they can commit crimes with impunity and expect no retribution, expect no

accountability. democratic presidents will not take that lesson. democratic presidents will continue to play by a rule book that does not exist for republican presidents, and that's what they're going to do going forward. so obviously, the worry here is not just about trump anymore. although the supreme court has given him absolute immunity to continue committing crimes as long as he calls his crimes official acts, given what he did in his first term, we can only expect more crimes in his second term. but whoever follows trumps, whether it's jd vance or whoever a shadow president, elon musk, wants to succeed donald trump. they will also have that same immunity, and they're probably going to use it. if democrats ever get back in charge, we can expect that they won't use it. and that again, it becomes the asymmetric war that the democratic party is always trying to fight and always losing. right. so that's on the one hand. on the other hand, in terms of precedent, i want to be

very clear here. none of this had to happen, right. and probably most of it wouldn't have happened if joe biden had picked an attorney general who was interested in prosecuting rich white people for crimes. right. and so one of the precedents i hope comes out of this is that merrick garland and people like merrick garland are no longer given power by democratic administrations. and i know that that is a pie in the sky. hope, right, that one day democrats will join the battle. but one thing i hope is that one day, democrats join the battle and stop appointing people like merrick garland who are going to look the other way and give people like donald trump, give people who are politically powerful and connected a pass on criminal justice, and instead go after the powerful people with the same zeal and effort that they go after any two bit drug hopper on the street. right? that's that's one thing that i would love to see the democrats.

that's one lesson i would love the democrats to learn from. what has the tragedy that has happened over the past four years? >> yeah, from your lips to god's ears, my friend ellie. stick around. i want to hear your thoughts on the supreme court weighing in on the ban on tiktok. but first, an update on the catastrophic wildfires in california. that's next. >> we need your help. go online. call or scan this code to support wwf's global

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sold. >> whoa whoa whoa. >> let's us for the facts. >> oh, like nearly half of all used cars, this puppy has been in an accident. but carfax. com shows how an accident impacts price. so you don't have to overpay. unpause. >> whoa, whoa. wow. >> this is cool. yeah. sorry. >> they pull shop with the facts at the all new carfax.com. >> wildfire is fueled by strong winds, are still raging in los angeles, and gusts are only expected to pick up with a red flag warning currently in place through wednesday evening. here's los angeles fire chief christine crowley earlier today. >> right now, at least from the left side, we're focused on two things containing the fires and saving lives and protecting property. with the impending winds, we got to pay really, really close attention to this.

this wind event is approaching us and it's approaching us very, very quickly. i want to reassure you that your lafd, all of our regional partners, every single agency that is come from up and down this state and outside of the state, we are ready. >> more than 12,000 structures have been destroyed, primarily by the eaton and palisades fires. and for the people most impacted, a mandatory evacuation order remains in effect. this video shows a long line of cars in the brentwood neighborhood just outside of that evacuation area, hoping for a police escort to retrieve basic necessities, check on the status of their homes, and get answers as they try to rebuild after the climate disaster. now the people in that line were told by police there would be no more escorts into that area, and that is not safe, and that it is not safe for them to return to their homes at this time. turning now to a controversial fight over free speech. one week from today, one of the most popular social media apps in the world may disappear

completely in the us, a law passed last year requires tiktok's chinese parent company, bytedance, to sell the social media app by january 19th, or face a ban due to national security concerns on friday, a lawyer. lawyers for tiktok and bytedance took their case to the supreme court, arguing the ban would violate first amendment rights, but say the justices were unimpressed by the argument. is putting it mildly, to quote my guest. mr. literally, the first question out of the mouths of justices clarence thomas, john roberts, sam alito, elaine kagan and amy coney barrett, respectively, was some form of why does chinese owned bytedance have a free speech right under the united states constitution? ali mustafa is back with me now. so take us through what you called in the nation. tiktok's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day in court. >> so tiktok wants us all to talk about this case as if it's a free speech case, right? that tiktok has a free speech right

to partner with the chinese government if it wants to. right. people want us to talk about tiktok creators and their free speech, right? to use the platform of the of their choice to promote whatever content they feel like promoting. and i am all for that. i completely agree with the speech rights of tiktok and tiktok content creators. but ayman, this case gave me an opportunity to do something that, as a lefty, progressive woke liberal i love doing. it gave me an opportunity to change my mind when i got more facts right. and the facts of the law here are that this country, historically speaking, prevents foreign governments, foreign entities from owning tv and radio stations. that's just the law, right? and so if you think of the free speech rights here, not as of tiktok's free speech, right, but as the free speech right of tiktok's owner, the

chinese owned. and according to the government, controlled completely by the chinese government, bytedance. well, then you have to ask, does bytedance is a chinese owned company have a free speech right in america? and the answer legally, somewhat surprising to me, i did not know this before this case started, is really no at all. we just don't do this. and you could go back when i was researching for this case. you can go back to 1985 and we can find that we forced rupert murdoch, australian by birth, to adopt american citizenship before he was allowed to buy in to our media structure. i mean, perhaps we could have come up with a better strategy in 1985. i don't know about that, but we forced him to adopt american citizenship before he could take over our media. so this is just a thing that we do. and so that's why i think tiktok is going to lose this case. they're wrong on the law. i think they're kind of right on policy.

i think they have a really good kind of policy based argument, but their legal argument is shockingly weak, and it was a weakness that was pointed out at the supreme court by by the conservatives and the liberals. right. you had thomas and alito and kagan and sotomayor on the same page here. only gorsuch was a little bit unsure. but, you know, ketanji brown jackson agreeing with amy coney barrett, who's agreeing with elena kagan, you don't see that very often. and that does not bode well for tiktok now, just because tiktok goes away on january 19th, as the law requires, i don't think that means it's going away forever. i think that there was enough kind of interest on the supreme court for, for different strategies. you know, if chinese owned bytedance divests from tiktok, tiktok can come back as an american owned company. and if it does, well, then, well, at that point, tiktok gets all of those free speech rights that me

and a lot of other people want to defend, right? so it's kind of like all all they got to do is not do what i told them not to do, and they can come back. it's a very mr. blond from reservoir dogs situation for tiktok right now. >> donald trump will be sworn in in the day after tiktok could be banned. he has voiced his objection to the ban. do you think tiktok was also making its arguments to donald trump? and is there anything if we don't get, you know, if trump comes in, is there anything he can do between now and when the court has to make its decision that can change this course? >> eamon, this is the most insane part of the hearing. brett kavanaugh literally had to ask an open court, what if the new president doesn't follow the law? because we live in a country right now where donald trump refusing to enforce a law that was passed by congress and signed by his predecessor not eight months ago, that that's a legitimate question. what if trump just doesn't enforce and doesn't follow the law? well,

sonia sotomayor meyer had an answer for kavanaugh and for donald trump. the way the tiktok ban soft ban would actually work is that it kind of prevents american service providers. you know, the app, the apple app store, the google app store from promoting the service, right. and sotomayor pointing out that the statute of limitations for violating the law is not four years, it is five. so if you want to follow trump and ignore this law that was passed by congress in april, you better be sure that that trump or somebody just like him is going to still be there in 2029 and 2020 and 2030 because it's a five year statute of limitations for lawsuits, for violating this law that literally came up in, in the supreme court because we are literally at the point in this country where a president brazenly ignoring the law is a thing that has to be analyzed by

the court justices. >> all right. my friend elie mystal, thank you so much for pulling triple duty for us tonight. greatly appreciate it. as always. good to see you. >> have a nice one. happy weekend. >> you too buddy. next up, what the biden administration does and does not consider genocide. >> this creature, it is death itself. >> nosferatu is a superbly crafted cinematic achievement. it transcends the genre and takes your breath away. >> does evil come from within us or from beyond? >> director robert eggers modern masterpiece is a perfect film in every way. >> there is a storm rising. >> it's the best picture of the >> it's the best picture of the year. nosferatu. we [restaurant noise] allison. [swooshing sound] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. ♪♪ she thinks her flaky, gray patches are all people see. ♪♪

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destruction and violence that we are witnessing abroad is genocide. in a statement, secretary of state antony blinken described one of the world's deadliest famines 30 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and tens of thousands dead. he also referred to the systemic targeting of civilians and the reported instances of rape and sexual violence. this is major news. in fact, why don't we take a look at some of the coverage of this monumental announcement? >> the biden administration has determined that the rapid support forces rebel group in sudan is committing genocide. >> sorry, no. the biden administration was not categorizing israel's assault on gaza as a genocide, if that's what you thought. instead, it was referring to the sudanese armed forces and the rapid support forces, ongoing brutality against the people of sudan as a genocide. the horrific atrocities committed

against the sudanese should be labeled as a genocide. but why is the u.s. unable to apply that very same standard to israel? if the biden administration is calling out the famine in sudan, why not also address the ongoing famine in gaza, which has been condemned by the united nations? if it's rightfully condemning the horrific violence happening against the sudanese, why not also condemn the credible allegations that idf soldiers have been subjecting male and female palestinian prisoners to sexual violence and harassment? it's not like this administration has not used the genocide label before. i mean, early 2021, biden himself formally recognized the systematic killings and deportations of hundreds of thousands of armenians by the ottoman empire in the early 20th century as a genocide, using a term his predecessors had avoided for decades. and in 2022, here's what biden had to say about russia's invasion of ukraine. >> i called it genocide because it has become clearer and

clearer that putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be in ukrainian. >> i mean, in both cases, biden was actually right. but when it comes to israel, this administration, including blinken and biden himself, have gone out of their ways to not call what israel is doing in gaza a genocide. watch. >> we believe the submission against israel to the international court of justice distracts the world from all of these important efforts. the charge of genocide is meritless. >> there is no basis for accusations of genocide against against israel. >> that's not a word that ought to be thrown around lightly. >> israel is not committing genocide in gaza. >> we don't have evidence of that. to my knowledge, contrary to allegations against israel made by the international court of justice, what's happening is not genocide. >> now, the day after blinken's sudan announcement, here's what white house national security communications adviser john kirby had to say when directly asked what distinguishes the situation in sudan from the one

in gaza. >> it's clear, as the secretary of state. >> articulated, that what we're seeing in sudan is genocide. it's the wanton, systematic, direct, deliberate. slaughter, rape, murder, torture of people based on their ethnicity or their faith. that is not what we're seeing in gaza, just not the idf isn't waking up every day putting their boots on the floor and saying, hey, we're going to go kill some innocent people because they happen to be palestinian. >> now, last month, idf soldiers who have served in gaza told the israeli newspaper haaretz that anyone who crosses an imaginary line in the contested netzarim corridor is shot to death, with every palestinian casualty counting as a terrorist, even if they are just a child, an idf commander added. after

shootings, bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them. in gaza, people know that wherever you see those dogs, that's where you must not go. and just this week, a new study published from the lancet found that the health ministry in gaza has significantly undercounted the number of palestinians killed by almost 41,000 people. and yet no official condemnation from the united states, no accusations of genocide. instead, the state department has reportedly informally told congress about a planned $8 billion weapons sale to the country. which brings us back to this week's declaration of a genocide in sudan. according to the new york times, two senior officials actually hesitated to support it because they feared it would actually draw further criticism of the biden administration over its refusal to declare israel's assault on gaza a genocide. they're right. it has. and it should draw criticism because the us's head in the sand attitude towards israel is not only inconsistent with its treatment of other countries, it

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and insider perspectives while building your msnbc community. scan the qr code on your screen to sign up today. >> in the midst of the death and destruction in gaza, something miraculous has just happened under the direction of renowned palestinian filmmaker rashid masharawi, 22 filmmakers in gaza have created 22 short films that have been turned into a feature film called from ground zero. the films blend nonfiction, animation and fiction to tell the stories of resilience under dire circumstances. even more miraculously, the film has just been selected as palestine's oscar submission for best international feature film at this year's academy awards. oscar winning filmmaker michael moore was so taken with the film that he has signed on as an executive producer of the film, moore writes. these palestinian filmmakers have accomplished a cinematic miracle. they have made a brilliant film in the

midst of what amnesty international and human rights watch have now declared a genocide. no filmmaker, writer or artist should ever have to tell the story of their own extermination. it is getting rave reviews and is being compared to other works of art, from people facing the destruction of their society. in variety film critic, one film critic writes from ground zero exists from more in the tradition of photographers henryk ross and mendel grossman, inhabitants of poland's jewish ghettos, who not only documented daily life with their cameras but imbued it with a familiar, beating humanity. in that vein, it is hard to ignore just how much from ground zero feels like history unfolding and tragedy being memorialized right before our eyes. i'm joined now by the producer and director of the film, rashid masharawi. thank you so much, rashid, for joining us. incredible and powerful movie. these are the images from the makeshift gaza red carpet premiere of from ground zero that happened last year. it's

very inspiring and still speaks to the humanity of the people in gaza who were involved in this. the most obvious question i have for you. how do you shoot a movie or 22 short movies in the midst of what is called a genocide? >> yes, for sure. >> it was very difficult because we start almost january 24th. >> it was really it's been very tough in gaza. >> all the filmmakers were under bombing. >> they were refugees. they were living in tents. most of them lost their houses and lost families and relatives and friends. and then i come with the idea to say, okay, let's go and document. >> let's go and make cinema. >> it means it was very difficult first to encourage everybody to make cinema priority, to risk his life for shooting. >> and it takes us really time to make them able to shoot, but

also to get out the material. >> it was another big story also because we were based on electricity and internet, and most of the time no electricity and for sure no internet. it was really, really difficult. >> but because i believe and they believe, it's very important to tell the story, it's very important to get these images outside of gaza. >> and also we want to tell another story, not only the story that everybody saw in the news. we want to turn all these numbers because we were killing. they kill us as numbers in palestine, in gaza especially. >> i mean, every day, 200, 300, 500. >> our project was to tell these numbers, they are human beings. they have names, you know, they are kids. >> they have dreams.

>> they have life. this is why we went into cinema, not into news. >> so what do you want viewers who have not seen this movie but who may see it? but what do you want viewers to take away from this endeavor and the circumstances that you under which you made this movie? >> it's very simple. it's mean. the people that outside gaza, they must understand that people in gaza, they are human being like any others. it's mean. they are not terrorists. let's say they are kids and women and people. >> they are killed because they were there at this time in this location. >> it means i want to think, make the people to think about humanity. >> you know, about human being, because people must know that they are killing everybody in gaza. >> they are killing you. >> the one who is sitting in europe, in america, as a human

being. >> they are killing you in gaza because we are all having the same needs. we are all sharing this world. >> we are all having the same dreams as a human being. it's mean because, you know, it's a big disappointment because today we are more than 450 days and the killing is still going on, the genocide still going on. it's mean people must move, must cut this silence. >> this is part of the aims. >> and at the same time, we want to say in gaza there is artists, there is filmmakers, there is people wanted to make cinema. also. >> i wanted to get your thoughts on the reception the movie has had so far. as i mentioned, it has received rave reviews in some of the screenings that have taken place here in the united states. it has been sold out. it has been receiving recognition elsewhere around the world. as i

mentioned, oscar winning director and filmmaker michael moore has now joined as an executive producer. but what does it mean for you, the filmmakers involved in this, to see that it has gotten the attention that it has received, and for it to possibly be nominated for an oscar? >> here, to be nominated for an oscar, it's very important for us because actually, what we want, it means we want also more attention, more media, more people to see these films, more people to talk about it, to write about it, to share, to share all these stories. because the people in gaza, they feel alone and with all what watermelon doing. also, the import of michael moore. it had also people to watch these films. it's had more promotion and especially when we are dealing with people who believe like us. i believe all my life that cinema also must also help

the humanity. cinema must also stand beside justice and then we become like one nation. i mean, i like very much the way how michael moore deal with this project. he is not only helping gaza or helping cinema, he is doing what he believe in. it means, and this is very important for us. >> let me ask you finally, rasheed, i mean, you're a filmmaker who's made movies throughout the entire middle east. and certainly as somebody who knows palestinians, knows gaza and the situation there and what is happening there, was there anything in this movie that was made that even surprised you, that even expanded your understanding of the situation or what people in in gaza are going through? >> yes, many, many things. even i, me, myself, i born and grew

up in gaza. all my family are in gaza now. me like the other gaza and people. i lost people and friends and members of family. >> we lost houses. but it's like the others. >> it's been. it's not here to complain in a in a personal level. but what surprised me how much the people fight for life in the middle of death, how much people was ready to risk their own life just to participate in telling a story. >> it's mean to move small hard disk from one place to another place, and you know you can be killed in the street because no safe place in gaza. >> and they did that. even our material. we were really focusing in the personal story, our material, what was in these hard disk is people, was paintings, was dancing, was

making stand up comedy. so, okay, many people was talking about the suffering because we describe also that we have no food, no water, no medicines. we describe all this, but through human stories, it was truly people who want to live. so i was surprised. how much was these people defending life, defending love, defending future? >> you definitely see that throughout the movie. incredible resilience and determination on the parts of all those involved. rashid masharawi, thank you so much. from ground zero is now playing in over 100 theaters throughout the u.s. and as i mentioned, possibly an oscar nominated film. thank you so much for everyone who has watched this program. thank you for making time for us. until we meet again. i'm ayman mohyeldin meet again. i'm ayman mohyeldin in new y watch your step! that's why visionworks makes it simple to schedule an eye exam that works for you. even if you have a big trip to plan around. thanks!

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