DemocracyNow! Headlines
November 21, 2023
WHO Says Israeli Attacks Have Taken All of Northern Gaza’s Hospitals Out of Service
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/21/headlines
The Palestinian Health Ministry says all hospitals in northern Gaza are now out of service amid repeated assaults by Israeli forces on medical centers. The World Health Organization said it was working to evacuate remaining patients from Al-Shifa, the largest hospital in the besieged Palestinian territory, along with the Indonesian and Al-Ahli hospitals. Hundreds of patients — many of them injured in Israeli strikes — remain trapped in medical centers which have effectively ceased functioning. A WHO official in Geneva said Israel’s assault is “robbing the entire population of the north of the means to seek healthcare.”
U.N. Chief Condemns Israel’s “Unparalleled and Unprecedented” Attacks on Civilians
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
There’s been no letup in Israel’s bombing campaign. In one of the latest attacks, at least 20 Palestinians were killed when Israeli forces bombed the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza. Palestinian officials say more than 13,300 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes — over 5,000 of them children. On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres marked World Children’s Day, the U.N.’s annual day of action for children, with a call to stop the carnage.
Secretary-General António Guterres: “What is clear is that we have had in a few weeks thousands of children killed. So this is what matters. We are witnessing a killing of civilians that is unparalleled and unprecedented in any conflict since I am secretary-general.”
Israeli Attacks Kill Palestinian Journalists in Gaza and Media Workers in Lebanon
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
The chairman of the Gaza Press House has been killed by Israel’s military. Belal Jadallah was heading to the south of the Gaza Strip when he was killed by an Israeli tank shell in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Belal Jadallah was known as the “Godfather” of Palestinian journalism. He helped train generations of reporters and welcomed foreign correspondents to the Gaza Strip.
In northern Gaza, 27-year-old digital content and podcast presenter Ayat Khaddura has reportedly been killed along with her family in an Israeli airstrike. This is one of her last video reports.
Ayat Khaddura: “We’re separated, of course. I and a few others remain at home, while the rest have evacuated, and we don’t know where they went. The situation is very scary. The situation is very terrifying. What is happening is very difficult. May God have mercy on us.”
In southern Lebanon, two journalists with the Beirut-based TV channel Al Mayadeen have been killed in an Israeli airstrike. The network says camera operator Rabih Al-Me’mari and correspondent Farah Omar were deliberately targeted by an Israeli warplane after reporting on the latest Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon. A third civilian traveling with them was also killed in the attack.
At least 50 journalists and media workers, most of them Palestinian, have been killed in the region since October 7. We’ll have more on this story after headlines.
Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha Abducted by Israeli Troops at Gaza Checkpoint
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
The Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha has been released, following his abduction by Israeli soldiers while trying to leave the Gaza Strip with his family. Abu Toha had been heading to the southern Rafah border crossing when he was seized by Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint. His family had not heard from him until Tuesday. Mosab Abu Toha is an author, columnist, teacher and founder of the Edward Said Library in Gaza. Click here to see our recent interview with him, and we’ll have more on his abduction later in the broadcast.
Families of Israeli Hostages Blast Bill to Impose Death Sentence on Hamas Members
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
In Jerusalem, far-right members of Israeli’s parliament on Monday got into a shouting match with family members of hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza. Lawmakers were debating a bill to impose the death penalty on “terrorists.” The bill was advanced by Israel’s ultranationalist national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who was once convicted by an Israeli court of racist incitement against Palestinians and supporting a terrorist group. Family members condemned the death penalty bill, saying it endangered efforts to win the release of their abducted relatives. This is Udi Goren, whose cousin is being held captive in Gaza.
Udi Goren: “This is incredibly disappointing, because I feel that at this point, when we know that taking down Hamas, we keep hearing from them, is going to take months or years, and it’s going to take a long time; on the other hand, the other objective is time-sensitive. People are dying. We know that for sure.”
One hostage family member yelled at Ben-Gvir in the Knesset session, “You care more about killing Arabs than saving Jewish lives.”
Meanwhile, Al Jazeera reports Qatar-brokered talks for a deal that would see Hamas release some of its hostages in exchange for a three- to five-day pause in fighting are at a “critical and final stage.” Hamas officials said they were “close to reaching a truce agreement.”
Sen. Jeff Merkley Calls for Gaza Ceasefire: “Too Many Civilians and Children Have Died”
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
The White House has pushed back after the Center for Constitutional Rights sued President Biden, accusing him of failing to prevent genocide in the Gaza Strip. On Monday, White House spokesperson John Kirby called the allegations “pretty inappropriate” and said only Hamas has genocidal intentions, not Israel’s government.
John Kirby: “Yes, there are too many civilian casualties in Gaza. Yes, the numbers are too high. Yes, too many families are grieving. And, yes, we continue to urge the Israelis to be as careful and cautious as possible. That’s not going to stop, from the president right on down. But Israel is not trying to wipe the Palestinian people off the map. Israel is not trying to wipe Gaza off the map. Israel is trying to defend itself against a genocidal terrorist threat.”
Those remarks from the White House came as Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon became just the second senator to demand a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, joining Illinois Democrat Dick Durbin. Merkley wrote, “By waging a war that generates a shocking level of civilian carnage rather than a targeted campaign against Hamas, Israel is burning through its reserves of international support. Too many civilians and too many children have died, and we must value each and every child equally whether they are Israeli or Palestinian.”
Protesters Rally at Seattle Space Needle to Demand Gaza Ceasefire
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
In Seattle, hundreds of people blocked the main entrance of the Space Needle observation tower Sunday in a Jewish-led peaceful act of civil disobedience calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Protesters flew a 40-foot-tall banner that read “Ceasefire Now!” in the air buoyed by large balloons. They’re demanding Washington Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both Democrats, join growing congressional calls for a ceasefire. The action was organized by the Seattle chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
*********************
A Grim Milestone: Journalist Death Toll Tops 53 as Israel Kills More Reporters in Gaza and Lebanon
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/21 ... transcript
Transcript
The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that at least 50 journalists and media workers have been killed in Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza. Forty-five of the slain journalists have been Palestinian. Others have been arrested or injured. According to CPJ, this has been the deadliest period for journalists covering conflict since the media group began tracking deaths over 30 years ago. Meanwhile, journalists in Israel and the West Bank have been confronted with cyberattacks, physical assault and other forms of censorship for allegedly “harming national morale and harming national security” while reporting on Israel. It’s a “news blackout,” says CPJ’s program coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Sherif Mansour, under which the Israeli government is blocking “essential media coverage” and withholding “lifesaving information” from Gaza in order to win its Western propaganda war.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s been another devastating 24 hours in Gaza and southern Lebanon for journalists covering the 46-day Israeli bombardment. The Beirut-based TV channel Al Mayadeen has just announced two of its journalists were killed today in an Israeli airstrike in southern Lebanon. The network says correspondent Farah Omar and camera operator Rabih Al-Me’mari were deliberately targeted by an Israeli warplane after reporting on Israel’s latest bombardment of south Lebanon.
Meanwhile, in northern Gaza, Ayat Khaddura, a 27-year-old digital content and podcast presenter, has been reportedly killed along with her family in an Israeli airstrike. This is Ayat, one of her last video reports.
AYAT KHADDURA: [translated] This may be the last video for me. Today, the occupation dropped phosphorus bombs on the Beit Lahia project area and scary sound bombs and threw evacuation notices in the area. And, of course, almost the entire area has evacuated. Everyone started running madly in the streets. No one knows neither where they’re going to or coming from. We’re separated, of course. I and a few others remain at home, while the rest have evacuated, and we don’t know where they went. The situation is very scary. The situation is very terrifying. What is happening is very difficult. May God have mercy on us.
AMY GOODMAN: On Sunday, the head of the Gaza Press House was also killed by the Israeli military. Belal Jadallah was heading to southern Gaza when he was killed by an Israeli tank shell in the Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City. Belal was known as the “Godfather” of Palestinian journalism. He helped train generations of reporters and welcomed foreign correspondents and sponsored them when covering the Gaza Strip.
The Committee to Protect Journalists Monday announced a grim milestone had been reached with at least 50 journalists and media workers killed since October 7th. Forty-five of the journalists have been Palestinian. There have been three Israeli journalists killed, and there have been at least three Lebanese journalists killed. CPJ reports 11 journalists have been injured, three are reported missing, and 18 have been arrested. According to CPJ, the past month and a half has been the deadliest period of journalists covering the conflict since the media group began tracking these deaths over 30 years ago.
We go now to Philadelphia, where we’re joined by Sherif Mansour, the Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Sherif, welcome back to Democracy Now!, under horrific circumstances. The U.N. secretary-general says that the number of civilian deaths is “unparalleled and unprecedented.” Of course, journalists are civilians. As I woke up this morning, I got one text after another, first the young woman and her cameraman in southern Lebanon killed about an hour after she posted a video report. She’s standing in a field in southern Lebanon, and she’s talking about the Israeli military killing civilians. She and her cameraman are then hit and killed. And then, as I’m learning their names, another text comes in. This young reporter in northern Gaza is killed, even as she says in her report, “I fear I will die.” Can you talk about this latest news and then a man you have come to know, who worked with you on a CPJ report, the head of the Gaza journalists’ association, also killed in an airstrike?
SHERIF MANSOUR: Thank you, Amy, for having me.
I remember being on your show a little bit more of a month ago and saying, for journalists in the region, this is a deadly time. And it was the deadliest week back then. It became the deadliest month and now the deadliest six weeks on our record. I was not exaggerating. I was not speculating.
The killing of Belal Jadallah, who helped us document this deadly pattern of journalists being killed by Israeli fire over 21 years — just in May, we made a profile of 20 journalists. The majority, 18, were Palestinians. And he, Jadallah, his center have helped identify them, their families, get us their pictures. And on Sunday, he became a victim of this same deadly pattern when he was killed in his car. Jadallah has also provided crucial safety equipment for journalists in order to do their job safely. And he opened the Press House for journalists to use the electricity and internet when there was no other place.
This deadly pattern has existed before. It’s getting more deadly per day. We are investigating the three more killing today, adding to 50 as of yesterday. We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s unprecedented. And for journalists in Gaza specifically, the exponential risk is possibly the most dangerous we have seen. Journalists were killed in the very early stages at the two entry and exit points from Gaza — in the south, the Rafah crossing; in the north, the Erez crossing. And since then, they were killed everywhere in between. They were killed in the south in Rafah City, in Khan Younis, where they were told it’s going to be safe. They were killed in the middle in the Gaza Strip. And they were killed in the north in Gaza City. They have no safe haven. They have no exit.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Sherif, could you talk, as well, about the arrests of journalists in Gaza and the Occupied Territories? And also, your organization has criticized, as well, Israel for its censorship within Israel of the press in Israel. Could you talk about that, as well?
SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, we have documented separately from the casualties list, which includes journalists going missing, injured, the escalation of arrests. As of yesterday, 18 Palestinian journalists from the West Bank were arrested. Many of them were put in administrative detention, in military prosecutions. In addition, dozens of cases of censorship, direct censorship, cyberattacks, physical assaults, obstruction from coverage within the West Bank and within Israel.
In Israel, an emergency legislation has now given the government for the first time the unprecedented power of shutting down international media organization, including acting on Al Mayadeen — which two journalists were killed today in Lebanon — banning them in Israel, and allowing the government also to jail even Israeli journalists for up to a year under suspicious and these accusations of harming national morale and harming national security.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: Also, here in the United States, we are getting much coverage on the commercial media of the war, of the Israeli war in Gaza, but it’s all of U.S. journalists that are basically based in Israel, and there are no U.S. journalists that I’ve seen that are actually in Gaza. And those who do go in only go in with the Israeli army and under the condition that Israel must review all of their videotape beforehand and approve it before it can go out. I’m wondering your sense of how the American people — what kind of story they’re getting as a result of these conditions?
SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, these conditions put local Palestinian photojournalists and freelancers at the most risk. They are the ones on the frontlines. We have not — we have seen a dwindling number of international media and international journalists within Gaza over the years because of the risks involved. And right now the Palestinian journalists are bearing the brunt of this risk and this heavy toll.
Of course, these casualties, the censorship is also coupled with communication blackouts for, to date, since the start of the war, that makes this more often news blackout, not just communication blackout. And, of course, that denies journalists a voice. It also denies people in the region and worldwide of essential media coverage, lifesaving information for 2 million Palestinians who are struggling to find food, clean water and shelter right now, but millions and hundreds of millions all over the world who are following this heartbreaking conflict and try to understand it, including in the U.S.
AMY GOODMAN: So, as Juan said, Sherif, you have — the Israeli military says they cannot guarantee the lives of journalists that go into Gaza. In early November — I’m just thinking back to a few weeks ago — the Palestine News Agency reported that their journalist Mohammad Abu Hattab was killed in an Israeli strike on his home in southern Gaza Strip along with 11 members of his family, including his wife, son and brother. His colleague, journalist Salman Al-Bashir, burst into tears during a live broadcast upon learning of Abu Hattab’s killing. As he spoke, Al-Bashir tore off his helmet and protective vest, labeled “press,” and threw them to the ground. And then there was a split screen, as he ripped off his gear, saying, “Why do we bother wearing this if we’re going to be killed anyway?” They showed the anchor back in the Palestine news studio as she wept as Al-Bashir tore off his helmet and protective vest. Your response to this situation and this whole issue of embedded journalism is the only way the U.S. media can get those reports inside Gaza, where their news reports are reviewed, and the Gazan journalists on the ground being killed one after another, dozens of Palestinian journalists killed?
SHERIF MANSOUR: Well, the Israeli army cannot escape or evade their responsibility under international law not to use unwarranted lethal force against journalists and against media facilities. It would constitute a possible war crime to do so. We have raised directly with Israeli officials the need for them to reform the rules of engagement, to respect press insignia and to ensure there are safeguards, checks when civilians and journalists are around. We have called for Israeli allies, including the U.S. government, European allies, to raise directly these issues, and publicly, with their Israeli counterparts. And we have called for the U.N. Security Council to include safety of journalists on the agenda in any diplomatic discussion.
Of course, the Israeli government are obliged under international law to protect journalists as civilians, but it’s also journalists’ vital role in time of war providing accurate, timely, independent information that gives them these protections under international law. And we want to make sure that the Israeli army, as well, do not continue to push false narratives and smear campaigns to try and justify the killing of those journalists.
AMY GOODMAN: Sherif Mansour, we want to thank you for being with us, Middle East and North Africa program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, speaking to us from Philadelphia.
Coming up, the acclaimed Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha has been detained at an Israeli checkpoint in Gaza, his whereabouts now unknown. Back in 20 seconds.
**************************
Palestinian Poet Mosab Abu Toha Freed After Being Abducted in Gaza & Beaten by Israeli Forces in Jail
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/21 ... transcript
Transcript
Israeli troops detained and reportedly beat the acclaimed Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha after he was stopped at an Israeli military checkpoint Sunday while heading toward the Rafah border crossing with his family in Gaza. His whereabouts had been unknown until today, when news emerged that he had been released. According to the Palestinian lawyer Diana Buttu, Abu Toha was taken to an Israeli prison in the Naqab, where he was interrogated and beaten along with more than 200 other Palestinians who remain in detention. We play excerpts from Abu Toha’s recent appearance on Democracy Now! and speak to Buttu, who says, “Mosab’s story is like that of so many Palestinians in Gaza.”
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
Calls all growing across the globe for Israel to immediately release the acclaimed Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha, who was detained at an Israeli military checkpoint in Gaza this weekend while heading toward the Rafah border crossing with his family. His whereabouts are unknown.
His work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Progressive and other publications. He founded the Edward Said Library in Gaza. His first book of poetry, Things You May Find Hidden in My Ear, won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The poetry collection was published by City Lights Books.
In a recent essay in The New Yorker magazine, Abu Toha wrote, “I sit in my temporary house in the Jabalia camp, waiting for a ceasefire. I feel like I am in a cage. I’m being killed every day with my people. The only two things I can do are panic and breathe. There is no hope here,” he wrote.
Mosab Abu Toha appeared on Democracy Now! a few weeks ago.
MOSAB ABU TOHA: I mean, where do we immigrate? We have been — we were born on this land. My parents were born on this land. My grandparents were born on this land. My great-grandparents were born here. But if you ask anyone in Israel, most of them would tell you that their grandparents were born somewhere else. And even I only have a Palestinian passport, which is really not very helpful when I leave Gaza — if I could leave Gaza. … So, where do we go? And Netanyahu, on the second day of the escalation, asked the Palestinians in Gaza to leave. He said, “Leave now.” But where do we leave, and why should we leave? We have nowhere else to go.
AMY GOODMAN: Those the words of the Palestinian poet Mosab Abu Toha on Democracy Now! in October. His whereabouts are now unknown, after he was taken by Israeli forces at a checkpoint in Gaza.
We’re joined now by Diana Buttu. She is a Palestinian lawyer, former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization, broke the news of Mosab Abu Toha’s kidnapping. She joins us now from Haifa.
Diana, can you talk about what you understand has happened to him?
DIANA BUTTU: Mosab’s story is like that of so many Palestinians in Gaza. He was seeking refuge in the Jabaliya refugee camp. His own home was bombed and shattered to pieces. While he was in Jabaliya refugee camp, the Israelis perpetrated a massacre in Jabaliya, which was 70 meters away from where he was. He twice escaped death.
And his son is an American-born citizen. They, along with the rest of the family, finally got clearance to be able to leave Rafah to go elsewhere. And as they were fleeing from the heavily bombed north of — northern part of the Gaza Strip, they were forced to go through a checkpoint, what was supposed to be a safe passage, on Salah al-Din Road, which is the road that leads from the north to the south. At that checkpoint, at that military area, he, along with hundreds of other people, were forced to raise their hands. He was forced to put his son down on the ground, his young son, 3 years old, raise his hands in the air. And he and hundreds of others, men and women — this has been confirmed by his wife — were then abducted. They weren’t arrested; they were abducted, kidnapped by the Israeli army, with everybody else told to continue on.
His family is not in Rafah. They are still trying to get to the south. It is near impossible to get to the south. And his family still has not heard from him. They have no idea of his whereabouts. We’ve checked everywhere with the ICRC, with representatives of Congress, with the State Department, and nobody has been able to provide us with even the simplest of answers in terms of where he is, why he’s been abducted, what conditions he’s being held under, and when it is that he will be released. And this is why so many are pushing and demanding not only for Mosab’s release, but for the release of the hundreds of Palestinians that Israel has abducted over the course of the past seven weeks.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: I’m wondering — you’ve commented in the past on the extent to which Israel has been disseminating false information about the war. Could you elaborate on what’s been the effects of that?
DIANA BUTTU: Well, the effect has been that we now see that commercial media are looking and examining the tiny little minutia of disinformation that Israel is putting out, but they seem to ignore the bigger picture. And the bigger picture is that Israel is bombing a 2.2 million-populated refugee camp. Half of them are children.
And we just keep hearing one piece of disinformation after another. We’ve heard them talk about the legality of bombing hospitals, when anybody who has any sense of morality or notion of what’s legal, what’s right, knows that you can’t bomb a hospital. And yet, rather than questioning that, we’ve seen instead that commercial media have been going down the path of simply accepting these truths.
We see this also when it’s come to Mosab, that there’s somehow an allegation that he has done something wrong, rather than people recognizing that this has been a pattern that Israel has been carrying out now for quite some time, for the past seven weeks. It’s been going into Gaza. It’s been abducting people, and without anybody knowing where their whereabouts are. We’ve seen this happen with Palestinian workers who happened — who had permits to be inside Israel, who were then not only abducted, but beaten, with their torture broadcast and put up on TikTok and on Instagram, and, of course, nobody even questioning the legality, the morality of doing any of those sorts of things.
So, the problem has been that they’ve gone down the path of somehow accepting the disinformation rather than questioning it and rather than questioning this big picture of the legality of Israel bombing a large refugee camp. The only reason that they’re refugees is because Israel made them into refugees in the first place.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you explain more about how you’re trying to get information and attention to Mosab’s case right now? I mean, word is that Israel and Hamas are close to a hostage release agreement. Does this fit into that? Why is it so difficult to deal with Israel and Palestine right now? How are you able to communicate with both?
DIANA BUTTU: In terms of communication, communication is near impossible. And it’s near impossible because the Israelis, a little over two weeks ago, imposed a blackout on telecommunications inside the Gaza Strip. And not only was there a blackout imposed, but it’s also been impossible for roaming to be working. So, of the times that I’m able to reach friends, very dear friends, who are in the Gaza Strip, it usually takes about the entire day to reach one or two friends. Communication is near impossible.
And so, in terms of getting the story of Mosab out, it’s been really just trying to connect with his family, particularly his wife, getting information, and then trying to spread it as wide as possible to friends who — people who know him, who have worked with him, his publisher, the people who have published him in the past, not just his book publisher but others, and trying to get that information going, so that people recognize that it isn’t just the story of Mosab, but it’s the story of thousands of other Palestinians, as well, and, indeed, millions of Palestinians who are now trapped inside the Gaza Strip. It has become near impossible, Amy, to reach people in Gaza, and it’s become near impossible for them to even be able to reach the most basic things, like to contact an ambulance once there is an Israeli bomb, to be able to contact people to remove the rubble, to be able to get to the hospital. All of this has been done under the cover of darkness, and the fact — and yet, at the same time, we’re watching this live. And the fact that nobody is doing anything about it speaks volumes.
AMY GOODMAN: I want to go back to Mosab Abu Toha speaking on Democracy Now! just a few weeks ago.
MOSAB ABU TOHA: Last night, my son, who is 3 years old, was sleeping, and there was bad bombing in the area. And he woke up, and he said, “Who did that?” And he said, “Let it stop.” I mean, that was the first time he was asking me to do that, as if I was responsible for the bombing. So, I have nothing to do as a father. I have nothing to do as a neighbor or as a son. We are helpless here. We have been helpless all our lives, while the United States, unfortunately, is always stepping in to support Israel.
AMY GOODMAN: The words of the Palestinian poet and author Mosab Abu Toha, speaking on Democracy Now! a few weeks ago. To see the whole interview, go to democracynow.org. I also want to thank Diana Buttu, Palestinian lawyer, former adviser to the negotiating team of the Palestine Liberation Organization, speaking to us from Haifa.
*************************
Becca Balint, First Jewish Congressmember to Back Ceasefire, Expresses Support for Rashida Tlaib
by Amy Goodman
DemocracyNow!
November 21, 2023
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/21 ... transcript
Transcript
Dozens of members of Congress are now calling for a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities in Israel and occupied Palestine. We speak to Democratic Congressmember Becca Balint of Vermont, the first Jewish member of Congress to join these calls. “The horrific violence has to stop. Hostages must be released. We have to end the suffering in Gaza. Palestinians and Israelis both deserve safety and security. And now more than ever, I believe that we need a true, negotiated ceasefire to get to a two-state solution,” Balint says of her position. We also discuss her friendship with fellow Democratic congressmember and the only Palestinian American in Congress, Rashida Tlaib.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We turn now to the growing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza coming from lawmakers in Washington. On Monday, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon became the second senator to demand a ceasefire, joining Dick Durbin of Illinois. According to one count, 42 members of Congress have now called for a ceasefire or cessation of hostilities in Israel and occupied Palestine.
We’re joined now by Democratic Congressmember Becca Balint of Vermont. Last week she became the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a ceasefire.
Welcome back to Democracy Now!, Congressmember Balint. Thanks so much for joining us. Talk about why you’ve made this decision. You’re senator from Vermont. Bernie Sanders is not there yet, but you are. Talk about why.
REP. BECCA BALINT: So, I want to be really clear, Amy, with folks who are listening and watching, that I wrote the op-ed to express to Vermonters — it was really geared towards my constituents, and I should have anticipated that it might get national attention, but I actually didn’t. So, I wrote it for Vermonters, and what I wanted to do was really give voice to all the things that I had been feeling and thinking and wrestling with since the beginning of October, and wanted to articulate clearly for Vermonters what I thought needed to happen, so, you know, wanted to just lay it out there: The horrific violence has to stop. Hostages must be released. We have to end the suffering in Gaza. Palestinians and Israelis both deserve safety and security. And now more than ever, I believe that we need a true, negotiated ceasefire to get to a two-state solution.
And as you mentioned, both my senators here in Vermont have not yet made the call. But I know, in my conversations with them, that we actually want the same things. Where we differ is just in the strategy that is needed to get us there. But we all want to find a way to stop the violence, to stop the bombing. We don’t want to continue to see innocent civilians, including so many children and babies, die. And I just felt that it was really important for me to articulate clearly for Vermonters all of the complexity I was holding. And I honestly — when we released the op-ed, I was very focused on how my constituents would feel about what I said, and I didn’t anticipate that I was the first Jewish member of Congress to call specifically for a negotiated ceasefire, because I know we’ve been saying a lot of the same things for weeks. So, what I do know is there are no exact words right now that will sum up the totality of what we are all thinking and feeling about this situation, but I do know that we have complete agreement on an immediate cessation of hostilities, pausing the violence, ending the suffering, and trying to get to a negotiated ceasefire that will hold.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: And, Representative, you’ve said that you and Representative Rashida Tlaib have been brought together by your people’s suffering and are now friends. Could you talk about the vitriol directed toward her as the only —
REP. BECCA BALINT: Yeah.
JUAN GONZÁLEZ: — Palestinian congresswoman?
REP. BECCA BALINT: Yes. I really appreciate the question. It’s disgusting. The Islamophobia right now is completely and totally out of control. And I was disgusted by the fact that colleagues are trying to go after the one Palestinian American member of Congress.
And as I said, you know, Rashida and I became friends early on in my tenure. We were brought together, I think, by — we both have big hearts. And she’s known a little bit like a mama bear in the caucus. She is very loving and gentle towards, you know, specifically new members, like making sure we have what we needed. I was really drawn to her because we are, as I said, two people that have people within our family that have endured suffering over a very long time. We are both parents to teenagers, and we share the struggles of that.
And actually, I don’t think it’s betraying a trust to say, you know, she sent me a message last week saying what she hopes is that in the future she and I will be able to walk together in a true democratic Palestine and in Israel, both of us together as friends, as people who understand the horrific suffering that is going on right now.
And I have really tried to use my platform, and will continue to do so, to stand up against the Islamophobia, and also the antisemitism. And we’ve discussed this, as well, that you can be critical of Israel, and you should be critical of Israel and Netanyahu and the policies — and I’ve never shied away from that — and I also am very uncomfortable in this moment by some of the outrageous antisemitism hurled at Jewish members of Congress, specifically progressive Jewish members of Congress who are trying to do the right thing in figuring out the correct strategy going forward. But, you know, Rashida will always be what I call one of my heart people.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, on the day after Rashida Tlaib was censured by the House of Representatives, we brought on Marione Ingram, 87-year-old Holocaust survivor, protesting outside the White House, calling for a ceasefire, and she condemned the censure —
REP. BECCA BALINT: Thanks.
AMY GOODMAN: — of your colleague, [Representative] Tlaib.
I want to thank you very much, Democratic Congressmember Becca Balint of Vermont. She is the first openly LGBTQ member to represent Vermont in Congress, the first congresswoman to represent Vermont, and now the first Jewish member of Congress to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. We’ll link to her op-ed in the VTDigger headlined “Cease-fire needed to stop bloodshed in Israel-Hamas conflict.”
Coming up, we go to Argentina, where the far-right political outsider Javier Milei has been elected president. He’s called “the Trump of Argentina.” The first to congratulate him was President Trump and the former Brazilian President Bolsonaro. Back in 20 seconds.
[break]
AMY GOODMAN: “En el país de la libertad,” “In a Country of Liberty,” by the Argentine León Gieco, who signed a letter protesting Milei’s erasure of the horrors of Argentina’s 1976 to 1983 right-wing dictatorship that killed over 30,000 Argentinians.