Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-07-23 Wednesday

Episode Date: July 23, 2025

Headlines for July 23, 2025; Palestinian American Student & Dad: 200 Relatives Killed in Gaza; VCU Withholds Diploma for Protest; Israel Waging “Fastest Starvation Campaign” in Modern History in Gaza: U.N. Special Rapporteur on Food; “Big Fat Bribe”: Stephen Colbert’s Show Canceled After He Slams Trump & Paramount/Skydance Merger

From New York, this is Democracy Now! We need look no further than the horror show in Gaza, with the level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times. Malnourishment is soaring. Starvation is knocking on every door." Starvation is knocking on every door in Gaza. Those are the words of the U.N. Secretary General.

As many tons of life-saving food, water, medical supplies sit untouched in warehouses near Gaza but denied entry by Israel, we'll speak with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Michael Fokri. And as the situation in Gaza continues to grow more desperate, we'll be joined by a Palestinian-American student at Virginia Commonwealth University. The school is withholding her diploma because of her student activism.

VCU wants me to choose silence over justice and comfort over courage and a diploma over my people. I have lost over 200 fan members in this ongoing genocide just in the last year and a half. We'll speak to the student, Serene Haddad, and her father, Dr. Tarek Haddad. Last year, he refused to meet with Secretary of State Blinken over the U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza. Then we look at the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night show on Paramount's CBS. The longtime comedian and Trump critic was canceled just days after

he criticized Paramount's settlement of a lawsuit with President Trump. Unlike the payoffs from ABC and Twitter, Paramount Settlement did not include an apology. Instead, that's good. Instead, the corporation released a statement where they said, you may take our money, but you will never take our dignity. You may however purchase our dignity for the low low price of 16 million dollars. We need the cash. We'll speak with media critic Jeff Cohen. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

More than 100 humanitarian organizations are demanding action to end Israel's siege on Gaza, warning mass starvation is spreading across the Palestinian territory. The NGOs, including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, warned, quote, illnesses like acute watery diarrhea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up and adults are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration." Their warning came as the Palestinian Ministry of Health said the number of starvation-related

deaths in Gaza has climbed to at least 111 people. This is Ghada Afayumi, a displaced Palestinian mother of seven in Gaza City. MAHERED MAHERED, Palestinian Mother of Seven My children wake up sick every day. What do I do? I get a saline solution for them? What can I do? There is no food, no bread, no drinks, no rice, no sugar, no cooking oil, no bulgur, nothing.

There is no kind of any food available to us at all." Meanwhile, health officials in Gaza say Israeli attacks over the past day killed more than 70 people, including five more people seeking food at militarized aid sites. The World Health Organization's released video showing attacks on its facilities in central Gaza's Dera Balakh. A WHO spokesperson condemned the attack in the strongest terms and called for the immediate release of a staff member abducted by Israeli forces. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint.

Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. In Tel Aviv, thousands of antiwar protesters marched on Israel's military headquarters Tuesday, demanding an end to Israel's war and a lifting of the Gaza siege. This is Israeli peace activist Uri Weiltman. International agencies are warning that there is a growing famine inside the Gaza Strip as a result of the tightening of the siege, and people are literally starving. We called here today, we came here today to call out, to end this siege, to allow the entry of humanitarian aid and to end the war on Gaza, which is

a catastrophe for both Palestinians as well as Israelis. Here in New York, hundreds of protesters rallied Manhattan's Union Square Tuesday to demand an end to Israel's war on Gaza. Separately, protesters rallied outside the United Nations, demanding U.N. leaders take stronger action to end Israel's siege. Meanwhile, Columbia University informed nearly 80 students that they'd been suspended for one to three years or expelled. The university sent the notices to students who participated in a May teach-in about Palestine in honor of the writer and freedom fighter, Basel al-Araj, who was assassinated

by Israel in 2017. Separately, Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill Tuesday demanding end to U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza. To be honest, like, I feel that this is my duty to continue advocating for Palestinians. This is what the Trump administration tried to do. They tried to silence me. But I'm here to say that we will continue to resist.

We are not backing down. And I will continue the work that I've been doing, which is advocating for the rights of Palestinians. Among others, Mahmoud Khalil met with independent Senator Bernie Sanders. President Trump's warning the U.S. could attack Iran's nuclear facilities again after striking three nuclear sites in June. NBC News is reporting only one of the sites was badly damaged, but that the other two facilities could restart uranium enrichment within months.

Iran's foreign minister has said Iran cannot give up on nuclear enrichment. Inside Iran, a series of mysterious fires and explosions have been reported on a daily basis. Officials suspect a coordinated sabotage campaign. Meanwhile, Amnesty International is calling for an investigation into Israel's deliberate targeting of a Vien prison last month, saying that strikes must be investigated as war crimes. Syria's government is evacuating Bedouin families who remain trapped in the city of Soweta as a fragile ceasefire continues to hold between Jews and Bedouin fighters.

Violence between the groups that erupted last week has displaced at least 93,000 people. Bedouin survivors say Druze fighters went door to door attacking entire families. We were still alive, sitting by the wall to hide from bullets. Two armed men came in and killed them all. Who did they kill? My brother, his wife, both of his kids, eight and six years old. And my wife, my mother, my sister and my daughter were injured. A delegation of Russian diplomats has departed from Moscow for a third round of peace talks

with Ukraine and Istanbul, Turkey. Both Kyiv and Moscow rejected one another's demands ahead of the negotiations, as Russia continues drone and missile attacks, including another overnight barrage that injured 12 people across Ukraine. Meanwhile, protests erupted in Kyiv Tuesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a bill weakening the independence of Ukraine's anti-corruption agencies, which were set up after the Maidan revolution protests of 2014. This is 18-year-old protester Vladyslava Kirsterik.

VLADIMIR ZELENSKYY, 18-YEAR-OLD PROTESTER, VLADIMIR ZELENSKYY I lived under Russian occupation. I know what it means for one person to have all the power, when nothing is transparent and everything is working against you. That's why this hurts. I don't want it to be the same for us here." President Trump's announced a trade deal with Japan after months of negotiations. Japan agreed to open up its economy to more U.S. imports and invest $550 billion in the U.S.

As part of the deal, the U.S. will lower its tariffs on Tokyo from 25 to 15 percent. The deal was reached just days after the Japanese prime minister's ruling coalition suffered an electoral setback, losing control of the upper house. Prime Minister Ishiba is denying reports he'll soon resign. The election also saw the far-right populist Japanese first party surge in popularity, winning 14 seats up from just one. President Trump announced a trade deal with the Philippines on Tuesday after meeting with the country's president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., at the White House.

Under the deal, the U.S. will impose a 19 percent tariff on all imports from the Philippines. Marcos also met with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon to discuss expanding military ties between the U.S. and the Philippines. On Capitol Hill, House Speaker Mike Johnson is adjourning the House of Representatives for their summer recess a day early, thwarting Democratic-led efforts to force Republicans into voting on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files. This comes after Democratic Senator Dick Durbin said an FBI source revealed that in March about 1,000 FBI agents were instructed to review some 100,000 Epstein-related records and to flag

any related that also mention the president, Trump. On Tuesday, Trump's Justice Department, said Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanch, will soon meet with Jeffrey Epstein's former girlfriend and co-conspirator, Ghislaine Maxwell. She's currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for helping Epstein groom, recruit and abuse underage girls. Blanche was President Trump's private defense lawyer before his appointment to the Department of Justice. Meanwhile, CNN has published newly discovered photos confirming, for the first time, Epstein

attended Trump's wedding to his second wife, Marla Maples, in 1993. CNN also published video showing Trump and Epstein together at a Victoria's Secret fashion show in 1999, as well as other photos. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she has submitted a criminal referral to the Department of Justice seeking to bring charges against Barack Obama, claiming the former president led a, quote, treasonous conspiracy to mislead the public on Russia's role in the 2016 election. Her wild accusations came as Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting Obama's arrest in the Oval Office by federal agents.

In lengthy rant to reporters in the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that Obama had committed treason, a crime punishable by death, in the United States. This is like proof, irrefutable proof, that Obama was seditious, that Obama was trying to lead a coup. In a statement, former President Barack Obama condemned President Trump's allegations as bizarre and a, quote, weak attempt at distraction, unquote. Here in New York, family and community members gathered Tuesday for a wake to commemorate Sinia Cheetham, an 18-year-old black woman from the Bronx who died in police custody

earlier this month. City medical examiners ruled the teen's death a suicide, but her family continues to demand justice and answers into what led to her death after she was found hanging in a holding cell at an NYPD precinct on July 5th, the families being represented by civil rights attorney Ben Crump. Two videos released by New York Immigration Rights Advocates Tuesday are offering a first glimpse into the inhumane conditions faced by immigrants held in ICE's shadowy detention facility on the 10th floor of 26th Federal

Plaza. Dozens of immigrants have spent days or even weeks confined to overcrowded cells there, without access to showers, medication or a change of clothes, forced to sleep on the concrete floor, left hungry and without contact with the outside world. The videos show around two dozen men, many sprawled on the floor of a fluorescent-lit room lying on or covered by thin aluminum blankets separated from two toilets by a wall that offers no privacy. The unidentified man recording the video sneaked in his cell phone.

He's heard saying in Spanish, quote, They have us like dogs in here. The American dream. They haven't given us food. They haven't given us medicine. We're cold. There are people who've been here for 10, 15 days inside. We're just waiting, he says. Those detained at the facility are among the hundreds of people who have been arrested

and disappeared by ICE agents after attending their immigration hearings. DHS has repeatedly blocked New York Democratic Congress members from inspecting the facility and has falsely claimed immigrants are only held there briefly. The videos were obtained by the New York Immigration Coalition through New York assemblywoman Catalina Cruz. And in Chicago, a tenants union is continuing its rent strike as they fight their evictions. The Bilden-Soyer Tenants Association in May sued landlord Drew Millard and property management company 33RT, which earlier this year sought to turn the tenants' apartments

into luxury properties, refusing to renew existing leases, and were tallying against tenants who say the landlords ignored serious maintenance and other housing issues in order to push them out of their homes. This is one of the rent strike leaders. My name is Anayi Herrera. We've been on a rent strike for four months because they want to evict us from the building. We have been victim of harassment and discrimination for being Mexicans. There have been threats.

We even have people coming to knock on our doors, sometimes armed. And there are kids here. That's why we're suing Andrew Millard and his company, 33 Realty. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The destruction of Palestine is breaking the world. That's the headline of a new piece in The Guardian by the scholar Mustafa Bayoumi.

It opens with a description of our first guest today. Quote, Serene Haddad is a bright young woman. At 20 years old, she just finished a four year degree in psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University, VCU, in only three years, earning the highest honors along the way. Yet despite her accomplishments, she still can't graduate. Her diploma is being withheld by the university not because I didn't complete the requirements," she told me, Bayoumi writes, but because I stood up for Palestinian life." In May, VCU announced Serene would not receive her diploma because of her participation in a peaceful memorial this past April that commemorated the violent police arrests at their student encampment for Palestine

the previous April in 2024. Police told the roughly 50 students they were trespassing and breaking campus policy when they refused to move to a designated area for free speech. Serene was an active member of the VCU chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine. She is a Palestinian-American who has lost more than 200 members of her extended family in Israel's war on Gaza. The group's actions have been repeatedly targeted and repressed by the VCU administration,

including banning the use of sidewalk chalk to write messages on campus. The Muslim Public Affairs Council and others have called on VCU to immediately release the degrees of Serene and father is Palestinian-American Dr. Tarek Haddad, a cardiologist and a member of the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights. He grew up in Gaza. Last year, he refused to meet with then-Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the Biden administration's support of Israel's assault on Gaza. We spoke to him about that on Democracy Now! in February.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, yesterday, Serene had a hearing before the VCU Student Conduct Board to determine whether she'll receive her diploma. She and her father join us now from Falls Church, Virginia. Dr. Tara Kadad is a cardiologist and a member of the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights, and Serene Haddad just came from her hearing at Virginia Commonwealth University. We welcome you both to Democracy Now! First, the last time we spoke with you, Dr. Tara Kadad, you lost more than 100 members of your family.

That was just months ago, a half a year ago. That number has now doubled to over 200. Our condolences to both of you. Also— Thank you. Thank you. It's— Go ahead. It's been a nightmare. Sorry. It's— Go ahead.

It's been a nightmare. Sorry. I apologize. Go ahead. And also, our condolences on the death of your dad in the United States just a few weeks ago and your grandfather, Serene. Thank you. So you've both been through an enormous amount.

Serene, as you were having your hearing yesterday at Virginia Commonwealth, you're the star student in psychology, supposed to be graduating in three years. All the figures were coming out of Gaza, the numbers of 1,000 killed by Israeli forces since May, 1,000 Palestinians, and something like 100 Palestinians starving to death. And I'm wondering your thoughts first on what happened yesterday and what you told the board who's investigating you. Yeah, I think that in general a lot of the VCU policies were created and fabricated in response to the Palestinian protests.

I think that the policies that are made, they're not about policies, not about procedure. It's about repression. And it's very clear, specifically when in response to the SJPs, every single Wednesday, we would use sidewalk chalk to chalk messages like free Palestine or VCU is complicit in genocide. VCU then responded months later by banning the use of sidewalk chalk in many areas across the campus, and one of the only areas they allow sidewalk chalk is actually this small area that's hidden in near three different dumpsters. So I think that the way the hearing went yesterday, we're going to find out, of course, find out

what the decision that VCU makes and what the Student Conduct Board ends up making. I advocated and I pled my case. Thankfully, I had representation from Palestine Legal and I had a great support system. There's an action letter that went out that had over 5,400 signatures on it. And I think at the end of the day, whatever VCU decides, I have made peace with the fact action letter that went out that had over 5,400 signatures on it. And I think at the end of the day, whatever VCU decides, I have made peace with the fact that I don't need a university who is materially invested in a genocide's approval about whether I deserve my degree or not.

And I think that I can understand that I am on the right side of history, and I don't need a university to tell me that. But you did go to school and paid for that schooling for three years. Dr. Haddad, how did you feel when you heard your daughter, who worked so hard through her college career, was not going to get her diploma? And did this mean you didn't get to walk this year? So I did get to walk across the stage. I just didn't get a diploma, although everyone else did. And I walked on May 10th and I received the notice

that I wasn't going to be getting my diploma and degree on May 7th, so just three days prior to my graduation. Dr. Haddad, how did you feel? Yeah. So, I think mixed emotions. You know, what I would say is, obviously, no parent wants to see their child having their degree inappropriately withheld. But I was also very proud. You know, and what I mean by that is, I've always, always—you know, every parent wants their children to care about something more than themselves, to advocate for something more than themselves, to believe in the goodness of people and to

try to always try to do what you can to make the world around them better. And there's no better example of that than advocating for the rights of oppressed Palestinians for the past 75 years. Since they were children, we've always advocated for that. You care about something more than yourself. Make the world a better place and just have an impact on people. And she's shown that and she's made us incredibly proud. The fact that she has integrity, that she's not just being silent and doing

what's necessarily best for her, but doing what's best for all of her family in Gaza who are starving, who are dying, who are malnourished. And it just shows the outer humanity that my daughter has. Dr. Hedad, in fact, what are you hearing from your family back in Gaza? You grew up there. Talk about—I mean, 200 members of your extended family. Talk about some of their stories that you have lost. Yeah, I mean, you know, most people, they have photo albums of their living relatives.

The sad reality is I have a photo album of all my dead relatives. It doesn't even fit a full photo album. It's, as you said, it's over 200 family members on both sides of my family. My mother's family is mostly from Chanyunas, and my father's is from Gaza City, and so they've had it on both ends. You know, early on, you know, early on, I mean, some of the stories that come to mind, you know, one of my relatives died on our wedding, was killed on our wedding day, on our wedding day. I've had, you know, entire generations of family, the grandparents, the parents, the

children, all killed, 18 in one military strike. You know, I had a relative who was killed, a cousin who was killed while she was pregnant. That was early on, but this has continued. It's not stopped. Last summer, August 11th, one of my cousin's children, Abdullah Al-Farra, was killed literally trying to get bread for his family. He was just walking down the street trying to get bread for his starving family. And the last picture, you know, we saw as a family. Sorry, it's a little emotional. He was 14 years old.

14 years old, and he was at the top of his class. Last pictures of him strolling on the side of the road, killed by an Israeli military strike with five bags of bread in his hand, which you know you can't even get now, but that's what he was doing. He was getting bread. That was his crime, to get bread for his starving family. I've had, I mean the stories go on and on. I had a relative, Mohammed Al-Farrah, who's a special needs adult, military footage that was actually provided on an Israeli media station, Channel 12, showed the Israeli military striking him while he was walking basically on his own, near his home, know on his own near his home near the

rubble of his home he just killed a special needs adult I mean it's gone on and on every day we hear news stories and what's worse than the deaths Amy is is all the suffering it's unbelievable it's a dystopian nightmare I mean I just heard from you know one of my relatives yesterday who said he's never seen anything like this. You see people on the street who fall onto the ground, not just from bullets, but from starvation. They get to the point of starvation to the point where they literally fall on the ground. It's, I'm just going to read you a quote that Nat just just sent me to my cousin yesterday, because

it just tells you everything. He just sent this to me on WhatsApp yesterday. He said, what's happening in Gaza right now is beyond description and beyond comprehension. It's not just a passing tragedy, but an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in history. In Gaza, people are falling in the streets, not from bullets, but for the severity of the hunger, one after the other, like autumn leaves weighed down by despair. And if they don't die from hunger, a missile awaits them while they get food or relentless bombing.

There's no choice between life and death because death alone is present. God today bleeds in silence and the world is content with merely watching. And then another one of my cousins, Salim, just sent me a message too. He said it's a disgrace for all nations in the 21st century that someone should die from hunger while countries cannot even intervene to provide the basic necessities of life for people who have always loved life. So that's kind of an idea. Other things I've heard from my family, my cousin Hiba talked about her worst, you know, the worst stress that she has is having her son asking for food and she has no food to give them.

There's no flour, there's no vegetables, there's no proteins, there's no anything to provide them. They go three days without eating. All of them are emaciated. Every one of my wrestlers and cousins are massively underweight. Even trying to get food is an unbelievable tragedy. They have to make a decision about whether to walk on roads that are completely impassable and then go to these aid stations where they could be sniped and shot down while they're getting food. And so it's a decision, do you starve to death or do you go to these aid stations and get sniped by Israeli soldiers?

It's just, I can't even describe the level of lack of humanity that my family is going through every day. And you've seen that, I'm sure, on the news, Amy. I mean, over a thousand people have been killed while trying to get food from these aid stations. And that's just in the past few months. Dr. Haddad, you refused to meet with Tony Blinken at a roundtable discussion and sent him a letter talking about why, chronicling what had happened to your family. I'm wondering your thoughts about Trump today.

I think, you know, the problem that I've seen is that it's been more the same. What we saw, just without even getting into politics, what we saw under Biden was, President Biden was, you know, weapons and more weapons and bombs, and what we've seen under President Trump has been more of the same. It's just a complete disconnection from the reality of what voters want and what democratic voters want, what everybody wants. You see that in the polls.

$12.5 billion in weapons provided just in the past six months, you know, specifically for military equipment, you know, that's being used on my family, being used on these people who are starving to death. And we're, you know, we're having trouble balancing our budget, and yet we have 12 and a half billion dollars to provide for bombs to kill innocent people. It's just, it's beyond comprehension. And we're not even talking about small weapons. We're talking about bunker buster bombs that destroy city blocks the size of Times Square. And, you know, what purpose do we have as

a country? How is it consistent with our moral compass to be providing bunker buster bombs that destroy entire city blocks and kill, you know, at this point over 18,000 children. I just—I don't understand the lack of humanity and the lack of a moral compass to do what's right as a country. Serene, you have gone through college. At least half of your college has been against the backdrop of what your dad just described, losing 200 members of your family. And you are majoring in psychology. How did that affect all that you did at Virginia Commonwealth University? And how did the university respond? Did they

express support for you through the years? Yeah, I think that, like I said, we've just consistently seen repression across the board. And this isn't just something unique to my university. You've seen it globally in universities. I think that something people need to come to terms with is that universities, although they claim to be, they are not neutral spaces. They're complicit in genocide. They're materially invested in weapon manufacturers

and war profiteers, especially Virginia Commonwealth University. And again, not a unique story, but we, April 2024, many people at Virginia Commonwealth University set up an encampment with the aim to pressure the university to divest from death and divest from Israel. Instead of being supportive, instead of hearing the students out, and instead of understanding that students were there because they did not want their tuition dollars, our tuition

dollar is going to killing our people and my family. Instead what they did is send three different police forces that night to come and brutalize us and people got pepper sprayed, tear gassed. I got sent to the ER that night to come and brutalize us and people got pepper sprayed, tear gassed. I got sent to the ER that night as well and you know we've seen repression in that sense, we've seen repression with policies. Again, they paint all of this up to seem like policies, to seem like procedure. It's not. It's power, it's control. It's not trying to maintain the aesthetic of the university like administration always tends to call it, but in reality what it is is that they tried to oppress anyone who dares to go against the

status quo because the people that are going into status quo the people that like me like my fellow peers that were speaking up we're exposing the truth the university is in fact not this this you know angel university it paints itself out to be but rather it is complicit on for you to come up university i would like to say uh... the most ironic part of it all is the reason that i originally actually but rather it is complicit. Virginia Commonwealth University, I would like to say,

the most ironic part of it all is the reason that I originally actually chose to come to this university is because the PR campaign, Virginia Commonwealth University, is diversity and it's about being uncommon and unequaled in excellence. And they preach diversity and they preach wanting to protect it. And then when it actually comes to protecting the students that make the campus diverse, they fall short to protect it. And then when it actually comes to protecting the students that make the campus diverse, they fall short every single time.

I, as a Palestinian student, have never felt welcomed or safe at Virginia Commonwealth University at all. It's clearly just a PR tool. It's just a buzzword for them to continue to get more tuition dollars to send over to Israel to kill children in Gaza. Let me ask you about Virginia Commonwealth University's response. We got in touch with them and asked them to comment on your case, Serene. VCU declined to talk directly about your situation, saying they have an obligation to protect

student privacy under federal and state laws. But they did issue a general statement that read, quote, on April 29th, a group of about 40 people held an unauthorized event on the lawn outside Cabell Library. Despite multiple warnings over a three-hour period from student affairs, security personnel and VCU police that VCU policy did not authorize events on the lawn but would have permitted the event to relocate to the Park Plaza amphitheater, many of those assembled refused to relocate to the amphitheater. Only a few hundred feet away, when seniors and graduate students are involved in a possible

or alleged conduct violation, they receive a letter giving them advance notice of the potential ramifications that they are found responsible. Your final response is rewrap-up. I know that your dad has to continue with his practice and see his patience this morning. Yeah, I would like to say 100 percent that actually throughout my hearing yesterday, one of the biggest points that I argued was the fact that a lot of the policies that they are saying that I allegedly violated has to start with an event must have a university sponsor, an event must this, this, that.

It's something I'd like to state is there's actually no clear definition in the VCU policy. As much as they preach VCU policy, there's no clear definition about what an actual event is. There's a definition about what a major event is, and that constitutes 150 people. And like you stated earlier, Ms. Amy, there was no more than 40 or 50 people on that lawn. Not only that, but it actually never clearly states in the policy that the lawn specifically cannot be used for events or gatherings. What we had on that day was a gathering to commemorate the encampment because VCU tried

so hard to shove underneath the rug what happened in their response to a protest, protesting the genocide in Gaza, and we were there to mourn the lives lost as well. Again, instead of supporting us, instead, VCU continued to repress us. Administration came to us and told us that we could relocate to what they call the free speech zone on campus, which the fact that that is even something at that university in this country that claims to stand on the value of free speech and uphold the First Amendment is absolutely ridiculous. this country that claims to stand on the value of free speech and uphold the First Amendment is absolutely ridiculous.

And there actually is a code, I believe it's 20.3401.1, that actually states that every single university should uphold the constitutional right of free speech on campus and no university shall abridge that constitutional right. And VCU has that on their website and yet continues to do the same exact thing. So I would just like to say that actually the comment that they gave you has many holes in it, many lies in it. There's no clear definition of what an event is. In fact, the matter is, is that the gathering that was held when administration came up

to us, it was actually ended. On a literal sense, it was ended and it was announced that it was ended. And so there was no gathering to actually move to the free speech zone. And like I said, the policies are vague. They say that you can't have expressive activities in different areas of campus, but most things are expressive activities,

as we've brought up before. If someone were to wear a t-shirt with a political figure that someone didn't like, does that mean that they are then breaking VCU policy? There's so many holes in this VCU policy, so many gray areas, and I do believe VCU does that on purpose. That way they can continue to oppress students and hide under this guise of policy and procedure. But again, like I have said multiple times before, it is about power and it is about

upholding aesthetic, according to the university. They have continued to say that over and over again. What we did there that day was did not break policy. And if anything, what we did that day, I think, uphold more morals or ethics that VCU could ever uphold at all. One of the sanctions that VCU gave me for that day saying that I broke policy was that in order to get my degree, they were requiring me to take a class on morals and ethics, which I think is quite ironic coming

from a university that lacks morals and ethics, lacks the most morals and ethics I've seen in my entire life. And so like I said, I do not need the validation from a university that is materially invested in the killing of children, the killing of thousands of people to get my degree. I don't need the validation from them to tell me that I need to take a class on morals and ethics when in reality I understand that I'm on the right side of history. There are 2.3 million Palestinians starving, not even just starving, but being starved right now in Palestine, in Gaza. And there are 650,000 children that are at risk of dying of starvation right now.

And like we've stated before, a thousand have been killed trying to get aid just since May. So there are continuous atrocities across the world. So if we are going to speak out about that and we are going to refuse to be complicit in that, there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. And if there's any university that gets in the way of that, I believe that they are on the wrong side of history. And the history books will continue to show that. And the history books will show where we stand.

And that is on the right side of history with all oppressed people. None of us are free to all of us are free and we will not free Palestine. Palestine will free us. Amy, one thing I'd like if you don't mind just a little history lesson about how long this has been going on. So just listen to Serene talk right now, reminding me of my grandmother, her great grandmother. So her great grandmother, Leila Alfarra, was actually the headmaster of the United Nations schools in Gaza in the late 50s and 60s. And there's a beautiful story from our family that just reminds us how long the suppression of, you know, Palestinian free speech has been going on. Sarine just got beaten by police for advocating for equal rights and for humanity for Palestinians. My grandmother, in the 60s, was trying to teach, she was teaching refugee children who

had been forced out of their homes in Yaffa and Haifa and in northern, what is Israel now, forced out by Israeli militias. And the children wanted to know more about the homelands, about where they came from. And so she would teach them about their lands, about their cities, about where their families are from. And she was beaten by Israeli soldiers and told if she did not stop teaching them about the areas in Israel, that they would beat her more, and they would close her school.

And this is back in the 50s and 60s. And look at where we are now. Same suppression of free speech, three generations later, right? My grandmother, now my daughter. It's been going on for over 75 years, and it has continued. But human rights and morality are on our side and I think people's moral compass is going to prevail eventually, I think.

Well, I want to thank you both for being with us. Again, our condolences on the loss of so many members of your own family, more than 200 of your extended family, not to mention overall what is happening in Gaza, your extended community. Serene Haddad, Palestinian-American, VCU graduate. Please let us know if you get your degree. I guess they're deciding in the next few days. Is that right?

Yes, they should be. And Dr. Tara Kadad, cardiologist, member of the Virginia Coalition for Human Rights, who grew up in Gaza. When we come back, starvation is knocking on every door. Those are the words of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres. We'll speak with the U.N UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Stay with us. Things used to be, used to be

I know that it was never perfect But we did not have the problems that we see, we see Tell me why, tell me why What is the reason good people have to die? Oh my I could tell you all a lie, but I wish I didn't have to say goodbye. Goodbye, say goodbye. Say goodbye, say goodbye.

Say goodbye by Michael Franti and our Democracy Now! studio. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I'm Amy Goodman. More than 100 humanitarian groups are demanding action to end Israel's siege of Gaza, warning mass starvation spreading across the Palestinian territory. The NGOs, including Amnesty, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, warned, quote, illnesses like acute watery diarrhea are spreading, markets are empty, waste is piling up, adults

are collapsing on the streets from hunger and dehydration, unquote. Their warning came as Palestinian Ministry of Health said the number of starvation-related deaths has climbed to at least 111 people. This is Ghadda al-Fayyumi, a displaced Palestinian mother of seven in Gaza City. GHADDA AL-FAYYUMI, Palestinian Mother of Seven My children wake up sick every day. What do I do? I get a saline solution for them.

What can I do? I get a salient solution for them? What can I do? There is no food, no bread, no drinks, no rice, no sugar, no cooking oil, no bulgur, nothing. There is no kind of any food available to us at all." Thousands of antiwar protesters marched Tuesday in Tel Aviv on Israel's military headquarters demanding an end to Israel's assault and the lifting of the Gaza siege. This is Israeli peace activist Alon Lille Green with the group Standing Together. We are marching now in Tel Aviv, holding bags of flour and the pictures of these children

that have been starved to death by our government and our army. We demand to stop the starvation in Gaza. We demand to stop the starvation in Gaza. We demand to stop the annihilation of Gaza. We demand to stop the daily killing of children and innocent people in Gaza. This cannot go on. We are Israelis, and this does not serve us. This only serves the Messianic people that lead us. This comes as the World Health Organization's released video showing the Israeli military

attacking WHO facilities in central Gaza's Deir Ebalah. A WHO spokesperson condemned the attack call for the immediate release of a staff member abducted by Israeli forces. Male staff and family members were handcuffed, stripped, interrogated on the spot and screened at gunpoint. Two WHO staff and two family members were detained. Meanwhile, health officials in Gaza say Israeli attacks over the past day killed more than 70 people, including five more people seeking food at militarized aid sites.

Amidst growing outrage worldwide, United Nations Secretary-General Ancotonio Guterres said Tuesday the situation in Gaza right now is a horror show. We need look no further than the horror show in Gaza, with the level of death and destruction without parallel in recent times. Malnourishment is soaring. Starvation is knocking on every door. For more, we're joined by Michael Fokary, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food.

He's a professor of law at University of Oregon, where he leads the Food Resiliency Project. Michael Fokary, welcome back to Democracy Now! If you can respond to what's happening right now, the images of dying infants starving to death, the number is now at over 100, people dropping in the streets, reporters saying they can't go on. Agence France-Presse's union, talked about they've had reporters killed in conflict, they've had reporters disappeared, injured, but they

have not had this situation before, with their reporters starving to death. Amy, the word horror—I mean, we're running out of words of what to say. And the reason it's horrific is it was preventable. We saw this coming. We've seen this coming for 20 months. Israel announced its starvation campaign back in October 2023. And then again, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced on March 1st that nothing was to enter Gaza. And that's what happened for 78 days.

No food, no water, no fuel, no medicine entered Gaza. And then they built these militarized aid sites that are used to humiliate, weaken and kill the Palestinians. So what makes this horrific is it has been preventable, it was predictable. And again, this is the fastest famine we've seen, the fastest starvation campaign we've seen in modern history. So, can you talk about what needs to be done at this point and the responsibility of the occupying power?

Israel is occupying Gaza right now. What it means to have to protect the population it occupies. The International Court of Justice outlined Israel's duties and its decisions over the last year. So what Israel has an obligation to do is, first, end its illegal occupation immediately. This came from the court itself. Second, it must allow humanitarian relief to enter with no restrictions. And this hasn't been happening.

So usually we would turn to the Security Council to authorize peacekeepers or something similar to assist. But predictably, again, the United States keeps vetoing anything to do with a ceasefire. When the Security Council is in a deadlock because of a veto, the General Assembly, the United Nations General Assembly, has the authority to call for peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian convoys to enter into Gaza and to end Israel's starvation campaign against the Palestinian people. People actually protested outside the House of U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres

yesterday. People protested all over the world yesterday against the Palestinians being starved and bombed to death. Those in front of the U.N. secretary general's house said they don't dispute that he has raised this issue almost every day, But they say he can do more. Finally, Michael Fakhry, what does the U.N. need to do, the U.S., Israel, the world? So, as I mentioned, first and foremost, they can authorize peacekeepers to enter to stop the starvation.

But second, they need to create consequences. The world has a duty to prevent this starvation. The world has a duty to prevent this starvation. The world has a duty to prevent and end this genocide. And as a result, then, what the world can do is impose sanctions. And again, this is supported by the International Court of Justice. The world needs to impose wide-scale sanctions against the state of Israel to force it to end the starvation and genocide of civilians, of Palestinian civilians in Gaza today.

Well, I want to thank you so much for being with us, Michael Fakhry, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, speaking to us from Eugene, Oregon. Coming up, we look at the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's late-night show on Paramount CBS just days after he criticized Paramount's settlement with President Trump. Back in 20 seconds. You show up every day. Doesn't mean that I think you'll stay. I know you'll leave. Hell, you'll leave. Mean to Me by Synkaine, performing at Democracy Now!

This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I'm Amy Goodman. Earlier this month, the parent company of CBS agreed to pay $16 million to settle a $20 billion lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump, who, objected to the way CBS News' 60 Minutes edited an interview with his opponent, Kamala Harris. Paramount board chair and controlling shareholder Sherry Redstone reportedly sought the settlement to ensure the FCC approves Paramount's $8.4 billion bid to merge with Skydance Media. In April, 60 Minutes' longtime executive producer Bill Owens resigned amidst disagreements

over how to respond to the lawsuit, saying he'd lost the independence that honest journalism requires." In May, CBS News president, CEO Wendy McMahon, announced she would also step down, saying in a parting memo, the company and I do not agree on the path forward. Last week, Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show, skewered the settlement in his monologue. Unlike the payoffs from ABC and Twitter, Paramount Settlement did not include an apology. Instead, that's good. Instead, the corporation released a statement where they said,

You may take our money, but you will never take our dignity. You may, however, purchase our dignity for the low, low price of $16 million. We need the cash. Now, I believe... What can I say? What can I say? Mr. Steven loves to dance. Now, I believe this kind of complicated financial settlement with a sitting government official

has a technical name in legal circles. It's Big Fat Bribe. Because this all comes as Paramount's owners are trying to get the Trump administration to approve the sale of our network to a new owner, Skydance. That was last week. Just days later, there was another announcement. This is Stephen Colbert again. Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night.

Next year will be our last season. The network will be ending the Late Show in May. And— Yeah, I share your feelings. It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of the late show on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away. All just going away. In its statement on the cancellation, CBS said the cancellation was, quote, purely a financial decision, unquote, a claim that's been met with widespread skepticism.

Fellow late-night comedian Jon Stewart of The Daily Show, which is also owned by CBS, Paramount, acknowledged financial challenges in late-night TV, but still questioned the decision. The fact that CBS didn't try to save their number-one-rated network late-night franchise that's been on the air for over three decades is part of what's making everybody wonder, was this purely financial? Or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger. Stephen—John Stewart has also said he thinks that his show, The Daily Show, will be sold for spare parts.

For more, we're joined by Jeff Cohen, co-founder of the online action group RootsAction.org. He's also the founder of the media watch group FAIR. Thanks, Jeff, for joining us. In these last few minutes that we have, you had already predicted this. You said, when I predicted the demise of Colbert or The Daily Show, another Paramount property, it sounded paranoid. Now it's a reality. Talk about what's unfolded.

There were already protests outside The Late show on Monday night. And there's online petitions against Paramount. The reason I predicted this is because so many media conglomerates had already given thinly disguised bribes to Trump to settle lawsuits they could not possibly lose in court. Disney did it over a defamation suit against ABC News, Metta and Mark Zuckerberg did it. But the negotiations between CBS and, by the way, the suit against 60 Minutes for the editing of the Kamala Harris, that's even more laughable than all the other suits. It couldn't possibly win in court. And the negotiations stretched out.

And that's when I realized that the Trump side was holding out for something more than just money. They were holding out for all sorts of promises. And one of them was fulfilled when the Colbert show, the announced termination of it as of May of next year. It's very likely John Stewart and The Daily Show and other Paramount property will go. And what's fascinating is that Trump is claiming, and I saw a big write-up of it in the New York Post. Trump is claiming, besides the $16 million bribe, as Colbert described it, from Paramount to Trump, there's also a side deal of $15 to $20 million that Skydance, which will be the head, it'll be Skydance Paramount very shortly after the Trump administration approves the merger, that Skydance on all of its

platforms, Skydance Paramount, will be offering 15 to 20 million dollars in PSA's public service announcements on behalf of Trump's causes. That's really scary. So there's no doubt that there are side deals besides the 16 million and Colbert's head was perhaps only the first thing. CBS News will be under the gun. We know this. The head of Skydance is a guy named David Ellison. He's the son of Larry Ellison, the billionaire who's so close to Trump.

And they don't want anything on CBS News in the future that will offend our dictator in chief, Donald Trump. So things could get even crazier as we go on. Why? Because over a period of several decades, both Democratic and Republican administrations have placed our media and information system in the hands of giant media conglomerates who have only one value. It's not freedom of press. It's not free flow of information. It's profit of press, it's not free flow of information, it's profit maximization. That's why you're seeing all this complicity between the media owners and the Trump team.

So, let me ask you, David Ellison, the son of the billionaire oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, CEO of Skydance, the Freedom of the Press Foundation has said it plans to file a shareholder lawsuit against Sherry Redstone, who, of course, is the daughter of Sumner Redstone, the founder, and the Paramount board over the settlement. What's the significance of this? I think there's going to be a lot of legal action. I'm not optimistic, but there will be legal action.

Shareholder suits. Remember, Sherry Redstone, the boss of Paramount, when the merger is approved by the Trump administration, as everyone expects it to be shortly approved, she will be two billion dollars wealthier than she is today. So this is the problem in what's happening in our society is corporate universities as your first segment, they've been complicit with the Trump team. Corporate law firms have been complicit, made all these deals saying they're going to do pro bono work, millions of dollars for Trump.

You can't do pro bono work for Trump. Pro bono work means you're representing nonprofits or individuals who cannot afford attorneys. And now you have the media conglomerates who are complicit with Trump. So it's it's a very dangerous situation and it started decades ago and fair was critical when Bill Clinton and the right-wing speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, behind closed doors, written by media lobbyists, did the Telecommunications Act, which allowed big media companies to get even bigger. And that's the problem we have.

We have 15 seconds, Jeff. Jeff, thank you so much for being with us. This is an issue we will, to say the least, continue to follow. Do you have another prediction, since you certainly got this one right? Yeah, I'm sad that I believe that John Stewart's in trouble. And you know, Jimmy Kimmel, his employer is Disney. He could be in trouble. You learn more from a 10-minute monologue from these comedians than you do from a month

of watching the news on those channels. Jeff Cohen, thanks so much for being with us, co-founder of the action group RootsAction.org and co-founder of FAIR. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.