Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-08-11 Monday

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Democracy Now! Monday, August 11, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. The occupation says that by killing the journalists, the truth will be stopped and that its crimes will not be exposed. But I tell the occupation that your bombardment on us, increases our determination and resolve in conveying the voice of the suffering of our people in Gaza, and we show your crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Correspondence Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Krakha, Ibrahim Zahar and Moormanalewa and Mohamed Nufa. Israel assassinates these five members of Al-Jazeera's team outside El-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. hours after Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says he may allow international journalists into Gaza.

In fact, we have decided, and I've ordered and directed the military to bring in foreign journalists, more foreign journalists, a lot. There's a problem of assuring security, but I think it can be done in a way that is responsible and careful to preserve your own safety. So the directive has been since, When is it? Two days ago. We'll speak with Al Jazeera's managing editor. Then this is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. Doctors Without Borders calling for the closure of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said centers in Gaza

after more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed trying to access aid there. We'll get response from Avril Benoit, CEO of Doctors Without Borders. And as President Trump vows to deploy hundreds of National Guard to evict homeless people from Washington, D.C., today is the first day of a trial in which California's challenging Trump's attempt to control California's National Guard and deploy troops to quell ICE protests in Los Angeles. We'll speak with California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Finally, as activists document the mass raids terrorizing immigrant community, ICE in Los Angeles arrested an activist Friday while she was recording their operations. We know that Amanda did nothing wrong.

She actually did what we should all be doing. We should all be documenting these fascist tapes. We should all be taking pictures of them. We should all be making them feel a shame. All that and more coming up. Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Israeli military has assassinated one of the most prominent journalists in Gaza. Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif, along with four of his colleagues at the network.

They were killed in an Israeli air strike on immediate tent outside Al-Shefa hospital. Al-Jazeera decried the targeted killing as a, quote, desperate attempt to silence the voices, exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza, unquote. Funerals are ongoing today for Amas al-Sharif, his fellow colleague, Mohamed Kareka, cameraman, Ibrahim Zahar, and Moaman Aliwa, and their assistant, Mohamed Nufal. The attack came just weeks after Al Jazeera, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and a top-you-in official, all warned Al-Sharif's life was in danger after Israel accused him of being a member of Hamas without evidence. Israel took responsibility for Sunday's strike.

At the time, UN Special Rapporteur Irene Khan blasted Israel for spreading unfounded accusations about him. Today, she called for sanctions against Israel for murdering the Al Jazeera team. According to officials in Gaza, Israel's killed 238 journalists over the past 22 months. On Sunday, fellow Palestinian journalist, Ibrahim Abu Musa, condemned Israel's targeting of journalists. The occupation says that by killing the journalists, the truth will be stopped and that its crimes will not be exposed. But I tell the occupation that your bombardment on us increases our determination and resolve in conveying the voice and the suffering of our people in Gaza. And we show your crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza story. trip. We'll speak with the managing editor of Al Jazeera after headlines.

In other news on Gaza, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting Sunday over Israel's plan to expand its military operation and to seize Gaza City and other areas. Britain, France, Greece, Denmark, and Slovenia issued a joint statement saying the plan risks violating international humanitarian law. Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced Australia will recognize a Palestinian state in September following similar calls by Britain, France, and Canada. This comes as health officials in Gaza, say at least five more Palestinians, including a child, have starved to death over the past day, bringing the total to at least 222, including over 100 children. On Saturday, a 15-year-old boy named Mahanid, was killed in

Sadat, after being hit by an aid pallet that had been dropped from the air into Gaza. This is Mahanad's brother. Despite the famine and the hard conditions that we live in, my brother went to get aid that was dropped into the sea by airplanes. A box fell on him directly, and he was martyred. In Israel, as many as 100,000 people rallied in Tel Aviv Saturday to oppose Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan to escalate the Gaza war. This comes as families of hostages held in Gaza have called for a general strike to oppose Netanyahu's plan.

This is Lishay-Lavi. Her husband, Omri Miron, is still being held hostage in Gaza. We are here today to call on Israel's largest companies, trade union and the tech sector to stop everything in order to save our hostages and our soldiers. We are doing this because we have no choice. Major protests were held this weekend from Malaysia to Turkey against Israel's plans to expand the war on Gaza. In London, police arrested 532 people at a protest to show support for the group Palestine action, which has been banned by Britain as a terrorist organization. And news from the West Bank, the Israeli Human Rights Group at Salem, has published footage of an Israeli settler

fatally shooting the prominent Palestinian Alda Hathaline. The footage was recorded by Hathleen himself on his phone. The settler, Inon Levy, can be seen firing a shot. Then the footage cuts off after Hathleen is hit. Levy was briefly held under house arrest, but has since been released. In Sudan, 63 people have died of malnutrition in the city of Alfacer in Northern are for, according to a health official in the region, who spoke to AFP, Agence France Press. A fashire has been under siege by the UAE-backed rapid support forces who've been in conflict

with Sudan's army since 2023. The death toll is likely an undercount since it only includes people who are able to reach hospitals in the area. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold their summit in Alaska on Friday. European leaders are calling for Ukraine to be involved in the talks. They've offered their own counter-proposal, rejecting a Russian plan that would trade Ukrainian-held parts of the Donets region for a ceasefire, this according to reporting by the Wall Street Journal. On Sunday, Russian Ukraine traded drone attacks with Ukraine hitting the southern Russian region

of Saratov, killing one person and damaging several apartments and an industrial facility. On Sunday, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky called for more pressure on Russia to the war. We clearly understand the threats. All our partners understand the threats just as clearly. Everyone sees that there has been no real step from Russia towards peace. No action on the ground nor in the air that could save lives. That is why sanctions are needed.

Pressure is needed. Strength is needed. The strength, first and foremost, of the United States, the strength of Europe, the strength of all nations in the world that want peace and stability in international relations. If Russia does not want to stop the war, then its economy must be stopped. The New York Times has revealed President Trump has secretly signed a directive of proving the Pentagon's use of military force on foreign soil to target Latin American drug cartels. Mexican President Claudia Shainbaum lashed out at Trump's move, saying, quote,

the United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military. We cooperate. We collaborate. But there's not going to be an invasion. That is absolutely ruled out, absolutely ruled out, she said. Earlier this year, the Trump administration designated seven organized crime groups in Mexico as foreign terrorist organizations. In the latest escalation against his perceived political enemies, President Trump's Justice Department launched investigations into New York Attorney General Letitia James and California Senator Adam Schiff. Attorney General Pambandi has tapped a special attorney to investigate mortgage fraud claims against Schiff and James.

The DOJ also issued a subpoena to James for records about her successful civil lawsuits against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association. Letitia James won her civil case against Trump back in 2023, accusing him of unlawfully inflating the value of his properties to receive favorable deals on loans. A Peruvian immigrant, Sergio Alberto Baco, Mercado, held at the ICE facility at 26 federal plaza here in Manhattan, has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration condemning his conditions in detention in the federal building. Mercado was arrested Friday after making a scheduled court appearance there. His lawsuit alleges, immigrants have to sleep on concrete floors. lures and lack access to a lawyer, and that dozens of people are crammed into a small space. Meanwhile, New York City police arrested 15 people at a protest near 26 Federal Plaza Friday.

They were demonstrating against the deplorable conditions faced by immigrants in ICE detention. President Trump removed the head of the IRS shortly after a conflict over tax data used to help locate undocumented immigrants, according to a Washington Post report. IRS Commissioner, Billy Long, was a former Republican congressman nominated by Trump to lead the agency and was only in the job for two months before he was removed. The Department of Homeland Security had sent the IRS a list of tens of thousands of names that were suspected of being illegally in the country. But the IRS was able to verify less than 3 percent of the names submitted.

The White House then requested additional information which the IRS declined to provide. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing criticism after reposting a CNN video of the Christian nationalist pastor, Doug Wilson, who believes women should not be allowed to vote. Hegseth attached a message to the video saying, All of Christ for all of life. Wilson's the co-founder of the communion of reformed evangelical churches, an ultra-conservative Christian church. and also claimed slavery promoted, quote, affection between the races, unquote, in the South. The Pentagon's confirmed Hague Seth as a member of a church affiliated with Wilson's movement.

President Trump's calling on homeless people to immediately move out of Washington, D.C. It's unclear what legal authority the president could use to evict people. It comes as the administration is reportedly preparing to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to the nation's Capitol. President Trump's planning to hold a news conference today on crime in D.C. This despite the fact that rates of violent crime in Washington, D.C., have been falling in recent years. The Trump administration is looking for a $1 billion settlement with UCLA in exchange for over half a billion dollars in research funding after the Justice Department accused the school of alleged anti-Semitism on campus. That's according to a draft.

Settlement Agreement viewed by the New York Times. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the settlement proposal extortion. It comes as Columbia University agreed to pay over $220 million to settle with the government after Brown University agreed to spend $50 million in local workforce development programs under pressure from the Trump administration. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met with President Trump Friday and signed an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict. Under the deal, the U.S. would be given exclusive development access to a new transit corridor through Armenia that would link Azerbaijan to an enclave sandwich between Armenia and Turkey.

The corridor will be called Tripp. That's the Trump route for international peace and prosperity. Iran criticized the U.S. plan for the transit corridor, which would run close to the Iranian border. Colombian presidential candidate and Senator Miguel Uribe died today, two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in the capital Bogota. Uribe underwent emergency surgery after being shot and was hospitalized in intensive care since June before succumbing to his injuries. The suspect is a 14-year-old boy. He was arrested at the scene. Police have detained several others in connection with the gun. shooting. On Saturday, twin bells told in Nagasaki as the city commemorated 80 years

since the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb. The attack on August 9,1945, killed at least 74,000 people, three days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, which killed over 140,000 people. At the ceremony in Nagasaki, the mayor called for an end to all. wars, saying, quote, if we continue on this trajectory, we will end up thrusting ourselves into a nuclear war, unquote. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

We begin today's show in Gaza, where the Israeli military has admitted assassinating one of the most prominent journalists in Gaza, Al Jazeera correspondent, Anas al-Shaed al-Sharif, along with four of his colleagues at the network. They were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their media tent outside El Shifa Hospital. Al Jazeera decried the targeted killing as a, quote, desperate attempt to silence the voices exposing the impending seizure and occupation of Gaza, unquote. Funerals were held today for a Nass al-Sharif, his fellow correspondent, Mohamed Kareka, the cameraman, Ibrahim Zahar, and Moaman Aliwa, and their assistant, Mohamed Nufa.

The attack came just weeks after Al Jazeera, the Committee to Protect Journalists and atop you and official all warned Al-Sharif's life was in danger after Israel accused him of being a member of Hamas. At the time, UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Opinion and expression, Irene Khan, blasted Israel for spreading unfounded accusations about him. Today, she called for sanctions against Israel for the murder of the Al Jazeera team. According to officials in Gaza, Israel's killed 238 journalists over the past 22 months. This is part of an obituary report by Al Jazeera on Ananas al-Sharif. He was one of the most recognizable voices reporting from Gaza since the war began in October

2023. Among the few international journalists who remained in northern Gaza throughout the conflict, broadcasting even as Israeli forces ordered more than a million Palestinians to evacuate the area. Born in Jabalya refugee camp, Al-Sharif graduated from Al-Axa university's media faculty. He became one of the key voices from Gaza's front lines. at the war, the 28-year-old reporter paid a high personal price for his commitment to truth. In December, 23, his father was killed when Israeli forces struck the family home in Jabilia. This came weeks after death threats. Israeli officers told him to stop reporting, but he refused.

When a ceasefire came into effect in January, relieved Palestinians. celebrated as Anas shed his protective gear. The joy was short-lived. Israel broke the ceasefire in March. And in recent weeks, the pressure intensified. The Israeli army targeted him and his colleagues online, falsely accusing Al-Sharif of being a Hamas member. Al-Jazeera strongly denies those claims. The Committee to Protect journalists warned his life was in acute danger. They called for international protection, but it never came.

Anticipating his murder by Israeli forces, a pre-prepared message was posted on his ex-account after his death, saying, If these words reach you, know that Israel has succeeded in killing me and silencing my voice. I have lived through pain in all its details, tasted suffering and loss many times. Yet I never once hesitated to convey

the truth as it is without distortion or falsification, so that God may bear witness against those who stayed silent and accepted our killing. He ends, do not forget Gaza, and do not forget me in your sincere prayers for forgiveness and acceptance. Those are the words of Anas al-Sharif, the Al-Jazeera correspondent, to be released only if he was dead. That obituary report by Al Jazeera. NPR reports, this marks the first time since October 2023 that Israel's military so quickly claimed responsibility after it killed a journalist in a strike. In fact, it killed the whole five-member Al Jazeera team that was camped out under a tent at Al-Sheifa Hospital.

The attack came hours after Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said he may allow international journalists into Gaza. In fact, we have decided, and I've ordered and directed the military to bring in foreign journalists, more foreign journalists, a lot. There's a problem of assuring security, but I think it can be done in a way that is responsible and careful to preserve your own safety. So the directive has been since, when is it, two days ago. To preserve your own safety, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to the international press corps at the news conference.

Hours later, Israel assassinated the five-member Al Jazeera team that had immediate tent outside Al-Shefa hospital and took responsibility for that strike. For more, we're joined in Washington, D.C. by Muhammad Mawad, managing editor of Al Jazeera. Muhammad, our deepest condolences for the death of your Al Jazeera staff in Gaza. Just before we went to air, I watched the Doha offices of Al Jazeera, where scores of journalists and staff, staff and workers gathered holding up the pictures of not only the five men who were killed. And we're talking about 25 and 26-year-olds. Anas al-Sharif is 28 years old, younger than democracy now, not only holding up their pictures, but holding up the pictures of other Al Jazeera staff, journalist correspondents,

who have been killed in the West Bank in Gaza. First, your response to Israel assassinating five members of your team, five more members led by Anas al-Sharif, who'd become famous worldwide to the audience who watches Al Jazeera Arabic for describing what was happening in Gaza. Thanks, Sammy, for having me, and thanks for the time. It's a devastating loss. Annes and Muhammad were the voices you heard from Gaza's shattered streets.

The steady tune that made chaos comprehensible. Muhammad and Anas were the eye behind the lens catching all the details to the world from Gaza City. They were the only two prominent voices left in Gaza. You've heard Prime Minister Netanyahu admitting that no international journalists, is allowed to enter Gaza until he directed his team to allow them two days ago subject to security issue. So you have seen that admittance. He said it on his own words.

And at the same time, you've seen silencing local jazz. The pattern is clear, degrading, delegitimizing, smearing, and then killing, just to find the killing by unfounded allegations. You haven't seen presented evidence. You haven't seen any evidence of these allegations, but the world would say that the IDF claimed, blah, blah, blah. So that's what we have been seen from the Israeli government from the start of this war.

The fact that they have claimed the assassination of Anis-Sherif right after carrying the attack, means that all other genres killed by Israel, over 200 journalists killed by the IDF, where, you know, no one was held accountable to that. So they felt like the journalistic community around the world and the international community isn't concerned about what's going on, so we can continue the pattern.

So, Annes and the Muhammad's voices aren't silenced. The truth that they have been carrying to the world since the beginning of the war would echo in our coverage. We will continue the coverage. We aren't in the business of weaponizing our platform against anyone, but to give voice to the voiceless and to make sure that the story is told to the world. We are scrambling around, right? right now to sign someone who can report it from inside because of the city.

We have seen the announcement from the Israeli government that they are unleashing a new operation in that area. And that came right before targeting and killing Annas Shereef and Muhammad Preta. The only two prominent and left voices there. So the fact that Anas and Muhammad were on a front line or in a military zone, not a collateral damage, like the IDF used to say. They were in the last fragile refuge left for them a tent that they fled to after their homes were destroyed by Israeli airstriads.

They were there. They thought that this sent would, like, you know, they are inattent, they are safe. The Israeli government wouldn't target a journalist or kill a journalist in a stint or something like that. But no, the assassination attempt was clear. The threats that Anas received days ago and since the beginning of this war was true,

they have planned it. And Anas was very resilient. I mean, we have been placing pressure on Anas and his colleagues to stay safe, to stop the coverage. Annes fainted at one moment on air, who are reporting because of starvation and he did not stop the coverage. Sometimes

he struggled to feed his family. He did not back down. He did not stop the coverage. He continued the coverage. He used to say to us, he has the story is my story. I'm not getting out of fear. This is my people.

At a certain time, Anna Sashrith criticized the whole situation of the international journalistic community and call for the journalistic community to stand strong to prevent any harm for him. But it seems like what's happening right now is beyond imagination. Emily. Let me ask you, a sixth journalist, Mohamed Al Khali, who worked as a freelance reporter, was also killed in the strike that targeted your team, the five members of

Al Jazeera team. That's according to the director of Al Shifa Hospital, right? That tent was right up against the hospital in the courtyard. That's according to Al Shifa Hospital Director, Dr. Mohamed Abel Samia. Do you know anything about him? Of course. Those are photographers who were working with Anas and Muhammad Krika and bringing all the images from inside the Gaza City. You know, the number of journalists are very limited in Gaza City reporting from there. After targeting so many journalists in that area, this is a front-line area. The whole area is a front-line itself.

Also, just looking at Agence France Press's description of the funeral today, their bodies wrapped in white shrouds with their faces exposed were carried through the narrow alleys to their graves by mourners, including men wearing blue journalist's flack jackets. His father, Anas al-Sharif's father, was killed December of 2023 when an airstrike targeted their home in Jabalya, where Anas himself grew up. I wanted to ask you, Muhammad, as we just said, I watched that ceremony in your headquarters in Doha, where people stood in the offices and also were beamed in, like Irene Hahn, the special rapporteur on freedom of expression. She called for Israel to be sanctioned for the killing of these journalists and also talked about, and we saw it in the report, Jody Ginsburg.

the head of the committee to protect journalists, Irene Khan, Al Jazeera itself, understood how targeted Anas was when he was getting warnings by Israeli officials to stop reporting. What are you calling for now? We have been calling since the beginning of the war, the international journalistic community, to stand the strong and take actions. I mean, I think not in the United States, action is being taken by news outlets around the globe. We have seen more pressure being placed on governments and authoritarian regimes

back then during the Arab Spring to allow journalists to cover what's happening in Gaza. The fact that no international journalist is allowed to enter Gaza means that you can easily delegitimize any local coverage, as the Israeli government used to do. But if you have an international journalist who is reporting and bringing in eyewitness account of what's happening, that would somehow guarantee the safety of other journalists locally in Gaza. What we are seeing now, Amy, is something is dying in Gaza beyond the bodies. The journalism profession itself is dying.

I mean, this profession is meant to eliminate the world and is being buried with its witnesses. 200, 200 journalists in Gaza were killed by Israeli airstrikes. You know, the space, they're this occupy in much of the global media, disproportionately small. Sometimes in modern history, news cycles would stop because there is a killing of a journalist. That's not the case right now. Something darker happening right now.

They're not targeting a journalist by starvation or bullet or airstrike. What we are seeing now is silencing the coverage, the whole coverage. They went after Al Jazeera because we are the only international organization covering the conflict from the front line. They went after us in Jerusalem shutting down our office, went after us in Westman shutting down our office, went after our colleagues, killed our colleagues reporting, bringing an eyewitness account from the ground. So it's really alarming for the whole international journalistic community. The profession is under siege in Gaza. The profession is under attack. The fact that you're not able to report on what's going on means that in coming days when dictatorship commits

crimes, and no one is talking about, he will be immune of any international pressure plays on. Mohamed Mohawad, I want to thank you for being with us, managing editor of Al Jazeera. We're speaking to him in Washington, D.C. And again, from all of us at Democracy Now, our deepest condolences on the death of your five-member team right outside. Al Jazeera Hospital. It is a not only a law, Al-Shefa hospital. It is a loss, not only, of course, though, to Al-Jazeera, but to all of us as journalists, to the whole community around the world. Thank you so much for being with us.

When we come back, this is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. We'll speak with the head of Doctors Without Borders, who's talking about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. calling for its closure. Stay with us. I've been thinking about greed. I've been thinking about how to talk about greed. Greed is a poison rising in the land. of the people twisted in its command. It moves like a virus, shaking out everyone. Greed never stops in work and never, ever died.

A creeping, choke, and killing, invading everywhere. Greed by Sweet Honey and the Rock performing in our old firehouse studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Doctors Without Borders, Medicine, South Frontier, or MSF, has called for the closure of the shadowy Israeli-U.S.-backed aid centers in Gaza. Some 1,400 Palestinians have been killed since May, trying to access food since the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over aid delivery. A new MSF report titled, This is Not Aid. This is Orchestrated Killing. Gathers testimony from its medics and others about the targeting of Palestinians seeking food at GHF distribution sites, which are in direct proximity to where MSF operates to health care centers.

This comes as the U.S. says it wants to scale up to have the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation operate 16 aid sites. For more, we go to Avril Benoit, Chief Executive Officer of Doctors Without Borders, Medicine South Frontier, USA. Their new report, again, this is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. Everyone welcome back to Democracy Now. Explain exactly what you're calling for and what the medics on the ground, since you have adjacent medical clinic sites, have described happening as pamphlets or dropped telling Palestinians where to go for aid. And when they go there, so many of them, well, more than 1,400 of them have been shot dead since May.

The reason that Doctors Without Borders, or as we're known internationally, Medescent Frantierre, or MSF, is calling for the closure of the GHF, and we don't even dare use the word humanitarian, because it's not humanitarian. They're essentially death traps. So every time they have a distribution, the clinics are receiving. mass casualty number of patients who are shot. Or they are suffering from lacerations from barbed wire around the sites or injuries from the stampedes that inevitably happen because the way the GHF functions is so disorganized. So it seems negligent, intentionally negligent, reckless, that people get injured. And so even, you know, We have stories in our report of children also being shot. We treated an 8-year-old girl with a gunshot wounds to the chest.

And a 5-year-old boy with severe head trauma, both of them injured near these GHF sites. And we know that it's linked to the distribution events because they all come in at once. All these patients come in at once and they say that's where we were. Even one of my own colleagues was killed at a distribution. the airdrops are chaotic every time they try to bring in trucks that's chaotic. And certainly the GHF is singularly disorganized, reckless, dangerous. And we cannot help but come to the conclusion that these are deliberately set up death traps for those who are starving to survive with a bit of food aid that they can grab hold of.

I wanted to get your response to the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, who's calling on the U.N. to collaborate with GHF. He spoke on Fox News. The president has been telling us he wants food into the hands of hungry people, but he wants it in a way that it doesn't get into the hands of Hamas. That's exactly what we did when we stood up GHF. It's an American-based operation. It has the support and cooperation of the IDF, but it's not under their control.

And the result has been pretty phenomenal over 106 million meals serve at four feeding sites. The immediate plan is to scale up the number of sites up to 16 and begin to operate them as much as 24 hours a day. You know, it's interesting, Avril Benoit, is that it was the U.S. itself, a U.S. agency, U.S.A.D. in July, found that there was not evidence of Hamas taking, stealing the third. But can you talk about what was there before the U.N.'s 400 aid distribution sites? Why were they shut down for the four of GHF? So Israeli authorities have been striving to discredit the United Nations effort since long before October 7th, of course. So they had roughly 400 distribution sites.

It was working reasonably well. you did not see starving children begging for food and bowls of slop on television up until this latest siege. And so now we have four sites. They're talking about quadrupling that. Sounds very impressive. But to go from 4 to 16 is not going to cover the needs. And it's not a situation where there's a lack of food. I mean, we should not be desperately begging for their.

to be formula, baby formula, brought in to Gaza because the mothers are so malnourished that they can barely breastfeed. We should not be begging for even the therapeutic foods to be allowed in at scale because one in four of the patients that we have surveyed of children under the age of five, of mothers with newborns, breastfeeding women were malnourished, clinically, severely malnourished. So, you know, we shouldn't be, you know, considering this anything but Israeli intentionality to deprive people in Gaza of food and also clean drinking water that they need to survive. The food is just across the border. The food should be brought in en masse by the hundreds and hundreds on trucks,

quite apart from the GHF, you know, these airdrops, which are spectacular efforts at public relations, very visual. They really don't drop very much. It's just the equivalent of a few trucks. We need hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of trucks, all the crossings being open. And that would address this unproven, never-substantiated claim that Israeli authorities and the U.S. government has been making that it's criminal elements or Hamas that are diverting all the food aid. And if they just didn't do that, people wouldn't be starving on television. I'm sorry, the food is there.

it could be brought in in such quantities that you would not even have a question of needing to steal it or divert it. But again, there has not been any credible evidence that there was a systemic effort to divert the aid. People are starving because Israel wants them to. I'm sorry to say it that way, but this is the part of all the efforts in this genocide to deprive people in Gaza of the ability to survive. Avril Benoit, I want to thank you for being with us from Montreal, Chief Executive Officer of Doctors Without Borders, Medicine, South Pontier, that's MSF, USA. We'll link to your new report.

This is not aid. This is orchestrated killing. MSF's frontline medical testimony on systematic mass casualties from GHF sites in Gaza. When we come back, as Trump vows to deploy up to a thousand National Guard to Washington, D.C., California begins a trial that challenges Trump's attempt to control California's National Guard and deploy troops to quell ICE protests in L.A. We'll speak with the California. Attorney General. Stay with us. heart in man because

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President Donald Trump vowed Sunday to deploy hundreds of National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., while also threatening to evict unhoused people from the nation's capital. The president directly controls the National Guard in D.C., though it's usually the governor of a state who decides when to activate guard troops. This control is the focus of a trial that begins today in Los Angeles, where the state of California is challenging the Trump administration's attempt to control California's National Guard and deploy troops to Los Angeles in response. to protests against the ICE raids. Today's the first day of a bench trial, no jury.

So for more, we're joined by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, whose office is bringing this legal challenge. Rob Bonta is the first Filipino American and the second Asian American to occupy the attorney general position in California. In the first six months of Trump's second presidency, California's filed 37 lawsuits separately filed more than 40 amicus briefs in support of other litigation against the Trump administration and has already had some wins. A.G. Banta, welcome back to Democracy Now. Explain what this trial that you're involved with in the next few hours that's just about to begin is about. Good morning, Amy. Thank you for having me. I'm honored to be with you. Once again, and today, as we

start trial, we remain confident in our case. And our case is based on the Pasi Cometatis Act and the fact that the president has deployed military personnel onto an American city, on American soil, to engage in law enforcement that has nothing to do with the military. The evidence will show that the National Guard troops and the Marines have been in L.A. over the last two months, engaged in perimeter support, in blockades, in one instance, apprehending and arresting civilians and all part of civilian law enforcement, which is absolutely prohibited under the Posse Comitatis Act. They are engaged in infringing upon and blocking the freedom of movement of Americans on American soil.

And we will hear from military personnel that we deposed that say all this. And so we think we have a really strong case with Judge Breyer in the Northern District of California on the eve of the beginning of, or the morning of the beginning of trial. And we think the evidence will support our case. And does it matter that President Trump is now removing those soldiers, the National Guard troops from L.A. in terms of your case? No, because while he did deploy 4,700 military personnel, 4,000 National Guard people that could be and should be doing the important work that they were doing before they were called away, they were tackling fentanyl and addressing wildfires, among other things, and deployed 700 Marines, 300 National Guard's people remain. So this is an ongoing issue.

We, of course, have noticed his removal. in phases of a number of the personnel that were present in L.A., but this still remains a live issue. It is an issue that continues to be important in L.A. with the military engaged unlawfully in violation of the Posse Cometatis Act in civilian law enforcement. And the Possi Cometatis Act goes way back to the early days of this country where the English, British monarch used the military to police the colonies. And so this is something that is deeply rooted in our history and our law as something that is prohibited. And Mr. Trump is blatantly engaged in this unlawful conduct. On Friday, federal agents raided the parking lot of a Home Depot in Van Nuys twice,

detaining at least seven immigrant day laborers from Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico, with rights activists warning the arrest could be violating a recent court order that temporarily banned agents from conducting sweeping immigration raids and racially profiling people in Los Angeles in surrounding areas, including targeting them based on the language they speak or their presence at a particular location or type of work. Can you respond to these raids? I mean, one raid at Home Depot, 16 people were arrested. And they used this Penskei rental truck that even the...

a Penske company condemned? Yeah, they rolled up in a Penske truck and started engaging in very potentially the conduct that a court has already prohibited them from engaging in. So they need to be held accountable. They will be held accountable. The court has ordered that ICE agents, as we have seen from many images, are masked. Unidentified, seemingly in planes closed, unable to identify them as ice agents, sometimes using vehicles where they remove the license plates, that they were engaged in unlawful actions in violation

of the Fourth Amendment, using race as a factor to identify who to stop and detain, search, and seize, using language or accent. As you mentioned, the location and the job or the occupation, all things which sweep in thousands and tens of thousands of innocent people and the Fourth Amendment requires individualized suspicion and probable cause. So this may be a violation of the court order. The court order was sought in a case where we filed an amicus brief and secured in a case where we filed an amicus brief and the ACLU is leading that case. So I know that they are, we've been in communication with them and I believe they are

considering what steps to take next in view of the court order and the potential violations of that order with these recent actions. Attorney General Bonta, we just have a minute, but I saw you this weekend at Netroots Nation in New Orleans. You were with the Attorney General of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, as well as the Attorney General of New Jersey. And you're sort of taking this on the road, talking about the importance of challenging Trump legally. In a moment, we're going to talk. about the importance of grassroots action. But you've brought more than between amicus briefs and lawsuits, what, like 60 or 70 actions in the last six months. Can you talk about why you think this is key? The Democratic AGs, and here in California, through the work of my office,

we are fighting back and we are getting things done. We are making a difference. We have sued the president here in California 37 times in 29 weeks, more than once a week, to great success out of the 20 times when an order has been issued by a court, we've won 90% of the time secured 18 different orders. We prevented $168 billion from being improperly and unconstitutionally withheld from the people of California. A return on investment of $1 of investment leading to $33,600 in return and protected federal funding. So it's important to tell the story of the Democratic Attorney's General fighting back unapologetically, resolutely, pushing back against a president who is blatantly, brazenly, consistently and frequently breaking the law and trampling over the Constitution

and tell the story that we are winning in court and stopping him and blocking him. When we push back and fight and show courage and go to court, we win. And so that's an important story to tell. I'm very proud to work with all my Democratic Attorney General colleagues across this nation to fight back against a repeat offender, lawless and lawbreaking president. Rob Bonta, I want to thank you for being with us, Attorney General of California. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. As mass raids continue to terrorize communities nationwide, we look now at the grassroots response and the people who are organizing and fighting back. ISIS faced widespread backlash over the arrest of community

advocates who've been swept up while documenting raids, including U.S. citizens. In Los Angeles, a nurse and community activist was released from federal custody this weekend without criminal charge after she was arrested early Friday morning while recording the operations of ICE agents. Amanda Trevac is a member of the group, Union Del Barrio. She was participating in a peace patrol outside Terminal Island, a Coast Guard base that's used by ICE and Customs and Border Protection as a hub to prepare and deploy. agents for raids across California. Dozens of volunteers have routinely stationed outside Terminal Island to monitor the movement

of the federal vehicles streaming in and out of the staging area. Terminal Island was once a thriving Japanese-American fishing village that was demolished during World War II, its residents forcibly sent to internment camps. Footage of Amanda Traebuck's arrest Friday morning shows two plain clothes masked agents pinning her against the pavement as they kneel on her back to handcuff her. One of the agents is seen putting his knee on Trebok's head for a brief moment as a person recording yells, get off her head. Get off her head! Get off me! Get off her head! Get off her head! Get off her head! Get off her head! Get off her head! Get off her head! This is a public property, sir.

There's the public property. Streaming live. This is ice beating her up. They got her knee on her head. I'm where I need to be 10 feet. Can you guys get her in the van? Sir. You okay?

Yeah. Amanda Travok is a U.S. citizen. She was then forced into an unmarked black van by at least six unidentified agents. Her release Saturday came amid pressure from activists and protests with the National Nurses United Union, describing the efforts as, quote, a testament to the power. of organizing resistance and solidarity against the ongoing attacks by the Trump administration on our lives and livelihoods, unquote. For more, we go to Los Angeles, where we're joined by Ron Gochez, high school history teacher,

community organizer with Union Del Barrio, Amanda's group. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Ron. We don't have a lot of time. Can you describe what happened and what continues to happen? Amanda is one example. And ultimately, while she was detained, what got her out? Yeah, good morning. Thank you for having me. What happened is another intimidation attempt by the U.S. government against Union del Barrier

and against the movement that's defending our community. Amanda was doing what she's done every single day, and that is to document cars going in and out of Terminal Island, which is a military base where ICE has been using for staging. And so when they had already identified her before, and when they saw her again, they strategically went at her, they attacked her, and they kidnapped her. And so they threw her into an unidentified vehicle. They took her away. And then they actually came back with her in a different vehicle.

And they unlawfully went into her vehicle and took her backpack. They seized her backpack from her vehicle without a warrant, without a permission. And so this is just another example of the Trump administration and their fascist ICE agents or whoever they are, because they're unidentified, violating the rights and breaking the law that they're supposed to protect. Did they ever charge her? As of now, she has not faced any charges. She was released because of the pressure of the community. They themselves, the place we were calling that was holding her, said that they had received over 500 calls in that day. So we organized the community.

We mobilize people, the nurses, unions, people from all over the country offered their support. And we're lucky and happy to have Amanda free. But we know that there's still thousands of our people who have been kidnapped who are not free. And we're fighting for the liberation of all of our community members who have been kidnapped by these masked, armed, violent men who don't identify themselves. who can do whatever they want. They drive around Los Angeles with no license plates. They're just armed and dangerous. And that's what we want our community about their activity

so that the people can protect themselves. Because obviously the police department doesn't protect us. The politicians don't protect us. Only we ourselves can organize and defend ourselves. It's astounding that they're allowed to be masked. I remember when if a police officer covered their number on their shirt, there were grounds to punish them. That was just the number that would identify them on their shirt.

Now they can be masked and hooded. Tell us about Union Del Barrio, what these peace patrols are that Amanda was on. Yeah, when the second Trump administration was about to begin, we knew that we didn't have the people power to cover all of Los Angeles. So we started training a lot more people, and we created a coalition called the Community Self-Defense Coalition. to now there's more than 70 organizations that are part of the coalition, and we've trained

them all to do community patrols. What that is is that we drive around our neighborhoods, we look for any type of suspicious vehicles or any type of ice activity so that we can document and then alert the community so that our people have the chance to defend themselves, protect themselves, and their families from being kidnapped. And so this is peaceful work. We don't advocate for violence. We don't break any laws.

We have a legal team who's advised us on what we can and cannot do. so we're really clear about what we're doing. We train people and we're all over Los Angeles and there isn't a corner in the city where an ice raid can happen where we won't know about it in less than five minutes. And we can deploy our members to go to document and to defend the community. That's the type of work that Amanda was doing heroically. That's the type of work that we're doing every day. As a teacher right now, we're getting ready to go back to school. This Thursday school starts in Los Angeles and there's a lot of fear on the part of students, parents and teachers. And so we have to get our city ready because we know these ice rates, although they did slow down a bit, they have continued, and we have to defend ourselves. We have to be organized in case anything happens near one of our schools. We only have 20 seconds run. I just talked to California Attorney General Bontor who's brought dozens of lawsuits against Trump. Yet your organization is accusing the California police of working with ice. Absolutely.

You know, while the legal folks are fighting in the courtrooms, we're fighting. in the streets. And while they're having winning battles in the courtroom, we're winning battle in the streets. We know that what's happening right now with the LAPD and sheriffs on Los Angeles is complete collaboration with these ice raids. They protect, they do logistical protection for the operations. We're going to do a Spanish interview at DemocracyNow.org. Grand Goaches with Unone del Vario. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.