Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-09-08 Monday

Episode Date: September 8, 2025

Democracy Now! Monday, September 8, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. Right now, we do not know where we will go. Tonight, we'll have to sleep in the street until morning comes. Then maybe we'll find a place going around begging from one person and another. Israeli military has blown up at least three high-rise residential buildings in Gaza City. As Israel expand its operation to destroy the city and forcibly evict the city's one million residents who say they have nowhere safe to go. We'll go to Gaza for an update. Meanwhile, in Jerusalem, six people were killed this morning at a bus stop. Israel says the two shooters were from the

West Bank. And we'll talk to the sister of an American Turkish citizen from Washington State who was shot dead by an Israeli soldier at a West Bank protest one year ago. One year ago today, my little sister was killed by the Israeli occupying forces in the West Bank as she stood peacefully for Palestinian freedom. She was unarmed. She was brave. And she believed so deeply in justice that she put her body on the line and they took her life. But first to Georgia, where ICE officials carried out the largest enforcement operation in the agency's history, when they arrested nearly 500 workers at the construction site

of a Hyundai EV battery plant. Most arrested are Korean nationals. I just heard about that a little while before the news conference, and I would say that they were illegal aliens, and ICE was just... doing this job. All that and more. Coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Israeli military has blown up at least three high-rise residential buildings in Gaza City as Israel expands its operation to destroy the entire city and forcibly evict its population of over one million residents. Many of the demolition

are being carried out by robots that place explosives inside homes. Israel's killed 32 Palestinians so far today. Officials say another 83 were killed over a 24-hour period ending Sunday. Residents of Gaza City say there's no safe place to go. In regard to displacement, we were displaced before to the south. There were also martyrs there in bombardment. Wherever we went, there were bombardments from one area to another. From Rafah to Kalunis, from Kanunis to Dar al-Bala.

There were bombardments everywhere. We later came here. It is all the same. All displacement is for nothing. It is enough. This comes, as save the children, reports Israel's killed more than 20,000 Palestinian children over the last 23 months. This means at least one Palestinian child has been killed every hour on average by Israeli forces. The group said, quote, if the international community does not step up an entire generation.

of children in Gaza will be lost, unquote. Meanwhile, another six Palestinians have died of starvation. That brings the total to almost 400, including 140 children who've starved to death. In Israel, an attack on a bus stop in occupied East Jerusalem has left six people dead, as many as 15 injured. At least one of the victims was a rabbi. Israeli authorities say they believe the attack was carried out by two Palestinians from the West Bank. Police said the attackers were both shot dead. In other news from Israel, the country's Supreme Court has ruled the government has failed to provide adequate food for Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The court ruled Israel must provide prisoners, quote, a basic level of existence, unquote. The ruling came in response to a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and the Israeli group, Gisha. In London, police arrested nearly 900 people Saturday at a protest against the U.K. government banning the group Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act. It's now illegal for anyone in Britain to show support for Palestine action. Protests against the ban have been mounting for weeks. Ordinary people who have never been on protests in their lives are, you know, reckoning with their conscience. They're thinking I cannot keep sitting day in, day out, on my sofa, watching this abject horror and do nothing.

And so the extraordinary thing is, you know, the images, the most powerful images we're seeing are of, you know, disabled, middle-aged, elderly, white people being carted off by the police for the crime of saying, stop killing children. In other protest news, organizers say over 110,000 people. took to the streets of Brussels Sunday in a major pro-Palestine rally that came days after the Belgian government announced it'll soon recognize a Palestinian state and impose sanctions on Israel. Meanwhile, in Tunisia, thousands gathered Sunday to welcome boats carrying about 350 activists who are sailing to Gaza in attempt to break the siege. Passengers on the flotilla include Nelson Mandela's grandson, the South African MP Mandela Mandela. Coming all the way from South Africa to participate in this

is really a joy to once again be able to set sail and go and break the blockade in Gaza and end the siege which has been going on for the past 18 years. And we hope that it will be received as such because we are a peaceful people, we pose no threat, we are carrying humanitarian aid for our brothers. On Saturday, President Trump threatened to send National Guard troops and ICE agents to Chicago, writing on social media, quote, Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of War, a reference to his order to change the name of the Department of Defense.

Trump also wrote, quote, I love the smell of deportations in the morning, unquote. Trump accompanied the message with an AI generated image depicting himself as lieutenant colonel, Bill Kilgore from the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now. In response, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker called the president to, quote, want to be dictator. By Sunday, President Trump walked back to his comments telling reporters, quote, we're not going to war. We're going to clean up our cities, unquote. Meanwhile, thousands of Chicagoans took to the street Saturday to protest Trump's plans

to send ICE agents and federal troops to the city. National Guard in sending ICE agents here to our community is a direct threat to not only us, but our community. It is us. It is our neighbors. It are friends. It affects everyone. Businesses have been dropping. Restaurants have been dropping. Everything has people have been scared. Over the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security announced it was launching new immigration raids in the Boston area. This comes after Boston mayor, Michelle Wu, has repeatedly criticized Trump. attacks on Boston and other sanctuary cities. In Washington, D.C., thousands marched in the largest demonstration yet there against President Trump's deployment of National Guard troops and the

federal takeover of the district's police force. The We Are All-D.C. march was organized by a coalition of groups, which include Free D.C. and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Trump administration set to extend the deployment of National Guard troops in D.C. to December. Meanwhile, officials have dismantled part of a peace vigil outside the White House that have been running for more than four decades under Trump's orders to clear homeless encampments. Authorities reportedly mislabeled the vigil as a shelter. Meanwhile, here in New York Sunday, Trump was loudly booed by the crowd as he attended the U.S. Open men's final. The United States Tennis Association had sent a memo to broadcasters asking them to censor the crowd's reaction to Trump. South Korea announced it sending a charter plane to the U.S. to bring back more than 300 of its citizens who were rounded up and detained by ICE at the Hyundai plant in Georgia.

ICE officials arrested nearly 500 people, most of them South Korean Nationals Thursday, at the Hyundai LG battery plant. Footage of the raid showed workers shackled in handcuffs and ankle chains and loaded onto buses. ICE officials have called it the largest enforcement operation. in the agency's history. South Korea's foreign ministers expected to arrive in Washington today to discuss the release of the workers. The ICE raid comes as South Korea recently agreed to invest $350 billion in the U.S. in exchange for lower tariffs.

In other immigration news, the Trump administration is threatening to send Maryland father, Kilmara-Bregal Garcia, to the small African nation of Eswatini, formerly Swaziland, after he expressed fear of being deported to Uganda. Abrago Garcia, who's seeking asylum in the United States first made headlines in March when he was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, where he was held in the notorious Seqat megaprism. On Friday, a federal immigration board at the Justice Department ruled undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. are not eligible to be released on bond.

According to the ruling, immigrants could be detained, quote, for the duration of their proceedings, which could take years. Lawyers say the ruling would mean that millions of immigrants could be subject to mandatory detention, including longtime residents. One former immigration judge, Dana Lee Marx, told Politico, quote, it's a total cynical move to try to force people to litigate their cases while they're detained. On Sunday, Russia launched the largest drone assault against Ukraine since 2022, attacking the main government building in Kiev for the first time.

At least four people were killed in Russian strikes all over Ukraine, including a mother and her baby. Ukraine also launched air strikes against Russia, killing three people. Speaking to reporters, President Trump said he's ready to impose a second round of sanctions against Russia but gave no additional details. The Trump administrations ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico as the U.S. threatens to carry out more strikes on line. America under the guise of the war on drugs. Last week, the U.S. bombed a boat killing 11 people off the coast of Venezuela. The Marines and Navy have also been carrying out military exercises in Puerto Rico, including amphibious landing exercises. This comes as CNN is reporting Trump's considering carrying out strikes against drug cartels inside Venezuela. On Friday,

Venezuela and President Nicolas Maduro warned the U.S. against taking any more military action. The government of the United States should abandon its plan of violent regime change in Venezuela and in all of Latin America and the Caribbean and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, to independence. Over the weekend, Vice President J.D. Vance dismissed accusations that the U.S. attack on the Venezuelan boat that killed 11 may have been a war crime if civilians were on board. Vance wrote on X, quote, I don't give an expletive what you call it. Republican Senator Rand Paul criticized Vance's comment, saying, quote, what a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify killing someone without a trial, Rand Paul said.

The New York Times revealed, U.S. Navy SEALs took part in a failed top-secret mission to install eavesdropping technology in North Korea in 2019. The mission was aborted when the SEALs were spotted by a boat. near the North Korean coast. The seals opened fire on the boat, killing everyone on board, believed to be two or three North Korean civilians who are diving for shellfish. The Trump administration never notified key members of Congress about the top secret mission. In economic news, new figures from the Labor Department show just 22,000 jobs are created

in August far lower than expected. The overall unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.3%. the black unemployment rate jumped to 7.5 percent its highest level in almost four years. Senator Bernie Sanders brought his fighting oligarchy tour to Brooklyn College in New York Saturday, where he campaigned with New York mayoral candidates, Zahran Mamdani. Sanders praised Mamdani's vision for New York. And what Sharon's campaign is about is an understanding that today we are living in an unprecedented moment in the modern history of our country, and we have got to fight back in an unprecedented way.

The Sanders-Mamdani rally comes as President Donald Trump is attempting to push New York Mayor Eric Adams to drop out of the mayoral race in an attempt to help boost Andrew Cuomo. The Trump administration has reportedly considered making Adams the ambassador to Saudi Arabia. The civil rights activist Joseph McNeil has died at the age of 83. In 1960, he and three other North Carolina A&T State University students launched a sit-in and a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro. They refused to leave the whites-only lunch counter after being denied service. Their action-inspired a nationwide wave of sit-ins aimed at desegregating businesses and public spaces. And the acclaimed psychiatrist and author Robert J. Lifton is

died at the age of 99. He was the author of more than 20 books about the effects of nuclear war, terrorism, and genocide. In 1967, Robert J. Lifton won a national book award for his work, Death in Life, Survivors of Hiroshima. In 1986, he published the seminal book, The Nazi Doctors, Medical Killing, and the Psychology of Genocide. Robert J. Lifton appeared on Democracy Now several times, including in 2017, when he talked about Donald Trump. Well, I wrote a letter together with Judith Herman to the New York Times in which we raised two issues. One was his relation to reality, which is, I would say, solipsistic and untenable and very dangerous to everyone.

What do you mean solipsistic? Solipsistic from within the self. In other words, he only says. sees the world from within his sense of self. He can't have empathy for others. He can't really think into the future the consequences of his actions because he's totally preoccupied with the immediate event and how he can deal with it or manipulate it as emerging through the perception on the part of his sense of self. To see all our interviews, with Dr. Robert J. Lifton, go to

Democracy Now.org. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We begin today's show with President Trump's growing nationwide immigration crackdown as agents

arrested dozens in and around Boston this weekend, and Trump's threatening more actions in Chicago and other so-called sanctuary cities this week. But in Georgia last Thursday, officials say they carried out the single-largest single-site immigration enforcement action in history. When they conducted an immigration raid on the construction site of a new electric vehicle

battery plant, the facility is a joint venture by Hyundai Motor Group and LG Energy Solutions, some 300 of the 475 arrested or Korean. This is DHS Secretary Tom Holman on CNN. do more of work-signing enforcement operators because, number one, it's a crime to end this country legally. Number two, it's a crime to no one who hire an illegal alien. And these companies that hire illegal aliens, they undercut the competition as paying U.S. citizen salaries. Look, no one hires an illegal alien on the goodness they're hire. They hire them, can they work them harder, pay them less, and undercut the competition that hires U.S. citizens employees. They drive wages down.

Over 500 federal, state and local officials participated in the raid. The agencies involved include not just ICE and Border Patrol, but also the Department of Labor's Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and Explosives, the IRS, and the Georgia State Patrol. The construction site that was raided is in Elbelle, Georgia, near Savannah, is part of Hyundai's massive 3,000-acre metapplant campus. State officials say the $12.6 billion project is the largest economic development deal in Georgia's history. Hyundai also has a factory in Alabama and plans to invest $5 billion in a steel plant in Louisiana. This comes as South Korea's president, Li Jiang, promised at least $50 billion of investments during his recent meeting with President Trump. The South Korean government's now sending a charter plane to pick up the hundreds of Korea. workers after they negotiated their release.

This is Kang Hunsik, chief of staff, to the president of South Korea. As a result of swift and united efforts by government ministries, business groups and companies, talks with the United States for the release of the detained workers have been concluded.

But what remains now are only administrative procedures, and once those are completed, a chartered plane will depart to bring our people home. To prevent a similar incident, in the future. We will work with the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy and related companies to review and improve the residency status and visa systems for travelers on U.S. related projects. For more, we go to Savannah, Georgia, where we're joined by Meredith Yun, litigation director for Asian Americans advancing justice, Atlanta. Youan is the daughter and granddaughter of Korean immigrants.

Welcome to Democracy Now, Meredith. It's great to have you with us. If you can explain just what unfolded last Thursday. Thanks so much, Amy. So the raid at the Hyundai Megasite began around 9 or 10 in the morning last Thursday and lasted the entire day into the evening as late as 6.30 p.m. Approximately 475 people were detained, filling at least seven buses. The nationalities of those detained were mostly from South Korea, but individuals. from Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Ecuador, and Venezuela also were detained.

There are reports that some U.S. citizens, mostly younger workers, initially were subjected to investigatory detention. Some of them were released. And many of those detained had valid work permits. So far, everyone who the folks on the ground have been tracking has some kind of documentation. A kind of indication that this was about to go down. I mean, this is historic, the largest single-site raid in the agency's history. That's right. And from what we're hearing, the circumstances of the raid were just absolutely abusive, not only in their scope and just the sheer size of it, but the way that those, the folks at the Hyundai plant were treated by law enforcement. Phones were taken from workers.

people were pressured to sign papers. There are reports that tear gas was used and that agents on site were heavily armed. There were helicopters, drones, ATB, and other military-style vehicles that were there at the site. And from what we heard, ICE was blocking the exits from the facility, threatening force if workers did not surrender. So can you then talk about what happened to the detain? employees, where were they sent? And the timing of this after the deals the U.S. is making with South Korea? The majority of the workers who were detained on Thursday were taken to the Fokston Ice Processing Center, which is an ICE detention center in South Georgia

near the Florida line. It has been operating as an ICE detention center since approximately since 2017, but has existed as some sort of correctional facility. since 1998. The facility has had repeated, repeated reports of abusive conditions, including medical neglect, lack of information about people's cases, as well as horrible conditions at the facility itself. In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General did an investigation of the facility and found multiple deficiencies and that the human rights of those being detained there were being violated, those conditions continue into current times as to what people are facing. With respect to the timing of this enforcement action, it's incredibly

it's just incredibly concerning to see as people like Governor Kemp are trying to, you know, supposedly reach out to South Korean companies to develop the economy in South Georgia. That has been a big part of what's been publicly discussed. And then you see federal law enforcement in conjunction with state law enforcement, including the Department of Public Safety and the Georgia State Patrol participating together in this investigation. It's just incredibly concerning. We played a clip of the border czar, Tom Homan, talking about going after these workers because they're taking American jobs. He continually refers to illegal aliens.

He talks about taking rapists and the worst murderers off the street. And he also talked about how it's illegal to employ what he calls illegal aliens. Were the owners of the plant, were those who were involved in this? in this company, both Korean and American, arrested? So far, we have not heard any reports that there have been any arrests or criminal arrests that have been executed as a result of this raid. What we have heard is that everyone who has been civilly arrested by ICE has some sort of documentation, including valid work permits.

We've heard reports of people who actually have pending asylum applications as well as work permits being arrested. So it's unclear why those individuals were detained. It's interesting, headline out this weekend, Trump is quietly preparing to travel next month to South Korea, where he could sit down with China's leader. He and his top advisor is quietly preparing to go there in October for the APEC summit, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, the significance of this in preparation. And what it means for any company who Trump is trying to lure to the United States to set up business.

It certainly is a disincentive to companies that want to invest in the United States. When you see large rates like this that are clearly intended to get all. a lot of public attention and cause intimidation. It seems at cross-purposes with the supposed goal toward economic development. Meredith, you and you are the daughter and granddaughter of Korean immigrants. How is this affected the Korean community with hundreds of people being detained and apparently deported soon at once? The Korean community is deeply concerned and disturbed by these reports. It is disturbing to see hundreds of people arrested, shackled at their waist and ankles,

and, you know, loaded into buses and taken to an abusive detention center. So the Korean community is very concerned about the treatment of those who were arrested as well as potential future raids that could have impacted the community. where do you head from here who is appealing to you at Asian Americans advancing justice Atlanta is the community totally desperate at this point and does this shut the plant down having almost 500 people taken away we have received many requests for assistance at my organization many local organizations that are on the ground providing immediate support in the aftermath have, as you can imagine, received many requests for help.

There is a coordinated response, both, you know, who are supporting everyone detained, not only individuals from South Korea, but others as well, with immediate needs after the raid, food, financial support, as well as assistance with connecting with legal help. So those efforts are well-coordinated and ongoing. And I'm sorry, the second part of your question. The second part, well, we have to actually go, but I want to thank you very much for being with us. You're holding a news conference today?

Yes, we are at 11 o'clock. Meredith Ewe, litigation director for Asian-Americans advancing justice Atlanta. Yun is the daughter and granddaughter of Korean immigrants. When we come back, the Israeli military has blown up at least three high-rise residential buildings in Gaza. As Israel expands its operation to destroy the city and forcibly evict the city's one million residents. We'll go to Gaza for an update. It's Christmas time in Washington. Democrats are heard.

getting in gear for four more years of things not getting worse Republicans drank whiskey and thank their lucky stars they say cannot seek another term there'll be no more FDRs I say home in Tennessee, staring at the screen, an uneasy feeling in my chest, wondering what it means.

So come back, woulda Guthrie, come back to us now. Christmas in Washington by Steve Earle performing in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to Gaza, where the Israeli military is blown up at least three high-rise residential buildings in Gaza City as Israel expands its operation to destroy the entire city and forcibly evict its population of over one million residents. Israel's killed 28 Palestinians so far today. Officials say another 83 were killed over a 24-hour period ending Sunday. Residents of Gaza City say there's no safe place to go.

In regard to displacement, we were displaced before to the South. There were also martyrs there and bombardment. Wherever we went, there were bombardments from one area to another. From Raffa to Kahn Yunus, from Kaniunis to Dera al-Bala. There were bombardments everywhere. We later came here. It is all the same. All displacement is for nothing.

It is enough. This comes as save the children reports Israel's killed more than 20,000 Palestinian children over the past 23 months. This means at least one Palestinian child has been killed every hour on average by Israeli forces. The group said, quote, if the international community does not step up an entire generation. of children in Gaza will be lost, unquote. Meanwhile, another six Palestinians have died of starvation, bringing the total to almost 400, including 140 children who've starved to death. For more, we go to Darabala in Gaza to speak with Ayatamawi, representative of the Gaza Relief Committee, coordinator for local NGOs, based in central Gaza. He's visited Gaza City regularly

over the last several days. Welcome back to Democracy Now, Aad. Can you just describe the scene as the Israeli military attempts to remove the entire population of Gaza City, one million people. The descriptions of the robots blowing up buildings

are terrifying. Yeah, thank you so much for hosting me again. and again, the situation here in Gaza town, especially, within the last 48 hours, the situation is worsening because the Israeli occupation announced targeting towers. I mean, towers meaning a residential area that contains more 100 apartments. You can imagine when they hit Susi Towers yesterday more than 200

apartments with real residential people leave it, flee in the street without any basic needs. And the surrounding area completely destroyed from the bombardment

and this is a new techniques, dynamics from the occupation to force our people to be displaced without evacuation order something like happened before. So the situation by the bombardment for the

landmarks of the Gaza, it's the baddest situation now. There's no real safe zone in Gaza town and all of the Gaza Strip. As your guest mentioned before, no free spaces

remains in the south. So the Gaza town, or most of our peoples there, I witnessed they forced to be disabled. place to the western part, to the coastal area, and also without tents or shelters or guarantee shelters also. And the shortage of the sweet water, it's the basic things nowadays because the summer heat and also spreading the infectious diseases between the children's especially and the elderly

people also because the crowded area is unbearable conditions here. Schools have been turned into displacement camps, Ayad. Now, schools were supposed to open this week after summer break. Are any children in Gaza going to school? That's a great question. There is no functioning schools remains functioning nowadays. Most of our schools is targeted, I've been targeted for a long time, and me and all of the international media witnessed the direct targeting for the schools. The beginning of the educational year yesterday began, and really there is no educational process launched until this moment.

Just personal initiatives in the camps, they try to learn. some children, not all, so there's no a systematic operation functioning now, my colleague. You talk about hunger and also right to your own family at Maui. If you can talk about what one international agency is calling catastrophic hunger of half a million people, the whole population is two million. what exactly this means, and is aid getting to people or people still being shot down as they try to go get food from the shadowy Israeli-American GHF, so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation? Yeah. Look, the famine also is worsening.

more and more even thought the limited number of trucks entering the Gaza. Our needs is more than 600 daily needs. But what the Israeli occupation gave the permission just for 15 from our needs, 15 percentage of our needs. So they use another way with another dynamics with the hidden manners to manage the famine and to increase the suffering by blockade some special nutritious food like animals, proteins and eggs and fruits and vegetables.

They're just entering some limited amounts of food that keep us alive with the limited amount of carbohydrates. And this is a system of starvation and a collective punishment that will increase the immune diseases for the children. and also the daily people. So the famine is take another face, by another actions. We will lose our next generations

because the consequences of continuing starving the children for more than 700 days. So all of our human appeals here to call the international community to do interventions, to let trucks entering freely without Israel occupation restrictions, because our children, we have no time to save their lives after the 150 days of strongest sea-aged over them. And what about the role of the United States?

How critical is this? You have Netanyahu continuing his corruption trial. Many are saying he's continuing the war on Gaza to make it difficult to finish this trial, the significance of the U.S. pressure on Israel. Yeah.

We hope here as humanitarian workers and NGOs coordinators at all, there is some real pressure over Natanyahu government and the Israeli occupation government. Without real pressure, the genocide here

will not stop. Look, we heard a lot of promises for a long time before to bring peace for Gaza. Until this moment, I heard the bombardment and they hit an order a new evacuation for a new towers. Now, in this moment, when I talk to you, they send a new order for a new towers. So we hope that the new talks and statements of the official of the America to get more incest over Netanyahu to stop the genocide because we have no time I mentioned before

and also Netanyahu government and the Israeli people there must deal with the Palestinian here in Gaza as a civilians and increase the pressure over Netanyahu to stop the genocide and

transfer the captives and the hostages all of the things must end now As a human being, the most priority is the life of the civilians here. It's enough, enough. And Amo, I want to thank you for being with us. Representative Gaza Relief Committee coordinator for local NGOs based in Dura Balah in central Gaza. This is Democracy Now.

Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We turn now to calls for justice in the United States. killing of Aishonor-Ezgi, a 26-year-old Turkish-American citizen, a student at Udub, University of Washington, shot in the head and killed by Israeli forces one year ago on September 6th, when she was taking part in weekly protests against Israeli illegal settlements near Nabilus in the town of Baita in the occupied West Bank. Ayshnard's family says video evidence and witness account shown Israeli sniper targeted her,

even though the Israeli military claimed it was highly likely she was hidden directly and unintentionally as soldiers fired at protesters who they say were throwing rocks. Meanwhile, an investigation by the Washington Post determined she was shot half an hour after any clashes and that she was at least 200 yards away from the soldiers. Turkey's foreign ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of her death this weekend, saying, quote, the killing of innocent civilians is a clear indication of disregard for human life and international norms. Turkey will resolutely continue its efforts to ensure that this grave crime against Aishinaud does not go unpunished, unquote. Turkey's investigation into her killing is ongoing.

The family's calling for the U.S. to conduct an independent investigative. She's a U.S. citizen. The family met with the Biden administration state department but says nothing came out of it and right through to now. Israeli soldiers and settlers have killed at least 10 U.S. citizens since 2022. No criminal charges have been brought in any of the cases. For more, we're joined in Portland, Oregon by Osden Bennett. She is the sister of Aishinaud Esgi Aegee, and now an advocate with the four Aishonord campaign seeking justice and accountability for her sister's killing. Welcome back to Democracy Now. Asden, again, our condolences on the death of your sister one year ago in the West Bank.

Talk about the moment you heard that Aysenord had been killed, this University of Washington student. It was easily the most horrible, unbelievable moment of my life. I mean, when we talked about risks and my sister going to the West Bank, you know, death was definitely at the top of my list and concerns and to receive a call and to be woken up by my husband in the morning, saying that she was dead and that she was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. it was the worst news, the worst case scenario come to life. And the days, hours, weeks following were like a nightmare.

And I wish no family has to experience what we experienced. And yet there have been multiple American families that have had to go through the same exact experience that we did since my sister was killed. Last year, your family held regular vigils outside the White House and a news conference outside the Capitol, where one of the speakers included Democratic Congress member, Primaloggiapal, of Washington State. I am absolutely appalled with the lack of movement on this case, the lack of attention from the State Department, the U.S. State Department, for the well-being and the safety of our own U.S. citizens. Nothing that I have heard from the State Department gives me any assurance at all that the killing of a United States citizen by the IDF is being treated with the urgency that it deserves. And this is all particularly galling when the U.S. continues to provide unfettered aid to Israel, bullets, bombs, weapons, violating our own domestic Leahy laws and international humanitarian law. So that was Washington Congress member, a Seattle Congress member, Pramilla Gaiapal a year ago. This is during the Biden administration.

Now President Trump is in charge. What has happened from that point until now when it comes to an investigation into the killing of an American citizen? Absolutely nothing. what Congresswoman Dryapal said that we heard just a moment ago is exactly where we still stand today. There has been no forward motion, really no communication, no political will, willingness to seek not only a U.S. lead investigation, but basic details or information they can provide us the family. It's been essentially crickets in silence. And from what we can hear from our elected representatives, they've also been essentially stonewalled

into, you know, from any meaningful legislation or information and met with just so. So you have, you have my Kaka-be, the U.S. ambassador to Israel under Trump, saying there must be accountability for this criminal and terrorist act. Has there been any movement? He said that, I think, in June. There has been no movement. There has been a lot of nice words, but no action to back it up. No meaningful pursuit of justice and accountability for my sister.

So since your sister's death, at least two more U.S. citizens have been killed in the West Bank, Saifola Mazzalat, beaten to death by Israeli settlers and Chimisa. killed in another settler attack with their families also pleading for U.S. investigation. Have you united with other families? And, of course, going back to Shereen Abuakla, the world-renowned Al Jazeera journalist who was killed by an Israeli sniper May 11, 2022, she was also, she was Palestinian-American. Unfortunately, as you've mentioned, we're now part of a group of families who've experienced losing their loved ones to killings by either the Israeli military directly or illegal Israeli settlers enabled by the Israeli government. And we will actually be making a trip to Washington, D.C. next week. with some of these family members coming together and sharing our stories to showcase the repeated pattern of not only Israeli violence extended to American citizens, but their ability to do it with full impunity, zero consequences.

Who exactly will you be meeting with in Washington, D.C.? And given the expanded criticism, of Israel by even APEC supported Congress members and the increased calls for weapons bans on Israel, are you finding more elected leaders across the political spectrum who are willing to stand up for Aishinord and the other Americans killed? We're hoping to meet with our elected officials and those of the families that will be with us. So Ishiner Senators, Cantwell, Murray, and Congresswoman Jayapal, hopefully Adam Smith. And as you mentioned, there has been a shift towards being more supportive of Palestinian rights, and maybe being more vocally critical of the Israeli government. And we're hoping that we can use that momentum

and public change and discourse to push for for a meaningful investigation and justice and accountability, not only for my sister, but for all of the families that have been impacted since her killing. Can you talk about the response of the University of Washington, of U-Dub, where your sister, Eicheno, had just graduated, the response in the community, there were major protests last year, like there were across college campuses. Aishonore was one of the leaders of those protests before she went to the West Bank, engaging in peaceful protest.

Yes. You know, I like to think of the university kind of in two terms. One is the overall community and the students who have been so supportive and wanting to not only honor Eishner's life, but to really share her story and the impact that she had on campus. And that has been really wonderful to see and to be a part of. On the other hand, I think you have the university leaders and the president, when this happened, President Kalsai, who was really empathetic to us as the family for our loss, but unwilling to make any public political statements or even a call for a U.S.-led

investigation. And that resistance to kind of speaking truth to what's happening has been really disappointing to see. As in Bennett, I want to thank you so much for being with us. Again, our deepest condolences, sister of Aishonot, Esgi, the 26-year-old Turkish-American citizen, activist, student who just graduated. from the University of Washington, killed by Israeli forces in the Occupied West Bank last September.

Osden Bennett is an advocate for the four Aishinort campaign seeking justice and accountability in our sister's killing. When we come back, the acclaimed psychiatrist and author Robert J. Lifton has died at the age of 99. We'll play an excerpt of an interview we recently did with him. Back in 20 seconds. my sword and chill down by the river's side down by the river side performing down by the river side performing down by the riverside in our fire in our firehouse studio decades ago

go. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show remembering the acclaimed psychiatrist and author, Dr. Robert J. Lifton. He died Thursday at the age of 99. He wrote more than 20 books about the psychological ramifications of nuclear war, terrorism, genocide, as well as the death penalty. In his New York Times obituary, psychiatrist Anthony Storr quoted, he's quoted describing Dr. Lifton as fascinated by the reaction of human beings to extreme situations. In 1967, Dr. Robert J. Lifton won a National Book Award for his book, Death in Life, Survivors of Hiroshima, about the 90,000 survivors of the first atomic bomb dropped on a

population. In 1986, he published the seminal book, The Nazi Doctors, Medical Killing, and the Psychology of Genocide. He appeared on Democracy Now several times, including in 2017, after he published the book, The Climate Swerve, Reflections on Mind, Hope and Survival. It was nine months into President Trump's first term. Some of his closest aides and advisors were saying Trump was unstable and unraveling and that the White House was increasingly consumed by chaos. Trump was also slated to announce the U.S. would decertify the landmark 2015 Iran nuclear deal. I interviewed

him along with Democracy Now as Nirmin Sheikh. Is it your sense that there are sufficient restraints on Donald Trump acting unilaterally on either of these fronts? Of course there are not. You'd have to have total restraints for them to be sufficient with a man like Donald Trump. Of course there aren't sufficient restraints

and whoever depended upon generals to restrain a civilian in so many different areas. And we don't know the outcome. I'm not in my book or in my work promising

that we've accomplished enough to prevent climate damage and a real disaster from happening. It's happening already. What I'm saying is that there has been a shift in mindset that makes possible the actions, the sensible actions necessary to curb global warming. We still haven't taken those actions fully. And, you know, at the beginning of my book, I speak of the ultimate absurdity, the ultimate absurdity that if we do nothing but what we're doing now, and it's what I mean by malignant normality, just go on using fossil fuels, we will do ourselves in as a civilization pretty much by the end of this century. Nothing could be more absurd than that. But at least we have a beginning shift in mindset that allows us. to take reasonable action, and that's what Paris was all about.

I wanted to ask you about the quote you begin your book with. You quote the American poet, Theodore Rutgey, saying, In a Dark Time, the Eye Begins to See. Yes, that's a beautiful line from a very great poet. I've used that throughout my career because it's, in a way, what my work is about. I've studied a lot of dissents into darkness, Hiroshima, the Vietnam War, Nazi doctors, and others, Ome Shinrikio in Japan. And I always feel there's something to be learned from what happened, and it doesn't mean that we're

guaranteed to make good use of our history and never do it again. it does mean that some kind of knowledge can come from it, and I see myself in that way as what I call a witnessing professional trying to use my professional knowledge to bear witness to and in some way reveal more about this kind of darkness. Can you talk more about the Nazi doctors? I mean, you devote a chapter. to them here. But, I mean, your work spans, well, you are 91 years old now. You have so much wisdom on both experience and all you have brought to this. Tell us what we should learn

from what you learned from these men. With the Nazi doctors, when a German doctor, who would be a member of the Nazi party was assigned to Auschwitz. He was expected to do so-called selections and send most arriving Jews to the gas chamber. That was considered normal behavior for a doctor in Auschwitz. Some of them had difficulty with it, but ultimately they adapted to it. This is rendering professionals a hired gun for a malignant version of normality. And I learned that in extreme ways, professionals can be put to use for killing rather than healing. That's what happened in Nazi Germany. But we also saw expressions of that, not quite as fully expressed, but with American psychologists and for a while, psychiatrists engaging in torture, and that being

an expected norm, normal behavior. You're talking about the American Psychological Association cooperating with President Bush. That's right. And I'm talking about both individual psychologists and psychiatrists and then the American Psychological Association collaborating with the torturers. I call that a scandal within a scandal. It's a scandal that professionals are doing that, but it really shows that we have to, as professionals or as anything,

recognize what our work is being used for and where it's being put in connection with despotic behavior. The scandal within a scandal is an association that's supposed to watch over the ethics of a profession, joins in torture, or at least protects those who join in torture. But all that was exposed by a movement from within psychologists, from within the American Psychological Association, with the help of reasonably good leadership on the part of the American Psychiatric Association who said it was wrong for any psychiatrist to be in

the room during an interrogation that could spill over into torture. Yes, that those were examples of malignant normality, not in Nazi Germany, but in relation to democratic United States of America. And with Trump, of course, malignant normality becomes the rule because he's president. And what a president does tends to normalize potentially bad, evil or destructive behavior. acclaims psychiatrist and author Robert J. Lifton, speaking in our Democracy Now studio in 2017 in one of his many interviews on the show. You can go to Democracy Now.org to see them all. Robert J. Lifton died at his home in Cape Cod at the age of 99, survived by his partner, Nancy Rosenblum, his son, Kenneth Lifton, and four grandchildren. That does it for our show. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks so much for joining us.