Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-10-15 Wednesday

Episode Date: October 15, 2025

Democracy Now! Wednesday, October 15, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. So figures are talking about the need for 600 trucks per day for six weeks to alleviate some of the first needs. I think we are not yet there yet. International human rights groups say far more aid needs to be urgently allowed into Gaza as Israel continues to limit the number of truck deliveries. We'll look at the ceasefire hostage deal with Stanford Professor Emeritus Joel Beinan. Hamas held his niece Liyat hostage in Gaza in 2023 for 54 days. Her husband killed.

Plus, we speak to Lindsay Boylan. She became the first of 11 women to publicly accuse her boss, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, of sexual harassment. Lindsay Boylan is now backing Zoran Mamdani in the New York mayoral race over Cuomo. Andrew Cuomo abused his power over me and so many other women who worked for him. I worked for him for years at a high level, and he abused the trust of New Yorkers in doing so, and he will do it again. One kind of abuse of power abuser does it in every possible way, and that is why it is so important that Andrew Cuomo cannot become mayor, and I'm working so hard alongside so many others to make sure that's the case. But first, we speak to Rutgers University historian Mark Bray. He's just moved his family to Spain after receiving death threats over his research on anti-fascism. This comes weeks after President Trump designated the anti-fascist movement known as Antifa to be a terrorist organization, even though Antifa is not actually an organization.

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. Pressure is growing on Israel to allow more aid into Gaza as the ceasefire continues to hold. Tuesday, Israel told the United Nations it would allow only half the 600 daily aid trucks called for under the deal. Israel had accused Hamas of moving too slowly to release the bodies of dead captives as part of the deal. On Tuesday night, Hamas handed over four more bodies. Israel said three of the bodies have been identified, but the fourth did not match any of the known hostages. Meanwhile, Israel has returned the remains of 45 deceased Palestinians.

Health officials in Gaza say the bodies arrive with their hands and legs cuffed. In a statement, Nasser hospitals said, quote, some are blindfolded. There are signs of gunshot wounds in some cases while others have been run over by tanks, they said. This comes as negotiations have begun for the second phase of President Trump's 20-point plan. On Tuesday, Trump threatened the United States would disarm how much. if the group doesn't do so itself. But we have told them we want disarm, and they will disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them.

And it'll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But they will disarm. In other news from Gaza, the group Handicap International's warning, Palestinians face enormous risk from unexploded bombs and mines. The group estimates Israel drop more than 70,000. tons of explosives on Gaza over the past two years. Amazon has fired a software engineer who criticized the company's work with Israel. Ahmed Sharor had publicly opposed Project Nimbus, Amazon's $1.2 billion cloud computing project

that Israel's used to store surveillance information on the Gaza's population. In Italy, more than 10,000 protesters march for Palestinian rights Tuesday ahead of a World Cup qualifying soccer match between Italy and Israel. Police fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Italy won the game three to zero. In Chicago, ICE agents were involved in a high-speed chase to pursue a person. The federal agents then arrested the individual in a residential street when protesters gathered in the area. Ice agents used tear gas to disperse the crowd. Illinois Governor J.V. Pritzker called the treatment of the protesters abominable. saying they were simply holding signs and expressing themselves, unquote.

Meanwhile, Facebook is suspending a popular Chicago area ice siding group at the Trump administration's request. The group has been used over the past month during Operation Midway Blitz to warn neighbors when ice agents are near schools, grocery stores, and other community locations. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, county officials voted on Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over immigration raids. We will be urging our colleagues today to declare a state of emergency because what's happening across Los Angeles County is an emergency. It may not be a wildfire or an earthquake, but it is a man-made emergency created by our own federal government.

Ice raids are spreading fear and confusion in every corner. of our county. The U.S. State Department says it's revoking the visas of six foreign nationals over social media comments they made about the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. On X, the State Department posted, quote, the United States has no obligation to host foreigners who wish death on Americans. The State Department continues to identify visa holders who celebrated the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk, unquote.

The thread then went on to list examples. examples of posts by the foreigners, identifying them as citizens of Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Mexico, Paraguay, and South Africa. It comes as President Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk during a White House Rose Garden ceremony Tuesday. Leaked telegram messages published by Politico show leaders of young Republican groups from New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont, sharing racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, violent language and praise for Hitler in more than 28,000 messages over seven months. One message by Joe Maligno, the General Council for the New York State Young Republicans, read, quote, can we fix the showers? Gas chambers

don't fit the Hitler aesthetic, unquote. Another message by Peter Gunta, the chair of the New York state young Republicans who was responding to chat members watching an NBA playoff game, read, quote, I'd go to the zoo if I wanted to watch monkey play ball, unquote. In response to the leaking of the messages, Vice President J.D. Vance posted on X, I refused to join the Pearl Clutching. Arizona's Attorney General's threatening legal action of House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to delay the swearing in of Representative-elect Adelita Grahalvo. In a statement, Attorney General Chris Mays said, quote, we are keeping every option open to us, including litigation, to hold him accountable and make sure that Adelita is able to begin her work as Arizona's newest member of Congress, unquote.

Grahava would be the final 218th vote on a discharge petition to release the Epstein files. Last week, Speaker Johnson was asked whether he was delaying Grahaelva swearing in over the Epstein file. files, to which he replied, quote, it has nothing to do with that at all, unquote. The federal government shutdown has entered its 15th day. On Tuesday, the Senate failed again to pass a funding bill as Republicans continue to refuse to agree to extend expiring health care subsidies under the Affordable Care Act. President Trump's threatening to cut more funding for projects in Democratic-led areas if the shutdown continues.

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration's already frozen or canceled over 27 billion dollars projects in Democratic-led areas. In other news from Capitol Hill, congressional Democrats are pushing new legislation to fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Program WIC, the Women, Infants, and Children program. Amidst the government shutdown, that's furloughed tens of thousands of workers here in the United States, President Trump has offered a $20 billion bailout for Argentina. Earlier this year, Argentina's far right president, Javier Milley attended the conservative CPAC conference in the U.S. where he gifted billionaire Elon Musk a chainsaw. On Tuesday, Trump hosted Malay at the White House and conditioned Argentina's bailout

funds and Millet's party winning legislative elections this month. We're going to work very much with the president. We think he's going to win. He should win. And if he does win, we're going to be very helpful. And if he doesn't win, we're not going to waste our time. because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again. This comes, as critics point out, that Treasury Secretary Scott Besson's friends who lead major hedge funds, including BlackRock, Fidelity, and Pimco, are heavily invested in Argentina and would benefit financially. Reuters is reporting China's buying at least 10 cargoes of Argentine's soil.

after Argentina removed grain export taxes. The move further shuts out U.S. soybean farmers from the Chinese market as the U.S. threatens 100 percent tariffs on China. Kayla Ragland, a former and president of the American Soybean Association, told Reuters, quote, every time China turns to South America instead of the U.S., soybean farmers and our farm families here at home lose out. Without a trade deal that removes retaliatory tariffs, farmers like me are left watching key opportunities slip away. A third of U.S. soybeans were being

sold to China. President Trump announced in a post on Truth Social that the U.S. has attacked another boat allegedly carrying drugs near Venezuela, killing six people. It's the fifth deadly strike on boats in the Caribbean since September. It comes weeks after an internal Trump administration memo, classified drug cartels as non-state armed groups whose actions constitute an unarmed attack against the United States. NBC News is reporting congressional lawmakers from both parties are growing frustrated about the lack of information about the strikes. One source told NBC, quote, The Republicans were mad that the briefers were unable to answer questions about the legal basis for the operations, unquote. Five major broadcast news outlets have refused to sign the Pentagon's new press policy by Tuesday's deadline.

The policy states media outlets and reporters cannot obtain any information that the Pentagon does not explicitly authorize. Fox News, defense secretary Pete Hegsett's former employer, stated they will not sign on to the new press policy. In a joint statement, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News, CNN and Fox News all said, quote, we joined virtually every other news organization in declining to agree to the Pentagon's new requirements, which would restrict journalists' ability to keep the nation and the world informed of important national security issues, unquote. In Madagascar, an elite military unit says it seized power after weeks of Gen Z-led protests led to the ouster of the president, Andri Rijalina. Reuters reports the president left Madagascar Sunday aboard a French military aircraft,

a crackdown on dissent by military forces, killed at least 22 people, according to the U.N. The Army colonel reportedly announced a committee led by the military would rule the country for up to two years instituting a transitional government before calling new elections. On Tuesday, protesters celebrated the military's takeover. The military's stance is something we've been. have been waiting for for a very long time. First, there was the gendarmery and all that, fighting alongside the government. Meanwhile, we saw that the people were at the end of their tether. It was truly wonderful that the army took part in the people's demands.

A new investigation by Reuters has concluded the former Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad secretly moved tens of thousands of bodies to hide evidence of mass killings. Between 2019 and the Syrian government removed bodies from a mass grave in Al-Kataifa and then reburied them in a secret site in the desert east of Damascus. The project was done as Assad attempted to regain his international standing. Tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente nurses, pharmacists, midwives, rehab therapists, and other frontline medical staff are going on strike. Organizers say the five-day strike across 500 medical centers and offices in California, Hawaii, and Oregon, could be the large in the history of the United Nurses Associations of California, Union of Healthcare professionals.

They're asking for a 25% increase in salaries over four years claiming wages have not kept up with inflation. Here's pharmacist Jackie Hua. During COVID, we were called heroes with capes on. But now that COVID is over, you know, we're being thrown under the bus. We're being told, no, we don't want to negotiate anymore. We don't want to come to the table and negotiate anymore and give you guys a contract. The pioneering transgender activist, Ms. Major Griffin Gracie, has died at the age of 78. In 1969, she took part in the Stonewall Uprising that launched the modern LGBT rights movement. For more than five decades, she was a tireless advocate for the black trans community and trans people behind bars.

Kiera Johnson, president of the National LGBTQ Task Force, said, quote, she was a revolutionary, a legend, a foundational mother of our movement and an inspiration to those fighting for liberation. 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 with the war on Antifa that the Trump administration's ratcheted up in the aftermath of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk being assassinated last month. Yesterday, President Trump posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Charlie Kirk at a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. Trump recently signed an executive order purporting to designate Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, even though it's not really an organization.

Antifa is actually a shortening of the term anti-fascist and is a term that arose in Europe for the movement against the Nazis both before and after World War II. The decentralized movement in the U.S. today draws on this history. Several high-level Republicans have accused this Saturday's No King's Day protests of being organized by Antifa. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said last week, the administration will take the, quote, same approach to Antifa as it has to drug cartels. It's bombed in the Caribbean. This is Bondi on Fox News last night. That's one of the things about Antifa. You've heard President Trump say multiple times they are organized, they are a criminal.

organization and they're very organized. You're seeing people out there with thousands of signs that all match pre-bought, pre-put together. They're organized and someone is funding. This comes as Los Angeles County officials voted Tuesday to declare a state of emergency over ongoing federal immigration raids. They say have, quote, caused widespread fear, unquote. Violent attacks by federal agents at protests against immigrant raids have also been documented. in Chicago and Portland. On Tuesday, Republican House Speaker, Mike Johnson, said if he would call for more oversight of federal agents, he responded by complaining about a naked bike ride, protest against

ICE in Portland, Oregon, which Trump has called a war zone. To demand oversight on federal law enforcement? Well, I've not seen them cross the line yet, and that we have committees of jurisdiction who have that responsibility, but it's not risen to that. What I've seen is the abuse of law enforcement by radical leftist activists. You know, most recently, the most threatening thing I've seen yet was the naked bicyclers in Portland who were protesting ice down there. I mean, it's getting really ugly.

Experts are increasingly raising concerns that Trump administration's attacks on Antifa are ungrounded in fact and law and violate free speech rights. For more, we're joined by someone who knows a lot about all of this. Mark Bray is a Rutgers University history professor, author of the 2017 book Antifa, the anti-fascist handbook. Last week, he was forced to leave his home in New Jersey and moved to Spain with his family after receiving death threats following Trump's push to categorize the anti-fascist movement as a domestic terrorist organization. Charlie Kirk's group, Turning Point USA, had also circulated a potential. labeling him Dr. Antifa and calling for him to be fired. In a remarkable development, Bray was at first blocked from flying out of the United States last week. He wrote on Blue Sky,

someone canceled my family's flight out of the country at the last second. We got our boarding passes. We checked our bags, went through security. Then at our gate reservation, disappeared. They later took another flight, and Professor Mark Bray joins us now from Spain. Thanks so much for being with us. I'm sorry you've gone through all this, Professor Bray. If you can start off by talking about why you left the country. And what happened as we tried to follow what was happening to you at the airport. Right. So I published this book, Antifa the Anti-Fascist Handbook in 2017. I'm actually researching different historical topics now. But after Trump's executive order, a series of

far right trolls online, influencers, started attacking me. I received a number of death threats. Someone published my home address on X. So I started to fear for the safety of my family, staying in our home. More and more death threats came in. And I knew I needed to get away. Getting to another country, getting across the ocean, would it would make us feel much more comfortable.

As you said, our first flight was mysteriously canceled at the last moment. My two small children were sobbing. And we had to regroup the next day. I just want to ask, when you say your flight was canceled, you went to, what was it, Newark Airport or Kennedy? And you got your boarding passes and you went through security. So you were all set. And you got to the gate and what did they tell you?

Well, there was an error. They had a step to the side to talk to the United worker at the desk. There were a series of phone calls and mumbling, and they basically said at the last moment, someone had canceled our reservation, not the whole flight, just for the four of us, for me, my wife, and our two small children. And this is around the same time that Andy Noe and Jack Posovic, two of the far-right provocateurs who had been harassing the online, were meeting in the White House with President Trump to discuss Antifa. I just can't believe it's a coincidence. And yet you were able to rebook the next day and you made it through. security and you actually made it onto the flight? Well, well, this time I was stopped, searched, and interrogated by federal agents for an hour. And at one point, they took me into a

side room and my two kids saw what looked like were very bad men taking me in another room. They started sobbing. So it was quite an ordeal, even the next day. But I made it out. And frankly, I'm very fearful about the potential of returning. But hopefully by next year, things will improve. I mean, this is astounding. weren't trying to come into the United States. You were trying to leave and you are an American citizen, not that that should have mattered. And I'm not being charged with any crimes. If anything, I'm the victim of crimes. I wrote a book eight years ago. I consider myself politically an anti-fascist. I detest fascism. But I'm not a member of any Antifa group. I'm a professor.

I'm a dad. I'm just trying to live my life here. But of course, because the far right is trying to create a boogeyman term in Antifa to equate protest with terrorism. I got caught up in the middle of this. So you are the author, Professor Bray, of Antifa, the anti-fascist handbook. If you can explain what Antifa is and what it means for President Trump to have issued this executive order, calling it a terrorist, domestic terrorist organization, is it even an organization? talk about Antifa now and through history.

Right. So as you said, it's a term that is short for anti-fascist or anti-fascism. It's originally German from the era of opposition to Hitler. After World War II, anti-fascism continued throughout the world. And the specific European tradition of what they called Antifa spread to other countries around the world. For example, in the U.S. you had anti-racist action in the 80s and 90s, which was a network of decentralized groups across the continent organizing against the far right. The term Antifa really kind of made its appearance in the U.S. in the late 2000s, but it's not an organization. It's more of a

politics or a movement. I liken it to feminism sometimes. There are feminist groups, but feminism itself is not a group. There are Antifa groups, but Antifa itself is not a group. It's just sort of like a more of a verb. It's a thing you do to organize against the far right in decentralized groups. Trump, of course, doesn't care about any of that. It's a useful boogeyman turn to demonize protests, demonize resistance, equated with terrorism. And it's really, you know, an obvious page out of the textbooks about fascist and authoritarian leaders. It's so, as such an obvious imitation of, you know, the kind of the Red Scare talk about communism, but applied to today. It's very interesting you've moved to Spain. I mean, for years we've covered the

Abraham Lincoln Brigadistas Brigade. Those Americans, who went to Spain, where you are now, to fight against the fascist Franco. Many of them died. Many of them came back. And this was just before World War II. They were the most experienced, presumably, in fighting. But when a number of them signed up to fight in World War II, to fight Hitler, they were labeled premature anti-fascists.

Can you talk about that? And they were not allowed to fight in World War II. Right. So there were a lot of activists and leftists in the U.S. and around the world who realized the threat of Hitler well before mainstream society. And a number of them journeyed over to Spain to fight in the international brigades. A significant number of them lost their lives. Some of them returned. They were blacklisted in the U.S.

And it's also worth pointing out that a number of Spanish Civil War veterans from other, the countries who ended up going to France after the Spanish Civil War played important roles in the French underground. And there was a tank battalion of Spanish anarchists that were among the first to liberate Paris in 1945. It's a fascinating history. It's the one that I teach a course on the Spanish Civil War. So it is strange to sort of have these things twisted around. And I ended up going to Spain because I'm a historian of Spain. But I've received a lot of solidarity and support from the social movements here. And actually, there's a general strike today in Spain for Palestine as well, just to throw into your news report.

We had you on last in 2017 to discuss your book, Antifa, the Anti-Fascist Handbook, when it first came out. In the introduction, you wrote, you hoped your work would promote organizing against fascism and white supremacy. Can you elaborate? Right. So anti-fascism has a broad history. In the U.S., certainly there's.

the European-inspired Antifa tradition. There's also a really good book called The Black Anti-Fascist tradition that talks about the role of anti-fascism in black liberation struggles, Black Panthers and so forth, which I suggest people check out. So it takes many different forms. What it has in common is actually this impulse towards unity and putting aside the differences that often divide the left in the interest of promoting the common struggle against fascism, against white supremacy. And what we're seeing today in the U.S. is, increasingly fascist. Maga, I believe, and I study fascism, I don't say this likely, is a fascist movement. And if we don't organize, if we don't take action in the streets,

we're going to end up somewhere really bad. And for me personally, I felt like my situation was such that I had to get my family out of harm's way. But this story about me is about me, but it's not really about me. It's about attacks on academic freedom, free speech, the right to protest. We're in a really dangerous situation. And so everyone in their own way needs to take action to try and organize against this. I mean, it's interesting. You remind me of Timothy Snyder, as well as Jason Stanley, the two Yale professors who also left the country.

They've gone to Canada to teach, both having written books against fascism and tyranny. I wanted to ask you about U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's comments, saying the administration will take the quote, same approach to Antifa. as it has to drug cartels, it's bombed in the Caribbean. The latest bombing, I think, took place yesterday, killing a number of people. Even Republican politicians behind closed doors are saying, where is the evidence for who these people are who've been killed by the U.S. bombs? Mark Bray, your response to Pam Bondi.

Right. Well, the paradox of fascism is that while it's, It's trying to gain power. It talks about the need for law and order. And to the degree that it gains power, it tramples all over the law. It does not care about the law or legality, due process civil liberties. And so this kind of call to murder people in this country without, of course, even having gone through any due process, not that I'm in favor of capital punishment anyway, but that's

another story. It is this kind of example of calling for the strong man in Trump to use deadly force without any evidence against people accused of made-up crimes that are being equated with, you know, at times some of the Trump administration people have compared it to ISIS, to Antifa, right? So to me, it's really this kind of fascist attack on civil liberties. And if they're equating protesters with Antifa and they're saying that they're going to use the methods used for the people in the boats in the Caribbean on Antifa, the implication is they're ready to kill American protesters. And, you know, we know the history of Kent State, right,

where students were gunned down in the 60s. It could happen again if we're not careful. So we really need to be very vigilant about this. Do you think progressive groups, groups that care about democracy, free speech across the political spectrum, are pushing back enough around the attack on anti-fascists? Well, you know, I think there's always room for more action. And I think that my main takeaway for viewers today is that whether or not you consider yourself an anti-fascist, anyone who has any critiques of Trump is potentially in the crosshairs here because there's a concerted project from the top to equate protest with terrorism

and to say anyone who's not a Trump supporter is basically the equivalent of ISIS. You can't make this stuff up. It's absolutely ridiculous. They don't care at all about grounding in fact or information. It's something that plays to their base and just to find. attempts to step beyond due process to use apparently lethal force against dissidents. This is terrifying, and so everyone really needs to do what they can to sound the alarm. Finally, I wanted to ask you about the Rutgers students calling for the university to support you,

wanting Rutgers President William Tate to issue a statement, quote, resolution and supportive professor Mark Bray's academic freedom and free expression. This apparently is slated for consideration and vote Friday by the Rutgers University Senate. Your response, Professor Bray. Well, I've received a tremendous amount of support from the Rutgers faculty, from the student body, and from the administration. I support that call. I hope it passes. I would very much appreciate a statement of direct support from President Tate.

But, you know, to his credit, he did issue a statement. in support of the free speech and academic freedom of all Rutgers faculty, which did not mention me directly, but I think implicitly supported my right to do my scholarship in accord with my job. But, you know, again, the Rutgers community has been fantastic, and especially given attacks on higher education across the country, the way that some subjects have been basically straight up banned in states like Florida, I'm happy to be a professor of Rutgers. Mark Bray, Rutgers University History Professor, author of Antifa, the anti-fascist handbook. He's just moved his family to Spain after receiving death threats following President Trump's push to categorize the anti-fascist movement as a domestic terrorist organization.

Coming up, we speak with a professor at Stanford University, Professor Emeritus, about what the deal. that was made in Charmel Sheikh, and also about his own niece who'd been held hostage by Hamas in Gaza for 54 days, her husband killed. This is Democracy Now, back in 30 seconds. in middle of the comparce us arra

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rompe and our Nunca more, never again by La Santa Cecilia. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. Pressures growing in Israel to allow more aid into Gaza as the ceasefire continues to hold. On Tuesday, Israel told the United Nations it would allow only half the 600 daily aid trucks

cold for under the deal, accusing Hamas of moving too slowly to release the bodies of dead hostages. On Tuesday night, Hamas handed over. four bodies. Israel said three of the bodies have been identified, but the fourth didn't match any of the known hostages. Meanwhile, Israel's returned the remains of 45 deceased Palestinians. Health officials in Gaza say the bodies arrive with their hands and legs cuffed in a statement. Nasser Hospital said, quote, some are blindfolded. There are signs of gunshot wounds in some cases, while others have been run over by tanks, unquote. Israel's believed to hold hundreds

of bodies of dead Palestinians. This comes as negotiations have begun for the second phase of President Trump's 20-point plan. On Tuesday, Trump threatened the U.S. would disarm Hamas if the group doesn't do so itself. We have told them we want to disarm, and they will disarm. And if they don't disarm, we will disarm them. And it'll happen quickly and perhaps violently. But they will disarm. We're joined now by Joel Bainan, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, non-resident fellow at dawn.

Joel Bainan has written or edited 12 books, among them, a critical political economy of the modern Middle East. Professor Bainan's also the uncle of Liat Bainan Azzili, an Israeli hostage who was released after 54 days in Hamas captivity. Her husband killed. Joel Bainan is in the new documentary on his niece that's titled Holding Liat. We will talk about that in a moment, Professor Benin. We'll talk about the incredible ordeal your family has been through. But first, I wanted to get your response to what is unfolded this week. The deal that has been signed, the 20-point Trump plan in Charmel Sheikh, the significance of this deal.

and what's happening on the ground, including the hostage release on both sides. You have the 20 hostages, live hostages, released by Hamas, and the nearly 2,000, some call them hostages, because so many of the Palestinian prisoners, almost all of Palestinians, if not all, the Palestinian prisoners that were taken from Gaza have never been taken. charged. Good morning, Amy, and thank you for having me. The first phase of the deal, the ceasefire, the exchange of captives, which is still underway with regard to the deceased Israeli bodies that Hamas is still in the process of delivering. And the allowance of aid into the Gaza Strip, even though Israel has cut in half the original agreed-upon amount. These are all very welcome things.

My family is very happy that the families of other hostages that have been returned, dead and alive, are reaching some degree of closure. All of the rest of the 20-point plan is very dubious. I have grave doubts about whether any of the rest of it will actually be implemented. What do you understand are the key issues of this deal? I mean, on the issue of the return of the dead bodies, I mean, obviously now in a completely demolished Gaza, I think President Trump referred to it as a kind of demolition zone that it's been demolished.

They don't have DNA testing. And I think both sides recognized it was going to. to be hard for Hamas to identify some of these remains. And according to some reports, there were three bodies that are identified at Israeli hostages. The fourth, it's believed to be a Palestinian. But according to sources, not believed to be intentionally passed off, but not clear because it takes Israel testing the DNA. That's right. Hamas has returned so far seven Israeli dead bodies

this subtracting the one that turned out not to be Israeli four more are supposed to be delivered today Ha'ar it's reported some days ago that the Israeli government knows that as many as 15 hostages

can't be located that they understand that Hamas doesn't know where they are and Israel doesn't know what they are. So almost as many bodies that the Israeli government thinks can be positively located will have been returned by the end of today if Hamas carries through with returning four more bodies. Israel is playing with this as it has played with every issue, and this is a good indication of why we should have doubts about whether the rest of the 20-point deal will be

carried out because there is no majority in the Israeli government for an international stabilization force. I doubt very much whether Israel is going to be okay with soldiers from Muslim countries entering the Gaza Strip to ensure security. Israel is not going to be okay with the Palestinian Authority, whether it's reformed in whatever way they're supposed to be reformed. Nobody has actually specified what that is. that they should take control of Gaza, and the Israeli government is certainly not okay with any kind of move toward establishing a Palestinian state. And Hamas, for its side, has said that they are willing to give up their offensive arms,

such as rocket launchers and to withdraw from tunnels, which have been used for offensive actions, but they're not willing to give up their sidearms and their rifles. So there's going to be lots of points for disagreement. And as I said, very likely no agreement on the other points after what's originally been implemented so far. One of the great fears of the Israeli hostage families until now has been if Israel, if Netanyahu continues as assault on Gaza, that the hostages would be killed in the bombing. And that issue of the possibility that, like so many thousands of Palestinians buried in the rubble, some of those Israeli hostages might have met the same fate and are buried in the rubble.

There is very good reason for that fear. About 41 hostages have been killed since October 7th as a result of military action. They've either been bombed by Israel or in one very dramatic case, three of them were shot dead by Israel when they were trying to escape. Hamas has executed some of them when Hamas feared that Israeli forces were closing in on them. So it's almost certainly the case that had the fighting not stopped when it did, the lives of additional hostages would have been put at risk. I want to go to the trailer for the feature documentary film holding Liat. This is the documentary about your niece, your brother's daughter, Liat Benin, Atzili. Our intelligence says your daughter, Liat, is being held by terrorists in the Gaza's strength.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. It is so hard not knowing what's going on with her. My biggest worry is that she's not with her. us anymore. We're being led by crazy people, whether it's on the Israeli side or whether on the Palestinians side. And the result is all this

death and destruction. Yehuda and I deal with problems differently. The struggle for peace and reconciliation is the best way to respect the Atenevieve and provide a human side to this story. I'm not going to

thank them for abducting my parents and murdering my acquaintances. Let's just figure out where Leah and Navi are. Let's just focus on that ever. We want to be supportive of the family. And on the other hand, I'm here and I disagree politically. Sometimes it's better to just be quiet. Because you know what? For getting Liat and Avivak, put me on your head.

No, I'm not going to run away. I'll stand my ground. There's no way of knowing how much. much longer this is going to go on. Who's holding her? Is she in a house? Is she in a cave? Is she being fed? Does she have her glasses? The longer it takes, the harder it is, to stay positive. There's no guarantee that either of them are cutting out of this alive.

We just got the list, and unfortunately, Liat is not on today's list. That's the trailer for holding Liot, which is available on BBC Storyville. This is another clip that features our guest, Jovenin's niece, Liyat Netsili. She was one of 16 hostages who were released from Hamas captivity in November, 2023. My thoughts about Israel's response and what's happening in Gaza are complex. It's horrible, truly horrible. It's really horrible. People are saying we should have Hamas to give them

people are saying we shouldn't let humanitarian aid into Gaza and it's horrifying to hear I don't care that it allows Hamas to keep fighting people shouldn't starve to death no matter who they are But by the other, but by the same token, it's not okay to go into people's houses and take them hostage either. That's Liyat Bainan Atsili, our guest, Professor Joel Bainan's niece. She was released in November of 2023, after 50,

54 days in captivity. She's an Israeli-American citizen. Professor Bainan, holding Liat, this film is deeply moving. You're also in it, where you express your mood, your feelings, both the horror of the hostages being taken and the situation. And if you can talk about Liat and what happened and how you dealt with this through this time, with your very critical view of Israel, throughout the last decades of history. Celiaat is a history teacher. She lives on Kibbutz Niroz. Just recently, she's moved back to a new house there.

She was politically oppositional long before October 7th. My entire Israeli family, my family moved to Israel in 1973, all of them except for me. They were always left-wing Zionists, and that's the way I was brought up too. I lived in Israel for several years before my family moved there in 1973 and came back because as a result of political struggle against the occupation and support of the Israeli Black Panthers, I came to abandon Zionism. So that's been a difference between my family and me for 50 years before October 7th.

Nonetheless, I'm part of the family, and I was deeply shocked to learn that Liat was taken hostage on October 7th, along with 250 other Israelis. And the family found out 12 hours after Liat was released on November 29th, 23, that her husband Aviv was killed defending their kibbutz on October 7th. So all of this was pretty traumatic for my family, pretty traumatic for all the people of Israel. And of course, Israel's response traumatized the entire population of the Gaza Strip 10 times over. the family has a certain amount of closure because we know what Liyadh is back, we know what happened to Aviv, there's been a funeral, but I don't think my family, I don't think many of the people of Israel, I don't think the great majority of the people of the Gaza Strip are going to recover from this trauma anytime soon, and since I am skeptical about how the 20-point deal will ever be implemented, I don't expect it to be, there won't be much help

in resolving the trauma from the political leadership of either Israel or the Palestinians. I wanted to end by asking you about the Palestinian prisoners, you might say hostages, who've been released up to 2000, and I referenced this before. It is believed all, if not almost all, of those that were released to Gaza have never been charged and held for up to two years. When you saw the buses, both in Ramallah and Gaza, of the people coming off those buses, they were emaciated. They're wearing heavy sweatshirts that cover some of that. Some of them clearly beat up. Some of them can't walk. Your final comments on that, even as your niece was also held hostage. So the Palestinians that have been released so far are in two

categories. 1,700 and some captives who were held hostage without charge from Gaza. There are 9,000 more Palestinians in Israeli prisons, most of them held without charge. 250 of of the Palestinians who were released were serving life sentences for armed attacks on Israelis. So the world media focuses on the Israelis. There's always a serious imbalance in coverage and centering Israel and Israelis and much less attention to Palestinians. But of course, Palestinian society as a whole is suffering far, far more than Israeli society has ever suffered as a result of the armed clashes going back all the way to 1948. And that's something that we in the West don't tend to have adequate appreciation for. Professor Joel Bainan, I want to thank you for being

with us, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, now non-resident fellow at dawn. Professor Bainan's niece, Liat Bainan Azzili, was held by Hamas for 54 days in 2023. There's a documentary now out on her, titled Holding Liat. Coming up, we speak with Lindsay Boylan. She became the first of 11 women to publicly accuse her boss, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, of sexual harassment. She's now supporting Zoran Mamdani for mayor over Cuomo, back in 20 seconds. I landed here from Punjab, oh, Inkyo no real home but Inky love, oh Inky love, no real home but inkie love. Mr. Sunny Singh in our studio.

This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman, ahead of the highly watched November 4th, New York mayoral race in which the Democratic nominees are on Mamdani campaign will face off with disgrace former governor Andrew Cuomo, Mandani addressed a massive rally Monday night. There is something special in this room tonight. It's power. It's the power of hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers united, ready to usher in a new day. It is the power of a movement that won the battle over the soul of the Democratic Party.

that put Andrew Cuomo's vision of austerity and smallness firmly where it belongs on a ballot line no one's ever heard of. Zoran Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist Assembly member, shocked the political establishment throughout the United States when he defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic mayoral primary in June. Cuomo is now running as an independent. Andrew Cuomo resigned his governor in 2021. after New York Attorney General, Letitia James, released a damning report finding he sexually harassed at least 11 women. During an interview on The View last week, Sarah Haynes asked Cuomo about his sexual harassment scandal.

What do you say to voters who have a hard time looking past this? Yeah, it's a good question. When the report was issued, I said I believe it was politically motivated, and it was, I didn't even know the allegations. at that time. Nothing came from those allegations. It was a very painful period for me and for my family. I did say if I offended anyone in any way, I didn't mean it. And I learned a lesson, a painful lesson, which is to be much more cautious. For more, we're joined by Lindsay Boylan. She served as a senior aide to Governor Cuomo from 2015 to 2018. In 2021, she became the first of 11 women to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment, setting in motion events that would lead to his fall from power.

After Cuomo announced he's running for mayor, after having resigned as governor, Vanity Fair ran a piece by Boylan, headlined Andrew Cuomo for mayor. His first accuser says New York City deserves better. And after Cuomo lost the primary, Lindsay Boyland published an article in Independent, headlined, We Will Beat These Monsters. Welcome to Democracy Now. Can you respond to what Governor Cuomo said on the view? I mean, it's a complete lie. Two investigations, three investigations found he did these things. Three women decided to pursue him in civil courts to have settled with the state for an upwards of almost a million a third will go to trial and this man resigned. He resigned because he did these things. There was

no way to continue. And people powerful with his own party for set resignation because they knew he did these things. So he's lying again. So I'm asking you to remind us what you did when you came forward, the first of 11 women to come forward, because there's so little that is repeated about this during this race. Thank you. We have to repeat it because people have to know what abuser he is. I first tweeted about it because a young woman had reached out to me explaining she was sexually harassed, Charlotte Bennett, and then his name was being floated for potential attorney general, highest lawmaker in the land. And so I started tweeting saying he sexually harassed me. I was quickly smeared by him and his aides. And then I got my ducks in a row and put together

all the evidence, all the details I had for a medium piece that would ultimately spur other women to come forward and tell their stories and initiate an investigation. So, you know, we haven't backed down for one moment, even as he's continued his abuse in the courtroom with taxpayer dollars. And the significance of now New York City Mayor Eric Adams pulling out of the mayoral race, already Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, said he was being offered a fortune to pull out, but he's refused to. Who are the supporters of Cuomo?

And again, you are publicly supporting now Zohan Mamdani, which is very interesting because you're the economic advisor to Cuomo. And if you can talk about the political establishment that you were very much a part of until you accused him of sexual harassment. Yeah. I mean, I've always been focused on jobs for New Yorkers, and that was kind of my job working for the state, is how do we bring more economic development, business, and jobs to New York?

And I have to say, I was at the Queen's Business Breakfast, and Zoran did a tremendous job explaining that affordability is a key issue for attracting business talent to the city. How can you ask employees to live here if they can't afford to do it? So he answered those questions well. And my values have always been about helping New Yorkers, and that's what he's doing. I want to go back to Zoran Mamdani. in an exchange from the last New York City mayoral primary debate before Mamdani won it. This is between Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo. To put a person in this seat at this time with no experience is reckless and dangerous.

To Mr. Lander, in his experience, remember, this was the fiscal watchdog under the Eric Adams administration, which was like the bookkeeper at Tammany Hall. Mr. Mom Donnie, to Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA. I have never hounded the 13 women who credibly accused me of sexual harassment. I have never sued for their gynecological records. And I have never done those things because I am not you, Mr. Cuoma.

And furthermore, the name is mom. Mamdani. M-A-M-A-M-D-A-N-I. You should learn how to say it because we got to get it right. So that's Zoran, Mamdani and Andrew Cuomo, when they were in the mayoral primary. Mamdani won trounced Cuomo, and now they're running in the general race that will take place on November 4th, early voting, already starting soon. So if you can talk about from sexual harassment, the charges of 11 women, including you, to what's happening now at the national level. You have House Speaker Johnson refusing to seat Adelita Grahalva, Arizona Congress member, elect, because she would be the 218th, sign on it to a discharge petition to release the Epstein files.

What's the relationship you see between the two? People who abuse women abuse every kind of power they have. and in all of this is trying to lie about the truth. Mike Johnson is trying to pretend as if he's doing anything but cover for Donald Trump. Supposedly in his campaign, Donald Trump was going to release the files. Lo and behold, he's learned more, and he will do anything to avoid accountability and truth-telling. And I think that's the very same thing with Andrew Cuomo. And you asked earlier, who are his supporters?

They're the very same supporters as Donald Trump supporters. They have the same donor base. They have the same people in their ears, same pollsters going to the White House, saying you should support Andrew Cuomo. It's been well documented, and that's because these people value their power above all else. And Lindsay Boylan, former senior aide to the disgraced former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was forced to resign over charges of sexual harassment, now running for mayor of New York City. Boyling was the first of the 11 women to publicly accuse Cuomo of sexual harassment. That does it for our show. Juan Gonzalez will be speaking at Delaware Technical Community College in Georgetown, Delaware,

tonight at 6, and tomorrow at 6 at the Delaware History Museum in Wilmington. I'll be speaking in Santa Fe after the showing of the film, steal this story, please, at the Lensick Theater on Friday night, October 17th. I'm Amy Goodman. This is Democracy Now. Well.