Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2025-10-29 Wednesday

Episode Date: October 29, 2025

Democracy Now! Wednesday, October 29, 2025

From New York, this is Democracy Now. We were reading the news about Netanyahu's threats and the attacks at Gaza, and then the attack happened right at our house. roof fell on us. Our neighbors came and pulled us from under the rubble. Me, my wife, my daughters, my sons, and my wife's father. Israeli air strikes on Gaza killed 104 people, including at least 35 children in the deadliest day since the ceasefire was reached. We'll get the latest. Then Hurricane Melissa's battering Cuba after devastating Jamaica, which has been declared a disaster area. It's one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history.

We'll speak to the Jamaican British climate activist Michaela Loach. This hurricane's being called hurricane minister, but really it should be named after those who are responsible for causing it. This hurricane literally doubled in speed because of unnaturally warm seas. These seas are unnaturally warm because of burning of fossil fuels. And there are people who are directly responsible for this. Then we speak to Illinois' state representative, Han Wyn. He says federal agents surrounded his car.

and pointed a gun at him when he tried to monitor a possible immigration raid. I'm state representative Hanwen. I'm state representative Hanwen. These guys are telling us to stop following. I'm state representative Hanwen. Their U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. High State Representative Hanway. There's three agents behind us. This other car behind us.

They just put a gun. Yeah, they just had a gun. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.com. or the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Israel has killed at least 104 people in Gaza, a third of them children. Journalist Muhammad al-Munirawi and his wife were among the dead. They were sheltering and a tent in Nisadat in central Gaza. Israel's killed at least 250 journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz claimed Hamas fighters were targeted

in retaliation for the killing of an Israeli soldier in Rafah Tuesday, Hamas said it had no connection to the attack. Here's Abbott-Aweida, a Palestinian man who lost his nephew in Israeli strike. They struck us at four in the morning while we were sleeping. They killed us, and they killed the children at four in the morning while we were sleeping. They struck us. Last week, when two Israeli soldiers died in Rafah, questions were raised. about whether they drove over an unexploded ordinance. According to the aid group, Humanity Inclusion,

clearing Gaza of these ordinance will likely take between 20 to 30 years. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Cuba today as a strong category three hurricane, according to the National Hurricane Center. Cuban authorities evacuated three quarters of a million people ahead of the storm. Melissa hit Jamaica yesterday as a category five hurricane. lashing the island nation with 185 mile-per-hour winds, leaving more than a half a million people without power. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. The Pentagon confirmed

Monday. It carried out another three military strikes on four vessels in the eastern Pacific ocean, killing at least 14 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth again claimed the boats were being used for narco-trafficking without providing any evidence. One survivor was rescued by Mexican Navy authorities about 400 miles from the coast of Acapulco, as Mexican President Claudia Shanebaum said Tuesday her government does not support the strikes. Since September, the U.S. has carried out attacks on at least 13 boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean killing a total of more than 50 people in strikes that have been widely condemned as illegal. The U.S. government secretly attempted to bribe an airplane pilot working for

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to help capture and turn him into U.S. custody. That's according to an investigation by the Associated Press detailing how a longtime U.S. Homeland Security Investigations agent approached the pilot after learning last year that two private jets frequently used to transport Maduro were stationed in the Dominican Republic. The HSI agent identified as Edwin Lopez told the pilot to divert Maduro's flight to a site where he could be arrested by U.S. authorities in exchange for a multi-million dollar reward. Lopez stayed in touch with the pilot identified as Bittner Villegas over the course of at least 16 months. The Trump administration's accused President Maduro of being a drug trafficker without evidence, offering $50 million for information leading to Maduro's arrest in what critics say, is another attempt at destabilizing Venezuela, a major producer of oil.

Amnesty International is calling a U.S. strike in April on a prison in Yemen that killed dozens of detained African migrants a war crime. It followed a similar strike on the same prison compound back in 2022 by a Saudi-led coalition targeting the Houthis. Christine Beckerly, Amnesty's deputy, Middle East, and North Africa director, said, quote, I didn't actually believe that it was possible that the U.S. would carry out an airstrike on the same compound, resulting in a significant level of civilian harm, she said.

The U.S. federal government shutdown has entered its 29th day. The Senate yesterday failed for the 13th time to pass a Republican-backed spending bill that would end the shutdown. Meanwhile, 25 states in Washington, D.C. are suing the Trump administration over the suspension of SNAP, that's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. The states are asking a federal judge in Massachusetts to order the Department of Agriculture to provide SNAP food aid benefits for November. In their lawsuit, the state officials write, quote,

shutting off SNAP benefits will cause deterioration of public health and well-being. Ultimately, the states will bear costs associated with many of these harms, unquote. The Trump administration has vowed to not tap into a $5 billion contingency fund to keep SNAP benefits. It comes as a federal judge in San Francisco indefinitely. halted the Trump administration from firing thousands of government workers during the shutdown. This is Mark Roush, a vice president of the National Air Traffic Controlers Association. It's affecting us because we have to figure out what we're going to do with what little money we may have left in savings, or how are we going to figure out are we going to get more money coming in?

We're going to start driving Uber? We're going to start doing maybe DoorDash, figure some other kind of way to generate income while still going to our jobs, in air traffic control facilities and doing the work in aviation safety professions across the country without getting paid. In Texas, Houston advocates are demanding justice after federal immigration agents reportedly beat and choked a 16-year-old U.S. citizen and his father during a traffic ambush while the two drove to school. The teen, Arnoldo Bazan, and his father, Arnulfo, were reportedly pulled over by agents in unmarked vehicles.

The teen said he saw how agents kicked, punched his father, and then when he attempted to interfere, the agents also assaulted and choked him. The teen's father, Arnulfo Bazaan, has been deported to Mexico. In New York, as masked agents continue to detain immigrants attending court hearings and appointments at Manhattan's 26 federal plaza, a dramatic, scene unfolded earlier this week when a Colombian man was filmed pleading with mass agents not to arrest him before his hearing. Don't take me like that. Please. Don't be like that. Don't be like that. Don't be like that. Dude,

hey, don't be like that. Why are you going to grab me like that? Please, no. A. ICE agents have also reportedly been taking entire immigrant families into custody for questioning inside 26 federal plaza. In more immigration news, a father from Laos has been deported despite a federal court order blocking his removal to a country he's never been to in his life. Jantila, Sean Sivanarath lived in Alabama. His wife and two children are in the U.S. According to the court filings, he was born in a refugee camp. in Thailand and was granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. before he turned one year old. He was detained by ICE in June in front of his two younger children during an annual

immigration check-in, according to his wife. His father is a naturalized U.S. citizen, which would allow him to claim citizenship as well. In a letter from detention, he wrote, quote, I continuously lived in the United States since infancy, and I have always considered myself an American citizen, unquote. A federal judge has intensified her oversight of Trump's immigration crackdown on Chicago, now requiring top border patrol official Gregory Bovino to appear daily in court and to turn over all reports of agents' use of force and body camera footage. Judge Sarah Ellis also told Bovino to get a body camera to wear himself as his agents intensify attacks on protesters and bystanders during immigration raids across Chicago.

We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. Wired reports, customs and border protection searched a record number of phones and electronic devices at U.S. border ports of entry over the past fiscal year. Through the end of September, border agents conducted over 55,000 searches of electronic devices without a warrant, a spike of 17%. Since Trump's returned to office, people crossing through U.S. ports of entry have also reported long detention periods and being denied entry into the United States over messages on their phone. Border agents have brought powers to search and detain people, including U.S. citizens and green card holders within 100 miles of the international border dubbed the Constitution Free Zone. This comes amidst reports CBP is expanding its collection of biome.

data of non-citizens, photographing and fingerprinting all people who enter and leave the United States through ports of entry. Meanwhile, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is replacing ICE's leadership at half the country's field offices with border patrol officials in regions where President Trump is demanding more immigration raids and arrests. President Trump is in South Korea for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, that's APEC, as part of the last leg of his six-day Asia trip. met with South Korea's president Li Jiamyang today, where they discussed a trade deal for securing South Korea's $350 billion investment in the U.S.

Outside the meeting, demonstrators protested Trump's arrival in the country. Korean workers believe that Korea has been under U.S. domination for a long time since liberation. Now it is time to end that. They are angry because Trump's visit Korea is not about attending APEC. It is about pressuring South Korea into investing in the U.S. And accepting the tariffs.

That's why the workers come to Gyeongju feeling outrage about the visit. A Reuters investigation has found President Trump's family amassed more than $860 million from sales of crypto assets in the first half of the year. Reuters detailed a Dubai meeting back in May where Eric Trump pitched investors to purchase $20 million of governance tokens in the Trump family's crypto business, World Liberty Financial. A Reuters review of the digital wallets holding large amounts of world liberty tokens found the vast majority of them were held by overseas buyers. It comes as Donald Trump Jr. serves as an advisor to a drone company that was just awarded

the Pentagon's largest ever contract to supply parts. And in Brazil, at least 64 people were reported dead during a massive raid. on a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Over 2,500 law enforcement agents stormed the favela home to some 300,000 people as authorities claimed it's the headquarters of one of Brazil's most powerful organized crime groups. This is a cashier who witnessed the operation described as the deadliest raid in Rio's history. It's tense. It's very tense. I've never been through this before. I'm from Carioka, born and raised here in Rio. I live here in Rocinja, and it's chaos. So I've never seen anything like this

before it's terrifying. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, The War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York, joined by Democracy Now's Juan Gonzalez in Chicago. Hi, Juan. Hi, Amy, and welcome to all of our listeners

and viewers across the country and around the world. Israel launched major airstrikes on Gaza, beginning Tuesday night, killing at least 104 people, including at least 35 children. about a third of the dead. In the most lethal attack since a U.S. brokered ceasefire began on October 10th, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered what he called powerful strikes, unquote, on Gaza, after Israeli officials accused Hamas of killing an Israeli soldier in Rafa. Hamas denied involvement in the soldier's death.

President Trump defended Israel's attacks while also saying nothing's going to jeopardize the ceasefire. One victim of the Israeli attacks was the Palestinian journalist Mohamed al-Munirwawa, who was killed when Israel struck the tent where he and his wife were sheltering. By one count, Israel's killed over 250 journalists in Gaza since October 7, 2023. In Gaza, city residents described being pulled out of the rubble after Israel struck their home. We were reading the news about Netanyahu's threats and the attacks on Gaza, and then the attack happened right at our house. The roof fell on us. Our neighbors came and pulled us from under the rubble.

Me, my wife, my daughters, my sons, and my wife's father. We're joined now by Mohamed Shahada, writer and analyst from Gaza visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His recent piece headlined an imperfect promise where Trump's peace plan for Gaza falls short. Welcome back to democracy now. It's unclear why President Trump has said that the ceasefire is not in jeopardy when Israel launched these massive strikes, killing at least 104 people. Can you explain what's happening there on the ground, what you understand, Muhammad? Thank you so much, Amy. For me, it's basically Groundhog Day, because I've been here countless times.

I've lived through three Israeli wars, 10 military operations and two grand invasions. each single one of them ended with a ceasefire agreement that Israel violated as soon as it went into effect repeatedly. And that's exactly what we see right now happening in Gaza. Since the ceasefire went into effect over two weeks ago, Israel violated it about 125 times. In addition to yesterday's rampage where the IDF killed about 100 Gazans, including 35 children, we see Israel not allowing food to go in in the quantities that were agreed upon, not opening the raffa border crossing, continuing to kill people and bomb Gaza daily under different flimsy pretext, and continuing demolition work in over 58% of Gaza that the IDF is still occupying and declaring as quote an extermination zone,

meaning nobody is allowed to come near that area, and anyone that tries to cross is shut at or bombed or detained immediately at first sight. What basically you have right now is Trump put Netanyahu on. a loose leash with the ceasefire agreement, that the only condition is that he needs to maintain the facade of the ceasefire and not to break it with outright spectacular levels of violence. So that wiggle room is there with the leash that Netanyahu is on before Trump tries to pull him back. But Netanyahu is trying to do two things. He's trying to pull Trump towards him so that he gets an additional wiggle room.

So we see him trying to come up with all sorts of bogus arguments as to why Israel needs to escalate its use of violence in Gaza. And at the same time, he's also trying to chew on the leash around his neck to break off free and restore the genocide to its full intensity. Exploiting incidents like that happened yesterday in Rafah, where Israel claimed that a soldier was killed by an attack from militants. But Hamas has no ability to access their area whatsoever to launch such an attack. So even if it was a Hamas militant in that area,

it sounds more like something, a situation where you have isolated, disconnected, and trapped Hamas militants in the IDF controlled depopulated areas. So something like Vietnam or Japan, where you had soldiers stuck in tunnels or jungles that didn't know that the war was over and they carried out and conducted or adjusted their conduct accordingly to an understanding that the war was still going on. And that's the scenario that we have now in Gaza, but Israel is capitalizing on it to claim that Hamas is violating the agreement and then resume the bombing of Gaza insistently. And Mohammed, as you mentioned, this is not unusual for Israel to violate these

ceasefires. For instance, the ceasefire in Lebanon, that's almost a year old, has been repeatedly violated by the Israelis. Talk about some of your experiences and prior conflicts with these violations and how the international community virtually ignored. them. Well, basically it was an Israeli defense minister at the time. Ihood Barak, who said after Operation Kastlid, that sign an agreement because as soon as it goes into force, nobody bothers with the details. The international community is very keen and desperate to disappear Gaza from headlines, so they are interested in the facade of the ceasefire, but not the reality on the ground. And this is exactly what Israel did after every single ceasefire they signed in Gaza, after

every war or military operation that I survived, you basically had a ceasefire that bridge is lifting or easing substantially Israel's siege and Gaza, but as soon as it goes into effect, none of that happens, except for some symbolic PR majors here and there, allowing a little more food to go in temporarily and then restricting it again. It's all about Israel spreading the violence across time and space, turning it into an attritional form, and maintaining a low intensity. It attritional genocide, so that it becomes almost invisible because it doesn't make headlines when Israel kills eight people per day in Gaza, when the standard that we got desensitized to before the ceasefire was about 100 people killed per day without making much fuss in the

international community. So that's how Israel adjust the conduct right now in Gaza. From the very moment the ceasefire went into effect, Israel has been killing on average about eight people per day. If that happens in the U.S., you would call it a mass shooting or a massacre. In Gaza, it doesn't even make headlines. And what about this issue of Israel still holding large swaths of Gaza as its buffer zone? Well, basically, Israel established in Gaza a very deadly invisible barrier.

That's the thing about it. It's inconsistently marked with some blocks here and there. And that barrier is deadlier than the Berlin Wall. At the time of the Berlin Wall, if you try to cross from East Germany to West Germany, you would be shut at in the process, but you might survive. You might make it alive and make it to the other side. In Gaza, Israel split Gaza in two pieces. One is fully controlled by the IDF and is only populated by four proxy Israeli gangs.

And the other side is where two million people are crowding in 42% of Gaza. And Israel created that invisible line that is marked sporadically with concrete blocks here and there. Anyone that comes near it, not even tries to cross that line. Anyone that comes in close proximity to it is bombed, shot at or detained by Israel immediately. There was a debate recently in Netanyahu's cabinet where Israel's security minister, Etemar Ben-Gvier, advocated even for killing children that come close to that line. And then another minister, Doe M. Salem, the Minister of Regional Cooperation, he said, those kids are coming close to the line with donkeys.

Who should we shoot first? Should we shoot the donkey or the kids? That was literally the debate, the technical level of the use of violence regulations in Israel about that yellow line. And that yellow line is used by Israel now to create a Putemkin village. So on the eastern side of the line, where it's only the IDF and the gangs that are run or sheltered, finance supported by Israel, Israel is claiming that it will carry out reconstruction in that area where no Palestinian is allowed to cross to create a facade of reconstruction that allows Israel. to then bomb, cage, besiege, and starve the other half of Gaza. So it's something that we see also in Myanmar with the Burmese genocide against the Rohingya.

What the Burmese government did afterwards around 2023, they opened what they called two model villages. And those model villages, they only absorbed about 500 Rohingyas. They had dwellings that did not qualify as basic homes because they didn't have any bathrooms or kitchens and did not have any ability for human habitation in terms of sustainability, but they called it a model village to create the facade that Myanmar is not carrying out a genocide, that they allowed 500 Rohingyas back into those villages while keeping a million Rohingyas stuck as refugees in Bangladesh. And Israel has learned that lesson and took it from Myanmar and is replicating it now in Gaza

with this two-state solution inside Gaza itself. I have two quick questions as we wrap up, Muhammad. One has to do with the return of the dead Israeli hostages. According to even Mossad officials, part of the negotiations over the last months, they acknowledge it would be very difficult for Hamas to find all of the remains of Israeli hostages who had died. Yet it is being used as a pretext for the attack. The other question is the Israeli soldier who died this week.

week, the two that died last week. Hamas said they weren't in Rafah. That last, there were many questions raised about whether the soldiers had driven over unexploded ordinance today. And our headlines, we said, according to the aid group, humanity and inclusion, it will take decades for Gaza to be cleared of unexploded ordinance. If you could be pretty concise in your responses. It was the chief of the Mossad, Didi Barnea, that told Netanyahu 10 months ago that it will become virtually impossible to find the dead bodies of hostages because there's over 50 million tons of rubble in Gaza.

And the UN said it would take up until the year 2050 to clear that rubble alone. It will take 35 years to gather the unexploded ordinance. The other thing about the incident in Rafah this week or last week is that there's no way of verifying the Israeli claims because they're not allowing any journalists in that area. It's just Israel's claim being taken at face value. There are many scenarios to explain this. One, as you mentioned, Amy, the soldiers running over an exploded ordinance, which was reportedly the case last week. The other scenario is Israeli soldiers having an incident of friendly fire.

We saw it throughout the genocide, where the IDF would fire at fellow IDF soldiers from other battalions or other companies without knowing or identifying them as soldiers until after a disaster happens and soldiers die in that process. There's the third scenario of, as I said earlier, isolated, trapped Hamas cells that are stuck in Rafahs that don't know that there is a ceasefire in the first place, that don't know that there's an end to the war or that there's a Trump plan, that have no way of connecting or contacting the leadership in the other side of Gaza. And those militants, if they run out of food or if the Israeli soldiers come very close to the areas where they're hiding in tunnels, they would go out and engage, because they would rather die in battle than die by starvation. So these are issues that

Hamas and the mediators made abundantly clear throughout the ceasefire negotiations, but Netanyahu used it as a loophole to then use those incidents or those ticking bombs to point a finger at Hamas and say, look, they are violating the ceasefire agreement. I get a free hand to bomb Gaza again. So Netanyahu is trying to test boundaries. He's trying from the very first moment, everything possible to resume the genocide in Gaza. It's been made clear yesterday in Israel's Channel 14. A senior former Israeli security official said that there's no intention for Netanyahu to end the genocide or the war in Gaza, that they took only this ceasefire as a war. a chance to have a temporary pose for the IDF soldiers to refresh and for the IDF to repair

and fix the tanks, the equipment, the tools that they used in the genocide, and then resume the genocide back to its whole intensity. So it's a question of when, not if. Netanyahu will try everything until he gets his way. Mohamed Shahada, we want to thank you for being with us, Raider, an analyst from Gaza. He's a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations speaking to us from Copenhagen. We'll continue, of course, to follow this story. closely. Next up, Hurricane Melissa batters Cuba after devastating Jamaica. Back in 20 seconds. My home. My home. I'll never fly away from here because that's my home.

My home. Whatever I see in my dreams, that's my home. I stop trying to understand why I'm wrong. My home. I ain't going to leave this place because that's my home. My home. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Jamaica remains in a state of emergency after being battered by Hurricane Melissa.

one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history. The Category 5 storm slammed into Jamaica Tuesday with 185-mile-per-hour winds. Communication remains limited across much of the island, so the extent of the damage is not fully known. One Jamaican official told CNN there's extensive damage to homeschools, hospitals, and southwestern Jamaica. Hurricane Melissa is now battering Cuba, where it made landfall today as a category three storm. Severe flooding has been reported in Cuba. The storm is expected to hit the Bahamas later today. Climate researchers say the storm was supercharged by abnormally warm waters in the Caribbean.

We go now to Michaela Loach, Jamaican, British climate justice activists, the author of It's Not That Radical, Climate Action to Transform our World, as well as the Children's book, Climate is Just the Start. Michaela will be attending next month's COP 30 climate summit in Brazil as part of Greenpeace's delegation. Democracy now will be there as well, so Michaela will see you there. But let's talk about this latest. One of the strongest hurricanes, most devastating hurricanes in history, has just hit Jamaica. Can you talk about what you understand with family still there? We're speaking to in Breton, England, but you're from Jamaica, and how this links to climate. change. Thank you so much for having me on again, Amy. It's been an awful few days. Everyone in

Jamaica, my family and my friends over the last few days have been feeling just incredibly tense at this upcoming storm. Thankfully, I kind of lost contact with my family overnight and then had a lot of terrified dreams and interact to sleep. But this morning, thankfully, I managed to get back in contact with them. Thankfully, my family are okay. My aunt's nephew's house, though, has been completely flattened by the hurricane, and so he's lost his home. But thankfully, all of my family are physically okay, and now it's just how do we recover from this? A lot of people are exhausted because in order to try and keep home safe, that haven't remained safe, it's required people to be constantly, like, you know, removing water from them.

This is actually a complete catastrophe, and it's really quite terrifying. And it also just makes me quite angry that it doesn't have to be this way. like this has been caused by the climate crisis, by fossil fuel companies. And so I think it's important that we're not just like devastated and sad about this, but also we are angry and direct that anger towards people who are responsible. And Michaela, you've suggested that hurricanes should be named after those who you say are responsible for climate change. Could you expound on that?

Yeah. So we currently name hurricanes. to just, you know, people's names in order to distinguish, basically, between storms that happen at the same time. So that's why this storm is currently called Hurricane Melissa. But I think when we call these things natural disasters or even just calling it this like feminine nice name of Melissa, we're not making it clear to people that there are actually people who are, you know, around today who are profiting from creating the conditions that make these hurricanes possible. You spoke earlier about how hot oceans have supercharged this

storm. So it was able to double in speed in just 24 hours, which is kind of unprecedented because of these extremely unnaturally hot. And our seas are extremely unnaturally hot because of fossil fuels being burned at rates that are absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary for decades. And because of fossil fuel companies deliberately lobbying against climate progress and also companies like Exxon, ExxonMobil, who have buried the climate science. They did some of the first climate science in the 70s and 80s. and they deliberately buried that science and push climate denial instead. So then I would argue that instead of calling it Hurricane Melissa, we should call it Hurricane Darren after Darren Woods,

who's the CEO of Exxon, who makes millions in his paycheck and salary every year and then X many millions more in a bonus. He's profiting from this climate crisis and continuing it. We could also call it Hurricane Weil after Weil, Sauer and the CEO of Shell, who also makes millions from this crisis. And instead, I think it's important for us to put that accountability on people who have caused it. So also, then, it's not going to be able to be. on the hands of Jamaica to have to recover from this crisis

that they didn't create. So I think it's really important that we make clear that these are not natural disasters, they're fossil fuel disasters. And could you also talk about the impact of an administration now in the United States that remains essentially a climate denier and is ramping up fossil

fuel production and the impact this has on the world's efforts to be back the climate catastrophe? I definitely think the Trump administration and their climate denial and their collusion with the fossil fuel industry

has a huge impact. I think what I am nervous about is making it out as if this impact has happened now. This collusion with the fossil food industry has just begun with Trump and Trumpism. I mean, even before Trump, international climate negotiations were being disrupted and delayed

by the US under Democrat governments as well. So whilst it is significant, the extent to which I think Trump is changing what we see is acceptable or normal around climate action. I think it's also important for us to recognise that before Trump, these were still issues. I mean, Biden was still pushing through many fossil, like, fossil fuel projects. And so instead of wanting to kind of revert back to what we see is maybe better, we need to actually push for something that's transformed and is different, and it actually is what we need in the face of this crisis.

So we need things like a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty to be signed, by every country and government in the world. And we need a conflict of interest policy to be put into international climate negotiation spaces and all climate spaces and into governments so that possible interests are not able to impact governments in the way that they are. Finally, Michaela, on Tuesday, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates released a lengthy memo downplaying the impacts of climate change. It read in part although climate change will have serious consequences,

particularly for people in the poorest country, it will not lead to humanity's demise. People will be able to live and thrive in most places on Earth for the foreseeable future. Gates had previously spent billions of his own money to raise the alarm about the dangers of climate change. She said, just focus on issues like hunger and others. Your response.

Well, last time I was on Democracy Now, it was actually after I'd just spoken at Bill Gates' event when he invited me to speak at his event in New York. And I, instead of saying the things they probably expect to me to say I delivered a speech on why billionaires should not exist and the problem with billionaire philanthropism, this philanthropy that exerts control on what future is possible. It doesn't surprise me that Bill Gates has changed his tune on climate, because I don't believe that he ever fundamentally cared about creating a better and transformed world for all

of us. And that was actually possible with real climate justice. But real climate justice would require us to tackle the billionaire class and to tackle extreme wealth. And he doesn't obviously want that. And now, especially because of the like rise of AI and Microsoft being so reliant on that and pushing that, and this requires a huge amount of fossil fuels and a huge amount of water and resources, it's not just with Bill Gates as the only billionaire that's moving this way. But in a wider way, Big Tech were trying to pretend to us that they cared about the climate and all their green pledges. And they've started moving away from that. Now they've realized that they need fossil fuels to push these AI data centers that we don't need. And they need to, you

know, have all this, these access to water resources. And so they're changing the narrative now to benefit them. And I think it's really important that we always ask ourselves when someone is saying something, why are they saying that, what, like, who benefits from that narrative? And how can we actually tackle that and create the world that we all deserve, which is very, very useful with climate justice. Michaela Loach, we thank you so much for being with us. Jamaican, British climate justice activists headed to Brazil, to Belem, where the UN Climate

Summit will take place. Democracy now will be there as well. we look forward to seeing you. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. Homeland Security Secretary Christy Knoem is replacing ICE leadership at 12 of the 25 ice field offices nationwide with Border Patrol officials. So take over immigration enforcement in those regions as Trump demands more arrests.

The move comes as Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino was questioned by a federal judge in Chicago Tuesday after she said he and other federal agents have violated her court order that limits the use of force in immigration raids and protests across Chicago. U.S. District Judge Sarah Ellis ordered Bovino to meet daily with her until a November 5th hearing and to turn over all reports of agents' use of force and body camera footage. CBS Chicago correspondent Nicole Skanga interviewed Bovino last week. you think use of force here at broadview has been exemplary i do firing from elevation is within dhs policy it doesn't matter where you fire from an elevation is not a violation of policy that is

a less lethal device for area saturation absolutely aiming above the waste is within policy it can be if someone um strays into a pepper ball then that's on them don't protest and don't trespass Meanwhile, Chicago residents continue to protest immigration arrests by federal agents. On Monday, Chicago Teachers Union member Gabe Paez shared this video on social media, showing how he sounded the alarm on agents in his neighborhood and his community answered the call. I saw two masked CBP agents with weapons and wearing bulletproof vests walking this way south on Sawyer. And as soon as we saw them, I jumped out and I started yelling, Migra, here's the migra,

sirens the doors, don't talk to anybody, close your doors. Immigration is here. They had been cornering a neighbor of mine right up against this fence. And as soon as they heard me yelling that Migra was here and calling attention to them,

they turned around in front of me and started walking quickly north on Sawyer. And as I started walking up Sawyer, I noticed immediately people coming out of their houses. There are people who were young and all sorts of people came out and started yelling, trying to get them out of our neighborhood.

People came out of their houses to defend the community. To observe, to film, to take photographs of license plates, started calling other community members. And before you knew it, we had probably around 20 people. We had created so much noise and called so much attention to these agents trying to terrorize our community that all of the traffic on Wilson was backed up. And CBP at that point dropped two gas bombs right onto the street. and people fled because it looked like a war zone and it felt like a war zone.

But we were able to stand up, defend ourselves, and stand up for the dignity of every single person who lives in this area. That's Chicago resident Gabe Paez. He's with a Chicago Teachers Union wearing a t-shirt that says, proud public educator. In another encounter, federal agents surrounded Democratic Illinois State Representative Han Wynn last Tuesday in Chicago's north side. Wynne represents the area was monitoring the agents after he got to be a president. a tip through a rapid response network. He showed this video.

I'm state representative Hanwin. I'm state representative Hanwin. These guys are telling us to stop following. I'm state representative Hanwin. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. I'm state representative Hanwin. There's three agents behind us. Why is my window not working? I'm state representative Hanwin. Somehow they're able to open my windows. These people are, there's three officers in front of us. Three officers behind us. I'm state representative Han win. He has a, I'm state Representative Hahn-Win. There's three officers behind us. Okay, I'm going to keep following this guy.

This guy is this other card behind us. They just put a gun. Yeah, they just had a gun. For more, we're joined by Illinois State Representative Han Wynn, the first refugee elected to the Illinois General Assembly, Vietnamese refugee who came to the U.S. as a child when his family was granted asylum. He's also now running for Congress. joining us from Illinois's capital Springfield.

State Representative Han Wyn, describe what is happening there. Your response to the federal judge calling in the head of Customs Border Patrol, saying that he has to report to her every single day, has to wear camera footage. What are you seeing on the ground? It's an honor to be here today, Amy and Juan Thank you so much for having me on the show. What we're seeing right now in Chicago is horrific. The fact that they have literally brought in TPD patrol officers and ICE agents into our streets,

terrorizing our neighbors, instilling fear in our communities has been absolutely horrific. And what we're trying to do right now on the grounds, make sure that folks know their rights and that they do not need to provide. information about themselves to these ICE agents. And state representative, it's been an extraordinary resistance movement by ordinary people in the Chicago area, more than 40 networks have been developed in various neighborhoods to monitor and confront ICE. Could you talk about your own personal experience, what happened with you? Absolutely. So last Tuesday, we were out in the north side lake from Chicago, talking to our small businesses, going door to door to inform them of their rights, their rights to remain silent, their rights to an attorney, their rights to not sign any documentation that they do not understand. And so while we were outdoing that, we received a tip from the rapid response network of which we're a part of, and this is in collaboration with the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

And what we heard was there was a landscaper that was being detained by ice agents in our neighborhood. So we went there to investigate and to provide additional support and information to the neighbors about ice presence being in the neighborhood. And that's when we were sandwiched in between two ice cars and the ice officers came to the passenger window of the car that I was in and pointed a gun to my head and asked us to identify ourselves. and it was a very scary moment in which we were able to de-escalate the situation, and then they literally left the scene as well. And your response to how Mr. Bovino, who is in charge of this entire operation in the Chicago area, has dealt with the public, even with a federal judge, federal judge Ellis, and his own actions? Yeah, I think what a bovino has done has been disgraceful in our city and in our state.

I think certainly the fact that he claims that he doesn't even know how to operate a body camera yesterday, the fact that he doesn't even have a body camera on himself is, I think certainly very, should be very surprising not to a lot of us. And I think, you know, we need to make sure that we hold them accountable as well. I think certainly the actions that they have taken in Chicago has been really, you know, unconstitutional, illegal. They've been very aggressive enforcement tactics. And I think they're due to still fear in Chicagoans and in our neighborhoods. And so I think we need to really push back on that, make sure that they're held accountable. And at the same time, make sure that we get the information out to our neighbors about their rights and how they can protect themselves as well.

Let's talk about their rights. You put out a video that has certainly gotten around, and it says spread information. It's about spreading information, not panic. Can you explain the salute method? That's an acronym for, well, you can explain it, starting with size and strength and actions and activity, what you're encouraging people to do. Yeah, so we as civilians have the right to document ICE agents and BPP officers when they're in our neighborhoods. It allows for us to be able to provide that information to the family support hotline where folks are then able to figure out what's happening on the ground in real time. So the salute method really allows for folks who are documenting via camera to understand first S means the size, you know, how many officers are there at the time. A, looking at the activity, what are the officers doing to the person that they're talking to? L, looking at the location, where is it happening at what of the cross streets? U, what are the uniforms that the officers are wearing, what agencies are they a part of? T, the time and date in which this has occurred, and then E, the equipment that they're using as well.

So having this information allows for folks on the ground to be able to coordinate the response and be able to certainly, again, keep track of those who are being detained. And so we're able to get additional information out to our community networks as well. And how are you saying people should get that information out too? What should they do with that information? Yeah, so certainly once they have the video that they've recorded, you know, it's important for them to send that to the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant Refugee Rights, family support network hotline.

And so there is a number that we have asked people to send that to, and I think that's very important for folks to know. But in the interim, when folks are recording, we want folks to be safe while they're recording, that they're recording from a safe distance. And we want folks to know that, again, we're all in this together. We're all here to protect our neighbors. And I think, you know, what we're doing right now is, again, active, you know, legal and at the same time, really making sure that we're getting information out. in accorded response to what's happening on the ground. Hunwin, we want to thank you for being with us, Democratic Illinois State Representative whose district include Chicago.

He's running for Congress right now speaking to us from the Illinois Capitol of Springfield. Coming up, a new documentary profiles in Israeli comedian and peace activists, Noam Shuster Eliassi, who grew up in a mixed Jewish-Palestinian village, and she's the message she's putting out today. Stay with us. Once I had a dream that made me sad How so many people can be bad Everybody wants all they can grab No one's ever happy with their share

People running don't have much to say. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Juan Gonzalez. We end today's show with a new documentary opening tonight in New York at the IFC. About the Israeli comedian peace activist, Nome Schuster Eliassi. the trailer. Who is this tall lady? Is she Iranian?

Is she Jewish? Is she Arab? Should I be boycotting this show? Noam Shostr. Noam Shostr. Shalom, noam. Woo. Mazzletov.

My parents said, let's not raise our kids to be normal Israelis. Let's move to the only place in the country where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice. Dreaming of peace. Dreaming. My best friend Ranian. She's a Palestinian. She looks like Gigi Hadid.

I look like Ahmadinejad next to her. Palestinians know the things that I'm saying. Palestine comedy festival. The oppressed doesn't come from an ignorant perspective, never. I'm only staying for seven minutes, not 70 years. The Jewish audience is where we have to. Work. No, I'm just barely out.

Not a good time to be leftists in Israel. Not fun. It's like not in there. I just read the news. without coexistence i'll be killed without coexistence i'll be able to exist here in a 24 hours a thousand people were killed in gaza strip i'm not here to unify my goal is to voice resistance to this insane show of force that has swept everyone

dubbed so blindly. That's the trailer for the new film. This is Israeli comedian Noam Schuster Eliassi. My mother is Iranian Jewish. My father is Romanian Jewish. They've been together since high school, so they basically grew up together. And they grew up to become the thing

that Israelis love to hate the most. woke progressive leftists they believe in the radical idea that Israelis and Palestinians deserve the same equal human rights crazy, so radical when I was seven years old they said

let's not raise our kids to be normal Israelis let's move to the only place in the country where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice like on purpose. This is where the inspiration comes from. Jews and Arabs living together. Dreaming of peace.

Dreaming. That's the clip from Coexistence My Ass, a new documentary about Israeli comedian. Noam Schuster Eliassi. She was in her one person. show there. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival Award won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression. We're joined by Noam now

in Tel Aviv and here in New York by the film's director, the Canadian Lebanese director Amber Ferris. Welcome you both to democracy. Now, why did you do this film, Amber? You know, Norm and I are old friends. Actually, I met her years ago when I was living in Ramallah

filming my first documentary. And when she came to the U.S. and was developing her one-woman show. I just saw it as an opportunity to sort of, you know, to tackle this topic in a completely different way from a completely different perspective. And I want to go to another clip of the film. Again, this is from Noam's One Woman Show. Alistinian Comedy Festival in Sheikh Jaram. Hello, hello, hello, good evening.

We're very happy to be here. We're very happy to be here. tonight for the 1001 Last Palestine Comedy Festival. Tonight, I have a surprise, a surprise. One of our comedians tonight is one of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Please help me welcome to the stage. Noam, Schuster, Eliasie! I'm only staying for seven minutes, not 70 years. By the way, this is Amr's joke, I stole it.

It's mine now. God promised it to me. Noam Schuster Eliassi joins us live in Tel Aviv as we speak to you. They say that the ceasefire is maintained, at least according to President Trump. And yet, well over it may be 104 people killed about a third of them children. Gaza by Israeli strikes announced by your, the prime minister of Israel, by Netanyahu. Your response and the significance of this film and what you're trying to do, Noam. Thank you, Amy. First of all, thank you so much for having us. I'm a huge fan. Not every day I get

to be on democracy now from the land of democracy, maybe later someday. And the, you know, What we have seen today, it's no exception. I'm sitting here in a studio in Tel Aviv, and right outside, there is the Tel Aviv Fashion Week, where people are just walking around in fashionable outfits and the detachment from reality and what is happening just around the corner from us. It has been like this from before October 2023, and it remains today just the magnitude of things. it's just so much more heavy just sitting here and then opening my phone and seeing that

Israel has killed more and more dozens of children today and I think that my comedy has always been political. I've been very, very lucky to have Amber document this process and the rest of the amazing filmmakers that are behind this film to document

this process of trying to make present the elephant in the room that most comedians in Israel or I would say maybe a lot of artists also prefer to ignore and and and I want I wanted in this through this film and also my one woman show that I called Coexistence Mayas to unpack and to and to talk about you know the the peace industry that I grew up in that lacks the political action that lacks the individual political choices that make us demonstrate what the alternative is, where there is lack of leadership and nobody to really look up to.

I really, really believe in artists and I believe in individuals who are making brave choices to show on the ground and to set an example of what does it mean to end the occupation, to end the genocide, to be active and to be vocal in a time where comedians are making genocide jokes on stage and also in the U.S. comedians are helping get Trump elected. In this rise of fascism, I really, really believe

that we have a huge role to play. And, Noam, your film, they said coexistence is no longer possible. If that's the case, what is the future as you see it?

It's not a matter of coexistence not being possible. I think it's a matter of coexistence as itself. It's a non-issue. Coexistence is a decoration. It will be a side effect when we have real equality, when we have real justice. It's not about measuring right now if coexistence will never be possible. It's about just putting this word coexistence that is, you know, just like Trump is able to make peace. It's, it's nothing. It's meaningless. and put in the front of the stage, and I believe this is what this film is doing, what does coexistence really means?

How can we talk about coexistence when we are actively erasing the existence of Palestinians every day? And so I want to demonstrate what it means to be vocal in order to set an alternative and to push against that. And so it's not a matter of going against coexistence. Nobody is against coexistence. But it will be a wonderful side effect when we achieve justice and inequality. I want to ask Amber Ferris, the director, if you've gotten distribution in this country of your film in the United States?

Yeah, no, we have not had distribution. So like so many other films that are on this topic right now, that also don't have distribution, including no other land last year, that one. that won the Oscars. So we are, we're having to self-distribute this film in, in the United States. And the response, Noam, to your, to your comedy or your political commentary, you can call it, among Palestinians and Israelis? The responses have been amazing, really, really amazing. We've been in many, many different countries in front of many different audience in Poland. We're huge. I have, I mean, in Poland, just really hundreds of young people were lining up after the film to tell me, you know, how much it's hard for them to criticize Israel because of the past, but now when they see me and they hear me, it gives them vocabulary.

And then they also went to tell me how all their grandfathers were in the resistance to the Nazis. And I'm like, guys, it doesn't add up that all your grandparents were in the resistance to the Nazis, but it brings out from people really their personal stories. And also, I want to say something really, really important. Very quickly, 20 seconds. This film gives people a vocabulary and an inspiration for better actions and better conversations. And most importantly, you don't need to hear these things from an Israeli. Palestinians are the most reliable sources, just like we heard from the journalist from Gaza, Muhammad, a few moments ago. And so I really hope that people walk out laughing, crying, and crying, and acting.

Israeli comedian and activist Noam Eliassi. And I also want to thank Amber Ferris. IFC is where the film is.