Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-03-26 Thursday

Episode Date: March 26, 2026

Democracy Now! Thursday, March 26, 2026

From New York, this is Democracy Now. If Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment, if they fail to understand that they have been defeated militarily and will continue to be, President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before. As the U.S. threatens to intensify its war on Iran, we'll look at how the war is fueling a global crisis, as the prices of oil, natural gas, and fertilize. saw. We'll speak to Professor Adam Hanea, author of crude capitalism, oil, corporate power, and the making of the world market. Then to ice whistleblower, Ryan Schweng. On my first day, I received secretive orders to teach new cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.

Then to Francesca Abenaza, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, the U.N. Special Rapporteur, on the occupied Palestinian territory about her latest report. Its findings highlight a hallmark of this genocide. Israel's widespread and systematic use of torture alongside the creation of a torturous environment against Palestinians. All that and more. Coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report.

I'm Amy Goodman, the Trump administration's threatening. to intensify its attacks on Iran as the U.S. and Israeli assault enters its 27th day. On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Lovett said, unless Iran agrees to surrender, they will be, quote, hit harder than they have ever been hit before, unquote. The threat came as Iran's foreign minister, Abasaragchi, once again denied President Trump's claims U.S. officials are negotiating with Iran for an end to the war. For now, our policy is to continue resisting and to continue defending the country. At present, we have no intention of negotiating and no negotiations have taken place.

We want the war to end, but on our terms, in a way that ensures it will not be repeated and that our enemies learn a lesson so that they will not even contemplate attacking Iran again. And secondly, the damage suffered by the people of Iran must be compensated. Iran's other demands include recognition of Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier today, Israel's defense minister said Israel's killed Al-Ireza Tansri, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Navy. He played a key role in Iran's military success in controlling access to the strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, Iran's continuing attacks on Israel, U.S. military bases, and the nations that host them,

Israel's Health Ministry reports nearly 150 people were injured over the past 24 hours from Iranian missiles and drones, only some of which were successfully shot down by air defenses. Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia reported they intercepted Iranian missiles and drones while in the United Arab Emirates. Authorities said at least two people were killed and three injured from falling debris. Meanwhile, Iraq's government has accused the Pentagon of bombing a clinic on a military base in on Barra. province, killing seven Iraqi soldiers and injuring 13 others. Iraq's military condemned the strike as a heinous aggression that, quote, undermines the relationship between the peoples of Iraq and the United States, unquote. The attack came a day after another attack on the same base, killed at least 15 fighters with the former paramilitary group Popular Mobilization Forces, which includes Iranian-backed

brigades. The Pentagon denied targeting a clinic. Israel's bombed Beirut and pushed deeper into southern Lebanon as it outlines plans to occupy the region. This comes, as Oxfam says, Israeli forces are destroying water and sanitation infrastructure across Lebanon, repeating the same pattern used in Gaza. In just four days during the first weeks of fighting, Israel damaged at least seven critical water sources in the Beka area, cutting off clean water to nearly 7,000 people. Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch documented Israel's use of white phosphorus munitions over the southern Lebanese town of Jokmour on March 3rd, firing the incendiary weapon over residential areas and sparking fires in at least two homes. Amad Badun, an open-source intelligence researcher

at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, map 248 Israeli white phosphorus strikes across southern Lebanon, finding 39 percent hit civilian areas. Lebanese authorities say Israeli attacks have killed more than 1,000 people since March 2nd, and forced more than a million people to flee from their homes. In southern Lebanon, a dozen paramedics gathered Wednesday as they prepared to bury two of their colleagues killed in Israeli attacks. This is Mohamed Sleman, a chief paramedic and father of Jude Sleman, who was killed in an Israeli strike. These are two men wearing the clothes of paramedics on a motorcycle for paramedics, which had

a paramedic flag and label on it, paramedic lights on it, wearing helmets, everything of about them says they are paramedics. In Gaza, an Israeli strike Wednesday sent a column of smoke and flames over a tent camp, housing, displaced families in the Daryl Bala camp. Medical workers said the bombing killed one Palestinian and injured eight others. Residents say Israel's military ordered people to leave their tents and flee the area ahead of the airstrike. In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli authorities Wednesday, evicted at least 11 Palestinian

families from their homes in the Siluan neighborhood as police escorted Israeli settlers to the scene. The settlers were then filmed throwing furniture out of apartment windows and raising an Israeli flag above the buildings. The Israeli Human Rights Group at Selam reports about 2,200 Palestinians in Siloan face the imminent threat of eviction, which the group calls ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem. The U.S. military struck an alleged drug vessel on the Caribbean Wednesday, killing four people. The Pentagon offered no evidence that the boat was carrying drugs. The attack brings the total death toll to at least 163 people since the Trump administration began targeting so-called narco-terrorists in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific last September. Meanwhile, New York Times investigations found a March 6 strike jointly conducted by the U.S. and Ecuador against the U.

an alleged drug traffickers training camp actually destroyed a dairy farm in the remote Ecuadorian village of San Martín in the Amazon jungle. Defense Secretary Pete Higsef had posted video of the strike online, writing the U.S. is, quote, bombing narco-terrorists on land, unquote. Local residents told the times, Ecuadorian soldiers arrived by helicopter three days before the bombing interrogated and beat four farm workers and set fire to shelters and sheds before returning to bomb. the dairy farm. The Alliance for Human Rights, a coalition of groups in Ecuador, filed a 13-page complaint with the Ecuadoran authorities and the United Nations. In immigration news, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments Tuesday in a case challenging the Trump administration's request to turn away refugees at the U.S. border, even though people have the right to apply for asylum under international law. The court's conservative majority appeared sympathetic to the government's

argument, it can turn away asylum seekers as long as they haven't physically stepped onto U.S. soil at a port of entry. A decision is expected by late June or early July. U.S. air travelers are now facing the longest wait times in the Transportation Security Administration's history. That's according to acting TSA administrator Hanwen McNeil, who testified to a House Committee Wednesday that the 40-day partial government shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security has led TSA workers to go unpaid at great, personal expense. Many in our workforce have missed bill payments, received eviction notices, had their cars repossessed,

and utilities shut off, lost their child care, defaulted on loans, damaged their credit line, and drained their retirement savings. Some are sleeping in their cars, selling their blood in plasma, and taking on jobs second jobs to make ends meet, all while being expected to perform at the highest level when in uniform to protect the traveling public. In California, a jury in Los Angeles Wednesday found tech giants alphabet and meta liable for $3 million in damages after siding with a plaintiff who accused the tech giants

of designing products to addict young users. The plaintiff in the case was a 20-year-old referred to as KGM, who says she became addicted to social media at a young age with severe harm to her mental health. This is Juliana Arnold, who says her daughter, Coco, spiraled into self-doubt and depression after becoming addicted to social media platforms like Instagram. Stop blaming the parents. It's on you. And this is what this is showing today. And for parents, we now know that they were manipulating our children for profits while we were watching and trying

to keep our families safe. Wednesday's ruling in the landmark social media addiction lawsuit It came a day after a jury in New Mexico ordered META to pay $375 million in penalties for knowingly harming children and concealing child's sexual exploitation on its platforms. First Lady Melania Trump walked into the White House East Room Wednesday alongside a human-eyed AI robot called Figure 3 during a summit focused on AI and education. The robot strolled next to the First Lady, welcomed guests in the room in several different languages and waved its hand. Melania Trump touted the humanoid robot as a humanoid educator that could homeschool children. Meanwhile, Vermont's independent Senator Bernie Sanders and

Democratic Congressmember Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez introduced legislation Wednesday to impose a national moratorium on new AI data center construction. The bill would halt a new construction until Congress passes federal laws to protect workers and consumers and ensure the technologies don't harm the environment. It comes as electricity costs rose nearly 7% last year, more than twice the overall rate of inflation costing the average household $123 more in 2025. Experts and advocacy groups link rising electricity costs in part to the rapid construction of AI data centers, which have dramatically increased demand on the electric grid. This is Democratic Congressman Alexander Accio-Cortez.

More than 100 local communities across 12 states have already enacted local moratoriums on data centers, and Congress itself has a moral obligation to stand with them and stop big tech from ruining their communities. Our legislation in the House and the Senate would hit the brakes on construction of new data centers until we address several of the key areas of harm AI poses. The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution Wednesday declaring the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity, unquote. The resolution calls on member nations to pursue repertory justice, including formal apologies, restitution, and compensation. It also demands the return of cultural artifacts such as artworks, monuments, and national archives to their countries of origin. The United States, Israel, and Argentina voted against the resolution.

Deputy U.S. Ambassador Dan Negria said before the vote, the U.S., quote, does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred, unquote. The United Kingdom and 27 EU member states abstain. This is Ghana's president, John Mahama. So today we come together in solemn, solubes. solidarity to affirm truth and pursue a route to healing and reparative justice. The adoption of this resolution serves as a safeguard against forgetting.

It also challenges the enduring scars of slavery. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now. Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. And I'm Narmine Sheikh. Welcome to our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. As the U.S. Israeli war on Iran enters its 27th day, the U.S. is threatening to intensify its bombardment

as Iran rejects a U.S. proposal to end the war. Iran has issued a number of demands, including war reparation payments and recognition of Iran's sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. Since the war began, Iran has largely blocked ships from passing through the war. critical strait, causing a global crisis. The prices for oil, natural gas and fertilizer have soared. On Wednesday, the head of Abu Dhabi's state oil company, Sultan al-Jabir, accused Iran of committing, quote, economic terrorism. Weaponizing the state of Hormuz is not an act of aggression against one nation.

It is economic terrorism against every nation. Every consumer, every family that depends on affordable energy and food. When Iran holds Hormuz hostage, every nation pays the ransom at the gas pump, at the grocery store, at the pharmacy, every household. No country can be allowed to do. So these stabilize the global economy in this way. Not now. Not ever. Earlier this week, President Trump floated the idea of personally taking partial control

of the strait himself. Maybe me. Maybe me. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the Ayatollah is, whoever the next Ayatollah. This all comes as speculations growing, the U.S. might attempt to seize Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub in the Persian Gulf. The Pentagon has deployed thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East. We go now to London, where we're joined by Adam Hania, the director of the SOAS Middle East Institute of

the University of London. His most recent book is crude capitalism, oil, corporate power, and the making of the world market. His new piece for the New York Review of books is headlined, bottling the world economy. And his recent op-ed for The Guardian is headlined, if oil price shocks weren't bad enough, Trump's war could have other unintended consequences. Adam Haneo, welcome to Democracy Now. It's great to have you with us. I want to start where we left off in that lead. This issue of the U.S. sending in thousands of paratroopers with the speculation that the U.S. might want to take over Harg Island. If you can explain the significance of this in the Persian Gulf and talk about the significance of what this means and the war overall.

Well, absolutely. We need to situate this in the wider importance of the Strait of Hormuz, as we heard just now. Harg Island is an essential oil export terminal for Iran. About 90% of Iran's oil exports, depart from that island. So it's clearly an attempt by the Trump administration to take control of this critical chokehold, if you like, choke point within Iran's oil exports, but also within the Strait of Hormwoods more generally.

And, Adam Hania, if you could, you know, your New York Review of Books article, bottling the world economy, you know, lays out very clearly the trajectory, the economic trajectory of, the Gulf countries from 1973, the founding of OPEC in the oil crisis, to the present. I mean, you point out in the piece that it's misleading to think of Gulf countries as only the source of oil for the world.

If you could lay out that trajectory and why, as a result, the stoppage, blockage of oil from the Gulf is having such wide-ranging consequences around the world? Absolutely. I think one of the problems with so much of the media coverage around the Gulf and the current war is a stereotype of these Gulf states as simply being oil spigots, as simply being sources of crude oil and gas. And what it misses, I think, this focus on oil and the price of oil and crude oil is two major changes that have taken place in the world oil industry over the last decade. or so. The first of these is that instead of going westward, the oil exports and gas exports from the region now flow overwhelmingly eastward, in particular to China. China takes around one quarter of the world's oil imports, one in four every one in four barrels of oil go to China. So we can see this kind of eastward shift in the oil exports and gas exports.

of the Gulf states. And the second thing that's really important to understand is that alongside this eastward shift, the Gulf oil companies have really diversified down the value chain. They're no longer simply exporters of crude oil. They are manufacturers of basic chemicals. They are manufacturers of basic fertilizers. And this is really a crucial shift in the nature of these. states and their integration into the global economy.

So if we take, for example, some basic chemicals, for example, helium, about a third of the world's helium comes from the Gulf. Now, this is not a really widely down. In fact, most of it actually from Qatar. And what this means is that helium is a critical gas used in wide-ranging industries, semiconductor industries, in medical equipment. those sorts of things. And shortages of this gas really kind of ricocheted down throughout industries and supply chains globally. The other, I think, very important example is the question of fertilizers. About a third of the world's fertilizer exports come from

the Gulf. And this is because it's closely connected to the production of oil and gas. Saudi Arabia, for instance, is the world's largest exporter of urea, a basic nitrogen fertilizer. Our man ranks fourth in the world's export of this key fertilizer. So we're seeing price spikes for these basic fertilizers, but we're also seeing potential shortages of these fertilizers. And this is really absolutely essential, I think, to integrate into how we think about the economic consequences of, of Trump's war against Iran. You also point out in the piece, and you've just said now,

that China accounts for roughly 25% of global oil imports, most of which come from Gulf states. But unlike other Asian countries and, indeed, countries in Africa as well, China has a huge amount of petroleum reserves. So if you first could talk about China as the so-called workshop, of the world, how it is that it became the principal importer of crude oil. That was a position that was previously held by the U.S. and Europe.

Is that correct? Absolutely. If we look back to the year 2000, about 4% of the world's oil exports went to China. China was consuming about 4% of the world's oil trade. Today, as you said, that figure is now 25%. So this process, the first two decades of the 2000s, as China emerged at the center of global manufacturing, industry, industrial growth, industrialization, it came with it an enormous demand for energy, both oil and gas.

And that's why China and why to East Asia, South Korea and other East Asian states, have really become the center of consumption for global energy. And as I said, the primary source of this oil and gas is from the Middle East, principally the Gulf states as well as Iran and Iraq. These are the major sources of Chinese energy consumption, even though China itself is actually a major oil producer, but it can't meet its energy needs simply through domestic supplies. Now, as you pointed out, what we've seen in the last few years is a, very deliberate attempt by the Chinese government to build up their petroleum reserves, their strategic reserves.

And I think most observers, I think, are fairly clear that this is precisely because they envisaged a scenario like the one that we're seeing today. The strangling of these oil supplies from the Gulf region and the need to build up these stockpiles in order to be able to survive that moment. So it's really been very evident over the last few years. The figures are not known publicly, but all experts seem to point to the fact that China has been rapidly accumulating these reserves.

Professor Honey, I think people are hearing more about the Gulf individual nations than they've ever heard before outside of the Gulf, particularly in the United States. I mean, New York Times is reporting. Saudi Arabia is pushing for the U.S. to continue the war. But I want to ask you about what role the Gulf plays in the logistics of world trade, starting with the Jebel Ali port in Dubai. You say 60 percent of China's trade

with Europe and Asia goes through the United Arab Emirates, extremely high percentage. And this may surprise people. And then talk about the crisis in Asia right now, with the Philippines declaring a state of emergency. And South Korea. India. Hello? Yes, if you could respond to all of that. Absolutely, yes. So Jebel Ali port in Dubai is one of the largest container ports in the world.

It plays a hugely important role in global trade, not just for commodity exports and imports, but also for military logistics. Jebel Ali is actually the most frequently visited port by the U.S. Navy outside of the US. So it's playing a key role in kind of the military logistics of the US military presence in the Gulf and wider Middle East. But as you pointed out, alongside these kinds of changes in the oil trade that I spoke about, the Gulf has also emerged as a key logistical hub for world trade. It's through ports like Jabal Ali that these products that we've spoken about,

the fertilizers, the chemicals, and the oil and gas pass as they flow eastward. And it's through Jebel Ali and other ports in the Gulf that the trade from China and East Asia flow into Europe and Africa. So any damage to these kinds of logistical networks, these logistical infrastructures, have, again, a huge kind of ripple effect down global supply chains. And that's, I think, what we're seeing potentially unfold if this war should continue over the next months. And what does Saudi Arabia gain by continuing the war? Well, I think it's important for your listeners and viewers to understand that the Gulf states, in particular Saudi Arabia, have always been integrated into the bigger American strategy within the Middle East region.

It's been a key and principal ally of the United States ever since the post-war period, the post-second world war period. And I think what we've seen in the last couple of decades is a tighter integration of the United States with the Gulf, and particular with Saudi Arabia, Trump's first visit in both his elections after his elections was to the region, was to Saudi Arabia.

And that, I think, speaks volumes about how Saudi Arabia is placed within the wider strategy. And I think what we see today is the United States attempting to reassert its primacy in the Middle East through this war, through its support, of course, for Israel and the war that's currently unfolding in Lebanon as well. And as part of this bring together, knit together, its kind of principal allies, the United States' principal allies in the region, the Gulf states and Israel. And that's, I think, what we see really as a kind of backdrop, the strategic backdrop to this war.

And Professor Hania, if we could talk a little bit more about the impact of the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, hundreds and hundreds of tankers are reportedly stranded on either side of the strait, in addition to, of course, the ordinary functioning of countries around the world, in particular in Asia, that have been compromised by this.

There's also the question of humanitarian supplies for some of the neediest countries, Sudan, Yemen, Afghanistan, save the children, was already reporting last week that almost half a million children are being deprived of life-saving medical supplies because of the closure. So if you could talk about that, and then the second issue, even once this is resolved, I mean, depending on how it's resolved.

What happened with the Red Sea, when the Houthis were attacking the Red Sea in December 20203, shippers, even today, largely avoid the waterway, once home to 12% of world trade, because they are still afraid of attacks on those ships. So do you expect a similar fate for the Strait of Hormuz? Well, just to begin with your first question about the potential impacts of this on people in the global south, I think one of the problems with so much coverage of the war is its focus on potential impacts in the United States and Europe,

and really not understanding, I think, these broader supply chains that we've spoken about. I think a useful analogy to draw is what happened in 2007, 2008, with the, global food price shock of that moment. You know, there were estimated 100 million people by the World Bank estimated were driven into poverty at that moment, 2007, 2008, with the spike in food prices. And I think what we're seeing potentially unfold today is actually much more serious because we're not just talking about potential spikes in food prices because of the mechanisms we've discussed, but also potentially key shortages in the commodities that are necessary to produce

food, like fertilizers, urea and ammonia in particular, much of which over a third coming from the Gulf, as we've said. So that's one thing. It's not just price spikes, it's also potential shortages. And secondly, we have to recognize that many of the countries that are going to be most potentially impacted by this are already in conditions of families. or near famine states, like, for example, Sudan, as you mentioned, and of course, Yemen. So we're overlaying a crisis on a crisis that's already very deep. The basic point here is that we need to move away from the Gulf as simply this giant oil spigot, as I've said.

It's active all the way down the value chain. And we need to remember that countries like Yemen and Sudan depend upon the Gulf, not simply for these basic commodities, but also as the transit point for the food that these countries receive. Again, Jabal Ali is where these countries get their food. So it's, I think, potentially very devastating the kind of wider global South impacts.

On the Red Sea, yes, it's one of the key things we can say about the war over the last few weeks is that there hasn't been the entry of the Houthis into the Red Sea attacks on potential shipping routes in the Red Sea. And of course, the question of why this is the case, whether this might be something that could come in coming days if things escalate. But certainly, both of these key waterways, it really does illustrate the importance of thinking about the Middle East, not simply as a place of war and conflict, but as a state.

center of the global economy. And that, that I think is something that this war is illustrated definitively in the eyes of many. And I'm Hania. We want to thank you so much for being with us, Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute at the University of London. I almost said SOS, which I think a lot of people are shouting right now. SOS, Middle East Institute at the University of London. His most recent book, Crude Capitalism, Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market, and we'll link to your articles at DemocracyNow.org. Coming up, we go to an ice whistleblower.

He just testified before Congress. Streets of Minneapolis, that's Bruce Springsteen, performing on Democracy Now's 30th anniversary event on Monday at Riverside Church. see our interview with him after he performed about where he's headed, beginning on No Kingsday on Saturday, moving on next week around the country, as well as the entire event with Patty Smith. Michael Stipe will be playing later in the broadcast. You can go to DemocracyNow.org. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Nermyn Cheikh. As President Trump deploys ICE agents to airports across the country, we're joined by a whistleblower who's been speaking out about how ICE has drastically slashed its training standards

for new officers. Ryan Schwank worked as an ICE lawyer and legal instructor in Georgia up until last month when he resigned. In late February, Schwank testified before Congress. On my first day, I received secretive orders to teach new cadets to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant. For the last five months, I watched ICE dismantle the training program, cutting 240 hours of vital classes from a 584-hour program.

Classes that teach the Constitution, our legal system, firearms training, the use of force, lawful arrests, proper detention, and the limits of officers' authority. For example, they ceased all of the legal instructions regarding use of force.

This means that cadets are not taught what it means to be objectively reasonable, the very standard which the law requires them to meet when deciding whether or not to use deadly force. Our jobs as instructors are to teach them so well that they can make split-second decisions about what they can and cannot do in life or death situations. yet in the name of churning out an inless stream of officers, DHS leadership has dismantled the academic and practical tests that we need to know if cadets can safely and lawfully perform their job. All to satisfy an administration demanding they train thousands of new officers

before the end of the year. DHS told the public that new cadets receive all the training they need to perform their duties. that no critical material or standards have been cut. This is a lie. That was Ryan Schwank, former ICE lawyer, legal instructor, testifying before the House Oversight Committee. He resigned last month from the agency and joins us now. Ryan, thank you so much for being with us.

There is so much you said in your testimony. But I wanted to go to saying you were told not to write down any of the instructions because they were unconstitutional, so you would keep a record of what you were teaching to the ICE cadets. Explain exactly and why you finally quit. Hi, thank you for having me. So to answer your question, I quit because it's not possible with the way the academy is being run right now to ensure that the people graduating from it are able to lawfully perform their duties in a safe way and in a way that supports the constitutional requirements for law enforcement in the United States.

And when I said that they told me not to write anything down, when you teach at the Federal Law Enforcement Academy, and really if you do any kind of instruction in law enforcement, you try to keep close records of exactly what was taught, the material given to the students, how the process or procedure was explained to them, the step-by-step approach, because you want to be able to go back later and say, okay, this did or did not work. And if there's a question about the quality of training or a question about the nature of the training of the cadet or the graduate of the program, to say, here's what we taught them, here's what was taught to this particular class. And the instructions we got were to teach this memo that was issued by the director Todd Lyons back in May of 2025 that authorized officers to enter homes without a judicial warrant, but not to mark down at any where in our records that we had changed what the material says. because the training material for the cadets says that you cannot do this.

It says that the types of warrants they were trying to use administrative warrants. Do not possess was called search authority, which under Fourth Amendment constitutional law, you have to have search authority to enter into private space. And so we were teaching the cadets officially that they could not enter a home using an administrative warrant while secretly teaching them that they could. And Ryan, if you could explain, you said in your congressional testimony, that cadets were not taught to be objectively reasonable, if you could explain what that means,

and then say what were cadets taught to do, for example, in airports? Okay, so I'm going to break that into two parts. Let's talk about the objective reasonableness. Objective reasonableness comes from a Supreme Court case, Graham v. Connor, from around 1989. That is the case where the Supreme Court looked at how do we decide whether or not police officers can have liability for use of force against an individual?

And the court came back and said that the way we measure that is the Fourth Amendment protection against seizures is exercise when police stop you or seize you through the use of force. If someone shoots you, takes a baton to you, uses some form of force on you to stop your movement. That's a Fourth Amendment seizure. And so the court said what you essentially have to do is you have to look at would another officer in the shoes or the officer in question to the officer who used force, would another officer knowing the same piece of information? same set of facts, make the same decision or come to a objectively similar decision. And that's the basic underlying premise behind all use of force law in the United States, is that Graham v. Conner decision. It's the foundation on which everything is built.

There's later decisions that modify that, that expound on it. But this is the fundamental piece, this idea that if you're a police officer and you use force, you can be liable for excessive force. If what you did is what another officer who is being objectively, that is being calm, being rational, being sane with their decision making, would not have done. Would have looked at it and said, oh, yeah, no, that's not the right way to do things. That's not appropriate or acceptable, right?

And to some double, when we talk about a judge phrase, what we're really talking about is what is a jury going to interpret that to be. And now, moving from that to your question about airport security, I can not tell you what the cadets are taught about airport security because it is not part of the training program. Flat out, the officers for ICE are trained and taught how to be law enforcement officers conducting arrests based on civil warrants and how to be detention officers operating detention facilities for people who are going through removal proceedings. or how to manage essentially parole processes for individuals who are out of custody while in removal proceedings. There's nothing in their training that ties directly back to their work in airports. So I can't tell you what they were trained to do with that because it's not part of their training. In other words, they say they don't have any.

So Ryan Schwank, how do you teach them when they're seeing on TV, people being ripped out of their cars, people being beaten, people being shot to death. How does that jive with what they're taught in their training? And who ICE now attracts? Thank you. That's a good question. So let's start with something that's kind of the unspoken aspect of all law enforcement, not just the United States, but globally. Law enforcement operate as avatars of the justices of whatever country they're assigned to and they exercise the state's monopoly on power. So when you talk about someone being hurt, someone being injured or even killed by law enforcement, those are not innately outside of the realm of possibility when law enforcement

is acting, right? Law enforcement officers theoretically could conduct any of those actions that have it be lawful and appropriate. The question is not can they do that? The question is when do they do that? When is it an appropriate step or an action? And in an ideal training environment, what you want to do is you want to train them to understand that those things should only be done as an act of necessity when it's the choice

between the public's safety and the use of force on the individual or when it's necessary to affect an arrest and it's the least coercive form of force possible as a rule of thought. Reduce in 30 seconds, Ryan. Sorry, I'll be much faster then. The way they're taught at the academy is they're taught practical applications of force, but because there's no legal attachment. to that, it's kind of existed in the ether. You can use your baton. You can use your pepper spread.

You can use your firearm. But you should be reasonable while doing it without ever actually explaining to them what that meant. We want to thank you very much for being with us. Ryan Schwenk, former ICE lawyer, legal instructor, who resigned last month and became a whistleblower. He just recently testified before Congress. Coming up, the UN Special Rapporteur

on the occupied Palestinian territory, Her new report is titled Torture and Genocide. Back in 30 seconds. song, go to Democracy Now.org. It's about Rachel Corey, the American who stood in front of a Palestinian's home in Rafa, three days before the U.S. invaded Iraq. And she was crushed to death by an Israeli military bulldozer when she tried to protect the home from demolition. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Nirmin-Shecheir. And Israeli court has closed an investigation into the death of Walid Ahmad, a 17-year-old.

from the occupied West Bank who died in an Israeli jail six months after he was arrested, held without charges, and accused of throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. An autopsy showed Ahmad likely starved to death after suffering extreme weight loss, muscle wasting, and untreated scabies. Human rights groups say nearly 100 Palestinians have died in Israeli jail since October 2023. Meanwhile, local and international media outlets report Israeli forces recently tortured, a Palestinian toddler in Gaza, to coerce a confession from his father. According to reports from Palestine TV, Al Jazeera and others, the child's father, Osama Abu Nasar, was detained near the Al-Maghazi refugee camp after he came under fire from Israeli

soldiers. He was forced to approach an Israeli checkpoint where he was separated from his 18-month-old son, stripped naked, and forced to watch as soldiers used a cigarette. to burn one of the toddler's legs while using a nail to puncture the other. This comes as a new UN report warns Israel systematically torturing Palestinians on a scale that suggests collective vengeance and destructive intent. The report titled Torture and Genocide was written by Francesca Abenazza, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupy Palestinian Territory.

In July, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on her over her report, naming dozens of companies, she says, are profiting from Israeli occupation and genocide in Gaza. Amnizzi International blasted the sanctions as, quote, shameless and transparent attack on the fundamental principles of international justice. Francesca Albanese's new book is When the World Sleep, Stories, Words and Wounds of Palestine. She joins us from Geneva, Switzerland. Francesca, thank you so much for being with us. Why don't you lay out what you found in your new report, torture and genocide, that you just presented at the UN Human Rights Council?

Thank you. Thank you, Amy and Armin. I've been investigating genocide for over two years now. So five out of eight reports I've produced for the United Nations focus on genocide, acts of. genocide, the context in which a genocide happens, why the genocide is not stopped the layers of complicity from states and

private companies, which is the reason why also I'm sanctioned by the United States against which now my 13-year-old daughter who's an American citizen is the only one to take action suing the

Trump administration. But of all the investigations have carried out, this has been absolutely the most excruciating that led me to say that Israel uses torture in a systematic and widespread fashion intentionally and sadistically to break the spirit of the Palestinians, not just as individuals, but as a people, considering the scale and intensity of torture. And I monitored torture behind bars, collecting, collecting. hundreds of testimonies directly and from Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations,

but also analyzing what experts call torturous environment, meaning the cumulative impact of all the practices, of all the crimes that Israel has massively inflicted on the Palestinians. Again, beyond the torture, sodomization, raping in jail, the enforced disappearance, which is touching 4,000 people, this is new. This is a new crime, including for Israel, toward the Palestinians, but also starvation, constant force displacement, not just in Gaza, but in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and home demolition, the fear of being always threatened with death or other crimes.

It creates a torturous environment for the Palestinians. which is an essential element of genocide and it is genocide. Francesca, if you could elaborate on this point that you've just made and that you make in the report, namely that torture has effectively become state policy for Israel since October 2023. So what are the kinds of transformations you've seen, both in terms of Israeli security personnel, as well as settlers against the Palestinians? Yeah, I have to say that what I've investigated is something on which even the United Nations Committee against torture

and the United Nations Independent Commission of Inquiry on Israel-Palestine had shed light already. The fact that Israel, after October 7, has massively used torture to punish the Palestinians vindictively. In fact, the concept of torture has become a state policy is something that the Commission against torture found out recently. I have zoomed in what does it mean and where does it come from. Surely one of the main engineers or architects of these

what's been called, what he has called, the prison revolution, is Itamar Bengavir, was immediately after October 7 has declared that Palestinians in jail would not be afforded luxury treatment or five-star treatment anymore, as if it was a five-star hotel, the Israeli prison system afforded Palestinian

before October 7, by the way. In 2020, in July, 2023, I produced a report showing how widespread and systemic was the arbitrary treatment of Palestinian detainees. So just to give a context. But the conditions have become more and more brutal and intentionally. So what does it mean? Palestinians have routinely been abducted, I mean detained without charge or trial.

They've been arrested because Palestinians, if they were specific professionals like journalists and doctors or medical personnel, all the more, 1700 Palestinian healthcare personnel have been killed. Hundreds remain in jail. And they have been shackled, blindfolded,

beaten, humiliated, strip-naked, photographed, filmed, exposed to Israeli civilians, including settlers, coming in to document

and to film, to participate into this orgy of depravity of how a person can be humiliated. But the most painful,

excruciating thing and I've read some of the testimonies is how Palestinian women and men have been sodomized have been raped with bottles with knives with metal rods even the prisoner who was sodomized through it was raped

with a knife brought to the hospital five Israeli officials were identified and pressed charged against and now the charges have been dropped and the person who leaked the video from within the military apparatus is under house arrest. On top of it, so not only that I've documented the vindictiveness

toward the Palestinians, the humiliation, the continuous abuses against them in jail, really to break their spirit once and for all other people, but also the fact that there has been almost something celebratory against the mistreatment of Palestinians in jail among the society, the legislative power, the Knesset has been discussing the right to rape Palestinians. And so other members of the executive,

the judiciary has not looked into it. As I said, even those who were found caught on video committing this crime, were released. In this last 30 seconds, what are you calling for? Oh, justice, justice. Israel must be stopped because, Amy, I can't even use the past tense. As we speak, there are still over 9,000 Palestinian hostages, hostages to an unlawful occupation in Israeli jail. The only thing this international court of justice has spoken, Israel must withdraw the occupation.

The troops, the colonies and the exploitation of Palestinian resources must end. Meanwhile, the settlers continue to terrorize people. Very few Israelis are engaged against this. So member states must intervene, cut ties, and stop weapons transfer to Israel once and for all, and bring the perpetrators to justice. Francesca Aubanesi, we thank you so much for being with us. UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupy Palestinian Territory.

We'll link to your report, torture and genocide, and have you back on to talk about your book. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman with Nirmine Sheik. We end today's show with Michael Stipe and Aaron Destner, performing their song No Time for Love Like Now at Democracy. Chrissy Now's 30th anniversary celebration. Aaron Destner, co-founder of the national Michael Stipe, former lead singer of REM.

Thank you, Amy. This evening feels like a clarion call. A voice, a voice of courage, of optimism and resilience and community in the face in the midst of system. collapse. We are honored to be here and to be a part of this community. Thank you. No time for breezy. No time for arguments. There's no time for love like now. There's no time in the bar to no time in the in between. No time for love like now. Where did this all begin to change? The lockdown memories can't sustain

This glistening hanging free Fo I in this new place There's no time for dancing No time for undecided No time for love like now There's no time for honey No time for songs and thresholds

Whisper of sweet prayer sigh. Readed this all begin to change. The lockdown memories can't sustain. There's glistening hanging free fall, slighting the name's in this new place. Voices echo in this new place. Time for love at Democracy Now's 30th anniversary celebration to watch the full event with Patty Stipe, with Patti Smith, as well as Bruce Springsteen. Go to DemocracyNow.org.

These aren't happy times, but Nermaine, happy, happy, happy birth.