Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-06-17 Wednesday

Episode Date: June 17, 2026

Democracy Now! Wednesday, June 17, 2026

From Belfast in the north of Ireland, this is Democracy Now. Today a federal indictment was unsealed, charging 15 defendants, with conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers and other charges related to efforts of too Minneapolis-based Antifa groups that violently opposed the enforcement of federal law in our state. Federal prosecutors in Minnesota are the latest to pursue serious criminal charges against anti-ice protesters nationwide. Alleging in Minneapolis, activist opposition to Operation Metro Surge was an Antifa-linked conspiracy. We'll go to Minneapolis. Then what will the U.S. Iran deal mean for Lebanon?

I'm not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, and that's the deal with Iran. We'll go to Tel Aviv to speak with political analyst Ori Goldberg. And finally, I'll be joined here in Belfast in the north of Ireland. Ireland by journalist and filmmaker Sean Murray. His latest film is about the killings of journalists in Lebanon. It's called Jornicide. It's a play on words obviously because we have the deliberative

targeting of not only health workers and journalists in Gaza, but that Gaza model, you know, that doctrine has now being applied to Lebanon. So I thought Jurisai was very, very fit and because he's a deliberate targeting of journalists. It's about the silence of the truth. and what I wanted to do was bring a human story. I wanted to bring a face. I wanted to bring a human aspect of that story. We'll also talk about Sean Murray's many years making films on the history and politics of the north of Ireland.

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Israel is continuing to bomb Lebanon, killing at least four people, despite calls by President Trump for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be more responsible in Lebanon. Iran's accused Israel of violating the truce in Lebanon 84 times since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding to end the war in Iran and the region.

While the text of the U.S. Iran deal has not been made public, CNN says it's obtained the full 14-point agreement. The first point calls for a, quote, immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, unquote. Iran's foreign minister of Basarachchi spoke in Tehran on Tuesday. The end of the war also includes the end of occupation without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they've occupied in the war. A full end to the war has not been achieved and any military attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon from now on. as well as the continued occupation of Lebanese territories from now on will, in our view, be considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding. The U.S. and Iran are expected to formally sign the deal in the Swiss resort of Bergenstock on Friday.

Overnight G7 leaders meeting in the French Alps issued a declaration supporting the U.S.-Iran deal, even though the text of the deal has not been released. In other news from Lebanon, an Israeli drone on Monday, struck a journalist with the Iranian outlet press TV while he was reporting from southern Lebanon. Havi Holtait was reporting on camera at the time of the attack. I'm in the center of Kvartabnit right now. The entrance of Kfertabnit from this side, an artillery strike just targeted the area behind me. As you can see, there is heavy drone activity in the vicinity. And of course, the destruction, the amount of destruction is very strong.

the Israelis did try to destroy the entire area The journalist Hadithotate survived the attack but was hit by six pieces of shrapnel Later in the show we'll look more at Israel's targeting of journalists with Sean Murray, director of the new documentary journey genocide, the war on truth. It's premiering here at Doc's Ireland Festival in Belfast on Thursday. Israel's Supreme Court's rejected an appeal by Dr. Hussam Abusafia, the prominent Palestinian doctor from Gaza, who's been detained without charge for over 500 days.

The court said its decision to continue Dr. Abouzaa's imprisonment is based on, quote, confidential materials withheld from Abusafiah and his legal team. Dr. Abusafia was moved to solitary confinement two weeks ago. Last week, his family said they fear he's being tortured in Israeli detention after the doctor appeared by video link at a court hearing. Prior to his detention, Dr. Abusafia served as a pediatrician and director of the Kamel-Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza. The U.S. militaries carried out another deadly strike on a boat in the eastern Pacific.

U.S. Southern Command said the strike kill one person while two others survived. The U.S. military claimed the boat was engaged in drug trafficking, but once again offered no evidence. The U.S. has killed more than 200 people in over 60 boat strikes since last September. The intercepts reported a high-ranking Pentagon officer admitted during a recent classified briefing that some, of the casualties and at least one of the boat strikes may have been victims of human trafficking, not drug smugglers. In Minneapolis, federal prosecutors have announced charges against 15 anti-ice activists who took part in protest against the Trump administration's deadly immigration crackdown in the Twin Cities earlier this year. The 15 people are accused of being part of an anti-eastern

fascist or Antifa group that, quote, violently oppose immigration law enforcement, unquote. The indictment names two groups, direct action Minnesota and Black Cat Workers Collective. Last fall, the Trump administration categorized Antifa as a domestic terror organization, even though Antifa is not an actual group. Protests took place Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul after the charge were announced. U.S. Marshals responded by deploying pepper spray and aerosol grenades. We'll go to Minneapolis after headlines. Protests broke out Tuesday in Mississippi. Two days after police in the city of Senatobia fatally shot a one-year-old black boy named Cohen Wiley while responding to a

shoplifting call at Walmart. Eyewitnesses said the boys, mother and a family friend were seen leaving the store, carrying the boy, along with a package of diapers. Police then opened fire on their car as it tried to leave the parking lot, killing the baby and critically injuring the other woman. Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump is now representing the family. Crump said, quote, his mother, who has not been charged with any crime says she was trying to communicate to officers that there was a baby in the car. They fired anyway, leading to the death of an innocent one-year-old, Ben Crump said. The officer who shot the baby has been placed on leave.

The Department of Justice is moving to block an NAACP lawsuit against Elon Musk's artificial intelligence company, X-AI. The NACP sued Muff's company for violating the Clean Air Act by running dozens of unpermitted gas burning turbines in Mississippi to fuel a massive data center in Memphis. On Monday, the Justice Department said the lawsuit should be thrown out because it violates national security by, quote, seeking to shut off the power supply for artificial intelligence innovation that supports the department. Department of Wars military operations, unquote. The FBI says it disrupted a plot to attack the recent UFC fight at the White House. Five people have been arrested so far, including a 19-year-old man who said the goal was to jumpstart a revolution. The FBI claims that people had plotted to launch explosive loaded drones during the wrestling event and then use snipers to

gunned down people fleeing the initial attack. Law enforcement was tipped off about the plot when the teenager's mother called police last week concerned about her son's recent purchase of firearms and his online communications with a group of people who'd represented themselves as ex-military who shared an ultra-religious Christian ideology. In news from Sudan, the United Nations reports drone strikes in Sudan have killed more than a thousand civilians in the first months of the year, both the Sudanese armed forces and the paramilitary rapid support forces have carried out drone strikes as the war has expanded.

According to the UN, 16 drone strikes have hit health centers. In other news from the region, Medicine Sans Frontier, Doctors Without Borders, has confirmed it's dismissed 18 staff members as part of an internal investigation into aid workers in Chad, accused of sexually exploiting and abusing Sudanese refugee women and girls. An internal report by MSF uncovered 59 cases of alleged abuse. The Guardian newspaper has revealed a U.S. strike in Somalia last November killed at least 12 civilians, including eight children and a pregnant woman. Despite the high civilian death toll, the Guardian reports the U.S. military,

neither opened an investigation nor publicly acknowledged that civilians were killed. Since returning to office, President Trump has waged a largely secret war in Somalia, bombing Somalia at an unprecedented rate. Last year, the U.S. carried out 123 air strikes in Somalia more than double the previous record. In health news, the Africa Centers for, for disease control and prevention's warning, the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo could become the worst in history. The number of confirmed cases in the DRC has increased to 837, the official death toll, nearly 200. The Africa CDC said more monies needed to trace

potential infections to help halt the spread. In the United States, several counties in Texas have declared a state of disaster after the U.S. Department of Agriculture detected a dozen cases of new world screw worm in cattle, goats, and a dog. The parasite feeds off the flesh of warm-blooded animals and is often fatal. It was detected in a Texas calf on June 3rd,

the first domestic screw worm infestation since the parasite was eradicated in the U.S. years ago. In response, the Republican Governor Greg Abbott announced plans to release hundreds of millions of genetically altered sterile flies in an effort to eradicate screw worm. Meanwhile, the Trump administration's tapped Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to lead the federal response to the crisis. I don't want to continue to ensure this does not affect the food supply system. This is not a virus. It is not a disease. It is a pest. And so we obviously are treating it as such. According to a report by the Food and Agriculture News Source, AgriPolts, sweeping cuts to USAID by

Elon Musk's so-called Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency last year, included a program dedicated to tracking and preventing the spread of screwworm across the U.S.-Mexico border. voters went to the polls in Oklahoma, Alabama, and Georgia Tuesday in Georgia, the Trump-backed Congressman Mike Collins won the Republican Senate primary defeating Derek Dooley, who'd been backed by Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp. Collins will face off against Democratic Senator John Ossoff in November. Meanwhile, the billionaire Rick Jackson, who won the Republican governor's race defeating Bert Jones, who is backed by Trump, Jackson spent more than $100 million on the race. he'll face former Atlanta mayor, Keisha Lance Bottoms, in November's general election for Georgia's governor. And in California, the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission has voted unanimously to fully fund Access Sacramento for the next fiscal year. The nonprofit community media center had faced severe budget cuts due to a dramatic drop in revenue from cable TV.

subscriptions. To see our recent interview with Joe Barr, Executive Director of Access Sacramento, the public access TV station, go to DemocracyNow.org. And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the Warren Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman in Belfast, Northern Ireland. We begin today's show in Minnesota, where federal prosecutors have announced criminal charges against 15 people in connection with anti-ice protests, in the Twin Cities earlier this year. The defendants are accused of, quote, conspiracy to impede or injure federal officers, unquote,

during Trump's so-called Operation Metro Surge, which saw the deployment of thousands of federal immigration agents to Minnesota. Two U.S. citizens were killed by agents in the crackdown, Renee Good and Alex Preti, the VA nurse. The federal indictment names, two organizations, Direct Action Minnesota and the Black Cat Workers Collective, which federal prosecutors have accused without evidence of having links to anti-fascist or Antifa groups. Last fall, President Trump categorized Antifa as a domestic terror organization, even though

Antifa is not an actual group. Protests took place Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in St. Paul after the charges were announced U.S. Marshals responded by deploying pepper spray and aerosol grenades. This is civil rights attorney Nikima Levy Armstrong, who's facing federal charges herself over an anti-ice church protest in January. With the 15 people who were arrested this morning for standing up, we have to continue to stand up for them. They put their necks on the lines. They put their bodies on the lines, they put their jobs on the line to stand up for freedom, justice, and equality. We need to be standing up for them. We need to be standing up for the righteous 39. And we need to be standing

up for the hundreds of other people still facing state and federal charges for standing up. That was civil rights attorney, Nakima Levy Armstrong, who was arrested earliest year for participating in anti-ice demonstration at City's Church in St. Paul, where one of the pastors worked for ice. For more, we go to Minneapolis, where we're joined by Bruce Nester, past president of the National Lawyers Guild and a criminal defense and immigration attorney. He represents one of the 15 defendants. Bruce, thanks so much for joining us. Can you explain these charges? And did they come as a surprise to you? Good morning, Amy. These charges, these charges, really did not come as a surprise. Here in Minnesota, we stand up and support people that stood up

to ICE, as Nakeemma Levi-Armstrong said. They were fighting for justice and democracy and opposing this brutal invasion. And so the fact that the U.S. Attorney's Office is trying to bring new charges against these individuals is not a surprise. It's part of their attempt to reframe a narrative and to claim that the federal agents, were performing lawful functions and under attack when everything we saw on the ground was different. And so whether people were monitoring ice, documenting, photographing, following, blowing whistles, or quite frankly, even impeding ice, we stand in their corner and we support them here in Minnesota because they were here protecting our community.

So tell us about your own client, one of 15, and what does it mean to be charged with conspirators? and the fact that the Trump administration has put Antifa not a clear group, but they call it one, on the terrorist list, what does it mean to say that these people represent Antifa organizations? All 15 of the defendants are members of the community, active and mutual aid, union members, workers, neighbors, people who are off, many of them well known. My particular client is a special education teacher, and all of them were involved in activities to try to respond to this federal invasion. What we're seeing is this attempt from this National Security Memorandum last September is to try to break off and isolate groups of people by labeling them domestic terrorists, by labeling them Antifa, and trying to allow federal government to target and, repress certain groups of people based on these allegations. And one of the way to do that is with

this conspiracy charge. Conspiracy is a prosecutor's tool that allows them to try to hold everybody in a group accountable for what they claim a certain individual may have done. And what we see in this 94-page indictment is these references to speaking tours that people went on, describing what they were seeing in Minnesota. One individual is charged with stocking just for following an ice agent with no threats, no other behavior, just following an ice agent. So the conspiracy is really an attempt to broaden the net of federal law enforcement and to expand the ability of the federal government to target our movement and to foster repression. So let's be clear. These 15 people have been charged, but the people who are

responsible for the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Preti have not been charged, and the federal government is not cooperating with state officials in investigating their deaths? That's correct. The U.S. Attorney's Office here in Minnesota has done nothing to investigate and hold accountable the killers of Renee Good and Alex Prettty. They have done everything they can to frustrate an investigation of that nature. They haven't done anything to hold ICE officers accountable for the widespread violence that we saw committed by federal agents, dragging people out of their cars, dragging people with disabilities out of their cars, breaking windows, spreading tear gas in residential neighborhoods.

This is the same U.S. Attorney's Office that brought charges against 36 people in January. over half of those charges have been dismissed outright. Another 11 are on agreements where the charges will be dismissed if people behave for six months. There's a complete failure of this U.S. Attorney's Office to hold the real perpetrators of violence accountable. And in fact, the U.S. Attorney's Office experienced mass resignations in January of this year when the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, Daniel Rosen, wanted to investigate Radee Goodsend. family and friends for Antifa links instead of investigating her killer. So, as you referred to, the Justice Department also charged six people in Illinois with conspiracy

over protests last year at the Broadview Jail. But the government later dropped the charges amidst revelations of serious prosecutorial misconduct. Kat Uba Ghazala, one of the six charged at Broadview, she was also running for Congress at the time, posted this on social media Tuesday about the charges in Minnesota. She wrote, quote, as the government raids Antifa groups, quote, unquote, in Minneapolis, with the same charges levied against myself and the rest of the Broadview Six, we need to be asking how they got this indictment. And its charges hopefully get.

get dropped, we must remember the process is the punishment, end quote. We interviewed Kat earlier this month right after the charges against her were dropped. This is some of what she said. The administration wants to make you fear speaking out. They want to make you fear the secret police and the idea that if you disagree with them, that you could not just face prosecution, but a lot worse. But that's the thing. There's a lot more of us than there are of them. And this case has shown in spectacular fashion because we saw it to the end how the government is not just being incompetent, but outright insidious in the prosecution of regular citizens. So if you can tell us, Bruce Nester, about the significance of the Broadview case, the judge was furious when she got the transcripts of the grand jury hearings. the grand jury originally voted not to indict the six. And then people were disqualified for their

opposition. This usually you don't see these grand jury transcripts. Now they have been made public. If you can explain, is this a continuation of that? All the churches were drunk. But as Kat said, the process is the punishment. What happened to these six people when they're taking on the federal government for a year? Yeah, the Broadview Six is really the most egregious. example of misconduct by the U.S. Attorney's Office that we've seen in terms of the misconduct in front of the grand jury. And normally, that type of misconduct is hidden from view because we don't get to see the grand jury transcripts. What we're really seeing is an expansion of these conspiracy charges across the country. I think the first one was in Plainview, Texas for this noise demonstration

outside a ICE detention facility, where it was expanded to prosecute all members of a political collective in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We saw the use of conspiracy charges in Spokane, Washington to prosecute multiple people who were really only acting at a demonstration together without any evidence of an agreement or a conspiracy. And I think Kat is right. The point of this is to spread fear to try to divide us and to try to get. people to say these are the bad people, and we're just, we're, but we also have to pull out or we may get lumped into this group of people. So it's, it's to spread fear and to encourage people not to stand up to ice. And then it's to punish the people put into these federal

prosecutions. Again, in Minnesota, two-thirds of the cases they've brought so far have been dismissed. But the financial toll, the toll on people's mental health, just the grinds, process of taking on the federal government, being charged with a crime, the fear for your future. Again, that's all part of making it so difficult for the people charged that they then send a message to other people. Don't stand up to the brutality, the authoritarianism, and the growing fascism of the federal government. Bruce Nester, we want to thank you for being with us. Past President and the National Lawyers Guild, Criminal Defense and Immigration Attorney in Minneapolis

represents one of the Minneapolis of 15 who have been charged by the federal government for anti-ice activity. Up next, what will the U.S. Iran deal mean for Israel's war on Lebanon? We go to Tel Aviv to speak with Ori Goldberg. Stay with us. Here in our home. Who remember the names on the streets of beat up on Alex Freddie. Lay in the snow to dead. was self-defense, sir.

Just don't be... And these whistles and phones against the military... Streets of Minneapolis, Bruce Springsteen, performing at Democracy Now's 30th anniversary event in the historic Riverside

Church in Harlem. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war and peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. We're broadcasting from Belfast in the north of our... Maryland. The G7 summit continues in Evian LeBin, in the Alps in France, France with world leaders

praising President Trump's so-called strong leadership amidst his tentative peace agreement with Iran. But questions linger about what's actually in the deal before the United States and Iran are scheduled to sign the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding in Switzerland on Friday. While the text of the U.S. Iran deal has not been made public, CNN says it's obtained the full 14-point agreement. The first point calls for, quote, immediate and permanent end to the war on all fronts, including Lebanon, unquote. Iran's accused Israel of violating the ceasefire in Lebanon at least 84 times in the days after Tehran reached the tentative deal to end the U.S. war. Iran's foreign minister of Basaragchi spoke from Tehran Tuesday.

The end of the war also includes the end of occupation without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they have occupied in the war. A full end to the war has not been achieved, and any military attack by the Zionist regime on Lebanon from now on, as well as the continued occupation of Lebanese territories from now on, will, in our view, be considered a violation of the memorandum of understanding. Iranian officials warned of a harsh response if Israel continues to escalate after Israeli forces killed another four people in Lebanon.

President Trump's criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the Israeli leader has to be more responsible in Lebanon. Following news of the proposed U.S. Iran deal, far-right Israeli national security minister at Tamar Ben-Gavir, said on social media, quote, Trump's agreement does not bind us. Israel is not subject to the United States. We are an independent and sovereign nation. My position is clear. We are not partners to this agreement with Iran that does not ensure our security, and it doesn't bind us in any way, Ben-Gavir. said. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu's threatened Israeli forces will continue to occupy

southern Lebanon in defiance of any ceasefire deal. For more on Israel's response, we go to Israel, to Tel Aviv, where we're joined by Ori Goldberg, Israeli political analyst and scholars, written extensively on Iran and Israel. Ori, thanks for joining us again. Can you respond to what Ben-Gavir and Netanyahu are saying and what this deal that you, as far as you understand it, is all about between the U.S. and Iran? Well, first of all, I think the most important aspect of the deal is what it's not about, and it's not about Israel. In that sense, both Ben-Vir and Netanyahu are right,

but to their own detriment, not as proof of their achievements. Israel was not included in the discussions. Israel asked to see an advanced draft of the MOU and was denied. This is an agreement between the United States and Iran, and it's based on Trump's interest. and the Islamic Republic's interest, Israel is not a part of it. Does that mean that Israel is not bound by it?

Ben-Gvill is a diet in the world populist. All he wants to do is set things on fire and sit back and enjoy the flames and stick it to Israel's Palestinian citizens as well as Israel's Palestinian objects as frequently as possible. Any statements from him are not worth the paper that they're published on if they're still published on paper.

As far as Netanyahu is concerned, he is the leader of the country, but he has not completely detached himself from the United States. He can't afford to do that because he knows the truth. Israel can't do this alone. Israel cannot operate in Lebanon alone if it has invoked the ire of the world and specifically Washington towards it. The EU is just looking eagerly for an opportunity to sanction Israel to review the articles of association with Israel, to show Trump that for once they're

speaking the same language as he is. And I don't think Israel really has one significant ally left, which is, of course, Israel is doing because it has consistently and emphatically burned all of its bridges over the past year or so. So I really do think that the most important aspect of disagreement other than American-Iranian cooperation is that Israel is not seen as a regional access, as a force for stabilization, or simply as an entity that must be recognized no matter what. Israel is just not in the game. So the assessment by Trump that Netanyahu showed no judgment in ordering a strike on Beirut has been seized upon by Netanyahu's political rivals, also media commentators,

ahead of the election that's scheduled in Israel for October. What's the current political landscape in Israel? And as Netanyahu faces this growing friction with Trump and Israel's most powerful military ally, of course, the United States, can you talk about the pressure he's facing within his own Lukut party and where he stands? Is this shifting the Israeli populations? To the best of my understanding, the answer would be resounding no. It's not shifting Israel's population. It's actually, I think this is an interesting bit of the conundrum that you described. It's actually making Netanyahu and his policies seem even more inevitable.

Because when his rivals criticize him, regardless whether they do it from the left or from the right, the only criticism that they have is you weren't strong enough. You didn't do enough to secure Israel's future. You didn't do enough to calm Israelis in the north, which means create a strip of land that is completely empty of Lebanese, not just of Hezbollah. And when Israeli politicians are saying this, what they're actually saying is that Nathaniel's basic assumption,

only war and hopefully forever war, makes Israel safe, that assumption is correct. So actually, this is not bad for Netanyahu. As his rival struggle to put forth some kind of alternative position, the only alternative they can offer or seem to be willing to offer is an alternative that says we would have done it better. What would they have done better? They would have managed the war better. They would have been stronger. They would have been able to create better cooperation with Trump.

They would not have been so disrespectful. But all of this goes to Netanyahu's management capability. not to the principle at stake. When it comes to the principle at stake, there's a broad, broad consensus in Israeli Jewish society, and you can define it in various ways. One would be Jewish blood is worth more

than non-Jewish blood in this case. Another would be the ultimate jackpot is complete, this is a term coined by El-Bak, our former prime minister, complete freedom of action for Israel, where Israel can do whatever it wants, attack whoever it wants for as long as it wants,

and suffer none of the consequences. Most Israelis still believe that this is the way to go. Israelis are not supportive of any kind of resolution, especially not with the Palestinians. Israelis think of the Lebanese state as weak as unable to control Hezbollah. People who live in the north. It's just published a story yesterday. It's been very quiet over the past few days in Israel's north.

and all of the residents that they interviewed said the quiet scares us more than when the action is on. So Israelis don't feel secure and nobody has offered or even said that peace will make them more secure. There's some kind of agreed-upon solution, diplomatic and orientation would make them more secure. The only option that is still there, active and viable,

as far as the great majority of Jewish Israelis are concerned, is war. So in that sense, Netanyahu comes out on top because he's been the one who's been fighting the war the whole time. And should it come to an election, I would think that that is what he would say. He would say all of these people are saying that maybe mistakes were made, maybe I'm not good enough or capable enough. But ultimately, you all know that I'm right. And since none of his competitors have ever ventured any kind of opinion suggesting otherwise, Israelis would simply nod and vote for Netanyahu. Finally, I want to ask you, Rory Goldberg, about Israeli defense minister Israel Katz, saying Israeli troops will stay indefinitely in Lebanon and the Gaza strip. Can you talk about Israel's treatment of Lebanon and Gaza?

Israel is trying to do to Lebanon what it has been doing to Gaza for nearly three years now, or at least the part of Lebanon that is in close proximity to Israel. it's trying to destroy it, raise it to the ground, leave nothing standing, and thereby provide security for the Israeli north. I don't think Israel is gearing up towards an invasion of Lebanon. I'm sure that there are people on the heart Israeli right who would rejoice at such an invasion. But my understanding from both military and political circles is that this is not the plan that's being considered. it. As far as Gaza goes, Israel seems to be perpetrating a new status quo where Palestinians don't get enough food, where the humane conditions are deteriorating. Palestinians are open to disease. They're open to vermin. Palestinians are dying by the dozens every day, not just from

Israeli bombings, but from Israeli-induced chaos because they're still living in the rubble, basically without Israel allowing them any kind of systematic reconstruction. But I do want to stress that Israel is doing this, or the fact that Israel is doing this, is in my mind a proof of Israel's weakness. All Israel can do is destroy, destroy or harm or kill. Now, a lot of blood will be shed by Israel, a lot of blood that should not have been shed

because the world was too lenient, because the world wanted to give Israel some freedom of violence, action some leeway. But again, to the best of my understanding, Trump's had enough. He hasn't had enough because he cares about the Palestinians or about Lebanon. He's had enough of Netanyahu's disrespect. He's had enough of the notion that it's actually Netanyahu's calling the shots. He's very sensitive to the conspiracy theories that are rife, suggesting that Nathaniel is blackmailing him through some sort of covert Epstein finding or, I don't know, whatever else he has on him, or simply denying him money from the Adelson family.

or whatever. Trump has had enough. He feels that he is not just within his rights, but within a general comfort zone to berate Netanyahu. And I think he's right. I think the EU agrees with him. I think China agrees with him. I don't think there's anybody in the world who sees Netanyahu as a trusted leader. Last thing I want to say about our defense minister, he's a hollow trumpet. He echoes his master's voice. He's not responsible for any kind of serious initiative, he has some authority. He really does not call the shots on either policy or even day-to-day action. He's part of the use of the expression, a blowhard. Ori Goldberg, I want to thank you for being with us.

Israeli political analyst, scholar in Tel Aviv, written extensively on Iran and Israel. Coming up, genocide, the war on truth. We'll be joined by filmmaker Sean Murray to talk about his film. on the targeting of journalists in Lebanon and more, joining us here in Belfast in the north of Ireland. Stay with us. To my love by Patrick Campbell Lyons. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman.

We are broadcasting from Belfast in the north of Ireland here at Docs, Ireland, the film about Democracy Now. steal this story, please. Premiered last night at the Queen's cinema here in Belfast on the first night of the film festival. We turn now to Lebanon. We're an Israeli drone on Monday, struck a journalist with the Iranian outlet press TV while Hezra was reporting from southern Lebanon.

Hadith was reporting on camera at the time of the attack. I'm in the center of Kvartibnit right now. The entrance of Kvartabneit from this side, an artillery strike just targeted the area behind me. As you can see, there is heavy drone activity in the vicinity. And of course, the destruction, the amount of destruction is the destruction is the very strong.

The Israelis did try to destroy the entire area. The journalist Haditha Tate survived the attack but was hit by six pieces of shrapnel. Over 260 journalists and media workers had been killed by Israel in gun. Gaza since October 7, 2023. With Israel's latest and ongoing assault on Lebanon, the death toll of journalists there has reached 29. Irish filmmaker Sean Murray investigated the killings of four of those journalists. On March 28th, journalist Ali Shoyd and brother and sister Fatima and Muhammad Fatuni were killed altogether in an Israeli drone strike on their car. On April 22nd, Amal Khalil was injured in an airstrike and died from her injuries after waiting

for hours inside a bomb building as rescuers awaited clearance from Israeli forces to reach her. Sean Murray's new feature documentary premiering here in Belfast at Dox, Ireland. It's called genocide, the war on truth. This is a clip from the trailer. This is not a film about war, but rather a decree to bear witness. It's a film about friendship, love, and the indomitable will of the human spirit. As Lebanon burns, silence has now become the greatest weapon of oppression. This is a tale of those that found different.

The story of the gatekeepers of truth. That's a clip from the film Journalicide, The War on Truth, by director Sean Murray, who joins us here in the Belfast studio. Sean, it's great to have you with us. Very painful times. You know, we started with this latest targeting of a journalist, Hadi Hatteat in Lebanon. You knew him? Yeah, well, Hadithet works for press TV. I think inadvertently that Haddi's maybe featured.

in the documentary. He was there in Sear, which is Tear, and the media compound when I was there, as you'll see in the film. But, yeah, he's just one of many who have to live with the targeting every day in Lebanon. So talk about your film and why you chose to call it Jurnicide. Well, I think Jornicide effectively gives the explicit nature of the targeting and killing of journalists. I think it fits perfectly. I think not only do we see the targeting journalists, but it's the double-tap strikes that we see with the Gaza Dachran that is now being applied in Lebanon. So in the case of Ali, Fatima and Muhammad, the original strike killed Ali and Muhammad. And it was a double tap then that killed Fatima, Muhammad's sister in the second strike.

So this is a deliberate targeting journalist. the reasons behind that is to, of course, silence what is happening in Lebanon, the ethnic clanging that's going on, the mass war crimes that's being committed. But Lebanon is a little bit different. Israel does not have the geographical repressive abilities that they did in Gaza, and we see that now playing out, and hopefully we see this week that something might be changing where we're seeing the ceasefire.

All we can do is hope. I want to go to a clip of Ali Shoyd. I'm going to see if we have it. Because the whole event now revolves around us, I film myself, since the photographer who was accompanying me day and night for months has now become a martyr. I miss him, just as I miss my colleagues, at Al-Maadine, the martyrs Mohamed Ruda and Gasson Najar. In this place, the martyrs fell this dawn. This was an area dedicated solely to journalists' accommodation.

Here, we used to live. We would leave in the morning for the front and return of the evening to this place, a place that everyone now knows is being dedicated to journalists. The Israeli enemy carried out a raid at dawn with its warplanes on this place. It destroyed several accommodation facilities. It killed three martyrs and a number of journalists were wounded. There are no weapons here.

no military presence and no one affiliated with the military. That's awesome. And no one affiliated with the military, Ali Shoyb says. Talk about what happened to him. And then how the Israeli military tried to destroy his reputation on March 28th, Ali Shoyb would also be killed by an Israeli drone strike along with, as you said, the reporter's brother and sister, Fatima and Muhammad the Tooney.

Well, this original clip is with the media compound in southern where Ali and his colleagues were staying. Ali describes him that's the first attempt to kill him. Ali was staying there himself and survived the attack. And not long afterwards, he himself was killed. But as we've seen being applied, the same principles that are applied in Gaza. These lies and these slanders came very quickly with Israel

regarding Ali Shweb. So we had seen almost immediately a photo of Ali in a Hezbollah uniform where half of the photo is cut between his press uniform and a Hezbollah uniform. And the statement that was put up by IDF was that Ali was a member of the elite Radwan forces of Hezbollah. Now, very strangely, it was fax news in the US that questioned the veracity of the photo of Ali Schwab. And after being quizzed by Fox News that the IDF, the Israelis, then said that the photo was Photoshopped. So I want to go to another of the journalists who you profile on April 22nd, the prominent Lebanese journalist from South Lebanon, Amal Khalil,

a correspondent for the daily newspaper Al-Aqbar, along with her colleague, photographers in Eb Farage, attempted to seek shelter from Israeli drone strike, which prevented rescue and medical workers from rescuing them both. Six hours later, by the time rescuers were able to find Amal, she was dead. I want to turn to another clip, Sean, from your film, Jornicide. This is Amal Khalil's niece. Amal is my aunt, and she is also the bravest person I know. whenever she talked, people would silence themselves, and she always, she was never scared.

She received threats. She smiles on everyone's faces whenever she walked in in any room. I am very proud of Amal. So that was Amal Khalil's niece. Sean Murray, talk about who Amal Khalil was and the horror of that day when she in Zeneb took refuge. Well, explain what happened to them. First of all, Amal was a much-belove journalist in South Lebanon.

She, in many ways, on the 20th of November, when Ali Schwab was killed with Fatima and Muhammad, she had picked up the mantle of Ali in the sense that she was the go-to journalists for other international journalists and those in South Lebanon to contact regarding information they needed in the South. She, like Ali, knew every blade of grass in the South,

but also she was so well received with many organisations, as I said, much beloved. What had happened to Amal that day was that she was travelling to a village in South Lebanon. Can I ask, had she already been warned by the IDF getting calls? Oh, yes, yes. So beforehand, maybe a number of weeks beforehand,

she was told, and I quote the IDF themselves, that her head would be removed from her shoulders if she continued to, you know, document what was happening in the South. So that's exactly what Amal was doing that day. She was documenting the war crimes in the South, the destruction of villages. She was in a convoy of two cars. The car in front was hit with a drone.

A number of journalists were killed there, who Amal knew. Amal and her friend got out of the car, Zainab Farage, got out of the car, they hit under a tree and phone family members and colleagues. They then moved very quickly to a house across the road. By this stage, the president of Lebanon had been contacted by her colleagues. President Aoun. President Daun, he effectively made calls to the mechanism, which is a committee that set up between the Lebanese army, the Israeli army and an American mediator. And that committee was set up to effectively deal with issues around peace between Lebanon and Israel. So pretty early on, and I mean in the first 10 minutes, everyone was aware that Amal Kalin, Amal and Zainab were in that house.

attempts were made to rescue both them but the Israeli army then bombed the road as the Lebanese army were approaching the fire did not stop and the car that Amal was in was then droned after all this so not very long later the Red Cross

along with the Lebanese army were then gained access sorry to the house after the house had been hit so eventually the house was hit was hit and there was no more contact from Amal. Zainab was rescued. At the end of the Israeli fire started again so they had to stop the search of Amal and it wasn't until a number of hours later maybe 11 o'clock after this original incident began at about 20 past 2 in the afternoon that they found Amal's lifeless body on the basement of the house. I want to ask you

about the solidarity between people in Northern Ireland and the north of Ireland and the people of Palestine and also Lebanon. I saw you yesterday near your house, near the mural or muriel, as it's called an Irish, of Bobby Sands, the famous hunger striker who died of starvation, but during his hunger strike ran for the British Parliament and won. And his was one of many murals, now a number of them, images of Gaza. I mean, you have the poet, Rafat al-Air killed in Israeli military strike in Gaza. His poem, If I Must Die, is written out on the wall. And why you did this film and that solidarity that you feel, the significance of these two movements.

It was very pertinent you had mentioned the mural, Bobby Sons. I mean, the thread that runs through my work is how we, I mean, just to give a bit of contacts to the conflict here, we, the community that I came from, there was a kind of monopoly of victimhood, so the media was used to vilify the community that I come from. So I come from a, what would be widely known as a Catholic, Aries Republican community, where we had a, what you would say, a low intensity civil war for over 30 years here, where many of civilians were killed, many combatants were killed, members of the IRA, members of the British Parliamentary Police. So we had that over 3,500 people killed in the conflict for over 30 years.

And you have to remember, as you walk through Belfast streets, you know, every corner that you turned in that short tour, there were many people killed in those streets. I should warn you, we have 30 seconds. Okay. So, yeah, so it's very, very important that the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, The murals were, and the thread that runs through my work is that we need to reclaim historical memory. And murals are a very, very important part of that, as well as the work that I do now. And the solidarity with Palestine? Yes, and that, of course, encapsulates a solidarity of Palestine because we see that in the murals, along with the politics, that we have suffered ourselves here.

I want to thank you, Sean Murray, for coming in to Northern Vision, community television here in Belfast. Sean Murray is a documentary filmmaker, new feature film premiering Act Dox Ireland Festival Thursday called Jurnicide, The War on Truth. Thanks to everyone here at Northern Vision's TV, Dave Hindman, Dean Hagen, Dave Kassie, Jamie Finley, Kieran, Brollahan, Eman Higgins, Sean Al Lawson, Simon Goliger, and Alva Lynch and Jeff Williams. That does it for our show. I'll be in Vermont for the weekend with Still a Story, please. I'm Amy Goodman from Vailfa. Last.