Democracy Now! Audio - Democracy Now! 2026-10-07 Wednesday

Episode Date: October 7, 2026

Democracy Now! Wednesday, October 7, 2026

From New York, this is democracy now. On the morning of October 7th, my world collapsed. My beloved parents, Bila and Jacobi, who are among the first victims of the Hamas attack at Nativa Asara. Two days later, gathered in grief, our family made a conscious choice to reject vengeance. Israelis and Palestinians are marking the third anniversary of October 7th. Israelis are holding vigils for victims of the Hamas attack while in Gaza the day is seen as the beginning of Israel's genocide.

We'll speak to Israeli Peace Act of Esmaoos Inang. His parents were killed three years ago will also get a report from Gaza. The worst three years that have passed in our lives, there is no life, no living, no food, no basic necessities of life. We wait for water from 5 to 10 o'clock, and we are living in the streets, homeless, tired, worn out. I mean, a life worse than this? We are not living, my friend. We are dead in Gaza.

Plus, Al Jazeera analyst Marwan Bashara, author of a new book, 12 days that shook the Middle East, origins of a genocide. All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy Now, DemocracyNow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. Israel's marking three years since the Hamas-led surprise attack, October 7, 2023, that killed almost 1,200 people with 251 Israelis and foreign nationals taken hostage. In southern Israel, mourners gathered near Kabutschim to commemorate hundreds of people who were killed and abducted at the Nova Music Festival. During a moment of silence, the booms of Israeli airstrikes and the nearby Gaza Strip could

be heard ringing out. Ahead of today's anniversary, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presided over a state memorial ceremony in Jerusalem for the more than 800 civilians killed in the October 7th attacks. He did not address reports. He ignored warnings that Hamas had been planning a major operation. His speech was interrupted by a bereaved father, Yaakov Godo, whose son Tom, was killed in the attacks. You didn't protect my son on October 7th. You didn't protect 1,200 people who were murdered in one day on October 7th.

Shame, disgrace. In Gaza, Israeli forces killed at least three Palestinians today among the dead, Nimer Barbach, a 16-year-old child shot in the head by Israeli soldiers east of Han Yunus. And Muhammad Tammuz, a civil defense rescue worker who died of war. wounds from an Israeli air strike near Kamel-Adwan Hospital. Israel's killed over 74,000 Palestinians in Gaza since Hamas' surprise attack on Israel three years ago. Several governments, human rights organizations, and scholarly bodies, including the International Association of Genocide Scholars, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. According to the UN, as of September,

94% of Gaza's population remain in urgent need of shelter and basic household assistance, while 65% of households were living in tents or makeshift shelters. We'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. Yemen, Saudi-back government says Houthi militias fire drones and missiles at the Aden International Airport, targeting a passenger terminal striking a runway just minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land. elsewhere Saudi officials said they'd intercepted a missile fired by Houthis north of the Saudi capital Riyadh. This comes amidst a counter-offensive by Saudi-backed Yemeni-government forces seeking to retake all remaining Houthi-Hil territory, including Yemen's capital Sanaa. In the United States, Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said the Pentagon denied him access to Al-Udeid Air Base

in Qatar during a visit to the Middle East. His failed attempt came after Defense Secretary Pete Hedgeset signed a directive restricting travel to the area earlier this year. Senator Murphy claimed he was denied access as part of the Trump administration's effort to conceal the true cost of the U.S. Israeli war on Iran. I have been to the Middle East, probably a dozen times at least. Well, I have been a member of Congress. I have never, ever been denied access to military facilities.

This is part of a coordinated, deliberate campaign by the Department of Defense to try to hide the consequences and the true cost of this war. In France, more than 250,000 people marched in over 40 cities Tuesday. It was the largest turnout yet in demonstrations that began more than two weeks ago when high school students started blockaded. their schools. The students are protesting staff shortages, crowded classrooms, and run-down buildings. Labor unions joined in support, along with parents, teachers, and university students. Paris had the biggest march, about 56,000 people, according to the Interior Ministry. Prime Minister Sebastian Le Carnieu said at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff have been heard in clashes with police, calling it, quote, the heaviest toll.

and decades paid by the school system, unquote. This is a middle school science teacher in Strasbourg. This situation has been deteriorating for years and always at an accelerated pace. And now to see so many demonstrations, so many mobilizations, appearing like this everywhere, it clearly shows that there is a general awareness with our living conditions worsening in France. There are calls for a general mobilization across France on October 17th. Spain's governments approved two housing decrees rejected by Parliament last week,

which prompted Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to call a snap election. The housing package approved Tuesday, caps rents temporarily halts evictions and restricts companies from buying homes. The housing measures follow demonstrations in Barcelona that turned violent as tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest the eviction of an 87-year-old woman, Marie Carmen, from her lifelong home in Madrid. She had lived there for over 70 years. This is a woman affected by a possible eviction. Make no mistake. If that Marie Carmen business hadn't happened and there weren't so many journalists here,

I'd already be out on the effing street in the rain. I swear to you. In Tennessee, Krista Pike has reportedly regained consciousness. After surviving a botched execution last week, according to her attorneys, the death row prisoner is off a ventilator and speaking from a hospital bed, where she remains handcuffed and shackled as she recovers from two injections of pentobarbital meant to kill her. Her prognosis remains unclear. Her lawyers say she faces a long road to recovery. Tennessee Republican Governor Bill Lee has ordered an independent review of Pike's failed execution

and counseled the only other scheduled execution of the year. Death penalty abolitionists have called on Governor Lee to commute Krista Pike's death sentence. The Pentagon scheduled the execution of 2009 Fort Hood attacker Nadal Hassan by firing squad on December 3rd, marking the first military execution. Since 1945, President Trump has approved Hegeseth's order. Cornell University trustees announced Tuesday, former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates will investigate how the university handles sexual misconduct complaints.

Yates' appointment follows outrage and protest over. Cornell's response to a complaint from a woman known only as Jane Doe, who alleged she was gang raped by more than. multiple Kai-5 fraternity brothers after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs. No criminal charges have been filed. Jane Doe sued the university, seven former students, and the fraternity last month, alleging Cornell failed to protect her and punish the accused students. Members of the Cornell University Faculty Senate have introduced a resolution for a vote of no confidence

in administrators over their handling of the case. There are also growing calls for Cornell University's president to step down. Paramount Skydance has completed its $11 billion takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery. The combined company will be called Skydance, made up a film studio, streaming services, broadcast and cable TV, sports channels, and news outlets, CNN and CBS News, along with HBO. With the deal now complete CEO, David Ellison, will receive a $150 million payday, making him a billionaire. Ellison's father, Larry Ellison, is the multi-billionaire co-founder of Oracle and a major investor in Skydance. Both Ellisons are major Trump supporters.

In India, police have detained several opposition leaders breaking up a protest by Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Congress Party and other MP. who are demonstrating against a controversial move that purged 130 million names from the voter rolls nationwide. Tuesday's protests come just days after the Genzi-led cockroach movement, organized demonstrations in Mumbai and Delhi calling for the resignation of India's chief election commissioner, Ganesh Kumar. This is Jai Ramamesh from the National Congress Party, the main opposition to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP. This whole campaign is to highlight the fact that a constitutional functionary, the Chief Election Commission, has violated the Constitution in letter and spirit.

He has lied to the Supreme Court. He has lied to the country. And clearly, he cannot stay in office any longer. According to a ProPublica report, 5006 U.S. citizens have been detained. by immigration agents during the Trump administration, more than 100 Americans were held after agents questioned their citizenship. Nearly all were people of color. At least 70 U.S. children and teens are detained, some of whom were handcuffed. 36 Americans were held for at least a day without being able to contact a lawyer or their family. And roughly a dozen U.S. citizens were deported, mostly children. This comes as the Justice Department moved to strip citizenship

from 40 naturalized citizens who have committed crimes. In Georgia, dozens of immigrants jailed at the Folkston Ice Processing Center launched a hunger strike Tuesday demanding their release and calling on Congress, judges and advocates to highlight their plight. They're also demanding protection from deportation and reunification with loved ones. Some of the men have been jailed since October 2023. They've described inadequate medical and dental care unhealthy and spoiled food, noisy, and cramped living quarters, isolation from loved ones,

lack of communication from ICE officers, xenophobic and hostile behavior from guards, and a lack of access to sunlight and fresh air. And in New Jersey, an immigrant who led labor and hunger strikes by prisoners at the Delaney Hall Ice Jail walked free Tuesday. After eight months behind bars, Martine Soto was transferred from Delaney to an ICE jail in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in May after he helped organize protests against spoiled food overcrowding inadequate medical care at Delaney Hall Ice Jail in Newark, where prisoners are forced to work for around a dollar a day. In retaliation against the strike guards at Delaney Hall reportedly beat participants, temporarily suspended family visitations.

Martine Soto was held in solitary confinement for about two months. On Tuesday, he was released from the Elizabeth Detention Center with an ankle monitor and greeted by supporters and his wife, Gabriela, and their two children. I am so thankful for everybody that has helped me. These months have been very, very difficult. Not only did I lose our home, not only that I lose our child, but it made me, this experience made me stronger to keep fighting to have the reunitment of our family.

And those are some of the headlines. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Me Goodman. Israelis and Palestinians are marking three years since October 7, 2023. When Hamas and Allied groups launched a surprise attack on Israel, almost 1,200 people were killed in the attack. About 250 were taken hostage. It was the deadliest such attack in Israel's history. In Gaza, October 7th is viewed as the beginning of the genocide. Over the past three years, Israel's killed over 74,000 people in Gaza, according to its health ministry. But many believe that number is a vast undercount. The killing continues despite a so-called ceasefire. Most of Gaza remains in rubble. We'll go to Gaza later in the program, but we begin in Israel, where a moment of silence was held to remember

the victims of the October 7th attack in southern Israel, mourners gathered near Kibbutzrim to commemorate hundreds of people who were killed and abducted at the Nova Music Festival. During a moment of silence, the booms of Israeli airstrikes and the nearby Gaza Strip could be heard ringing out. We're joined now by the Israeli peace activist Maozinaan. He lost both of his parents, Bilhaniakovi-inan. in the Hamas attack. His parents lived on a kibbutz, a farming collective just north of the Gaza border. They were 78 and 76 years old. In the aftermath of the attack, Inon called for peace and reconciliation rather than revenge. Maozinaan has spent much of the past year, of the past three years,

working closely with Palestinian peace activists Aziz Abusara, whose brother, died. in 1990 from injuries from his time in an Israeli prison. Last month, they addressed the United Nations Security Council. This is Mao Zinan. To build a different future, we must face reality. Hamas committed atrocious war crime on October 7, killing and abducting innocent Israeli. At the same time, the Israeli government exploited these atrocities to wage a devastating war of revenge. They have inflicted catastrophic destruction across Gaza while accelerating ethnic cleansing, settlement expansion, and forced displacement in the West Bank.

They weaponized our pain. But our grief must not be an excuse for war. It must be the catalyst to end the bloodshed. We believe this is not Israelis versus Palestinians. It is a choice between those who believe in peace. justice, and equality, and those who don't. We call for targeted sanctions on all individuals and institutions that support violence. Apply sanctions without partiality.

That was Palestinian peace activist Aziz Abu Sara and Israeli peace activist Maozinan addressing the United Nations just a few weeks ago. They co-authored the book, The Future is Peace, a shared journey across the Holy Just this morning on the anniversary of October 7th, the anniversary of his parents' deaths, Maoz-I-Nan gathered with family at the ruins of his parents' home at their kibbutz. He sent us this clip. This is what remains from my parents' house, only the foundation. The entire house was burned to ashes.

We put a memorial plaque for them. it's on the safe room the only thing that remain. Maozinaan joins us now from Eshklan. Welcome back to Democracy Now. Thank you so much for joining us on this very difficult day for you and your family and so many. Both of your parents killed on October 7, 2023. Your thoughts today, Maoz. First, Amy, I would like to thank you personally.

and the entire team, a democracy now, for supporting from being there for me and for so many peacemakers, both in Israel and Palestine. And this maybe was what motivated me the most to join today in this difficult date. They, just to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being there with us in the devastating three years that we've been going through. And this is exactly the thoughts that going through me and with the tears and all the

emotions that are coming that we deserve a different reality. We must stop the sounds of bombs

and start hearing the sounds of children's playing. And we all deserve it if it's

Palestinian kids or Israeli kids, they all deserve to live within security, within his

dignity and to have a home. A safe place to go to bed at night and to wake up in the morning with a smile and to be with their beloved and supporting family.

And we must work as out as we can to achieve it as soon as possible. If you can talk about what happened in those days after you were in mourning with your family and you get this note from Aziz Abu Sara, who also lost his brother. in that after brutality in an Israeli prison. And what that meant to you and the journey you've been on since? Yeah.

So two days after October 7th, me and my siblings were just sitting and crying and holding end. And my young brother told us we must make a family decision based on moral clarity that we are rejecting revenge, that we don't want to avenge to avenge the death of our parents and explain that it's not going to bring them back to life. It will only escalate the cycle of bloodshed with Israelis and Palestinian, being trapped within for a century. And a day after, as I waking up, crying in bed,

I saw a message from Aziz, whom I met only briefly in 2014, maybe for 10 minutes in Jerusalem, and on his message, Aziz shared his offer his condolence. And he says that he's standing with me and with my family in this tragic moment. And it was literally, it's not a metaphor, it was literally like a hand. reaching out, saving me from droning, drowning into the ocean of sorrow and pain. I was literally drowning.

And Aziz, it was my saver. It was my saver. And in the last three years, working together, quartering the future is peace, starting our own NGO international. I can now say, and I'm so proud to say it again and again, that, yes, I lost not only my parents,

I lost many of the hundreds of numbers for you and for our viewers, they are a number for me, they are childhood friends. There are people I knew my entire life that lost their life on October 7th. So I lost so much, but I won't Aziz as a brother. And this brotherhood is what keeps me going, keep us going, to achieve a better future, not just for ourselves, but to our people. In 2024, you and the Palestinian peace activists you're talking about, Aziz Abusara, met with Pope Francis, and then in 2025 you met with Pope Leo?

What did you say to him? And what are you calling for? What are you saying should happen right now? Yeah. So we shared with him how we channeled our pain and suffering and loss to create a dialogue to achieve a better future in the Holy Land. And Pope Francis asks us, how can I help you? How can I be your ambassador?

and we ask him to amplify our messages and that the question should not be if but when, when the Israeli-Palestrian conflict will end. And we ask him to be our ambassador, our ambassador to the G7 leadership gathering that was a few weeks after in southern Italy. And he went there as our ambassador, and he was able to achieve in the official communique

of the G7 leader, the language of the Israeli-Palestrian, civil society language that the G7 countries must support the civil society in Israel and Palestine to achieve lasting peace and to invest in reconciliation. Based on that, the EU created a peace fund with 18 million euro that is now supporting the civil society. And a few months ago, UK, Canada and Australia initiated another peace fund and we are calling the G7, we are calling, of course, the U.S. and the EU to invest in peace, to invest in

reconciliation and in the civil society in Israel and Palestine. And while in one hand, investing and supporting peacemaker, in the other end, those who choose ethical cleansing, those who choose a bloodshed, those who choose destruction must be sanctions. They must be accountable for the wrongdoing. And this is basically what Aziz and I and so many other been advocating for the last three years. I want to turn to

Aziz Abu Saara. This is a message he posted on Instagram yesterday. I woke up this morning to the horrible news that Israel demolished the house of my niece, Razan. She, her husband, her children,

and nine other families in Israel are some were rendered homeless. Imagine having to work all your life as Razan has done with her husband so hard. Save every penny so you can finally have an apartment you own and then it's all gone. Just a few days ago, Betel Smootrich and Israeli ministers said that the way to get rid of Palestinians is to deprive them from hope. And this is exactly what the government did today. is to deprive my family from hope. Benghvir himself came with the demolition party, with the Israeli police,

so he can be there to witness it and to participate in demolishing the house. But you know what? This will not succeed. So that was Aziz Abusara, your Palestinian peace partner as you travel the world. What more do you know about what's happening, what's happened to his family and what's happening in the West Bank. We just got this report. Armed settlers, Israeli settlers beat a photographer in the presence of Israeli soldiers, hospitalizing him as he covered worsening settler violence against the olive farmers in the West Bank, Jafar Astia, 58-year-old veteran

photographer with AFP, that's Agen's France Press, was assaulted by a group of settlers. They beat him with their rifle butts, despite him being marked as press, assaulted in full view. of about a dozen Israeli soldiers. Talk about the situation. Also, Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, addressing the nation today and what his message was. Can you hear me, Mao?

No, I can. First, I'm not listening to Benjamin Netanyahu. He is not my leader. He's not my prime minister. He's accused for being a war criminal. And I think he should clear his name. at the ICC and ICJ it's not for me to

talk about him and it's exactly what what's happening nowadays and including to Aziz and this is exactly what we say the UN Security Council that the Israeli government exploited the trauma

the pain, the fear of the Israelis after the October 7th massacre to change the status quo from conflict management to ethical cleansing and it's happening in the West Bank, it's happening in East Jerusalem,

and it's happening in now more than 70% of the Gaza Strip. And this is what we are calling for international intervention, because they are doing it, the producers and the assault rifles. Many of them are manufactured by American companies. So we are calling, where is the international law will be applied against Israeli terrorists. Terrorists, it doesn't matter if they are cabinet members, they are prime ministers or IDF soldiers. And this is exactly why the work we are doing must be amplified and not to give hope,

not to give hope about the Israelis and Palestinian, but to act. We had enough empty statements. We have enough prayers. We have enough world leader that crossed their finger for us. But crossing fingers is not enough. We need action and we need to say them on the, the freedom on the ground. Maozina, I want to thank you for being with us,

Israeli peace activists and co-author with Palestinian peace activist Aziz Abu Sara. Author of the book, The Future is Peace, a shared journey across the Holy Land. Maozinaan lost both his parents, Bilha and Yokovi-Inan, in the attack on October 7, 2023. He spoke to us from Ashkelan.

Coming up, Marwan Bashara, author of the new book, Twelve Days that Shook the Middle East origins of a genocide. And then we go directly to Gaza. Stay with us. I'm Amy Goodman. Twelve Days That Shook the Middle East Origins of a Genocide. That's the title of a new book by the Al Jazeera Senior Political Analyst Marwan Basharra. In the opening pages, he writes, 12 days were enough. It took no more than 12 days from Netanyahu's October 7th war speech to Biden's October 19th,

rare Oval Office speech to expose the anatomy of Israel's war, its intended strategy and the method of its madness, the genocide was not a slip. It was the result of a predetermined strategy for which there existed a blueprint, if not a premeditated, decision. Hamas had set the process in motion on October 7th. It lost control of that process the very same day. Marwan Basharra has been with Al Jazeera for more than 20 years, has written three books and written for many publications, joining us now from Paris, France. Marwan, congratulations on your book. Thank you for joining us. If you can talk about that quote and say,

you say, Hamas said the process in motion October 7th and immediately lost control of that process. What do you mean? Yes, absolutely. Clearly the attack of October 7 was the trigger for what came after. and my argument is that we know about what came after basically the past two or three years from those very first 12 days after October 7. And it started with ideology. You know, genocides don't start with bombs. They start with ideology. And in this case, the ideology has been decades in the making, a century, I would even say,

in the making in the sense of the establishment of a racist supremacist, system, regime that had been in control of Palestinians and Palestinian life and destiny for the past 80 years, occupying them and dispossessing them and discriminating against them. This has been going on for many decades. So that was already intact on the eve of October 7, October 8. And then there was the dehumanization immediately after October 7, October 8, 9, 10, we've saw. this extraordinary campaign of dehumanization of the Palestinians as animals, Nazi-like. You cannot deal with them. They don't understand. They are primitive. They only understand the language of force and violence and so on so forth. After that immediately came the hyperbole,

the exaggeration of what exactly happened on October 7. October 7 was bloody and it was horrific. And your earlier guests testified to the fact that this was not easy for hundreds of Israeli civilians. But Netanyahu and his government had to go overboard to exaggerate, to lie, to deceive about what exactly happened. And they're wrong in it as well invoking the so-called Hannibal Docton, where they themselves joined the bombing of those involved in the conflict during October 7. Marwan, explain the Hannibal Doctrine. So the Hannibal Doctrine was something that was invoked in the early 1980s by the Israeli military saying, we cannot afford to have Israeli soldiers being captured because then we're going to have to negotiate their release, and that will cost us Palestinian or, in that case, Lebanese prisoners in Israeli jails.

So because they did not want to release Palestinian or Lebanese prisoners, they decided that if anyone, Israeli soldier, later on civilian, is captured by any kidnappers that the Israeli military then will take extraordinary measure to kill the operation, including if it need be to kill the soldier, the Israeli soldier, the Israeli civilian. So on October 7, immediately after the war, after the operation started, in the early hours of the morning of October 7, apparently the Israeli military invoked the Hannibal doctrine and Israeli aircrafts, jet, you know, bombers and tanks started carrying attacks against suspected conflict zones, whether it's kibbutz or settlements or whether it is convoys going back to Gaza. So the invocation of that, of that controversial

military order clearly led to the death of perhaps hundreds of Israeli civilians and many as well among the Palestinians, whether it's Hamas or any of those Palestinians who came into Gaza. All of that, you know, taking that in consideration, what happened soon after that is the worst part of it, right? The establishment of a war cabinet, the declaration of war, the deployment of 100,000 soldiers on the border with Gaza, the recall of 350,000 reservists from the Israeli army, and setting up a strategy under the rubric of lethality, which has been developed over many years of wars in Gaza,

and lethality is the one that involved mass destruction, not discriminant destruction, that involved the use of the so-called lavender system, gospel system, where's my daddy, your daddy system, and so and so forth, that would actually lead to massive devastation of Gaza. And that's where the intention came. They've said it in press conferences, in war rooms. They've said it in public, in declarations,

ministers and opposition leaders about why there is no innocence in Gaza and why we're going to have to burn one of them. Some of them spoke about nuking them. Some of them spoke about nothing is going to be left standing in Gaza. We're going to turn it into a deserted strip. And all of these things were then repeated by the soldiers, not only as slogans, but even as songs, repeated by the soldiers. So the orders went down, the hierarchy from the government ministers to the army and was implemented by the generals who boasted. of bombing Gaza back to the Stone Age. And they certainly try to do that.

If you can talk about what is the power that the U.S. has over Israel. You know, many said, for example, with the Iran War, that Israel brought the U.S. into it. But do you see it in that way? And what about Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, just visiting with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, also meeting directly with Hamas, but not meeting with the head of the PA, the Palestinian Authority. And if you can talk about where all of this stands right now, as people stood with a moment of silence on this October 7th, people at the music festival, Israelis, mourning the dead, they could have. hear the boom of Israeli airstrikes continuing in Gaza. Talk about the Board of Peace. Talk about the Palestinian government that was set up in exile in Cairo still not allowed to

come into Gaza by Israel. So let's start with the most relevant to the issue at hand, which is by the administration first, right? Because nowadays, anywhere you look in the Atlantic, where you are, the Atlantic magazine or the New Yorker or the New York Times or even, you know, hosted by our brilliant or your brilliant anchor, John Stewart, you have these former Biden administration officials trying to whitewash their record. They lie, they deceive and they continue to claim no responsibility for the genocide that actually took place in Gaza over the past three years. but they are directly responsible. Not only they aided and abated,

they were part of the operation taking place in Gaza the past two years, part of the war. They were in the war cabinet meetings. President Biden himself attended the war cabinet meetings on October 18 back in 2003. Lloyd Austin, the Secretary of Defense, attended war meetings. Secretary Blinken attended war meetings.

So when you watch people like Jake Sullivan, the former National Security Advisor, sitting on John Stewart's show talking about how they tried their best to have a ceasefire and they really put pressure on the Israeli government and they succeeded, you know, 15 months later, it's all humbug. It's all BS. They were part and parcel. The banality of evil wasn't in Israel. It was in Washington because the kind of support that Washington provided to Israel, diplomatic support, financial support, military support. They were talking about we were trying to help the Palestinians while actually giving Israel the arms to shoot the Palestinians before sending them in the band-dates to take care of their injuries. So Washington, in that sense, in the sense of the Biden administration and officials, were part and parcel, were complicit.

we're cooperating, coordinating the war effort that actually was a genocidal war in Gaza. We really must underline that because we are seeing history rewritten as we speak. In the U.S. publications, as I remember it after the 2003 war, when many of that, then the Bush administration tried to whitewash their crimes and the journalists who supported that war, just like those who supported the war in Gaza are now trying to watch white-wise the record. I wanted to go to the former top State Department official under President Biden admitting a genocide has taken place in Gaza.

Wendy Sherman serves as Deputy Secretary of State until her retirement in July 2023. She spoke on a Bloomberg podcast. I think that it is critical that Israel remain an ally of the United States. and that we protect the right of a Jewish state. But I also believe that the prime minister has led us down a road, and we have been part of it that has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza. And then there's former State Department spokesperson Matt Miller,

who spent more than a year as the face of the Biden administration's foreign policy and repeatedly defended Israel against allegations of war. war crimes and genocide in Gaza. He later admitted on a podcast interview with Sky News that, yes, Israel committed war crimes. I don't think it's a genocide, but I think it is without a doubt true that Israel has committed war crimes. You wouldn't have said that at the podium. Yeah, look, because when you're at the podium, you're not expressing your personal opinion.

You're expressing the conclusions of the United States government. And then you have Brett McGurk, who's just come out with his news. book. It's called Brink. The headline in the New York Times, ready to blow his stack, how Biden nearly cut off Netanyahu over Gaza. And that's talking about what Magirc is saying in his book, Marwan Basharra. Take it through to the Trump administration now. Yes. There's no doubt that even according to McGurk and, so, Sullivan, that they paved the way for the Trump administration's take over the war effort, that they pave the way in the worst possible manner for the Trump administration then to

take it on and to do whatever it wants, including the weaponization of hunger and the weaponization of the food aid to the Palestinian people. I mean, we sunk into a whole new abyss with the Trump administration. During the Biden administration, the United States, was basically complicit in genocide. During the Trump administration, on the very first few days when it took over, they started talking about ethnically cleansing Gaza, out in the open. President Trump spoke of ethnically cleansing Gaza, the entire Gaza Strait, in order to have a beachside property called Trump land or whatever or called, you know, the New Riviera in the east. So the cynicism that the Trump administration built in its first year with the Trump administration,

the Gaza issue, taking up the mantle from the Biden administration, that was really, you know, just so depressing to watch in the sense that from one administration to another administration, we see complicity with genocide. We see the United States aiding an Israeli government, protecting an Israeli government, and instead of having them stand up for the responsibility for the war crimes, they attack the international criminal court and the international court of justice, which is unprecedented for an American president, for the United States, to be so hostile to international law, international legality, international institutions, the United Nations, even the United Nations, you know, relief agency like UNRWA and so forth that were indispensable

for the people in Gaza when the policy was to starve them, to bomb. their bakeries and schools and universities to turn their schoolyards into graveyards. You at least needed something like Onurwa. But no, Onurwa has to be demonized. Honorua has to be cut down to size. Onoah has to be blocked and to be, again, demonized by not only Israel, but also by the United States. So the Trump administration did everything possible in over to achieve some sort of an Israeli

victory and a Hamas surrender. and forced the United Nations Security Council to adopt a resolution, which to my mind, Amy, is illegal. And I say that not being a legal scholar, but certainly being a student of history. The United Nations Security Council, under pressure from the administration, and because the genocide was going on and they had to do something, they adopted a resolution that recognized the border peace without this board of peace ever being defined. without knowing zero about what is this border peace. So they adopted the resolution,

and this allowed the Trump administration then to go on and to define this border peace as it wishes, including appointing President Trump as a life member that heads it, and Netanyahu, of course, and Putin as members of the World of Peace. So you can imagine the surrealism, right, behind this kind of an effort in order to turn a two-year genocide into a mockery of international law. Marwan Basharra, there is so much to talk about and so little time, and we want to get directly on

the ground to Gaza. So I want to thank you for being with us, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, author of the new book, Twelve Days That Shuck the Middle East, Origins of a Genocide. Coming up, we go to Gaza City to speak with journalist Akram, Saffery. Stay with us. That the danger by the Palestinian Oude musician Hu da Asford performing in our Democracy Now studio. This is Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org. I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show in Gaza, where today's date, October 7th, as seen as the beginning of Israel's genocide, and the three years since the Hamas attack on Israel that killed nearly 1,200 people,

Israeli forces have killed over 74,000 Palestinians. Many believe the death toll is a vast undercount. This is a displaced Palestinian from Baitranaun speaking today in Gaza City. The worst three years that have passed in our lives. There is no life, no living, no food, no basic necessities of life. We wait for water from 5 to 10 o'clock, and we are living in the streets, homeless, tired, worn out. I mean, a life worse than this? We are not living, my friend.

We are dead in Gaza. We go now to Gaza City, where we're joined by journalists Akram Asatari. I want to thank you so much for being with us. We spoke to you a few years ago as a journalist. You then went on to work with a humanitarian aid organization for several years. Now we're back being able to speak to you in Gaza City. Can you describe what's happening on the ground? We just reported that as Israelis mourn the dead at the music site in southern Israel, they could hear the booms of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip right nearby. Tell us what's happening where you are, Akram.

Well, October 7th was a day when Gaza changed once and forever. The way Palestinians have been living has changed. The way Palestinians have been managing their life has changed as well. the way Palestinians were defining their life has changed. The Palestinians now are living in a de facto that has redefined everything. Their understanding of life, their way of running and managing that life, their way to access things, their way to live, their way to stay in homes,

their way to live in tents. Every single aspect of the life of the people of Gaza has changed once and forever. Around 85% of the built environment in Gaza is already destroyed. Around 74% of the land of the Gaza Strip is also controlled by Israel and the IDF. Gazans have been struggling to access water

and to access food. They have been facing significant public health hazards because of the fact that they were consuming water that was not properly treated. Organizations have been struggling for the sake of helping the people of Gaza. Statements were made by international and UN figures, diplomats all over the world, condemning the situation that has been going on, calling for Gazans to live and lead a normal life.

Unfortunately, for the third year now, and on October 7th, Gazans are remanded by the fact that they have been living in death and fear, destruction and displacement. Another Gazan was killed a couple of hours ago in Khan Yunus refugee camp, 60-year-old Gaza. that was targeted by IDF. Yesterday, another Palestinian was targeted in Ashata, the beach camp, by another drone strike, and he also lost his life. Several people were injured.

The people who are living in the tents with no even minimum standard for living are living in exacerbating safety and security risks. They, significant proportion of them, is still not reunion with their families that are outside of the Gaza Strip, and some of them, also significant part of them, around 8,000 families are not aware about the whereabouts of the bodies of their missed family members. Around 250 journalists were killed.

As you said, 74,000 gauzans were confirmed to be dead while the number is much higher. Around 8,000 people are not 8,000 gosans are dead, but the bodies are not discovered dead. The gauzans who were worried about their deers were organizing. Mass, funerals for 150 bodies, for two bodies, were the memories that were remaining from the people, where their remains, their clothes, their shoes, their watches, and anything simple, yet can give some comfort to the ones who were not sure about the whereabouts of the bodies of their dears. The life in Gaza has changed forever. People are still struggling, and people are today reminded,

since last night, they reminded that the Israeli Air Force is still hovering all around different parts of the Gaza Strip and that the IDF is still hunting Gazans, disturbing. They already disturbed life, spreading death and displacement once and once again. Akram, I'm wondering if you can respond to the United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk, who's called Gaza a death trap for journalists. have been a journalist in Gaza for years. As you said, you lost 250, more than 250 colleagues. What has this meant, as the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu does not allow in international journalists, and then the Israeli military kills hundreds of Palestinian journalists?

The situation in Gaza is catastrophic as an overall situation when it comes to the general population, but there are some specific job-related hardships when it comes to the journalists. They were always there. They were the first responder, along with the medical teams, to cover the truth about the bombardments, and also the footage that were providing was used by very significant committees that were fact-finding and were hoping that they would condemn the occupation. That made them also be the brunt of most of the hostilities that were taking place in the Gaza Strip. that made them a target which were they were not supposed to be a target.

They were targeted while doing their job. Their job proved to be a dangerous job for the occupation because it has been exposing most of the atrocities that have been taking place. They have discovered the truth. They have also. They have widespread presence worldwide, even when they are very dedicated local Palestinian journalists

and the footage that have been provided, they have been frauded, was used and is still being used by diplomats, by INGO, by UN agencies, and that's why I believe they were classified as an enemy, and they have been paying that very heavy price that could reach their life being claimed by the ongoing war that has been merciless when it comes to them, when it comes to the paramedics, when it comes to the medical teams, and when it comes to also a humanitarian cruise who were trying to reach out for the people in need and alleviate a bit of their suffering.

Akram, you have worked in the humanitarian field for the last few years, according to the UN. Over 560 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza in the last three years. What has been most shocking to you about what you witnessed during this work? And what made you decide to go from being a journalist to a humanitarian worker and now back to being a journalist? As a matter of fact, I indeed was working for a humanitarian organization. I was hoping that by working with that organization, I'd be able to support the humanitarian effort. I would be able to contribute to alleviation of the suffering of the people.

And yes, indeed, I was very close to the people, some of the ex-prisoners who were released, not being very well-oriented to the situation. Some of them were with psychological situations. Some of them were unable to identify their families, some others, were not able to. able to move, some of them lost their limbs. I was there, I was hoping that I would help, and I was indeed helping with that organization, seeing the people recording their experiences, extending a helping hand when needed. Their organization was also helping the general population by empowering them, providing them with the very essential supplies, and I also managed to find

my way to still try to help people and extend a helping hand to them, even with me outside of that organization. I believe the humanitarian situation is very catastrophic and it is one of the direct results of October 7th for such a significant period of time. People were not allowed to access any kind of food supplies whatsoever in the Gaza North and some other times throughout the full Gaza Strip. People were deprived from the shelter, people were deprived of from the non-food items. More importantly, the tents that they're used as a temporary shelter for the people of Gaza, they told that has been endured. by the humanitarian workers is also very heavy.

More than 500 people were killed. Most of them were killed during their job, during the service, during reaching out to the community, or coming back from the internally displaced people camps. They were killed while cooking the food for the people in need when the food was extremely scarce. They were killed when they were reaching out for the children who are most vulnerable, for the elderly people, for the women,

for the IDPs in general, who are also, even if they are young, even if they are men, they are also vulnerable because of the very scarce situation that was endured in Gaza that is still very relevant to the day, to the day. So the situation is extremely there. The humanitarian workers have been trying to help and support the people, and they have already paid a heavy price, and they're still continuously paying that heavy price.

Some of them were injured, some others were not lucky enough to survive, but most of them are still determined to continue delivering the mandate and continue reaching out. supporting the people of Gaza. Despite the very difficult situation in Gaza, despite the fear of death and destruction, despite the fear of injury, despite the very lacking situation they have been living. When it comes to fuel, when it comes to movement of cars, when it comes to the condition of streets and buildings and camps, the humanitarian workers are courageously continuing to deliver their mandate, continue to work and continuing to see off their colleagues dying

and being buried without giving up that mandate and without giving up that Nobel mission. Something that should be acknowledged, something that should be appreciated, and they all know very well that they have been serving this noble notion of supporting and uplifting people and providing them with their very basic human right of access to food and supplies in a very critical conflict zone. Akramas Satri, I want to thank you so much for being with us. Be safe. Gaza-based journalists joining us today from Gaza City. That does it for our show.

Democracy Now is currently accepting applications for an individual giving manager to support our fundraising team. You can learn more at DemocracyNow.org. I'm on the road here in the United States on October 16th. We'll be at the Woodstock Film Festival for an afternoon panel. Then to Hollywood, California on October 22nd, October 23rd, at Stanford University, where the film steal the story, please. We'll be playing. We'll speak afterwards in the Q&A. On October 26 and 27th, University of Colorado Boulder,

Colorado State University of Fort Collins. I'm Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.