Up First from NPR - Fighting Resumes, Harris At Climate Summit, Remembering Sandra Day O'Connor

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

Fighting between Israel and Hamas has resumed after a seven-day pause. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. Sandra Day O'Connor is remembered as a champion of women in the law.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Fighting resumes between Israel and Hamas. It's a return to war after a week-long pause that saw hostages and prisoners released. Coming up, why the temporary truce ended and the efforts to revive it. I'm Asma Khalid. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. Dozens of hostages remain held by Hamas, and civilians in Gaza are back in the crossfire. We have the latest. Also, the U.S. and nearly 200 countries are meeting about the climate in the capital of a major oil exporter.

We'll bring you there. And a pioneer passes. I'm extremely happy and honored to have been nominated by President Reagan for a position on the United States Supreme Court. Remembering Sandra Day O'Connor. Stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today.

First up today, the war in Gaza and southern Israel. Fighting continued through the night after the week-long ceasefire collapse Friday. Israel has launched hundreds of airstrikes against Hamas targets. While Hamas fired rockets at Israel, including an attack on Tel Aviv intercepted by Israel's air defense system. International aid groups say there's already a severe humanitarian cost from the renewed fighting for the more than 2 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza. NPR's Brian Mann joins us now from Tel Aviv. Brian, it's good to have you with us. Hi, Asma. So to begin, can you tell us about the situation on the ground there?

Yeah, Gaza's been hit hard over the last 24 hours. Israel's military said this morning they've struck over 400 targets in operations that continued through the night, including an airstrike against a mosque that Israeli officials say was a command post for militants. Israeli officials say they launched more artillery strikes against Hamas today. In a statement, Hamas leaders blamed this resumption of fighting on Israel and said Hamas had been willing to prolong the truce. It is worth noting, though, that at the same time, Hamas was also taking

credit for and celebrating an attack by Palestinian gunmen in Jerusalem this last week that left three Israeli civilians dead. And Brian, what is Israel's goal as this fighting has resumed? I mean, how is the bombing also affecting Palestinian civilians who've been caught up in the war? So after the Hamas attack on Israel, October 7th, that killed roughly 1,200 Israelis, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this war is going to continue until Hamas is eliminated. But of course, hitting Hamas in the densely populated Gaza Strip means a lot of Palestinian civilians are getting hurt. NPR's producer in Gaza, Anas Baba, was in a hospital in Rafah in southern Gaza

as the wounded and dead from these strikes began to arrive. What I'm seeing in front of me is like a crowd of people from the families that mourns nine bodies from different families. We do have one, two, three children in front of me. He's describing their asthma seeing bodies coming into the hospital, including those of children. This morning, the Ministry of Health in Gaza reported nearly 200 Palestinians killed so far, more than 650 injured since the ceasefire ended. And Brian, you reported yesterday on this situation broadly

with Gaza's hospitals that they are near collapse and the lack of equipment and personnel to help all the sick and wounded. They don't have that. I mean, what did you learn? Yeah, everyone we spoke to, Asma, from frontline doctors in Gaza to World Health Organization experts, said the situation's grim. In addition to war trauma, the WHO reports a huge spike in illness, a lot of it because of the lack of safe drinking water for Palestinians. Speaking before the fighting resumed, Dr. Mohamed Yassouri at the Nasser Medical Center in Qanunis told NPR they were already overwhelmed. As a doctor, I have one message. We are in a catastrophe, disaster. And in a statement to NPR, Israeli officials acknowledged the suffering caused by the fighting

and the impact on these medical facilities. They blamed Hamas, saying Hamas fighters have been using these hospitals as cover for military command posts and secret tunnel complexes. Just briefly, Brian, during that pause in fighting, some Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were freed. What's happening now to those who were not freed during the temporary truce? Well, they're still being held both in Israeli jails and also in Gaza by Hamas, at least 137 Israeli hostages still held. I will say officials from Qatar and the U.S. have been trying to negotiate another truce, but earlier today, Prime Minister Netanyahu's office issued a statement saying those talks

are now at an impasse. That's where Vice President Harris is today. She's there to represent the United States at the UN's annual climate summit known as COP28. And while she's there, she's also talking to leaders about the conflict in the Middle East. White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram is traveling with the vice president and joins us now from Dubai. Thanks for joining us, Deepa. Hey, Asma. So it is the vice president's first time at this climate summit, and she's making announcements on new investments from the United States. Can you fill us in? What are the specific pledges?

Yeah, so there's a couple of things the U.S. is rolling out while at this climate summit. And the big one that Harris announced is a $3 billion pledge to the Green Climate Fund. And that's a U.N. fund that helps developing nations deal with the effects of climate change. I will note, though, that this is a pledge and that any new funding would have to be approved by Congress, which, of course, is a pretty tall order. Indeed. And Deepa, my understanding is this was not the only announcement the administration made at the COP summit today. What else did the Biden administration say? Right. There's a lot going on at the summit.

The EPA also announced new federal rules to curtail methane pollution from the oil and gas industries. There's an intent from the White House to show that they're trying to tackle the climate crisis on a lot of different fronts by taking government actions, for one, but also by holding big corporations accountable. And there's also an acknowledgment that there's still more to do. Here's what the vice president said on the main stage today. Today, we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this crisis. This is a pivotal moment. our action collectively, or worse, our inaction, will impact billions of people for decades to come. So Deepa, turning back to the political environment here in the United States, climate is a major issue for many young voters, and they have not been particularly impressed with the Biden administration's action or inaction to date. How do these politics come into play for the vice president while she's in Dubai? Yeah, I mean, it's very top of mind for the vice president while she's here in Dubai at COP 28.

A White House official told me that the criticism from younger voters and the younger generation, you know, coming at this administration actually can be helpful because it helps pressure and push for the government to make more progress. Harris has been trying to energize younger voters around the country because they're a really critical base for Democrats going into 2024. And it's not just climate policy they're unhappy about right now. It's also the way the administration has responded to the Israel-Hamas conflict. So I want to ask you a little bit more about that conflict. The vice president is also having meetings today with regional leaders about that conflict between Israel and Hamas and the fighting in Gaza. Who is she talking to and what are they hoping to achieve?

She's meeting with Egyptian President Sisi and she's meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah and UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed, who is, of course, hosting this climate summit here in Dubai. These meetings are all coming after Israel has resumed attacks on Gaza after that pause in the war. And the White House says Harris is looking to restore the pause, but she's also focused on what happens next in Gaza after the fighting ends. That's NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivram. Thanks so much, Deepa. Thank you. And finally, today on the podcast, Sandra Day O'Connor. O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, died Friday in Phoenix of complications related to advanced dementia and a respiratory illness. NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg covered O'Connor from the day President Reagan nominated her in 1981 through her 24 years on the court.

And she joins us now. Hi, Nina. Hi there, Aisha. Nina, you said in one of your obits yesterday that O'Connor was often called the most powerful woman in America. What did you mean by that? You know, she was so often the key player, the deciding vote, and the author of historic opinions in cases involving abortion, national security, campaign finance reform, separation of church and state, and of course, the case that decided the 2000 election, Bush versus Gore, which years later, she sort of hinted that she may have regretted. And while she was viewed as a conservative justice

who helped pull the court to the right, she was not doctrinaire. She was a realist, and she dealt with each case as it came, not with some sort of grand philosophical overview. The irony, of course, is that her retirement allowed President George W. Bush to appoint a far more conservative justice, Samuel Alito, in her place, an appointment that she privately viewed with some restrained disdain. Well, talk a little bit more about what kind of judge she was. Her approach was, look, let's just deal with this case before us. Make as few sweeping rules as possible and leave the door open for future changes in different sets of circumstances. So, as an example, she succeeded in both preserving the core of Roe v. Wade,

but allowing states more room to regulate abortions as long as those regulations didn't impose what she called an undue burden on a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy. The particular case in which she helped cobble together that decision held that a Pennsylvania law requiring women to inform their husbands before having an abortion violated the women's right to make a decision. And the particular point that she made was that the wife or partner of an abusive husband could risk a beating or worse if she were to inform her husband. Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code. We reaffirm the constitutionally protected liberty of the woman to decide to have an abortion before the fetus attains viability and to obtain it without undue interference

from the state. Of course, the man who would replace her, Samuel Alito, took exactly the opposite position on the lower court, and he would later be the author of the decision reversing not just Roe v. Wade, but O'Connor's narrower decisions on reproductive freedom. For younger people, I think it may be hard for them to really wrap their heads around the enormous impact O'Connor had, not just on the law, but on the role of women in law, right? You know, her career, like Justice Ginsburg's, spanned and, in truth, provoked huge changes for women. When O'Connor graduated from Stanford Law School at almost the top of her class, she was just 22 and had no idea how hard it would be for a woman to get a job as a

lawyer. Finally, in desperation, she wrote to the San Mateo, California county attorney with an offer that she hoped he couldn't refuse. I wrote him a very long letter explaining all the reasons why I thought that I would be helpful to him in the office and offering to work for nothing if that was necessary. It was necessary initially, but soon she was put on salary. And when she and her husband moved to Arizona, she continued practicing law, raising three sons, and became a major figure in the state Republican Party, becoming the state Senate majority leader. Eventually, though, she walked away from politics to become a state court trial and mid-level appellate judge. And when President

Reagan appointed her to the Supreme Court, she was both thrilled and terrified. If I stumbled, she said, it would make life much more difficult for women. As it turned out, of course, O'Connor's appointment gave a huge boost to women in the law. The minute I was confirmed and on the court, states across the country started putting more women on than had ever been the case on their Supreme Courts. And it made a difference in the acceptance of young women as lawyers. It opened doors for them. It certainly did. That's NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been my pleasure. And that is Up First for Saturday, December 2nd, 2023. I'm Asma Khalid. And I'm Aisha Roscoe. Fernando Naro, Lennon Sherburn, and Hiba Ahmad produced today's podcast.

Don Clyde, Roberta Rampton, Krishna Dev Kalimer, and Ed McNulty edited. Our director is Andrew Craig with engineering support from Hannah Glovna. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Oliver is our executive producer. And Jim Kane is our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow on Up First, all the only ones. A look at today's trans youth, and a look back at some of the first trans youth to be documented in the country. And for more news, interviews, books, and music, tune into Weekend Edition this weekend.

Find your NPR stations at stations.npr.org.