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Israel Under Pressure

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This week, Donald Trump broke with Benjamin Netanyahu over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Meanwhile, Trump fired the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics after the release of the latest jobs report.

“Unprecedented Power Grab”: Trump & Texas Try to Create 5 More GOP House Seats with New Gerrymander

President Trump is pushing for a major redrawing of Texas’s congressional districts to favor Republicans and shape the outcome of future elections, including next year’s midterms. Voting rights expert Ari Berman says this “unprecedented” Republican gerrymandering scheme manipulates an already-gerrymandered map that “limits democratic representation. It already limits representation for communities of color, and now that would be much worse.

“Toxic Air”: Meet the Mother-Daughter Duo Fighting Pollution in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley”

We’re joined by a mother-daughter duo from Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.” Roishetta and Kamea Ozane are part of a group of environmental activists on a national tour to confront the financial backers of destructive natural gas projects that have devastated their community. The “Toxic Billionaire Tour” is targeting the offices of major banks and the homes of executives, who “sit here in New York and in offices in D.C.

“A Danger to the Entire Planet”: Amid Deadly Extreme Weather, Trump’s EPA Rejects Climate Science

The Trump administration is attempting to revoke a landmark rule that allows the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from cars, power plants and other sources under the authority of the Clean Air Act. For over a decade, what is known as the “endangerment finding” has been one of the most important legal underpinnings in the federal effort to combat climate change.

As Canada, U.K. & France Move to Recognize Palestine, Two-State Solution Remains Taboo Inside Israel

Canada became the latest Western country this week to announce it will recognize the state of Palestine, joining the United Kingdom and France, as well as over 147 other countries that already recognize Palestinian statehood. Palestinian writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada says that while the recent moves are “largely symbolic” and filled with caveats and loopholes, it shows that global opinion is rapidly shifting.

NY Doctor Just Back from Gaza: Starvation Is Widespread & Undeniable, Despite Israeli PM Claims

Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip continue to kill and injure hundreds of Palestinians each day, including many people seeking aid amid deepening starvation across the territory. Despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that there is “no starvation” in Gaza, a U.S. doctor who just returned from Gaza says the reality is undeniable. “It was evident to me, in my firsthand experience, that what I was seeing was malnourishment in my patients,” says Dr.

UNRWA Rep Slams “Disaster” of Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, Says Aid Must Flow Without Restrictions

We speak with Juliette Touma, director of communications at UNRWA, about deepening starvation in Gaza. Israel has accused the United Nations agency of failing to distribute aid in Gaza, but Touma says Israel continues to block most supplies from entering the territory. Touma notes that there are 6,000 trucks filled with food, medical supplies and other necessities ready to enter Gaza.

“The Most Peaceful Man”: West Bank Mourns Odeh Hadalin, Palestinian Activist Killed by Israeli Settler

Family and friends are reeling after an Israeli settler shot and killed Palestinian activist Odeh Muhammad Hadalin, an athlete, teacher and father of three young children. Hadalin helped produce the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which follows Palestinians in the occupied West Bank community of Masafer Yatta as they struggle to stay on their land amid violent attacks by Jewish settlers.

“Beyond Atrocious”: Arwa Damon on Desperation & Hunger in Gaza as Israel Continues Blocking Most Aid

In Gaza, “the situation is beyond atrocious.” Aid worker Arwa Damon, a former CNN journalist and the founder of INARA, a nonprofit currently providing medical and mental healthcare to children in Gaza, describes the deadly lack of access to food, water and medicine in the besieged territory. The situation on the ground conflicts with the claims of Israeli officials, who are denying the existence of starvation conditions.

“Our Genocide”: Israeli Human Rights Groups Accuse Israel of Destroying Palestinian Society in Gaza

For the first time, two leading Israeli human rights groups — B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights Israel — have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. B’Tselem’s report, “Our Genocide,” says, “Israel is taking coordinated action to intentionally destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.” We speak with B’Tselem’s outreach director, Sarit Michaeli, in Tel Aviv, who says Israel’s actions in Gaza are “the textbook definition of genocide.

“Deliberate, Systematic Starvation”: Aid Leader Demands End to Israel’s War & Siege on Gaza

The Norwegian Refugee Council, one of the largest independent aid organizations in Gaza, says it has been unable to bring new supplies into the territory as starvation grows more dire for Palestinians. Democracy Now! speaks with Jan Egeland, NRC’s secretary general, who says Western powers who have been complicit in Israel’s blockade of Gaza have their “fingerprints … all over a crime scene, and history will judge.

“Designed as Death Traps”: Fmr. Green Beret Who Worked at Gaza Food Sites Reveals Rampant War Crimes

As more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid at militarized aid distribution sites run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a former GHF security contractor tells Democracy Now! he saw U.S. mercenaries and Israeli forces commit war crimes by indiscriminately shooting at starving Palestinians waiting for aid. “What I witnessed in Gaza, I can only describe as a dystopian, post-apocalyptic wasteland,” says Anthony Aguilar, a retired U.S.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Gaza Siege, American Killed by Israeli Settlers & Epstein’s Financial Network

Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, responds to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s latest attempt to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, the lethal beating of a U.S. citizen by Israeli civilians in the occupied West Bank and the Trump administration’s attempt to conceal information related to the federal criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein.

Gaza Flotilla Activist Slams “Israeli Piracy on the High Seas” After Aid Ship Seized in Int’l Waters

For the second time in as many months, Israel has raided a civilian ship in international waters to stop it from reaching Gaza to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid. The Handala was sailing toward the besieged Palestinian territory with baby formula, diapers, food and medicine on board when Israeli forces boarded it on Saturday and detained 21 crew and passengers.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib on Gaza Siege, American Killed by Israeli Settlers & Epstein’s Financial Network

Democratic Congressmember Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, the only Palestinian American member of Congress, responds to the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s latest attempt to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, the lethal beating of a U.S. citizen by Israeli civilians in the occupied West Bank and the Trump administration’s attempt to conceal information related to the federal criminal case against Jeffrey Epstein.

Freedom Flotilla Sails to Gaza to Break Israel’s “Engineered Famine”: Activist Huwaida Arraf

A second group of international activists with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition are en route to Gaza to challenge Israel’s blockade. Their ship, named the Handala, launched from Italy five days ago carrying humanitarian aid desperately needed by Gaza’s starving population. The Freedom Flotilla’s most recent attempt to deliver aid was prevented by the Israeli military when their ship was raided and seized in international waters. Seven out of the 21 volunteers aboard the Handala are U.S.