03/08/24 03/08/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! pres. biden: those bragging about overturning roe v. wade have no clue about the power of women but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot. we will win again in 2024.

amy: president biden delivers his state of the union. we will play excerpts. and on this international women's day, get response from the nation publisher katrina vanden heuvel, israeli peace activist neta heiman mina whose mother was a hostage in gaza, and palestinian egyptian american university of chicago professor eman abdelhadi who gave an alternate sotu last night called "the state of genocide." >> tonight's state of the union is a state of the genocide because our leaders have followed a familiar playbook, investing in power, money, and blood at the expense of humanity. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden delivered the state of the union thursday as

he faces the likely prospect of an election re-match with donald trump in november and amid mounting public anger over his enabling of israel's assault on gaza. biden announced plans to tax the wealthy, valid to restore federal abortion rights, and touted his record on relaxing federal marijuana restrictions and punishments. but he also doubled down on his efforts to pass a hardline border and immigration crackdown and repeated far-right congressmember marjorie taylor greene's use of the term "illegal" after she heckled him during the speech over the death of a georgia woman that was allegedly killed by an document immigrant. biden held up a pen with the killed woman's name on it and addressed his age and welcomed sweden as the newest member of nato following its formal entry into the military alliance earlier in the day.

the swedish prime minister ulf kristersson sat next to jill biden as one of her guests. president biden also announced plans for a new port to deliver humanitarian aid to gaza. pres. biden: tonight i am directing the u.s. military to lead a mercy mission to establish a temporary pier on the mediterranean on the coast of gaza that can receive large shipments occurring food, water, medicine, and temporary shelters. amy: as they watched, progressive lawmakers cori bush, summer lee, ilhan omar, and rashida tlaib -- the only palestinian-american in congress -- held up signs reading " lasting ceasefire now" and "stop sending bombs." they also donned palestinian kafiahs. many democratic women were white in honor of the suffragettes. today is international women's

day. we will have more on the state of the union after headlines. ahead of last night state of the union, hundreds of protesters blockaded roads outside the white house and near the capitol, delaying president biden's speech. this is ahmad abuznaid with the u.s. campaign for palestinian rights speaking on what one of the shut down streets. >> president biden is talking about getting aid into gaza, but stopped to genocide and palestinians will build our own. amy: activists also delivered their own people's state of the union thursday night. this is sumaya awad from the adalah justice project. >> we are out here representing the majority of americans who have made it clear time and again in the last five months that they demand a ceasefire now.

that they demand no more weapons to israel. the majority of the people in this country want taxpayer dollars invested in life not in genocide, not in war. amy: protests took place elsewhere across the country, including chicago, where a coalition of activists held a "state of the genocide." participants observed a 24 hour vigil in federal plaza, reading aloud the names of over 30,000 palestinians killed by israel in the last five months. one of the participants in the state of the genocide event will be joining us today after the headlines. in gaza, the health ministry says israeli attacks have killed at least 78 people and wounded more than 100 over the past day. in the southern city of rafah, at least five people were killed

in an israeli airstrike. as they deplored the destruction, people at the scene blasted biden's plans for an aid port. >> instead of telling us they will build a port to help us, stop biting the weapons they throw at us. american weapons are killing our kids and killing us wherever we go. we don't need aid, we need them to stop the killing, stop the death. wherever we go, we find death. amy: u.n. experts are calling for a probe into reports of sexual assault, torture, and killing of palestinian women prisoners by israeli forces. the palestinian prisoner society says an estimated 240 palestinian women have been detained since october 7. some of the released women have since spoken out on their traumatic experience. this is hadeel al-dahdouh, who was rounded up and arrested with a group of men in gaza in december. >> they put me in the young men

in a hole in the ground. the young men were sitting opposite me. one of the soldiers took off my hijab. i was afraid. i asked him if i could have a pack. he started to laugh at me and refused to put it back on. in that instance, i was afraid and anxious. my husband was beaten. a soldier fired twice in the air and told me, "i killed your husband." i was trying to get away while i was handcuffed at the tank kept getting closer to us. i started crying, asking the soldiers what he would do to us. he said, "i want to bury you alive in the hole and let the dogs beat you." amy: in the occupied west bank, israel is moving ahead with plans to create another 3400 homes in illegal settlements, despite condemnation from the u.s. and other allies. the settlements are a violation of international law. "the wall street journal"

recently published a video showing the surge in illegal settlement building, with new roads and outposts mushrooming in the west bank since october 7. palestinian officials have pushed back on the illegal construction, but the vast majority of it has gone unreported or unpunished by the israeli government. in nigeria, at least 275 students are missing after dozens of gunmen attacked their school in the north-western town of kuriga thursday, kidnapping children between the ages of eight and 15. no group has claimed responsibility. this is the second mass abduction in nigeria in less than a week. >> how can these gunmen come and carry our children? this is the reason why i am so sad. this is our village. please, your excellency, help us. amy: a search and rescue team has been deployed. abductions of students have become more frequent in recent

years where armed groups target local residents for large ransoms. mali, niger, and burkina faso are launching a joint security force to combat rising extremist violence in their countries. the three nations had already formed a security alliance after severing military ties with their former colonizer, france, and others since military juntas took over following a series of recent coups in the sahel region. this comes days after a public prosecutor said at least 170 people were executed in three attacks in the northern yatenga province. violence carried out by militants linked to al-qaeda and the islamic state has been on the rise, forcing millions in burkina faso to flee their homes. in senegal, president macky sall announced a new presidential election date march 24. tensions have been mounting in senegal since president sall postponed the election last month, triggering mass protests,

mass arrests, and accusations by opposition politicians that sall was orchestrating a constitutional coup. president sall's term ends on april 2. haiti's government has extended a state of emergency until april . u.n. officials warn haiti's health system is nearing collapse due to shortages of staff, equipment, and other resources to treat a growing number of wounded patients as gang unrest continues demanding the resignation of un-elected haitian prime minister ariel henry. many have also denounced police violence against local residents. >> this situation in the country is critical. people could no longer go about their business. our children could no longer go to school. no one can move around the country. recently, tear gas grenade thrown by the police hit a journalist in the eye. today there questioning

activists. we have a prime minister, we don't know if he is dead or alive because he is lost in the wild. amy: henry has still not returned to haiti. he is reportedly in puerto rico after coming back from kenya. india's prime minister narendra modi traveled to the disputed kashmir region thursday since his government stripped the muslim-majority region of its semi-autonomous status in 2019. the decision by hailed by hindu nationalists. modi addressed a crowd in kashmir's largest city srinagar. >> there's no article 370 today and that is why the talent is being recognized and respected. today there are equal rights and opportunities for everyone here. amy: rights groups have denounced modi's intensifying crackdown on journalists and dissidents in jammu and kashmir. in hong kong, lawmakers published a draft of a new

national security law that further cracks down on dissent and free speech. the law expands the definition of certain offenses and targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, theft of state secrets, and espionage. the draft law also imposes harsher penalties for these offenses, including life imprisonment in some cases. the bill is expected to pass swiftly as only beijing-aligned lawmakers have been permitted to run in hong kong elections since 2021. back in the united states, a federal appeals court has dismissed a child labor case which sought to hold big tech accountable for the abuse of children forced to work in cobalt mines in the democratic republic of the congo. companies including apple, microsoft, tesla, and google rely on cobalt to make the rechargeable lithium batteries used in their products but have argued they merely have a buyer-seller relationship with cobalt suppliers and have no power to stop child labor.

the two companies named in the lawsuit are u.k.-based glencore and chinese company zhejiang huayou cobalt. circuit judge neomi rao acknowledged the tech giants are aware of the child exploitation and that they "intentionally use a murky supply chain to obscure the extent to which they rely on forced labor." the group international right advocates, which brought the lawsuit, says it is considering an appeal. in labor news, google has come under fire after laying off dozens of unionized contract workers in a likely act of retaliation. the workers were made aware of their firing as they spoke last week in front of the austin city council in texas, which was preparing to vote on a resolution in support of their efforts to negotiate with google. >> there are less then 50 of us, two of the largest corporations in the world. to be supported by the city of austin and also our allies in

the labor community, it gives us the motivation to keep this fight going. >> they just laid us all off. >> oh. >> effective immediately. >> wow. >> i'm sorry, your time is expired. amy: the workers, who oversee the youtube music platform, voted to join the alphabet workers union last year. since then, google has refused to bargain with the workers because they are subcontracted through another company. this, despite the national labor relations board ruling google is a co-employer and must bargain with the group. google claims the unionized workers were let go because their contract had ended, even though it was routinely renewed and google has a track record of firing workers during labor organizing efforts. an autopsy report reveals tissue samples from the brain of an army reservist who killed 18 people during a mass shooting in

lewiston, maine, last october at a bowling alley showed signs of traumatic brain injury. robert card was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot two days later. the 40-year-old worked at an army hand grenade training range and is thought to have been exposed to thousands of low-level blasts. the findings came as a commission investigating the mass shooting is hearing testimony from several of card's former army colleagues. leading up to the shooting, maine police had been alerted gunmen was a possible danger after he threatened to shoot up his military base. in election news, president biden won wednesday's low-turnout primary in hawaii. "uncommitted" received its highest percentage of votes yet with roughly 29% of democratic ballots. the food and drug administration has issued an advisory for six brands of ground cinnamon due to lead contamination. the brands are la fiesta, marcum, mk, swad, supreme tradition, and eli chilar. the fda said the lead levels in

these products are much lower than those found in cinnamon apple sauce pouches that were recalled last fall. long-term lead exposure can pose significant health risks, especially for children. it has been linked to slower development, brain and nervous system damage, behavioral and learning problems, and hearing and speech problems. and today marks international women's day. rallies and other actions are planned across the globe. but in a makeshift camp in southern gaza's rafah city, displaced palestinian women say they are not celebrating this year as they struggle to survive amid war, hunger, illness, and grief. these are some of their voices. >> women's day is outside of palestine. in palestine, we do not have women stay, especially in gaza. women no longer have an identity here. before october 7, women had a good quality of life in their homes. they were secure and happy. after october 7, there are no

longer any women. >> women cannot hold on to their children. houses have been bombed. this is a war of extermination. these are people. they have all been destroyed. every generation is killed. every generation grows up and is killed. are they not humans? you bring up your child and within minutes he is gone and the house he is in is gone. >> we suffer from violence, sadness, injustice, humiliation, from the hardest forms of torture at the hands of the occupation. i wish on international women's day is for this war not to get repeated. amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, president biden delivers a state of the union. we will play excerpts. on this international women's day, we will get response from katrina vanden heuvel, neta

heiman mina's mother was a hostage in gaza, and palestinian egyptian american university of chicago professor eman abdelhadi who gave the state of the genocide address yesterday. back in a minute. ♪ [music break]

amy: "jasadik hom," "your body of theirs," by dam. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president biden delivered his state of the union address last night, making his case for a second term ahead of this year's presidential election. speaking before a joint session of congress, biden criticized republican frontrunner donald

trump without saying his name and strove to highlight policy differences with the former president and republicans on a number of issues, including taxes, immigration, reproductive rights, and foreign policy. biden addressed gaza, which has become a key election issue, with voters in primary states casting their ballots for "uncommitted" to express their opposition to biden's support for israel's five month assault on gaza. ahead of the speech, hundreds of protesters blockaded roads outside the white house and near the capitol, delaying biden's address. in his speech, biden said the u.s. would build as tempora seaport of gaza to assist with the delivery of humanitarian aid. as they watched, progressive lawmakers cori bush, summer lee, ilhan omar, and rashida tlaib, the only palestinian american in

congress, held up signs reading "blasting ceasefire now does quote an "stop sending bombs." separately, many democratic women were white in honor of the suffragettes. today is international women's day. but biden began his state of the unit address on another foreign policy issue, the war in ukraine. he made a renewed appeal for the house to pass additional funds free crain in response to russia's invasions. these are some of the president's opening remarks. pres. biden: not since president lincoln and the civil war have freedom and democracy been under assault here at home as they are today. what makes our moment rare is that freedom and democracy are under attack, both at home and overseas, at the very same time. overseas, putin of russia is on the march, invading ukraine and

sowing chaos throughout europe and beyond. if anybody in this room thinks putin will stop at ukraine, i assure you, he will not. [applause] but ukraine can stop putin if we stand with ukraine and provide the weapons it needs to defend itself. that is all ukraine is asking. they are not asking for american soldiers. in fact, there are no american soldiers at war in ukraine. and i am determined to keep it that way. but now assistance for ukraine is being blocked by those who want us to walk away from our world leadership. it wasn't that long ago when a republican president, ronald reagan, thundered, "mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall."

[applause] now my predecessor, a former republican president, tells putin, "do whatever the hell you want." that is aquote. a former american president actually said that, bowing down to a russian leader. i think it is outrageous. it's dangerous. unacceptable. and it isunacceptable. , go for more on the president's state of the unit on this international women's day, we will be joined by three women, israeli peace activist neta heiman mina whose mother was a hostage in gaza. there were many hostage families of americans who were guests last night at the state of the union. palestinian egyptian american university of chicago professor eman abdelhadi who gave an alternative state of the union last night called state of the genocide. but we begin with katrina vanden heuvel, publisher of the nation

magazine. welcome to democracy now! let's begin, well, one of the first topics was ukraine and he brought up putin and russia. your response? >> first of all, i think the domestic piece of the speech was important in marking the end of trickle-down he now makes, the end of neoliberal economics, the beginning of the end. but i don't think we can have a transformative foreign policy without -- without a change in our foreign policy. it captures the attention, the priorities, the finding. if we're going to police the world and be the indispensable nation, which is at the heart of what president biden's speech was, it was a divide, sort of like roosevelt, truman, then off

base reagan. i do think the best case for ukraine, and it has been touted but dismissed, is a negotiated settlement that will preserve the security of ukraine, that will bring more peace and stability to europe. and i think it would promote broader stability. i think for biden, an easy point person in putin, but reagan -- the lesson of reagan was not "tear down this wall" as much as much as it was "let us end the cold war and let us find cooperation." of course, gorbachev was a different leader but russia and battled -- and battled russia isolated is a world design to be one of insecurity and militarization. i do think there needs to be

some hard thinking. it may not happen until after the election. i do think victoria nuland's departure from the administration is a sign that the hard line ukraine may be diminishing. kurt campbell is much more is versed -- interested in china. it is hard to have a transformative domestic policy without a transformative foreign policy, which means dignity policing in the global policing the united states or the establishment seems to believe is their right. amy: talk more about victoria nuland's exit and what exactly that means and how you feel biden should be shifting the approach to ukraine and russia right now. >> there's no military solution. it is going to be a political negotiated solution. victoria nuland believed more and more weapons come as too many others, including -- we're

marking the 75 anniversary of nato next month, which is not a coffee clash. it is a military-industrial complex institution. i think there have been many possible negotiations in the last two years. we are learning about them through leaks, through german files. those have been pushed aside or have failed because there was no real political will. i don't see a lot of political will until after the election, but i hope there are back channels underway as there have been at other times in the cold war. this is a cold war redux moment and one i think endangers rather than enhances the security of the united states. by the way, i don't speak for people outside my office but the war weariness we are feeling around the world is not to be denied. i think it is an elite project, ukraine.

there are many people who have been caught up in the nationalism, the xenophobia that war often produces. these are people who need assistance but the cost of reconstruction of ukraine alone is estimated at $1 trillion. we are not great at stake after we had messed up. the assets of russia will be seized. but i do think a negotiated solution -- the name-calling that happens when you race that is ugly and constricts debate when we need a wider debate about the kind of world we want to live in. this is not actual -- isolationism. not militarily, which has come to occupy so many think tanks and minds as opposed to what is the alternative that we can trust. amy: where do you see putin

right now? do you see him shifting in any way? apparently, the bidens invited alexi navalny's widow. they also invited the first lady of ukraine. but neither came. >> that is interesting. biden did meet with alexi navalny's widow and daughter soon after the tragic death. putin, he faces an election march 17. no cliffhanger. there is, by the way, semi-comparable uncommitted movement in cities in russia due to navalny's strategic insight, show a put the polling booth -- groups of people together at noon on election day, which i

believe is a sunday. i think that is important. i do think we are seeing a wave of repression in russia on the eve of the election. a good friend of mine, a marxist sociologist, labor activist, was rearrested the other day. i think that is a measure of what we are seeing across different cities. that is always part of a war, the nationalism, the repression. washington, d.c., is different because suppression happens not by force. but in other cities and capital bags. putin, isolated, the war is increasingly unpopular. the mobilization of additional men has provoked great unhappiness protest parts of ukraine and russia. so there is no lines around the difficulty of drafting more men,

more men stop it becomes like a war of attrition were thousands are killed on battlefields. resembles world war i with 21st century weapons. amy: the economy was a major part of biden's address. he made a pledge to increase taxes on the wealthy and for them to pay their fair share. this is some of what he said. i co--- pres. biden: the last administration enacted a $2 trillion tax cut that overwhelmingly benefits the very wealthy and the biggest corporations and exploded the federal deficit. they added more to the national debt than in any presidential term in american history. for folks at home, does anybody really think the tax code is fair? do you really think the wealthy and big corporations need another $2 trillion in tax

breaks? i sure don't. i'm going to keep fighting like hell to make it fair. under my plan, nobody earning less than $400,000 will pay an additional penny in federal taxes. nobody. not one penny. and they have not yet. in fact, the child tax credit i passed during the pandemic cut taxes for millions of working families and cut child poverty in half. restore the child tax credit because no child should go hungry in this country. the way to make the tax code fair is to make big corporations and the very wealthy finally pay -- begin to pay their fair share. remember in 2020, 55 of the biggest companies in america made $40 billion in profits and

paid zero in federal income taxes. not anymore. thanks to the law i wrote and signed, big companies now have to pay a minimum of 15%. but that's still less than working people pay in federal taxes. it's time to raise the corporate minimum tax to at least 21% so every big corporation finally begins to pay their fair share. i also want to end the tax breaks for big pharma, big oil, private jets, and massive executive pay. end it now. there are 1000 billionaires in america. you know what the average federal tax is for those billionaires? 8.2%. that's far less than the vast majority of americans pay. no billionaire should pay a lower federal tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, a

nurse. that's why i've proposed a minimum tax for billionaires at 25%. just 25%. that would raise $500 billion over the next 10 years. amy: president biden state of the union. katrina vanden heuvel, your response? >> it was joe biden at his best. it wasn't just joe biden. it is the work of decades of movement activists who when nafta was passed, the trade deal, 30 years ago, said this age going to be very good for workers and it decimated the industrialized cities, towns are in this country. it is a measure of the importance of the taking on trickle down, taking on your liberal economics, the danger. it was great. it is like he is challenging the roosevelt institute and sarah anderson on inequality.

people moved the democratic party to understanding. the danger is if you don't have a transformative kind of foreign policy, you will in-depth with military as a policy. that is vying at the moment with the no trickle-down, and of your liberal economics. the idea to reduce the economy to arms sales. this is a contest and it will depend on the decisions made about america's role in the world. i do think to see shawn fain, the uaw, to understand the importance of labor and the history was really a change. it needs to be continued through the union movements and activist and connect in some ways to

"uncommitted," because groups that are forming around the "uncommitted" movement -- it was exciting to hear in hawaii it reached its highest number. my believe is if it had gone on longer, if michigan had more time, you have had a higher number. michigan being an important -- played an important role in this movement. i think there is optimism but the old order and the new is not yet born and where this will move is owing to depend on end ings wars, thinking a new about a constricted establishment foreign policy. amy: we are going to talk about gaza in the next segment. i want to also continue on the issue of the economy and health care because biden talked about proposing and signing any said "not one of you republican

buddies voted for it. we finally beat big pharma stuff instead of paying $400 a month or thereabouts for insulin with diabetes, it will only cost $10 to make. they only get $35 a month now and still make a healthy profit" and now he says he was to cap the cost of insulin for every american who needs it and went on to talk about getting medicare, the power to negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs just like the v.a. is able to do for veterans. >> this has been on the agenda for years. it is an obscenity it is still not move. bernie sanders who raised it for years, shaking biden's hand, because there were key parts which are part of the democratic agenda and have been put aside in the context of the neoliberal model. i think biden channeled a lot of important progressive ideas is a

measure that he can be moved but we are seeing how rigid -- i think rigidity is the right word, again, on the foreign policy issues, that capture priorities, capture funding. it is seen the defense department budget, which is largely -- larger than 10 other countries combined, yet we are still seeking. there should be a similar program that there is with pharma with the defense industry. the military-industrial complex. to bill hartung on the case to just understand the money that is wasted. there has been no audit of the pentagon for decades, if ever. i think these are issues that are comparable and strike the domestic agenda instead of capture. amy: biden also focused on reproductive rights, which has

become a galvanizing issue for the democratic party. pres. biden: state laws banning the freedom to choose, criminalizing doctors, forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their treatment additionally there states -- doctors, and forcing survivors of rape and incest to leave their states as well to get the care they need. many of you in this chamber and my predecessor are promising to pass a national ban on reproductive freedom. my god, what freedoms will you take away next? in its decision to overturn roe v. wade, the supreme court majority wrote, "women are not without electoral or political power." [applause] clearly, those bragging about overturning roe v. wade have no clue about the power of women in

but they found out when reproductive freedom was on the ballot and won in 2022, 2023, and we will win again in 2024. if you american people send me to congress that supports the right to choose, i promise you, i will restore roe v. wade as the law of the land again. amy: that was president biden. and of course, connecting the issue right in front of the supreme court justices of reproductive rights and the overturning of roe to what happened with the alabama state court, doing this after the overturning and citing it to try to equate frozen embryos with children and how that has closed the alabama ivf clinics, the

whole in vitro fertilization in alabama though the state has just passed a law to reopen those clinics. >> i was going to say your viewers, listeners, if they have not already looked up a document called 2025 from the heritage foundation and a few other think tanks. there are sections on reproductive rights. not empowering, but restricting and gutting. i think it is important to look the aunt trump and look at trumpism and the fact he is going to stuff his cabinet and administration with political appointees, essentially plans to got civil service -- gut civil service.

in that document come even more clearly than last night, you'll see the difference between the two, what might be two administration's. but reproductive rights has emerged as a tester freedom. i do wish resident biden spoke of 1941 as he opened his speech last night and put it in the context of the war between freedom and authoritarianism, democracy. that speech was freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from fear. i think that is the animating impulse that guides this country. amy: katrina vanden heuvel, publisher of the nation magazine. when we come back, we're going to look at what president biden had to say about guys are. we will speak with palestinian egyptian and university of chicago professor eman abdelhadi who gave an alternate sotu last

night. and neta heiman mina, whose mother was a hostage in gaza. stay with us. back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break]

amy: cori bush, summer lee, rashida tlaib, the only palestinian-american in congress, held up signs reading "lasting ceasefire now" and "stop sending bombs." separately, many democratic women wore white in honor of the suffragettes. today is international women's day. this is president biden. pres. biden: israel has already go after hamas, hamas could end this conflict today by releasing the hostages, laying down arms, and surrendering those responsible for october 7. israel has an added burden because hamas hides and operates among the civilian population.

under hospitals, day care centers, they hide. israel also has a fundamental responsibility to protect innocent civilians in gaza. [applause] this war has taken a greater toll on innocent civilians than all previous wars in gaza combined. more than 30,000 palestinians have been killed. most of whom are not hamas. thousands and thousands of innocents, women and children, girls and boys also orphaned. nearly 2 million more palestinians under bombardment or displaced. homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. families without food, water, medicine. it's heartbreaking. i have been working nonstop to establish an immediate ceasefire that would last for at least six weeks to get all of the hostages

released. to get the hostages home and ease the intolerable humanitarian crisis and build toward something more enduring. the united states has been leading international efforts to get more humanitarian assistance into gaza. tonight, i'm directing the u.s. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary pier in the mediterranean on the coast of gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters. no u.s. boots will be on the ground. a temporary pier would enable a massive increase in the amount of humanitarian assistance getting into gaza every day. amy: ahead of the state of the union address, hundreds of protesters blockaded roads delaying his speech as they demanded an immediate cease in gaza. other protests took place nationwide. more expected this week in

chicago with the democratic national convention will take place this summer. and nato were coalition held a 24 hour vigil in the federal plaza reading as many names as possible of the more than 30,000 palestinians killed by israel's bombing of gaza. they also hosted an alternate state of the unit address by our next guest. >> tonight's state of the unit is the state of the genocide because our leaders have followed a familiar playbook, investing power, many, and blood at the expense of humanity. amy: we go to chicago where we're joined by eman abdelhadi, a palestinian egyptian american activist and assistant professor at the university of chicago where her work includes studying the politics of muslim americans. she supported president biden in the 20 presidential election and even drove some of her friends to the polls. welcome to democracy now! your message last night?

>> thank you for having me. i want to point out i co-gave the speech with the editor of "in these times" magazine. our message was business cannot go on as usual and we are not going away. this genocide has been going on for 152 days. it is 100% in american product. it would not be where it is today if the u.s. did not send weapons to israel, did not lend unconditional support. it is disingenuous to put us at the end of the speech as if it were a faraway foreign policy issue and not a poor issue that is on an americans minds. amy: your response to this idea of setting up a port? first it was air dropping food. but it is as if it is a natural catastrophe like an earthquake or a tornado or a hurricane where you have to ensure that

somehow people get food. but it is a u.s. ally who the u.s. is arming, israel. >> yeah. president biden is effectively holding a gun to palestinians' heads and shooting at them with one hand and throwing crumbs at them with the other hands. he was the american people to only focus on the crumbs. meanwhile, we are saying, president biden, drop the gun. it is absurd to frame these deaths as though they are just collateral damage and not an intentional strategy of ethnic cleansing by the israeli state. amy: i want to bring in neta heiman mina, a member of the israeli chapter of women wage peace. her 84-year-old mother ditza heiman was taken hostage by hamas from her home on the kibbutz nir ohz near the border with gaza but was released on

november 28. she's joining us from israel. thank you so much for being with us, coming back on democracy now! there were a number of hostage families represented last night who were guests of congressmembers, of the bidens, the israeli american or american hostages in gaza. first of all, how is your mother? can you talk about what you want to see happen now? >> thank you for having me. my mother is ok. she is talking -- her new life. she cannot go back home to her home in the kibbutz because it is occupied by hamas. she is still waiting for her neighbors and friends of the coup buds -- kibbutz.

there are still 37 life hostages still in gaza. i think we need to do everything we can to bring them back. if it is a ceasefire, if it is release the palestinian prisoners, we must do it as soon as possible because they don't have time. they can't day there. this is the number of days -- there are old people and children and women that we hear with they're going through. those people don't get medication. it needs to be as soon as possible. amy: can you talk about the

movement that has been formed by the hostage families? i don't think their message comes through as clearly in the united states. we have interviewed a number of people, those -- of those israel is there were killed on october 7 like a student at university of washington. we talked to his sibling in brussels who said, "my brother would not want this killing to continue in gaza." if you could talk about what hostages families are saying right now and how a number of them -- well, like you, the daughter -- a number of those even taken were peace activists? >> i don't want to talk in the name of all of the families, the

hostage families, because we have different thoughts. but i think the majority want to do everything to bring them back and they don't care if we need to stop the war now or release the prisoners. i think the majority want to do everything to bring them back. two weeks ago, there were people from -- they told us we can manage to stop the war now and a list of the prisoners and --

amy: let me bring back professor eman abdelhadi. can you talk about what netanyahu is threatening come the land invasion of rafah, what that would mean? >> it would mean a complete ethnic cleansing of the rest of the gaza strip. we have seen 1.5 million people squeezed into this tiny piece of land and now that last refuge, that last piece of land that was supposed to be safe would be under attack. palestinians literally have nowhere left to go. ultimately, this is a continuation of the policy that netanyahu has been following since october. and since before october, in fact. he and other officials of his administration have been very open in declaring their a tape to basically empty rafah and ready it for settlement. and yet

they have faced no consequences from the biden administration. your guest before said we need a transformative foreign policy and yet what we're seeing is that the american ruling class is unwilling to transform the relationship unconditional support to israel. amy: what are the plans for the democratic convention in chicago, where you are? >> well, we are very unhappy with this administration. i think the "uncommitted" campaign shows this. chicago is the largest palestinian community in the country. it is one of the largest palestinian communities in the world. we are not going away. we're still going to be in the streets. we're going to make sure the dnc knows where we stand on this issue. amy: let me ask neta heiman mina , i am wondering if you could talk about what is happening

with the government right now? that netanyahu, to say the least, has a conflict of interest. if he is forced out of government, he could end up in prison. you now have benny gantz eating with vice president -- meeting with vice president and tony blinken and washington, d.c. do you see the government falling apart? >> i don't know if the government will fall apart. we need to remember the hamas -- october 7, hamas killed 1400 people, take 254 hostages. they were in their pajamas.

the situation in gaza now as well as the hamas doesn't care about the israeli people and doesn't care about the gazan people. i think -- i don't know if the government will fall apart. the prime minister, bringing back the hostages is not his priority. his first priority is to stay prime minister. if the government falls apart, he is in a very difficult situation.

[indiscernible] amy: let me go to eman abdelhadi . if you can respond to what she said? we just got this news, according to cbs news, five people were killed friday by an airdrop package when at least one parachute failed to properly deploy and the parcel fell on them. we have just 30 seconds. >> hamas is reacting to a 16 year siege. i'm not promoting what they did on october 7, but to say this whole issue started on october 7 is to for the fact a palestinian was killed every single day in 2023, leading up to october 7. without addressing the root causes of october 7, without addressing the violence of

keeping 2 million people under siege for 17 years without freedom of movement, then we're not going to get anywhere. amy: eman abdelhadi, thank you for being with us, assistant professor at the university of chicago. palestinian-egyptian, american. an israeli neta heiman mina