03/15/24 03/15/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! vice pres. harris: right now in our country we are facing a serious health crisis. in states around our country, extremists have proposed and passed laws that have denied women access to reproductive health care. amy: vice president harris

visits and planned parenthood clinic, believed to be the first time a president or vice president has probably toward an abortion clinic. we will speak with the head of the reproductive rights group in minnesota and with professor michele goodwin, author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." then students at hebrew university in jerusalem protest the suspension of a palestinian professor. we will be joined by professor shalhoub-kevorkian, whose suspension came after she said israel is committing genocide in gaza. and we will speak with israeli author maya wind, author of, "towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom." wind was jailed 15 years ago for

refusing to serve in the israeli army. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israeli forces killed at least 29 people in gaza thursday in at two separate attacks as they waited for humanitarian aid. the latest massacre struck palestinians in northern gaza city and at the al-nuseirat camp in central gaza strip. >> today with no warning they attacked the warehouse. we got the eight and distributed people and people need to come and get the ramadan meals. today they hit the warehouse and burned all the aid including the dates. also the blood of the people who work here filled the place. evamy: gazan officials

reported israeli officials have killed more than 400 palestinians as they wait for aid delivery. hamas has reportedly proposed a cease-fire deal that includes the release of hostages in exchange for 700 to 1000 palestinian prisoners, delivery of humanitarian aid to gaza, and the return of forcibly displaced palestinians to their homes. elsewhere, palestinian president abbas appointed longtime economic advisor as the palestinian authority or's new prime minister thursday. senate majority leader chuck schumer offered his most scathing condemnation of prime minister benjamin netanyahu and his far-right government, calling for new elections in israel. he spoke from the senate floor. >> if prime minister netanyahu's current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to

pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing u.s. standards for assistance, than the united states will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course. amy: senator schumer is a staunch defender of israel and the highest-ranking elected u.s. -- jewish elected lawmaker. meanwhile, the biden administration imposed sanctions on two israeli settler outposts and three individual settlers in the occupied west bank who have harassed and attacked palestinians. in south africa, naledi pandor, minister of international relations and cooperation warned south african citizens they will face prosecution if they serve in the israeli military as it commits war crimes in gaza. he said, "when you come home, we are going to arrest you." here in new york, over 100 protesters were arrested thursday after occupying the lobby of "the new york times" in the latest protest against the paper's coverage of israel's war on gaza.

one man was filmed harassing a group of the protesters and ripping away a banner that read "lies." this came just hours after a separate early-morning protest which blocked trucks from accessing and picking up newspapers at "the times'" printing facility in queens. some of the demonstrators laid out a pile of rubble on the road and placed a sign that said "consent for genocide is manufactured here." in canada, a growing list of over 1000 alumni, faculty, staff, and others from montreal's mcgill university signed an open letter in solidarity with students on hunger strike to demand mcgill divest from companies arming israel and impose an academic boycott on israel over its genocide in gaza and occupation of palestinian land. this is hunger striker shadi explaining why they joined the peaceful action despite facing personal health challenges. >> i see and hear about all the people who are disabled and they

don't get to opt out of the starvation of the bombs and of the genocide. i think of those starved by the ios. and i t amy: in more protest ne, prominent writers, including naomi klein, michelle alexander, hisham matar, isabella hamad, and zaina arafat, announced they will not participate in this year's pen world voices festival for failing to appropriately respond they said to israel's "cultural genocide" in gaza. the authors write -- "israel has killed nearly 100 academics and writers. if organizations like pen america cling to the illusion of political neutrality in the face of a clear effort to destroy palestinian lives and culture, one can only wonder whether there will be any writers left in gaza to tell the story of

their apocalypse, or to trust words and speech, when the killing finally ends. or any record left of the history they have lived." at least 60 people, including children, are feared to have -- feared dead in the mediterranean after departing libya on a migrant vessel that went adrift in its route to europe. the engine reportedly broke down which left the group lost at sea for days without food and water. several others were rescued, many of them from senegal, mali, and the gambia. the humanitarian aid group sos mediterranee said it had rescued another nearly 200 migrants who headed to europe on a wooden boat and an overcrowded rubber dingy. according to the international organization for migration, 2500 migrants died or went missing in the mediterranean last year as they attempted to reach europe, and 200 since the start of 2024. the immigrant rights group la resistencia is reporting over 300 people have joined a hunger strike following the recent death of charles leo daniel, a 61-year-old migrant from trinidad and tobago, and reports

of several suicide attempts at the troubled northwest detention center in tacoma, washington. activists have set up an encampment outside the immigration and customs enforcement facility as they and migrants in custody participate in the peaceful action demanding northwest be shut down. they're also calling for an independent investigation into daniel's death, who was found unresponsive while he was held in solitary confinement earlier this month. northwest is run by the private company geo group. to see our recent interview, go to democracynow.org. vice president kamala harris visited a planned parenthood clinic in st. paul, minnesota, on thursday in the first such official visit by a president or vice president. the visit was part of harris' "fight for reproductive freedoms" tour, as the biden campaign seeks to capitalize on voter anger over the supreme court's overturning of roe v wade. this is vice president harris. vice pres. harris: the stories abound. i have heard stories and met with women who had miscarriages,

women who were being denied emergency care because the health care providers there at an emergency room were afraid because of the laws in their state that they could be criminalized, sent to prison, for providing health care. amy: we'll have more on kamala harris' visit after headlines. in michigan, a jury found james crumbley guilty of involuntary manslaughter for failing to prevent his teenage son from going on a shooting spree which killed four students at oxford high in 2021. james crumbley's wife jennifer crumbley was convicted on the same charges last month after prosecutors successfully argued the couple ignored obvious warning signs and bought the gun for their son. it's the first time parents have been directly charged for deaths caused by their child in a mass shooting. they'll both be sentenced next month. in california, authorities have released body-camera footage showing the moments before deputies shot and killed 15-year-old ryan gainer. gainer, a black boy with autism,

was holding a gardening tool at the time. video of the second deputy to arrive shows just 8.5 seconds passed from when he exited his vehicle to when he shot at the teen. distraught family members can be heard asking "why did you shoot my baby?" and "where is your taser?" the family's lawyer said at least two of the officers on the scene were familiar with ryan gainer and would have known he did not pose a threat. and senator bernie sanders has introduced legislation calling for a 32-hour work week. sanders said the proposal is not a radical idea as countries and companies around the world increasingly adopt shorter work weeks, and record the same -- or in many cases higher -- rates of productivity. sanders said technological advances have benefited corporations and ceo's while leaving out workers and that ai threatens to further deepen this inequality. on thursday, a senate panel held a hearing on the issue. this is uaw president shawn fain, who pushed for a 32-hour workweek in his union's initial contract demands to the big three automakers last fall.

>> but time, just like every precious resource in our society, is not freely given to the working class. since the industrial revolution, we have seen productivity in our society skyrocket. with the advance of technology, one worker is doing what 12 workers used to do. more profit is being squeezed out of every hour, every minute, every second. who is going to act to fix this epidemic of lives donated by work? are the employers going to act? will congress act? how can working-class people take back their lives and take back their time? amy: and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. vice president kamala harris visited a planned parenthood clinic in st. paul, minnesota,

on thursday, believed to be the first time a president or vice president has toured an abortion clinic. the visit was the latest in a nationwide tour by harris to highlight reproductive rights. minnesota has been a haven for women seeking abortion since the supreme court overturned roe v. wade, ushering in restrictive laws and outright bans in more than a dozen states. last year, minnesota passed legislation that enshrined abortion rights into state law. in her remarks outside the planned parenthood clinic yesterday, harris referred to the attacks on reproductive health as a "very serious health crisis" and lauded minnesota's efforts to protect abortion rights. vice pres. harris: right now in our country we are facing a very serious health crisis. in the crisis is affecting many, many people in our country, most of whom are, frankly, silently

suffering. after the united states supreme court took a constitutional right that had been recognized from the people of america, from the women of america, in states around our country can extremists have proposed and passed laws that have denied women access to reproductive health care. and the stories abound. i have heard stories and have met with women who have miscarriages. women who were being denied emergency care because the health care providers there at an emergency room were afraid because of the laws in their state that they could be criminalized, said the prison, for providing health care. so i'm here at this health care clinic to uplift the work that is happening in minnesota as an

example of what true leadership looks like. amy: for more, we are joined by two guests. in minneapolis, megan peterson is the executive director of gender justice action, a reproductive rights group working in minnesota and north dakota. she joins us now from minneapolis. we are also joined by michele goodwin, a professor of constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university and the founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy. author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." she is joining us from marrakesh, morocco. we welcome you both to democracy now! megan, you were invited to yesterday's event, though you were not there. it is historic, believed to be the first of a vice president or president publicly toured through an abortion clinic. talk about it significance and the fact it is happening in minnesota. how important minnesota is when

it comes to abortion rights in this country. >> thank you so much for having me. it was in historic day and historic visit and really an important opportunity to highlight the role minnesota place, especially in our region were an island of access -- we are surrounded by states that have either banned abortion or severely limited access to abortion -- and minnesota has gone in the opposite direction following the dobbs decision of district court judge made a decision in a lawsuit that gender justice filed removing all of the restrictions on abortion in the state and joining those laws just weeks after the dobbs decision came down and then voters deliver the first ever reproductive freedom trifecta that following november. that legislature and the governor took action swiftly with a lot of momentum to both

remove those restrictions off the books, but really undo over 50 years worth of antiabortion -- chipping away at abortion rights from our state laws and that included removing abortion from the criminal code, defunding antiabortion crisis pregnancy centers, passing a shield law to protect patients and providers who were providing care in the state to people coming from out of state. you really have been able to reset the table in a way on putting abortion back where he belongs, in the context of part of the full spectrum of pregnancy-related care. amy: you don't have to give is obviously an exact number, but talk about the fact so many people are coming in from around the country to get abortions in minnesota. and the incredible efforts of grassroots groups like gender justice action to help people

get that kind of access. >> it has been a tremendous effort. frankly, a big strain on the health care system here. we only have i think about seven abortion clinics right now and some of those only provide medication abortion. we have a virtual provider who only provides medication abortion across the state. and a handful of brick-and-mortar clinics. their capacity has been strained by the number of people needing to travel to state. although we acknowledge our role in the region, the reality is regions rely on where there are direct flights. very often people are flying into minneapolis, which is a hub airport. clinics reporting anywhere from 25% increases to i think yesterday the medical director of planned parenthood said they have seen 100% increase at their clinic. we are absolutely having to

absorb patients who are fleeing the repressive laws and restrictions in their own states to get necessary, time sensitive, critical health care. amy: can you talk about your lawsuit, gender justice, which happened before roe v. wade overturned -- pretty much he predicted it? >> in 2019, we filed a lawsuit that challenged all together basically all of the restrictions that have built up over the years. everything from a 24 hour waiting period to parental notification a mandated script doctors had to read to patients, really restriction on who can provide abortions. we were limited to only physicians even though registered nurses are perfectly capable of providing especially first trimester abortion. we challenged those laws will we

file the lawsuit in may 2019. with the same time brought together a broad cross movement coalition of now over 30 organizations and advocates who helped to raise awareness about the laws. we found most minnesotans were unaware of the restrictions at that time. they really believed minnesota was an access state, a health care value state, and a place where they could not imagine their happiness chipping away of rights for so long. -- there had been this chipping away of rights for so long. we did end up winning the lawsuit just weeks after the dobbs decision came down in mid july 2022. that set the stage think for the way we were able to both engage in the midterm elections and move right into the following session in january 2023.

that foundation we laid starting in 2019 and really kind of ringing the bell that roe was on the chopping block. we anticipated and expected that roe was going to go down. it was critical to do the work to undo the barriers and the restrictions that have built up over time in preparation for knowing minnesota was going to need to serve a broader swath of the country. amy: i want to bring professor michele goodwin into this conversation, founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy. if you can talk about the president and vice president -- it is interesting the first female vice president is the one , the highest elected leader in this land, to do this kind of public tour of an abortion clinic.

of them elevating the discussion, particularly of abortion. president biden also focusing on it in the state of the union address. go from abortion care to the whole controversy around ivf and the connections you see. >> it is a pleasure to be on with you again, amy. thank you for the invitation. what we see now is a response to something that is tragic in the united states. it is worth remembering roe v. wade in 1973, five of the seven justices were republican appointed. i mentioned that in the fact justice blackmun was appointed by nixon and just giving a sense of how dramatic it is that the supreme court gutted roe v. wade and planned parenthood v casey being a case that affirmed roe, being affirmed by justices

o'connor, justices kennedy, also republican appointees, gives a sense of how dramatic it is what the supreme court did in 2022 and also what it looks like in terms of the political backdrop. so the vice president visited a planned parenthood and that we have the president of the united states articulating this is fundamental health care is no different than it was 50 years ago, where that was understood in roe v. wade and what we have understood since that time -- even the united states supreme court in 25th teen in a case said a woman is 14 times more likely to die carrying a pregnancy to term and by having an abortion. so when the vice president went to minnesota, emphasize this is health care -- she is absolutely right. she spoke to the tragedies in the united states is the dobbs decision. she is right. they propose the death penalty against women and girls that would have an abortion.

those proposals have not come to fruition but in louisiana and south carolina, there are bills that have been proposed for that . already in texas, for doctors, they risk 99 years incarceration, 100 thousand dollar fine, losing their medical license if they help patients who are near death trying to obtain abortion because we know in that state, even though there are exceptions, they are exceptionally hard to overcome. so by visiting minnesota, was urgent -- you mentioned alabama. the alabama supreme court which recently ruled that embryos have the same status as children and that those who harm embryos such as the demise of an embryo could in fact face wrongful death charges. some would say this is insane. this is a level of united states going in a direction that is antithetical to science,

antithetical to health, antithetical to human rights. in this backdrop, we have seen a woman in ohio who was being processed as prosecuted in the wake of having a miscarriage. her toilet busted open, remains defined -- to find fetal remains. i could lay out a trail of parents being prosecuted by helping their children who wanted to have an abortion come a trail of horrors that includes girls going into imagery and middle school now as mothers because they live in states that ban abortion. and just thinking about minnesota itself where it is really important understand what is taking place is not only there are people who are coming in for necessary health care, this is a backdrop like jim crow , a backdrop like american slavery. i am not being hyperbolic in saying that. people -- women are having to

flee states where they risk death, where they risk bodily harm in order to get health care that will save their lives. i think that is really important we emphasize over and over again because there is a rhetoric that suggests something other than that. amy: i want to ask you about that federal court, the fifth circuit court of appeals decision upholding a texas law that prevents young people from confidentially accessing birth control from clinics. the court ruled clinics can be required to notify and get consent from parents. planned parenthood criticized the ruling saying it marks a significant and dangerous departure from decades of precedent that has allowed all young people to confidentially get basic health care like birth control through title x. explain the significance, came right before this visit of vice president harris.

>> again to understand what this means as historical context, title x was pushed into law by george h.w. bush. he championed title x. george h.w. bush the first of the bush presidents, his father prescott bush was the treasurer at planned parenthood. so when we're talking about decades of a standard of recognizing that this is health care -- in fact, george h.w. bush when championing title x, which has been decimated in texas and also decimated we see by the fifth circuit. but decades ago when george h.w. bush was confronted by the question of health care for the poorest of americans, he said this is fundamental health care. this is public health. nixon said the same thing. so part of what we're seeing now is something that is a dramatic

-- really dramatic step away from what we understood as basic care for human beings in united states. we are so far from that principle in these states and the principle of understanding that teenagers, too, deserve health care. to give you some example about how strange it is, how chilling it is, we would have the fifth circuit having no problem with seeing a teenager become pregnant and become a parent at 13 and 14 and 15 years old. and yet at the same time, protecting their health through what could help prevent the pregnancy, it was the obstacles in those ways. and this is something that is completely disconnected to what has been a tradition of understanding health care access

over the last half-century in the united states. amy: i went to end by asking megan peterson about a connection to what is going on in minnesota right now. from hawaii to michigan to minnesota, the issue of the uncommitted vote. people might not necessarily make this connection but the "uncommitted" votes, democrats voting "uncommitted in the primaries distro their objection to the biden administration and president biden not directly calling for a permanent cease-fire. what do you see as the connection come as executive director of the gender justice action? >> i see that the voters in minnesota, the voters turned out on the primary election day to register -- just enter 19% democrats voted "uncommitted" in our presidential primary.

those are a core part of the democratic base. they are very much -- many of these same people who delivered the reproductive trifecta in 2022. i think it is important the campaign not take those voters for granted and also not consider that minnesota voters are very educated and sophisticated and able to make the connections between imports of bodily autonomy and reproductive justice here at home as well as recognize reproductive injustice happening in gaza with the death of over 12,000 children, with pregnant women and people facing a shortage of health care, experiencing stillbirth and having cesarean sections and deliveries without anesthesia. these are grave injustices and

incompatible with the values of reproductive justice, which not only include the ability to decide not to become a parent or end a pregnancy, but the ability and right to parent the children you have and to have children in safe and thriving communities. i am hoping and i believe that the administration and the campaign is really paying attention to those votes and voters. in 2016, hillary clinton only won the state by just over 1.5%. we are going to need to work hard. i am hoping the campaign will change course and the administration will change course to really recognize that they need to walk the talk, both to mystically and in their foreign policies. amy: megan peterson is the executive director of gender

justice action, speaking to us from minneapolis. and michele goodwin professor of , constitutional law and global health policy at georgetown university. founding director of the center for biotechnology and global health policy. author of "policing the womb: invisible women and the criminalization of motherhood." next step, we will speak with the israeli author maya wind. our new book, "towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom." but first, we will go to palestine professor nadera shalhoub-kevorkian who was just suspended by hebrew university. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "ballad of a homeschooled girl" by olivia rodrigo, who last month launched the fund4good campaign to support reproductive health freedom. this week, she collaborated with reproductive rights organizations to hand out free emergency contraceptives, abortion access resources, and contraceptives at her show in st. louis, missouri. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. over 100 leading european academics have signed a petition condemning what they call "israel's systematic annihilation" of the educational system in the gaza strip. the petition, which was led by the group euro-med human rights monitor, condemns israel's targeting of academics, educational institutions, and cultural heritage sites in gaza.

as the intercept recently reported, within the first 100 days of its war on gaza, the israeli military systematically destroyed every single university in the gaza strip. nearly 100 university deans and professors and three university presidents in gaza have been killed in the israeli assault. meanwhile, over 4300 students and more than 230 teachers and professors and administrators have also been killed. meanwhile, hebrew university in jerusalem is coming under criticism for suspending an internationally renowned palestinian professor for saying israel is committing genocide in gaza. nadera shalhoub-kevorkian is a world-renowned feminist scholar whose extensive work has focused on the impacts of militarization, surveillance, and violence on the lives of palestinian women and children.

she made the remarks in an interview on israel's channel 12 on monday where she also said it was time to "abolish zionism." the next day, the university issued a statement saying -- "as a proud israeli, public, and zionist institution, the hebrew university strongly condemns professor shalhoub-kevorkian's recent shocking and outrageous statements. to ensure a safe and conducive environment for our students on campus, the university has decided to suspend professor shalhoub-kevorkian from teaching activities, effective immediately." professor shalhoub-kevorkian had been under pressure to resign from the university since late october when she joined over 1000 academics around the world in signing a petition calling for an immediate ceasefire in gaza. following her signature, the leadership of hebrew university sent her a formal letter denouncing her and pressuring her to resign. yesterday, palestinian students

on the hebrew university campus demonstrated against professor shalhoub-kevorkian's suspension on campus and chanted the palestinian national song "mawtini" in protest. well, professor nadera shalhoub-kevorkian joins us on the program. up until her suspension she was chair at the faculty of law-institute of criminology and the school of social work and public welfare at hebrew university. she is also the chair in global law at queen mary university of london. she's the author of several books, including "security theology, surveillance and the politics of fear" and "militarization and violence against women in conflict zones in the middle east: the palestinian case study." today she is joining us now from london, where she just flew to. professor shalhoub-kevorkian, welcome to democracy now! explain your decision to leave

and what exactly happened. >> thank you for having me at democracy now! actually, i'm not the chair of the faculty of law, i am a member of the faculty and i am a researcher that studies stage crime and genocide -- stage crime and genocide. the law made by the university suspend me after the protests that happen the asked to be about my field of expertise. let me remind you, i am a scholar that studied state crime and genocide and looks at the effect of what goes on and studies antiracism from a feminist perspective. what happened the letter was published before i read it and nobody had contacted me. this is not the first time university publicized. they did it in october when i

said what was happening in gaza is a genocide stop of course, two months after the icj is looking at this and even issued provisional measures against the state of israel. i also need to remind us all that the academic space is a space that is supposed to be a space by where we share our ideas. the hebrew university is then sending me a letter telling me the hebrew university is a zionist -- i am calling for abolishing zionism because it is violent towards the people and opposing criminality's. the dean of the social work called by students and told them

in a forceful manner that i am out, that i have no place at the hebrew university, which was my academic -- this is where i did the research. the question remains what should be written, what is published is what we can speak and scholars that are studying state criminality as opposing to what is going on, opposing to what the state is doing is not accepted so they throw us out of the university. and this is the same policy that the state of israel is doing outside. silencing, preventing people from speaking, threatening, punishing. it is also done in a very degraded and undignified manner, calling my students before the end of the first semester and telling me you're suspended is something that is beyond any

expectations. but this is -- you cannot abide by this, you are out. my only concern today is the safety of students. the safety of my students, jewish and palestinians standing against genocide, standing against war. my real concern is the silencing of dissent all over the world because we see in academic institutions, the question is we think academic institutions should work according and by the orders from the state. i don't know why we are having academic institutions -- academia and research requires we are attentive to details, what goes on to the lives of women, men, children. and i am really concerned today. i must clearly state that the

behavior of the university is a behavior that is threatening the safety of our students, the safety of colleagues that are speaking against the genocide. in my own personal safety as a person who lives in jerusalem and the safety of my family. amy: professor, you tell us what you mean by your call for abolishing zionism? close yes. -- >> yes. it started by massacres that were documented by historians, sociology, international relations. i see zionism that use the law and ruled by law and not the rule of law. i have seen zionists causing major home since the nakba in

relation what goes on. see zionism is a very racialized and racist ideology. that is about the life and ability of one group and the exclusion and marginalization and death of the other group. i think we can definitely live together without the zionist ideology if we can talk more in terms and concepts of justice, equality, fairness. and not using one ideology to claim we are here and the rest should be excluded. and i think, amy, you see it clearly today and gaza, what is going on today in gaza when babies are dying, decomposed in incubators. i write about attacks on children.

i write about attacks on communities. what we see in gaza, turning it into a collective grave, is telling. it is the culmination of a very, very, very violent ideology. i guess it is time to reconsider the zionist ideology because it started since the early 1990's with violence, with dispossession, and with lots of massacres. and to call for a discussion that is a way from that, a very racist and unfair and inhumane ideology. amy: professor shalhoub-kevorkian, can you talk about the concept you put forward of unchilding? >> yes. working for years with children, watching them interacting in a space that is so militarized

like east jerusalem -- i reside in east jerusalem. i raised by three beautiful daughters in jerusalem. the effects of the system -- look at palestinian children as others. looking at children as un childed. i saw just two days ago, a 12-year-old shot and killed without even a reason. he was playing. it is ramadan. what in my book on unchilding, number one come our children are political capital in the hands of the state. the state looks at them and, really, defines them as non-ch9ildren. they can be killed, incarcerated. you can prevent them from studying. you see the culmination of unchilding today in gaza. look at occupied east jerusalem. the number of children that were

arrested, that were incarcerated for so the number of children in the west make in hebron. childhood in houston requires a different political lens. i need -- childhood in palestine requires a different political lens. it is about the eviction of the native. it is embedded in the logic of elimination. the illumination of our kids in various forms whether by incarcerating them -- you see the and carceral she neri against them in every place or by controlling their way of living, controlling -- these are topics that i have discussed and covered for over 30 years. as a professor at the hebrew university and school of social work.

my question always -- especially now when they decided, when they took this decision -- how can a scholar of state crime, a scholar studying victims of abuse of power that is talking to them, listening to the voices of the kids, the voices of fathers that are trying to safeguard, parents there also being unparented, how can a scholar like me that is researching sit and be silent in times of genocide? how can you silence the voices of dissent all over the world? i think as an academic institution, they really need to rethink their steps. until now, nobody has talked to me. not the president, not the director. all they do is send letters and the letters are sent to the media and then i learned about it. i must tell you, this time

sending the letter to the media and all everyone is talking about me, my photo, my pictures, it is very scary in an area that is heavily militarized. and maybe i should stress one thing that is important. the hebrew university is a highly militarized -- our students. i mean, jewish students are walking around with rifles, guns , and palestinian students are extremely worried and fearful. and as a palestinian presser, i talk about those things. i am running a major study run by the israeli science foundation on the issue of the effects of enrolling in the university that speaks and thinks in a specific way. i thought they would be open to multiplicity of ideas since i was writing about those issues. for years. and this is me. this is my career. this is my analysis for years.

let me again stress i am really worried today because yesterday, one of the students that participated in the demonstration was arrested. they were taking pictures of the different students that were there. mind you, there were professors, jewish and palestinian professors. there were jewish and palestinian students demonstrating against the decision. and framing them and shaming them and attacking them the way they are doing to me and trying to punish is something that should not be done in an academic institution. amy: how do you answer the charge from prime minister netanyahu on down that to be anti-zionist is to be antisemitic, professor shalhoub-kevorkian? >> welcome anti-zionism -- well, anti-zionism is not anti-segment is him it is to refuse to accept

violence and this is not anti-semitism. anti-zionism is to refuse to accept continuous disk session -- dispossession, the ideology of supremacy, refuse to accept the secular ties group of one to the other. actually, at the same -- through the lens of anti-semitism, is to remember never to frame any group or anyone as being below human. that is exactly what netanyahu, what zionism is doing to the palestinians. it is anti-palestinian is him and anti-semitism are very close. i guess i think we need to always remember that abuses of power is anti-semitism that is framing one group as nonhuman as

anti-semitism and this is what zionism is doing to us. amy: we're going to go to break what i'm going to ask you to stay on as well as we go to an israeli scholar maya wind who has written the book "towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom." we have been talking with the renowned palestinian academic professor nadera shalhoub-kevorkian, who i feminists author and activist, recently suspended by the university after teaching there for decades. she is the author of a number of books including "security theology, surveillance and the politics of fear" and "militarization and violence against women in conflict zones in the middle east: the palestinian case study." stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman. we are looking now at how the attack on palestinian rights comes not just from the israeli military, but our guest says an israeli author, but from universities as well. that is according to a new book called "towers of ivory and steel: how israeli universities deny palestinian freedom" and it

documents how "academic disciplines, degree programs, campus infrastructure, and research laboratories all service israeli occupation and apartheid, while universities violate the rights of palestinians to education, stifle critical scholarship, and violently repress student dissent." the book's author is joining us now. maya wind is postdoctoral fellow in the department of anthropology at the university of british columbia. maya wind is a jewish-israeli scholar who grew up in jerusalem and when she was 18 she refused to enlist in the army, and served 40 days in a military prison. we welcome you to democracy now! if you can respond to what is happening right now to professor shalhoub-kevorkian, her suspension by hebrew university, and how you see it in the larger context. >> thank you for having me. let me start by saying i am one

of the countless young scholars who have learned so much from professor shalhoub-kevorkian's uncompromising research and analysis. it is truly a travesty that hebrew university has not only been attempting to silence her for years but is effectively expelling her for exposing jewish-israelis to uncomfortable truths. it speaks to the larger problem which is in the west, israeli universities are considered bastions of pluralism and democracy but in fact the faculty, scholars, students, activists have for over two decades contended they are a central pillar of israel's regime of oppression against palestinians. the palestinian campaign for the academic and cordial boycott of israel issued a call in 2004 to boycott israeli universities on the basis of this complicity. as my new book shows, israeli universities are indeed deeply

implicated in the violation of palestinian rights. as she began in the opening segment, israel has destroyed every single palestinian university in the gaza strip. it is not only committing genocide but other palestinians have called the intentional destruction of palestinian education. this genocide is not only enabled by the rise of the far right or overzealous military leaders, it is in fact central -- it is part of a project of over 75 year project of the zionist movement and the israeli state to eliminate and replace palestinians with jewish israelis. so genocide is structural to the israeli state and sustained by the most liberal institutions, including its diversities. it is not only is really university sustained apartheid

and violence against palestinians for decades, but they are currently participating in this genocide. hebrew university and others are training intelligence soldiers to create target things in gaza, producing knowledge for the state whether it is hezbollah or legal scholarship to help thwart attempts to hold israel accountable for its war crimes such as what was brought to the icj by south africa. granting course credit to reserve soldiers returning from gaza to their classrooms. israeli universities are deeply. complicit in this genocide. amy: maya wind, you refused to serve and the israeli military back 15 years ago and you were imprisoned for that. why then and how does that inform what you do today? >> i was part of a small

movement resisting the draft, a movement that unfortunately has not grown in the 15 years since. this is one of the many reasons it is absolutely essential for people, especially in the united states -- which is fully enabling this genocide -- to join the movement to boycott, divestment, sanctions, and particularly to be dissipated in the academic boycott and sever ties of our own universities, our own institutions from israel i universities which are implicated in the violation of palestinian rights and now in genocide. precisely because we need the intervention of international civil society to hold israelis accountable for these crimes. amy: let me bring back in professor shalhoub-kevorkian. what does it mean to have jewish scholars and students like maya wind to be joining with you,

speaking up on your behalf to challenge your suspension? >> i think that maya's book is very important and those voices are extremely important to really challenge the system, the system of oppression and the genocidal process. amy, in class i do have students -- mostly jewish and palestinians. i am teaching for years in the department of criminology where a lot of our students are serving in different places -- army, police, and so on. the fact the whole academic state is being turned -- and i think teaching and talking and discussing and working and agreeing and disagreeing is very important, healthy space to discuss. this is why it is not anti-jewish behavior saying no to the genocide, it is not anti-semitism to say no to

genocide because my jewish students, like maya and many others, are with me on the same path. what we are saying is -- and it is very important because it is with the voices of dissent from around the world, from different -- from south africa, my colleagues to the u.s. and to the u.k., these voices are helping us explain, number one, that this situation -- the fact that people can be threatened because they can't speak up and they can't talk about abuses and atrocities should not continue. the ongoing genocide. we should stop this ongoing genocide against any people. i was talking about the rohingya incident and other places against apartheid, against ethnic cleansing. i think working together as an

anti-oppressive scholars and groups, jews, palestinians, blacks, native scholars and so on, is the right space. choosing to punish me is to punish the students come is really problematic. amy: professor netanyahu, thank you for being with us, as well as