04/04/24 04/04/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> i feel like my children will die in front of my eyes. i don't know what i am to do. i can feel them dying before my eyes. this is my daughter. it has been five days she has been without food or drink. amy: usaid officials have

privately president biden that famine in gaza is "unprecedented in modern history." as the official death toll in gaza tops 33,000, we will speak to a prominent israeli professor about how israel put gaza on the road to famine. plus, we talk to a palestinian-american doctor who volunteered in gaza about why he walked out of a white house meeting with president biden. >> you cannot engage and try to get them to come out and show up in the primaries are in november at the same time put millions of bombs that i pursed lisa devastate -- personally saw devastate. that is not something that our community glosses over. amy: then from prison to the presidency. we go to senegal where a pair of opposition leaders went from

prison to ruling senegal in over three weeks. >> under my leadership, senegal will be a country of hope, peace, and independent justice system and a strengthened micro c. amy: we get an update. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the founder of world central kitchen chef josé andrés has accused israel of systematically targeting the 7 aid workers who were killed monday in a series of drone strikes in gaza. chef andres spoke to reuters on wednesday. >> what everybody knows, that seven team members between the special security people we have, three british individuals and three international -- one

palestinian, that they were a target systematically car by car. amy: the killing of the aid workers has sparked global outrage. world central kitchen and other aid groups halting aid deliveries at a time when northern gaza is facing famine. the united nations has temporary halted all operations at night in gaza for at least 48 hours to reassess security protocols. according to the united nations, 196 aid workers have been killed in gaza since october 7. president biden is scheduled to speak with prime minister benjamin netanyahu today as the official death toll in gaza tops 33,000. biden has said he was outraged by the attack on the aid workers, but the u.s. is continuing to arm israel. palestinians say the attack on the aid workers is part of a broader campaign to starve the people of gaza. >> they bombed the world central

kitchen to start the palestinian people. so the palestinian people do not survive. we call all arab people to stand with us and witness what has happened to the palestinian people. the people are humiliated. their dignity was stripped away. we no longer have homes or anything. the palestinian people have been living in humiliation from the 1948 war until now. amy: the israeli publication +972 has exposed how the israeli military has used an artificial intelligence program known as lavender to develop a kill list in gaza that includes as many as 37,000 palestinians who were targeted for assassination with little human oversight. a second ai system known as "where's daddy?" tracked palestinian men on the kill list. it was purposely designed to help israel target individuals when they were at home at night with their families. the world health organization is warning many patients could soon die if they are not evacuated

from al-shifa hospital which has been left in ruins after a two-week israeli military siege. medical crews have found hundreds of bodies scattered across the medical complex. palestinians are still searching the grounds for loved ones. >> i am searching for six people we lost in the war, my sister, all children, and my niece. they were buried here and we don't know what happened to their bodies or where they went. we don't know anything. we find a number of uncovered bodies and they are and identify. we don't know what to do with them. amy: israeli war cabinet member benny gantz has called for early elections to be held in september. gantz is the top political rival to israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, who continues to face daily protests in israel. in britain, pressure is growing on prime minister rishi sunak to suspend arms sales to israel. three former british supreme

court justices have joined hundreds of lawyers, legal academics, and retired judges to warn that continued arms sales could make britain complicit in genocide. this is david lammy, foreign policy chief of the opposition labour party. >> all of the british public can see the scenes coming out of gaza. children lie in rubble, deep concerns being made about international human rights law. and for all of those reasons, that advice should be published. and if it is the case that international law has been contravened, it is right that offensive arms are suspended to israel. amy: meanwhile, spanish prime minister pedro sanchez says his country will recognize palestinian statehood by july. this comes as palestine's u.n. representatives have renewed a push for full membership at the international body. here in new york, tallies from

tuesday's primary election show around 12% of democratic voters in new york state cast a blank ballot instead of voting for president biden. in ukraine, russian drones hit a multiple number of apartment buildings in kharkiv with early this morning. this is a 77-year-old survivor of the attack. >> it is dark. everything is blown out. nothing is left. it is good that we are alive, thank god. amy: nato members met wednesday to discuss long-term military funding for ukraine. nato is weighing a possible $100 billion, five-year fund in what's seen as a trump-proof way of ensuring continued support to kyiv. in related news, ukraine is lowering its conscription age from 27 to 25 as the war grinds on for a third year following russia's invasion.

in russia, a court has sentenced in absentia russian-canadian artist and pussy riot activist pyotr verzilov to eight years in prison for social media posts condemning the invasion of ukraine. verzilov announced last year he had joined the ukrainian army fighting against russian forces , though his current whereabouts are uncertain. turkey's top election authority says it is reinstating the victory of abdullah zeydan of the pro-kurdish peoples' equality and democracy party after his removal led to protests and a crackdown by police. zeydan won over 55% of the vote in the eastern city of van in sunday's elections, but the city's election board denied him victory saying he was disqualified due to a previous conviction. the local election board had said the mayorship should instead go to the candidate of president recep tayyip erdogan's ak party, who won just 27% of the vote.

abdullah zeydan's reinstatement is the latest blow to president erdogan after the opposition republican people's party won mayoral victories in turkey's five largest cities sunday. in kenya, public hospital doctors are in their third week of a nationwide strike over pay issues. the doctors' union has taken their protest to the street as it demands the kenyan government pay them for past wages they are still owed and hire over 3000 unemployed medical interns. amy: the ongoing strike has led to major disruptions in health care across kenya, but the government says they don't have the funds to increase hiring and -- fulfill strecker demands. zimbabwe's president emmerson mnangagwa has declared a national disaster over the protracted drought plaguing the

region, warning some 2.7 million people will face hunger this year. zambia and malawi have also declared states of disasters related to the drought, which has triggered a massive grain shortage. in the philippines, hundreds of schools were forced to close this week due to extreme heat and an elevated risk of heatstroke. the heat index hit over 111 degrees fahrenheit in some areas. scientists have confirmed this march was the hottest-ever recorded. it was also the 10th consecutive month to set a global heat record. a new york judge has denied president trump's latest attempt to use a presidential immunity defense, this time in his hush money case. merchan also rejected trump's bid to delay the trial's april 15 start. the last two survivors of the 1921 tulsa race massacre appeared at oklahoma's supreme court this week in a bid to revive their reparations lawsuit. an estimated 300 black people were killed when a white mob burned down what was known as

"black wall street," the thriving african american neighborhood of greenwood. viola fletcher and lessie benningfield randle are now both 109 years old. in a statement, the two women said -- "we are grateful that our now-weary bodies have held on long enough to witness an america, and an oklahoma, that provides race massacre survivors with the opportunity to access the legal system. the oklahoma supreme court has the power to open the doors of justice." and 56 years ago today, dr. mark luther king was assassinated on the balcony of the lorraine motel in memphis, tennessee. his family members are holding their annual wreath laying ceremony in atlanta. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen: and i'm nermeen shaikh. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world.

president biden is scheduled to speak with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu today for the first time since israeli forces sparked international outrage by killing seven aid workers from world central kitchen. the organization's founder chef josé andres has accused israel of systematically targeting the aid workers who went to gaza with a shipload of aid to feed starving palestinians. while biden has said he was outraged by the killings, the white house has indicated it plans to keep arming israel even as the death toll in gaza tops 33,000. the biden administration is preparing to approve a new $18 billion arms deal for israel that includes as many as 50 american-made f-15 fighter jets. the u.s. also recently approved sending 1800 2000-pound bombs, which can be used to level entire city blocks, as well as 500 500-pound bombs. amy: earlier this week, the

white house was forced to cancel its planned ramadan dinner after many muslim american leaders refused to go to protest biden's gaza policy. instead of a dinner, biden held a scaled-back meeting tuesday with muslim american community figures. but that, too, was met with protests. the palestinian american emergency room physician thaer ahmad walked out of the meeting. before leaving, he gave president biden a letter from an eight-year-old orphaned palestinian girl named hadeel that read, "i beg you, president biden, stop them from entering rafah." dr. thaer ahmad is a board member for medglobal, which has an office in gaza and is working with the world health organization. he recently volunteered at al nasser hospital in khan younis in gaza. he joins us now from chicago. dr. ahmud, thank you so much for being with us. can you describe the meeting?

it was hours after we learned of the killing of the seven aid workers in gaza. talk about how the meeting, the dinner was canceled, who was at the meeting, and what you did in meeting president biden. >> the meeting, we first started hearing about it but we before it was scheduled. it was a working dinner. it was in lieu of the ramadan dinner that the white house does. but given the circumstances and famine in gaza, they wanted to do a working dinner with the president. the muslim community push back and said it did not feel appropriate to be eating and talking about a famine. he came off as quite distasteful. it was changed to a working lead with the president where he would just be direct, intimate conversation with the president of the united states, the vice president, and other members of his administration. i was the only

palestinian-american doctor there but they were going to be other medical professionals. we were told we were going to be the first people to break the president about the situation on the ground who had actually been in gaza after october 7. leading up to the meeting, we thought this might be an opportunity to relate the message -- relay the message even though it was quite surprising the president had not really spoken with anyone working on the ground directly. president biden himself had not heard from people who have been on the ground. as you mentioned in the lead up, there were 70 different incidents that took us over the past week that really suggested this meeting was not going to be impactful. in fact, it may have been better to not attend the meeting. i think the world central kitchen thing was the final event when you saw seven aid workers assassinated. these were three separate missiles, three different

vehicles that were part of the convoy. they were hit multiple times. when jose andres says it was targeted, he is justified in suggesting that. despite the famine in the north, world central kitchen was one of the few organizations consistently coordinating with the israeli military to be able to access the north. this came on the heels of the weapons deals, the bombs being transferred. even if there's a change in the rhetoric with the biden administration, it really upset all of the people who were attending. when we finally sat in the meeting and the president began with remarks saying we want deer from you guys, this is a listening session, i had to excuse myself after telling him rafah needs to be a redline. under no circumstance can there be an israeli invasion into rafah given everything about how we have heard the israelis operate. anyone try to get it is the biden administration that it can be done in a safe manner, they

are not telling the truth. you cannot evacuate palestinians out of rafah and treat them like sheep and assume everything is going to go fine. i said make noah stake about it, it is going to be a bloodbath. then i got up and hated them that letter and had to excuse myself and walked out of the meeting. amy: what did biden say? >> he looked at the letter and said he understood. the community i hail from, we are grieving. we feel like for six months we have been totally of nord. with all of the decisions made the past couple of weeks alone, he suggested we were not going to have a voice. we were not going to have a seat at the table and be able to share our concerns. and for those concerns to be met with serious deliberation and to be acknowledged as the very minimum. the u.n. security council has a cease-fire resolution. why do we hear the next moment

the state department undermining that resolution and saying, it is nonbinding? why are we hearing about all of the fighter jets? someone needs to say, this $18 billion is years away but it suggests the united states is going to continue israel with military aid and suggest also they are comfortable with how they're prosecuting the war. for every single person interested in this, everybody is totally against how this war has been prosecuted. the incredible amount of suffering that has taken place. famine in the north, invasion in the south, infrastructure devastated everywhere. i was in al nasser hospital. it is one of the many different hospitals that has symptomatically been targeted. if we lose all of the health care system and health care workers -- if this happens in rafah, where are they supposed

to go? it was suggested after the convoy attack, initially said this is what happens in war. what about the 1.7 million palestinians in rafah if they are mistakenly hit? these are some of the concerns we had when we were approaching this meeting. the concern of the entire ngo community. nermeen: i want to turn to wednesday's press briefing at the white house where the press secretary to questions about tuesday's meeting. >> last night was the president's first opportunity to speak face-to-face with someone who had been on the ground providing aid in gaza? >> i can't speak to the different leaders who have been in this meeting. it was a private meeting. >>. the president meeting with

any aid workers inside gaza -- [indiscernible] it feels like a yes or no question, whether he has met with someone who is spent inside. the reason i'm asking is i know people at the meeting said this is the first time the president had axley spoken to anyone inside gaza since october 7. >> he has met with community leaders who are from the muslim community, air community, palestinian community. i would let them speak for themselves if they have been to gaza. nermeen: your response? >> it is clear she does not want to answer the question because it was the first time the president would be in front of somebody. it may be the president is well briefed on the situation, has the numbers, the facts and figures. i am sure they are aware of what

is happening with respect to gaza strip. at the level of detail you can get with people who have been on the ground i think is vital information. i also know we're talking about counterparts are probably briefing the entire administration far more regularly than anybody from the palestinian community, muslim community, aid organizations on the ground. it is important for the president to hear some of the concerns of people who were on the ground, who actually interact with people suffering, who were in different hospitals. this is important because so much of the rhetoric surrounding some of the health care system attacks or the egg convoy attack or what is taking place industries, so much of that is dominated by israel. you don't hear what is going on from the palestinian perspective on the ground. they are not able to share with you 10 thousand families are sheltering in al nasser hospital prior to being raided. they can't tell you how shiva --

usha hospital was slowly coming up to speed and people who were sheltering had returned. the emergency department started to see patients again. you don't get to hear that aspect again. that is truly tragic considering it has been six months of this conflict and this would be the first time the president has been able to do that stuff the other thing i want to mention with respect to the world central kitchen, the president did say he was outraged about this. it is important if the president got to hear from other aid organizations that had also been hit stop medical aid for palestine back in january, they have a compound with an international rescue that was hit. it is important figure out why did the israeli military strike that compound with the missile? doctors without border has had two people killed in an airstrike as well. it is important to hear from them. why did that happen? this is systematic in regard to

targeting health care, civilian and shipper structure -- celine infrastructure. people directly on the ground affected. it is important for people to hear about this. there is something i think the biden administration should hear loud and clear. people want to be able to contribute an engaged and share their opinion. they want a voice, a seat at the table. it has to be meaningful. it has to be impactful. people have been talking for six months about what is important happen in the gaza strip. that is a cease-fire and getting aid in. there been no concrete steps toward that. it has been the opposite. it is only been a plate check given to the israelis and diplomatic cover with every single horrible thing that emerges. that is why people want to be engaged with the president and vice president but are not going

to do so until they see something changes with respect to policy and action. nermeen: dr. ahmud, you mentioned there have been as many as 190 aid workers killed before this week's attack and the death of seven world central kitchen aid workers. i want to go to national security council spokesperson john kirby being questioned tuesday. >> is that not a violation of international law? >> the israeli's have already admitted this is a mistake. they're doing an investigation and get to the bottom of this. the state department has a process in place. as you and i are speaking, they have not found any incidents where the israelis have violated international humanitarian law. nermeen: dr. ahmud, that israel has not violated international commanded terry and. your response? >> if you'd asked john kirby if

any civilian or innocent person's diet in this war, i guarantee you he would give you very vague answer and say we have not found anything. it is totally ridiculous and outrageous for that to be the response. seven people were killed. this is a sort of response you get. for me, that is part of the problem here. the messaging we are hearing. especially from someone like john kirby. it is totally unacceptable. we are hearing about violation after violation. i'm not a lawyer but it is kind of strange to hear the entire group of experts, eyewitnesses are suggesting there is some serious violations taking place here and it is happening multiple times over the course of six months. it starts to suggest there's a pattern of behavior in place. instead, your response saying, be patient, watch out,

everything we've seen so far has suggested there isn't anything there. 33,000 dead palestinians in the gaza strip. how did that happen? john kirby would not be able to answer that based on the tone he has taken. that is highlighting what we're talking about when we say it seems like the sort of sub or to this diplomatic cover for the biden administration is unwavering. even though the red record told may change here or there with respect to technology, the human suffering that is taking place in the humanitarian catastrophe -- all of these other comments sort of sub pport the theme of what has taken place. in the u.s. is supporting what the israeli letter is doing. when president biden has that call with prime minister netanyahu, i was take it is important for him to draw a redline, for him to make --

amy: i want to go to the founder of the world central kitchen. the world renowned chef josé endres, who accused israel of systematically targeting the seven aid workers who were killed monday night in that series of drone strikes in gaza. he spoke to reuters wednesday. >> at the end we know what everybody knows, that seven members between the special security people we have, three british individuals and three international crew plus palestinian, they were a target systematically car by car. they attacked the first car. we are still trying to get all of the information what happened in the first car. we have a feeling they were able to escape safely. this was only the third day we had armored vehicles within six months trying to bring them in. at the first armored vehicle was

hit. they were able to escape. we still don't know all the details on the events. they were able to move in the second one. again, this one was hit. they were able to move to the third one. we know they were trying to call. in the chaos of the moment, whatever happened, to try to be the idf -- they were targeting us. them knowing it was our teams moving on that route with three cars. and they had a third one and we saw the consequences of that. seven people dead. there are seven on top of 190 humanitarian workers that have been killed in the last six months. israel and united states have

said the attacks were not deliberate. do you accept that? >> well, totally. initially i would say categorically, no. even if we were not in coordination with idf, nondemocratic country and not military can be -- can't be targeting civilians and humanitarians. especially when the technology today allows you to know things in ways not too long ago was not possible. those drones have eyes on everything that moves in gaza. i have been there. drones nonstop flying above you. there is nothing that moves that idf doesn't know. amy: clearly, dr. ahmud, the establishment consensus has now broken. i've seen democratic senator after senator starting to question u.s. military aid to

israel. president biden knows chef jose andres. the seven people who were killed, the three british nationals, the polish national, the canadian-american national -- we have not heard the canadian prime minister or the president name that person. the australian. these are six international aid workers plus a palestinian aid worker. clearly, that is what is changing that conversation. as you pointed out, almost 200 aid workers have been killed in the last months. you are planning to go back to gaza? you are palestinian-american. are you concerned you, too, like so many of your colleagues could be targeted as a doctor, as a nurse, as a medical aid worker in gaza? >> of course. that is always a primary concern. i think it is because we have the same realization that most other agencies and organizations and relief workers have come and

that is there is no place safe in the gaza strip. the world central contrition when chef andres is speaking, he said that the court's were shared with the israeli military. they had an excellent relationship with the idea. the fact there convoy was hit three separate times by them trying to reach out, nobody is safe. 200 aid workers have been killed but also 400 health care workers. over 100 journalists have been killed in the process. there is nobody that is safe. one comment i want to make that chef had mentioned is anything that moves, and that is such an important thing for people to recognize in the gaza strip, there are areas where there is total control by the israeli military and if there's any movement, those people come under fire and are killed. there is footage last week of palestinians on the beach waving a white flag.

we can clearly see they are unarmed. we see them being killed and buried with the bulldozer on a beach in gaza. that is the kind of landscape you're talking about. there's so many different areas in the gaza strip where you cannot walk around. it does not matter, man, woman, or child, and you are under the threat of attack. it is everybody, all parts of society. it is important for people to recognize and understand the counter narrative here to anything that would suggest there are armed people or militants that are being targeted. every single person in the gaza strip is not say. if they are living in the wrong place at the wrong time, they will be killed. there is no other outcome of that scenario. amy: dr. thaer ahmud, thank you for being with us emergency room , physician who spent three weeks in gaza volunteering at al nasser hospital in khan younis and is a board member for medglobal, which has an office in gaza and is working with the world health organization. he walked out of a white house meeting with president biden this week.

next up, we speak with a prominent israeli professor about how israel put gaza on the road to famine. back in 20 seconds. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with nermeen

shaikh. nermeen: a group of u.s. officials at usaid have privately warned the biden administration the spread of hunger and malnutrition in gaza is "unprecedented in modern history" and parts of gaza are ready expensing famine as several aid groups are suspending work in gaza after israel killed seven aid workers with world central kitchen earlier this week. in a moment we will speak to neve gordon about the famine in gaza but we begin with the words of two palestinian mothers. >> i feel like my children will die in front of my eyes. i don't know what i am to do. i can feel them dying. this is my daughter. it is been five days she is been without food or drink. i don't know what to do for her.

i am suffering, sitting with my children. it is two of them. there is no food or milk available. the girl is suffering from malnutrition. she is tired. the situation is so difficult. i am tired. i swear i am very tired. there condition is very bad. my daughter is suffering in front of me and i don't know what to do for them. i am unable to provide them with milk or pampers or food. i don't know what to do for them. the two of them are so unwell. this one, my daughter, has been like this for five or six days. amy: that was a palestinian mother. and this is another mother who spoke as she held her crying baby. >> my daughter is ill and she is suffering from malnutrition and her blood is weak. we are suffering from a

catastrophic situation, a catastrophic health situation. there is no drinking water at all. the hospital is suffering and unable to provide water for us to give to our children. our children have come here not to get better and healthier but there health situations have gotten worse. most medications are not available. healthy food is not available for our children. healthy water is not available for our children. on one bed they put three and four cases which results and the children infecting each other making the situation worse. of course all of this is because of the israeli occupation. a situation which we are in. they bombed hospitals. they tell us the hospital is a safe space. the hospital is not a safe space. most hospitals are no longer -- most hospitals are no longer in service. all the sick are being treated in one or two hospitals in the whole of the gaza strip. we ask all countries, the world,

to take our side and relieve us of the situation. it is enough. our children are dying in front of us and we are unable to do anything for them. amy: that was a palestinian mother speaking at a hospital in rafah. we go now to london where we are joined by neve gordon, professor of international law and human rights at queen mary university of london. chair of the committee on academic freedom for british society of middle east studies. he's the author of several books, including "israel's occupation." and co-author of "human shields: a history of people in the line of fire" and co-editor of "torture: human rights, medical ethics and the case of israel." he just wrote a piece in the new york review of books headlined "the road to famine in gaza." professor gordon, thank you for being with us. why don't you take us on that journey. tell us the antecedents to what we're seeing today, the issue of famine in gaza. >> perhaps i will begin with

what we are seeing and then move back. we are seeing destruction and massive displacement in an area that is already food insecure. then we're saying israel instructing aid from entering gaza, so on average in the past six months, 112 trucks have been entering per day while before october 7, 500 trucks were entering each day. we are seeing consistent attacks on aid workers, as you mentioned , with on average one aid worker being killed every day. and we are seeing the destruction of one third of the agricultural land in the gaza strip, 20% of the green houses, and 70% of the fishing vessels in the gaza strip. so no internal food can be

produced in the gaza strip. as you mentioned earlier, what we're witnessing and what we have expressed is the most horrific situation a parent can experience, is there children dying in front of them of famine. what we wrote is about the history of using food as a weapon in the gaza strip. if in 1967 israel occupies the gaza strip, its approach is very different in the beginning. it surveys the gaza strip. it looks at what the palestinians are planting. and in the beginning, what it does is it actually plants trees and provides the palestinians with better varieties of seeds

and it monitors the food basket of the palestinians. and in its reports, it tells us the food basket in 19 -- was 240 colors per person and after four years of occupation, it is boasting about the improvement in the food basket. but what we see already is israel is controlling the palestinian food basket. in the beginning, it wants to increase the productive energies of the palestinians so they can work as cheap labor for israel's use. everything begins to change in the first palestinian intifada in december 1987, were israel begins imposing restrictions on the gaza strip.

first, by creating magnetic cards that monitor the entrance of labors into israel and restricts the entrance of laborers to israel. a few years later, creates a fence and fence is the gaza strip so that -- and creates only four or five crossings. and later on with the second intifada, we see a total reversal of the approach after 1967. we see israel destroying agricultural land stuck we see it creating a buffer zone around the fence so palestinian farmers cannot get near the fence. we see it destroying fishing vessels. and see it limiting further the palestinian food basket. then comes 2005, israel's

lateral withdraw from the gaza strip, the movement of its soldiers, the beginning use of the drone over the gaza skies. and after hamas wins democratic elections in the gaza strip, we see the implementation of a blockade where israel basically blocks the gaza strip and monitors very carefully what enters and what exits. it further destroys more agricultural land. then it creates the ministry of defense with the ministry of health, creates lists of items that can enter the gaza strip and items that cannot enter. so flower and baby formula can enter but chocolate and certain kinds of pastas cannot enter. israel begins to monitor the calorie intake of the population and creates what it called a

humanitarian minimum. we will allow israel says a humanitarian minimum aid to enter the gaza strip, leaving the population regularly in a situation of food insecurity and controlling and imaging the population through food insecurity. and every time there is a cycle of violence -- and there has been five major cycle of violence since 2008 until today --israel closes off all the border and what have been a food insecurity before the cycle of violence drops dramatically and we see incidents of malnutrition and so forth. so this is kind of the background of what we have been saying. and when this war begins -- everything you have been describing earlier is intentional. israel has been controlling the

food basket and using it as a weapon since the beginning of the occupation until today. nermeen: professor neve gordon, you make the case in your article that, this is perhaps one of the most surprising things, that israel has made no attempt to conceal its policy of restricting food to gaza. you cite an earlier piece in the new york review of books, quoting her citation of a cable sent from the u.s. embassy in tel aviv to the secretary of state on november 3, 2008. , "as part of their overall embargo plan against gaza, israeli officials have confirmed to missy officials on multiple occasions that they intend to keep the gazan economy on the brink of collapse without quite pushing it over the edge." if you could elaborate on that

and what you understand the justification of that to be and why they were -- why they would be so exclusive about it to the americans? >> what we see is we see a process from onslow where oslo was sold to the public as a peace process that will bring economic decadence were israel and the palestinians and if you remember at the time, gaza was described as the new singapore. and we will make gaza thrive and there will be a singapore in the middle east. now, what we see in the years immediately after the oslo accords were signed, indeed, israel and joined by the palestinians, particularly in

gaza, the economic situation drops because israel is basically strangling the palestinian economy. i will use their roi's concept. -- i will use sarah roy's concept. destroying the agricultural land, destroying the factories. it is not shy in doing so. it is basically asserting its control and letting the palestinians in gaza know who is the lord of the land and letting the american counterparts also know who is the lord of the land. and through this we see a situation where the major reason for the food insecurity in the gaza strip before this war was

indeed the blockade. at the blockade, what it does come is strangled the gaza strip economically. so a year before the war, we have a gdp per capita in the gaza strip of about $1000 per person while in israel to is $52,000. an hour away, this is before the war, an hour away from my apartment where i used to live in the gaza strip, that is the distance between the two regions yet in the gaza strip a newborn is seven times more likely to die because of the economic strangulation, because of the lack of health care, and so forth. the message was clear from the beginning -- we control you. if you do not bow down, then we will hit you harder.

and that is what israel has been doing for years in the gaza strip. and that is -- and the americans have been watching. americans have been seeing this happen. and the americans have not said anything to israel and not stopped israel's action. then we have october 7 and we have seen what has happened since then. amy: neve gordon professor neve gordon, we want you to stay after the show so we can continue this conversation and will post it online at democracynow.org. professor gordon teaches international law and human rights at queen mary university of london. we will link to your piece in the new york review of books headlined "the road to famine in gaza." next up, we go to senegal where a pair of opposition leader's went from prison to the presidency and the prime minister ship in three weeks. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "tamvela mama," mother's prayer, by mokoomba. this is democracy now! i'm amy goodman with nermeen shaikh. nermeen: we end today's show in senegal where the newly inaugurated president bassirou diomaye faye has named ousmane sonko to be his prime minister, capping a remarkable three week period that saw the two opposition figures go from prison to ruling senegal, vowing to fight poverty, injustice, and corruption. faye and sonko were released from prison in mid-march just days before faye won senegal's election to replace president macky sall who had attempted to delay the vote. faye was officially inaugurated. >> under my leadership, senegal will be a country of hope, a country at peace, with an independent justice system and a strengthened democracy. this is my promise, based on the oath i have just taken before god and the nation, in your presence. i am aware that the results of the ballot box express a profound desire for systemic change. through my election, the

senegalese people have committed themselves to building a fair senegal, a prosperous senegal, a progressing africa. amy: faye is now africa's youngest elected president. and now send televised speech wednesday, he will audit senegal oil, gas and mining sectors. for more would go to the capitalist senegal to speak with ibrahima kane, a senegalese lawyer and political analyst, and aminata touré, senegal's former prime minister. welcome you both to democracy now! a few weeks ago, we spoke to you when you were detained in a mass protest against president saul try to delay the election and extend his term. can you talk about what happened in the last few weeks, the new prime minister and president

were just in prison. this is quite a moment for senegal. aminata touré, if you could first respond? >> thank you for having me. we have to backtrack a little bit for further context. president macky sall two days ago, he laid his response when he asked whether he was going to run a third time. this triggered massive demonstration, unfortunately with life loss. last year, he decided to drop the ball.

but yet when about to start the electoral campaign, he postpone the election until december. this triggered again massive demonstrations. at the end, he had to submit himself to the decision of the constitutional council. what this means is that although our democracy has been shaken, the foundation is quite solid. at the end, democracy prevailed. we went to election. it was bassirou diomaye faye and ousmane sonko gottfried and campaign. and today, as you say, faye has been sworn in as president and appointed ousmane sonko as his prime minister. the lesson to be learned is first of all, democracy is not

given. you have to nurture it. you have to be vigilant. we have to stand by democracy and that is a lesson i learned from these months of struggle. nermeen: ibrahima kane, if you could respond to the remarkable inauguration this week of bassirou diomaye faye? what do you think the significance of this is? and if you could give us some background on who he is. >> bassirou diomaye faye is a civil servant. i think he works for the senegalese administration with ousmane sonko, deciding to create a political party and could from the system to make sure the system works better for the citizens. in senegal, democracy as we used to see, the system used to work for those in power.

the system used to work for those who managed to get power, totally in power, everything for themselves and forgetting the population. this is a young generation of senegalese who really want to shake up the system and to really make sure the system works for the citizens as we always hoped in a democratic system the citizens should be the first -- the citizen should be at the head of any public policy. now faye sonko sonko and are in power and there's a lot of hope. there is a lot of problems in senegal. yesterday in his speech he said senegalese are brave but they are very, very tired.

there is a need to sort out their problems. this is where i think the problem will come very soon because there is the willingness of the two leaders to sort out problems, but is the senegalese economy, education system, social system able to allow him to find jobs, allow him to sort out some of these economic problems? i really doubt it. i really doubt it because the state they inherited is a state completely down. they have only five years. i doubt that in five years you can really change -- you can really make a shift in the senegalese economy, political system. but i do hope they will start taking specific action that will

show to the population that at least this generation of leaders are more inclined to help the population than to help themselves. amy: finally, former prime minister -- they ran as penn africanist. the significance of what they're talking about when it comes to education, where women stand in this government? >> first of all, i would like to save i'm a little bit optimistic that my panelist counterpart just spoke. there has been some economic choices that needs to be reversed and then we will be able to make a lot of saving in the national budget. and that will improve definitely

health and education policy. because the prime minister 10 years ago, much more infrastructure than in building a social capital. that needs to be reversed. i can tell you there are niches where you can save money and redirect those resources to other people. the second thing, i really share a vision of having africa, one global space. we do have within ecowas, nigeria that is the first economy before south africa, before egypt. they are looking forward to a more integrated zone, economic

zone. amy: we are going to have to leave it there but we will continue this discussion. aminata touré and ibrahima kane. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]