04/05/24 04/05/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> after october 7, the military basically made a decision that all of these people are now being found in their houses, meaning not only killing them but everybody in the building. children, families.

they understood in order to try to attempt to do that, they're going to have to rely on an ai machine with very minimal human supervision. amy: "lavender: the ai machine directing israel's bombing spree in gaza." we look at how the israeli military used artificial intelligence to develop a kill list in gaza of tens of thousands of palestinians targeted for assassination with little human oversight. we spend the hour with + seven to investigate a journalist yuval abraham on his explosive exposé. >> track and wait for the moment they enter houses we usually family houses or houses where no military action takes place.

they are bombed using unguided missiles. amy: we will also speak with him about his film "no other land," which won best documentary at the berlin film festival. after his acceptance speech where he called israel system of rule apartheid, the grandson of a holocaust survivors received death threats. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. israel says it will open gaza aid routes, including the northern erez border crossing, after president biden called for an immediate ceasefire in gaza in a phone call with prime minister benjamin netanyahu thursday. biden also reportedly told netanyahu future u.s. policy will be determined based on israel's actions to address the spiraling humanitarian disaster.

secretary of state antony blinken echoed the remarks as he spoke from the nato headquarters in brussels. >> and with regard to our policy in gaza, i will just say this, if we don't see the changes that we need to see, there will be changes in our own policy. amy: it's the most direct public warnings issued by the u.s. against israel but were not accompanied by any concrete action to prevent israel from carrying out more killings. the confirmed death toll in gaza has topped 33,000 -- over 14,000 of those, children. thousands of others are unaccounted for. "the washington post" reports the biden administration on monday approved the transfer of thousands more bombs to israel, the same day israeli airstrikes in gaza killed seven aid workers with the world central kitchen,

including a u.s. citizen. earlier today, israel released its report on the killing, saying the attack was a serious violation of military procedures and blamed the it on mistaken identification of the vehicles. the world central kitchen had coordinated with israeli military officials and received clearance to travel on the route where it was attacked in its clearly marked "wck" vehicles. it's demanding an independent investigation. another video has emerged appearing to show israeli forces shooting an unarmed palestinian as he attempted to collect aid. the footage, aired on al jazeera, shows people retrieving airdropped aid packages in northern gaza. one man is then singled out and shot as he was walking with an aid package. his lifeless body is then left to a pair of dogs. the human rights monitor euro-med released a report this week that found israel killed

563 palestinians and injured over 1500 as the idf targeted distribution centers, workers, and civilians waiting for aid. the palestine red crescent society called for immediate action to halt the bloodshed. >> 10 members of our team were killed since the beginning of the war. those dedicated heroes who lost their lives in service to others, we mourn the loss of our colleagues, our friends, and our loved ones. we cannot wait any longer. civilians, humanitarians, and medical must be protected and respected. the international community must take action now to end the suffering in gaza. amy: israeli airstrikes continue in rafah, killing at least two children yesterday. following the attack, residents survivor searched the rubble for

signs of life. >> after will believes what is happening in the gaza strip is because of what happen october 7, then this is a delusion. significant plans were put in place for the gaza strip. the proof is that it is not possible plans for displacement and starvation can occur overnight. america is providing some need to us. then provide military aid to them. it is like they are saying, kill them but nicely. amy: a new human rights watch reports find an october 31 israeli airstrike on a six-story apartment building in central gaza is an apparent war crime. human rights watch released this video accompanying their findings. >> without warning, four munitions struck the building in the space have 10 seconds. the airstruck demolished the building and killed at least 106 people, including 64 children.

human rights watch's research found no apparent military target in or near the building. the airstruck violated the laws of war and is an apparent war crime. y: urged israel's allies, including the u.s. and european nations, to suspend arms transfers to israel and back the international criminal court's investigation into likely war crimes. u.n. human rights council adopted a resolution calling for israel to be held accountable for possible work crimes and crimes against humanity in gaza. a doctor at israel's sde teiman -- israeli field hospital for detained gazans said in a letter to government officials "we are all complicit in breaking the law" as he described the horrific conditions for palestinian patients. the doctor said patients are

regularly amputated because of handcuff injuries and that prisoners are fed through straws, forced to defecate in diapers, and held in constant restraints. in occupied east jerusalem, israeli police fired tear gas to disperse worshippers after dawn prayers in the al-aqsa mosque compound earlier today, the last friday of ramadan. today marks al-quds day, held annually to express solidarity with palestine and opposition to israeli occupation. peaceful protests and other actions are taking place around the world coming colluding pakistan, iran, iraq, lebanon, yemen, jordan, and the occupied west bank. the israeli military has halted all leave for its combat soldiers and drafted reservists amid a possible escalation with iran. tehran has vowed to retaliate after israel bombed the iranian consulate in damascus, syria on monday, killing at least seven iranian officers, including

three generals. israel is also blocking gps across parts of the country to disrupt missiles and drones. on thursday, netanyahu further escalated threats against iran. >> we will know how to defend ourselves and will act according to the simple principle that whoever hurts us or plans to hurt us, we will hurt them. amy: on wednesday, the u.s., along with the u.k. and france, opposed a russian-drafted u.n. security council statement condemning the attack in syria. meanwhile, the leader of the houthi movement said 37 people have been killed in u.s. and u.k. strikes on yemen since the start of the war. the two countries have launched over 400 attacks on yemen despite president biden admitting they would not resolve the issue of houthi forces targeting ships in the red sea to disrupt israeli-linked trade. in california, activists blocked all entrances to lockheed martin's research campus in sunnyvale, laying down in the rain to prevent workers from

entering. lockheed martin is the largest arms manufacturer and supplies israel with f-35's, f-16's, hellfire missiles, and other weapons israel uses against palestinians. at lockheed martin employee was one point, a filmed driving his car through a line of activists, nearly running them over, before lashing out and yelling "somebody's gonna die" while waving a knife. this is an activist from the group bay area palestine solidarity. >> we must stop arming israel. there is no business as usual while gaza -- lockheed martin enables another massacre every day. amy: here in new york, the columbia chapter of students for justice in palestine say columbia suspended six students with no due process, giving them just 24 hours to leave university housing before evicting them. the suspensions are part of an investigation into a campus

event and come as part of a wider crackdown on student activism for palestinian rights. peru's congress voted against advancing the impeachment process for president dina boluarte as she faces a corruption probe dubbed "rolexgate." boluarte has been accused of illegally acquiring more than a dozen luxury watches and jewelry over the past three years. the deeply unpopular president came to power following the december 2022 ousting of pedro castillo from office. since then, she has back-tracked on a pledge to hold presidential elections and oversaw a deadly crackdown on protests following castillo's ouster. dozens of people were killed by security forces in what amnesty international says may constitute extrajudicial killings. back in the united states, judges, jurors, and more than 70 current and former prison workers are calling for a halt to the scheduled execution tuesday of missouri death row prisoner brian dorsey.

one former prison officer who knew dorsey wrote in "the kansas city star" -- "from my perspective after decades in corrections, i do not hesitate to say that executing brian dorsey would be a pointless cruelty." dorsey was convicted of killing his cousin in 2006. his request for clemency is based on inadequate representation from court-appointed lawyers and that he has turned his life around in prison while working as a barber. missouri governor mike parson could commute dorsey's sentence to life without parole. meanwhile, oklahoma executed michael dewayne smith thursday in the first of 25 executions planned this year. this week, oklahoma judge gary lumpkin told state execution schedulers to "suck it up" and "man up" after they requested more time between executions in order to reduce trauma on staff and the potential for errors. in new york, hundreds of housing justice advocates rallied outside the headquarters of the real estate board of new york to

demand they stop blocking the passage of good cause eviction legislation. good cause eviction would protect tenants from huge rent hikes and retaliatory or discriminatory evictions. as protesters peacefully blocked the entrance of real estate board's building, police started arresting activists. new york city public advocate jumaane williams spoke before he was arrested. >> the people of this state deserve cannot be evicted frivolously and deserve to say can you please repair my home without being evicted. rent is too damn high. amy: and bishop thomas gumbleton, a longtime leader in the u.s. catholic peace and justice movement, has died at the age of 94 in detroit. he helped found pax christi and bread for the world and was a war tax resistor. he was also a survivor of sexual abuse in the church who was forced to resign in 2007 after he spoke out publicly in favor

of an ohio bill to extend the statute of limitations for cases of sexual abuse by clergy. in 2013, bishop gumbleton spoke to democracy now! about his work with the survivors network of those abused by priests known as snap. >> what really opened my eyes was when a friend of mine, the person who started snap, came to me and asked me to intervene with the local bishop because the priest who had abused her had also of use other people that she was aware of was still functioning. i said, that is impossible. amy: you are the bishop of detroit and he was in toledo. >> i was an auxiliary bishop in detroit but i was at friend of the founder of snap for decades. when she came to me and told me this i said, well, i will go see the bishop and talk to him and i'm sure he is not going to continue to keep this covered

up. well, i went to see him and he assured me, "i will take care of it," so i took him at his word but nothing ever happened. that made me realize that some of the best bishops around were not dealing with this issue the way it needed to be dealt with. it was terribly wrong to allow a priest to continue to function in a situation where he could abuse other children. and it turned out he was still abusing other people. amy: the priest was. >> yes, and the bishop was allowing this to go on. amy: that was bishop thomas gumbleton, who passed away thursday at the age of 94. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back, we spend the hour looking at how the israeli military uses artificial

intelligence to develop a kill list and gaza of tens of thousands of palestinians targeted for assassination with little human oversight. from lavender to where's daddy?, stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "kick out the jams" by mc5. their revolutionary manager john sinclair passed away tuesday in detroit at the age of 82. leader of the anti-racist white panther party, sinclair was targeted by the government and sentenced to 10 years in prison for possessing two marijuana joints, only to be freed after a massive campaign headlined by john and yoko. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the israeli publications +972 and local call have exposed how the israeli military 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. the report is based in part on interviews with six israeli intelligence officers who had first hand involvement with the ai system. +972 reports --

"lavender has played a central role in the unprecedented bombing of palestinians, especially during the early stages of the war. in fact, according to the sources, its influence on the military's operations was such that they essentially treated the outputs of the ai machine 'as if it were a human decision'." 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. one intelligence officer told the publications -- "we were not interested in killing operatives only when they were in a military building or engaged in a military activity. on the contrary, the idf bombed them in homes without hesitation, as a first option. it's much easier to bomb a family's home. the system is built to look for them in these situations." today we spend the hour with the israeli investigative journalist yuval abraham, who broke this story for +972 and local call

. it is headlined "lavender: the ai machine directing israel's bombing spree in gaza." i spoke with yuval abraham yesterday and i began by asking him to lay out what he found in . >> thank you for having me. it is a very long piece. we divided it into six different steps. each step represents a process in the highly automated way in which the military mark targets since october. the first finding is lavender. lavender was designed by the military. its purpose was to mark the low ranking operatives in the hamas and islamic jihad latrine wing. israel estimates that between 30,000 to 40,000 hamas operatives. a very large number.

they understood the only way for them to mark these people is by relying on artificial intelligence. that was the intention. what sources told me is after october 7, the military basically made a decision that all of these tens of thousands of people are now people that could potentially be bombed inside their houses. meaning not only killing them, but everybody who was in the building. children, families. they understood that in order to try to attempt to do that, they're going to have to rely on this ai machine called lavender with very minimal human supervision. one source said he felt he was acting as a rubberstamp on the machine's decision. what the vendor does is scan information -- what lavender does is scan information on 90% of the population of gaza.

it gives each individual a rating between one and 100. it is the expression of a likelihood the machine thanks based on the list of small features -- and we can get to that later -- that that individual is a member of the hamas military wing. sources told me that the military knew because they checked, took a random sampling, the military knew it is ultimately 10% of the people that the machine was marking to be killed were not militants, no connection to hamas. one source says how the machine would rate people that had the same name and nickname as a hamas operatives were had a singular communication profile like police officer. they implemented, again, minimal supervision on the machine. one source said 20 seconds per

target. killing those people inside their houses. relying on artificial intelligence to mark those targets and basically a deadly way in which the officers spoke about how they were using machine could very well be part of the reason why in the first six weeks after october 7, one of the main characteristics of the policies in place where entire palestinian families being wiped out inside their houses. more than 50% of the casualties, more than 6000 people at the time, came from a smaller group of families. the family unit being destroyed. that machine in the way it was used led to that.

amy: you talk about the choosing of targets and you talk about the so-called high-value targets, hamas commanders, and in the lower level fighters. as you said, many in the end it was neither. explain the buildings that were targeted and the bombs that were used to target them. >> yeah, good question. what sources told me is that during those first weeks after october, for the loan king -- low ranking militants, many who are marked by the machine, they had predetermined what they called collateral damage degree. this means the military's international law are met told these intelligence officers that for each low ranking target

lavender marks, when bombing that target, they are allowed to kill one source the number said was up to 20 civilians. regardless of rank, regardless of importance, regardless of age. one source said there were also minors being marked s. another source said the limit was up to 15 for low ranking militants. the sources said for senior commanders in hamas, you know commanders that brigades or divisions or battalions, the numbers were for the first time in the idf's history in the triple digits. for example, the hamas of the center brigade, a source that took part in the strike against that person said the military authorized to kill alongside that person 300 palestinian civilians.

we have spoken to palestinians who were witnesses of that strike. they speak about four quite large residential buildings being bombed on that day. entire apartments filled with families being bombed and killed. that source told me this is not a mistake. it was known beforehand to the israeli military. sources describe that to me and said during those weeks in the beginning, effectively, the principle of proportionality as they call it under international law, almost did not exist. they may go so there are two programs. there is lavender and there is "where's daddy?" how did they even know where these men were? innocent or not.

>> the way the system was designed is there is this concept generally in terms of mass surveillance called linking. when you want to does she want to be able to quickly, for example, you get an idea on a person and you want to quickly be able to link that id to other stuff. what sources told me is that since everybody in gaza has a home or house or at least that was the case in the past, the system was designed to be able to automatically link between individuals and houses. and in the majority of cases, these households that are linked to the individuals that lavender is marking as low ranking militants are not places where there is active military action taking place according to sources. programs like where's daddy that

was designed to search for these low ranking militants when they enter houses, specifically, when these ai-marked suspects entered their houses, the system was designed in a way that allowed the israeli military to carry out massive strikes against palestinians, sometimes militants, sometimes alleged militants, we don't know, when they were in the spaces, in these houses. the sources said -- cnn were ordered in december, 45% of the munitions according were unguided. sources said for these low ranking operatives, they were only using -- meeting they were

collapsing the houses on everybody inside. when you ask intelligence officers why, one x nation they give is these people were "unimportant." they were not important enough for the military perspective that the israeli army one source said waste guided bombs. to me that was very striking because you are dropping a bomb on a house and killing entire families yet the target you're aiming to assassinate by doing so is not considered important enough to "waste and expensive bomb on." i think it is a very rare reflection of sort of the way the israeli military measured

the value of palestinian lives in relation to expected military gain, which is the principle of proportionality. one thing that was clear from all the sources that i spoke with is that, you know, they said it was psychologically shocking even for them. yeah. so that is the combination between lavender and where's daddy. lavender is fed into where's daddy and these systems track the suspects and wait for the moment they enter houses, usually family houses or households where no military action takes place according to several sources who spoke to me about this, and these houses are bombed using unguided missiles.

before the main characteristic -- at least for the first weeks. amy: you write that they said they did not have as many smart bombs. they were more expensive so they did not want to waste them so they used the dumb bombs that killed so many more. >> exactly. the person is not important enough for you to waste munition on, but you are willing to kill 15 civilians, family? amy: yuval abraham, i what to read from the israeli village terry statement in response to your report. they sake "the process of identifying military targets in the idea consists of various types of tools and methods including information management tools which are used in order to help the intelligence analyst to gather and optimally analyze the intelligence obtained from a variety of sources.

contrary to claims, the idf did not use an artificial intelligence system that identified terrorist operatives or tries to predict whether a person is a terrorist. information systems are merely tools for analyst in the target identification process." again, that is the idf response, yuval abraham, to your report. your response? >> i read this response to several sources and they said they are lying, it is not true. i was surprised -- usually they are not so blatant in saying something that is false. i think this can easily be disproven because a senior ranking israeli military official, the head of the ai center, gave a public lecture in

2023. you can google it. where he spoke about "an ai system that these really military used in 2021 to find terrorists." that is what he said. so to have that on record -- i have presentation slides showing . and then to get a comment from the idf spokesperson saying, we do not have a system that uses ai. i really don't know. do i put this in the piece or not? i know -- i gave them the space to make those things. i tried to be as dry as possible the way i was reporting. it really, i am very confident in those findings. they are verified from numerous sources that i spoke with. i think that people who read the full investigation -- the

commander in 2021, how synergy between ai can revolutionize the world and in the book he wrote he is talking about how militaries should rely on artificial intelligence to "solve the problem of the human bottleneck in creating new targets and the decision-making to approve new targets" and he said, "no matter how many intelligence officers you have tasked with producing targets during the war, they still not be able to produce enough targets per day." he gives a guide in that book as to how to build these ai systems. i want to emphasize, he writes in the book very clearly that these systems are not supposed to replace human judgment. he calls it mutual learning between humans and artificial intelligence. he says, it is intelligence

officers who look at the results and make a decision. from what i heard from numerous sources after october 7, that stopped being the case -- at least in some parts of the idea. sources were told if they check that the target is a man, they can accept lavender's recommendation without thoroughly looking at them, without checking why the machine made the decision it did. when speaking with sources, just to describe many of the sources were drafted to the military after october 7. many were shocked by atrocities that happened october 7. their families, friends -- they did not think it would be drafted to the military post of the said, ok, we have to go now. and gradually, when they realized what they were being asked to do, the things they are involved in, i won't say that

all are like this but at least some of them -- again, shocked by committing the atrocities and by being involved in things, killing families. they felt -- they felt the responsibility i think. i said this also in the previous piece i wrote which spoke about another ai machine. they felt they needed to share this information with the world out of the sins that people are not getting it. they are hearing the military spokesperson and all of these narratives we have been hearing for the past six months and they do not reflect the reality on the ground. there is a looming attack now on rafah. it could be used there again to kill palestinians in massive numbers. putting the israeli hostages in danger that need to be released.

there needs to be a ceasefire. it cannot go on. i hope this investigation that exposes things so clearly will help more people all around the world, call for a ceasefire, call to release the hostages, and end the occupation and move to a political situation. there is no other way to word. -- forward. amy: i wanted to ask if u.s. military, if u.s. technology is playing a role in israeli ai, artificial intelligence? >> i don't know. there is some information i cannot fully share at this moment. i am investigating who is involved in developing. what i can tell you is based on previous experience of the 2014 war and 2021 war, when the war ends, the systems are then sold

to military all over the world. i think regardless of the horrific consequences in gaza, alongside that, i think there a danger to humanity. ai-based warfare allows people to escape accountability. it allows to generate targets really on a massive -- 37,000 people marked for potential assassination. it allows to do that and maintain a sort of aesthetic of international law because you have a machine that makes you a target file with commander or target, collateral damage. but it loses all meaning. take the principle of distinction under international law. when you design a system that marks 30,000 people and you check and you know 80% of them

are not actually militants and you still authorize to use that system without any meaningful for weeks, isn't that a breach? when he authorized to kill up to 15 or 20 civilians per target that you consider from a military point of view not especially important, isn't that a clear breach of the principle of proportionality? i don't know. i think international law really is in a crisis right now and i think these ai-based systems are making that crisis even worse. they are draining these terms from meaning. amy: i want to play clip for you of john kirby being questioned on tuesday about israel's killing of seven aid workers in

three cars from world central kitchen. >> not a violation of international human law? >> these release admitted this is a mistake. they will get to bottom of this. let's not get ahead of it. the state department is a process in place. they have not found any incidents where the israeli's have violated international humanitarian law. amy: that is the u.s. top spokesperson john kirby saying israel is never broken international law so far since october 7. this is in response to a question about the killing of the seven aid workers, one palestinian and six international aid workers. can you talk about your response to this attack? three different missiles hitting

all three cars and then what kirby said. >> wow, it is quite shocking what he said. based on the evidence that exists. the first thought that popped into my mind when he was talking about israel is investigating, 2014 bombing in gaza, palestinian told were killed, they were hundreds of claims of war crimes. only one file the israeli military prosecuted a soldier about. everything was closed. this happened 20182019. hundreds are shot at the border. the claim because israel is having an investigation and somehow means they're getting to

the bottom of this, changing something, it is just mocking our intelligence i think. the second thing i would say is it is true the state of israel has apologized for it, but if you look at the truck of people being killed around aid trucks, this has happened over and over again for palestinians. the guardian reported 14 such cases happened in january so it is clear to me the israeli military is apologizing not because of the crime but because of the identity of the people who were killed in the crime. i think that is hypocrisy. to answer the question about my findings, i don't know if artificial intelligence was involved in that strike.

i don't want to say something that i am not 100% sure of. what i have learned from the israeli intelligence officers makes me not be surprised these strikes took place. because the foreign policy is -- we are seeing. unarmed civilians being bombed to death, people walking and being bombed to death. doctors talking about how in hospitals they are seeing young children with bullet holes. the guardian spoke to nine doctors who spoke about that. so this extreme permissiveness is not surprising to me. amy: your piece does not talk about drones, but yuval, can you talk about how the ai systems interact with unmanned attack drones? >> yeah.

i said this last time, i can't speak about everything also because we are sort of always under the military sensor. journalists are very much blinded by that. the systems interact. if somebody is marked to be killed by lavender, then that person could be killed by a warplane, by a drone, by a tank on the ground. it is sort of policy of sharing intelligence between different units and different weapon operators. like i would not be surprised if israel said there was a target -- like somebody we suspected. of course, the aid workers

completely rejected that. but i would not be surprised if the israeli system was somehow related to a policy automated mechanism that picked up on something and has not the highest precision rate. again, from what i'm hearing from sources, this is the atmosphere, this is the case. amy: investigative yuval abraham reporter for +972 and local call called "lavender: the ai machine directing israel's bombing spree in gaza." when we come back, i asked him about a lp codirected which won the prize for best documentary at the berlin film festival in germany. in his acceptance speech, yuval said israel was a guilty of apartheid. he will talk about what happened next.

♪ [music break] amy: "nasheed" by shabjdeed and

al nather. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. as we continue our conversation with yuval abraham, the israeli investigative reporter for +972 magazine. yuval is also the co-director of the film "no other land," a documentary produced by a palestinian-israeli collective that looks at israel's mass expulsion of palestinians living in masafer yatta in the occupied west bank. this is the trailer. >> you think they will come to our home? >> it is the army down there. >> facing one of the biggest decisions since the israeli occupation of the palestinian territories began. >> basel, come here. >> this is the story about power. >> my name is basel.

i grew up in a small community called masafer yatta.

amy: the trailer of "no other land" that was co-directed by yuval abraham and basel adra. the film won the prize for best documentary at the berlin film festival, the berlinale, in germany. this is a part of yuval's acceptance speech. >> in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal. i'm living under civilian law and basel is under military law. we live 30 minutes from one another but i have voting rights and he does not. i am free to

move where i want in this land, basel is locked in the occupied west bank like millions. the situation of apartheid between us is inequality, it has to end. amy: yuval abraham received death threats for those comments. i asked him about the film winning the top prize at the berlinale and what happened afterwards. >> we got this award for the film and we were very happy. for many years we have been filming and it was like a moment of recognition. we got the audience award. the next day, i wanted to fly back home and i took a connection flight in greece. i opened my phone and i received i was receiving dozens of death threats for the speech. i saw german politicians,

including the mayor of berlin, were dubbing it as anti-semitism . yeah. i decided to stay in athens because i was hesitant to go back. the next day, a group of people came to my parents house and threatened them. my mother was really scared. she went to stay with my sister in jerusalem. it was very scary. i felt many things. one of the things i felt outraged by was you have german politicians who are not jewish who labeled me as an anti-semite for what? calling for equality? freezing lord of a good apartheid" which should be common sense to describe inequality? -- for using the word

"apartheid" which should be common sense to describe inequality? most of my grandfather's family were murdered by germans. i know is like, who are you to label me as an anti-semite? this term is very dangerous because on the one hand it is used to silence legitimate criticiz -- criticism. on the other hand for me as a jewish son, israeli, if you're labeling everything as anti-semitism, everything is out of meaning. i think especially now when there is a rise in a testament is a man and we are seeing more and more cases of anti-semitism happening everywhere on the extreme right, left -- for me, it is even worse that germany --

it is completely legitimate to label israel as apartheid, judgment to call for a ceasefire. he was absurd. i hope things have changed -- i don't think they have. amy: your codirector palestinian basel adra called for the stopping of arming of israel. >> good evening, everybody. we are glad to be here and grateful. it is our first movie. my community has been erased by this brutal occupation. i am here celebrating the award but also very hard for me to celebrate when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by israel in gaza, community being razed base really bulldozers. ask for one thing in germany

code to respect the u.n. calls and stop sending weapons to israel. amy: yuval abraham, that is your codirector. basel adra accepting the award for best international documentary. can you talk about what he said? >> basel calls for germany to respect you in resolution and stop the arming of israel and he spoke about tens of thousands of palestinians in gaza who were killed and called for his ceasefire. i want to say one last thing when i got back home to jerusalem, i remember -- we were working on the found, me and basel, basel told me when he was a young boy he slept with his shoes on because he knew the army could knock down the door at any time and he was so used to it as a child that he would

have shoes on all the time so he would be ready to run if soldiers entered the village. when we were sleeping in masafer yatta, we would always have shoes on because the army entered and took the computer from the house and collected equipment. my house and jerusalem, after all of these things happening i was thinking, i don't have to sleep with shoes on. there is no chance that a foreign military is going to enter my home and arrest me and take me. again, i felt this apartheid reality, this completely and equal reality where there are two systems of law and only one people in the lead have solidarity and the other do not. i think going forward, this has to change. we cannot continue to live here. if there is no full political equality and freedom for everyone who lives in this land, then there can be -- there can be no future here.

we are going to continue to fight to change this. i hope people watch our film when it comes out in the states. amy: and the showing of your film in the occupied west bank area of masafer yatta, the subject of your award-winning documentary "no other land," what was it like? >> people came and these are people who are living in the community of villages of masafer yatta. every week, israeli bulldozers take homes. they constantly attack the community. violence to kick out, to forcibly erase this committee from the map. i was worried these people are coming to see by traumatic events that are happening to them and what will they think? in the end, i think it was a

very inspiring night. this community, especially masafer yatta, so inspirational. these are people that are really against all odds, against really colonial policy and oppression and violence, they are staying on their land and living their lives and raising families and going to see the film and looking at the old archive footages we have and laughing at how they were children 20 years ago and locked. i don't know, it was a very inspirational night. there were israeli activists and palestinian activists and a lot of people were united in being completely against this occupation and forced transfer. yeah, we are going to have to continue to fight to make a change. amy: yuval abraham, codirected the film "no other land" with

palestinian activist basel adra, part of an israeli-palestinian collective. they won this documentary at the berlin film festival. he is also a journalist with +972 and local call. we will link to his latest piece, explosive exposé headlined "lavender: the ai machine directing israel's bombing spree in gaza." it looks at how the israeli military used artificial intelligence to develop a kill list in gaza of tens of thousands of palestinians who were targeted for assassination with little human oversight. he looks at lavender as well as another ai program called "where's daddy?" we will also link to yuval abraham's other appearances on

democracynow.org. that does it for today's program. tomorrow, saturday night, a six, i will be speaking in berkeley, california, at the 75 anniversary celebration at the first church of christ, scientist, a landmark thing at 2619 swight way as 6:30 in berkeley, california. tonight i will be speaking in ukiah, california. go to democracynow.org for more information. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. democracy now! [captioning made possible by democracy now!]