#Amanpour and Company

[panicinthestudio]

Nobel Peace Prize Winner Maria Ressa on How to Stand Up to a Dictator, December 7, 2022

As Russians are standing strong against Putin's authoritarian rule, our next guest is no stranger to taking on dictators. Journalist and Nobel laureate Maria Ressa is a fearless defender of freedom, exposing corruption and abuse of power in the Philippines. Ressa joins Michel Martin to discuss her new book "How to Stand Up to a Dictator" and to offer tactics for fighting authoritarianism.

Amanpour and Company

[notwiselybuttoowell]

After a year of climate catastrophes, we take a look at the history of environmental activism in America. In his new book "Silent Spring Revolution," Douglas Brinkley calls attention to the climate change movement by tracing the work of pioneering environmental activists in the 1960s. He joins Walter Isaacson to discuss this environmental awakening.

[hezigler]

Watch "“Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost its Mind” | Amanpour and Company" on YouTube

[troncelliti]

Why Do Female Politicians Face Outsized Abuse Online? …

[sayruq]

The International Criminal Court seeks a warrants against Netanyahu and Yahya Sinwar

The International Criminal Court is seeking arrest warrants for Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza, the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview on Monday. Khan said the ICC is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as two other top Hamas leaders — Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri, the leader of the Al Qassem Brigades and better known as Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’ political leader. The warrants against the Israeli politicians mark the first time the ICC has targeted the top leader of a close ally of the United States. The decision puts Netanyahu in the company of the Russian President Vladimir Putin, for whom the ICC issued an arrest warrant over Moscow’s war on Ukraine. A panel of ICC judges will now consider Khan’s application for the arrest warrants. Khan said the charges against Sinwar, Haniyeh and al-Masri include “extermination, murder, taking of hostages, rape and sexual assault in detention.” “The world was shocked on the 7th of October when people were ripped from their bedrooms, from their homes, from the different kibbutzim in Israel,” Khan told Amanpour, adding that “people have suffered enormously." The charges against Netanyahu and Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” Khan told Amanpour..”

You can read the statement by the ICC prosecutor here

[workersolidarity]

[ 📹 Footage from on the night of February 29th, when the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on thousands of starving Palestinians gathered for humanitarian aid on Al-Rashid street in Gaza City. 118 Palestinian civilians were killed in the massacre and more than 700 others were wounded in the attack.]

🇮🇱⚔️🇵🇸 🚨

INVESTIGATION OF ISRAEL'S "FLOUR MASSACRE" CONFIRMS ZIONIST FORCES RESPONSIBLE FOR SHOOTING HUNDREDS OF STARVING PALESTINIANS

An investigation by Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (EURO-MED) into the "Flour massacre", which saw 118 starving Palestinian civilians killed and nearly 800 wounded in what the Israeli occupation tried to blame on a "stampede," says it has produced evidence that the majority of casualties were actually caused by the firing of live Israeli bullets.

The Flour massacre occured on February 29th, 2024 near the Nabulsi roundabout on Al-Rashid street in Gaza City, where thousands of hungry Palestinian families gathered for the arrival of a humanitarian aid convoy carrying food to starving crowds that desperately needed sustenance.

Soon after the trucks arrived, gunfire erupted, including tracer rounds which could be seen in video evidence taken at the time, causing thousands of civilians to panic, running off in different directions in search for shelter.

The Israeli occupation authorities used heavily edited clips of night vision drone video to argue that nearly a thousand Palestinian casualties were a result of a stampede after Israeli forces fired rifles into the air to defend themselves from defenseless civilians desperate for food, whom they claim were looting the free food being distributed to the crowds.

So senseless was Israel's explanations for the atrocity, that even CNN's Christiane Amanpour, a normally deferential TV commentator who rarely resists the official narratives of the Israeli occupation, had to push back against Israeli officials on U.S. national television.

But a newly published report by the Geneva-based human rights organization, Euro-Med Monitor, says that many of casualties were in fact the result of the firing of live bullets that have been forensically analyzed and found to match those used by Israeli soldiers.

According to Euro-Med Monitor, "Many victims of the massacre" actually suffered injuries from "5.56x45mm NATO bullets," adding that, "this is a type of bullet fired from Israeli army weapons."

"A sample of 200 dead and injured victims revealed that they were indeed hit by this type of bullet, and that the bullets were discovered and examined at the massacre site along with shrapnel found in the bodies of the wounded and dead," Euro-Med said in its report.

After carrying out a forensic analysis of the type of bullets used, Euro-Med says it "discovered that [this type of bullet] is discharged from assault rifles like the M4 and Tavor, along with machine guns," specifically "light machine gun[s] or LMG" such as the "IWI Negev."

Euro-Med says its research "revealed that 5.56×45mm ammunition is a basic FMJ bullet used by the Israeli army."

"This type of bullet is imported from the United Kingdom on occasion, produced in 2020/2022, and licensed for use by the Israeli Ministry of Defense," the human rights organization said of its analysis.

Euro-Med added that the bullet "is also manufactured in Israel by IMI SYSTEMS," an Israeli company which manufactures weapons, ammunition and other military technologies, and "regularly supplies them to the Israeli security forces, including the Israeli army."

Citing testimony by Muhammad Yasser Washah, a local 17-year-old resident of Gaza City's Al-Sabra neighborhood who was present for the Flour massacre, along with its own analysis, Euro-Med said it retrieved a bullet lodged in the youths jacket after going through the bag of flour he had been carrying on the night of the atrocity.

After analyzing the bullet pulled from Washah's jacket, Euro-Med discovered that its "form and dimensions were identical" to the bullets mentioned previously, though this particular bullet is designed to penetrate several millimeters of solid steel.

Euro-Med recorded testimony from several witnesses to the horrific massacre, putting together a timeline for the events of that night.

According to witnesses, the Zionist army began "directly shooting at civilians" as they waited for food aid at "approximately 4:10am" on Thursday, February 29th.

By 5:30am, the Israeli occupation forces "raided the entire gathering, where many people were lying injured, killed or were attempting to flee."

Euro-Med says that many people were taken into custody by the occupation's soldiers, others were forced to flee south, while some "Israeli forces directly executed others and left their bodies on a nearby beach."

According to testimony given by a witness who asked for anonymity, Euro-Med quoted the witness as saying, "We were shocked when Israeli soldiers showed up and took a group of young men from Gaza [City]."

The witness added that “While the majority of them were fleeing to the beach, some were at the Nabulsi roundabout, others were evacuated to the south, and still others were killed and left on the beach.”

The witness also detailed the fate of a doctor named Muhammad Awad who had been detained by Israeli soldiers but was released soon thereafter, “he moved several steps away, they opened fire on him and wounded him in the shoulder…We were under siege until 6:30 am, and the injured were pleading with us not to leave them…The food and flour were covered in blood when I left."

A second witness who works as volunteer paramedic also asked for anonymity fearing retaliation. That witness told Euro-Med “In the hopes of receiving assistance, I went to the Nabulsi roundabout. As a precaution, I brought a first aid bag with me because I knew that similar incidents had resulted in shootings.”

The witness explained how shortly before 4:30am, the humanitarian aid trucks "passed the checkpoint and the Israeli army started firing, throwing stun grenades and smoke bombs" as an Israeli tank advanced towards the crowd.

“I treated several injured people with first aid. I discovered that some had suffered injuries to their chests, while others had suffered injuries to their limbs," the witness recounted, adding that, "while I was trying to pull out one of the injured people, the tank came forward, and I was forced to flee the scene." The witness concluded by saying, “there was a large number of dead and injured people.”

Euro-Med Monitor goes on to lay out four "key pieces of evidence confirming the Israeli army's involvement in the killing and wounding of starving civilians," including signs of injuries on the bodies of the dead and wounded, footage released by the Israeli occupation authorities themselves, as well as "audible evidence of gunfire emenating from Israeli tanks positioned near the coast."

The Human Rights organization also pointed to video evidence published by the Zionist occupation, which despite being heavily edited, shows the "sheer panic and intimidation that struck all of the civilians present - including those relatively far away from the aid trucks - and pushed them to flee in all directions in order to seek shelter."

Euro-Med also warned that Israeli shootings of starving Palestinian civilians attempting to receive humanitarian aid has "become a regular practice."

The organization stated that over the last few weeks, "Israeli forces have directly attacked and killed dozens of people in Gaza City, including on Salah al-Din Street and in the vicinity of the Kuwait roundabout, where it has occurred no less than twice since the Flour Massacre."

The most recent example of this kind of attack came just last night when, according to Euro-Med Monitor, "many civilians were injured by Israeli violence near the Kuwait roundabout."

The Euro-Med report goes on to slam the Israeli occupation for "starving the people of Gaza, killing the starving people, and obstructing the entry and distribution of humanitarian supplies, especially in Gaza City and the northern Strip, demonstrat[ing] Israel’s aim of forcibly displacing the Palestinian people there as part of its genocide, ongoing since 7 October 2023."

The investigation goes on emphasize that the Zionist army's "extrajudicial executions and intentional killings of Palestinian civilians" who have not taken part in the hostilities, "amounts to serious violations of International humanitarian law," and are considered "war crimes and crimes against humanity as defined by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."

"These crimes, which Israel has been committing against the Gaza Strip’s people since 7 October, violate the right of Palestinians to life in accordance with international human rights law, and constitute acts of genocide," the Human Rights group added.

Euro-Med concludes it's report by urging the international community to take action to "force Israel to halt its starvation campaign" against civilians in the Gaza Strip, "in order to prevent the impending catastrophe of mass famine there, and to hold Israel accountable for its crimes and grave violations against the Strip and all of its Palestinian residents."

The Geneva-based human rights organization also issued a call for a "more effective and decisive" international intervention to "ensure the safe, complete, and reliable delivery of humanitarian supplies to the Gaza Strip without any hindrance," and "thus guarantee the provision of and access to" basic goods and services desperately needed by the starving population in the Palestinian enclave.

#source

#videosource

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[eretzyisrael]

BY: KAREN BEKKER

In complete contravention of journalistic standards, CNN continues to advocate for US sanctions on Israel in a televised segment by Katie Polglase that aired on The Amanpour Hour on July 13 and in a nearly 4000-word written article posted online. (“The US held off sanctioning this Israeli army unit despite evidence of abuses. Now its forces are shaping the fight in Gaza,” July 13, 2024. The byline of the written article said that it was “by CNN’s International Investigations team,” but Polglase is listed as the investigative reporter.) Moreover, the segment that aired included a baseless claim that echoes the medieval stereotype of Jewish bloodlust.

The Society for Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics states that advocacy and commentary should be labelled. Neither the online article nor the segment that aired are labelled as commentary, and the segment appears to be a news report. Yet, it’s obvious in both that an agenda is being pursued.

The televised segment was ostensibly about Israel, yet it included seven references to supposed U.S. inaction:

Katie Polglase: This is the Netzah Yehuda battalion, an Israeli army unit showcasing their military might in a promotional personal training video. But the unit has a decades-long history of abusing Palestinians in the West Bank. And the Americans know it. A state department investigation found they had committed gross human rights violations but this finding never led to U.S. sanctions. Even media reports of possible sanctions outraged Israel…. Polglase: So despite their track record, the Netzah Yehuda battalion is still receiving American arms and is now operating in Gaza…. Charles Blaha, Former U.S. State Department Official: That is very bad news. That shows first of all, that Israel, that the government of Israel has no intention of holding the Netzah Yehuda battalion accountable. Polglase: He says the U.S. is not following their own laws by sending them weapons. Blaha: Of course, we treat Israel differently and that really undermines our human rights advocacy and the rest of the world. The law that Congress passed and our taxpayer-funded assistance is going to Israeli units that have committed gross violations of human rights. Polglase: This assistance, despite the growing evidence of abuse. CNN exclusively obtained the names of three more Israeli units found by U.S. officials to have committed gross human rights violations prior to October 7th. All are still operating, including the Yamam, seen here in Gaza in an operation that rescued four Israeli hostages, but left nearly 300 Palestinians dead, according to local health authorities. The Israeli military dispute that the toll was so high. As the death and destruction mounts, it is U.S. weaponry supporting these units, begging the question for how much longer will Israel’s greatest ally choose to turn a blind eye.

(Emphasis added.)

The segment seems to be less about Israel and more about U.S. support for Israel. And Polglase does not present anyone advocating the contrary point of view, who might point out, for example, that Israel is fighting a defensive and existential war, one that it did not start and did not want, and it needs the support of its allies now. The segment crosses the line from journalism into advocacy.

But that’s not the only problem with the televised report. Polglase relies on an anonymous source and presents his opinions and speculation with no pushback. The anonymous soldier tells Polglase, “There were some kids throwing rocks in a small village. That normally isn’t a big deal. But the company commander decided, let’s throw them a party. So they took the emergency response team and 20 soldiers. They walk door to door, throwing flash-bangs and gas grenades into people’s homes as a punishment for the kids throwing rocks.” 

“Isn’t a big deal,” seems an odd way to describe the large stones frequently thrown at both soldiers and civilians in the West Bank, as they have the potential to be lethal – unlike the stun grenades that the soldier seems to think are, in fact, a big deal.

Polglase then prompts him with a leading question, “Collective punishment?” He obliges her, “Yes. Collective punishment.” This is not the first time we’ve seen Polglase use this type of leading question to elicit a response to condemn Israel. But “collective punishment” is a defined term in international law, and this is not what the term means. Nor does either Polglase or her anonymous source know whether the commander had other reasons for his decision to which the low-level soldier was not privy.

Polglase then admits that CNN has used facial recognition technology to essentially spy on an IDF officer, Lieutenant Colonel Nitai Okashi. She describes an incident that happened under his command in ominous terms, complete with grim background music to set the tone – but on close inspection, she hasn’t revealed anything that Okashi himself did wrong. By Polglase’s own account two Palestinian men were “arrested for assisting the killer of two … Netzah Yehuda soldiers.” The two were beaten by the soldiers on the way to the police station. Obviously this should never have happened, and according Polglase, the soldiers involved received jail time. But she doesn’t even claim that Okashi was present when the incident occurred. Even more disturbingly, in the written article online, Polglase doesn’t even mention the reason the two Palestinian men were arrested.

[tomorrowusa]

« An actual fascist has shown up. »

— Tom Nichols, writer on international affairs and retired academic at the US Naval War College, describing Donald Trump on Amanpour and Company at PBS.

He tells Michel Martin that he had previously been reluctant to use the word fascist because he's an academic who can be very picky about words. But over the past couple of months Trump has been using different vocabulary than before and that vocabulary has been lifted almost directly from fascists in the 1930s.

An excellent conversation.

What he says about the "normalcy bias" in the media should particularly be taken seriously.

We need to be more activist in calling out the media on their normalization of Trump.

[panicinthestudio]

“Rising Against Asian Hate:” Son of Atlanta Spa Shooting Victim Speaks Out, October 18, 2022

The horrific spa shootings that rocked Atlanta in 2021 left eight people dead -- including six Asian women -- and an Asian American community shrouded in grief and fear. A new documentary on PBS.org, "Rising Against Asian Hate," explores the story in searing detail. Executive producer Gina Kim and Robert Peterson -- whose mother was killed in the shootings -- join Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the tragedy and its aftermath.

Amanpour and Company

[virtie333]

So, funny story from work tonight. We have TVs in the kennel and when I work the night shift, I like to watch PBS. Tonight just as I was about to head out for the night, while Amanpour and Company was on, they started talking about The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window. Because my boss lives on the property and she knew I was getting ready to leave, I texted her:

Me: Oscar Isaac is on TV. I'll leave in a bit.

Her: Hahahaha there's a towel in the bathroom for your drool!

She knows me too well. LOL

[thenewdemocratus]

Amanpour & Company: Hari Sreenivasan Interviewing David Cay Johnston: 'Donald Trump's Whole Life Has Been a Facade'

Source:Amanpour & Company– interviewing longtime economics and business journalist David C. Johnston, about Donald J. Trump. “Donald Trump was back in court today. This time, as the former president answers for his business dealings in New York, his empire could be at stake. The self-described property mogul has already been found liable for “persistent and repeated” fraud in this civil trial.…

[troncelliti]

Project 2025 Will Redefine Constitution in Name of Christianity

[bloghrexach]

Masha Gessen Responds to Controversy After Comparing Gaza to a Nazi Ghetto | Amanpour and Company ...

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh after a brutal military campaign of killing five years ago. Dr. Mohsina Chaklader has been visiting the now infamous refugee camp, Cox’s Bazar, since those killings. She’s the medical chair of Humanity Auxilium, and joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the conditions refugees are facing there.

[ausetkmt]

"Fmr. BBC Reporter Pays Reparations, Confronts Her Family’s Slave Owning Past | Amanpour and Company"