Transcript:
The Inside Story: The Gaza War, Widening Crisis.
Episode 142, May 9, 2024
Show Open:
The situation in Gaza reaches a critical point... as Israel urges civilians in Rafah to evacuate... and 1.4 million Palestinian refugees say they say they have nowhere else left to go.
world leaders call on Israel to stop any planned offensive in Rafah, with neighboring Egypt calling it an escalatory action, and Jordan calling it a massacre in the making.
In the US. University students continue their protests in support of the Palestinian people causing some schools to cancel graduation.
All this... with Presidential elections just 6 months away.
NOW... on The Inside Story, Gaza War, Widening Crisis.
The Inside Story:
ANITA POWELL, VOA White House Correspondent:
Welcome to The Inside Story, I’m VOA White House correspondent, Anita Powell.
The search for an elusive ceasefire continues in Gaza.
There are signs of progress in ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel.
But even as both sides look for solutions, Israel continues its military march into Gaza... and the White House walks a political tight rope urging Israeli restraint while voicing unequivocal support for the Jewish State.
VOA’s Patsy Widakuswara reports.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA, VOA White House Bureau Chief:
Palestinians mourn over loved ones killed in Israeli airstrikes on Rafah Tuesday while thousands continue to flee following a limited Israeli ground operation overnight in the eastern part of Gaza's most southern city.
Yoav Gallant, Israeli Defense Minister:
This operation will continue until we eliminate Hamas in the Rafah area and in the entire (Gaza) Strip’s area, or until the return of the first hostage.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
Israel’s operation in Rafah is intended to pressure Hamas. The militant group agreed to a cease-fire proposal on Monday. But Israel said the plan did not meet its demands to eliminate Hamas from post-war Gaza.
Eitan Shamir, Bar-Ilan University:
Because Israel's war objective was to make sure that Hamas doesn't control anything, any longer, anymore, the meaning is that Israel is going to basically to lose the war in that sense.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
As Palestinians seek safety, negotiations between Israel and Hamas continue in Cairo. White House national security spokesperson John Kirby on Tuesday expressed optimism.
John Kirby, White House National Security Spokesperson:
A close assessment of the two sides’ positions suggests that they should be able to close the remaining gaps, and we're going to do everything we can to support that process and achieve that outcome.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
Not many analysts share that optimism. Beyond swapping hostages for peace, both Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar are looking toward their own political survival, said former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East Aaron David Miller.
Aaron David Miller, Carnegie Endowment for Peace:
In a conflict, where two combatants believe that the stakes are existential, that vital national interest or in the case of [Yahya] Sinwar, his personal survival is at stake, the influence of external parties is limited.
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
The stakes are also high for President Joe Biden, whose electoral success in November is in part tied to reaching a cease-fire.
President Joe Biden:
My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad. Even when we disagree.”
PATSY WIDAKUSWARA:
Hamas has warned Israel there will be no cease-fire if military action continues in Rafah.
Patsy Widakuswara, VOA News, Washington.
ANITA POWELL:
While ceasefire talks continue so does the Israeli offensive in Gaza and the mounting human toll. According to the Gaza Health Ministry the offensive has resulted in more than 33,000 Palestinian deaths.
What many people see as Israel’s indiscriminate use of force in Gaza has been the catalyst for ongoing pro Palestine student protests across the nation.
But US officials say there is also a worrying rise anti-Semitic incidents across the country.
Natasha Mozgovaya reports.
President Joe Biden:
This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust — didn't end with the Holocaust either.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA, VOA Correspondent:
At the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's annual remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, President Joe Biden had a message for American Jews and the state of Israel.
President Joe Biden:
Let me reassure you, as your president, you're not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will. My commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel, and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA:
The Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2023 published Sunday by the Anti-Defamation League and Tel Aviv University revealed a 103% increase over the previous year in acts of violence, vandalism and harassment targeting American Jews.
Jonathan Greenblatt, Anti-Defamation League CEO:
Unprecedented levels of antisemitism engulfed Jewish communities in capitals all over the planet. It was the worst year for anti-Jewish hate in America that we've ever seen since we started doing this work 45 years ago.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA:
According to the report, nearly three-quarters of American university students have witnessed an antisemitic incident in some form since the beginning of the academic year. Many pro-Palestinian protesters, however, insist they are not antisemites.
Zho Ragen is a pro-Palestinian protester at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Zho Ragen, Pro-Palestinian protester:
We have a lot of Jewish students amongst us, amongst the organizers here. This isn't about antisemitism. This is about being staunchly anti-Zionist because there are people who are being displaced from their land and exterminated with U.S. taxpayer dollars.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA:
Noa Tishby, co-author of the new book “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew,” says the term “Zionism,” which simply indicates Jews’ right to their own home in the land of Israel, has been hijacked and demonized.
Noa Tishby, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew”:
There's nothing wrong with criticizing Israeli government policies. That is not what is happening on campuses in America right now. They literally say, ‘Resistance by all means necessary.’ They are praising October 7th. These people are calling to take down the single Jewish state in the world.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA:
Tishby says while Biden's staunch support does make the community feel safer, it doesn’t take away her conviction that another Holocaust could happen again if hateful trends are left unchecked.
Noa Tishby, “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew”:
October 7th felt to the Jewish community like a repeat of the Holocaust, when we heard the same stories of mothers hugging their children while they're being burnt alive, and children and teens and kids hiding in cabinets and decapitation and mutilation and rapes. I call it the atrocities of October 7th and the atrocities of October 8th, because October 7th happened, and it took a little less than two hours for the anti-Zionist, anti-Israel, antisemitic organizations to start praising it.
NATASHA MOZGOVAYA:
She says that antisemitism is also often an indicator of the presence of deeper problems in a society, and that seeking a scapegoat rarely stops with one group only.
Natasha Mozgovaya, VOA News.
ANITA POWELL:
The world is watching closely the protests on college campuses across the United States against Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza. Reactions to both the protests and the arrests of some students vary widely, from pride and solidarity to alarm and condemnation. VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent Cindy Saine reports from the State Department.
CINDY SAINE, VOA's Senior Diplomatic Correspondent:
Colombia University in New York City has been the epicenter of pro-Palestinian protests that have spread across America.
Students are calling on their universities to disclose and then divest all their funds related to Israel and to end all academic partnerships with Israel. They are also calling on the United States to stop sending military aid to Israel.
The protests are now spreading elsewhere in the world, including demonstrations Tuesday at Berlin’s Free University in Germany.
Students in Germany, France, the United Kingdom, as well as in Gaza, have praised the American protests.
Iran has criticized the police crackdown on some campuses, with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei tweeting out his support for U.S. students.
Alex Vatanka, Middle East Institute:
Some of the key adversaries of the United States around the world, the likes of Russia, China, Iran, are trying to use this protest movement to really raise more fundamental question about the health of the American democracy and such issues as, as whether America is what it claims to be.
CINDY SAINE:
One university in Iran even offered to take in expelled American students or any fired professors, though the Middle East Institute’s Alex Vatanka told VOA he does not expect there to be a rush of U.S. colleges students buying plane tickets to Tehran.
Another expert at the University of Chicago says he does not believe the protests will have the staying power of the massive U.S. student demonstrations against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s.
Paul Poast, Associate Professor, University of Chicago:
Even though these are organic, and even though these are people who care deeply about this issue, by and large, this is not as salient of an issue for large segments of the U.S. population, in the same way that the Vietnam War with the draft, for example.
CINDY SAINE:
Chinese leaders have been largely silent on the protests. On a recent visit to China, where anti-government protests are strictly banned, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the campus protests.
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State:
And in our own country, it's a hallmark of our democracy that our citizens make known their views, their concerns, their anger at any given time.
CINDY SAINE:
But Blinken again criticized the silence of protesters about the militant group Hamas, saying they should stop hiding behind civilians, release the hostages they are holding and lay down their arms to save Palestinian civilians.
Cindy Saine, VOA News, the State Department.
ANITA POWELL:
Major news organizations have brought coverage of the protests on U.S. campuses to audiences around the world, but as Robin Guess reports, some of the best reporting of the unrest has originated close to home, led by student journalists.
ROBIN GUESS, VOA Correspondent:
New York City police arrested protesters this week [April 30] at Columbia University. But before they took action, they attempted to clear the campus of student journalists.
By the time police stormed and cleared Hamilton Hall of the occupying protesters, student journalists told VOA, there weren’t many of them left to report on events.
Meghnad Bose, Columbia University Student Journalist:
The NYPD severely restricted the actions of the press, including several members of the student press who were on campus. Some who were outside Hamilton Hall and were removed from campus entirely. Now this is very troubling because they weren’t there to document and bear witness to a police action.
Bose and Columbia's other student journalists say press freedoms were violated.
Nonetheless, their work has inspired others.
Franziska Wild, Georgetown University Student Editor:
Especially listening to the Columbia radio broadcasts. I think that that is a pretty helpful lesson for all student journalists to know that official narratives exist, but our reporting is allowed to challenge them.
ROBIN GUESS:
On the West Coast, riot police cracked down on a pro-Palestinian encampment Thursday at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Student journalists were on the front line when police moved in to tear down the encampment and arrest protesters. Their newspaper said at least four of their reporters were attacked by unknown assailants.
George Dutton, UCLA Professor:
I do think what they are doing speaks to the clear and profound importance of student journalists at academic institutions to provide regular updates to faculty and students as to what’s happening on their campuses, especially under the current circumstances.
ROBIN GUESS:
Student journalists say safety is a chief concern. Some are reporting in pairs. Others wear large press credentials.
Their coverage is earning high praise.
The Pulitzer Prize Board, which presents awards for outstanding achievements in U.S. journalism, recognized the nation’s student journalists for tirelessly covering the protests in the face of personal risk.
Legal watchdogs are keeping an eye on events as well, noting that student journalists have been pepper sprayed, hit with rubber bullets and disciplined by universities for their reporting.
Jonathan Falk, Student Press Law Center:
When student journalists are lumped in together with the protesters they are trying to cover, it is a disservice to everyone.
At George Washington University, student journalists covered the lead-up to the campus conflicts for months. This encampment is a joint effort of eight schools in the Washington area.
Many journalists have been here since the first tent was pitched in mid-April.
Eddy Binford-Ross, Georgetown University Student Journalist:
They told us, 'Hey, there’s something going on. You guys should get ready. So with the rest of the news team, we sat down and put together a coverage plan.
ROBIN GUESS:
Some student journalists told VOA they simply continue doing what they did before their campuses became international stories and their work garnered recognition: report the campus news.
Robin Guess, VOA News.
ANITA POWELL:
This week, Israel ordered the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news channel to cease all operations... Israeli police raided their offices and confiscated their equipment.
Al Jazeera officials blasted the move by Israel calling it a “criminal act” and the Foreign Press Association called it a “dark day for democracy.
The action came after the Netanyahu government passed a law passed in early April allowing the government to shut down media networks it deems a national security threat.
The Netanyahu government has been critical of Al Jazeera for years, accusing the Qatari network of inciting violence against Israel in its reporting. Al Jazeera officials say they will pursue legal options to allow its journalists to continue to work in Israel and Gaza.
ANITA POWELL:
Since April 18th, over 2-thousand people have been arrested for taking part in pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the country.
To get a feel for what they want and what’s motivating them, I spoke with Denora Getachew, the CEO of Dosomething.org. Its website calls it one of the country’s largest nonprofits devoted exclusively to helping young people make social change.
I began by asking Denora what impact she believes these nationwide protests are having on Capitol Hill and at the White House.
Denora Getachew, CEO, Dosomething.org:
These protests are really going to have an impact on the 2024 election cycle both at the top of the ticket as it relates to the presidential election, but also all the way down the ballot. What we know to be true is that young people's distrust in government and major US institutions has been building and has contributed to this new age of activism activation on college campuses. Do something members who range in age from 13 to 25 years old, have told us that they don't believe that lawmakers consider their voices a national policy looks like an overwhelming majority of them. So only 17% of young people actually believe that lawmakers are hearing their voices.
ANITA POWELL:
Thank you so much for speaking to VOA today.
Though the generation that witnessed World War 2 dwindles with each passing year, the relevance of what they saw resonates with the history made today.
As Kane Farabaugh reports from Skokie, Illinois, a Japanese diplomat’s act of defiance during World War 2 saved thousands of lives. It is the theme of an ongoing effort by an American musician to pay tribute to the man known as “Japanese Schindler.”
KANE FARABAUGH, VOA Correspondent:
World renowned cellist and musician Kristina Reiko Cooper weaves a multi-cultural narrative in many of her performances around the globe.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
My mother is Japanese and my father is American.
KANE FARABAUGH:
And her husband is Jewish. Through him, Cooper learned of the story of Chiune Sugihara, a Japanese diplomat stationed in Kaunus, Lithuania during World War 2 who issued visas to Jews fleeing the advancing Nazi army, defying the Japanese government he served.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
I know what it means to go against authority in the Japanese culture, that just doesn’t happen.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Over a two-month period in 1940, Sugihara issued more than 2000 visas to Jewish families enabling them to travel through the Soviet Union to Japan with transit to another country. Chaya Small was among them, a 6-year-old who escaped Hitler’s genocide in Europe in 1940.
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
He saved my life. He saved my home. He saved everything.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Small and her immediate family spent the war in a ghetto in Shanghai, China. They were the only members of their once large extended family to survive the Holocaust. Small’s says her parents spent much of their life afterwards seeking ways to express their thanks to Sugihara.
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
We couldn’t find him. He became ostracized.
KANE FARABAUGH:
In post-war Japan, Sugihara lived in relative obscurity until his death in 1986. Cooper learned while his act of mercy might have barely registered in history books and was overlooked by his own country during his life, it was never forgotten by those he saved.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
It wasn’t until the end of his life that he knew he even saved one person much less thousands.
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
I am grateful to god every day for all the miracles he has done for us, because Sugihara was not normal… it was a miracle.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Sugihara earned the honor of “Righteous Among the Nations,” one of Israel’s highest honors.Leah Rauch, Director of Education, Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center:
It something that not a lot of people know about.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Something Leah Rauch says the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center tries to correct through its exhibits honoring Sugihara, and through public engagements like a performance by Kristina Cooper.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
Today I’m playing a program with a solo cello and a shakuhachi, which is a traditional Japanese instrument.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cooper’s performance is an extension of a larger project honoring Sugihara, incorporating choir and symphony in a grand concert that premiered at Carnegie Hall in New York City in 2023. Whether a massive concert, or a scaled down duet, Cooper seeks to keep Sugihara’s legacy alive through music.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
It’s the universal language. You don’t need words. You don’t need visuals you don’t need an understanding of another language - you listen, and you absorb, and it goes straight to the soul. So, we are hoping that we can bring the story of Sugihara and what he stood for through our music.
KANE FARABAUGH:
For Cooper, who now lives in Israel and is a convert to Judaism, Sugihara’s gesture isn’t just a history lesson.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
This quiet modest Japanese man was responsible for the existence of my husband and my three children and life as I know it.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Cooper’s father-in-law also received a “Sugihara visa.” Her three children are among tens of thousands of descendants alive today because of Sugihara’s actions, which is why, to Cooper, the music is more than a tribute - something survivors like Chaya Small understand while watching her perform.
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
It’s a different way of saying thank you. It was her way of expressing her gratitude.
Kristina Reiko Cooper, Musician:
Thank you for my beautiful children, thank you for my amazing husband. Thank you for my amazing life. Thank you for everything you did.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Chiune Sugihara is now a household name in Japan. While some historians have raised doubts about the significance of him issuing the visas ….
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
I attribute that to politics.
KANE FARABAUGH:
… survivor Chaya Small says she owes her life to the man she wishes she could have met in person.
Chaya Leah Walkin Small, Holocaust Survivor:
I would be so in awe… I would be so in awe for saving us, for giving us back a country, a world, a people.
KANE FARABAUGH:
Kane Farabaugh, VOA News, Skokie, Illinois.
ANITA POWELL:
Six months remain in the U.S. presidential race between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. In the latest installment of our series USA Votes 20-24, correspondent Scott Stearns looks at what is ahead for the campaigns in the run up to Election Day.
SCOTT STEARNS, VOA Correspondent:
Joe Biden and Donald Trump have six months left to convince American voters to give them a second term.
Trump will spend some of that time in state or federal court answering four separate indictments including charges of unlawful retention of national defense information and falsifying business records.
He says prosecutors are interfering in the election.
Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Candidate:
Everything was legal. And they're doing this because it's politics. They want to get Biden elected. That's the only reason.
SCOTT STEARNS:
The court appearances are reducing Trump’s time campaigning, but he says what he calls a “political hoax” is only making him more popular with voters.
Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Candidate:
It's a, it's a terrible, terrible thing happening in our country. And hopefully November 5th, the most important day in the history of our country. In my opinion, that's called Election Day. Hopefully it's going to change because these people are destroying our country.
SCOTT STEARNS:
The Republican Party last nominated Trump for president at its semi-virtual 2020 convention in North Carolina.
This year’s Republican convention is in the state of Wisconsin in July. Before then, Trump will need to choose a new running mate. Among those he is believed to be considering for vice president are Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik.
As the incumbent president, Biden has the advantage of White House events to keep voters’ attention.
On the campaign trail, Biden is becoming more pointed in his attacks on Trump while claiming credit for a stronger economy.
Joe Biden, U.S. President:
Construction of new factories has more than doubled in our administration. Meanwhile, meanwhile, Donald Trump still thinks windmills cause cancer. That's what he said. By the way, remember when he was trying to deal with Covid? He said just inject a little bleach into your veins. He missed - it all went to his hair.
SCOTT STEARNS:
The Democratic Party last nominated Biden for president at its semi-virtual 2020 convention in Wisconsin. This year’s Democratic convention is in the state of Illinois in August.
Biden is running again with Vice President Kamala Harris, who has been active in campaigning for restoring federal abortion protections overturned in the case Roe v. Wade.
Kamala Harris, U.S. Vice President:
Donald Trump was the president who took away the protections of Roe. Joe Biden will be the president who puts the protections of Roe back in place."
SCOTT STEARNS:
Before November’s Election Day, Biden and Trump are expected to debate. Both men say they are ready. No date has been set.
Scott Stearns, VOA News.
ANITA POWELL:
That’s all for this week. Thanks for watching I'm Anita Powell at the White House.
Stay up to date with all the latest news at VOANews.com.
Catch up on past episodes at our free streaming service, VOA Plus.
We’ll see you next week for The Inside Story.
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