Democracy Now! 2026-07-15 Wednesday

Summary

Democracy Now! – July 15, 2026: Episode Summary

Episode Overview

This episode of Democracy Now! delves into three principal stories:

1. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil's lawsuit against Trump administration officials and pro-Israel groups for conspiring to violate his constitutional rights,
2. The attack on journalists by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, and
3. The $111 billion Paramount-Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery mega-merger and efforts by twelve state attorneys general to block it.

The show, hosted by Amy Goodman, features in-depth interviews with key figures involved in each story, highlighting ongoing issues of free speech, violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the impact of media consolidation on democracy.

---

Key Segments and Discussion Points

1. Mahmoud Khalil’s Lawsuit: Free Speech, Repression & Accountability

Segment Start: [00:18]–[36:35]

Background

• Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate, sues Trump administration officials and several pro-Israel groups for conspiring to target him for detention and deportation as retaliation for his pro-Palestinian advocacy.
• The suit is filed under the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871—a law restricting government coordination with vigilante groups.

Discussion & Insights

• Systemic Targeting of Dissent:

  • Mahmoud Khalil [00:18, 17:34]:

    “This case is about far more than what was done to me. It's about a coordinated, ongoing campaign to punish, silence, and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation.”

  • Khalil connects his experience to broader attacks on free speech and academic freedom, highlighting how non-citizen activists face compounded threats.

• Evidence of Conspiracy:

  • Bahar Azmi (Legal Director, Center for Constitutional Rights) [18:32]:

    “The entire United States government has been persecuting Mahmoud... for no reason other than his constitutionally protected speech... they chose to do is identify perceived leaders of the Palestine movement and use the maximal terrorizing power of the state to send a chilling message everywhere.”

  • The lawsuit documents a direct pipeline from private hate groups’ targeting to government action, resulting in arrests and deportation efforts.

• Personal Impact & Motivation:

  • Mahmoud Khalil [23:36, 27:45]: Details his arrest by plainclothes ICE agents without a warrant, arbitrary detention for 104 days, and missing the birth of his son.

  • “I would never forgive the actors that contributed to my missing the birth of my son, of Dean, because this shouldn’t happen. I could have been next to my wife Noor... But because of their arrogance, because of their cruelty, they chose not to let me next to my family.” [27:45]

• Movement Solidarity:

  • Beth Miller, Jewish Voice for Peace Action [28:39]:

    “Today, by filing this case, Mahmoud Khalil is showing just how wrong they were. Mahmoud is fighting back, and we are all fighting back alongside him.”

  • Cynthia Nixon (actor/activist) [29:37] & Morgan Spector (actor) [30:38]: Both emphasize the moral imperative of supporting Palestinian rights and the chilling effect of criminalizing advocacy.

• Broader Problem of ICE Violence:

  • Khalil relates his case to the recent killings of immigrants by ICE, calling it “heartbreaking but, unfortunately, not surprising” and a reason for continued resistance. [34:40]

Notable Quotes

• “If your speech challenges those in power or exposes uncomfortable truth about Palestine, you can be singled out, punished and made an example and made into a warning for everyone else.” — Mahmoud Khalil [12:22]
• “They had not the courage or the capacity to debate the question... instead chose to use the maximal terrorizing power of the state.” — Bahar Azmi [18:32]
• “Advocating for Palestinian rights isn't an act of anything but humanity.” — Morgan Spector [30:38]

---

2. Attacks on Journalists in the Occupied West Bank

Segment Start: [38:29]–[50:01]

Context

• Israeli settlers attack a convoy of journalists, including CNN’s Jeremy Diamond and independent reporters, as they accompany the father of slain Palestinian American Saif Musalat to the site of his son’s death.

Discussion & Insights

• Firsthand Account of the Attack:

  • Video of the attack is played on air with real-time reactions.
  • Jasper Nathaniel (Reporter) [41:26]:

    “A car full of settlers racing towards us… they blocked the road… settlers first attacked the CNN car, couldn’t do any damage… then the CNN car speeds away and they turn to us... Settler jumps on the hood, smashes windshield, throws rocks; we had to escape in a high-speed chase.”

• Context of Settlements and US Policy:

  • The land where the attack occurred is owned by American citizens of Palestinian descent. Settlers have occupied this land since April, regularly attacking those who attempt to return.
  • US Embassy is aware; no action taken.

• Privileges & Perils of Journalism:

  • Adele Scoco (Independent Jewish Journalist) [44:55]:

    “It’s important to join Palestinians to help them get to their land… the CNN team’s armor is the only way for them to get there. This land is area A—supposedly under Palestinian authority—which shows the unprecedented nature of these settler attacks.”

• Parallel Incident:

  • Congressmember Ro Khanna and his delegation were also recently detained by armed settlers and Israeli soldiers, with video evidence shared online:

    “We were just looking at [a destroyed village]… these hoodlums come in with machine guns… and call the IDF, who are on their side, not the Americans.” — Ro Khanna [46:56]

• Settler and State Violence as Routine:

  • Jasper Nathaniel [47:39]:

    “If you spend enough time in the West Bank… something like this is going to happen to you. What they’ll do to a journalist or congressman—imagine what’s done to Palestinians every day. The pervasiveness of the cruelty… I would challenge anybody to go to these villages and not face it. It’s just impossible.”

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “They are not letting us pass. The guy is standing in front of the car... holding up rocks. Yeah, we need to fly behind them. Oh, he's got a knife.” — Jasper Nathaniel during the attack video [40:08]
• “For me, it's important to join Palestinians to help them to get to their land because… this privilege… is the only way to get to the land.” — Adele Scoco [44:55]
• “If they can put Mahmoud in prison for exercising those rights, then those rights become a privilege…” — Morgan Spector [31:13]

---

3. Blocking the Paramount-Skydance–Warner Bros. Discovery Merger

Segment Start: [52:46]–[58:43]

Background

• The U.S. federal government approves the $111 billion media mega-merger, but 12 Democratic state attorneys general, led by California AG Rob Bonta, file suit to block it on antitrust grounds.

Discussion & Insights

• Antitrust, Competition & Democracy:

  • Rob Bonta (California Attorney General) [52:46]:

    “This proposed merger breaks the law. It’s anti-competitive… it will raise prices, lower quality, and lessen content. It will extinguish the competition between [media titans].”

  • Merger would combine CBS, CNN, HBO Max, Paramount, and Warner Bros. Discovery under one corporate umbrella controlled by billionaire Trump ally Larry Ellison’s son.

• Impact on Journalism & Entertainment:

  • “We've seen this movie before—when massive studios merge, it leads to lower quality, less output, less viewpoints… less journalists truth telling and informing the American public… and fewer stories inspiring and informing about the world.” — Rob Bonta [54:27]

  • Concerns include rising consumer prices, job loss, diminished diversity in news and art, and increasing concentration of power within pro-Trump media circles.

• Federal Abdication, Political Motives:

  • Despite Department of Justice support, Bonta argues government is abdicating anti-monopoly responsibility.

  • FCC Chair Brendan Carr brags at CPAC about defunding PBS and NPR and gutting major outlets critical of Trump [57:18]:

    “President Trump took on the fake news media and… is winning... PBS defunded, NPR defunded, Joy Reid gone from MSNBC, Sleepy eyes, Chuck Todd gone… Colbert is leaving. CBS is under new ownership…”

  • Rob Bonta [57:57]:

    “The idea that the federal government… is working and bragging about it to shut down the free independent press, to silence journalists… is completely outrageous, antithetical to our democracy, anti-democratic and un-American.”

Notable Quotes

• “Our lawsuit seeks to block the merger, pure and simple… keep Paramount and Warner Brothers as separate companies.” — Rob Bonta [56:10]
• “You’ll have fewer perspectives, less journalists truth telling, less reporters holding the powerful accountable… smaller diversity of stories being told.” — Rob Bonta [54:27]

---

Memorable Quotes & Timestamps

• Mahmoud Khalil:

  “If your speech challenges those in power… you can be singled out, punished and made an example…” ([12:22])
  “No amount of oppression, of silencing, of intimidation will succeed in really silencing us.” ([25:00])

• Bahar Azmi (CCR):

  “They had not the courage or the capacity to debate the question about their support for the Israeli genocide… use the maximal terrorizing power of the state to send a chilling message everywhere.” ([18:32])

• Rob Bonta (CA AG):

  “It is wrong in every way I can say it.” ([57:57])

• Morgan Spector (actor):

  “Advocating for Palestinian rights isn’t an act of anything but humanity.” ([30:38])

• Adele Scoco (journalist):

  “It’s the only way for them to get to the land that was occupied.” ([45:35])

• Jasper Nathaniel (journalist):

  “If you spend enough time in the West Bank… something like that is going to happen to you.” ([47:39])

---

Structure and Flow

• The episode skillfully weaves together themes of government repression, the impunity of state and private actors, the importance of public interest journalism, and threats to free expression and competition.
• Through firsthand stories, legal analysis, and direct confrontation with power, the show highlights efforts to seek accountability and to protect democracy amid escalating challenges.

---

For listeners who missed the episode:
This summary outlines the central issues explored—repressive collaboration against Palestinian activists, the dangers faced by journalists in occupied territories, and the mounting threat to media pluralism posed by corporate consolidation and government hostility toward independent reporting. The episode is rich in both testimonial detail and systemic critique, with passionate calls for solidarity, accountability, and structural reform.

Transcript

[Amy Goodman]

From New York. This is Democracy Now.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

This case is about far more than what was done to me. It's about a coordinated, ongoing campaign to punish silence and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation.

[Amy Goodman]

We'll speak to Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil. He's suing Trump administration officials including Marco Rubio and Todd Blanche, Pro Israel Group's Baatar and Canary Mission and the Heritage foundation for conspiring to deny him his constit right to free speech by targeting him for detention and deportation. Then to the occupied west bank where Israeli settlers attacked a convoy of journalists, including CNN's Jeremy Dimond on Saturday. The journalists were accompan the father of slain Palestinian American Sayf Mo Salat to the site where his son was beaten to death by Israeli settlers a year ago in the family's own Aleph fields. We'll be joined by two of the journalists who were attacked. And finally, while the federal government's given the green light to the more than $110 billion mega merger deal between Paramount, Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery, 12 state attorneys general are suing to block the deal. We'll be joined by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

[Rob Bonta]

There is no debate here. This merger would snuff out competition, drive up prices, diminish content quality, and produce fewer movies and shows each year.

[Amy Goodman]

All that and more coming up. Welcome to Democracy now, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The Pentagon says it's carried out a fourth straight night of attacks against Iran, bombing dozens of targets near the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran's coast. In response, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps launched fresh drone and missile strikes targeting a US Military logistics hub in Kuwait, an airbase in Jordan that hosts U.S. forces and the U.S. navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, where Iran claims to have destroyed command and control centers, communications gear, aircraft hangars and fuel depots. Iran's military warned the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed indefinitely if the US continues its attacks. Meanwhile. Meanwhile, Iran's government says recent US strikes have killed more than 30 civilians while wounding more than 260 people. On Tuesday, President Trump told Fox News he's prepared to attack Iran's civilian infrastructure next week.

[Bahar Azmi]

Next week comes the power plants.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Next week comes the bridges.

[Bahar Azmi]

We're going to knock out all their power plants. We're going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.

[Amy Goodman]

Meanwhile, President Trump said in a social media post he's canceled plans to charge a 20% toll on all commercial ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. In the same post, Trump claimed, quote, oil is flowing like never before. His comments came as the price of oil surged by nearly 10% as the US reimposed its blockade of Iran's ports. On Capitol Hill, Senate Democrats blocked debate on Republicans $1.15 trillion annual national defense Authorization Act Tuesday. Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, a member of the Armed Services Committee, said she opposed advancing the measure unless Congress agrees to her amendment prohibiting funding for the U. S. Israeli war in Iran. This is Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

This bill lays the groundwork for a bloated Pentagon budget that would further embolden President Trump's reckless and illegal war against Iran. It represents a huge increase in taxpayer funded and debt financed Pentagon spending at a time when families across the country

[Rob Bonta]

are struggling to afford groceries, rent, gas and other necessities.

[Amy Goodman]

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries announced he's opposing an amendment by Republican Congressmember Thomas Massie to eliminate $3.3 billion in US funds for Israel's military. In response, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Cassar of Texas urged support for an end to US Military aid to Israel. He wrote in a letter, quote, at a time when millions are struggling to make ends meet, we're sending billions of dollars to a military that's killed tens of thousands of civilians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, destabilized the region and helped lead us into war with Iran, congressmember Kassar wrote. In Gaza, health officials say Israeli forces killed at least 10 Palestinians Tuesday, including a child. 10 year old Mataz Abuchar was shot by Israeli gunfire in Rafah in southern Gaza. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since last October's so called ceasefire by Israel and Hamas took effect. More than 260 of the total are children. On Sunday, nine year old Tala Abu Matar died when Israel attacked the Al Baraj refugee camp. She was among six Palestinians killed in Gaza that day. Florida state troopers report a person was struck and killed by a semi truck Tuesday morning as he ran from federal immigration agents in the parking lot of a gas Station and St. Augustine. The Department of Homeland Security reported few details, saying only that a Mexican national had died. The New York Times reports the unnamed man was 28 years old. He's at least the third person in just the last week to die during immigration enforcement operations. His death follows Monday's killing of Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, the 25 year old Colombian man shot dead by ICE agents on Monday morning in Biddeford, Maine, during a traffic stop on the block where he lived. His wife was home with the couple's three year old daughter and witnessed the immediate aftermath of the shooting. Duran held a valid work authorization and Social Security number. According to Maine officials, he was not the person the agents were looking for. In a statement, I said, quote, the vehicle attempted to flee the scene and fearing for public safety, an officer discharged his weapon, unquote. The FBI and state authorities say they're investigating. In the wake of his killing, ICE ordered its agents to halt most traffic stops. In response, President Trump wrote on social media, quote, we cannot give up one of ice's most important and effective crime fighting tools, the traffic stop. Trump added. It won't happen on my watch, the President said. Meanwhile, protests continue across Maine. On Tuesday, hundreds of people rallied outside an ICE facility in Scarborough. This is democr, Democratic Maine State Representative Sophie Warren, an organization that is absolutely out of control. Just yesterday, of course, they killed one of our neighbors here in our state and that's completely inconsistent with our values. We want ICE out of our state. We want them defunded at the national level and we want safety and peace for our communities and for fathers to know that they can be driving with their beloved wife and little baby daughter and know that they're safe on our streets and ICE is making that impossible. In Minnesota, state prosecutors say the Trump administration's turned over evidence related to the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretty. The evidence includes police, body camera video, witness statements and physical evidence, including the badly damaged SUV Renee Goode was driving when ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot her in the head, forearm and chest. Prosecutors have been requesting the evidence since January. This is Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. I have been consistent that we have not prejudged any of these instances and also that we need transparency. We need cooperation. Our community needs it. Alex Preddy and Renee Good's families deserve it. Julio Sosa Solis deserves it. Our democracy requires it. In Houston, Texas, the Harris County District Attorney says he may ask a court to order the Department of Homeland Security to release evidence regarding the killing of the 52 year old Mexican immigrant Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by ICE agents last week. So far, the Trump administration has refused to cooperate with local investigators. The DA is also seeking to secure visas for witnesses to the fatal shooting to prevent ICE from deporting them. During the probe, Lorenzo was driving with three other men in the car. One of them was his younger brother. In More Immigration News the Guardian reports at least 12 people detained at a federal immigration jail in Colorado have contracted tuberculosis. Dozens of prisoners have been quarantined without air conditioning despite a heat advisory with outside air temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. The Aurora Ice Processing center is run by the GEO Group, a for profit private prison company based in Florida. A new report by Physicians for Human Rights warns law enforcement agencies have used excessive force and wielded crowd control weapons in dangerous ways against people protesting the Trump administration's mass deportation policies. The report documented over 400 misuse of force cases against protesters, journalists and bystanders, finding victims suffered blindings, traumatic brain injuries and permanent disabilities. Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil filed a lawsuit Tuesday against senior Trump administration officials and three anti Palestinian organizations for conspiring to deprive him of his constitutional rights. Khalil was a graduate student at Columbia University when he was arrested last year and detained for months. He missed the birth of his son, Dean, while in detention in Louisiana. Mahmoud Khalil spoke Tuesday outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

We watched a broken immigration system weaponized against political speech. We watched free expression, academic freedom treated as obstacles rather than principles worth defending, and their message was unmistakable. If your speech challenges those in power or exposes uncomfortable truth about Palestine, you can be singled out, punished and made an example and made into a warning for everyone else.

[Amy Goodman]

We'll speak with Mahmoud Khalil after Headlines New York has become the first state in the country to halt the construction of large new data centers, imposing a one year moratorium. Governor Kathy Hochul announced the suspension on Tuesday. This pause will remain in place for up to one year while New York establishes the strongest possible framework to protect our communities guardrails to reduce the risk to our energy grid, minimize land disruption, noise pollution and protect our natural resources, especially our water supply. New York currently has 130 data centers, compared with more than 600 in Virginia, about 4, 500 in Texas. Meanwhile, a Reuters analysis finds trillionaire Elon Musk's company XAI, has installed far more gas turbines without federal permits at its data center project in Tennessee than publicly acknowledged. And the pollution is mostly impacting black neighborhoods. Patrick Anderson, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law center, said, quote, the scale of it is astonishing. This is an absolutely huge Clean Air act violation that threatens public health. Unquote. On Capitol Hill, the sister of the late Republican Senator Lindsey Graham was sworn in to fill his Senate seat Tuesday. Darlene Graham Nordone has never held public office. She was selected by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, to complete her brother's term, which expires in January. Lindsey Graham died Saturday night at the age of 71 due to a reported aortic tear after returning from a trip to Ukraine, where he met with President Zelensky. On Tuesday, Darlene Graham cast her first vote as a US senator to advance the $1.15 trillion annual defense authorization bill, which ultimately failed, and a 50 to 46 vote. And Cuba's national electric grid has collapsed for the third time this month. The island's latest blackout came as the US Continues to impose the oil blockade it's maintained since January, soon after U.S. forces abducted former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. Cuba had depended on Venezuela for fuel imports. The US Also pressured Mexico to halt oil shipments to the islands. This is Julio Valdez, a resident of Havana. I feel terrible. It's awful news. Just imagine, without electricity, the food spoils. My mother is bedridden with senile dementia, and because of these blackouts, I've had to throw out meat and fish.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

I've had to throw it all away

[Amy Goodman]

because it had rotted. It is unfair that we are going through this situation. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. We begin today's show with a new federal lawsuit filed by Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil against several top administration officials, two pro Israel groups and a conservative think tank accused of conspiring to suppress Khalil's criticism of Israel and his constitutional rights to free speech. The lawsuit says the Heritage foundation created Project Esther, which became a blueprint for a public private partnership to weaken the growing pro Palestine movement by targeting prominent noncitizen activists and smearing them as anti Semites. It says the Heritage foundation turned to groups like Batar, a far right pro Israeli group, and Canary Mission, which has long surveilled pro Palestine advocates to identify their targets. The case was also filed against White House adviser Stephen Miller, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Mark Wayne Mullen, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and John Armstrong, a State Department official. The suit was announced by the center for Constitutional Rights at a news conference here in New York Tuesday, where Mahmoud Khalil addressed supporters.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

I will not stop fighting until everyone who willingly contributed to my missing, the birth of my son and to taking 104 days of my life from me answers for what they've done. But this case is about far more than what was done to me. It's about a coordinated, ongoing campaign to punish, silence and intimidate anyone who dares to speak out for Palestinian liberation.

[Amy Goodman]

The lawsuit was brought under the Ku Klux Klan act of 1871, which is a Reconstruction era law to restrict government coordination with vigilante groups like the Klan. Democracy Now's Maria Teraseno was at Tuesday's press conference and spoke to Bahar Azmi, legal director of the center for Constitutional Rights, a member of Mahmoud Khalil legal team.

[Bahar Azmi]

The entire United States government has been persecuting Mahmoud through the immigration courts in a race to deport him for no reason other than his constitutionally protected speech. What Mahmoud is doing now is fighting back and filing an action against his persecutors, which are a set of private hate groups, Heritage Foundation, Baytar and Canary Mission, who developed this elaborate plan along with federal officials Miller, Rubio and Noem to target non citizen students for their protest of Palestine. They had not the courage or the capacity to debate the question about their support for the Israeli genocide. So what they chose to do is identify perceived leaders of the Palestine movement and use the maximal terrorizing power of the state to send a chilling message everywhere. If you disagree with the United States government, if you support Palestine, we will throw you in an immigration detention a thousand miles from home and work tirelessly to deport you. Mahmoud won't stand for it, so he's sticking up for himself and everyone else who would be subject to the state power. That's not just limited to him. This is a lawsuit against the private and entities and the federal government because they work together in a conspiracy. There's also litigation attacking the federal government's attempt to punish him through habeas corpus proceedings for his speech. But this is the first demand for accountability via damages and a court ruling that the conspiracy is unconstitutional and any attempt to remove him on that basis is illegal.

[Amy Goodman]

What kind of evidence has there been found to show this coordinated targeting between the federal government and these private entities against Mahmoud Khalil?

[Bahar Azmi]

What's remarkable here and as we set out in 130, 30 pages of connect the dot detail is how open and notorious this plan is, how arrogant it was. Heritage announced a blueprint, what they called it, for this conspiracy they asked for a public private partnership and then they recruited these anti Palestinian hate groups to identify students they want to attack non citizen students and do more than docs and surveil Project Esther realized they had a friendly, willing administration coming into power so they could use the power of the state. Now all of them announced or predicted that Mahmoud would be arrested. And all of them boasted after the fact about their role in working with Secretary Rubio to denominate them as enemies of the state and DHS to arrest them. And a federal court had a trial in Massachusetts. The AAUP trial with so much testimony came out basically a one to one relationship between who Beitar and Canary selected for the Rubio determination and then a day later denominating them enemies of the state and effectuating the arrest because this happened to Mahmoud and in the same pattern it happened to eight other students.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

What is the the status of Mahmoud's

[Amy Goodman]

deportation case and immigration case?

[Bahar Azmi]

In his deportation case, the United States government is taking really unprecedented and irregular actions. You know, they are in control of the immigration courts. They're not independent. They are racing at basically unprecedented speed to hurry up and effectuate what's called a final order of removal. We still have an appeal to a federal appellate court from that sham like decision and he'll continue to fight on all fronts.

[Amy Goodman]

For more on this story we go to Mahmoud Khalil, himself a Columbia University graduate green card holder who became the first pro Palestine college campus protester to be jailed by the Trump administration over his participation in Colombia's Gaza Salah solidarity actions in 2024. Arrested in March of 2025, he spent over 104 days in ICE detention in Louisiana missing the birth of his son Dean. He was released last June, but the Trump administration still trying to deport him. Mahmoud Khalil, welcome back to democracy. Now if you can go back to 3-8-2025 to yourthe place where you were living, the apartment building, and remind our viewers and listeners what happened.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

Good morning Amy. Thank you for having me on that day. To be honest, we were all surprised by the rogueness of the Trump administration of plainclothes ICE agents coming to my apartment building, stopping me in the lobby of my apartment and telling me that my visa was terminated and I am under arrest without actually showing me any warrants, without telling me who they are. And everyone was then surprised, like how this could happen. For a few days no one knew what happened. And what we thought was sort of like a rogue implementation of law turned out to be a conspiracy. And that's what we are now basically alleging in court that this was not just an officer deciding to implement the law. It was more of a conspiracy between different actors. And as a judge, a Reagan appointee said in Massachusetts that he was surprised realized that such officials would conspire with themselves to deprive someone for their Freedom of speech, just for the purpose of chilling speech across the country because they don't want anyone to speak for Palestine.

[Amy Goodman]

And why are you doing it now?

[Mahmoud Khalil]

So we've been working on this case, to be honest, since I was in detention, just looking into connecting the dots. And I'm doing it as a way to get accountability for what was done to me, what was done to this movement. Because for decades, these groups grew too comfortable in targeting Palestinians and harassing Palestinians and blacklisting Palestinians and their supporters. Because when they cannot win on the argument, they would rather silencing us. And this is my message to them, that we will never be silenced until Palestine is liberated. This is when we will shift our focus to building Palestine. But no matter of or no amount of oppression, of silencing, of intimidation will succeed in really silencing us.

[Amy Goodman]

You still have your green card or did they take it from you?

[Mahmoud Khalil]

So they've been attempting at taking the green card from me for the past year, since. Since I got out. And we're still fighting that in court. Of course, there's a final order of removal against me that was issued by a Trump administration immigration court, fully controlled by the administration. And now we're fighting that in federal court. And the good news now, this case, whether I'm here, whether I'm not here, I can still fight it in case in court, a judge can still order my return to the country. So this is also another fight into that. And just let's be clear now, over one year after my detention, about 15, 16 months after my detention, the Trump administration has not brought any shred of evidence that I did anything illegal, that I did anything unlawful. And that's what we're trying to convince the court, that this is literally just like arbitrary detention, that they want to make an example out of me so others would stop talking.

[Amy Goodman]

Mahmoud, you experienced your son Dean's birth in jail in the prison in Louisiana. You experienced his birth, you experienced his birth in jail by listening on the telephone.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

Yeah, I did. And that's another thing why I'm doing this because I would never forgive the actors that contributed to my missing the birth of my son, of Dean, because this shouldn't happen. This shouldn't happen to anyone because I could have been next to my wife Noor when she was giving birth. Yet because of their arrogance, because of their cruelty, they chose not to let me next to mybenext, to my family. So I'm really doing this lawsuit also as a form of accountability for that, to get justice. I don't want toI don't want everything that happened to me to go in vain. And I'm really, you know, grateful for the organizations that helped me bring these legal actions against the government and the these private actors.

[Amy Goodman]

I want to go to some of the people who stood with you outside in Foley Square supporting you, like Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action. Also at the news conference, these groups and the Trump administration thought that if they would start by attacking people that they thought were the most politically vulnerable, like student organizers, like Palestinians, like those who support Palestine, Palestinian freedom, that everyone else would just stand back, that everyone else would be too afraid to fight back for their rights and for the rights of all of us. But today, by filing this case, Mahmoud Khalil is showing just how wrong they were. Mahmoud is fighting back, and we are all fighting back alongside him. And we will continue to organize to support him and to support the broader Palestinian freedom movement to end this. This genocide. This is actor, producer and director Cynthia Nixon at the news conference in support of Mahmoud Khalil Tuesday. For nearly three years, millions of people across the United States and across the world have raised their voices for Palestinian lives, for families living through unimaginable loss, for children who are just like all of our children and just who deserve safety, dignity and a future for the basic belief that every single human life should be valued. Whatever our politics, this should never be a controversial idea. Mahmoud has been one of those voices, and today his legal team is asking the courts to review how and why he was targeted. We know it's not because he did anything wrong. It's because he is a Palestinian standing up for Palestinian rights. And this is another actor from the Gilded Age, producer Morgan Spector speaking at the news conference.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Advocating for Palestinian rights isn't an act of anything but humanity. It's an expression of conscience, of the moral conviction. The Palestinians deserve the same rights, dignity and freedom that we would want for anyone anywhere in the world. Mahmoud has unstintingly embodied that moral conviction, but his courage has made him and far too many others a target, targeted by the government and targeted by extreme anti Palestinian groups. Today, we're fighting back together. The rights Mahmoud is fighting for belongs

[Amy Goodman]

to all of us.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

If they can put Mahmoud in prison for exercising those rights, then those rights become a privilege conferred by the state on those who accept the division between lives that count and lives that don't. That's why I'm standing with Mahmoud today and why it's so important that he wins.

[Amy Goodman]

That's Morgan Specter. Cynthia Nixon, Beth Miller of Jewish Voice for Peace Action. What does this kind of support mean to you? Mahmoud?

[Mahmoud Khalil]

That means that we're building a wide movement, a diverse movement to goyou know, to fight back against all these forces that are trying to deprive us from our basic rights. It means that what happens to me could happen to anyone. And that's another thing about the case. It's not about me as a person, as Mahmoud, because these same groups are working to deprive everyone of their rights, your rights, my rights, anyone in this country if we don't agree with them. And that's why it's important for these groups and individuals to be in solidarity with each other, to face these forces together. So I absolutely appreciate their support. I'm grateful for their voices, for lending their voices to me in order toto just shed light on these atrocities that are being committed by this government and these Zionist hate groups in this country.

[Amy Goodman]

And finally, do you face a final deportation order now?

[Mahmoud Khalil]

I do, yeah. But we're fighting that in court. It's not, it's not, I would say in effect there are protections from the federal court that prevents the government from doing, from coming and deport me or arrest me. As we are now seeking Supreme Court review to the case, as we're also going through different courts in the country. It's just like very, I would say, disheartening. It's just like a lot of people in this country, a lot of immigrants, they don't have the number of lawyers I do. It's crazy that it's taking more than 20 lawyers to free a person from unjust detention while there are now tens of thousands of immigrants without any legal representation. So I'm absolutely grateful and consider that a privilege that I'm able to fight this fight for over a year after my release.

[Amy Goodman]

I know I said final question, but as you said that about the immigrants who face what you're facing without that kind of legal representation, I was wondering your final thoughts on the ICE killing of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston just in the past week of the 26 year old Colombian man with work authorization, Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero in Biddeford, Maine. And of course before that, Alex Pretti and Renee Goode, your final thoughts?

[Mahmoud Khalil]

I mean, it's absolutely heartbreaking that ICE is killing people, but unfortunately, I wouldn't say I'm surprised. And that's why I'm fighting. Because I could be one of, or I could have been one of these individuals who were killed by isis, by the rogueness of this agency because this agency is acting extrajudicially. They want to instill fear and terror into the population. And it's not surprising that unfortunately there are so many victims. But again, like, that's why I am fighting this. Because by pure luck I could have been one of these people when ICE agents showed up at my lobby. If for some reason they decided to kill me, they could have. And they lied. When they came, they said that I tried to flee the scene until we confront them with the camera footage. That I was actually very calm and very cooperating. It's just like upon this Congress that allowed this to Happen, that funded ICE with over $70 billion dollars that could have gone towards our communities, towards lowering the cost of living, towards like just supporting human rights. It's just, you know, like always that's what motivates me to go on and on because we need an end to this bloodshed. We need an end to this degrading of humanity. I don't want a US to be looking in 20 years at these years and these days and regret not doing something. I'm doing my part to stop that and I ask everyone to do their part to stop this.

[Amy Goodman]

Mahmoud Khalil, I want to thank you for being with us. Palestinian activists jailed by the Trump administration now suing Trump administration officials and anti Palestine groups for conspiring to deprive him of his constitutional rights. He got his Colombia diploma while he was in jail and also experienced the birth of his son on the phone while he was in detention. Coming up, two journalists who are part of a convoy attacked by Israeli settlers on the west bank on Saturday accompanying the father of slain Palestinian American Saif Musalat to the site where his son was beaten to death by Israeli settlers one year ago. Among them was CNN reporter Jeremy Dimon. Stay with us.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

Delightful floor. As long as the grass grows in the water, run. And while I'm here on earth I rejoice. Santa TW Cuz freedom is free,

[Amy Goodman]

Freedom is free. You can take that away from me.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

You got your guns up on display but you can't control how I feel.

[Amy Goodman]

No way.

[Mahmoud Khalil]

Cuz freedom,

[Amy Goodman]

Freedom is free By Chicano Batman in our Democracy now studio. This is democracy now, democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman. As we turn to the occupied west bank where Israeli settlers armed with clubs, rocks and a knife on Saturday attacked a group of journalists, including CNN's Jeremy Diamond. Four settlers have been reportedly detained for their alleged involvement in the attack. It happened exactly a year after the murder of 20 year old Palestinian American Saif Musalat, who was beaten to death by Israeli settlers. To date, no one's been arrested for his killing. He was born in Florida, worked at his family's ice cream shop there. The journalists were accompanying his dad back to the site of his son's death. As they left, their cars were attacked by the settlers chased out of town. In a minute, we'll be joined by two of the journalists. But first, this is the video footage of the attack shared with Democracy Now. The voices you hear are our next guests, Adele Scoco and Jasper Nathaniel. In the video, you see the settlers attempting to slash the tires of the armored CNN vehicle and then breaking the windshield of the separate car carrying the other journalists. The video is courtesy of independent journalist Andre X, who was sitting in the back. Wow, he's ready to throw rock. Look, he's running with the rock out.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

They are not letting us pass. The guy is standing in front of the car, in front of us. CNN car not letting him pass. And they're holding up rocks. Yeah, we need to fly behind them. Oh, he's got a knife.

[Bahar Azmi]

He's going.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Oh, my God.

[Amy Goodman]

Go, go, go, go.

[Bahar Azmi]

Oh,

[Amy Goodman]

no, no, no, no, no, no. He's going to carry.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Go.

[Amy Goodman]

Drive, drive, drive. Move, move,

[Mahmoud Khalil]

move.

[Bahar Azmi]

Go, go.

[Amy Goodman]

Watch out, watch out. This attack happened just days after armed Israeli settlers carrying U. S. Made M4 rifles surrounded a van carrying Democratic congressmember Rona who was visiting a Palestinian village that had been destroyed by settlers. Congressmember Khanna said his delegation was detained for about 90 minutes. For more, we're joined by Jasper Nathaniel, New York based writer and reporter who covers Israel's occupation of the west bank on his substack Infinite Jazz. He's just returned from the west bank last night after a month there. So describe what exactly took place on Saturday.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

The context is really important because the town where this happened, it's called Al Mizra Al Sharqiya. It's a village east of Ramallah. And this is a village that is made up of largely American citizens, actually Palestinian Americans. And you might remember, Amy, last year when we spoke about Mohammad Ibrahim, who was abducted, a kid who was abducted by Israeli soldiers. He was an American from this same town. Sefola was his first cousin. One year ago Saturday, Sefola was beaten to death by settlers on his own private land. And so the land that we were trying to reach is largely owned by American citizens, actually Palestinian Americans. Settlers have been occupying it since last April. And basically anybody who tries to get to their own land is attacked. I Tried to get there a year ago in October and was immediately attacked. And so this year on Saturday, his father Kamel wanted to get there both because he wanted to go to the spot where his son took his last breaths, but also because it's his land and he wants to show the settlers who are living on his land, who are living in the farmhouses that the Palestinians there have built on their land. He wanted to show them this is our land and we will come reach it when we want to. We on the way in, we talked to the mayor of Sinjil who Sinjil is the town that borders these alof fields. And what he told us was we know that there is a settler on this land who has an M16 and he shoots from afar. He will just see a car coming and he'll shoot at it. And so, you know, he understood that this was a pretty dangerous gambit right away. And it should be emphasized that the US Embassy ambassador, Mike Huckabee, I know for a fact that he is aware that settlers are occupying this land that belongs to American citizens. He of course is aware that an American 20 year old was beaten to death on this land. I know this because he spoke to Camel, the father, about it. He has still just allowed the settlers to stay there and attack anybody who comes near. So on Saturday we went with Camel to try to reach that spot. There were two cars. There was a CNN SUV which is bulletproof and armored and had slash proof tires. Camel was in that car with Jeremy diamond and you know, the camera person, the driver and the producer, they all had bulletproof vests, you know, the independent journalists behind them. We were in a rented Kia and we didn't have any of that protection. We were part of the same convoy though, just our two cars. So we reached the spot where safe was killed. We get out of the car, Campbell has a sort of private moment. He would later say that it was actually, he thought maybe it would be peaceful, but it actually was very distressing because he was just imagining what happened to his son there. But that feeling didn't last because within a couple of minutes we saw a car full of settlers racing towards us. And so we got back in our cars, we tried to drive out, the settlers blocked the road and that what you saw in that video is that the settlers first attacked the CNN car, but they couldn't do any damage to it because it's armored. He tries to slash the tires, one of the settlers, and then the CNN car speeds away and they turn to us. And so that's when you see a settler, you know, jump on the hood of our car, smash our windshield, they're throwing rocks at it. And we had to basically escape in, you know, what was a high speed chase, basically.

[Amy Goodman]

We hear the screams of another journalist, Adele Shoko, who's joining us now from Ramallah, a Jewish independent journalist based in the West Bank. If you can describe your experience as well and why you were there following Sayf's dad that day. Adele, hi. Thank you for having me. For me, it's important to join Palestinians to help them to get to their land because we understand that this privilege of us having the citizenship or privilege of the CNN crew who have an

[Bahar Azmi]

armored vehicle or block bulletproof facts and

[Amy Goodman]

because of the mainstream media, it allows them to actually, it's the only way for them to get to the land that was occupied. And it's very important to mention that this land is in area A, which

[Bahar Azmi]

is unprecedented because in the west bank,

[Amy Goodman]

which is divided into area A, B and C, the area C is almost

[Bahar Azmi]

entirely ethnically cleansed by the settlers backed

[Amy Goodman]

by the Israeli state and they moved to area B attacking big villages.

[Bahar Azmi]

But area A is another level and

[Amy Goodman]

we have to point it out now. This happened at the same time a few days after California congressmember Ro Khannaand I want to go to a clip of Ro Khanna now was also detained by Israeli settlers, armed settlers and Israeli soldiers. His visit to the occupied west bank on Wednesday. Over the weekend, he posted video evidence on social media of Israeli settlers carrying U S made M4 assault rifles surrounding his van in the south Hebron hills and blocking him from visiting a Palestinian village destroyed by Israeli settlers. He said his delegation was blocked for about an hour and a half.

[Bahar Azmi]

I'm certainly probably the first American politician who's been detained by the IDF and Israeli settlers. I mean, we were at a village that Israeli settlers had destroyed, they had

[Mahmoud Khalil]

destroyed the school, they had destroyed that village.

[Bahar Azmi]

And we were just looking at it. And these hoodlums come in with machine guns, an M4, an American made machine gun, and they detain us, they block off the road and then they call the idf. And the IDF is on the their side, not on the side of the Americans.

[Amy Goodman]

So that was congressmember Ro Khanna as we begin to wrap up Jasper. Nathaniel, if you can talk about these two attacks.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Yeah, I mean, the response to the Ro Khanna incident I've found sort of grimly amusing because the critics are saying this was a publicity stunt, this was set up, this was rigged. They went somewhere that they weren't supposed to go. They didn't work with the Israeli embassy. The reality is, if you spend enough time in the west bank, and by enough time, I mean a couple days, something like that is going to happen to you. It's an inevitability. And, you know, just to put a fine point on that, I was actually in the village of Umm El Khair in Masafir Yatta right before that incident happened. Ro Khanna and his delegation visited. Then I saw him there, and the people there explained what's happening to them, which is basically their land is being stolen in real time. About an hour after Ro Khanna's team left, we were attacked in that village so very violently by a group of settlers who live in an outpost right next door. So the irony is that had Ro Khanna not gotten back on that bus and, you know, gotten hijacked, he would have actually been present during an attack, an actual violent attack. And so. And then, you know, like you said, this happens. I'm me and, you know, the Palestinians there are violently attacked. Ro Khanna's bus is held up by settlers. Two days later, again, there's this other brutal attack. And I think it's important to just, you know, reiterate what Adele said, which is that, you know, as journalists, especially as Westerners, like, we have a privilege of knowing that, frankly, the stakes of killing one of us are much higher than of killing a Palestinian. You know, that's why we go into these places to, to basically show the brutality and the violence of settlers. Like, if this is what they'll do to me and this is what they'll do to a congressman, just imagine what they do to the Palestinians in um, El Khair. After I left, the attacks have just continued daily. Yesterday they came in, the Israeli military came in and demolished a family home just because. And so, you know, the pervasiveness of the cruelty in the west bank, in the occupied west bank by the State of Israel and by the settlers, which are backed by the state. It's just so pervasive that I would frankly challenge anybody to go into the west bank, go into places like Masafir Yatta or even, you know, Sinjil or these villages outside Ramallah, and not face something like that. I mean, it's just impossible.

[Amy Goodman]

Jasper, Nathaniel, I want to thank you for being with us. New York based journalist covering Israel's occupation of the west bank as substack Infinite Jazz, and Jewish Russian independent journalist Adele Shoko joining us from Ramallah from the occupied West Bank. Coming up the federal government's given the green light to a $111 billion mega merger deal between Paramount's Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. 12 state attorneys general led by California are suing to block the merger. We'll speak with California's Attorney General Rob bonto. Back in 20 seconds. Heads held high by the New York City Palestinian Youth Choir. This is Democracy Now. I'm Amy Goodman. Twelve Democratic led states have sued to block Paramount Skydance's $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount Skydance is run by David Ellison whose father Larry Ellison is the billionaire founder of Oracle, a prominent ally and financial backer of President Trump. Under the proposed deal, CNN and CBS News streaming services HBO Max and Paramount as well as film and television studios would all be com under a single entity controlled by the Ellisons. Meanwhile, the UK is weighing whether to take on the proposed merger between Paramount's Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. Last month the Justice Department's antitrust division said it saw no evidence that the media mega merger would harm consumers, writing instead the deal would quote, increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, unquote. Well, we're joined now by California's Attorney General Rob Bonte, a lead plaintiff in the lawsuit brought by the 12 attorneys general. Attorney General Banta, thanks for joining us. Explain why you have sued.

[Rob Bonta]

Well, in short, we sued because this proposed merger breaks the law. It breaks century old antitrust law. It's anti competitive, it will raise prices, it will lower quality, it will lessen content. This is a proposed merger of two entertainment titans who have been competitors for Europe. And it will extinguish the competition between them when they merge and will have massive anti competitive effects in a number of different markets. And so this is about affordability for everyday Americans who are already struggling to afford their lives, whether it be groceries or gas or health care or housing. And now their cable bills will go up and their satellite bills will go up and, and it will be more expensive to experience a joy of life, to go see a movie at the movie theater for a special occasion. So this is also going to lead to job loss and lower wages. So from job loss and lower wages to lower quality, choice, competition, higher prices, this is a bad deal for California and for Americans.

[Amy Goodman]

So explain the significance of what this means and also possibly the UK suing to prevent this murder merger, what it means to have CBS owned by Paramount and CNN and HBO all put together. President Trump has repeatedly attacked, to say the least. CNN, CBS's 60 Minutes is now being gutted with what the most recent fire, SCOTT pell Way

[Rob Bonta]

well, this is going to be a entertainment behemoth that will have under one roof, multiple news channels, multiple streaming sources, mo channels, multiple the basic cable channels, multiple studios, film distributors, all within under one roof. And we've seen, sorry for the pun, we've seen this movie before. When massive studios merge like Fox and Disney, it leads to lower quality, less output, less viewpoints. So let me talk about that for a second. You're going to have less, less, less viewpoints, less stories being told, fewer perspectives, less journalists truth telling and truth seeking and informing the American public about their world and their country. Less reporters holding the powerful accountable and holding their feet to the fire and doing investigative journalism that reveals truth and tells the world what's going on. You'll have a less smaller diversity of stories being told. A smaller, more narrow type of content will be green lit. And stories that need to be told that we don't know need to be told, things that we need to hear about, that we don't yet know we need to hear about that can inspire and inform and broaden our perspective about the world won't be told anymore. So from art to news, there will be less content and less diversity of perspectives.

[Amy Goodman]

And so what exactly would be accomplished by your lawsuit?

[Rob Bonta]

Well, our lawsuit seeks to block the merchant merger, pure and simple. We have a clean and clear and straightforward complaint that we filed in federal court that sets forth monopolistic outcome of this proposed merger, the anti competitive impacts of this merger. And it asks for one remedy, block the merger, keep Paramount and Warner Brothers as separate companies.

[Amy Goodman]

And if you can talk about the open letter that was signed by hundreds, if not thousands of producers, directors, directors, actors, of course, they also were calling on you, the attorney generals of New York and California and others to take this on. I wanted though to talk to end with the Federal Communications Commission chair, Brendan Carr speaking in March at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or cpac. In this clip he boasts about Trump successfully defunding pbs, NPR and the end of Stephen Colbert's late night show.

[Bahar Azmi]

President Trump took on the fake news media and President Trump is winning. Look at the results so far. PBS defunded, NPR defunded, Joy Reid gone from msnbc, Sleepy eyes, Chuck Todd gone.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

Jim Acosta gone.

[Bahar Azmi]

John Dickerson gone. Colbert is leaving.

[Jasper Nathaniel]

CBS is under new ownership and soon

[Amy Goodman]

enough CNN has got new ownership as well.

[Bahar Azmi]

So we're not.

[Amy Goodman]

That's FCC chair Brendan Carr. If you can end by talking about what's happening to the media in this country and the control by the Trump administration.

[Rob Bonta]

I mean, those comments are so outrageous. They speak for themselves. This idea that the federal government, our government, the people's government, is working overtime and bragging about it to, to shut down the free independent press, to silence journalists from doing their job, telling the news and doing investigative journalism and holding the powerful accountable is completely outrageous, antithetical to our democracy, anti democratic and un American. It is wrong in, in every way I can. I can say it. And the fact that he's bragging about it, he's getting cheers. Is dangerous and problematic. You know, the federal government has completely retreated and abdicated from its role to enforce antitrust law to prevent mergers.

[Amy Goodman]

We're going to have to leave it there.

[Rob Bonta]

The economy and hurt everyday people. And that's why we're stepping in.

[Amy Goodman]

I have to leave it there. But I want to thank you for being with us. California Attorney General Rob Bonto will link to your recent piece for Variety titled why I'm Suing to Block the Paramount Warner Brothers Merger. I'll be in Kansas City this weekend.