Democracy Now! 2026-07-27 Monday

Summary

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Democracy Now! – July 27, 2026 Episode Summary

Theme:
This episode of Democracy Now! focuses on the intersection of global crises—raging wildfires in France and Spain fueled by climate change, escalating violence and settler attacks in the West Bank, the ongoing U.S. war against Iran, domestic U.S. policy failures, and voices of those directly affected or engaged in activism and resistance. Host Amy Goodman features on-the-ground reports, interviews with subject experts, and commentary from political actors, spotlighting government and corporate abuses and uplifting marginalized voices.

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Key Segments & Major Insights

1. Europe’s Catastrophic Wildfires: Impact and Failures (00:20–32:00)

Evacuation Crisis and Human Accounts

• Over 360,000 people evacuated in France and Spain; France sees its largest peacetime evacuation since WWII.
• Spanish resident recounts chaos:

  “I saw clouds of smoke rising into the sky. That's when I realized something was happening. I think we all panicked. Then we received the message telling us to get ready, take whatever valuables we could... I took my cat and we left.” (00:20)

Expert Commentary: Root Causes

• Professor Ángel Luis Lara, sociologist evacuated from Madrid, highlights the compounded impacts:

  • Severe loss for many—homes, animals, livelihoods.
  • Asserts that while climate change drives fire intensity, "this is a deeply political issue"—public service cuts, firefighter underresourcing, and right-wing regional governments worsened response.
  • Notable quote:

    “We are dealing with a deeply political issue driven by... the undeniable reality of climate change... and decades of neoliberal policies that have diminished public services in Madrid especially." (22:21)

• John Valiant, journalist, contextualizes Spain/France fires:

  • New 'sixth-generation’ fires create their own weather, impossible to fight.
  • Fire-generated thunderstorms ("pyrocumulonimbus") seen in France—a new and dire phenomenon.
  • Notable quote:

    “We’ve created a kind of chimera of fire that is impossible to respond to in a meaningful way. The weather and the wind are determining our collective fate...” (25:21)

Climate Policy Tensions

• Spain’s Socialist PM Pedro Sánchez calls for a national climate pact; right/far-right parties refuse.
• Lara concludes:

  “There is this permanent refusal of conservative and far right parties to participate in a general and common agreement. So Spain now is dealing with real, I would say, deep tension...” (31:00)

Key Timestamps

• [05:41] – Personal accounts from affected villages
• [18:20] – Pedro Sánchez updates on wildfires’ scale
• [19:41] – Prof. Lara on evacuation and local impacts
• [22:21] – Firefighter strike and political roots
• [25:21] – John Valiant on new fire science and severity
• [27:34] – Pyrocumulonimbus explanation

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2. The Iran War & U.S. Politics: Congressional Pushback (33:17–48:16)

War in Iran: Costs and Legality

• U.S. pauses bombing for a third night amid munitions concerns and mounting casualties (18 dead, 624 wounded).

• Congressmember Jim McGovern (D-MA):

  • Draws parallels to Iraq—"Iraq 2.0” (01:14, 34:24).
  • Decries "quagmire," lack of strategy, and Congress surrendering war powers to the executive.
  • Calls current support votes "largely symbolic," highlights that only 28% of Americans support the war.

• Notable quote:

  “This war in Iran is not only risky, it's illegal and it’s costly... Congress should stand up to the president and stand firm the powers of the legislative branch and stop being a coward.” (34:24)

Wider War & Spending

• McGovern slams requests for more Pentagon funding while basic needs are neglected.
• Points to unspent defense budgets:

  “Our defense budget now... will be like $1.6 trillion... even Dr. Strangelove would be impressed.” (37:33)

Hunger in America

• McGovern as Hunger Caucus co-chair: 50+ million Americans food-insecure, SNAP cuts deepening crisis.

  “It just seems to me that there’s something fundamentally wrong when we have money for bombs, we don’t have money to make sure people in this country get fed.” (39:06)

Democratic Party Tensions

• Rahm Emanuel warns of DSA, “Bernie Bros” spoiling Democrats; Bernie Sanders rebuffs as establishment panic (41:07–41:46).
• McGovern counsels party unity and listening to voters.

US-Latin America Relations & Rights

• Decries US policy on Cuba ("drift toward fascism") and calls current sanctions "a human rights crime."

  “Our policy toward Cuba is a disaster. It’s an embarrassment. We should lift the embargo.” (43:59)

• Warns of “transnational repression” after U.S. deportation of Colombian asylum seeker Beto Corral.

US-Israeli Relations

• McGovern: U.S. must hold Netanyahu accountable for war crimes, stop military aid.

  “If we care about human rights, we have to be consistent.” (47:29)

Key Timestamps

• [34:24] – McGovern on Iran war, Congress
• [39:06] – Hunger in the U.S.
• [41:07] – Bernie Sanders on establishment fears
• [43:59] – U.S.–Cuba relations
• [47:29] – On Israel and military aid

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3. Escalation in the West Bank: Settler Violence & State Complicity (48:16–end)

Settler Violence and State Response

• Israeli settlers torch two mosques in the West Bank, spark a wave of attacks.

• At least 70 Palestinians arrested over weekend raids; four Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers killed in previous confrontations.

• Palestinian resident’s anguish:

  “This is a religious crime. It is a moral crime... There is no human on the planet that torches a religious place.” (50:11)

Interview: Mariam Barghouti (Palestinian Journalist)

• Settler and army violence now seamless—collective punishment, checkpoints, killing and detaining Palestinians.

• “What we saw over the weekend was an intensified campaign against Palestinians by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers which should not be seen as separate at this point.” (51:28)

• Pattern of collective punishment, closure, and deprivation makes daily life unsustainable.

• Barghouti: West Bank oppression tied to Gaza’s devastation; part of a broader "Greater Israel Project"—i.e., ethnic cleansing.

Targeting of Journalists

• Over 250 media workers killed by Israel since 2023.
• Barghouti:

  “They are targeting not just the personnel, but they are targeting the information. And this is one of the most dangerous aspects because if we are unable to document, then the entire issue of testimony falls into debate.” (56:31)

Call to International Community

• Joint Israeli NGOs urge foreign governments to pressure Israel, prevent pogroms, protect Palestinians as required under international law.

• Barghouti's concluding call:

  “It is not normal nor okay that a country... is treated as a normal state. It is not normal to continue sustaining it with military aid. At a bare minimum, just obstruct its capacity to target human lives.” (58:00)

Key Timestamps

• [50:11] – Victim statements
• [51:28] – Barghouti on latest violence
• [53:25] – On escalation and the UN Security Council message
• [55:00] – West Bank/Gaza connection, ethnic cleansing
• [56:31] – Attacks on journalists, media workers
• [58:00] – Call for action from international community

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Amy Goodman’s framing (opening):

  “Our programming shines a spotlight on corporate and government abuses of power and lifts up the stories of ordinary people working to make change in extraordinary times.” (Episode Description)

• John Valiant on the new fire regime:

  “These fires... are so intense that they create their own weather systems, right, making them virtually impossible to extinguish until the weather ceases.” (22:21)

• McGovern on military spending vs. domestic needs:

  “Supporting the troops means not putting them in harm’s way to begin with.” (37:33)

• Barghouti on journalistic danger:

  “If we are unable to document, then the entire issue of testimony falls into debate.” (56:31)

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Segment Timestamps Overview

• Wildfires, climate policy, and politics: 00:20–32:00
• U.S. war on Iran, Congressional pushback, and policy priorities: 33:17–48:16
• West Bank settler violence, international law, and Palestinian journalists: 48:16–end

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Summary for New Listeners

This Democracy Now! episode offers a deep, multi-faceted portrait of a world in crisis— where unchecked climate change, war, and political dysfunction produce disaster, and where state violence, both foreign and domestic, is challenged by those on the ground and in the halls of power. Voices from Spain’s fire-ravaged communities, Congressional critics of endless war, and Palestinians living under occupation tie together a central thread: the need for accountability, solidarity, and courageous action against systemic injustice.

Transcript

[Amy Goodman]

From New York. This is democracy now.

[Spanish Resident]

I saw clouds of smoke rising into the sky. That's when I realized something was happening. I think we all panicked. Then we received the message telling us to get ready, take whatever valuables we could, whatever was most important. I took my cat and we left.

[Amy Goodman]

Massive wildfires have forced more than 360,000 people in France and Spain to evacuate, with France conducting its largest peacetime evacuation since World War II. We'll go to Spain and we'll speak with journalist John Valiant about climate change. He's author of Fire Weather on the Front Lines of a Burning World. Then the House passes a resolution calling on President Trump to withdraw from Iran. We'll speak to Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Thing is just so transparently built on lies. Republicans went from imminent threat to regime change to nukes back to imminent threat in the last 24 hours. I'll tell you what this is, Mr. Speaker. This is Iraq 2.0.

[Amy Goodman]

We'll speak with the congressman about foreign policy from Iran to Cuba, hunger in the United States and more. And finally, as Israeli settlers torch two mosques amidst a deadly surge in violence in the west bank, we'll speak with Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti. She recently testified before the UN Security Council.

[Mariam Barghouti]

I will emphasize it again, these Israeli acts are not random, but they are organized state sponsored crime. And Palestinians in the west bank are no longer wondering whether a crime will be enacted. Now it is a matter of when rather than if.

[Amy Goodman]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting President Trump at the White House for the first time since Israel and the US Started bombing Iran in February. All that and more coming up. Welcome to democracy now. Democracynow.com or the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. has paused bombing Iran for a third straight night after senior Trump administration officials reportedly warned the president about dwindling munitions stockpiles. In response, Iran said it would pause retaliatory strikes against US Bases across the Middle East. Over the weekend, the Pentagon updated its official war casualty database, adding more than 140 wounded service members. The new new figures show 18 US troops have been killed and 624 wounded since the US launched its war against Iran back in February. The Pentagon separating the casualty figures, deaths and injuries after the ceasefire ended on July 7th are listed in a separate database labeled generically as overseas operations casualties, unquote. Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of attacking an Iranian commercial vessel in the Caspian Sea, saying one sailor was killed and another injured. The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of passing on to Iran its satellite observations in the Middle east, allowing Iran to launch attacks across the region. This comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to visit the White House Tuesday for the first time since the US and Israel started bomb Iran in February. Despite the lull in fighting, Britain said its armed forces were ready to defend itself after Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps warned the UK not to allow US bombers to fly from UK bases. On Thursday, the IRGC claimed the US had flown bombing missions against Iran from Fairford Air base in southwest England. The US war in Iran has spread to a second front to include Yemen. Yemen's Houthi rebels over the weekend struck sites belonging to the Saudi state oil giant Aramco on the Red Sea coast. On Friday, the Saudi led military alliance bombed Houthi military positions in the Red Sea port of Hodeida. In France and Spain, devastating wildfires have forced more than 360,000 people to evacuate their homes, the largest evacuation in France's history history since World War II. The fires began in the southwest of France Wednesday before spreading to Spain. In France, 2,500 firefighters, 1500 military personnel and nearly 1,200 police have been deployed to bring the fires under control. It comes as a new heat wave is expected to hit Europe this week with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius. That's 104 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a Spanish resident whose village has been engulfed by fires.

[Spanish Resident]

We in the village are completely surrounded

[Amy Goodman]

by all the fires.

[Spanish Resident]

In the end, the fires here and those in Almoro and Villa del Prado have merged. The one coming From Burgondo is 10km from here and is already reaching this area. What we are seeing right now is that they have also joined together. In other words, the three fires from the three PR are going to me, what we are seeing is devastation, fear, anguish, I don't know, it's impossible to explain.

[Amy Goodman]

We'll go to Spain after headlines to speak with a professor who is evacuated and also speak with John Valiant. He is author of the book Fire Weather. In Germany, a man allegedly drove a minivan into a crowd of people near Berlin's Pride celebration Saturday, killing one person and injuring 29 others. Authorities later shot and killed the man during an operation Sunday. The suspect was identified as Abdul Balaut, a 21 year old German citizen. According to authorities, he tried to join the Islamic State and was released from prison in May despite being jailed for preparing an attack. This is Berlin's mayor Kai Wegener

[Palestinian Resident]

I

[Amy Goodman]

can only say that Berlin as a

[Pedro Sanchez]

city of freedom and diversity will continue

[Amy Goodman]

to stand strong and make its position clear.

[Bernie Sanders]

We will not allow anyone to take away our way of life or the way we live together.

[Amy Goodman]

Here in New York, a man stabbed two people in broad daylight last week. The New York Police Department is investigating whether the stabbings are hate crimes. The first victim was a 57 year old Asian man, the second a 50 year old Jewish man. So far this year, the number of confirmed hate crimes has risen nearly 8% in New York City compared to the same period last year. In Seattle, Washington, three people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting at the Bight of Seattle Food Festival near the Needle on Sunday. The injured included a two year old boy. Police are searching for one suspect and have another in custody. In Gaza, two Hamas security officials were killed Sunday in an Israeli strike. Al Jazeera reports Israeli forces targeted their vehicle while traveling through Deir Elah. The head of the police in northern Gaza was also killed in a separate Israeli attack on Saturday. This all comes as a new report warns more than 2/3 of Palestinians in Gaza are likely to suffer from acute hunger by the end of this year as humanitarian aid organizations face funding shortages while Israel continues to restrict the entry of food and other life saving supplies. Currently, about 1.2 million people in Gaza face acute hunger. That figure could rise to more than 1.4 million Palestinians by December. In related news, Israel's approved the deployment of an international security force into Gaza as part of President Trump's so called ceasefire agreement. The unit will reportedly include about 200 members from countries including Uganda and Morocco. In the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers torched two mosques over the weekend in the latest wave of violent attacks on several Palestinian towns and villages. This is a resident of Khusram.

[Palestinian Resident]

This is a religious crime. It is a moral crime at all. They are thieves and you can call them with all the bad descriptions because there is no human on the planet. Torches a religious place this comes as

[Amy Goodman]

Israeli military forces Saturday detained over 70 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank. The arrests and attack on the mosques followed the killing of at least four Palestinians in the town of Tal Friday when Israeli settlers and soldiers opened fire on residents attempting to protect their homes. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed. Several Israeli activists were arrested in Tel Aviv over the weekend during a protest against intensifying Israeli settler violence on Palestinians. Some of the protesters held signs that read Resist Zionist Terror. Francesca Albanese, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories has condemned the Israeli settler attacks as quote, pogroms against defenseless civilians. The International Criminal Court has voted to remove Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan following sexual misconduct allegations against him that emerged two years ago. This is the first time an ICC chief prosecutor has ever been removed from office. Khan had already been suspended from his role in June pending the ICC's oversight body's vote. Khan was accused of sexual misconduct by a female aide. He's denied the allegations. Khan's removal comes as the Trump administration is threatening to dismantle the ICC brick by brick. In India, the Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resigned after a week of mass demonstrations led by the Cockroach Janta Party. Hundreds of thousands of young people took to the streets after an exam leak scandal led to more than a dozen students taking their own lives. The violent police response led to sit ins and drew more people to participate in the demonstrations. This is Abhijit Dipka, the founder of the Cockroach Party. It's a victory for the constitution of India, it's a victory for the people of India and it's a debate for the dictator. The White House Correspondents association dinner was held Friday, three months after it was disrupted by a gunman. During an hour long speech, President Trump attacked journalists, comedians, Democrats as well as members of his own cabinet. He even joked about running for president again.

[President Donald Trump]

I want to save your ratings. I'm pleased to announce my intention to, and this is somewhat of a scoop, my intention to run for a fourth term as President of the United States. I will be doing that. I will be having an official. In fact, I think I have, yeah, I won three times now. I'm going to do it again. Thank you. I'm going to do it.

[Amy Goodman]

Paramount Skydance announced it's halting its merger with Warner Brothers Discovery until July of next year after a lawsuit from Democratic state. Paramount's also facing a lawsuit from the Writers Guild of America which argues the merger would lead to job losses for screenwriters and journalists. Paramount Skydance is run by David Ellison whose father Larry Ellison, the billionaire founder of Oracle and 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 comb under a single entity control by the Ellisons. The UK is also threatening to sue over the merger. To see our interview with the California Attorney General Ron Banta, go to democracynow.org In Houston, Texas, protests continued this weekend in response to the ice killing of the 52 year old Mexican Father Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Dozens of groups and businesses led an economic blackout Friday while hundreds of protesters marched to Houston's City Hall Saturday demanding justice and for the ICE agents involved in the fatal shooting to be identified. Advocates have also called for the release of key witnesses from ICE custody, one of whom is Salgado's younger brother, Victor. This comes as the Harris County District Attorney's office confirmed a white powder found in Salgado's van was not drugs but an electrolyte salt mixture to stay hydrated while working in construction during Houston's scorching summer. The substance was the subject of an unsealed FBI search warrant. David Donati, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said in a statement, quote, by taking the unusual steps of securing and then unsealing their search warrant, the government's demonstrated it's more interested in creating a false narrative than in seeking the truth. The Salgados deserve real answers about what happened to their father, and we reiterate our call for an independent and complete investigation, the ACLU said. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Friday held an oversight hearing in Houston on Salgado's ice killing, where two of his sons, Ronaldo and Lorenzo Jr. Testified. To see our coverage of the case, go to democracynow.org a group of Venezuelan men who were wrongfully removed from the United States and sent to the notorious Salvadoran Secot prison have filed a lawsuit against against the two US Aviation firms that chartered the three flights to El Salvador last year. The suit accuses CSI Aviation and Global Acts of violating the men's civil rights as well as US and international law for transporting them to El Salvador, where many describe facing torture. The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by several groups, including the Kennedy Human Rights center, and was first reported by the Guardian in March of last year. More than 230 Venezuelan men were rounded up and deported to El Salvador after the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies act, accusing the men without evidence of being gang members. Federal health officials announced a new outbreak of cyclospirasis impacting 72 people. About 4,100 people have been infected with the Cyclospora parasite, according to the CDC. At least 98 people have been hospitalized as cases have been reported in at least 41 states. Critics have talked about the gutting of CDC by Doge. And in Maine, Democrats have selected Troy Jackson to replace Graham Platner as their U.S. senate candidate. a convention on Saturday, Platner dropped out of his race after an ex girlfriend accused him of rape. Jackson is a former logger and former Maine state legislator who was the Maine state Senate president. Face Republican Senator Susan Collins, a five term incumbent in November. This is Jackson accepting his party's nomination for Senate.

[Troy Jackson]

We need someone with courage. We need a fighter and we need a senator who remembers exactly who sent them to Washington, which is you. Let's unite this party. Let's build the largest working class movement Maine has ever seen and let's win this fight. I humbly ask for your vote. Thank you and God bless.

[Amy Goodman]

Troy Jackson was endorsed by the dsa, the Democratic Socialists of America, when he ran for governor. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. In France and Spain, devastating wildfires have forced more than 350,000 people to evacuate their homes. It's among the largest peacetime evacuations in France since World War II. At least 4,600 emergency personnel have been deployed to the southwest of France, where the fires began Wednesday before spreading to Spain. Earlier this summer, Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record. Meanwhile, conditions are expected to worsen later this week as another heat wave could surge temperatures to 40 degrees Celsius. That's 104 degrees Fahrenheit or more. Speaking Sunday, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned of complicated hours ahead as Spain battles to control the blazes.

[Pedro Sanchez]

I think the scale of the disaster we are experiencing, unfortunately, once again, in our country is very difficult to comprehend. Yesterday, we reported that 130,000 hectares had been affected and burned so far this year. Today, less than 24 hours later, that figure has already risen to more than 150,000 hectares.

[Amy Goodman]

For more, we're joined by two guests joining us from Spain, Professor Angel Luis Lara, sociologist and associate professor of Ibero American Cultural Studies at SUNY Old Westbury. He and his family have just evacuated from a municipality west of Madrid. He will join us from the province of Toledo in the Castile La Mancha region. And joining us from Vancouver is John Valiant, award winning journalist, author of several books, including most recently Fire Weather on the Front Lines of a Burning World of finalists for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. We welcome you both to Democracy. Now let's begin with Professor Angel Luis Lara. Can you describe the scene on the ground, I mean, in France? I think this is the biggest evacuation Since World War II, the fires spreading to Spain, what it meant to be uprooted from your home, the devastation of communities as they burned to the ground. Professor Angeloislata Hello, Amy.

[Professor Angel Luis Lara]

And thank you for having me. Yeah. My family and I were evacuated three days ago from Chapinuria, which is a small town in the west area of the region of Madrid, 30 miles out from the city. And the fire was just getting way too close to our village and the air quality was starting to get really dangerous for our health, so the local authorities decided to evacuate all the people. However, we consider ourselves incredibly lucky. Right. Because even though the flames made it right into our street and the house right across from ours was burned to the ground, our place took just some minor damage, so we're lucky. Just to give you an idea of how severe the situation is, you got to consider that around 30 thousands of us have been directly evacuated across the region of Madrid, and 20,000 more have been placed under lockdown orders because of these out of control fires. If you include neighboring regions impacted by the same series of places, like Avila, the region of Avila, for example, the number of evacuations exceeds 60,000 people, with overall affected residents reaching over 95,000 people. People. And some of these people have lost absolutely everything. Their homes, their animals. So many families are sleeping in sports centers or emergency tents right now. And for the folks who make a living off the land, you know, especially for them, losing their crops and livestock is just devastating. So I would say that as crazy as these past few days have been for my family, I consider ourselves very lucky because we are safe.

[Amy Goodman]

Professor, can you talk about the firefighter strike in Madrid? They had been warning for years about being under resourced, had been going without a contract for years, and they are in, as are many of the autonomous regions. This one, Madrid, a conservative controlled area where the head of the region talks about climate change as being propaganda.

[Professor Angel Luis Lara]

Yeah. I'm afraid that it is just not enough to blame the weather for the situation regarding the wildfires we are dealing with in Spain and also I would say, in southern Europe now. Now I think we have to dig deeper because we are dealing with a deeply political issue driven by what I consider three main factors. The first, obviously, is the undeniable reality of climate change. Right? The extreme temperatures and severe drought conditions have created a new category of sixth generation wildfires. And these are not normal fires. They are so intense that they create their own weather systems, Right. And making them virtually impossible to extinguish until the weather seethes. But there is a second factor related to this strike you told before, which is decades of neoliberal policies that have diminished public services in the region of Madrid especially, and in all the regions all around Spain. Spain is a decentralized country made of 17 autonomous regions with significant self governing power. And 11 of those regions are run by conservative and far right parties pushing aggressively to dismantle public services. So in fact, as you said before, right, when these wildfires broke out, some of Madrid's wildland firefighters had been on strike for 40 days straight. Trade protesting, precarious working conditions and a severe lack of resources. So as I said before, and this situation with the firefighters in the region of Madrid shows up. You know, this is not just about weather. This has to do with a political issue which is going on in regions like Madrid, right. Based on these neoliberal policies that are diminishing drought dramatically. Public services.

[Amy Goodman]

I want to bring John Valiant into the conversation. Award winning journalist and author of several books, most recently Fire on the Front Lines of a Burning World. Here in New York we experience the smoke from the Canadian fire wildfires and of course all over the United States they did, to say the least. This is an intensification in Spain and fire. Can you talk about what's causing this fire, weather, what does it mean to be, as we're hearing, a description on the front lines of a burning world and what can be done about it? John?

[John Valiant]

Yeah, thanks, Amy. When that subtitle was conceived, it sounded like hyperbole. The Front Lines of a Burning World. But we're really seeing that right now. Oregon and Washington state are also burning ferociously right now. In addition to British Columbia and Ontario and Southern Europe and North Africa, massive fires everywhere. And we're seeing this accumulation of decades of intensifying heat which promotes drought. And so these conditions have been slowly building and worsening for decades, basically vindicating, unfortunately, the warnings of climate scientists and firefighters who have been fearing these kind of collaborative events where as we've heard, large fires are merging together, creating mega fires that are then create conditions that are impossible for humans to respond to meaningfully. So what we're seeing in Spain and France now are flames exceeding 100 meters. So these are 30 stories, very tall flames. These are, you can't respond to these in a meaningful way with water. French pilots are describing water bomber drops of thousands and thousands of gallons that are evaporating in the heat before they even touch the flames. So what we've, we've created a kind of chimera of fire that is impossible to respond to in a meaningful way. And really now the weather and the wind are determining our collective fate in these situations.

[Amy Goodman]

One firefighter speaking to Agence France Press AFP reported seeing a pyrocumulo nimbus, a fire generated thunderstorm. Now this is common in Australia and Canada, but can you talk about the significance of this being seen in France? I mean there's, it seems like maybe you knew this word. I sure did. There are new words now

[President Donald Trump]

and I

[John Valiant]

had to learn it to write fire weather, pyrocumulonimbus clouds are fire generated thunderstorms. They can puncture the stratosphere. These fire systems that turn, they rotate the same way hurricanes do. They can be 45,000ft tall. They generate their own lightning, they produce black hail. And these lightning strikes can strike 30 or 40 miles away from the center of the fire, starting new fires. So it becomes essentially a self perpetuation machine of fire that is literally unstoppable. And in Redding, California In 2018, one of these systems generated an actual EF3 tornado, 165 mile an hour winds that tore houses from their foundations and lifted F150 pickup trucks and threw them through the air, killing and burning and crushing their occupants. It's extraordinary kind of end times class energy that is being released by these systems.

[Amy Goodman]

Now can you respond to President Trump accusing Canada of poisoning the air in the United States, even threatening to impose new tariffs on Canada over the recent levels of hazardous air. Yet you know, one of the his mantras as he ran for president again and continues is burn baby burn is drill baby drill. I should say.

[John Valiant]

Yeah, and drill baby drill corresponds to burn baby burn. And the more fuel we burn as human beings things, the more fuel wildfires will burn across our landscapes. You know, Trump is a cynical, self serving guy with no concept of how natural systems work or even how smoke behaves right now. The bulk of the smoke sweeping across the northern American states right now is coming from Washington and Oregon. Smoke and pollution and climate change know no boundaries. If anyone is really at fault here, it would be the major emitters of CO2 and methane and that would be in North America, the United States. So I think if we want to reduce our temperature, if we want to reduce our fire risk, the first thing we have to do is reduce our emissions. And that is something that the US has steadfastly refused to do. Its current administration in any case case, and unfortunately Canada is following suit, actively expanding its fossil fuel operations, proposing new pipelines to the west coast and into the United States, so thereby digging us deeper and deeper into this CO2 debt and methane debt that is causing these fires.

[Amy Goodman]

Finally, Professor Angel Luis Lara, you yourself again have been evacuated. Can you talk about the Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez renewing calls for a climate pact for all the political parties of Spain.

[Professor Angel Luis Lara]

I mean, the current government, the central government of Spain has been, you know, calling the rest of the political parties for a national agreement regarding, you know, the climate change and that the situation we are dealing with related to claiming, but there is this permanent refusal of the conservative and the far right parties to participate in a general and common agreement. So Spain now is dealing with real, I would say, deep tension between the conservative and the five right parties and the government. And the situation is very complicated.

[Amy Goodman]

I want to thank you both for being with us. Of course, we'll continue to cover the Fire weather. Angelois Lara, sociologist and associate professor of Ibero American Cultural Studies at SUNY Old Westbury, just evacuated from his home near Madrid. And John Valiant, award winning journalist and author. His latest book, fire Weather on the Front Lines of a Burning World. Coming up, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Democratic Congressmember Jim McGovern of Massachusetts on Iran to Cuba. Stay with us.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

It.

[Amy Goodman]

Memories of the Alhambra by Harry Ferry. This is Democracy now, democracynow.org, the War and Peace Report. I'm Amy Goodman. The U.S. has paused bombing Iran for a third straight night after senior Trump officials reportedly warned the president about dwindling munition stockpiles. In response, Iran said it would pause retaliatory strikes against US Bases across the Middle East. Last week, the entire Democratic House caucus and four Republicans voted to pass a resolution calling on Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran. We're joined now by one of those Democrats, Congressman Jim McGovern of Massachusetts. He's been a vocal critic of Trump's foreign policy, from the war in Iran to the administration's targeting of Cuba. He's served in Congress since 1997, is the ranking member of the House Rules Committee. You have described, Congressmember and welcome to Democracy Now Iran as Iraq 2.0. Explain.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Well, it's just like Iraq. We're getting involved in a quagmire here, an endless war, you know, a war based on arrogance and bad intelligence. And the bottom line is this war in Iran is not only risky, it's illegal and it's costly. Tens of billions of dollars going into this war in which there is no way for us to succeed or accomplish any of the goals that Donald Trump said he wanted to accomplish. But I'm really particularly frustrated because the House of Representatives and Congress in general has ceded its power and its authority to the executive branch. We should bewe should be voting on whether to authorize a war in Iran. I don't think a majority in the House or Senate would vote to do that. But we should be voting on these things. We shouldn't just give that power to the President. And the speaker of the House, you know, is to blame. He. Look, you know, you just reported that Trump has kind of put a pause on bombing. Let's hope that that remains. But with him, you never know. I mean, in a week or two, I mean, he could launch an intensified attack. And if that is the case, the speaker of the House ought to call Congress back into a special session, because we're in recess now, and we ought to debate it. There ought to be oversight, and we ought to vote on it. The speaker should stand up to the president and stand firm the powers of the legislative branch and stop being a coward.

[Amy Goodman]

So what would it mean if a war powers resolution was passed by the House and the Senate? What exactly would that force President Trump to do?

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Well, if we were in sync, it would ultimately end funding for the war. I mean, that is how you end wars. We have to stop the funding because this president will do whatever the hell he wants to do, and he doesn't care about the law. So. So, you know, right now, these votes are largely symbolic, but I think it shows, you know, that where the majority of Congress stands on this stuff, Congress stands with the American people. Only 28% of the American people think this war is worth it. Everybody else is against it. I mean, and people are horrified by the fact that the United States of America, we're dropping bombs on elementary schools in Iran when they'd rather have that money spent on building elementary schools here in the United States. I mean, we're committing human rights crimes in the conduct of this war as well.

[Amy Goodman]

So talk about last week we saw Hegseth go before the Senate and talk about why the Pentagon needs tens of billions of dollars more in dealing with Iran. And how could the Democrats desert. Desert the soldiers. Very interesting, by the way, about the count on soldiers dead because of outcry. I mean, the last four soldiers, they were taken off the list of the dead because they died after President Trump declared cease fire. They've been added back as well as apparently something like 140 soldiers who've been hurt, adding to something like well over 600 injured and 18 killed.

[President Donald Trump]

That.

[Amy Goodman]

That's us. Iran. We don't know the numbers.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Yeah, the lack of candor is concerning in and of itself, but the fact that the Secretary of Defense goes before the Senate and says, give me tens of billions of dollars more for this war, when they still have tens of billions of dollars in unspent money, tells you that they're thinking of a war that's going to go on for quite some time. Look, I mean, our defense budget now is going to be like $1.6 trillion when all is, is when all this put together. I mean, that's like unbelievable. I mean, I think Dr. Strangelove would be impressed with that number. And you know, I, again, I'm not a, I'm a big critic of this administration, but even by their standards, listening to the Secretary of Defense speak before the Senate, I mean, he sounded like a lunatic. It sounded like there needed to be an intervention. He didn't answer the question. And you know, the questions that most people had is, you know, what is the strategy? What is the clearly defined mission? What is the goal? How do we get out of this? You know, when does this end? He had no idea. And he tried to make it a referendum on whether you support the troops or not. Supporting the troops means not putting them in harm's way to begin with. I mean, it's irresponsible for us to be deploying troops in a situation like this when the President and Secretary of Defense don't have a plan at all.

[Amy Goodman]

So the question is, where do us taxpayers where their money goes? You are co chair of the hunger Caucus and the House of Representatives. If you can talk about the level of hunger in the United States with the Trump administration cutting food assistance, driving up child hunger.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Well, hunger is getting worse in this country. Over 50 million 50 Over 50 million Americans are hungry or food insecure in the United States of America, the richest country in the history of the world. It's unconscionable. And as a member of Congress, I'm ashamed of that. Of fact, Trump and the Republicans passed his big ugly bill a little bit a year ago that went on to put new restrictions in place for SNAP recipients, more work requirements and is a $200 billion cut to the program that's going to hit at the end of next year already because of the paperwork and the work requirements. Millions and millions of more people are without the benefit. Millions of children, children in this country have lost their food benefit. And it just seems to me that there's something fundamentally wrong when we have money for bombs. We don't have money to make sure people in this country get fed. And every dollar we invest in food and nutritious and nutrition actually, you know, saves us money in a whole bunch of other areas. Kids learn better if they're not hungry when they go to school. People are less likely to get chronic diseases if they have access to good nutrition, nutrition and food. But to cut this benefit, by the way, the worst of it is going to hit next year. You know, and this country that we're tolerating that level of hunger is astounding to me.

[Amy Goodman]

I also want to ask you about the divide in the Democratic Party. Former Congressmember Rahm Emanuel has served as President Obama's chief of staff, was mayor of Chicago, published an op ed in the Wall Street Journal last week headlined the Bernie Bros. Could Spoil Democrats Midterms. He criticizes the role of DSA Democrats Socialists of America. He wrote the DSA and others are saddling the Democratic Party with nominees whose wildly, wildly unpopular positions will protect Republicans from having to pay the price of Donald Trump's corruption and economic incompetence. Bernie Sanders responded on Face the Nation.

[Bernie Sanders]

You have an establishment like Rahm Emanuel who are dependent on billionaire campaigns, contributors who want to maintain the status quo. Then you have a progressive movement, which, by the way, what is getting these guys nervous is we are winning all over this country. Suddenly Mondani in New York City is in New Jersey, it's in Ohio, it's in Colorado. People are sick and tired of the Rahm Emanuels and the Democratic establishment and the Republican establishment. The American people are tired of a rigged economy, a corrupt campaign campaign finance system. They want real change. They don't want Rahm Emanuel and the establishment maintaining the status quo.

[Amy Goodman]

Can you Respond? Govern? Congressmember McGovern yeah.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

I mean, I don't think we should be arguing amongst ourselves about the decisions that voters are making. I mean, we need to respect the voters. Part of the reason why, you know, you see some of these candidates getting elected who the establishment doesn't really like very much is because people are frustrated that we're not fighting hard enough, that we're not standing up for bold solutions. People don't want to manage hunger. They want to end it. You know, people don't want to, you know, get another tax credit on health care. They want us to make sure they can afford their health care and that it is available for everybody. And people don't want us to manage wars around the world. They want us to bring them to an end. So, I mean, I think we do our party great harm harm when we start to have this kind of infighting. I mean, I trust the people. And for me, I tell people all the time that whoever wins the Democratic nomination, you know, in a particular race in my state, I'm going to support them.

[Amy Goodman]

So you have been in Congress for almost 30 years. You have championed democracy in Latin America. You were, as what, a staffer for Congressman MOAKLEY Investigating the six Jesuit priests

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

who were murdered in El Salvador in 1989 and found. We found that they were murdered by the Salvadoran armed forces who were trained and armed by the United States government.

[Amy Goodman]

So you've been a major critic of U.S. policy in Latin America. I want to get your response to. Well, you shared your response on the floor of the House last week about a new red scare. The State Department accusing the Cuban government of waging a sustained campaign of subversion against the United States, claiming Cuba is backing a number of groups, including National Lawyers Guild, Code Pink, Pastors for Peace, National Network on Cuba. And they've subpoenaed a number of organizations, including the People's Forum down the road from here, Breakthrough News, and others. And I'm wondering your response to what is going on here.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

I mean, I feel like the ghost of Joe McCarthy isyou know, is appearing in Washington, D.C. right now. I mean, what this administration is doing by targeting its critics and members of the free press is what you would see in an authoritarian country. I mean, it is a drift toward fascism, if you will. And quite frankly, our policy toward Cuba is a disaster. It's an embarrassment. We should lift the embargo. We should have normal relations with the Cuban people. We should let the Cuban people decide their future. It shouldn't be decided by Marco Rubio or people in Washington. And right now, our intensified sanctions and embargo is resulting in starvation on the Cuban island, people not being able to get health care, people without electricity. I mean, it is a human rights crime and it needs to stop. And so I reject what the administration is doing, doing. And I think our policy to Cuba is a disaster.

[Amy Goodman]

I also want to ask you about the case of Beto Corral, a Colombian asylum seeker who was living in Arizona, detained at his home by US Immigration agents in June after he filed criminal charges against the Colombian far right presidential candidate Abelardo de la Esprilla, who became president. He was deported to Colombia, Colombia on July 16th. Shortly after he was detained, you wrote online, I'm very troubled by allegations of coordination between American officials and Colombian political actors in this arrest that would amount to our government aiding and abetting transnational repression. Explain.

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

I mean, there are foreign governments that, you know, that target citizens from their country who come to the United States who are critics of their government. China does it. Iran did it Pakistan, India does it and so do a lot of countries in Central America. And the fact that we are good, we are sending this guy back to Colombia, Beito back to Colombia where there's a new president, a right wing president who may end up jailing him or you know, God knows what else is again us being part of, of transnational repression. We are guilty of the things that we're criticizing other countries of doing. Look, I think my view, I co chaired the Human Rights Commission in Congress. I think if the United States stands for anything, we need to stand out loud and foursquare for human rights. That means not sending people back to dangerous situations, whether it's in Colombia or Haiti or China or anywhere else.

[Amy Goodman]

Finally, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is coming to Washington. He hasn't met with Trump personally in Washington D.C. since the US initiative. Israel started bombing Iran at the end of February. That first day, the US Bombing that girls school, the primary school in Manab here in New York where you are visiting. The mayor investigated whether he could arrest Netanyahu because of the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court. He concluded he couldn't. But raise that issue and you have the majority of the voting Democratic caucus for the first time voting to end military aide except the Iron Dome to Israel, over $3 billion. Can you talk about what President Trump, who has been an ally of Netanyahu, what you want to see happen?

[Congressmember Jim McGovern]

Well, what I want to see happen and what will happen are probably two different things. But President Trump, if he were truly representing the ideals of this country, would tell Benjamin Netanyahu to stop the war crimes. He is guilty of war crimes. You know, I mean, I met with the Augusta Victoria hospital staff online a couple of a week ago. And I mean, young children in Gaza who have cancer are not able to get the treatment they need, you know, less than an hour away because Netanyahu's government is blocking that. But there's no question in my mind that Netanyahu is guilty of war crimes. He should be held accountable and we should not be sending one more penny to him to be able to conduct those crimes. I mean, it is that simple. If we care about human rights, we have to be consistent.

[Amy Goodman]

Jim McGovern, Democratic congressmember from Massachusetts for almost 30 years. Coming up as Israeli settlers torch two mosques amidst a deadly surge in violence on the west bank. And There are over 70 arrests on the west bank alone. This weekend we'll speak to the Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti. She recently testified before the UN Security Council back in 20 seconds, Tama Greed by the Palestinian oud player and musician Huda Asford performing in our Democracy now studio. This is Democracy Now. Welcome to democracynow.org I'm Amy Goodman. We end today's show in the occupied west bank where Israeli settlers torched to mosques over the weekend in the latest wave of violent attacks on several Palestinian towns and villages.

[Palestinian Resident]

This is a religious crime. It is a moral crime at all. They are thieves and you can call them with all the bad descriptions because there is no human on the planet that tortures a religious place.

[Amy Goodman]

This comes as Israeli military forces Saturday detained over 70 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank. The arrests and attack on the mosque followed the killing of at least four Palestinians in the town of Tal Friday when Israeli settlers and soldiers opened fire on residents attempting to protect their homes. Two Israeli soldiers were also killed. Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian Territories, has condemned the intensifying Israeli settler attacks as, quote, pogroms against defense, defenseless civilians, unquote. We're joined now by Mariam Barghouti, Palestinian writer and journalist based in Ramallah, joining us today though from Amman, Jordan. She recently addressed the United Nations Security Council on the crisis in the West Bank. Thanks so much for joining us again, Mariam. If you can start off by describing what happened this weekend in the West Bank.

[Mariam Barghouti]

Thank you, Amy. So what we saw over the weekend was an intensified campaign against Palestinians by the Israeli army and Israeli settlers which should not be seen as separate at this point. The excuse and the justification that the Israeli military and officials such as Benjamin Netanyahu are using was the killer killing of two Israeli settlers that were in the west bank raiding a Palestinian village or town. Now, if you peruse through Hebrew media, you'll think that they were Israelis that were simply hiking and were killed by Palestinians, when in fact they were settlers raiding the town of Til southeast of Nablus, north of the West Bank. And a Palestinian man was able to disarm one of the settlers and confront. Now the Israeli army responded by killing at least four Palestinians and then expanded in what is a familiar pattern of collective punishment, targeting the entirety of the west bank, targeting former detainees in specific, torturing them, ensuring checkpoints are closed, meaning Palestinians don't have access to life saving resources such as hospitals and they're targeting just daily infrastructure. So we're seeing what is happening is Palestinians are being imprisoned essentially in their own towns and villages and then attacked by Israeli forces and armed Israeli settlers.

[Amy Goodman]

86 at least according to Al Jazeera Palestinians have been killed in the occupied west bank since the beginning of the year, including 20 fatally shot by Israeli settlers. The United nations notes hundreds more have been wounded with we have about a four second delay with you responding, Mariam, but talk about your message to the UN Security Council.

[Mariam Barghouti]

Yes, so what we're seeing is that there is an escalation of killing Palestinians. This comes also in, in light of the impunity that Israel has received in Gaza. Now, in Gaza you have the Israeli army, but Israeli settlers serve as an addendum to Israeli military practices. So we're not just seeing 86 Palestinians killed since the start of the year. We've seen more than a thousand killed in the last two years alone. And this comes with an expansionist project. So the issue right here is territory and it is being enforced and taken over forcibly through these violent attacks that, that cross create a hostile environment for Palestinians where simply their presence becomes unsustainable because it means recalibrating just daily routine to, to calculate for Israeli violence.

[Amy Goodman]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a major security operation in the west bank following Friday's attacks, reinforcing military units, canceling leave for troops. He is also coming to meet with President Trump Tomorrow in Washington D.C. can you talk about, as you peruse the media from the Arabic language media, Hebrew language media, US media, what people get most wrong about what's happening in the west bank right now and talk about how it compares to Gaza?

[Mariam Barghouti]

I think what is happening right now in the west bank cannot be divorced to what is happening in Gaza as well as places like Jerusalem. Now what we are seeing is another form of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza. It is the complete obliteration of cities and towns and an annihilation of families off the registry. And in the west bank it is taking different methods and forms and that is through the use of the Israeli settler, military and judicial system. Now together, what they serve is what Israel wants to do is the Greater Israel Project. Now it brings us back to the fact that this is a colonial regime that is engaging in crimes against humanity. How those crimes look may differ, but in the end they serve the same purpose and that is ethnically cleansing Palestinians in order to build this Greater Israel in the region.

[Amy Goodman]

In your address to the UN Security Council, Mariam Barghouti, you talked about the dangers journalists like yourself face if you can talk about the attacks on media workers. Of course we know that over 250 journalists, media workers have been killed by Israel in the last year, since October 2023. Three in Gaza. And you also spoke about the targeted attacks on military personnel. We'll end with this question.

[Mariam Barghouti]

Yes. So the Israeli regime is targeting journalists, killing them in Gaza on the one end. Likewise in Lebanon and in the West Bank. What we're seeing is targeting them through through mass detention, as well as terrorizing campaigns that is targeting their family members, invading their homes, violating their sources, as well as gathering information that should not be accessible to them. So they are targeting not just the personnel, but they are targeting the information. And this is one of the most dangerous aspects because if we are unable to document, then the entire issue of testimony falls into debate. And this is where we are today, where someone welcomed to the United that was presented for the crimes that were instigated by him and the entirety of the Israeli regime.

[Amy Goodman]

On Saturday, a group of Israel NGOs, including Betsellam, in Breaking the Silence, issued a joint statement saying, we call on the international community to act now. Immediate pressure on Israel is required to stop further attacks, prevent pogroms and further killings, and ensure the protection of Palestinians in accordance with Israel's obligations under international law. We have 20 seconds. Mariam, if you can elaborate on this.

[Mariam Barghouti]

I think this time is not just for action, but to ensure genuine obstruction of Israeli capacity to continue in its crimes. It is not normal nor okay that a country that has is treated as a normal state. It is not normal to continue sustaining it with military aid. At a bare minimum, just obstruct its capacity to target human lives.

[Amy Goodman]

Marianne Barghouti, want to thank you for being with us. Palestinian writer and journalist based in the west bank. Speaking to us from Amman, Jordan. She recently addressed the UN Security Council on the crisis in the West Bank. That does it for our show. Happy birthday to Sarah Nassar. I'll be in Martha's vineyard Friday night, July 31 to speak after a screening of Steal the Story, please in Vineyard Haven. Then on to Madison, Wisconsin and Chicago and to my hometown of Bayshore on September 17th. I'm Amy Goodman.