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Israel Arrests Dozens of Hamas Lawmakers and Ministers as
Assault on Gaza Widens
AIPAC v. Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's Assault
on Gaza
Pentagon Spying on Gay, Antiwar Groups More Widespread than
Previously Acknowledged
Study: All Electronic Voting Machines Vulnerable to Software
Attacks
Israel Arrests Dozens of Hamas Lawmakers and Ministers
as Assault on Gaza Widens
Israel has arrested dozens of lawmakers and ministers from
the ruling Palestinian party Hamas as it continues its military
assault to recover a captured soldier. Nearly half of the
Gaza Strip remains without power following Israeli air strikes
that knocked out a main power station. We go to Gaza to get
a report from Chris McGreal of the London Guardian. [includes
rush
transcript]
Israel has arrested dozens of lawmakers and ministers from
the ruling Palestinian party Hamas as it continues its operation
to recover a captured soldier. The soldier, Corporal Gilad
Shalit, was captured Sunday in a Palestinian operation on
an Israeli military outpost near Gaza. The Israeli government
says it holds Hamas directly responsible for Shalit's life.
It has rejected his captor's demands for the release of all
Palestinian females and Palestinians below the age of eighteen
in Israeli prisons. An Israeli cabinet minister said Syria-based
Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal is a target for assassination.
And in a warning to the Syrian government, Israel sent warplanes
to fly over a home belonging to Syrian President Bashar Assad.
A Hamas official said Israel is carrying out an "open
war against the Palestinian government and people," and
vowed retaliation.
Meanwhile, nearly half of the Gaza Strip remains without
power following Israeli air strikes that knocked out a main
power station. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas said the
attack on Gaza's infrastructure amounts to "collective
punishment and a crime against humanity." Israeli warplanes
have dropped leaflets on the village of Beit Hanun and parts
of Gaza warning residents the army will begin striking populated
areas. IDF officials said they expect thousands of people
to begin fleeing their homes as early as today. In Washington,
the Bush administration urged Israel to use restraint but
refused to criticize the current siege. Meanwhile, the IDF
announced it has recovered the body of eighteen-year old West
Bank settler Eliyahu Asheri. Asheri's captors had threatened
to take his life unless Israel halted its reinvasion of the
Gaza Strip.
- Chris McGreal, reporter for the Guardian
of London. He joins us on the line from Gaza.
AIPAC v. Norman Finkelstein: A Debate on Israel's
Assault on Gaza
We host a debate on the situation in Gaza with Norman Finkelstein,
a professor of political science at DePaul University in Chicago
and author of "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism
and the Abuse of History" and Josh Block, the Director
of Media Affairs for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee
(AIPAC). [includes rush
transcript]
- Norman Finkelstein, professor of Ppolitical science at
DePaul University in Chicago. His latest book is "Beyond
Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of
History."
- Website: NormanFinkelstein.com
Pentagon Spying on Gay, Antiwar Groups More Widespread
than Previously Acknowledged
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network released documents
earlier this week showing that the Pentagon conducted surveillance
on a more extensive level than first reported late last year.
We speak with the executive director of SLDN and a staff attorney
with the American Civil Liberties Union who recently filed
a federal lawsuit to force the agency to turn over additional
records. [includes rush
transcript]
Earlier this week, the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network
released documents showing that the Pentagon conducted surveillance
on a more extensive level than first reported late last year.
De-classified documents show that the agency spied on "Don't
Ask, Do't Tell" protests and anti-war protests at several
universities around the country. They also show that the government
monitored student e-mails and planted undercover agents at
least one protest.
But the Pentagon has not released all information on its
surveillance activities. The American Civil Liberties Union
recently filed a federal lawsuit to force the agency to turn
over additional records. The lawsuit charges that the Pentagon
is refusing to comply with Freedom of Information Act requests
seeking records on the ACLU, the American Friends Service
Committee, Greenpeace, Veterans for Peace and United for Peace
and Justice, as well as 26 local groups and activists.
Study: All Electronic Voting Machines Vulnerable
to Software Attacks
A major new report on electronic voting by the Brennan Center
for Justice has concluded that the three most common types
of electronic voting machines are all vulnerable to software
attacks. We speak with the chair of the Brennan Center Task
Force on Voting System Security. [includes rush
transcript]
With the mid-term elections less than five months away,
the battle over Congress is heating up across the country.
Will Democrats retake the House and Senate? Or will Republicans
retain control? Everything comes down to one day in November,
when millions of Americans cast their votes. But will your
vote really count? Consider this: A single person with technical
knowledge could alter the outcome of an election by tampering
with the software used by electronic voting machines.
That's one of the findings of a major new report
on electronic voting. The study conducted by the Brennan Center
for Justice concluded that the three most common types of
electronic voting machines are all vulnerable to software
attacks that could threaten the integrity of a state or national
election. The year-long study is considered the most comprehensive
ever done on electronic voting.
- Lawrence Norden, Associate Counsel with the Brennan
Center for Justice. For the past year he has led the
center's voting technology assessment project. He is the
lead author of their new report "The Machinery of Democracy:
Security, Accessibility, Usability, Cost."
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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