Our guests today on Forthright Radio are two journalists from the non-profit on-line news organization, The Intercept, Jon Schwartz and Elise Swain.

We watched in horror on October 7, 2023 as Hamas gunmen launched surprise attacks on Israeli military and civilian targets along the Gaza border during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah. It came 50 years and a day after Egyptian and Syrian forces launched an assault during Yom Kippur to retrieve territory Israel had taken during the conflict in 1967. The New York Times reports that there were about 1,200 deaths, including 766 Israeli civilians, 36 of them children, and 373 members of the security forces, plus approximately 250 Israeli civilians and soldiers taken hostage, including 30 children. The attack is considered the bloodiest day in Israel’s modern history, and the deadliest for Jews since the Holocaust.

In response, The Israeli Defense Forces launched and sustained brutal retaliatory bombings and near total restrictions on water, food, fuel and other necessities for life, vowing to continue til Hamas has been destroyed. As of January 11, 2024, more than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, the overwhelming majority of them women and children. Unknown numbers of others remain buried beneath the rubble of the obliterated homes, hospitals, mosques, schools, churches, and other crucial infrastructure.

International efforts for a cease fire have been thwarted by the US Government in the United Nations, even as President Biden has gone around Congress to send more US weapons to Israel.

Meanwhile, South Africa has brought a case to the International Court of Justice, accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza. In the United States and around the world, huge demonstrations continue to occur in support of g an immediate and sustained cease-fire. Many of these demonstrations are organized by Jewish peace groups, such as Jewish Voice for Peace, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, Rabbis for Ceasefire.

These things and much more, leave me uncharacteristically unable to process the emotions that arise. The horror, the knowledge that through my government, without whom this could not and would not continue, I am complicit, my feelings of helplessness to affect change. So, the piece that Jon Schwartz and Elise Swain published on The Intercept on Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas! We All Belong in the Hague, spoke to me and moved me to invite them to Forthright Radio.

Elise Swain is Photo Editor of The Intercept. Prior to this role, she was an associate producer for the Intercepted podcast, while working across various mediums for The Intercept, including writing, photography, video, illustration, and audio. Before joining The Intercept, she worked as a freelance artist and has a BFA in photo and video from the School of Visual Arts. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.

Before joining First Look Media, Jon Schwarz worked for Michael Moore’s Dog Eat Dog Films and was a research producer for Moore’s “Capitalism: A Love Story.” He’s contributed to many publications, including the New Yorker, the New York Times, The Atlantic, the Wall Street Journal, Mother Jones, and Slate, as well as NPR and “Saturday Night Live.” In 2003, he collected on a $1,000 bet that Iraq would have no weapons of mass destruction.

We are especially grateful to David Rovics for permission to include songs from his recent collection, NOTES FROM A HOLOCAUST IN STANDARD TUNING, in the web post of this edition of Forthright Radio. You can find more of his songs here: https://soundcloud.com/davidrovics/sets/gaza

The heading photo is of an American flag flying behind barbed wire and fencing at Guantanamo Bay on June 27, 2023 by Elise Swain. Used with permission.

Articles pertinent to this interview:

Merry Christmas! We All Belong in Prison at The Hague. https://theintercept.com/2023/12/24/merry-christmas-war-crimes/

I Calculated How Much of My Money the U.S. Sent to Kill Palestinians. You Can Too. https://theintercept.com/2023/12/28/israel-us-taxes-gaza-war/

‘Truly Shocking’: Daily Gaza Death Rate Shatters That of All Other 21st Century Wars – Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza have also killed more than 10,000 children in nearly 100 days, or 1% of the 1.1 million children in the besieged enclave. https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-death-rate-21st-century?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=9e70fea354-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_01_12_no_tracking&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-77b634d84f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Ralph Nader on Gaza Ceasefire & Why Suppression of Palestine Advocacy Is the Real Problem on Campus http://democracynow.org/2024/1/5/ralph_nader_on_stopping_gaza_war

White House Faces Calls to Stop Ex-Guantánamo Detainee’s Forced Return to Russia https://theintercept.com/2023/10/03/guantanamo-bay-russia-uae-ravil-mingazov/

What Prison? Censorship Has Never Been Worse at Guantánamo Bay https://theintercept.com/2023/08/27/guantanamo-bay-photo-essay/

Released Guantánamo Detainees Are Still Being Denied Human Rights, U.N. Report Warns https://theintercept.com/2023/06/27/guantanamo-bay-kazakhstan-former-detainees/

Merry Christmas! We’re All Being Murdered by Capitalism. https://theintercept.com/2022/12/24/christmas-capitalism-covid-climate-change/

Merry Christmas, America! Let’s Remember the Children Who Live in Fear of Our Killer Drones. https://theintercept.com/2019/12/25/merry-christmas-us-drone-strikes/

Stakes high as South Africa brings claim of genocidal intent against Israel https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/04/stakes-high-as-south-africa-brings-claim-of-genocidal-intent-against-israel#:~:text=South%20Africa’s%20request%20for%20an,seemed%20implausible%20a%20fortnight%20ago.

Inside Israel’s plan to quash South Africa’s Gaza genocide case https://www.axios.com/2024/01/05/south-africa-gaza-genocide-icj-israel-plan

Israel Is Terrified the World Court Will Decide It’s Committing Genocide https://truthout.org/articles/israel-is-terrified-the-world-court-will-decide-its-committing-genocide/?utm_source=Truthout&utm_campaign=be70a0a56d-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_11_16_08_07_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-046450dcb0-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Samantha Power Calls on Samantha Power to Resign Over Gaza https://theintercept.com/2023/12/15/samantha-power-israel-gaza-genocide/

The Gaza Protests Can Save Lives — Maybe Even Your Own https://theintercept.com/2023/11/03/gaza-protest-war/

How Biden’s State Department Conceals Its “Human Rights Black Hole” in the Middle East https://theintercept.com/2023/12/12/universal-declaration-of-human-rights-state-department/

On Top of Everything Else, Henry Kissinger Prevented Peace in the Middle East https://theintercept.com/2023/11/30/henry-kissinger-israel-egypt-soviet-union/

Hillary Clinton Is Lying About the History Between Hamas and Israel https://theintercept.com/2023/11/17/hillary-clinton-hamas-israel/

GOP and Dems Unite to Smear Gaza Ceasefire Supporters as “Pro-Hamas” https://theintercept.com/2023/11/09/republican-debate-hamas-gaza-ceasefire/

Hamas Attack Provides “Rare Opportunity” to Cleanse Gaza, Israeli Think Tank Says https://theintercept.com/2023/10/25/israel-hamas-opportunity/

The U.N. Is Powerless to Help Gaza. That’s How the U.S. Wants It. https://theintercept.com/2023/10/21/security-council-veto-united-nations/

Yes, This Is Israel’s 9/11 Both the U.S. and Israel were stunned to experience the ultraviolence they mete out to others. https://theintercept.com/2023/10/09/israel-hamas-september-11/

America Must Face Up to Israel’s Extremism https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/05/opinion/israel-gaza-displacement.html

Arno J. Mayer, Unorthodox Historian of Europe’s Crises, Dies at 97 https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/world/europe/arno-j-mayer-dead.html

Obituaries for Nuremberg Prosecutor Erase His Beliefs About the U.S. https://theintercept.com/2023/04/12/ben-ferencz-obituary-iraq-war/

‘Eradication of Journalism in Gaza’ Continues as Israel Kills Two More Reporters https://www.commondreams.org/news/assassination-gaza-journalists?utm_source=Common+Dreams&utm_campaign=23c34fceb9-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_01_01_09_14_COPY_02&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-77b634d84f-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D

Jon Stewart for Celebrity President. This Is Not a Joke! https://theintercept.com/2023/12/06/jon-stewart-for-president/

My Holiday Wish: Jon Stewart Runs for President https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/my-holiday-wish-jon-stewart-runs-for-president/