Contributing Writers

In “mourning and honor” of Palestinians killed in Gaza, the city of Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, has announced the cancellation of traditional Christmas festivities. In Bethlehem, we’re joined by the president of Dar al-Kalima University, Reverend Mitri Raheb. Reverend Raheb relates the story of Jesus, a refugee whose mother had no place to safely give birth, to the plight of displaced Gazans facing a dearth of medical care.

As the 2024 presidential election campaign heats up, Republican front-runner Donald Trump is escalating his racist rhetoric, repeatedly saying in recent days that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country,” drawing comparisons to Hitler. Journalist Jeff Sharlet says, “Even more important than the substance is the spectacle, the drama, that makes him the exciting and, in fascist terms, the man of action.

In a historic decision, the Colorado State Supreme Court has ruled 4-3 to bar Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 presidential primary ballot because his actions during the January 6 insurrection violated the 14th Amendment. Trump has vowed to appeal the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, where conservatives hold a 6-3 majority.

President Joe Biden has called the over 20,000 Palestinian deaths from 75 days of Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip “tragic,” while Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Israel’s military will be expected to shift to a “lower-intensity phase” of its assault on the territory. Phyllis Bennis, author and fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, says Biden must move from protecting and funding Israel’s war crimes to holding Israel accountable.

A new investigation reveals Israel launched its military campaign of relentless airstrikes, which has killed nearly 1% of the population of Gaza, with little intelligence about where hostages taken by Hamas were being held. Jerusalem-based journalist Yuval Abraham reports the military decided hostages were “just not a priority,” their safety “relegated in favor of carrying out this bombing campaign.

Israel is deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel in Gaza, prompting Human Rights Watch to accuse the occupation of utilizing starvation as a weapon of war.

As Senate leaders say President Biden will have to wait until next year to negotiate a deal with Republicans on immigration as part of an emergency funding package, the leading GOP presidential candidate doubled down on his hateful comments about immigrants that echoed Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

As international outrage grows over Israeli attacks on churches in Gaza, we speak with Philip Farah, co-founder of the Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace. Israeli snipers shot dead an elderly woman and her adult daughter at the Holy Family Parish, a Catholic church, on Sunday. Pope Francis denounced the killings as “terrorism.

Historian Rashid Khalidi discusses the pending United Nations Security Council vote on suspending fighting in Gaza to allow the entry of humanitarian aid, and the future of Palestine. The Biden administration reportedly delayed the U.N. vote and pushed other countries to water down the language. This comes as Israel and Hamas leaders have signaled they are open to another truce and hostage exchange.

Israel is deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel in Gaza, prompting Human Rights Watch to accuse the occupation of utilizing starvation as a weapon of war.

In Part 2 of our interview with Fadi Abu Shammalah, the head of Gaza’s General Union of Cultural Centers, he describes how his three children were finally able to flee to Cairo this morning. He is now working to secure safe passage for more than a dozen family members still stuck behind the blockade. “The international community are silent. And a lot of them are supporting it,” Abu Shammalah says.

As the Biden administration faces accusations of being too slow to help Palestinian Americans and their families trapped in Gaza, we speak with Narmin Abushaban in Detroit whose mother died from lack of medical care while waiting to leave Gaza. She is working now to rescue the rest of her family members. This comes as calls grow for the U.S. to grant temporary protected status (TPS) to Palestinians already in the United States.