Global News Podcast: Fresh anti-judicial demonstrations in Israel

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Es ist nicht genug.

Die Abit des wichtigsten Monats in der Ukraine ist in der Kurze geäußert worden.

Wir haben nur das Studium gelobt, das zeigt, dass es einen Angriff in Antisemitismus gab, seit er es jährlich doppelt hat.

Das ist auch ein Angriff in den Antisemitischen Accounts, die auch Antisemitische Spezien haben.

Ein verletztes, erhöhtes Trend auf Twitter, seit Elon Musk baut es.

In diesem Podcast gibt es eine hohe Sicherheit hinter Indien.

Nach der Verwaltung von religiösen Prozessionen in anderen Teilen der Welt.

Und die BBC World Service Initiative, um die Kinder in Afghanistan zu educieren,

die von der Schule nach der Taliban ausgebildet werden.

Wir beginnen in Israel.

We are huge crowds, chanted democracy on the streets of Israel's biggest city, Tel Aviv.

Saturday evening's protest will have left the country's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

in little doubt about the strength of feeling among those who fear his proposals to reform the judiciary,

threatened the very roots of Israeli democracy.

I have the latest from our correspondent in Jerusalem, Joe Greenberg.

I'd say in Jerusalem there were several thousand, but news reports are saying that in Tel Aviv there were over 150,000

and there were tens of thousands in other locations around the country.

So I think in general we can say that the protests are continuing.

The mood in Jerusalem was basically keeping a watchful eye on the government.

The Prime Minister here put this judicial overhaul plan on hold to allow for talks with the opposition

for about a month until Parliament comes back from its recess, actually at the end of April.

But the mood at this demonstration was that they don't quite trust the government.

And this protest was being held outside the president's residence,

which is where these compromise talks are going on.

And the protesters were basically saying that they're keeping an eye on the government

and if the government picks up worthless thoughts, they're going to be in for more protest.

Because these protests have gone on for weeks already, haven't they?

Yes, this is actually the 13th consecutive Saturday night weekly protest around the country

since this whole campaign began.

And there was some speculation that after Prime Minister Netanyahu put this plan on hold,

the plan to weaken the Supreme Court and overhaul the judicial system,

that maybe the protests would wither away or there would be fewer people.

But it seems that the protesters feel that they need to continue being heard on the streets.

So the outcome will be one that they find acceptable.

And Joel, you live there. I mean, how is this feeding into everyday life in Israel?

Well, I think for many people it's unusual for such large protests to happen.

I mean, there really have been quite huge protests.

And what I see and hear from people I know and also in the press and reporting

is that a lot of people who normally would not go out to protest

are finding themselves going out on Saturday nights to take part in these demonstrations

because there's a widespread feeling among those people

that the very essence of the democratic system in Israel is under threat.

But this goes beyond just regular politics, right and left.

It's an attempt, as they see it, an attempt by the government to change the government system

in a way that will weaken the Supreme Court, weaken the court's oversight

over the government and parliament and change the nature of Israel as a democratic country.

So I think this has mobilized a lot more people than the usual political causes.

Joel Greenberg in Jerusalem.

Not for the first time religion has been drawn into Ukraine's war with Russia.

The Russian Orthodox Church has supported Moscow's invasion of its neighbour.

So it's vital for Kiev that the Ukrainian branch of Orthodox Christianity,

which once looked to Moscow, is seen as separate and loyal.

But President Zelensky's government is suspicious

and now the abbot from Ukraine's most important Orthodox monastery has appeared in court.

Metropolitan Pavel is accused of justifying Russia's armed aggression, a charge he denies.

During the day people gathered outside the monastery in Kiev.

A supporter of the abbot said he'd been falsely accused.

Today many lie, they slander them, they deceive.

We came to support them and express our position regarding this.

We are accused of being an agent of the Kremlin, accused of being Moscow supporters,

that we send money there and the like. Many lie.

But also there was this critic of the abbot.

Let's hope that the authorities will be able to imprison him

und bring him to justice for collaboration in spreading negative influence on people.

Let's hope he will just be kicked out and that's it.

I heard more from our correspondent in Kiev, Hugo Pachega.

Metropolitan Pavel, who is a senior cleric of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church,

he was arrested today, he's been detained.

And the Ukrainian security forces are accusing him of inciting religious hatred,

of justifying the invasion of Ukraine. These are allegations that he denies.

And the authorities are saying that they've gathered evidence from his public speeches,

also intercepted communications to support those accusations.

I think what's happening here, the heart of everything,

is that this is the church that had ties with the Russian Orthodox Church.

The church here in Ukraine broke those ties last year following the invasion of Ukraine.

The church in Moscow has been openly supporting the invasion here.

But the Ukrainians believe that some senior members of the church have continued to support Moscow.

So there has been dozens of clerics and high level officials being investigated.

Some of them have been charged with possible crimes related to those accusations.

The church denies those claims, but we're seeing today another development in this investigation.

And Hugo, how important is the Orthodox Church in life in Ukraine?

Well, it's very important. It's the most important religion here in Ukraine.

And I think what's happening now has exposed divisions among the Orthodox community here.

And it was earlier this week at the Lavra here, the monastery,

the most important Orthodox monastery here in the country.

It's back to the 11th Century.

And many believe, many followers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church believe

that they're being targeted by the government,

because the monks, the students, everybody who leaves there,

they've been told to evacuate the buildings.

Hugo Bochega.

Seven months ago in Iran, a young Kurdish woman, Masa Amini,

died after being arrested and accused of not wearing her headscarf or hijab correctly.

Her death sparked protests, which have only recently begun to die down.

Headscarves are back in the news, with the government announcing that it's determined

to enforce the wearing of the hijab for women, despite all the protests.

But as Param Gabbadi told us, the government is having trouble enforcing its will.

What we see is happening today in Iran is that many, many women in big cities like in Tehran

and in other major cities, they just walk around on the streets without headscarf and without hijab.

It's not only headscarf, it's also a kind of trenchcoat

that for four decades Iranian women had to wear in order to walk on the street.

So now we see especially younger women walking on the streets without any sort of hijab

and that has frustrated Iranian heartliners.

So Iranian regime is in a really difficult position

because they have this tiny margin of supporters that are heartliners

and these are the people who are willing to pick up arms and defend the regime.

Now they are extremely angry seeing women on the streets of Iran without wearing headscarf.

For example, a video surfaced social media yesterday and it went viral.

There are two young women just standing in a grocery shop

and an Iranian heartliner walks in and gets into a kind of argument with them

and picks up a bottle of yogurt and hits them in the head.

This has frustrated many Iranians.

Seen like that are extremely dangerous for Iranian regime as well

because protests started seven months ago and it went on for about six months.

So does Iranian regime really want another to start another wave of protests?

Iranian regime in the battle with young Iranian women has technically lost

and there is no sign that Iranian women are backing off to wear the headscarf again.

Param Gabbadi.

Security has been stepped up in parts of the eastern Indian state of Bihar

following tensions between Hindus and Muslims.

Vehicles and properties were damaged in clashes during religious processions

marking the Hindu festival of Ram Navami.

With more details, here's our South Asia editor and Barasen Etherajan.

Huge crowds have been marking the Hindu festival of Ram Navami

by waving saffron flags and swords and dancing to loud music

as they marched through cities and towns across India.

Some rallies were disrupted by groups of people throwing stones at each other

and setting fire to vehicles.

Muslims say that properties and places of worship were deliberately targeted by mobs

but Hindu right-wing groups have blamed the minority Muslims of triggering the violence.

Dozens of people have been arrested in the states of West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat.

Commentators say increasingly assertive religious processions

are creating new fault lines in India.

And Barasen Etherajan.

On Saturday Twitter removed the blue ticks used to verify many high profile accounts.

Some organisations like the BBC will be protected going forward

but many users will now be required to pay a subscription fee for a blue tick.

Twitter says the new system will help deal with false information and trolling.

Jerry Craig is from the Institute for a Strategic Dialogue,

a think tank that researches extremism and disinformation.

Amal Rajan asked her if she's persuaded by Elon Musk's explanation

about why this change is needed.

Absolutely not. We're not persuaded and we don't have any evidence

that these changes will make the problem of disinformation or automated accounts

or impersonation any better. In fact we have plenty of evidence that suggest it will make it worse.

Why?

In part because if you just imagine that the blue check mark is how people knew

that their information was trusted on Twitter.

Imagine taking that away all at once no less on April Fool's Day.

You imagine a scenario where people really aren't sure what they can trust

and you have a ton of evidence that impersonator accounts will increase

and that people will have to work extra hard to understand what they are understanding is true,

whether that's coming from the person it says it's coming from

and we already had a broken down trust environment when it came to our information online.

So for that reason and for a whole other reasons that have to do with what changes

we have made so far to, for example, giving data to researchers

so we can understand what's going on and other things like that.

We don't have much evidence that this is going to be a change for the better.

So what does Elon Musk say to your position?

In my opinion, most of what Elon Musk is saying is performative.

He would like to have people see his actions as great equalizing forces

but in reality that's not what is occurring.

If you look at the increases in say anti-Semitism

since he has taken over the platform in hate speech, it's pretty profound

and as we know he's gutted the trust and safety teams

that normally would deal with things like that.

So whatever he would say, it would be a bit of a performance

and we would have to work hard to figure out what actual actions were behind his speech.

Hang on, is that actually the case?

Is there evidence that there has been a growth in, for instance, anti-Semitism since he took over?

Yes, ISD and Kazim just published a study.

ISD being an Institute of Strategic Dialogue where you work?

Yes, exactly. We just published a study that showed

that there was an increase in anti-Semitism since he took over, it nearly doubled.

That's both an increase in the anti-Semitic accounts that have been created

but also anti-Semitic hate speech itself.

Most people aren't on Twitter, journalists are an awful lot

and it has this outsize influence on the media because a lot of journalists are on there.

For most people who aren't on Twitter and whose relationship with the news

is it something they dip into often quite passively.

How is this going to affect them, do you think?

Well, the information that we consume on and offline is really an ecosystem.

So each of these platforms inform the other and as you say

because journalists and what in public opinion research we would call opinion elite

or high news consumption individuals are on the platform,

it will inevitably affect the way we are seeing TV, we are hearing radio

because these journalists and these reporters are using Twitter in many cases

to inform what they're putting out there.

Now, that said, it's unfortunate that Elon Musk doesn't have much action

and truth behind what he's saying because it is the case that as you suggested,

journalists and sometimes opinionally are the people on Twitter

and it can sometimes be disconnected from where everyone else is getting their information.

However, his changes do not suggest that there will be any sort of increase in trust

or increase in transparency between the two audiences

or between the platform and its users.

So it's unfortunate that that equalizing won't be happening

because we could see and benefit from more information

reaching more people at any given time.

Jury Craig of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue.

Since the BBC was founded more than 100 years ago, its stated goal has been to inform,

educate and entertain.

With that in mind, the BBC World Service is launching a new programme

for teenage girls in Afghanistan who are banned by the Taliban from attending school.

It'll be available on BBC's Persian TV Channel, PASHTO and Dari Facebook pages

and on the radio, FM and shortwave.

Shazia Hayer is one of the presenters.

A telephone call from Afghanistan.

I'm 14 years old and I'm banned from going to school.

Every morning I go to the rooftop of our home to watch the primary school girls going to school.

I stay there until midday when they finish and I cry.

I miss learning new things.

Since the Taliban took power in August 2021,

Afghan girls beyond primary school have been kept out of the classroom.

The Taliban says its ban on girls going to school is only temporary.

For those not able to go to class, the BBC is offering a new way for them to keep up their studies

with the launch of a new educational programme on TV and radio.

I'm now opening the studio store.

Most of the time a BBC uses this studio to produce news content.

We temporarily change it to make it look like a school library or a school classroom.

The programme is called DARS, meaning Lesson in Dari and PASHTO.

The two most widely spoken languages in Afghanistan.

The show will teach English.

My name is Phil.

My name is Alia Farzon.

My father was a teacher before he was killed in a suicide bomb attack.

Actually he wanted me to be a journalist, but I wanted to be a teacher.

And follow my father's step.

So by joining in this programme, I think that I have fulfilled both my father's dream and also my own dream.

Like the other presenters, she was evacuated from Afghanistan to the UK after the Taliban took over in 2021.

But she stays in close touch with those back home.

I speak to Afghan girls every day. They cannot seek education anymore.

So by doing this programme, I think that I can help those people.

Whether on TV, online or listening on the BBC Afghan Service Radio,

for those unable to go to school, classes will now come to them at home.

Shazia Haya.

Still to come, Dungeons and Dragons, a game, a film and even therapy.

There seems to be some magic when we give a client a character sheet and they get to role play as their character.

They have that little bit of distance and that seems to just really create this space.

For a few short years at the end of the 1950s, Syria and Egypt joined together to form the United Arab Republic.

The capitals were separated by a thousand kilometres and the state of Israel.

But all that seemed a minor matter at what was arguably the high watermark of Arab nationalism.

More recently, relations have been much frostier, especially since the start of the war.

In 2011. But on Saturday came significant signs of a thaw, as the two countries foreign ministers met for talks in Cairo.

I asked our Arab Affairs Analyst, Sebastian Usher, why now?

This has been something that's been building momentum and it's particularly built up since the terrible tragedy that happened in February,

the earthquake that hit Turkey and of course the north of Syria as well.

People who are unchained by the war.

The tragedy that happened in February, the earthquake that hit Turkey and of course the north of Syria as well.

People who are uncharitable understandably about the motives of President Assad's regime would say that they are using this as a way of getting more leverage with other Arab states.

There has been a flurry of trips.

President Assad, who at one time didn't leave Damascus for years and years.

Now he started to do that more recently, but we've seen them make two trips since the earthquake.

One of his wife, Asma, to Abu Dhabi Wave, he was warmly greeted by the leader of Abu Dhabi,

who basically said that it was time to end Syria's isolation.

Egypt is obviously showing that it is with this.

The aim of it is to bring Syria back out of isolation,

but also one day, I suppose, to bring it back into the Arab League, from which it was kicked out in 2011.

Do we know what was specifically on the agenda in this meeting?

I think it's more the fact that you saw the warm embrace between the two foreign ministers as the Syrian foreign minister arrived.

You saw just a sense that this is normal diplomacy that's going on.

So of course they discuss for usual things, security, mutual interest,

but nothing is going to come out of that right now that is going to shift the dial particularly.

I mean, there are demands from both sides.

Those demands that it appears have come from the Arab side, particularly spearheaded by the Gulf, are quite strong ones.

They want Syria to move away from the axis of Iran.

They want Syria to stop this incredible rise in drug production,

particularly Captigan, a form of amphetamine, that's very popular in the Gulf.

They want to do far more about that and even want potentially to put Arab forces there,

rather than any other, to try and ensure that the peace such as it is lasts

and to get the three million or so Syrians who've left beginning to return in a safe way.

None of which President Assad is likely to do in the short term.

But this is real politic.

At one point Arab states took a principled stand.

They felt that President Assad had committed terrible crimes against his people.

That's gone really, he's no longer a pariah there.

And the other element of this is not just how it's moving in the Arab world,

but will this affect how the US looks at this in the West.

The more the Arab countries and the most important ones, Saudis, the UAE, Egypt,

cozy up to President Assad again, the more difficult it's going to be for the US to continue down that path.

Sebastian Usher.

Pope Francis has been discharged from hospital after treatment for a respiratory condition.

He says he'll take part in Palm Sunday's Mass at the Vatican. Jenny Hill reports from Rome.

A smiling Pope Francis leaned on a stick as he greeted wellwishers outside the Gemelli Hospital.

He's been here since Wednesday receiving antibiotic treatment for bronchitis.

The Vatican said he'd resumed some work duties while still in hospital

and had baptised a newborn baby, as well as sharing a pizza dinner with some of the doctors and nurses.

Outside the clinic, the Pope also comforted a couple who'd lost their child overnight

and signed the plaster cast of a young boy.

He appeared relaxed, telling reporters that he hadn't been frightened and quipped,

I'm still alive.

Jenny Hill.

New York is preparing itself for a media circus only Donald Trump could provoke.

When he was US President, the news was certainly never dull

and his expected appearance in court on Tuesday will make headlines around the world.

We know he faces criminal charges and it's widely expected some relate to hush money

paid to the porn star Stormy Daniels.

Mr Trump denies any wrongdoing.

So, what's the mood in New York and how have his supporters reacted?

John Sudworth sent us this report from outside Trump Tower.

Do you think God doesn't see this?

Protest, protest, protest.

Donald Trump urged his supporters a week or so ago.

But now that the indictment is official, here outside Trump Tower,

there's just one lonely solitary protester holding up a handmade sign written in Bayreau.

What does your sign say?

Witch hunt.

There's no law that Trump broke.

There's no law.

What are you holding in that hand?

A King James Bible.

I know it sounds cheesy, but I am here because God sent me.

Why hasn't he sent anybody else though?

Because God likes the foolish things.

While President Joe Biden refused to answer questions about the case,

the Republican Party has rallied around Donald Trump.

Even some of those who may end up fighting him for the next presidential nomination,

like his former Vice President, Mike Pence.

Well, first let me just say, I think the unprecedented indictment of a former President

of the United States for a campaign finance issue is an outrage.

And I think it's clear to the overwhelming majority of the American people

that this is nothing short of a political prosecution.

The people of New York versus Donald J. Trump.

Who details about the historic indictment of Trump?

What we have just learned in the indictment.

Beyond the maid for TV spectacle of the first formal arrest of a former commander-in-chief,

the longer term political impact is uncertain.

It may rally his base, of course.

But so far, outside Trump Tower, it's still quiet.

There is a man doing Trump impressions.

So, I'm the only Donald Trump impersonator that does mine.

You mime Trump?

He points a lot, he does this.

The sort of okay sign?

That's the okay sign. This is a thumbs up sign.

You're now being indicted.

Well, not me. He is an octet of truth.

It's great publicity for me. I make him more money.

Because, first of all, the indictment is however you want to look at it,

if you're political or not, it's great press for him.

And it's great press for me. So, I can't complain.

For some supporters, the evidence surrounding the payment of hush money

to a porn star known as Stormy Daniels may have the opposite effect.

Here's Professor Stephen Gillers from the New York University School of Law.

People who may think that the whole thing's political now

can begin to shift in their views as evidence emerges during a trial.

Remember, people are now speaking about the legitimacy of this indictment

before knowing what's in it.

It may of course be only the first of a number of cases Trump ends up facing.

These are uncharted waters for a man long used to defying the normal rules

and a real test for America's institutions too.

John Sudworth.

One of the world's leading human rights organizations, Human Rights Watch,

has a new leader.

She's 48-year-old Tarana Hassan, a lawyer and long-standing human rights investigator.

Her apartment to the post marks a generational shift for the organization,

founded in 1978 and led for the past three decades by Kenneth Roth.

Tarana Hassan spoke to Paul Henley about her career leading up to this point,

beginning in Adelaide in her adoptive country Australia,

when she was a final year law student and founded a group to represent refugees.

One day the lawyer I was working with had received a report of a fire

in the middle of the Australian desert.

When he went out there, he found over a thousand refugees and asylum seekers

who had been locked away, 600 kilometers away from the nearest big city,

with no access to legal representation, living in pretty squalid situations.

And these were people who had fled from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

And it was from there that we realized that Australia was trying to essentially hide these refugees,

which they had picked up, who had arrived by boat and had detained them.

So that was my first very into not only working with refugees,

but the very cruel policy that Australia was implementing at the time.

And how important do you think your background and your upbringing

has been to bringing you to where you are now?

It shaped my view of the world.

I am half Pakistani quarter Sri Lankan, quarter Chinese,

born in Singapore with this thick Australian accent.

And the Australian accent is somewhat of an accident.

My father was an academic and he wrote a book about Singapore's housing policy.

My father then came under the ire of the Singapore government

and my parents had friends who were being picked up and being accused of various things.

And they knew that my father was probably going to be next.

And so they decided it would be better for us to leave.

And so we went to Australia.

And it's not that we sat around the dinner table

having conversations about this saying this was a human rights issue.

And my mother is half Sri Lankan.

And so when the war in Sri Lanka happened, we knew that we have relatives there.

Again, we didn't frame it as a human rights challenge.

But I grew up with this constant understanding

that there is power in the world and that power can be misused.

And the people who bear the brunt of that are people like you and me.

I knew the importance also of what it meant

when people stood up against that power,

when people supported those in need.

That must have led me down this path.

And as leader of a globally important organisation,

you are a woman of colour from the global south.

That's got to be progress.

I am all of those things.

I'm a woman of colour who's had many years experience in the human rights sector

and working in conflict and crisis.

I think that that has equipped me well to be able to understand what we do in a way

that I hope will be able to support our staff who are out there

in 100 Countries around the world documenting abuses as they happen.

So I think it's great to see that there is spaces for women particularly,

but for all of those people with lived experience

to be able to bring that to the table with the people that we work with,

the survivors, the victims, the communities,

but also the wider human rights movement.

So it's an exciting moment in time.

Lawyer and long-standing human rights investigator Tirana Hassan.

It's a role-playing storytelling game

that for years was looked down on as nerdy,

but now it's having a moment, popularised in a Netflix series

and at last made into a big Hollywood film,

complete with cool actors and startling action.

But the textbook arc of success that Dungeons and Dragons is enjoying

has sprouted an unlikely addition.

It's now also being used in Therapy.

Terry Egan has this report.

Here's the thing, we're a team of thieves.

And when you do this, you're bound to make enemies.

And excerpt from the trailer for Honor Among Thieves,

a film based on the Dungeons and Dragons game that was released on Friday.

Dungeons and Dragons, or D&D, is a role-play game

that more than 50 million people are estimated to have participated in

since it was created in 1975.

During the game you can choose to be different characters

and are confronted with challenges, forcing you to make decisions.

And that is where Therapy comes into play,

combining fun and learning, the fantasy role-playing

is being used as a form of treatment.

One of the therapists is Dr. Megan Connell,

a psychologist in Charlotte, North Carolina,

and the author of a book, Tabletop Role-playing Therapy,

a guide for the clinician Game Master.

Role-playing is nothing new for therapy.

We've been using role-playing for decades now.

But there's always this hesitation for people to role-play

because they're role-playing themselves.

And there seems to be some magic when we give a client a character sheet

and they get to role-play as their character.

And so they have that little bit of distance

and that seems to just really create this space

where people can learn and thrive in what they're doing.

Therapeutic D&D is a burgeoning field.

One Seattle-based psychologist uses the game

to teach social skills to children on the autism spectrum.

And while advocates maintain that no cinematic depiction

of their world could compete with their imaginations,

that's the very strength of this type of therapy.

Especially with people who have trouble sticking up for themselves

or saying no, for instance.

Yes, learning to be brave in the game,

they can then learn to be brave in real life.

I wonder if he's a fan.

That's Terry Egan there on Dungeons & Dragons.

And that's it from us for now,

und wir sehen uns bald wieder.

Untertitel im Auftrag des ZDF, 2021

Machine-generated transcript that may contain inaccuracies.