• Israel spent the last few days engulfed in mass protests and paralyzed by a national strike after the bodies of six hostages, including an American Israeli, were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza this weekend. But despite national outcry for a ceasefire, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seemed to double down on his terms for a deal with Hamas during a press conference Monday night.
• While the war in Gaza captured most of the headlines this weekend, Russia’s war in Ukraine is showing no signs of letting up either. On Monday, Russia fired a barrage of missiles and drone attacks on the capital city of Kyiv, while President Volodymyr Zelensky conceded that Ukrainian forces holding territory in Russia had not yet managed to divert troops away from the frontlines of the war in the country’s east. Kateryna Hodunova, a journalist at the Kyiv Independent, explains where things stand in Ukraine after two and a half years of war.
• And in headlines: Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden held their first joint campaign event in Philadelphia to promote their support for unions, Brazil’s Supreme Court upheld a decision to ban X in the country, and Italian Paralympic runner Valentina Petrillo became the first openly transgender woman to run in the games.

Show Notes:

• Check out Kateryna’s stories – https://tinyurl.com/3yztjcej
• Subscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8
• What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcast

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TRANSCRIPT

Josie Duffy Rice: It’s Tuesday, September 3rd. I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And I’m Tre’vell Anderson and this is What a Day, the show where we’re wondering if Lara Trump’s appointment to RNC co-chair was actually just a way to promote her singing career. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Yeah, she released a music video for her song Hero that honors firefighters. I’m not sure what genre of music this falls into. Is it like AMAGAcana? [laughter] Like Americana? You get it? 

Tre’vell Anderson: No no no no no no. [music break]

Josie Duffy Rice: On today’s show, Brazilians flocked to a new social media platform after X was banned from the country over the weekend. Plus, a far right party won a regional election in Germany for the first time since Nazi rule. 

Tre’vell Anderson: But first, Israel spent the last few days engulfed in mass protests and paralyzed by a national strike after the bodies of six hostages were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza this weekend. Hundreds of thousands of Israelis flooded the streets both Sunday and Monday in the largest anti-government demonstrations since Hamas’s attack on October 7th, and many hospitals, schools and banks closed their doors Monday. The goal was to pressure Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into securing a ceasefire with Hamas and the return of the roughly 100 hostages the government says are still being held in Gaza. Israel’s military said the six hostages had been executed by Hamas in the days just before they were found, not far from where another hostage had been rescued alive earlier in the week. A spokesperson for Hamas claimed the hostages had been killed by the Israeli military, but provided no evidence to back that up. In a statement Monday, the group said more hostages would return, quote, “inside coffins” if Israel tries to free them by military force. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Among those recovered from the Gaza tunnels was Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The 23 year old American Israeli was captured by Hamas at a music festival on October 7th and lost part of his arm during the attack. His parents spoke during last month’s Democratic National Convention, and have been outspoken advocates for a ceasefire in the war. During his funeral on Monday, Goldberg-Polin’s father, Jon Polin, said he hoped his son’s death would help bring home the remaining hostages. 

[clip of Jon Polin] Hersh, we failed you. We all failed you. You would not have failed you. You would have pushed harder for justice. You would have worked to understand the other, to bridge differences. You would have challenged more people to challenge their thinking. And what you would be pushing for now is to ensure that your death, the deaths of all the soldiers and so many innocent civilians are not mi’shav, not in vain. 

Tre’vell Anderson: But the mounting outrage in Israel did not seem to move Netanyahu any closer to compromise. On Monday, during his first press conference since the news of the hostages broke, Netanyahu essentially refused to budge on his terms for a ceasefire deal. 

[clip of Benjamin Netanyahu] [clip of Netanyahu speaking in Hebrew] What kind of a message does this send to Hamas? What kind of a message does this send? Murder hotages and get concessions in return? 

Tre’vell Anderson: Netanyahu asked the families of the deceased hostages for forgiveness, but said their outrage should be directed toward Hamas. Netanyahu also refused to drop one of his newest and most contentious demands in the ongoing cease fire negotiations, the continued occupation of a strip of land in Gaza along the Egyptian border known as the Philadelphi corridor. He also vowed that Israel would, quote, “exact a heavy price from Hamas” for the deaths of the hostages. 

Josie Duffy Rice: But as Israel’s war with Hamas nears its 11th month, the conditions in Gaza keep deteriorating. Gaza’s health ministry says more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, and nearly all of the region’s two million residents have been displaced multiple times because of Israel’s ongoing bombardment. A campaign to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of children against polio kicked off Sunday in central Gaza, as fears over the disease’s spread mount. The international community is growing increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu’s intransigence too. The United Kingdom said Monday it would suspend some arms exports to Israel due to a quote, “clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law.” And when asked by reporters Monday if Netanyahu was doing enough to work towards a ceasefire, President Joe Biden was blunt in his assessment. 

[clip of unnamed news reporter] Mr. President, do you think it’s time for Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more on this issue? Do you think he’s doing enough? 

[clip of President Joe Biden] No. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Biden also said the US government is, quote, “very close” to presenting a final ceasefire deal to both sides. He and Vice President Kamala Harris met with their national security team Monday to talk about next steps. Multiple outlets reported that the U.S. could extend its, quote, “take it or leave it” deal as soon as this week. But it’s not clear what would happen if the latest version of the deal falls apart. Nor is it clear what affect the deaths of the hostages will have on the negotiations. 

Josie Duffy Rice: While Israel’s war in Gaza captured most of the headlines this weekend, Russia’s war in Ukraine is also showing no signs of letting up after roughly two and a half years of fighting. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Yeah. On Monday, children across Ukraine were scheduled to return to school after years of remote learning due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the ongoing war. But in Kyiv, some schools that were supposed to have in-person classes had to cancel last minute as a result of Russian missile and drone attacks that struck the Ukrainian capital early Monday. Ukrainian officials said that at least three people were injured and two school buildings were damaged during the attacks. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Also on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he does not think Ukraine’s weeks long offensive into Russia’s Kursk region will succeed and that Ukraine will be forced to negotiate an end to the war soon. Now, obviously, Putin has his own motives for saying that. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials have admitted that their forces in Kursk have not accomplished their goal of drawing Russian troops away from Ukraine’s eastern front lines. To better understand what’s happening in Ukraine and the war against Russia, I spoke with Kateryna Hodunova. She’s a journalist at the Kyiv Independent, an English language media outlet based in Ukraine. And she spoke with me late on Monday night from Kyiv and started by telling me about Russia’s latest attacks on the city. 

Kateryna Hodunova: In Ukraine, it is the first day of school and for instance, I woke up today around 5 a.m. in the morning and a lot of kids, uh they started their preparation at around, for example, six or seven a.m. to go to school. At five a.m. you’re waking up because of loud explosions and just not far away from your home. So yeah, I’m as an adult, it’s not really simple for me to comprehend everything, but you know, for kids it’s more devastating and difficult to deal with, especially when it’s your first day of school. I just couldn’t imagine. But talking about, again about recent damage of this attack, as far as I know, one of our universities uh, was destroyed in the [?] district of Kyiv. It’s not far away from the center, actually. And also a mosque. As far as I know, there are only two mosques in Kyiv, and one of them was destroyed. Like damage was not really big but still, I know that people who usually attend this mosque, they were praying like outside this time. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I heard you say that it was the first day of school uh for Ukrainian children. Was school canceled entirely for the day?

Kateryna Hodunova: No, I saw a lot of posts from my um colleagues, friends, and I liked really one, um from my colleague from my previous job. His son he’s, like, maybe 12 years old, and he woke up in the morning again after this attack, and he told his dad, like, we are going to school because we need to show Russians we are unstoppable, you know, there is no way that I’m skipping school my first day of school this year. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So we’re now about a month into Ukraine’s incursion into the Russia’s Kursk region. Can you tell us what is the latest on that front? 

Kateryna Hodunova: So the latest news are not pretty good, I would say, because maybe you’ve heard about the Ukraine 2024 Independence Forum in Kyiv, that took place recently. And Oleksandr Syrski, Ukraine’s commander in chief, he also was speaking there remotely, obviously. And he said that also was kind of a surprise for a lot of journalists. He says that, yeah, one of the main targets, the goals of this uh surprise incursion to Kursk was to force Russia to redeploy its forces from the eastern part of the frontline, from the Donetsk direction. And actually, this plan failed. And like, Syrski said it like, literally. So this war, you know, is personal for me because, for example, my stepfather, he’s serving um actually in the Donetsk direction, not far away from the city of Pokrovsk and the city of Pokrovsk has been the main target for Russia for like um several months so far. And, you know, when I realized this Ukrainian army is in Russia’s [?] like, just one more morning, I woke up and I just heard the news. So it was difficult to comprehend for myself. Because you know why we are redeploying our forces to Russia’s territory when we have so many troubles in Donetsk Oblast. And Syrski just confirmed my worst uh thoughts about it, that, okay, it was a plan, but it failed. And uh, from my point of view. Um. I’m not a military expert or I’m not a representative of Ukraine’s military. But still, Russia has a huge army. It’s not a surprise. So it’s not like an unknown fact or something. And the Donetsk direction was its main target for so much time. And obviously they were trying to capture Pokrovsk and other settlements there, and they won’t, like, redeploy their forces after advancing so far this summer. And actually, it seems to me, that this surprise Kursk incursion, it has shifted things a bit like I see on the news that more and more Ukrainian allies, for example, in the United Kingdom, they’re reconsidering their decision on uh allowing Ukraine to use long range weapons. In this case, it’s uh storm shadow missiles. So maybe Ukraine right now is like, in more winning positions than it was before the Kursk uh incursion. But again, maybe politically we are, but not on the battlefield. 

Josie Duffy Rice: So Putin says that he thinks Ukraine has to come to the negotiating table soon. It’s not the first time he’s said that. What do you think when you hear that? And do you think that’s something that President Zelenskyy is considering? 

Kateryna Hodunova: You know, it’s kind of tricky question, because it seems to me that at this point of war, maybe negotiations actually could be considered from one side or another. I do not really feel like everything that Putin says is trustworthy, obviously, because, for example, some days ago, he said, like, negotiations with Ukraine are not considered anymore. And today, as far as I remember, he said something, absolutely opposite. So, yeah, I won’t like, listen to him, especially on the topic of, negotiations. But at some point, maybe and Ukraine and Russia, they will negotiate. But of course, for Ukraine there must be like some terms to be fulfilled. First of all, Ukraine’s government want to get back the territories, at least, like in Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast. Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, occupied Crimea and I think it’s quite fair. But I am definitely not sure that Russia uh will accept this terms. So I don’t really feel there is a place for negotiations right there, especially listening to Zelensky and his team and his demands from Russia. And maybe, maybe it seems to me that it will be a great, like a defeat for Ukraine and Zelensky team, that if they accept to go for negotiations with Russia without getting the territories back. 

Josie Duffy Rice: How do you think Ukrainian leaders and the Ukrainian public more broadly, thinking about what a victory for Donald Trump would mean in this U.S. election? Is that something that is a major topic of conversation, or that people seem to be thinking a lot about? You know, how are you thinking about it? How is the government thinking about it? 

Kateryna Hodunova: Recently, when my colleagues, tried to approach someone from Ukraine’s government and ask a question about uh Trump’s potential win. There were like, answers of we will work with any American government that we will face, like, you know, so it doesn’t matter. Is it Democrats or Republicans? Of course they won’t say something that would terrify [laugh] Ukrainian society. I feel like a lot of people are worrying in Ukraine about uh Trump winning elections. And most Ukrainians they feel like at some point maybe we just feel that it doesn’t matter. [laugh] It’s like we have some other alliances in Europe. And when, for example, the US aid was delayed, European partners of Ukraine, they actually helped a lot. And for example, Czech Republic launched, this I guess, ring of shells. Artillery shells for Ukraine was a pretty good move. On the other hand, we feel like without U.S. aid, it will be quite challenging for Ukraine and European, partners to get through this war. Because our one of the main donors, I would say. Yeah, it’s obviously the U.S. Maybe in inner circles, it’s the main topic of the conversation. But publicly, Ukrainian government doesn’t show their worryings about Trump like we have to work with who will win. And that’s it. 

Josie Duffy Rice: That was my conversation with Kateryna Hodunova, a journalist at the Kyiv Independent, and that is the latest for now. We will get to some headlines in a moment. But if you like our show, make sure to subscribe and share with your friends. [music break]

[AD BREAK]

Josie Duffy Rice: Let’s get to some headlines. 

[sung] Headlines. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Vice President Harris and President Biden hosted a campaign event in Pennsylvania on Monday, marking their first joint campaign event since Harris became the Democratic nominee. The two appeared at Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade to emphasize their support for unions and worker’s rights. The pair delivered remarks at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Union hall, where Biden spoke about how Harris will continue to carry out their administration’s pro-union agenda as president. Take a listen.

[clip of President Joe Biden] Kamala believes as I do. Unions are the spine of this economy. 

[clip of unnamed speaker in crowd] That’s right. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] She’ll be a historic, pro-union president. 

[clip of unnamed speaker in crowd 2] Yeah. 

[clip of President Joe Biden] So, folks, I got one more job to do together. Let me ask you, are you ready to fight? 

Josie Duffy Rice: Harris also took shots at former President Donald Trump’s anti-union policies. 

[clip of Vice President Kamala Harris] Remember, as President Donald Trump blocked overtime benefits for millions of workers. [crowd booing] He opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage. [crowd boos] As the president said, he appointed union busters to the National Labor Relations Board. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Monday’s stop in Pittsburgh is part of the Harris campaign’s tour of battleground states leading up to the election. Harris also stopped in Detroit earlier in the day with her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, to meet with local union leaders. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Brazil’s Supreme Court doubled down on its decision to ban X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday, after the country blocked the social media platform over the weekend. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ruled earlier this year that access to the platform must be suspended if X owner, Elon Musk, does not comply with Brazil’s laws that ban the spread of misinformation and hate speech. He gave Musk until Thursday to block X users who violate the law and name a legal representative for the company in Brazil. But Musk refused in the name of free speech. Moraes ordered the temporary suspension of X on Friday as a result, and Brazil officially blocked the site on Saturday. Millions of Brazilian X users said goodbye to their followers in the hours leading up to the shutdown, and the rest of the Supreme Court justices voted to uphold Moraes’s decision on Monday, saying that they would not lift the ban until Musk complies with the order and pays an outstanding fine of over $3 million. In the meantime, many Brazilians have found a new home on Blue Sky, X’s rival platform, which reported more than 500,000 new Brazilian users over the weekend. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Germany’s far right alternative for Germany party, or AfD, is celebrating a landslide state parliamentary victory in the eastern part of the country. It’s the first time a far right party has won a state parliament election in Germany since the Nazis, and they won with almost a third of the vote. The AfD is explicitly nationalist. They blame immigrants for the country’s problems, and they’ve seen an increase in support over the last six years, partly as a response to increased migration under former Chancellor Angela Merkel. Though the AfD is under domestic surveillance for being a potential threat to Germany’s constitution, German voters are increasingly sympathetic to them as they look for somewhere to cast blame for their struggling economy. However, other parties are refusing to work with the AfD, making their chances of forming a coalition government or wielding any real power slim. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And for those of you who have been devastated by our lack of Olympic coverage lately, we are back for the Paralympics, where Italian runner Valentina Petrillo became the first openly transgender woman to ever run in the games. Petrillo ran a personal best of 57.58 seconds in the 400 meter semifinal on Monday, but did not qualify for the final. She will take to the track again on Friday for the 200 meter. Prior to the race, JK Rowling, who is apparently really into para sports all of a sudden, I wonder why, labeled Petrillo a quote, “cheat.” After the race, Petrillo spoke in Italian about the discrimination trans people face. Saying, quote, “it is not right that we suffer discrimination and prejudice simply because we exist.” And adding quote, “the problem is an information problem. So we must talk about these things. We must not be afraid.” I really hate that JK Rowling always pops up onto this show when she’s being a Terf, Josie.

Josie Duffy Rice: Why is she always talking? Just stop talking. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Just stop talking. 

Josie Duffy Rice: Now cause you’re a woman, okay? Just cause you’re so dumb and annoying and such a trash person. Ugh. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Ugh. 

Josie Duffy Rice: And those are the headlines. 

[AD BREAK]

Josie Duffy Rice: That is all for today. If you liked the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, cheer for the Paralympians and tell your friends to listen. 

Tre’vell Anderson: And if you are into reading and not just Blue Sky posts in Portuguese like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Tre’vell Anderson. 

Josie Duffy Rice: I’m Josie Duffy Rice. 

[spoken together] And we’ll never stop calling it Twitter. 

Tre’vell Anderson: Listen this mama call em’ Twitter. So I’m a call em’ Twitter.

Josie Duffy Rice: I will call it Twitter till the day I die. 

Tre’vell Anderson: [laughing] I mean, you can type twitter.com into the little browser and it still go over there. 

Josie Duffy Rice: It comes right up. [laughter] [music break]

Josie Duffy Rice: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Bill Lancz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Ethan Oberman, Greg Walters, and Julia Claire. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. 

[AD BREAK]