Missing Journalist Update; US Student Held in Israel; Rosenstein Fails to Show

On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years.

According to a new Washington Post report, there are US intelligence intercepts that show Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered that Jamal Khashoggi, a missing Washington Post columnist, be enticed to return from the United States to Saudi Arabia so that he could be detained. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is loath to end arms sales to the kingdom over the missing journalist, arguing that Saudi Arabia would just turn to Russia and China for arms. Turkey is refuting Trump's claim about US investigators participating in the missing Saudi journalist's case, according to reports. Khashoggi's fate casts a harsh light on Trump's friendship with Saudi Arabia.

In the second half of the show, we'll turn our gaze to Israel to focus on several stories making headlines. First up, American graduate student Lara Alqasem, 22, has been held since last Tuesday at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport. Also, the IDF awards Israeli soldiers for the deadly crackdown on Gaza protests. Lastly, Edward Snowden, via a video call from Russia, will address a select audience in Israel, but the big question is: will he take on Israel's surveillance state?

Republican lawmakers called yesterday for Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to be subpoenaed, amid an impasse in negotiating his testimony on reports he wanted to secretly record President Trump and had talked about trying to force the president out by invoking the 25th Amendment. Rosenstein was expected to testify in a closed session with the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees today, but now it appears as though there is no confirmed date. What's going on with this process?

GUESTS:

Medea Benjamin — Co-founder of the women-led peace group CODEPINK and the co-founder of the human rights group Global Exchange. She has been an advocate for social justice for more than 40 years.

Miko Peled — Israeli-American activist and author of The General's Son: Journey of an Israeli in Palestine.

Jackie Luqman — co-editor-in-chief of Luqman Nation

We'd love to get your feedback at [e-mail]