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FRANCE 24 English
  • 1/22/2025

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Transcript
00:00Well, the new president's also making good on a promise to dismantle the government's
00:04protection of DEI, or diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
00:08The White House issued a memo placing all federal staff working on those initiatives
00:12on paid leave with plans to fire them soon.
00:16DEI government trainings have been canceled as well.
00:20Well, that comes as Donald Trump lashed out at a Washington, D.C. bishop after she publicly
00:24asked him from the pulpit to have mercy on the country's immigrants and the LGBTQ community.
00:31Speaking at a national prayer service, Episcopal Bishop Marianne Buddy said the president was
00:35scaring people.
00:36Later, on his social media platform, Trump called Bishop Buddy nasty and demanded an
00:42apology.
00:43Karis Garland has the details.
00:46A national prayer service is routine after an American president is inaugurated.
00:52Less routine, though, is for a bishop to address the new leader directly and make an appeal.
00:57On Tuesday, Marianne Budd urged Donald Trump to show mercy, specifically mentioning gay,
01:03lesbian and transgender children who fear for their lives, as well as immigrants who
01:07are not criminals but pay taxes and are good neighbors.
01:11I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
01:19Our God teaches us that we are to be merciful to the stranger, for we will all want strangers
01:30in this land.
01:31The president did not appear happy during the remarks.
01:36And when asked for a reaction later, he was dismissal of the service.
01:40Not too exciting, was it?
01:42I did think it was a good service, though.
01:45Thank you very much.
01:47Thank you, press.
01:48Thank you, press.
01:49Much better.
01:50Later, on his Truth Social platform, the president called Budd a radical left hardline Trump
01:56hater and said she and the church owed the public an apology.
02:00The bishop's comments came after Trump on Monday decreed that only two sexes, male and
02:05female but not transgender, would be recognized.
02:08He also issued measures to suspend the arrival of asylum seekers and expel migrants in the
02:13country illegally.
02:15Budd has criticized Trump in the past, including in 2020 when police officers forcibly removed
02:21peaceful racial justice protesters so that Trump could take a photo outside a church
02:26holding a Bible.
02:27Budd said she was horrified by his use of the holy book for political purposes.
02:34Next to the Middle East, and as the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds into a fourth
02:38day, Palestinians in Gaza are facing an absolutely apocalyptic landscape of devastation.
02:45Fifteen months of fighting have left mounds of rubble as far as the eye can see, but since
02:50the ceasefire began on Sunday, more than 2,400 humanitarian A-trucks have been able to enter
02:56the Gaza Strip.
02:57We're going to talk more about the humanitarian situation in Gaza with Nicola Jones, now from
03:01the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
03:05Nicola, thanks so much for taking the time to speak to us.
03:08When you see these pictures, I mean, the needs seem to be absolutely catastrophic at the
03:13moment.
03:14What are your biggest priorities right now?
03:17That's right.
03:18I think the footage that you've just shown there really underlines the reality of the
03:23situation that the people of Gaza find themselves in.
03:27In a devastating landscape like this, the challenges are huge for the people who are
03:32just clinging to survival right now.
03:34And just to break it down, when we speak about needs in Gaza, in terms of health care and
03:38in terms of food and water, there's more than two million people in Gaza, so it's the equivalent
03:44really of every single person in Paris, for example, having lost either a loved one, a
03:50home, a job, a school, their livelihoods, or a combination of all of those things.
03:56So the scale that we're facing is massive.
03:58Our priority as the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent is to support
04:02the work of the Palestine Red Crescent, whose volunteers and staff are on the ground and
04:06they're focusing on health care and they're focusing on trying to get the critical supplies
04:11that people need just to get by day by day, for example, food, water supplies, clothing,
04:16tarpaulins, tents and blankets.
04:19And Nicola, as you speak, you were seeing these very latest live pictures from Gaza
04:22of these trucks coming in with this aid.
04:25The problem is, in the past there have been issues with looting, with violence surrounding
04:31deliveries in the past.
04:32Are we seeing anything like that in recent days?
04:35As I understand it, at the moment we've had no reports of looting, but the challenges
04:39that we face once trucks are able to move across from Egypt into Gaza is that, as you
04:46can see, the level of destruction is huge.
04:48So for example, now the obstacles for us and all of the international sector are that roads
04:54have been destroyed, warehouses where we would have been able to store critical supplies
04:59previously have also been damaged and destroyed.
05:01There is no power, there's no electricity, there's very little fuel.
05:05So on the logistical side, once the aid is in Gaza, there is another set of challenges
05:10that we face to make sure that the people who need this support get it as soon as possible.
05:15Indeed.
05:16And I imagine one of those big challenges, of course, is shelter.
05:19More than 70 percent of homes have been damaged or destroyed over the past 15 months.
05:24What's being done to help find people a safe place to live?
05:29This is such an important point because until the ceasefire, there was no safe place for
05:34anyone in Gaza.
05:36Most people left their homes at the beginning of this conflict 15 months ago and were forced
05:41to move again and again and again in terms of trying to find somewhere safe.
05:47Many people have been sleeping just outside in rubble, on shattered glass and in the remnants
05:52of residential buildings and also in makeshift tents.
05:55So one of our priorities and that of the whole international aid sector is to get some form
06:01of shelter and protection for these people.
06:04People need to have tents, tarpaulins, just anything that can protect them from the elements
06:07because the other aspect to all of this, quite apart from the devastation of the conflict
06:13itself, is that temperatures are dropping in Gaza at this time of year.
06:17The rain is falling and people are suffering as a result of that.
06:20That has big impacts on people's health and their ability to survive and protect their
06:24families.
06:25So that is another priority for us.
06:27It certainly is.
06:28And obviously, all of these things are incredibly important at the moment.
06:31But there's another key thing here for millions of people.
06:34I mean, what about psychological aid?
06:36Is it too soon to try and set up help for people to deal with all the trauma of the
06:40past 15 months?
06:42That's a really important point because the Palestine Red Crescent, who's been responding
06:47to this conflict throughout the whole of the last 15 months, that has been one of their
06:52priorities.
06:53People have wounds here that are not visible to the naked eye.
06:56These are deep psychological wounds and trauma and emotional damage that has been wrought
07:01on them over the past 15 months.
07:04So what the Red Cross and Red Crescent is able to do is provide some level of counselling,
07:10of psychosocial support, and in some cases, safe spaces for people to just be together,
07:15grieve and process what's happened, particularly for children.
07:19You know, we have a very young population on average in Gaza and those young people
07:23have suffered, you know, a generational loss and trauma in the last 15 months and the Red
07:30Crescent priority is also to try to find some support for them because this will take a
07:34long, long time for people to even begin to heal from those deep psychological wounds.
07:39And Nicola, as you know, it's difficult to see these pictures as we do see them here
07:44or without having some sort of sense of urgency to help.
07:47I mean, if any of our viewers would like to help the situation in Gaza at the moment,
07:51what's the best thing to do?
07:54The best thing for viewers to do, I understand it feels very overwhelming when you are watching
07:58these scenes unfold.
08:00There are emergency appeals that you can support in the Red Cross or Red Crescent where you
08:06are based and where you're watching from.
08:08The French Red Cross is appealing for funds if we're speaking to our viewers in France,
08:13but also the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, we have our own emergency
08:18appeal that we can donate, that people can donate to either on our website and also to
08:22the Palestine Red Crescent itself.
08:24You can find all of those details online if people want to be empowered to donate.
08:30But I think one thing that is really important to the people of Gaza is the solidarity, is
08:34the fact that their stories are able to be heard and that people are sending their thoughts
08:39with them.
08:40And also calling on the international community more broadly to commit to a longer term investment
08:45in helping the recovery of Gaza and its people.
08:48Nicola, thanks so much for that.
08:50Nicola Jones there from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
08:53Thanks so much.

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