Politics and views in the United States.

The UN wants to see more aid allowed into Gaza. Americans' views on Israel worsen, while violence threatens diplomatic staff and state groups step in after the DOJ dismisses police violence investigations.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

All the aid authorized until now amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required.

The needs are massive and the obstacles are staggering.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres says even as more assistance is getting into Gaza, it's still only about half of what's needed with Israel's blockade bringing it to the edge of famine.

Reports show Palestinians dying of starvation during the last year and a half of war. accuses Hamas of looting aid and is intensifying air and ground strikes, even as it permits more aid trucks to enter.

Polls show most Americans now have an unfavorable opinion of Israel, up from about 40 percent before the war.

They blame Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the collapse of a fragile ceasefire.

Two Israeli embassy staffers were killed outside a Jewish museum in Washington, D.C. and an American has been arrested for planning to firebomb the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The evil of anti-Semitism must be eradicated from our society.

I spoke to the attorney general this morning.

The Department of Justice will be prosecuting the perpetrator responsible for this to the fullest extent of the law.

Federal data show hate crimes sharply increased during President Donald Trump's first term and are slowly rising again after his return to office.

Analysts tie that to racist rhetoric from the right.

Columbia University gave in to several demands from Trump under the threat of losing $400 million in federal funds.

The president argued the school needs to fight against anti-Semitism on campus, but Jewish Columbia undergraduate Shay Orantlicker says she's disgusted he and Netanyahu are using anti-Semitism to justify attacks on colleges and in Gaza.

"To have my name, my religion, my culture, my faith that is so important to me linked to the actions of a genocidal state, that is not what I believe, that is not what my history is about."

Police reform groups want to expand state accountability efforts since the DOJ is ending efforts to address racism in law enforcement in several locations.

The Trump administration says it wants to prioritize violent crime prosecution over police reform, but Joshua Tom with the Mississippi ACLU says the feds are pausing an investigation into the so-called "goon squad" case, where six officers were convicted of torturing and sexually assaulting two black men during a January 2023 home raid.

There's only so many civil rights organizations that can step up on behalf of people who have been harmed by police officers.

That's what the importance of the Department of Justice is for ensuring that law enforcement agencies are respecting civil rights laws because they act as a backstop.

Tom says the goon squad operated for years with impunity and they want to see use of force and taser records to see how long it went on.

Senate budget hawks say they have enough votes to demand more cuts in the big Republican budget plan, but Democrats say it already slashes the hunger programs to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

The defenders of reducing SNAP's budget by 30 percent say work requirements will reduce fraud but critics say state work rules have always ended up costing more than they save.

What they call the biggest cut in SNAP's history would just increase demand at food banks or put more pressure on stretched state budgets.