Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org, I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the apparent intention of the Israeli Prime Minister to escalate the war in Gaza

by invading Rafa and turning Gaza into a tent city of refugees amid the rubble of their former

homes. Joining us to discuss this and efforts underway in the House and Senate to strip IRS

non-profit status from NGOs and other foundations supporting Palestinian causes is Lara Friedman,

the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Previously, she was the Director of Policy

and Government Relations at Americans for Peace now,

and before that she was a U.S. Foreign Service officer serving in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis, and Beirut.

Lara is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East,

with particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict, settlements, and Jerusalem,

and on the role of the U.S. Congress.

Then we'll assess the damage the Supreme Court is doing to the respect for and the

credibility of the rule of law in this country, following Thursday's hearing on Trump's

immunity claim, which made clear the fixes in to protect the powerful and politically connected who are free to commit crimes while ordinary folk are subject to the law and its punishment.

Joining us is Leah Lipman, Professor of Law at the University of Michigan, who teaches and rights on constitutional law, federal post-conviction review and federal sentencing.

She clerked for Justice Anthony Kennedy of the United States Supreme Court and is now a regular

contributor to the Take Care blog and the co-host and creator of strict scrutiny, a podcast

about the U.S. Supreme Court.

Then finally, we will speak with Alan Lickman, a political historian who teaches at American

University and has studied both the American right and the presidency.

The author of The Keys to the White House, a sure-fire way to predicting the next president.

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