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 Australia, the UK and Canada calling for a Palestinian state

and a two-state solution over the weekend, followed by France, Portugal and Malta today,

with Germany likely to join with 150 nations in the UN General Assembly.

We will discuss the concern that recognizing Palestine

creates the illusion that something is being done to end the agony in Gaza

when what is needed from Western governments is an arms embargo.

Joining us is Ahmed Moore, a writer and fellow at the Foundation for Middle East

Peace, whose work has appeared in Al Jazeera, the nation, the London Review of books, and the

Boston Review. He's the co-editor of After Zionism, one state for Israel and Palestine,

and has a recent article at The Guardian, Palestinians don't need a state, we need justice.

Then, following massive demonstrations across Brazil over the weekend against calls

in the Congress to pardon Bolsonaro, as well as giving lawmakers immunity for prosecution,

we look into how Brazil is an example of what should have happened here after the

January 6th coup attempt when the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told the Democrats how to put

Trump in jail for his crimes against our democracy, just as Lula has done with Bolsonaro's

27-year sentence for his coup attempt after he lost an election.

Joining us is Andre Pagliarini, a professor of history and international studies at Louisiana State University,

fellow at the Washington Brazil office, and a non-resident expert at the Quincyon Shoot for Responsible

Stacraft.

He's the author of the new book, Lula,

A People's President and the Fight for Brazil's Future.

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