According to latest numbers, 60 million people have been displaced due to violence and inhumane poverty.

In recent months, a major humanitarian catastrophe has made its way into the news—tens of millions, the largest ever recorded by the United Nations, have been forced to take part in a life-threatening journey across land and sea.

While members of the establishment media have used terms such as “swarms” or “tide”, as though they were describing animals or pests, to describe these men, women, and children refugees continue to struggle so that they may gain access to basic human rights, such as stable shelter and food. Islamophobia has also crept its way into reports and into the mouths of politicians, some of whom are refusing to accept Muslim refugees.

Further burdening refugees who are making their way across Europe is the growing right wing. Germany’s National Democratic Party, a neo-Nazi organization, has been responsible for organizing arson at homes of refugees, and leading massive anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim protests. If this wasn’t frightening enough, the NDP is also gaining footholds in the government.

Abby Martin takes us inside the refugee crisis, humanizing the victims, and exposing the parties and people who are using this humanitarian catastrophe in order to push a right wing agenda.

Who Is To Blame For The Refugee Crisis?

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Image by Bulent Kilic/AFP/Getty Images

Saudi Arabia, one of the region’s most sectarian and intensely brutal regimes, happens to be one of the United State’s greatest allies. The history hidden behind the Saudi kingdom’s steel curtain reveals the existence of a world power that is both restrictive and unflinching in its violence, and thanks to help from the UK, the notorious human rights abuser now heads the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The oil giant not only subjects local Shia Muslims to hostile policies, it also extends systematic, merciless abuse to migrants who already face countless obstacles while attempting to work in the region. Yemen, one of the most food insecure countries in the world, is also being subjected to the kingdom’s wrath. As countless Yemenis starve under relentless Saudi bombing, the US is militarily backing the war, having just approved $1.3 billion more in arms to the monarchy.

Fearful of losing its grip on power in the region, the Saudi kingdom, which is part of the larger, archaic band of Gulf monarchies, actively hunts down and executes dissidents who are part of a local Arab Spring—but it is clear that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, despite how much violence it unleashes, is doomed to fail.

In this episode of The Empire Files, Abby Martin exposes Saudi Arabia—not only its rampant brutality, but the resistance that exists despite the kingdom’s relentless attempts to crush it.

 Saudi Arabia’s Hidden Revolution & Crushing of Resistance

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This month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared victory after a close re-election race, cementing his right wing Likud party in power for another term.

Right before the election, Netanyahu reinforced his rejection of Palestinian statehood, vowed to continue building settlements and doubled down on his decade long fear-mongering campaign against Iran.

Since Netanyahu spoke at Congress, the media has been hyping a rift between the two heads of state, suggesting that the US is finally standing up its biggest welfare recipient. Yet it’s only rhetoric until the US government ceases its support for Israel’s policy of apartheid and annual allotment of $3 billion in military aid.

On this edition of Media Roots Radio, Rania Khalek of The Electronic Intifada talks about what another term of Netanyahu means for occupied Palestine and the US political establishment, as well as how the leader’s zealotry emboldens resistance against apartheid.

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During Israel’s latest offense on Gaza, Operation Protective Edge, Rania came on Breaking the Set to discuss the disproportionality of the conflict, the collective punishment against Palestinian civilians and how people can help the residents of Gaza.

Holding Israel Accountable From Bottom Up | Interview with Rania Khalek

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The UN estimates it will take 100 years to rebuild bombed out Gaza, but the territory cannot even get construction materials under Israel’s siege.

Get involved in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to push for exposure and necessary pressure on Israel.

@AbbyMartin | @RaniaKhalek

Photo by flickr user Thierry Ehrmenn