The Excerpt podcast: Thousands flee Gaza's largest hospital, others still trapped

On today's episode of The Excerpt podcast: Thousands flee Gaza's largest hospital, but others are still trapped. USA TODAY Money Reporter Bailey Schulz explains how tensions are flaring on social media amid the Israel-Hamas War. House Speaker Mike Johnson's proposal to avoid a government shutdown is met with backlash. Sen. Tim Scott is dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. USA TODAY Health Reporter Karen Weintraub talks through the FDA approval of tirzepatide for weight loss.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson, and today is Monday, November 13th 2023. This is The Excerpt.

Today, fears grow at a Gaza hospital, plus how tensions are flaring on social media amid the Israel-Hamas War. And we look at the latest proposal to try and avoid a government shutdown.

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Heavy shelling continued in the area around al-Shifa Hospital in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday. Thousands of people have fled the medical facility, but hundreds of patients, and others displaced by the war, remain inside, according to health officials earlier today. Dr. Marwan Abusada, Head of Surgery at the hospital, said, "Bombardment has continued for days." And he dismissed Israeli military claims that it had provided an escape route. He told Al Jazeera, "People who tried to evacuate the hospital, they were shot in the streets." Palestinian officials say thousands of civilians have taken refuge among patients and staff. But Israeli officials accuse Hamas of concealing a command post in the hospital compound, something Hamas denies. The regional directors of three UN aid agencies issued a statement urging immediate international action to end attacks on Gaza hospitals. Israel has repeatedly slammed Gaza with airstrikes in recent weeks, and has also moved troops in on the ground, in the weeks since an October 7th Hamas attack in Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday that a deal to free hostages taken in that attack could be near, but he declined to discuss details.

Meanwhile, debates over the war stateside, on college campuses, continue to heat up. And Columbia University has suspended two clubs for pro-Palestinian and Jewish students. The clubs had both shown solidarity in calling for a ceasefire in the war. A university vice president said the decision was made after they violated school policies related to holding campus events. The decision followed a massive student protest and walkout last Thursday.

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As the Israel-Hamas war rages on, tensions are flaring on social media. And both Jews and Muslims are experiencing dehumanizing language and hate. I spoke with USA Today money reporter, Bailey Schulz for more. Bailey, thanks for hopping on.

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, thank you for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So, Bailey, Lebanese American chef, Amanda Saab, has talked about facing Islamophobia. What does she say about her experiences? And what are we hearing from Muslim content creators about this moment?

Bailey Schulz:

So I should preface this by saying that Islamophobia is nothing new, especially on the internet. Same goes for antisemitism, unfortunately. But what we are hearing from these content creators that these past few weeks have just been terrible for a lot of people, with an influx of hate messages and threats. You mentioned Amanda. So she's a former MasterChef contestant, and has used her platform to post about the conflict. And so she's urged for a ceasefire, has used posts to call instead or to stop for military aid. And those posts have resulted in a lot of pushback and hate messages. So what she told us is that these hate messages are nothing new for her, where she has endured anti-Muslim attacks after she appeared on MasterChef and wore her hijab while she was competing on this cooking show. And then it happened again, later on, when we saw former President Donald Trump call for a near total shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

Taylor Wilson:

And actress, Mayim Bialik, has been talking about antisemitism on her TikTok channel. What does she say about her experience? And what are we hearing from others about antisemitism online right now?

Bailey Schulz:

Very similar to what I mentioned earlier where, unfortunately, antisemitism is not new. This is nothing new for the internet. But we are seeing an uptick in reports and in just the vitriol online. And so she has been very open about being Jewish on social media, sharing things like, "Oh, here's the Yiddish expression of the day." But, more recently, we saw her post this unscripted nine minute TikTok video expressing her horror at the rising antisemitism online. This is something that we're hearing from a lot of Jewish content creators, where I spoke to one who mentioned that they were afraid to leave their home the first couple of weeks after October 7th. And when they were out, they wore a mask. They put their hair up to conceal their identity. And, even now, they still don't wear the Star of David outside. Not because they're ashamed in any way of their Jewish heritage, but because they don't believe that it is safe to do so. We're hearing from others that they are turning off comments, or taking breaks from social media, after receiving messages and threats. And so that's the point where we're at today.

Taylor Wilson:

Yeah, and you mentioned these fears about a lack of safety leaving the house. Beyond the slurs and the hateful language, what are we hearing about actual threats of violence against Jews and Muslims?

Bailey Schulz:

The Anti-Defamation League has reported a 388% increase in antisemitic acts since October 7th. And then we see the Council on American-Islamic Relations, just on Thursday, reported a total of over 1,200 requests for help and reports on bias, between October 7th and November 4th. And that's a 216% increase over the previous year. So there, unfortunately, are a lot of examples I could point to with this violence, where we saw the fatal stabbing of the 6-year-old Muslim boy in Illinois. We saw that woman who, allegedly, purposely crashed her car into what she thought was a Jewish school earlier this month. And countless other examples.

Taylor Wilson:

And how can social media still be used as a force for good during this trying time?

Bailey Schulz:

So I don't want to minimize just how dark and nasty social media can be, especially at a time like this. But I spoke to one source who likened social media and the internet as the force from Star Wars, where there is a dark side and there's a light side. So we do see positives, where this can be a space where people can connect and educate others about their faith, their heritage. So I spoke to one Muslim content creator, who she grew up in a smaller community in Kansas. And mentioned that social media became her bridge to connect with others from similar backgrounds. And this is a space to share heritage through things like recipes and whatnot. With Mayim, this is a space where she has been able to make posts about the Yiddish expression of the day and in sharing tidbits in that sort of way. There can definitely be harms attached to social media, but it can also be space for both Palestinians and Jewish people to share positive messages about their identity and their culture.

Taylor Wilson:

Bailey Schulz, thank you so much for coming on and telling this story.

Bailey Schulz:

Yeah, thank you for having me.

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Taylor Wilson:

House Speaker, Mike Johnson, said on Saturday that he'll seek to avoid a government shutdown next weekend with a two-step temporary spending plan. In a written statement, he said his plan will, "Stop the absurd holiday season omnibus tradition of massive loaded up spending bills, introduced right before the Christmas recess." The current plan expires at midnight Friday, and certain government operations will stop if House Republicans cannot agree on a plan that gets approval from President Joe Biden and the Democratic Senate. Johnson's proposed so-called laddered continuing resolution would extend operations until January 19th for some agencies, and until February 2nd for others, while Congress negotiates long-term spending.

But the plan has already drawn immediate objections from both some fellow conservatives and the White House. Republican Congressman, Chip Roy, said he opposes a clean, continuing resolution. And described it as, "Funding Pelosi level spending and policies for 75 days for future promises." House Republicans who control the majority have disagreed on how to move forward, with some arguing for massive spending cuts that would never win sign-offs from President Joe Biden and the Senate. White House Press Secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre called the Speaker's proposal a recipe for more Republican chaos and more shutdowns.

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Republican Senator, Tim Scott, announced last night that he's suspending his 2024 presidential campaign, less than a week after the third GOP primary debate. He abruptly made the announcement to Fox News's, Trey Gowdy, his fellow South Carolinian, who also served in Congress. Scott said, "I think the voters, who are the most remarkable people on the planet, have been really clear that they're telling me, 'Not now, Tim.'" The campaign comes to an end after he launched it in May, but struggled to pick up steam. A real clear politics average of polls on the GOP field saw Scott garner around 2.5%, compared to former President Donald Trump at 58.5%. Scott did not immediately endorse another Republican in the race.

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The FDA last week approved the drug tirzepatide for weight loss, sold under the name Mounjaro, when treating type 2 diabetes. It'll be called Zepbound as a treatment for obesity. I spoke with USA Today health reporter, Karen Weintraub, to learn more. Karen, thanks for hopping on The Excerpt.

Karen Weintraub:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So let's start here. What is tirzepatide? And what led to the FDA decision to approve it for those who have obesity?

Karen Weintraub:

So tirzepatide is a drug that you may have heard of called Mounjaro. It was approved last year for diabetes. And early indicators were that it was also very effective at helping people lose weight. But it hadn't been approved for that purpose until last week. So it is now okay for that. The issue is whether people can get it and get access to it. So it costs about 41,000 a month, and some insurance covers it and some doesn't. So it's up to whatever kind of insurance you have. If you're on government insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, you will not get coverage at the moment. And private insurance, about half, I've heard, has covered it, and half does not. Although, that's changing all the time.

Taylor Wilson:

And how does this compare with other drugs that tackle both obesity and diabetes?

Karen Weintraub:

So tirzepatide, like a drug called semaglutide, is part of this new generation of drugs, GLP-1 drugs, or incretins. And they work by suppressing appetite. There are hormones that are involved in appetite. Semaglutide has this one GLP-1 hormone. Tirzepatide has two hormones, GLP-1 and another one called GIP. There's never been a head-to-head comparison between the two. It seems like the tirzepatide might actually help people lose even more weight. The studies show as much as almost 27% of body weight at the highest dose in some people. So that's bariatric surgery territory that's never been seen before with medications.

Taylor Wilson:

And, Karen, a new study found that the weight loss drug, Wegovy boosts heart health for high risk people without diabetes. What exactly did this study find?

Karen Weintraub:

There was a previous study that showed that it worked in people with diabetes. This study shows that it also is beneficial for people at high risk, who just have obesity or overweight, not diabetes. The distinction there is that these are high risk people. They're already on a statin, aspirin, blood pressure lowering medication, and yet, they still saw a benefit from this drug. So that's good news. In the past, weight loss drugs have actually contributed to heart disease, to heart attacks. So the fact that this is now helping people avoid cardiovascular effects seems like good news. It's probably not going to be only used for that. But if somebody has a weight they want to lose, and also is at high risk for heart disease, seems like this drug makes some sense. It also may lead to changes in insurance coverage if you are at high risk for heart disease and you have obesity or overweight, because of this study, you may be more likely to get insurance coverage for that drug.

Taylor Wilson:

All right, Karen Weintraub, thanks as always.

Karen Weintraub:

Thank you.

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Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to The Excerpt. You can get the podcast wherever you get your audio. If you use a smart speaker, just ask for The Excerpt. I'm back tomorrow with more of The Excerpt from USA Today.