Transcripts For KQED PBS 20240703

Communities reopen and indigenous hawaiians face an we see sort of disaster after disaster, whether its fire or flooding or intense drought in the west, that these are going to continue to be issues with indigenous communities. Major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. And friends of the newshour including leonard and norma. Actually, you dont need vision to do most things in life. Yes, i am legally blind, and yes, i am responsible for the user interface. Data visualization. If i can see it and understand it quickly, anyone can. Its exciting to be part of a team driving the technology forward. That is the most rewarding thing. People who know know. Bdo. For more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world at hewlett. Org. And with the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Geoff welcome to the newshour, a third day of brutal fighting between israelis and palestinians centered on gaza today, and it continues tonight. Amna israel has hammered the region with air strikes and artillery, in retribution for saturdays bloody terror attack by hamas. Geoff israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the offensive has only begun, and that the ferocity of israels reprisals on hamas will, quote, reverberate with them for generations. An Israeli Ground invasion of gaza is widely expected to begin in the coming hours and days. Amna already there are staggering death tolls, over 900 israelis dead, and thousands more wounded, while in gaza, nearly 700 palestinians have been killed. Among the dead so far, according to President Biden, are 11 americans. Special correspondent leila molanaallen is on the ground in israel and begins our coverage. Leila towering plumes of smoke rose over the gaza city skyline. As the middle east woke up to another day of war. Airstrikes pounded a refugee camp north of gaza city. Moments earlier, this was a bustling supermarket. Bulldozers done through the twisted wreckage of daily life as crowds of people searched beneath the rubble for survivors. As schelling devastated the gaza strip, palestinians mourned 17 members of the family killed when their home was destroyed. Israeli forces hit the building without warning. They did not ask us to evacuate. They did not say anything. Suddenly, we heard the airstrike and ran to the building. We found out that it collapsed entirely. Leila israels military said it hit more than 1000 targets in the besieged enclave. The attacks eviscerated downtown mosques like this one and left over 120,000 gazans displaced. Israel said it leveled the northeastern neighborhood which had been used as a staging ground by hamas. The militant group staged its unprecedented incursion into israel over the weekend. The Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority in the west bank come along at odds with hamas, defended the surprise attack west bank, long at odds with hamas, defended the surprise attack. The israeli policy of practicing killing, land confiscation, assault on holy sites, and that terrorism and heinous practices of the settlers. Leila Benjamin Netanyahu responded. We have always known who hamas is. Now, the entire world knows. Hamas is isis and we will defeat it just like the enlightened world defeated isis. This vile enemy wanted war and it will get war. Leila israels defense minister validate total siege. There will be no electricity, food, water, fuel. Everything will be closed. We are fighting against human animals and we are acting accordingly. Leila the Israeli Military has called upon reservist, pointing to a ground offensive in the days to come. Cleared southern israel from hamass militants and our highest priority is to stop the attacks coming out from gaza. While this is going on for two days, nonstop rocket rogers towards population centers, indiscriminately fired so all options are on the table now in order to achieve that end. Leila today, the contested city of jerusalem was also under threat. Air sirens blasted across the city because another barrage of hamas as another barrage of hamass rockets range down. For the past three days, he and his team have been responding to the attacks and treating injured civilians. He says the strikes are indiscriminate. Several of our ambulances have come under fire. It is something i have never experienced. I have been a paramedic for over 20 years. Leila hamass offensive has focused on southern israel. Through the night, rockets from gaza continued to fly over the border into israel. In the city this morning, emergency workers cleared the rubble after a rocket hit this apartment building. Engulfing nearby cars in flames and destroying building facades including his. We heard sirens. We heard explosions without a break. We heard bombing. The whole house was shaking. Thank god nothing happens to us. Leila hundreds were killed over the weekend in the nearby kibbutz after hamas militants attacked an outdoor rave packed with thousands of young people. What was supposed to be a celebration of life became a massacre. This young reveler down the video as she tried to escape the bullets. Palestinian militants took dozens of israelis hostage and shot at anyone they saw. Hamass armed wing said it will begin executing hostages if israeli bombardments continue without warning but Israels Foreign Ministry said negotiations are not on the table. We are not negotiating with anyone at this time. We are in a war and i think that this is not the time for negotiation. Geoff the Biden Administration is watching all of these developments very closely. And moments ago, i spoke with john kirby, coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security council. Welcome back to the newshour. John thank you very much for having me. Geoff the u. S. Is beating up its presence in the middle east, moving fighter jets to the Eastern Mediterranean and providing israel with more weapons and ammunition. Does that massive response, beyond sending a show of support, does it signal that the u. S. Is concerned about the potential for other parts of the region being drawn into this war between israel and hamas . John what it demonstrates is how seriously we take our National Security interests. Theres two messages coming out of this. One is reassurance that we have National Security interests in the region and we will make sure that we are able to meet those commitments and two, deterrence. That no other actor, be it a Tourist Group terrorist group, think that this is a good time to take advantage of the violence inside israel for their own ends because their interests are in a michael to that of israel inimical to that of israel. Israel is a partner and a close one at that so we are sending a message of deterrence. Geoff President Biden warned other parties in the region about joining the attack against israel. What is the administration most concerned or worried about . John we are concerned about making sure that the israeli people and their armed forces have the capabilities and the tools to defend themselves. That is the first order of business. Number two is making sure that we get more granular information about americans whose whereabouts are unknown right now. We have 11 families, american families, that are grieving the loss of loved ones. We dont want that number to grow so we are trying to get more information about them. The other thing we are focused on right now is making sure that we are able to communicate with americans who are in israel. Many travel there so that they know that theres resources at the state department and the embassy that they can draw on for more information about the situation where they are and if they want to leave, how to do that. Geoff as they work to learn more information about americans, yesterday, israels minister for Strategic Affairs said americans were taken hostage by hamas. He said that definitively. Can you confirm that . Geoff we are trying to get more information about americans whose whereabouts are unknown. We have to accept the possibility that at least some of those unaccounted for americans could be held hostage by hamas right now but we just do not have specific information to be able to confirm that. Amna israel said geoff israel said it is not negotiating to get the hostages hamas has. As the u. S. Agree with that with respect to the potential american hostages . John i will let israel speak for itself. There is no higher priority than the safety and security of americans overseas and we will continue to act in the interest of making sure that americans who are held hostage are wrongfully who are wrongfully detained overseas come home with their families. I dont want to break precedent here today. Amna there geoff there are questions about the degree to which iran was directly involved in the attacks over the weekend. Iranian Security Officials helped plan the surprise attack on israel and gave the green light for an assault on sunday. What evidence does the u. S. Have of that being true . John none. Young looking hard to see if there is corroborating evidence that proves iran was a participant in these attacks but we just have not seen it and our israeli counterparts have not seen it either. Make no mistake, there is a degree of complicity here. Weapons, tools, capabilities, training, so clearly, iran there is a complicity here but in terms of the specific series of attacks we have seen in the last 36 hours, we just dont have direct evidence. Amna there are ongoing talks regarding a peace deal and conversations about the u. S. Providing security guarantees to saudi arabia and there are observers who say that hamas and iran had a motivation to the rail that deal because it threatens to further isolate them. What does the administration see as the impact of this conflict, of this war on those talks . Geoff too soon john too soon to tell. We think that is good not just for israel and saudi arabia but for us and for everybody who lives in the region. Those are decisions that only israel and saudi arabia can make but in working towards it, they will find a better friend than the United States and we still believe that that is months and months away and that theres still opportunity to pursue that air of clemency, that degree of diplomacy, and we want to see it continue to persist. Right now, obviously, right now, the focus has got to be on making sure israel can defend itself. That is squarely where our energies are being applied. Amna u. S. Geoff u. S. And israeli Officials Say none of israels intelligence purposes have any specific warnings that hamas was going to carry out this spectacular attack by land, by sea, and by air ahead of time. What accounts for that intelligence failure . John theres going to be a time where we appropriately will take a look at the intel picture and what was missed, by whom, and when. We will do that. Im sure the israelis will do that but now is not the time. Time is to make sure israel can defend itself, that we can get better information about the americans who are in israel, particularly the ones who are unaccounted for, and also to make sure we are looking after those families who just received the worst possible news that any family can receive about a loved one yesterday and today. We have to make sure they get the support that they need. There will be a time to look at the intel picture. We will do that, they will do that, but right now, we have to stay focused on the task at hand. Amna israel announced its largest ever mobilization, more than 300 thousand Army Reservist called up in response to these attacks. Erases the specter of a wider regional war. How is the Biden Administration aiming to contend with that alongside the war in ukraine and a rising confrontation with china . John again, nobody wants to see the war in ukraine go on one day longer. Nobody wants to see any of the terrorist attacks and violence we have seen in israel certainly. We are a big enough, powerful enough, economically viable and vibrant enough country to be able to support multiple National Security interests around the world. He mentioned the tensions in the indo pacific clearly that are caused by the prc and we have stations and aircraft and personnel, thousands and thousands of them in the indo pacific who will still be on the task today and tomorrow and next week. We are supporting ukraine as they fight back on russian aggression. That is important, too. That needs to continue. Obviously, we are going to stay focused on making sure israel has what it needs. We have a longstanding defense relationship with israel and that will not change going forward. Geoff john kirby as coordinator at the National Security council, thank you for your time this evening. Amna one facet of saturdays attacks never seen before on this scale, the taking of hostages by hamas men, women, children, the elderly. Dozens, reportedly, kidnapped and forcibly taken to gaza, their locations within the denselypacked enclave unknown. And tonight, hamas is threatening to execute them. If israels heart Nick Schifrin if israel does not give warning. Nick schifrin spoke with two women now enduring the horror of missing loved ones. Nick on saturday, the family was torn apart. I was awake. I was supposed to give her food when we heard the first bombing in my kibbutz. I thought it is a regular bombing we have each couple of months there. But then we understand it is bigger and then after 15 minutes, we heard shootings and people are voicing come, come in arabic. Three minutes after that, we heard them outside of our bedroom. They just opened the window and put their hand inside my bedroom. My husband before when we heard them, we had a signal that said you are keeping the door. I am with the child. When they put their hand to open the window, he pushed them to the other side and gave me a look to go away so i took my daughter, my one month old daughter, with no shoes, no phone. My husband was left with a lot of people and i ran away. I ran inside of bushes so they would not see me. They were shooting at me and my daughter. We hid inside the shed and i heard voices near so i took things like bones that you put flowers in and empty ones and i put them on me with buckets of sand for the garden and hide behind a washing machine. But then after a while, she was sleeping, but then inside, she started crying after a while. So then its when i understand that i have to go outside of the shed but theres much more bombing and shooting over there. Actually, they saved me. They had a camera around the house and they could see i am not one of them so they can see i am with a child. They open up the house for the child and we were in that house for 27 hours. They were bombing 27 hours and they are still bombing now and there are still families over there and missing people. My husband is missing. Please, if someone sees him, he has a tattoo of a feather. Hes white. He has brown hair blue eyes. Im looking for him. We have a lot of bodies. They did not find him. I quite hope he is kidnapped to gaza. Its not a great hope but if i think of the hours that were since the bombing, its too much time for him so i hope he was kidnapped. Geoff can you tell me about your husband . Nick he is a good person. He liked the quiet. He always liked the quiet. He is a great filmmaker and he is a great friend. He was my best friend. We were 10. 5 years together. We waited a long time for this child. So i hope he will come back and see her. Nick i have an infant daughter at home. I can only imagine how terrifying this has been for you as a new mother. Yes, it was very hard for me to keep him calm and quiet because every time she cried, we were getting shootings. Every time shia cried, the bombing was doubled. It is like a prize to kill the baby. We did not have nothing to give her. We did not have water so she had to go to a hospital because when she came, the baby was white. She had to take oxygen. That whole time, you had no formula. Now, after 27 hours of not eating, the hospital wrote that she had she was so dehydrated that she cried with no tears. At the same time, 20 miles away, hamas gunmen were going house to house. They kidnapped five members of the same family. An 80yearold, her soninlaw, and her three teenage grandchildren. We know the next few hours were horrifying, that hamas burned the majority of the kibbutz and slaughtered most of the people there, that the people who survived were taken hostage. What we understand one day after was that we got video of my 12yearold cousin being held hostage by hamas and we believe he is in gaza. He said at least publicly there is no intention to negotiate for the release of israelis being held hostage inside gaza. You want them to negotiate . Whatever it takes to get them home. Her house has been burned. Her faith comes from her daughter. How is she doing now . She is good. She is strong. She is strong. She is a strong kid. Her color came back. She started eating last night so shes now ok. Shes giving me faith and i feel that she is not dead. This is what i feel. They did not find his body and i can feel his soul is not talking to me as if he is dying as if he is not in this world. He is sending me messages. You fool. Dont cry. I am here. But i still cry. Nick we are thinking about you and praying for you and your family. Thank you so much. Geoff in the days other headlines, people across western afghanistan struggled for a third day to find anyone who lived through a catastrophic earthquake. The magnitude 6. 3 quake ravaged the area around herat on saturday. Entire villages vanished, and official counts reported 4000 dead and injured. The lifeless body of a child pulled from her fathers protective embrace. Afghans near the quakes epicenter are digging through the rubble with shovels and their bare hands looking for survivors while carrying the what used to be a village is now a wasteland. The earthquake destroyed everything in in sight and flattened mud brick homes in these remote villages in western afghanistan. Leaving survivors to mourn and search for loved ones. I lost five members of my family and also five members of my uncles family. In total, we have lost 23 people who have been martyred. We had another aftershock so people have panicked again. Nick this is the director of the International Rescue committee. Correct homes out of bricks. Its basic so they are very vulnerable to any shock. Everything has collapsed. A complete disappearance of villages and houses in all these locations is almost like nothing is there anymore. Nick the quake devastated a country already burned burdened by a crippling humanitarian crisis. Aid is in short supply. International programs severely underfunded are diverting the little they have left toward quake relief. We were preparing ourselves for winterization and unfortunately, we have been hit by this crisis. We do not have funds to cover needs. If you compare the past three years to this year, we have almost triple the needs in afghanistan so we are always stretched. Geoff overstretched and overwhelmed as rescue efforts shift to burials. The smallest coffins, also the heaviest. A senior official of afghanistans ruling taliban visited the province today. The regime said they aim to ensure immediate and equitable delivery of aid. Officials in northeastern india report the death toll from last weeks floods has risen to 74 people, with 100 still missing. Authorities have recovered 34 bodies in sikkim state, since a dam broke last week. 40 others have been found downstream in west bengal state. Indias air force says it rescued scores of tourists today, as weather conditions began to clear. Here at home, former House Speaker Kevin Mccarthy now says hed serve in that post again if his fellow republicans want him. He was ousted last week, and initially said he would not compete for the job again. Today, he was asked by a reporter if theres any way he would be a candidate. Thats a decision by the conference. Ill allow the conference to make whatever decision. Whether im speaker or not, im a member of this body. I know what history has had and i can lead in any position it is. Geoff republican congressmen Steve Scalise and jim jordan have entered the race for speaker. Former President Trump has endorsed jordan. A vote could come wednesday. In the 2024 president ial race, robert f. Kennedy jr. Announced today hes ending his bid for the democratic nomination and will run as an independent. He had so far failed to make much headway against President Biden. In philadelphia, kennedy said hes making a new declaration of independence. I can stand before you as every leader should stand before you, free of partisan allegiance. Free from the backroom deals. Servant only to my conscience to my creator, and to you. Geoff kennedy has become known for antivaccine views and ties to farright figures. Today, his siblings denounced his campaign, saying he may share their fathers name but not his values. Harvard professor Claudia Goldin has claimed this years nobel prize in economics for research on women in the workforce. Her decadeslong body of work has helped show causes of the gender gap in pay and labor force participation. In boston today, she talked of trying to show that her field goes beyond finance. Economics is about people, its about inequality, its about the female labor force, its about health, its about economic development, its about wellbeing. Geoff goldin is the just third woman to win the economics prize. And, on wall street the israelhamas war pushed oil prices more than 3 and ahalf dollars higher. 3. 5 dollars higher, but stocks rallied on signs that the Federal Reserve may pause Interest Rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial average gained 197 points to close at 33,604. The nasdaq rose nearly 53 points. The s p 500 added 27. Still to come on the newshour, the maui wildfires highlight the difficulty of preserving native heritage in the face of Climate Change. And simone biles becomes the most decorated gymnast in history at the World Championships. This is the pbs newshour from weta studios in washington and in the west from the Walter Cronkite school of journalism at Arizona State university. Amna the house of representatives is devoid of leadership and pressure is mounting on republicans to elect a speaker because of the need to approve aid not only for ukraine but now for israel as well. Here to break down the stakes are amy walter of the Cook Political Report with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. Theres still no fulltime speaker of the house but the two declared candidates so far have expressed solidarity with israel and pledged their support after that brutal attack by hamas. Heres how the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs committee weighed in on the issue today. I look at the world and all the threats that are out there and what kind of message are we sending to our adversaries when we cannot govern, when we are dysfunctional, when we dont even have a speaker of the house . I think it sends a terrible message. Amna does any of this change the urgency of their need to elect a new speaker . Amy in theory, yes. They could also get this done this week. They are planning on having a vote by wednesday or thursday for a speaker. The problem is nobody has the votes. And we will see after tonight when they have their first sort of get together since this broke over the weekend if there is any momentum, if there is something that could bring the element of the party that were unhappy with mccarthy and those who were happy with mccarthy together for an alternative view. Also heard in the opening here about former Speaker Mccarthy being open to the possibility. The reality for the speaker election has much more in terms of what the members are focusing on. It is much less about what it is sending to the world, the message it is sending to the rest of the world, or the impact even on a to israel and its much more about the immediate including what it means for funding of the government which is going to run out in november and the rules for how another speaker could be ousted. That is where their focus is right now. Amna how are you looking at this . Tamara mccarthy stepped into the vacuum of Leadership Today and gave a fivepoint plan on israel and said, you know, the majority of republicans wanted me to continue to be speaker so you almost can add him to the other two candidates and none of them, as amy says, at the moment, have 217 votes to be speaker. They are under increased pressure to fix this to do something to end the chaos. Its not clear how they get out of it although i will say john kirby, in a briefing that he just held with reporters, said that in terms of aid for israel, there is a standing relationship , standing appropriations, so that may not be the thing that has the urgency. Getting Intelligence Briefings to the leader of the house, now, that is something that has some urgency. Amna what about aid for ukraine . Tamara its not clear how this will affect that. The white house is still trying to figure that out. Kirby again said that there is an urgent need for aid for ukraine. One question that i had coming into this leadership battle is will the candidates for speaker commit to not bringing ukraine aid up to the floor . There is a large Bipartisan Group of lawmakers who support aid for ukraines war effort. There is a small, vocal, and overlapping with those who voted with Kevin Mccarthy out group of republicans who dont want that ukraine aid to get a vote and the speaker controls the floor. Amna what about where the American Public is right now . There is majority support for supporting ukraine in their war against russia but we have seen american support declining to continue arming ukraine as the u. S. Now gets involved on another front now which is supporting israel. Where is the amick in public on that . Amy there will be an initial rallying around israel. This is a very special relationship that america and Many Americans have with israel so i think that will be where we are initially but for the public, what is happening overseas is really something they dont see as affecting their daytoday lives, especially when it comes to politics. They are much more interested in what is happening domestically. When what is happening overseas impacts them domestically, that is when we start to see the engagement, like you were talking about back in 2008, 2009, the overwhelming frustration with the war in afghanistan and iraq. We are not at that point right now but certainly, what you see for a Republican Party is very much divided on the question of ukrainian aid and maybe that is not a good way to say it. I dont know that they are that divided. I think that the majority of republicans on capitol hill, elected officials, want to see more aid going to ukraine but there is a Strong Enough faction that is stopping that and that includes some members of the Republican Party who are running for president. You heard john kirby tell jeff earlier geoff earlier that the administration is prepared to handle all of these multiple fronts, the war in ukraine, countering china, and now israel. Do they have the Political Capital and the consensus to do all of that . Tamara President Biden said he was going to give a major address on ukraine to try to make the case to the American People that this is something that they should still care about and should still be invested in. Now, he may have to give a major address on israel and ukraine. As i was looking into sort of the approach to that speech, i talked to a number of allies of the white house who said that President Biden had not really made the case to the American People. He had sort of been quiet on ukraine for a domestic audience and that that was a mistake. Now, you have yet another front here. One thing that is important to point out, a big difference between iraq and afghanistan is there are not u. S. Boots on the ground and that is a very big inference. And something that the white house has not exactly driven home. Amna this is the battle. We are going to see these lines drawn up theoretically if we have a trump and biden rematch between an America First and americas place is as a Global Leader. This is also something that is dividing the republican president ial primary. This is the case that nikki haley makes, saying we have to be as strong as we are in ukraine as we are in israel, as we are in china. The United States, when there is a vacuum, bad things fill it. The United States as a Global Leader is in critically is critically important. You will hear the case being made by republicans regardless of where they are on ukraine that an unsafe world and a border that is obviously we have a significant problem at the border in terms of the u. S. Border, sorry, the southern border of the United States, making that link between here is where the scariness across the world can come in through our southern border. That makes the u. S. Unsafe. Expect to see much more linkage between immigration, what we call immigration reform, and what is happening overseas. Amna we did see a number of the candidates for the republican nomination weighing in on this. Nikki haley has those foreign credentials to some degree. Mr. Trump laying the blame solidly at the feet of President Biden. Does this change the republican side of the equation and how does the white house plan to counter that . Tamara claiming President Biden is a really easy move which is why we saw pretty much every single republican president ial candidate go that direction new saw rnc chairwoman mcdaniel saying this moment is an opportunity for republicans. It is a potential area of contrast. It also harkens back to 2015 2016 when there were a couple of terrorist attacks, when the primary side when it had not jelled yet. Former President Trump came out in a very strong way, and for a muslim dan which seemed anathema to Many Americans but helped cement his lead in the republican primary. It came back in a moment where hes making much of the same rhetorical case. Amna you are seeing some of the same things this year as well. Always good to see you both. Thank you so much. You are welcome. Amna on this in the rosalyn with on this Indigenous People stay, i spoke with rosalyn lapierre. Welcome to the news hour, and thank you for joining us. Rosalyn thank you for having me. Amna so theres been a lot of reporting on the native hawaiian history and the heritage and the community that was lost in those devastating wildfires all these weeks later. How are you thinking about all of that, about what was lost and also what rebuilding looks like moving forward . Rosalyn well, i think that theres still in my mind significant coverage of when people talk about the history of lauhina and maui of focusing story. N the settler colonial it is a significant loss of Historic Buildings and churches. And again, thats more settler colonial history. One of the things that has gotten some coverage, but not as much as it could, is the native of native hawaiian and native history of that region. It is a place that the native hawaiians have viewed for a very long time as a sacred place, a sacred area. It is a place where they have divine entities live there. And it is also a place thats important to their history because it is a place where their royal family chose to live and made their First Capital as part of the hawaiian kingdom. Amna there is so much focus on the history, but also on the the community that lives there today, the native hawaiian communities who call that area home. When you talk to them and you hear their concerns, what are they chiefly concerned about right now in terms of how the process for moving forward has been unfolding . Rosalyn so one of the biggest concerns, of course, is the restoration process, right . The rebuilding process and how to what extent native hawaiian communities is going to be part of that, that process, part of the discussion and the Decision Making and to what extent there is going to be an effort to put them first and to put their what they think is important first, for example, restoring, again, their sacred sites, restoring their Historic Places before theres an effort to sort of restore the settler colonial history of that particular area. [00 10 42][39. 0] amna [00 10 43] you know, restore the settler colonial history of that particular area. Amna you know, theres also been some reporting on this decades long fight for sovereignty, hawaiian sovereignty having been renewed as a result of of the devastation from the fires that indigenous activists have been arguing that the only way to preserve this land that is sacred to them is to restore hawaii to a selfsufficient, selfgoverning island. Have you heard that sort of renewed conversation . Rosalyn yes. And the conversation around sovereignty has been a really long conversation in hawaii. But one of the things that they do have sort of unity on is that it should be hawaiian voices that are, again, being heard. And in terms of the history of not just maui, but the entire hawaiian islands, you know, it does have a dark past in terms of the United States coming and as a colonial power, basically taking over the islands and taking them by force from the hawaiian kingdom. And so thats very much part of their history, but also their passion in terms of the way that they view their role in the future and wanting to be heard. Amna we know the role that Climate Change played in driving as bad as they were. Making them and you write often about this intersection of Climate Change and its impact on communities and in particular for indigenous communities. What, in your mind is important for us to keep in mind as we cover these stories, as we know well continue to cover . Rosalyn the growing Climate Crisis is really impacting indigenous communities. We see sort of disaster after disaster, whether its fire or flooding or intense drought in the west, that these are going to continue to be issues with indigenous communities. And i think that one of the things to be reminded of is that, you know, the land in the landscape is extremely important to Indigenous People. You know, its very much part of our food and our food systems. Its very much part of our sacred lands and sacred landscapes. Amna thank you. It is a pleasure speaking to you. Rosalyn thank you for having me on tonight. Geoff simone biles has made history with an incredible comeback after a twoyear hiatus, cementing her goat status by becoming the most decorated gymnast of all time this weekend. Biles competed in the world artistic gymnastic championships in belgium, where she took home four gold medals. That brings her to a total of 37 medals between World Championships and the olympics. Biles won two of those medals this weekend in the balance beam and bar events. To discuss biles return to competition, were joined by Christine Brennan of usa today. It is always great to see you. Simone biles is now the most decorated gymnast in history, male or female, 37 medals, a whopping 27 of which are gold. Have we ever seen anything like this in any sport, especially given all that simone biles has overcome . Christine all the things she has had to deal with, being a survivor of the most horrific Sexual Abuse Scandal in sports history domestic or international, larry nassar horrors, being abused in that way. Being someone who has we know from two years ago went through the twisties, getting lost in the air, the mental block, to the point she had to withdraw from several events at the Tokyo Olympics. Being 26 years old, having lived through all of that, and coming back to have a week of her life athletically in terms of the physical prowess that we know she has had going all the way back to the rio olympics and going back 10 years ago to the first world championship. The ability to put that altogether in a sport that is truly a high wire act. Everything she does, be it an incredible highflying act exercise. All the other exercises that are just literally a middle meter millimeter one way or the other. It turns out to be something that is obviously, you cannot come back from and yet time and again, she was not only good, she was great, the greatest of all time proving once again, showing us once again just how great she can be. Geoff how did she do it . The physical feed is one thing but in many ways feat is one thing, but the mental feat is another. How did that feel her success . Fuel her success . Christine it was the mental approach. It was things like visualization and having quotes she would read back to herself and positive thoughts, talking as she did in every press availability at the World Championships about her therapist and seeing her therapist while she was there and talking openly about something that even 10, 15 years ago, maybe even five years ago, athletes would have been reticent to discuss, the issue of mental health, needing help, wanting to talk to someone about that. She has been so open. What a role model she is for kids and young people and anyone really around the world. Male, female, anyone, in terms of looking at your mental health. Trying to basically take everything that she remembered about the Tokyo Olympics a little bit more than two years ago and move that out of her head so that she could focus on the task at hand. That is no small feat because it was such a devastating time for her at those Olympic Games in 2021. She was just vilified on social media and talked about that with other social media sites away from the top of her phone. She has talked about wanting to just focus on what she cares about and interestingly, she talks about going meet by meet. Shes not going to try to tell us what shes trying to do may be in the next year. She is looking from one meat to the next, stepbystep meet to the next, stepbystep. She has conditioned herself to understand this is how she could achieve her best in the arena by being at her best with her mental health. Geoff lets talk about her performance in the arena because her balance beam routine on sunday was nearperfect. All this precision. She is the one to beat. Christine we throw around goat a lot. But theres no doubt that simone biles is the goat, the greatest of all time in genetics. Shes 26. She was 16. This was a little kid sport. We have seen in part because of simone biles and in part because of the push and the understanding of the abuse whether it would be the horrors of larry nasser or the physical pounding the body takes of a young child, young girl, young boy, etc. , is now becoming a sport for people who are a little bit older and simone has led the way there, too. That is the veteran status that she has now. That is savvy which is also allowing her to achieve greatness, not necessarily pushing the envelope every moment. Knowing she is the best ever. Just play it smart in key moments to win these old metals and to show herself that she is back and she can compete at this high level. Geoff what about competing in the paris on the text . Has she said anything about that . Christine they are in july of next year. That is a whole different set of pressure because thats many more as you well know, so many more reporters, so many more questions, all the promos come all the commercials come all the things she will be asked to do, she will have to say no a lot because what she learned from tokyo, she will try and take this to paris. My sense is she will be in paris at the age of 27. She would be by far the most talked about athlete going into those olympics but as she has said, shes not going to make that decision. Shes going to listen to her body and even more important, listen to her mind as she goes through these next two months. Geoff thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Christine thank you. Amna an update now it has largely gained control in the south while thousands of israelis have been evacuated from towns in gaza. 11 americans are among 900 People Killed in israel. Nearly 700 people have been reported dead in gaza but the death is expected to rise. We return to layla malan allen in tel aviv where it is the middle of the night going into a fourth day of what will surely be more brutal fighting. Good to see you. You traveled earlier today to some of those towns near the gaza strip that sustained most of the damage from those attacks. Tell us about that. What did you see there . Leila i did. Earlier in the program, we heard from the idf saying no negotiation, no backing down, and that is certainly what i saw him Security Forces on the way down. You start to drive south from tel aviv and you see smoke rising across the fields but everywhere, sniper checkpoints, lots of tanks piling up. They are ready. They are not backing down, but the people are exhausted, terrified. People in these towns have long faced rocket barrages all the time but they normally see that as being the limit so when they started, they thought that was all this was going to be and it was not. They faced horrific attack after horrific attack and they suddenly feel really jeopardized in their safety and perhaps they cannot be protected in the way they thought they could. Everything is closed with hundreds of thousands of People Living in them. We did find one shop that was open and we asked the shopkeeper why. He said people have to eat. We are not going to starve just because of what is going on but even inside, every 10 to 15 minutes, sirens going off, everybody crowds into safe spaces, every building has some sort of concrete room and you go in and the thud of the rockets. They are terrified and exhausted. I spoke to one young woman. Her husband is a Police Officer and she is terrified for him. She lost five of her friends in the attack on the rave. She is absolutely despairing. All over these towns, people are really terrified and they do not know what is going to come. Amna heartbreaking stories everywhere you turn. Earlier this summer, you were reporting from the occupied west bank as clashes were increasing between palestinians and israelis. Have you been in touch with any of those folks . What are you hearing from them . Leila i have stayed in touch with some of them. The main thing we are hearing from so many parents, from families on both sides of this conflict, so terrified about what could emerge from this violence and at that point when i was reporting earlier in the summer, everybody was so worried about the west bank and had been so focused on that violence there. Others and fathers on both sides very worried this could escalate, that there could be another war, a third intifada. Seeing this coming from the other part where palestinians live, people really concerned. Their kids are getting called up to fight on both sides and people are worried this violence could escalate out of control. Amna i have to ask, how real is the threat that you are hearing on the ground, the concern that this could actually expand, the fighting could grow outside of these borders . Leila well, i spent a long time living in lebanon and i reported on hezbollah extensively. I spent some time looking at their weapons caches earlier this year and its money middle until its money mental. They are currently staying handsoff, saying they will not get involved unless there is a land invasion, Ground Invasion of the gaza strip but that could turn into a two front war for israel. Amna thank you. Geoff you can find more coverage of the israelgaza war and other stories online at pbs. Org newshour and on our social media accounts. Amna join us again tomorrow night for the latest on that conflict. In the meantime, that is the newshour for tonight. Geoff thanks for joining us. Have a good evening. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by architect, beekeeper, mentor. A raymondjames Financial Advisor taylors advice to help you live your life, life well planned. The kendeda fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. More at the website kendedafund. Org. Supported by the macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org. And with the ongoing support of these institutions. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Wow, you get to watch all your favorite stuff. Its to die for. Now you wont miss a thing. This is the way. The xfinity 10g network. Made for streaming. Hello, everyone. Welcome to amanpour co. A vote for womens rights in iron and around the world as the Nobel Peace Prize goes to jailed activist narges mohammadi. We have that exclusive report and we look back at some of christianes reporting on the iranian women fighting for tir