Donald trumps legal team, as she takes the stand for a second day in the former president s hush money trial. And a look at a batterypowered aircraft that could lead the transition away from fossil fueled flight. You can get in it, you can fly in it, you can carry cargo in it. This aircraft isnt a gimmick. It is a realworld aircraft. It is reliable. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Certified Financial Planner professionals are proud to support pbs newshour. Cfp professionals are committed to acting in their clients best interest. More information at letsmakeaplan. Org. The kendeda fund, committed to advancing Restorative Justice and meaningful work through investments in transformative leaders and ideas. More at kendedafund. Org. Carnegie corporation of new york, working to reduce Political Polarization through philanthropic support for education, democracy, and peace. More information at carnegie. 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. Amna welcome to the newshour today, israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said his country would quote, stand alone if necessary, a response to President Bidens recent move to pause deliveries of some bombs to israel. That decision has created a possible turning point in the u. S. Israel relationship and the war in gaza, with the fate of hostage negotiations in the balance. Israel is now poised to expand its operation in rafah, a step the u. S. Is warning netanyahu not to take. Nick schifrin begins our coverage. Nick in southern israel, tanks are massed and nearly ready for an assault. They fire at rafah, where ongoing airstrikes rip the roofs off homes. Toppled minarets. And killed victims who are so easy to carry the burden becomes all the heavier. And President Biden is concerned an expanded military operation, would kill more gazans like yazan hassan mohanna. Civilians have been killed in gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers. I made it clear that if they go into rafah they havent gone in rafah yet if they go into rafah, im not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with rafah. Nick but hamas fights from rafah, including with mortars that last weekend killed four Israeli Soldiers and blocked humanitarian aid. Israel is determined to eliminate hamas final four battalions, no matter what the u. S. Says. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today if we need to stand alone, we will stand alone. I have said that if necessary, we will fight with our fingernails. But we have much more than fingernails, and with that same strength of spirit, with gods help, together, we will win. Nick the fighting has forced some 80,000 gazans, many already displaced, to flee rafah. The main hospital is closed, its rooms abandoned. Humanitarian aid shelves are nearly bare, and fuel trucks are stuck in egypt. There is only one to two days of fuel left, since israel seized and closed the border, the u. N. Said this week. The first act is to stop the fuel, stop the food, to stop the medicine, at source, at the border. I dont call that limited and i dont call that restricted, i call that a reimposition of total blockade on nearly 2. 5 million civilians. Nick the fate of rafah is connected to the fate of israeli hostages. Every night their families march through tel aviv, demanding the government accept a deal that would pause the war, to release their loved ones. Today, National SecurityCommunications Advisor john kirby said the u. S. Shares israels strategic goal of an enduring defeat of hamas, but said it disagreed with how to achieve it. Smashing into rafah, kirby said, will not get israel there, and he also said its unacceptable that the rafah crossing is still closed. Amna you mentioned how the fate of rafah is intertwined with the hostages held in gaza. What is the status of those negotiations . Nick caa director bill burns has left the region. But u. S. Officials tell me that does not mean the negotiations have stopped. There is clearly a difference between the u. S. And israel and how those negotiations should proceed. Israel has argued that President Bidens decision about pausing some weapons deliveries and making that decision public actually strengthens hamass negotiating position. Kirby today argued a major operation by israel in rafah would actually strengthen hamass negotiating position. He said that operation would show that israel is not interested in actually achieving a ceasefire hostage deal and it would cause more civilian casualties, therefore putting more diplomatic and International Pressure on israel. But it is all coming to a head. Israel said the end of this week is the deadline. They will launch that major operation in rafah if there is not a hostage deal. Amna Nick Schifrin beginning our coverage tonight. Nick, thank you. Nick thank you. Stephanie im stephanie sy with newshour west. Here are the latest headlines large stretches of the deep south faced a new wave of severe storms, including possible tornadoes. Dangerous conditions delayed flights in atlanta and charlotte, and closed schools in some places. A day earlier, tennessee reported multiple tornadoes and saw barrages of massive hail. The storms also left widespread destruction and hundreds of thousands without power. In all, four people have died this week from the extreme weather. Puerto rico has declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard amid unrelenting rain and flooding. The u. S. Territory has had more than 10 inches of rain in just two days, turning streets into rivers and triggering landslides. Officials say one person is missing, several people have been rescued from rooftops, and crops have been badly damaged. In ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned today his country faces a really difficult situation in the east, as Russian Forces gain ground. Zelenskyy spoke in kyiv, with the president of the european parliament. He said new military aid from the United States needs to arrive soon. Pres. Zelenskyy with an increase in the supply of weapons, we will be able to stop them in the east. As of now, they seized the initiative there. This is no secret. We need to stop them, take the initiative into our own hands. This is possible only when you have something strong in your hands. Stephanie zelenskyys comments followed a week of heavy russian bombardments. Today, officials confirmed that two hydropower plants were knocked out in the assaults. Meantime, a Ukrainian Drone attack today damaged an energy plant more than 900 miles inside russian territory. Thats the deepest strike yet by kyivs forces. Russia focused on an old conflict today its defeat of nazi germany in world war ii. Victory day brought parades and pageantry, orchestrated by president vladimir putin. On a cold, snowy day in moscow, military regiments marched and tanks rolled through red square. Putin thanked those fighting in ukraine and said the country is united. Pres. Putin we celebrate victory day in the context of the special military operation. All its participants, those who are on the front line, on the line of combat contact, are our heroes. All of russia is with you. Stephanie putin has used world war ii to justify his invasion of ukraine, claiming without evidence that the goal is to root out a neonazi regime. Back in this country, 25 republican attorneys general sued the Environmental Protection agency over carbon emissions. Theyre challenging a rule that would cut those emissions from coalfired power plants by 90 percent, over 8 years. West virginias attorney general said the mandate is setting up the plants to fail and therefore shutter, altering the nations already stretched grid. A federal Appeals Court panel ruled today that convicted felons who have served their sentences for nonviolent crimes have the constitutional right to bear arms. In a 2 to 1 ruling, the dissenting judge of the 9th Circuit Court of appeals wrote that the Second Amendment only protects lawabiding citizens. Other Appeals Courts have upheld the federal law, raising the possibility the issue could go to the supreme court. On wall street, stocks managed to gain some ground. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up 331 points to close at 39,387. The nasdaq rose 43 points. The s p 500 added 26. And, the world video game hall of fame in rochester, new york has five new honorees. The class of 2024 includes asteroids which debuted in arcades in 1979 plus ultima, resident evil, myst and sim city. The hall of fame recognizes all types of electronic games, including arcade, console, computer, handheld and mobile. Still to come on the newshour the Biden Administration proposes changes to the asylum system that would speed up deportations for certain migrants. A middle schools unique and successful approach to keeping students off their cell phones. And a new book takes a look at the women who shaped president Theodore Roosevelt. 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 more now on the Biden Administrations decision to suspend some weapons deliveries to israel, to pressure it against a largescale invasion of the gazan city of rafah. Nick schifrin is back here in studio. Nick, as youve been reporting, President Biden wants the netanyahu government to do more to limit civilian deaths in rafah, where more than a Million People are now sheltering. Nick . Nick amna, the decision pauses the delivery of 3500 bombs, about half of them 2000 pound bombs that the u. S. Believes have caused the most civilian casualties in gaza. President biden also warned more weapons deliveries could be paused, if israel launches that full invasion of rafah. So, will the decision have the desired effect . For that, we get two views. Ambassador dennis ross played leading roles in the middle east Peace Process for more than 12 years. He is now a counselor and a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for near east policy, a washington think tank. And Tom Malinowski was assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor during the obama administration, and a former member of congress. Hes now a nonresident senior fellow at the mccain institute. Thank you very much to both of you and welcome back. Will the Israeli Government now take more into account the Biden Administrations over rafah then it would have if you decision was not made and not made public . Dennis it is an excellent question. My sense is from a political standpoint it will be harder for Prime Minister netanyahu who to respond to President Biden not in terms of the body politic of israel as a whole but the right wing of his own coalition. How he manages that remains to be seen. Having said that, i dont see him wanting to put israel in a position where suddenly it is losing access to some of the munitions it is likely to need not so much for rafah but because it still faces real threats from hezbollah in the north. It is not in israels image interest to create a gap with the u. S. That could make a conflict with the north and hezbollah more likely. It is also not in israels interest because it probably also increases the hamas leader in gaza, increases his sense that he doesnt need to make any decisions at all right now. He is going to play upon the divisions between the United States and israel. Both israel and the United States have an interest in finding a way to change that image that there is a division. Nick tom, same question. Is Bibi Netanyahu more likely to take u. S. Warnings seriously today than he was before it was made public . Tom he was not taking them seriously before and that is why the president made this decision. This is the most proisrael president in american history. He has just reached his limit after months and months of trying to break through to this government in israel. We are still supporting israel. He is also the first president just last month to put American Forces on the line defending shooting down hundreds of missiles. He would do it again tomorrow if he had to. He has just decided something i think should be noncontroversial. That we should not be arming a foreign country to do something that the United States thinks should not be done. Nick should the u. S. Be arming a country, israel in this case, to do something it does not want done, namely, the invasion of rafah . Dennis it is hard to quarrel with that because the fact is israel has its set of interests but so do we. And if we think they are doing something is wrong or crosses a line or is counterproductive, which is the real reason the president adopted the position he has. Yes, there is a moral dimension to this, but he thinks this is selfdefeating if israel goes into rafah on the ground. Having said that again, the administrations position is not different from israels that hamas should not be in control not only of gaza, but rafah. There ought to be away for the administration and israel to reach an understanding on what is a way to deal with the hamas presence in rafah without putting at risk 1. 3 Million People crammed into a very small area. Nick that is certainly what the u. S. Wants. Netanyahu has said at least publicly he needs to go into rafah. The impact on the hostage negotiations is the real divide here. Israel has accused President Biden essentially of relieving pressure on sinwar. John kirby made the opposite case that an invasion of rafah would hurt israel in the negotiations. What do you think . Tom i agree with john kirby but i also think for Prime Minister netanyahu to make that argument, it does not make a lot of sense to me because it was Prime Minister netanyahu who said repeatedly over the last several days that he would go into rafah whether there is a hostage deal or not. He took away his own leverage when making those statements and put the u. S. And our allies in the region and our other allies in the region in the difficult position of trying to convince hamas, you have to give up the hostages anyway and we will somehow try and restrain the israelis from doing this. So i dont think he can have it both ways. Nick your take on that point, that netanyahu took away his own leverage by saying he was going into rafah regardless . Dennis it was a mistake for him to say that. He was saying that because he was trying to appease his ministers on the far right. The most important leverage israel has with sinwar and again, sinwar is different from the Political Leadership of hamas. I think the key putting pressure under him is him feeling that there is a noose tightening around his neck. From that standpoint the threat of going into rafah is far more impressive than actually doing it, number one. Number two, if you were saying we will not go into rafah if there is a hostage release, that also increases the leverage. I am concerned if it looks like we are doing everything we can to prevent a threat against rafah, that that gives sinwar a certain degree of comfort. So there is a great value in the u. S. And the israelis reaching agreement on, a, we share the same strategic objective as it relates to hamas in rafah and gaza, but b, weve reached an understanding about how to contend with how to remove hamas from rafah. I think that is something that can be achievable. I think the issue with netanyahu relates much more to the politics of his coalition than to the reality of what it would take to succeed in rafah and do it in a way consistent with what the u. S. Can live with. Nick when it comes to the politics of the coalition we have a few graphics to show here. We have a tweet from a member of the coalition who is the National Security minister in response to the decision tweeting, hamas loves biden. And a Jerusalem Post editorial, betrayal of allies. In the minute we have left, is some of the responses, especially within netanyahus coalition, is that posturing, or is that genuine anger ahead of israeli independence day, and does it matter . Tom i think they are amp and up the political drama. I think they are hoping to affect the american political debate on this, hoping they can somehow go around biden and have others pressure the administration to change course, which will not work. Those statements, particularly from ministers who have been convicted by israeli courts for support of terrorism themselves, are not going to have a lot of impact on the Biden Administrations calculus, nor should they. I think when the drama subsides, i agree with ambassador ro