we begin in the middle east, where the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has vowed to go ahead with an offensive in gaza s southernmost most city rafah whatever happens in hostage negotiations. nearly 1.5 million palestinians are sheltering there. mr netanyahu s comments follow widespread reports that a framework for a pause in the fighting along with the release of hostages has been formulated by international mediators in paris. well, victory is within reach and you can t have victory until you eliminate hamas. how close is in reach? hamas is a terrorist organisation that once we begin the rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion. and that is.we ve already destroyed 18 out of the 2a hamas terrorist battalions. so we have..and four of them are concentrated in rafah. we can t leave the last hamas stronghold without taking care of it. obviously, we have to do it. but understand too th
newscast. newscast from the bbc. hello, it s paddy in the studio. and it s laura in the studio. and henry is having a week off, so we are graced with the journalist of the moment. hello. who are you? nick watt, how is that? nick watt, the political editor of newsnight, he has been making some news if you are viewing this week. since we last spoke yesterday we have just broke the news that lee anderson the tory mp has been booted out of the party for making what a lot of people believe were racist and unpleasant islamophobic comments, and there has been a statement from anderson himself and also overnight a statement from the prime minister too condemning extremism and anti semitism but not condemning islamophobia. remind ourselves what lee anderson actually said before we get into the furore around it. i don t actually believe that the islamists have got control of the country but what i do believe is they have got control of khan and they have got control of london, and they
whatever happens in hostage negotiations. nearly 1.5 million palestinians are sheltering there. mr netanyahu s comments follow widespread reports that a framework for a pause in the fighting along with the release of hostages has been formulated by international mediators in paris. our special correspondent, fergal keane, has been finding out what any ceasfire could mean for the palestinians sheltering in rafah. you may find some of his report distressing. well, victory is within reach and you can t have victory until you eliminate hamas. how close is in reach? hamas is a terrorist organisation that once we begin the rafah operation, the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion, not months, weeks away from completion. and that is.we ve already destroyed 18 out of the 2a hamas terrorist battalions. so we have..and four of them are concentrated in rafah. we can t leave the last hamas stronghold without taking care of it. obviously, we have to do it. but u
bassem youssef. yes?! they laugh that s a great start. yes, it s very hard hardtalk. it is a great pleasure to welcome you to this show hardtalk. i m very, very pleased to be here. thank you so much for having me. i want to beginjust reflecting on the move you made from homeland, egypt, to the united states. about ten years ago, just less, you became a migrant. but i m just wondering about one particular aspect of the move your sense of humour. how easy is it for humour to cross borders? very difficult, very difficult. because it s notjust about the words, it s about the music and the rhythm and the cadence. when i started doing stand up comedy here, i sucked. i was so bad. because it s not aboutjust writing the jokes, it s about finding the same wavelength and the cadence and the rhythm that people receive, they re used to receiving. so, when i went out in comedy clubs, i m talking to people who are americans. they have different. it s different, so it s not about. you