04/05/2024 | 56m 44s | Video has closed captioning.
Friday on the NewsHour, two Israeli officers are disciplined after the military admits to making a “grave mistake” in killing seven aid workers in Gaza. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks on the massive effort required to rebuild the Francis Scott Key Bridge and reopen the city’s port. Plus, what you need to know ahead of Monday’s total solar eclipse.
Aired: 04/05/24
Expires: 05/05/24
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GEOFF BENNETT: Good evening.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: Five Israeli officers are disciplined after the military admits making a -- quote -- "grave mistake" in killing seven aid workers in Gaza.
GEOFF BENNETT: Maryland Governor Wes Moore on the massive effort required to rebuild the Key Bridge and reopen the city's port.
AMNA NAWAZ: And what you need to know ahead of Monday's solar eclipse from science correspondent Miles O'Brien and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, Director, Hayden Planetarium: The eclipse itself goes over major metropolitan areas.
People can sit in their backyards and experience a total solar eclipse without even having to travel.
(BREAK) AMNA NAWAZ: Welcome to the "NewsHour."
Today, the Israeli military dismissed two officers and reprimanded three more senior officers it said were responsible for the killings of seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen earlier this week.
The Monday attack has put even greater scrutiny on Israel's tactics in Gaza.
GEOFF BENNETT: Under heavy pressure from President Biden, Israel opened three aid crossings into Gaza that it had been resisting.
The president also sent letters to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar asking them to push Hamas toward a hostage deal.
Here's Nick Schifrin.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel is calling it a grave mistake, three precise hits on vehicles filled with aid workers who are trying to feed the hungry.
Today, Israel released an unusually swift investigation blaming mistaken identification, errors in decision-making and decisions contrary to the standard operating procedures.
And the IDF fired the brigade fire support commander, a major, and the brigade chief of staff, a reserve colonel.
And it reprimanded more senior officers, the brigade commander, the division commander, and the Southern Command commander.
Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari is the top IDF spokesman.
REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI, Spokesperson, Israeli Defense Forces: This is a tragedy.
It was a terrible chain of errors and it should never have happened.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The IDF says it tracked the convoy as it left the World Central Kitchen's pier.
Along the coast, the IDF says an armed gunman boarded the convoy and surveillance spotted a second gunman.
Farther south, the convoy split.
And that's when the IDF admits one of its commanders mistakenly assumed that Hamas gunmen remained inside the convoy.
REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI: This operational misidentification and misclassification was the result of internal failures.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Between 11:09 and 11:13 p.m.
The IDF says it launched three strikes on three vehicles separated by more than a mile, even though they rode along the coastal road designated for humanitarian workers.
REAR ADM. DANIEL HAGARI: The soldiers conducted the strike without any awareness that these were in fact WCK vehicles.
At the time, they were certain that they were targeting Hamas.
NICK SCHIFRIN: But the U.N. today and others say Israel's targeting problems run deeper.
The war in Gaza has been the deadliest ever for humanitarian workers.
The U.N. says some 200 have been killed.
MASTER SGT.
WES BRYANT (RET.
), U.S. Air Force: We can see that this is not really an exception.
It's a norm.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Retired Master Sergeant Wes Bryant spent 20 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he called in airstrikes and led targeting cells.
MASTER SGT.
WES BRYANT (RET.
): I think that, when you have an overall culture of what seems to be callousness and indifference towards civilian harm, disregard for international humanitarian law and an overaggressiveness, really an emotional campaign that's being waged by the IDF, the probability of these kind of targeting mistakes increases tenfold.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. is also pressing Israel to help alleviate what the U.N. calls looming famine.
And after President Biden pressured Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in yesterday's phone call, Israel will open three new access points for humanitarian aid in Gaza, Erez, Kerem Shalom, and the Ashdod port.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
ANTONY BLINKEN, U.S. Secretary of State: The real test is results.
And that's what we're looking to see in the coming days and in the coming weeks.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Israel has blamed the U.N. for food shortfalls, but is accepting responsibility for this strike, hoping not to lose the support of its closest ally.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
AMNA NAWAZ: In the day's other headlines: A relatively rare East Coast earthquake rattled much of the Northeastern U.S.
It frayed nerves, but caused no casualties or major damage.
As the ground began to tremble in the New York area this morning, some reacted with fear.
FINN DUSENBERY, New York City Resident: The building shook, and I thought that the ceiling above me was going to collapse, actually.
AMNA NAWAZ: Others with confusion.
SANDY GLUCK, New York City Resident: We felt the floor shake, and I said, what is that?
We're not over the subway.
AMNA NAWAZ: The U.S. Geological Survey says the 4.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, at 10:23 a.m., and may have been felt by some 42 million people in the region.
WOMAN: Everyone's outside.
AMNA NAWAZ: New Yorkers temporarily evacuated buildings.
MAN: This crack wasn't here.
AMNA NAWAZ: Others documented some minor effects.
There were no immediate reports of serious damage.
Leaders and officials quickly came out and told people not to worry.
GOV.
KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): Here in the state of New York, we are masters of disasters.
We know how to handle this.
AMNA NAWAZ: While air and rail travel were temporarily disrupted, most people went back to their daily routines.
The last major East Coast earthquake came in 2011.
It was felt from Georgia to Canada and damaged the Washington Monument.
The U.S. economy is still churning out jobs and surprising the experts.
The Labor Department reports a net gain of 303,000 workers in March, at least 100,000 more than expected.
The unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.8 percent, thanks to the strong pace of hiring.
In Iran today, the commander of the powerful Revolutionary Guard vowed retribution against Israel for an airstrike in Damascus, Syria.
It killed seven guard members, including two top generals.
The threat came as thousands rallied in Tehran and called for Israel's destruction.
And the leader of Lebanon-based Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, warned that Iran's response is coming.
Ukraine's military claims it carried out a major aerial assault inside Russia overnight, one of the biggest of the war.
Officials say drones targeted an air base in the Rostov region, destroying at least six Russian warplanes and damaging eight others.
Hours later, a barrage of Russian missiles forced Ukrainians in Zaporizhzhia to scramble for cover.
The strike killed at least three people.
There's word that Austria is likely to become mostly ice-free in the next 45 years, as climate change melts the country's glaciers.
The Austrian Alpine Club reports that its measurements found all but one of Austria's 93 glaciers receded from 2022 to 2023.
GERHARD LIEB, Austrian Alpine Club (through translator): You can't save the Austrian glaciers anymore because the systems are too sluggish.
That means their disappearance in the next decades is unstoppable.
To prevent it, snow reserves in the higher elevations would have to start forming, so that the glaciers could stabilize or maybe even grow.
But it takes decades, and the time is already up.
AMNA NAWAZ: The group says that the glaciers shrank nearly 80 feet on average last year compared to the year before.
Back in this country, cleanup is under way in New England after an early spring storm brought heavy snow and fierce winds.
At least two people were killed.
Some parts of Northern New England got as much as two feet of snow.
Hundreds of thousands of customers across the region also lost power.
Social media giant Meta has announced an expansive new policy on posts generated by artificial intelligence.
Starting next month, all such videos, images and audio on Facebook, Instagram and threads will be labeled - - quote -- "made with A.I."
Digitally altered media may also be flagged if it's deemed especially deceptive.
And on Wall Street, the strong jobs report fueled a rally.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 307 points to close at 38904.
The Nasdaq rose 199 points, and the S&P 500 was up 57.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": what the attack on the Moscow concert hall says about the U.S.-Russia relationship; Senator Chris Coons on U.S. military aid to Israel and President Biden's call for a cease-fire in Gaza; David Brooks and Jonathan Capehart weigh in on the week's political headlines; and how Muslim Americans are observing Ramadan this year.
GEOFF BENNETT: President Biden visited the site of the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore this afternoon, getting a firsthand look at the cleanup and recovery efforts to reopen one of the nation's key shipping hubs.
The deadly collapse killed six workers who were filling potholes on the bridge when a container ship slammed into one of its pillars last week.
President Biden met with the families of the victims and reaffirmed his commitment to the people of Baltimore.
He's asking Congress to pay the full cost of rebuilding the bridge.
JOE BIDEN, President of the United States: Everyone, including Congress, should be asking only one question.
And they're going to be asked the question by your delegation.
How can we help?
How can we solve the problem?
My administration is committed, absolutely committed to ensuring that the party responsible for this tragedy pay to repair the damage and be held accountable to the fullest extent the law will allow.
GEOFF BENNETT: Maryland Governor Wes Moore was with President Biden today, and he joins us now.
Governor, thanks for being with us, and welcome back to the "NewsHour."
GOV.
WES MOORE (D-MD): Thank you so much.
Great to be with you.
GEOFF BENNETT: So the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced a timeline to partially open that channel in Baltimore by the end of April and fully reopen it by the end of May.
Still, though, what challenges and obstacles remain that could get in the way of that ambitious timeline?
GOV.
WES MOORE: Well, this is arguably one of the most significant maritime tragedies that we have had in recent history.
Because what we have here is a situation, in addition to the six tragic lives that were lost -- and we continue to have their families in our prayers -- we also have a situation that's unprecedented, a situation where you have a ship that is the size, literally the size of the Eiffel Tower and the weight of the Washington Monument that's now sitting in the middle of the Patapsco River and has the Key Bridge, an iconic bridge that's been around as long as I have been alive, that's now sitting on top of it.
You have about 27,000 tons of debris that's now sitting in the water.
And so how to navigate this and do this is a remarkably complicated operation.
We have been grateful that we have been working hand in hand with the Army Corps of Engineers, with the Coast Guard, with the Navy SUPSALV, with the Maryland State Police divers.
So this has been a full coordination of federal, state and local assets.
And while we're thankful that the Army Corps of Engineers has put together an aggressive timeline, we know that it's going to take all hands on deck.
We know it's going to continue to be a 24/7 operation.
And we know we're going to continue putting together all assets necessary in order for us to provide comfort to the families, reopen the channels, make sure we're taking care of our people, and getting the Key Bridge rebuilt.
GEOFF BENNETT: The closure obviously has an impact on the national economy.
What are the consequences of a prolonged closure of this port on Maryland's economy?
And are you concerned that shippers and suppliers could permanently shift to ports in New Jersey and New York, for instance?
GOV.
WES MOORE: Well, I'm very concerned not just about what it's going to mean to Maryland's economy, but what it's going to mean to the nation's economy.
This is going to hurt the farmer in Kentucky, because the largest port in this country for agricultural equipment is the Port of Baltimore.
This is going to hurt the automaker in Ohio because the largest port in this country for new cars and heavy trucks is the Port of Baltimore.
This is going to hurt the restaurant owner in Tennessee because the largest port for spices and sugars in the country is the Port of Baltimore.
So this is not just going to have significant impacts on Maryland's economy.
It will have significant impacts on our national economy.
But it is one of the reasons that we have been working around the clock, and also we're so grateful for the support that we receive from businesses.
So, for example, today, we just launched something called the Maryland Tough Baltimore Strong Alliance, which now has over 80 companies that have signed on, some of which who have signed on and said they are not going to lay off workers or saying they are not going to reroute their products, and, even if they have to do it temporarily, they are coming back to Baltimore.
So seeing the way the community, and that includes the business community, has been rallying around Maryland and rallying around Baltimore in this moment has been truly inspiring.
GEOFF BENNETT: As you mentioned, six men died in the collapse of that bridge.
Four of them have not been found.
How are their families faring and what, if anything, is being done to support them, given that they likely don't have the resources to sustain the type of tragedies that have befallen them?
GOV.
WES MOORE: Our hearts continue to break for these families.
And I remember I first had a chance to meet with the families when this was still a search-and-rescue operation.
And I told them we would spare no expense and we would do everything in our power to -- and using assets of air, land and sea -- to being able to bring their family members home.
And even as this mission has now transitioned into now a recovery mission, where this is really about how we bring a sense of closure to these families, I promise the same thing, that we will use all of our resources to bring a sense of closure and a sense of comfort to these families.
These are men who went to work and had no idea that, even though the work they were doing was dangerous, had no idea it was going to be deadly.
Same thing with their families.
So we are going to make sure that we are wrapping our arms around them, and not just lifting them up in prayer, but also making sure that we have supports in place for them, their families and their children.
It's the reason that I actually introduced legislation that is going to provide scholarships and supports to the families of these fallen workers.
GEOFF BENNETT: And, lastly, Governor, how has this incident led you to think differently about regulating and inspecting existing bridges and then ultimately designing the Key Bridge differently?
GOV.
WES MOORE: Well, I came into this knowing that the number one priority for me was always going to be to keep our people safe.
Nothing matters more.
And that includes our critical infrastructure.
That includes how people are moving around.
And so we have always had a very aggressive push on making sure that we're having hard -- having fortified critical infrastructure, roads, bridges, tunnels, so that people can actually move safely from where they live to where they work, where they live to where they worship, where they live to where they go to school.
And we are going to make sure that that process does continue.
And I know, as a full investigation is taking place as to what exactly happened in this situation by the NTSB, not only do I encourage that investigation, I want it to be a speedy investigation.
And if there are people who need to be held to account for the catastrophe that we saw here in Baltimore, I want people to be held to account for it.
And so making sure we have a hard and critical infrastructure is of highest priority, but also making sure that we're learning the lessons and have clear accountability for people, particularly in this situation, also is something that I think is crucially important.
GEOFF BENNETT: That is Maryland Governor Wes Moore.
Governor, we appreciate you making time for us this evening.
Thank you.
GOV.
WES MOORE: God bless you.
Thank you.
AMNA NAWAZ: The March 22 terrorist attack on Crocus City Hall killed 145 people and injured hundreds, the deadliest attack in Russia in 20 years.
Russia blamed the U.S. and Ukraine, despite specific U.S. intelligence shared with Russia of an impending attack by ISIS Khorasan and that group having claimed responsibility after the attack.
Nick Schifrin is back now with a look at what a U.S. warning and Russia's subsequent unfounded accusations say about the U.S.-Russia relationship and Russia's intelligence services.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Before the band could take the stage, what was supposed to be a raucous concert became a living nightmare.
(GUNSHOTS) NICK SCHIFRIN: Those they didn't slaughter, they tried to burn alive.
(GUNSHOTS) EFIM FIDRYA, Concert Attack Survivor (through translator): These screams of people, I understood, shots and screams from people who are frightened, who are now maybe dying.
This is pretty hard to ever forget.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Efim Fidrya bought tickets for the rock group Picnic to celebrate his wife Olga's birthday.
The shooting started as they arrived.
EFIM FIDRYA (through translator): We headed toward the entrance to the hall and almost immediately heard shots.
We ran down the stairs and took refuge in the toilet stall.
Someone was praying.
Someone was calling their loved ones, screaming emotionally to get us out of there.
After a while, smoke began to seep in.
We decided to leave.
A girl's body lay near the escalator that led to the first floor.
She was dead.
NICK SCHIFRIN: You mentioned how it helped when you heard that the terrorists were arrested.
President Putin has described them as radical Islamists, but having a connection to Ukraine.
What do you think when you hear that statement?
EFIM FIDRYA (through translator): Considering that their behavior is different from typical radical Islamists -- they did not try to commit suicide.
They did not take hostages and went towards the Ukrainian border.
It is possible that the official version will actually be correct.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Putin provided the initial official version.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russian President (through translator): The crime was committed by radical Islamists.
But we also see that the United States is trying to convince its satellites there is supposedly no trace of Kyiv.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Today, Russian investigators revealed what they said was a suspect's phone, with photos inside of iconic symbols of Ukrainian resistance and Crocus City Hall.
And Russia's top intelligence officer, Alexander Bortnikov, has blamed the attack on Ukrainian and American intelligence.
ALEXANDER BORTNIKOV, Director, Russian Federal Security Service (through translator): We believe that the action was prepared by both the Islamist radicals themselves and was facilitated by Western special services.
The Ukrainian special services themselves are directly related to this.
NICK SCHIFRIN: The U.S. and Ukraine both say only ISIS was responsible.
Two U.S. officials tell "PBS NewsHour" the U.S. warned Russia of a possible terrorist attack and named specific targets, including Crocus City Hall.
On March the 7th, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow made the warning public.
"Extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours."
Despite the U.S. specificity, Russia would later call the intelligence -- quote -- "too general."
And before the attack, Putin disparaged the U.S. warnings.
VLADIMIR PUTIN (through translator): All these actions represent outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society.
ANDREI SOLDATOV, Russian Investigative Journalist: There is a sense and a climate of conspiratorial thinking, which is quite widespread in Russian society these days, that Russia is a besieged fortress.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Andrei Soldatov is a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis and an investigative journalist who covers Russia's security services.
ANDREI SOLDATOV: They have this sense of extreme fragility of the Russian state.
And they think that -- again, that this state, which is extremely fragile, is under constant attack.
So, even if they see and they have this evidence that the real radical Islamists are behind that attack and they caught them red-handed, they would try to develop a bigger theory that there are some hostile forces behind this facade.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Soldatov points out that Russia did make some arrests immediately after the U.S. warning.
But he says Putin has created a climate where it's impossible for society to question the security services and impossible for intelligence officers to work with the West.
ANDREI SOLDATOV: People who became too close, from the Russian point of view, to the Americans and shared too much with the Americans, in terms of counterterrorism, these people were immediately punished and sent to jail.
The other problem is that, if you shield your security and intelligence services from any kind of criticism, your security services will always fail you, because they feel completely impenetrable.
NICK SCHIFRIN: And so Putin's besieged fortress failed to protect its own people, the price, 145 innocent lives.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin.
GEOFF BENNETT: Let's shift our focus now back to the Israel-Hamas war and the explicit warnings from President Biden and U.S. officials to the Israeli government that they are nearly out of patience with how it's conducting the war in Gaza.
The administration said it's weighing changing its policy toward Israel if the Israeli military doesn't do more to improve the humanitarian situation.
And Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, one of President Biden's closest allies in the Senate, for the first time is signaling his openness to that idea.
And he joins us now.
Thank you for being with us.
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you, Geoff.
Great to be on with you.
GEOFF BENNETT: So, you said yesterday: "We're at that point of potentially placing some conditions on aid to Israel."
What types of conditions or restrictions do you support, and why?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: Geoff, let me be clear about what I said yesterday.
In Rafah, in the very south of Gaza, there's more than a million Palestinian refugees pressed up against the border with Egypt.
They have nowhere to go.
And they're there because the IDF has been carrying out a monthslong campaign against Hamas that began soon after the October 7 terrorist attacks and has gradually worked its way down Gaza from the north to the center to the south.
What I said was, if Israel ignores our pleas for them to provide for these civilians, these refugees, to get out of the way of their military campaign, and they go into Rafah at scale, bombing and attacking with large-scale infantry units, then I would consider conditioning aid to Israel, the munitions that we provide for that combat, because it would inevitably lead to significant civilian casualties.
That may be different from what others are saying or what others have raised, but that's what I was trying to convey to the Israeli leadership.
Don't go into Rafah with a large-scale attack without providing for humanitarian relief and for civilians to relocate.
GEOFF BENNETT: Understood.
Now, the U.S. provides Israel with weapons systems and munitions not just for war fighting, as you well know, but also for defense and deterrence.
What about this argument that conditioning that aid would put Israel at risk, especially in this environment, when you have actors like Hezbollah, Iran, Iranian proxies that would likely take advantage of that?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: I would not put any limitations on the critical defensive munitions, like the Iron Dome system that we developed in partnership with Israel.
I recognize that Israel's greatest foe in the region, Iran, is likely to be taking action against Israeli interests in the coming weeks because of their ongoing conflict, and that Hezbollah, which is an Iranian proxy in the south of Lebanon, is continuing to launch rockets and missiles into the north of Israel.
So, to be clear, I would support ongoing military partnership between the United States and Israel for Israel's defense.
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, help us understand President Biden's thinking on this.
I know that you're in close touch with him.
He has faced increased pressure to take a harder line for months.
He has been steadfast in his support of Israel.
But he told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday that continued U.S. support for the war in Gaza depends on new steps to protect civilians.
Help us understand his evolution this.
SEN. CHRIS COONS: Well, in my view, President Biden is in no way abandoning the Israeli people or the longstanding, the decades-long, deep U.S.-Israel partnership.
But a number of us, myself included, have real differences with Prime Minister Netanyahu's very conservative government, with his ministers like Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, who have been acting in ways that have slowed the delivery or blocked the delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
So I was encouraged to hear that, after yesterday's conversation between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Biden, the Netanyahu government has now agreed to open the Erez Gate in the far north of Gaza, where the hunger is at its most acute, the Port of Ashdod to allow for greater deliveries of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and the route by which Jordan is delivering aid into Gaza.
That's a small, but important step that shows a willingness to change direction.
I also was encouraged that the IDF has now released the results of its review of the attack on the World Central Kitchen workers that led to the tragic death of seven.
The IDF has disciplined several senior leaders and has made it clear that this was in violation of their policies and practices.
There's more that needs to be done and there's more that needs to change, but that's an encouraging step forward.
And that shows how President Biden's engagement with this far right government of Prime Minister Netanyahu has had some positive impact.
GEOFF BENNETT: On that point, why has the killing of those seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, why has that shifted the debate and shifted the calculus of this White House and top Democrats like yourself in a way that the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinians apparently had not?
SEN. CHRIS COONS: Well, frankly, this has been steadily building over months.
When I was last in the region and last in Israel, the head of the World Food Program, Cindy McCain, raised with me the fact that there had been dozens and dozens of aid workers killed, overwhelmingly Palestinians.
And I raised that issue directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu.
This is now back in February.
I pressed him to address the deconfliction issue.
And he said that he would.
I think that the World Central Kitchen issue has brought it into sharper focus because chef Jose Andres is well-known, well-regarded, and World Central Kitchen has delivered critical hunger and humanitarian relief in so many other places around the world, from Ukraine to California to Puerto Rico.
So it has helped sharpen this issue.
But, frankly, Geoff, this has been building for months, the concern that many of us have about there being far too many civilian casualties in Gaza over what is now a six-month conflict.
GEOFF BENNETT: That is Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware.
Thanks for your time this evening, sir.
We appreciate it.
SEN. CHRIS COONS: Thank you, Geoff.
AMNA NAWAZ: It's been quite a week.
President Biden delivered an ultimatum to our longtime ally Israel.
And, here at home, a number of American adults told us they are prepared to accept violence in our political system.
To discuss all that and more, we turn now to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.
That's New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.
Great to see you both, as always.
I want to pick up where Geoff's interview with Senator Coons there left off.
Jonathan, you just heard the senator saying that he is open to conditioning aid to Israel in -- under those conditions as he laid them out.
This is a close adviser of President Biden saying this, joining the ranks of some other lawmakers who have been saying this for a while, we should say.
But after the killing of those seven aid workers, does this feel like a tipping point when it comes to President Biden's relationship with leaders in Israel?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, I think it is.
We have seen this coming.
How many weeks have we sat here on a Friday night talking about how, while the relationship between the two nations is firm and solid, the relationship between the two leaders of those nations, there's daylight coming in there?
And the president and the administration would say, don't do this, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Prime Minister Netanyahu would basically say, hold my beer.
But the killing of those seven aid workers from World Central Kitchen, founded by chef Jose Andres, who is someone that the president knows -- when the president went to Ukraine, he went to a World Central Kitchen meal station during that trip, owner of restaurants where the president goes to have dinner sometimes.
AMNA NAWAZ: He's a known quantity to the president.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Right, right, right.
So this is someone he knows.
This is someone -- so it struck him, I think, personally in ways that other mistakes maybe have not.
But there needed to be a turning point.
There needed to have something happen to get the president and the administration to be a little more -- a lot more forceful and to get the attention of the prime minister, which I think the president got after that phone call yesterday.
AMNA NAWAZ: David, how do you look at this?
Do you see this as a tipping point in the same way?
And do you see U.S. lawmakers actually moving to condition aid?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I don't really think it's a tipping point.
I think that, as Chris Coons said, it's been a gradual thing.
I have been talking to experts on this who served in Republican administrations and Democratic administrations.
And there's a rough consensus, which is that Israel has to finish the job on Hamas.
It would be an absolute disaster for the region, for U.S. interests if Hamas was somehow to emerge as an intact political and military force.
It would destabilize the region forever.
And so that has to happen.
At the same time, there seems to be a consensus that Israel has to do a vastly better job at protecting the aid convoys, at letting the aid in, and particularly, as Coons said, and if they're going to take -- invade Rafah, which they sort of have to do, they have to get the million people out of there, and they have to provide free passage to the north.
And we have to do everything we can to pressure Israel, and I think some sort of conditions on aid are -- if Israel's not going to provide the million to leave and into safe zones in the north, then we should do what we can to pressure them to do that, because it would be against Israel's self-interest to do that, and it would certainly be against America's interest.
I was cheered by the readout on the Biden-Netanyahu call.
I had feared that Netanyahu would want to run for reelection as running against the U.S., say, I'm the guy who can protect you from the pressure from those craven Americans.
But he did not in the call, apparently.
He accepted the conditions that President Biden laid before him.
He's already complied with a few of them, and he's promised to apply for more.
And so this pressure may be working, which Biden wants, to pressure Netanyahu without cutting them off or putting on conditions.
AMNA NAWAZ: David, there's the issue of protecting the aid workers, as you mentioned.
But does this also call into question just how discerning Israel has been in carrying out its strikes so far?
DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I think there are two things to be said, contradictory.
The first is, this is a war unlike any other.
Sometimes, people compare this to our -- the U.S.-Iraqi assault on Mosul and other cities.
But I have never heard of another war where the enemy is in 500 miles of tunnels underground and the enemy's chief strategy is to generate as many civilian deaths as they can to get world pressure to force Israel to desist.
So this is just a much harder deal.
Having said that, I have been covering the Middle East for a little while, and one has certainly discerned a growing callousness toward Palestinian lives in the Israeli population.
I'm not sure how split Netanyahu is from a lot of the people within Israel itself.
They're -- they think, why should we risk Israeli soldiers for - - to protect people who want to kill us?
But it has to be explained to them that this is in your own self-interest.
It's just -- a humanitarian disaster, aside from being a moral atrocity, is in Israel's self-interest to present -- to protect.
So I think there's both just the horrific conditions that Israel is fighting under, but also overaggressive, as we heard from the expert early in the program, and a growing callousness toward Palestinian suffering.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Yes, and I think the growing callousness, I think, is what's really sort of bothering me and why I think that the World Central Kitchen deaths is a turning point.
The thing that's -- the thing that bugs me is, for years, I have known, we all know Israel -- Israel Defense Forces are among the most sophisticated armed forces in the world.
And yet, time and time again since October 7, we have seen these very sophisticated armed forces make mistake after mistake after mistake.
And I know mistakes happen in war.
But how does a mistake like the one that happened to World Central Kitchen happen when World Central Kitchen was working in coordination with the army, letting them know where they were at all times?
How do you explain that?
And so that's why I think that -- you add that to the president's relationship, that phone call with the prime minister yesterday, and the changes that have been made, the changes have to keep going, because, if he does indeed, Netanyahu, go into Rafah without a plan for what to do with the million people there, not only will he lose world opinion.
I think he will lose the president and lose the United States.
AMNA NAWAZ: Well, if I may bring this back home now, because, of course, this is resonating in the same way as it is with both of you with the American public -- and we know a lot of people are very closely watching how President Biden handles this moment, especially in some key battleground states.
All of this unfolding at a time that, at this moment in time, polls show a very tight race between President Biden and former President Trump.
Our latest "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll indicates a 50-to-48 slight lead President Biden has over former President Trump.
That is within the margin of error.
But there are a couple of quick takeaways I want to get both of your takes on, if you don't mind.
In one question, we asked Americans if they felt that Americans have to resort to violence to get the country back on track.
A majority, 79 percent, disagreed or strongly disagreed, but 12 percent of Democrats, 28 percent of Republicans and 18 percent of independents agreed violence might be necessary.
Couple that with another question we asked about whether they wanted to see a president or a leader who's willing to break the rules to set things straight, and some 41 percent of Americans agreed with that.
That includes 56 percent of Republicans, 28 percent of Democrats, and 37 percent of independents.
Jonathan, what kind of picture does that paint for you?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: So, the violence question, well, it should be zero percent who say that violence is necessary.
But that didn't concern me as much as the break the rules, someone who is willing to break the rules to get the country back on track.
That's all -- that's the Trump election - - that's the Trump campaign right there, just wants to break the rules to get the country back on track.
I broke the rules coming to the studio today.
People break rules all the time.
I... AMNA NAWAZ: I was going to ask, which rules?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: I went over the speed limit.
AMNA NAWAZ: OK. All right.
(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: I went over the speed limit.
AMNA NAWAZ: To clarify.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: And so I think, when people hear, break the rules, they're not thinking ransack the Capitol.
They're thinking what they might view as little things.
But when you're talking about Donald Trump, breaking the rules is breaking law and order, breaking social -- breaking norms, and breaking democracy.
And so that's why, when you have 56 percent saying that they agree or strongly agree that... AMNA NAWAZ: That's 56 percent of Republicans, we should say.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Of Republicans, right... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: ... but still a big number of just the nation overall... AMNA NAWAZ: Yes.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: ... that's really concerning, because that inures to the benefit of Trump.
AMNA NAWAZ: David, how do you see it?
DAVID BROOKS: I just want to say I followed the speed limit on my way here today.
(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: I had the exact same reaction as Jonathan.
I'm not a big fan of that would you resort to violence, because I don't know what that means.
I don't know what violence means in that context.
And so people -- when people answer that question, that they're really saying, how upset are you about the way things are going?
But the breaking the rules thing, that is, to me, also much more upsetting, because that really is the seedbed of authoritarianism.
And it's mostly on the right.
Trump is scaring a lot of people that we have to break the rules, but it's a little on the left.
You hear people say we need to bust up the system, we need to tear down the system.
And that way lies authoritarianism.
And you can see it in the Philippines, you can see it in Hungary, you can see it in Poland.
Whenever you have a rise of authoritarianism, it's because people think that breaking the rules is somehow OK to make the streets safe.
It's sort of like the Dirty Harry defense.
And, to me, it's just -- that's the most worrying part of our survey.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan, I hate to ask you this in the last 30 seconds or so we have, but what about the impact of the third-party No Labels effort ending their attempt to try to field a presidential ticket?
How does that change the landscape?
JONATHAN CAPEHART: I don't think it changes the landscape.
But good for No Labels for seeing -- reading the writing on the wall and paying attention to the people who they were going to, asking them to be on the ticket, and those people doing their own due diligence and going back to No Labels and saying, no, thank you, but then going public and saying, I did my due diligence, I'm not doing this, and I don't think No Labels should either.
Good for them.
AMNA NAWAZ: Jonathan Capehart, David Brooks, always great to see you both.
Thank you so much.
JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Amna.
GEOFF BENNETT: We are less than three days away from the total solar eclipse that will be seen in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and there is major excitement around it.
Total solar eclipses are rarely seen in the U.S.
The next one won't be seen for some 20 years, and they rarely last as long as this one will.
Complete darkness, or totality, as it's known, may last four minutes.
Monday's eclipse will cut across 13 states with more than 30 million people living in the path of totality.
Millions more are traveling to get a good look, and stores are selling or in some cases giving away the glasses you will need.
Our science correspondent, Miles O'Brien, has a viewer's guide on what you need to know.
MILES O'BRIEN: This is the one and only total solar eclipse I have ever witnessed, 2017.
I was prepared to be blase, but, instead, I was blown away.
You just have to see it to understand.
Certainly, this guy does.
Will there be a big viewing party here?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON, Director, Hayden Planetarium: Yes, there's a huge viewing party.
MILES O'BRIEN: Neil deGrasse Tyson is an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
This eclipse, as much as anything, is about how many people can get to it, right?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: The eclipse itself goes over major metropolitan areas.
It kisses part of Austin, goes through Dallas, right on up to major cities.
You got Columbus, Indianapolis, Buffalo, Niagara Falls.
People can sit in their backyards and experience a total solar eclipse without even having to travel.
MILES O'BRIEN: What would you recommend people do?
Should they get in their cars and go?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
(LAUGHTER) NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, next question.
(LAUGHTER) MILES O'BRIEN: Done.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: If you were in a place, in a zone where the moon has covered 99 percent of the sun, that little sliver that remains is equivalent to the light of 10,000 full moons.
So if you were not in totality, you're not in totality.
MILES O'BRIEN: I think we intuitively know the moon is a lot smaller than the sun.
So how is it, Neil... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, physically a lot smaller.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
How is it possible for it to cover the entire diameter of the sun?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, so we have a fortunate set of circumstances as Earthlings.
No other planet has this feature.
The sun is 400 times farther away from us than the moon is and it's 400 times wider.
Those two factors geometrically cancel each other, if you want to think of it that way, so that they look the same size on the sky, making for spectacular eclipses.
MILES O'BRIEN: OK, so now we're seeing an eclipse from the International Space Station, 250 miles, give or take, above us.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Mm-hmm.
MILES O'BRIEN: And what are we seeing there?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes, so this is that darkened part of the moon's shadow crossing Earth's surface.
And you're seeing -- you get to see a fuzzy edge around there.
Notice, it's not a sharp boundary, because, if you're in that fuzzy edge, it means some of the sun is covered and the rest still is peeking out.
MILES O'BRIEN: Mm-hmm.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: So it's got to -- it gets darker, but it's not totality.
MILES O'BRIEN: You don't want to look at the sun unless it's completely covered without some protection.
Tell us about that.
What could happen?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Well, you never want to look at the sun, all right?
MILES O'BRIEN: Right.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: So -- without protection.
And during an eclipse, you have more of an urge to look at the sun, but these are especially designed to filter out or reflect away all the harmful rays that are coming from the sun.
So when you put this on, you know they're working when you can't see anything.
I don't see -- are you...
MILES O'BRIEN: I got nothing.
I got nothing.
I got nothing.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Where are you?
OK?
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, yes, nothing, nothing.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: You can't see anything.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: But you look at the sun, and then there's an image of the sun on the sky.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
You should look to make sure they're the proper ISO.
(CROSSTALK) NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Oh, yes, yes.
So there's -- yes, an ISO certification on them.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: And, generally, they will say eclipse glasses.
The moment the sun becomes completely covered, then you don't need the glasses.
You can remove them and look directly at the completely covered sun.
MILES O'BRIEN: I think this is an important, yet overlooked point.
Remember to take them off when it's in totality, right?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Yes.
MILES O'BRIEN: Because, otherwise, you're missing out.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Then you're missing out, correct.
MILES O'BRIEN: So, in 2017, Celestron, telescope maker, shot this fabulous time-lapse... NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: I love it.
I love it.
MILES O'BRIEN: ... with the Celestron C6 telescope.
Look at this thing.
It came out pretty well.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
MILES O'BRIEN: So this is a preview, weather permitting.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Mm-hmm.
And it doesn't happen this fast.
This is time-lapse.
MILES O'BRIEN: This is much faster.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
So, first contact is the moment the moon in its orbit around the sun touches the edge of the sun.
Second contact is when we hit the diamond ring, when this leading edge of the moon touches the opposite edge of the sun.
Diamond ring, second contact, OK?
Now the moon, which is larger than the sun on the sky, is continuing to move, when the trailing edge touches the sun again, the second diamond ring, that's third contact.
As the moon completely emerges from this disc of the sun and it steps off, that's fourth contact.
So there are four contacts of note.
And the ones you really care about are the second and third.
MILES O'BRIEN: All right.
And in between the second and third is when you can take the glasses off.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: That's total eclipse.
That's correct.
MILES O'BRIEN: That's totality.
Your natural instinct is to look at the sun, but it's worth looking around and seeing what's happening all around you.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: So, a tree with leaves, we have all sat under the trees like that before, and you see these modeled circles of light.
And it's very easy to think to yourself that's just light coming through the trees.
But it's actual images of the sun created by pathways through the leaves.
So, during an eclipse, all those little circles of light turn into crescents.
MILES O'BRIEN: But I think the point here is, take a moment to kind of look around you and absorb the environment.
The temperature changes.
There's kind of a -- there's a quietness that comes along with it.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: An eerie quietness.
MILES O'BRIEN: The birds and bees do different things.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: The animals of -- you know, the animal kingdom are confused by this.
But I think, among all the animals, the ones that behave the strangest are the humans.
(LAUGHTER) NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: So, watch the behavior of other humans.
(LAUGHTER) MILES O'BRIEN: Where would an expert like you go to watch this eclipse?
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: It happens that the eclipse goes not only over Dallas, but what is in Dallas but the Cotton Bowl, right?
This seats 90,000 people.
So what a convenient place to gather.
And this was being reserved by NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
MILES O'BRIEN: Yes.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: So if there's anyone has power over the weather, it would be them.
(LAUGHTER) MILES O'BRIEN: And maybe they will make it happen for us.
(LAUGHTER) MILES O'BRIEN: All right.
All right.
Thank you very much, Neil.
This has been fun.
NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON: Thank you.
MILES O'BRIEN: I hope you get to see it.
I hope we do too.
GEOFF BENNETT: Well, lucky for us, Miles will join us from the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on Monday, where he's going to report on the excitement around the day's events there and throughout North America.
AMNA NAWAZ: Muslims around the world right now are marking the month of Ramadan.
Observing Muslims abstain from food and water from sunup to sundown every day and gather to break their fasts during the iftar meal.
But, this year, the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza with mass civilian deaths and massive suffering among Gazans has added a new layer to this holy month.
We spoke with Muslims at a local mosque in suburban Maryland.
HAKEEMAH CUMMINGS, Maryland: My name is Hakeemah Cummings.
NASIF SIKDER, Maryland: Nasif Sikder.
ARWA RAHMAN, Maryland: My name is Arwa Rahman.
MUHAMMAD ZIA MEHMOOD, Maryland: Muhammad Zia.
KEVSER OZER, Maryland: My name is Kevser Ozer.
NASIF SIKDER: Yes, Ramadan, every year, this is something that we look forward to.
We count down the days.
And it's -- the whole tone, the whole vibe changes during Ramadan.
HAKEEMAH CUMMINGS: So, I have three young girls, 8, 7 and 1 year.
So we put lights around the house.We decorate.
We have a welcome Ramadan party.
We try to come together with families and just make it so that this month is special for them.
KEVSER OZER: We come and pray here after our five daily prayers.
At night, we have special prayers and we do it together.
It's a blessing.
MUHAMMAD ZIA MEHMOOD: So, iftars are amazing.
And it's partly because everyone's hungry and all the food is right there.
So you're really looking forward to this moment in the day.
And you're doing it with people you love, with your friends and family.
ARWA RAHMAN: We obviously fast from sunrise to sunset.
And also we use this month to try to, like, eat a lot, but also give food a lot and give as much charity as we can, so we can feel closer to also those who don't have what we have.
MUHAMMAD ZIA MEHMOOD: This Ramadan, Muslims all over the world are definitely thinking of our brothers and sisters in Gaza and in Palestine in general and the conditions they're in.
And we're praying for them.
HAKEEMAH CUMMINGS: It's supposed to be a high time of, like, mood and joy and all of that.
And you come in feeling helpless and almost maybe even angry or all of these negative emotions.
ARWA RAHMAN: This might be the most difficult Ramadan yet because of -- they don't have enough food and sometimes even water.
And we're always seeing how many kids are suffering, where they're literally starving, and their parents also going to the north to find food for them, and then coming back to their children under the rubbles.
We feel more like we don't want to waste food at all.
Like, even if we don't like a food, we still want to eat it because we always think about what's happening in Gaza, where they're eating lemon and grass soup and dirt pies.
MUHAMMAD ZIA MEHMOOD: With what's going on in Gaza during this Ramadan, I think it comes with increased awareness of the privilege that we enjoy of having family around us, of having food and water, and knowing that there's so many on the different part of the world that are being deprived of these things.
KEVSER OZER: We are giving more this Ramadan.
Especially if there's, like, a special fund-raising for Gazan people or demonstration, we have to be there.
Like, we are trying our best to be with them and thinking about them.
HAKEEMAH CUMMINGS: There was also other people who were kind of echoing that, saying that the people of Gaza are -- they're suffering in an unprecedented way.
And so we should kind of dumb down our Ramadan, because the joy and the celebration is not a time for that.
The way I think about it is that it's a time to do it even more.
I have signs outside of my house.
And, like, it's something that I want to celebrate in the face of all of this to show that there's nothing that could ever take away Ramadan from us.
We increase and we do it more on purpose because this is our month to celebrate regardless.
AMNA NAWAZ: And an update to one of our top stories tonight.
The 4.8-magnitude earthquake felt in the Northeast today is still causing some shaking.
A 4.0-magnitude aftershock in the last hour could be felt in New York City and New Jersey.
There are no updates yet on damage.
GEOFF BENNETT: And later this evening on PBS, "American Masters" continues its series on political thought leaders with a look at the personal and political journey of conservative writer, strategist, candidate, and provocateur William F. Buckley Jr. "The Incomparable Mr. Buckley" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, so check your local listings.
AMNA NAWAZ: And, remember, there's always a lot more online, including this look at an historic pay raise for educators in Missouri.
And, of course, be sure to tune into "Washington Week With The Atlantic" tonight for a conversation with top journalists on the week's political news.
That's right here on your PBS station.
GEOFF BENNETT: And on "PBS News Weekend" tomorrow: why more Americans are dipping into retirement savings early.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight and for this week.
I'm Geoff Bennett.
AMNA NAWAZ: And I'm Amna Nawaz.
On behalf of the entire "NewsHour" team, thank you for joining us.
