♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. on the "newshour" tonight, an uptick in food, housing, and energy prices complicates efforts to lower the pace of inflation and interest rates. amna: a judge hears closing

arguments in former president donald trump's months-long civil fraud trial. geoff: and before an international court, south africa accuses israel of committing genocide against the palestinian people. >> this is going to make continuing military support, certainly for israel, maybe even foreign assistance of various kinds to israel, quite difficult. ♪ >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by -- ♪ >> pediatric surgeon. volunteer. topiary artist. a raymondjames financial advisor tailors 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 kendedafund.org. carnegie corporation of new york, supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security, 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.

stephanie: welcome to "the newshour." the united states and britain are launching strikes tonight against houthi targets in yemen. numerous drone and missile attacks have been launched since mid-november. in response, it says, to israeli attacks in gaza. we are joined with the latest. what other details can you report tonight? nick: senior administration and defense officials briefed journalists a few minutes ago and told us the strikes were significant. they said targets were missile, radar and drone capabilities, and those other weapons that the houthis have used launch those strikes described, so 26 attacks at u.s. ships, military and commercial in the red sea the last six weeks. the u.s. military used some of those ships, as well as a

submarine, a nuclear powered submarine, significant, in order to launch the strikes, according to a senior defense official, who said the targets were specifically chosen to minimize the risk of collateral damage. that is going to the goal of this operation and the senior administration official told us there was no intent to escalate but degrade the ability for the houthis to carry out the attacks. we will see if they are successful. stephanie: biden put out a statement to further strikes. how likely is it that tonight's bombings do not stop the houthi attacks in the red sea and then what then? nick: other officials i talked to admit they believe they can degrade houthi capabilities and take away some of their capacity to be able to use these long-range drones against shipping and u.s. warships in the red sea, but the are

concerned that it is not clear whether they can deter. at least with a single round of strikes, so there is an expectation that those strikes will continue, and that is why you saw president biden say today in that statement mentioned, i will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary. senior administration officials who briefed us tonight said the strikes tonight may not will be the last word. stephanie: you talked about the joint statement from u.s. and allies, saying that the tension is to de-escalate the tensions and restore stability, are they having the opposite effects in the middle east? nick: there are analysts who believe that the u.s. and houthi s are going to launch a tit-for-tat and it could escalate. u.s. officials are confident they can degrade houthi

capabilities and reduce the capacity to do what they have been doing, but there is concern that this could interrupt political progress they have made in yemen, trying to find a solution to the long-running civil war. we will see what happens in the days and weeks to come, but the u.s. expect the houthis to strike back, and that this will be multiple rounds. stephanie: thank you for joining us. ♪ stephanie: in other headlines, ir confirmed it sees daily -- seized a loaded oil tanker in the gulf of oman. that ship had been involved in an earlier dispute over smuggling iranian oil. today, armed iranian sailors boarded the vessel near the strait of hormuz. tehran called it compensation for an act of theft. the u.s. condemned the move.

>> this unlawful seizure of a commercial vessel is just the latest behavior by iran, or enabled by iran, aimed at disrupting international commerce. we in the united states will continue to work to deter and confront the full range of iran's concerning and destabilizing behaviors. stephanie: this was the latest in a series of ships being seized by iran in recent years. the president's son, hunter biden, pleaded not guilty today to federal tax charges in los angeles. prosecutors say he failed to pay $1.4 million in taxes and instead used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle. hunter biden is 53. if convicted, he could face up to 17 years in prison. an ohio woman will not face criminal charges over her miscarriage. a grand jury refused to indict 34-year-old brittany watts today, who had been charged with abuse of a corpse after she miscarried into a toilet. if convicted, watts had faced up

to a year in prison and a $2500 fine. senate democrats moved today to avoid a partial government shutdown, but their prospects were unclear. majority leader chuck schumer announced he's starting the process of passing a stop-gap funding bill before a january 19 deadline. and he condemned house republicans who are demanding deeper spending cuts. >> the vast majority of us are all on the same page, that a government shutdown would be a recipe for chaos. the hard right is not serious about governing. the only tactic in their playbook is to try to bully the rest of congress and the country to bend to their extremist views. stephanie: house speaker mike johnson met with hard-line republicans today, but he said he's made no commitment to re-negotiate the spending deal. in central africa, the congo river has reached its highest levels in 60 years. local authorities say widespread flooding in the democratic

republic of congo and the neighboring republic of congo has caused more than 300 deaths. people in the city of kinshasa have been using makeshift rafts to navigate submerged streets. experts blame the generational floods on poor urban planning and climate change. roman catholic bishops across africa rebuked pope francis today for allowing priests to bless same-sex couples. the bishops said in a statement, unions of persons of the same-sex are contrary to the will of god and therefore cannot receive the blessing of the church. africa has the world's fastest-growing catholic population. back in this country, the united negro college fund has received $100 million to aid historically black colleges and universities. today's gift, from the lilly endowment, is the largest unrestricted donation to the fund since its founding 80 years ago. it will go toward supporting 37

institutions. there was a major shakeup in pro football today. bill belichick stepped down as coach of the new england patriots. he won six super bowl titles over 24 seasons, but he had a losing record in the four years since star quarterback tom brady moved on. today, though, at a joint announcement, belichick and patriots owner robert kraft said the decision to split was mutual. >> we had a vision of building a winner, building a championship football team here. that has exceeded my wildest dreams and expectations. i'll always be a patriot, i look forward to coming back here. but at this time, we're gonna move on. stephanie: belichick has the second most wins ever as an nfl coach. he is widely expected to end up with another team. still to come on the “newshour”" nikki haley and ron desantis spar in the last debate before

iowa votes. and we take a closer look at what newly release documents reveal about jeffrey epstein's sex-trafficking ring. >> this is the "pbs newshour" west from weta studios in washington and from our bureau the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university. >> new data shows inflation deflated in 2023. >> for more on how to use the latest numbers on what might be ahead and how consumers view the economy, i spoke with the president of the federal reserve bank of atlanta. welcome to the newshour. thank you for joining us.

welcome. thank you for joining us. raphael: it is good to be here. amna: let's start with your reaction to the inflation numbers overall. consumer prices rose a little more than expected in december. core prices excluding food and energy also rose more than expected. what do those numbers say to you? raphael: today's cpi report has not been as positive as some of the last couple but seeing some volatility in inflation is not really a surprise to me. the economy has been very strong and robust over the last year and that resilience is been a positive thing. it has been stronger than i expected. that also means the pace or speed of inflation coming down to our target is going to be slower. seeing some reports every now and then going in the other direction is par for the course and i am expecting things will be bumpier over the next year. amna: most of the inflation increase we saw was due to higher costs for car insurance and also housing. housing costs in particular accounted for more than half of the monthly increase in consumer prices. as you know we are in a nationwide housing shortage. is the only way to bring down those increases to build more

homes? raphael: you noted that we have this shortage. everywhere i go across the sixth district i hear the same thing. this is a supply issue as much as the demand issue. one part of affordability is having enough income, but in many markets, atlanta being one of them, the growth in population has outstripped the growth in units that will put pressure on prices. so we need to see more surprise -- supply. amna: the fed has signaled they are done raising rates. do you think the rates should be lowered soon? raphael: my expectation is inflation will decline slowly over the course of 2024. which means we will not be in a position to cut rates for quite some time. my outlook has us showing rates starting to fall in the third quarter of this year. but again, we will have to see how inflation progresses. amna: three days ago in a speech you mentioned that inflation has come down, you mentioned you're on a path towards reaching that

target of 2%. when do you expect that target to be reached? is there any way to predict that, given it is not a linear path? raphael: we have models and they will give us an answer. my outside model on this says we should get to 2% in our measure sometime in 2025. but a lot will happen between now and then so i don't put too much stock in any of those longer-term issues. i just try to keep my eye on where things are going month-to-month and try and have a clear understanding of where we stand. the economy comes in stronger and inflation goes faster to our target and i will be willing to pull forward perhaps my willingness to cut. but we will just have to see how things play out. amna: i am curious if you can tell us more about where you see that potential volatility. is it domestically, turmoil around the elections, is it globally with more instability and two wars?

where are you looking? raphael: i am looking everywhere, to be honest. you called out geopolitics into global issues, they are a big problem. we have seen in the last several days the cost of shipping go up considerably because of turbulence in the middle east. in the southeast we have seen storms that have created historic levels of damage and disrupted economies in significant ways. there is still uncertainty about the progression of the virus. we are seeing more people get sick and tragically died. so all of those things will come into play out, that will have a real implication for the trajectory of the economy. amna: can i get your take on the so-called vibe session? this idea that consumer confidence has lagged behind the strength of the economy. how can you explain that gap? raphael: for me, it really is a reminder, in memory that many people have that prices are much higher than they were two years

ago and wages have not gone up that much. so that recognition is present in people's minds. we all go to the grocery store on a regular basis. gas has come down so that is not a pressure point nearly as much. as we start to see more and more goods get back to pricing or if our incomes go up more strongly, i think that kind of negativity will likely dissipating and we will start to see the numbers evolve. but human psychology is not something that turns on a dime and it will take time and experience lived for those things to shift. amna: we did see consumer confidence go up slightly in december, but overall there has been some concern that the pessimism could become a self-fulfilling prophecy and lead to a recession. do you still believe there could be a recession? raphael: there is always the probability of a recession. but one thing i will say is this, we spent a lot of time tracking people's expectations

about where the economy is going to go. i have been very pleased to see that by large the american people have confidence inflation will get back to 2%, and the economy will be able to scale on its own and grow and be robust. so i have every confidence the economy will be fine. growth will happen, businesses will continue to hire and produce, and the quality of life in this country will continue to improve. amna: all right. that is the president of the federal reserve bank of atlanta raphael bostic joining us tonight. thank you so much for your time. appreciate it. raphael: thank you so much for inviting me. ♪ geoff: with four days until the first in the nation iowa caucuses, the presidential field continues to shrink, and the

remaining candidates are making their closing arguments. lisa desjardins reports on the candidates and their messages. >> we have campaigned in iowa for 11 months. >> probably a little rare. us floridians usually don't go north in january. lisa: the gop hopefuls on a last campaign sprint in the hawkeye state. >> so on the 15th, on monday, it's gonna be so cold. [laughter] like, i don't even know what negative 15 is. lisa: reminding iowans that they're a long way from home. >> i actually do have a winter coat, believe it or not, and it's pretty nice. and i left the winter coat in tallahassee. so, they're now doing an operation to get that winter coat up. lisa: florida governor ron desantis and former south carolina governor nikki haley met face-to-face last night. >> bless his heart. desantislies.com. lisa: trading barbs in a deeply personal debate. >> we don't need another mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear. lisa: the only two candidates on stage, at times talking over

each other to argue about who is the alternative to the party's frontrunner, donald trump. >> leadership is about getting things done. stop making excuses. make it happen. >> if leadership's about getting things done, how did you blow through $150 million in your campaign and you were down in the polls? you are not a manager. >> i think it's very instructive about how nikki haley sees the world. >> i think i hit a nerve. lisa: the two sparred on nearly every issue, from funding for ukraine's defense against russia -- >> this is about keeping americans safe. this is about preventing war. >> you can take the ambassador out of the united nations, but you can't take the united nations out of the ambassador. lisa: -- to abortion. >> when she says things like pro-lifers need to stop talking about throwing women in jail, that's a trope. that's using the language of the left to try to attack pro-lifers. so, i think that that is wrong. >> these fellas don't know how to talk about abortion. i have said over and over again,

the democrats put fear in women on abortion and republicans have used judgment. this is too personal of an issue to put fear or judgment. lisa: both candidates mostly pulled their punches on trump, sidestepping questions about whether he has the character to be president. but haley gave her most pointed criticism yet on one issue, trump's handling of the 2020 election. >> that election, trump lost it. biden won that election. i think what happened on january 6 was a terrible day. and i think president trump will have to answer for it. lisa: desantis pivoted, not questioning trump's actions but saying he is vulnerable. >> if trump is the nominee, it's going to be about january 6, legal issues, criminal trials. the democrats and the media would love to run with that. >> thank you all for coming tonight. lisa: the mild attacks were even starker because hours earlier, trump's sharpest gop critic, former new jersey governor chris christie, who had not qualified for the debate, ended his presidential campaign.

>> i'm going to make sure that in no way do i enable donald trump to ever be president of the united states again. and that's more important than my own personal ambition. lisa: haley's campaign hopes to gain support and momentum from christie's departure. but in a frank assessment caught in a hot mic moment, christie made clear his doubts that neither desantis -- >> desantis called me, petrified. lisa: -- nor haley are capable of taking on trump. >> she's gonna get smoked, and you and i both know it. she's not up to this. lisa: trump, who skipped his fifth debate in a row, once again aimed at to be seen as in his own category. >> welcome to des moines, iowa. lisa: with a commanding 30 point lead, trump participated in a solo town hall on fox news, answering question from voters and walking back some recent comments. >> i am not going to be a dictator. i am not going to have time for retribution. lisa: he once again took credit for overturning roe v. wade

after appointing three justices to the supreme court. >> i'm proud to have done it. lisa: while saying he'd support abortion exceptions and oppose so-called fetal heartbeat bans like the one signed by desantis in florida. >> if you talk five or six weeks, a lot of women don't know they're pregnant in five or six weeks. i want to get something where people are happy. we still have to win elections, and they've used this -- you know, we have some great republicans and they're great on the issue. and you would love them on the issue. and a lot of them have been decimated in the election. decimated. lisa: as the field narrows, the remaining candidates have just a few short days to convince any undecided iowans. and after last night's fiery debate, they'll battle sub-zero temperatures as they work to get their supporters to show up on a frigid monday night. geoff: and lisa joins us now from iowa. lisa, it's good to see you. i know you've been reporting all day while you've been on the ground there. what's your sense of where this race is and if chris christie's

exit from the race has had any impact. lisa: i will say, talking to the campaigns, there is a sense that chris christie could have an impact perhaps on nikki haley, which is what we expected, but not here in iowa. chris christie really hasn't been competing in this state. so there's a lot of consideration about what would happen next in new hampshire, where he does have significant numbers. and speaking to an official from the trump campaign, they're trying to dismiss the idea that christie is a big help for haley and here's how they put it. they say chris christie's voters to them are mostly democrats who won't vote as republicans in new hampshire anyway. of course, it's in their interest to say that, but clearly they're paying attention to this departure. clearly, it comes at a moment where nikki haley could use a boost to show not only can she get into second place, but that she can compete with president trump -- former president trump in his leave. now, as for things here in iowa, it also is a story about nikki

haley. speaking to a couple of campaign officials here from their internal polling and matches what we saw today in a suffolk poll that shows nikki haley in second place and by more than the margin of error. now, at the same time, ron desantis is criss crossing this state like no other. he has a slew of events. his supporters think he can make up that distance because of his organization. they think they will get their people out here on monday night better than anyone. geoff: and lisa, looking at the snowcapped roofs behind you, i'm reminded that monday is expected to be the coldest iowa caucus ever. are the campaigns worried about whether that will affect turnout? lisa: there is a concern about that. it will be a test of enthusiasm for every single campaign. as you say, the coldest ever. right now as i speak to you it is a balmy 24 degrees and going down, and this will by far be the warmest day that we have from here until monday.

there also will be a snowfall all day tomorrow. these folks in iowa, of course, they know what to do with this. the idea is that the snow will be cleared from parking lots, voters will be able to attend the caucuses, but campaigns are making some kind of -- using some resources to try and make sure that in difficult places they can get their voters there. it will be a test of the will be a test of the campaign'' enthusiasm and, by the way, iowans enthusiasm for this process as the nation again looks at iowa to decide if it should continue to have this role for the republican party. geoff: that's lisa desjardins reporting on the ground in iowa tonight for us. lisa, thanks so much. ♪ amna: one of former president trump's trials came to an end in new york city today. a judge will now determine whether the former president committed fraud by inflating the value of his real estate assets. mr. trump and his attorneys argue the case is politically motivated and prosecutors have no evidence of wrongdoing.

william brangham was in the courtroom today and joins us now from new york. william, this is a trial that began last october, a fairly contentious one. there have been fines, gag orders, even a bomb threat. but today was about closing arguments from both sides. mr. trump, as i understand, ended up doing his own version of closing arguments. what happened? william: yeah, the former president had been barred by the judge from making a closing argument. but he managed to do so anyway. his lawyer basically opened the door and the former president just barged right through it and said, as you were just describing, that he is completely innocent, that these charges are bogus. that this is a political witch hunt him. he also said that this was an attorney general who is simply trying to stop him from advancing politically. the thing that was so striking

about this is that we think of courtrooms, no matter how adversarial they get, that there is a deference and respect to the judge. here was the former president directly attacking the judge to his face, saying that he had an agenda of his own, that he could not listen to anything for longer than a minute. remember, this is the judge, not a jury, who will decide the president's fate in this case. just an incredible striking moment to see today. amna: that is incredible. remind us about the central allegations in this case and why it has been so fraught. william: right. the case has been brought by new york attorney general letitia james, and she argues the former president and his associates at the trump organization engaged in a decades-long pattern of inflating the assets of various real estate properties and programs they were running in the city. and that they were doing so so that banks would look at the assets, see the inflated values and give them bigger loans and better rates than they would have.

the attorney general and her team have argued that these quote-unquote ill-gotten gains netted the trump organization about $250 million and that he needs to be punished for that. amna: what about from mr. trump's own attorneys? what have they argued in response? william: they have argued, they spent several hours trying to rebut the examples. the attorney general had given multiple examples. for instance, there was a trump park avenue. they valued a dozen apartments as if they were not rent-stabilized, and then they inflated the value by tens of millions of dollars. that there was a trump tower triplex aptment they valued, they said it was 30,000 square feet when it was only 11,000 square feet. the trump team said those were basically mistakes, that they had no meaningful impact. they were arguing that, remember, donald trump was a

famously wealthy person. banks were tripping over themselves to loan money to him. so, the idea that he would have to make inflated statements to make better loans, they argue, just doesn't make sense on its face. they say he was referred to as a whale of a client. they argue that this was a political campaign by the attorney general masquerading as a legal case. amna: william, what happens next? when should we expect a ruling? william: so, the judge has to rule on this case and he said he will do so by the end of this month. the important thing to remember is he has already ruled on count one of this case. he has said that trump and his sons and some of his associates are liable for fraud. he now has to decide on the penalties for that. not only is the attorney general asking that trump and his sons and their associates be banned from doing real estate business in new york, but she is trying to levy a $370 million fine,

both of which would be colossal blows for the trump organization. amna: that is william brangham reporting for us live tonight from new york. thank you, good to see you. ♪ amna: the international court of justice in the hague heard arguments from south africa today, accusing israel of committing genocide against palestinians in gaza. it's a rare case and could drag on for years. but as nick schifrin reports, south africa is requesting a preliminary ruling, which could have far-ranging implications for israel and the united states. nick: in the depths of gaza's despair, south africa accuses eric israel of what's been called the crime of crimes. >> the actions show a systematic pattern of conduct from which

genocide can be inferred. nick: today, south africa asked the international court of justice to compel israel to stop the war and what it called decades of discrimination. >> the application places israel's genocidal acts and omissions within the broader context of israel's 75 year apartheid. >> the draft convention on genocide is being presented to the general assembly today. nick: it was 75 years ago last month that the u.n. adopted the genocide convention, the first human rights treaty. it was born out of the nazi's final solution, a campaign of systemic murder that helped lead to the birth of the state of israel. the convention defines genocide as acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group, and cites as examples killing, injuring, inflicting conditions calculated to bring about physical destruction, preventing births, or transferring children. >> israel has a genocidal intent

against the palestinians in gaza. that is evident in the way that israel's military attack is being conducted. the mass displacement of the population of gaza headed into areas where they continue to be killed, and the deliberate creation of conditions that "lead to a slow death." nick: south africa also accuses israel of declaring its own genocidal intent. >> this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved. it's absolutely not true. and we will fight until we break their backbone. >> we are ordering a complete siege on gaza. no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. everything is closed. we are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly. >> there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous than this claim. nick: israel dismisses the lawsuit as a blood libel. israel argues it's hamas that

started the current round of violence on october 7. and it's hamas' charter that vows to, quote, obliterate israel on behalf of islam. >> the state of israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide. a terrorist organization carried out the worst crime against the jewish people since the holocaust, and now someone comes to defend it in the name of the holocaust. what brazen gall. the world is upside down. nick: this week, secretary of state antony blinken backed israel's case. >> the charge of genocide is meritless. >> every state that's party to the genocide convention has the duty and the obligation and the right to raise concerns when they think that that convention is being violated. nick: oona hathaway is professor of international law at yale law school. she says the court only has to rule south africa has shown reasonable probability of genocide to impose orders on israel, that could affect the u.s.

>> the u.s., as a member of the genocide convention itself, its own legal obligations will kick in, and it is prohibited from aiding and assisting in genocide. but it's also actually positively obligated to act to prevent genocide. and so, this is going to make continuing military support, certainly for israel, maybe even foreign assistance of various kinds to israel, quite difficult. >> we identify with the plo, because just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination. nick: south africa's support for palestinians goes back decades. former president nelson mandela was close to palestine liberation organization founder yasser arafat. before that, israel supported and even negotiated providing nuclear weapons to south africa's apartheid government. in 1999 in the west bank, mandela advocated for a palestinian state, by any means necessary.

>> if the only alternative is violence, we will use violence. nick: so, how strong is south africa's case against israel, and what will be israel's defense when tomorrow it presents its case? we get two views. first to kenneth roth, the former executive director of human rights watch and now a visiting professor at princeton university and senior fellow at harvard university. thank you very much. welcome back. how strong a case do you believe south africa has that israel has demonstrated the intent to destroy all or part of a racial, religious, or ethnic group? in this case, the palestinians. kenneth: south africa assembled an incredibly talented legal team and put together a factually detailed, legally compelling case. i think there is not much question level of killing and level of deprivation is sufficient to meet that predicate part of the crime of genocide. the south african case really had two elements to it in showing genocidal intent. one is they ran through a bunch of statements by senior israeli officials. they looked at prime minister

netanyahu's reference to an israeli enemy where the biblical injunction was to kill every man, woman and child. they used the defense minister's statement that they are fighting human animals. he said, i just met hamas. when you listen to him, he is talking about the siege, which is everyone in gaza. so, they ran through statements like that. they had a moving section where they had a bunch of israeli soldiers singing and dancing and saying there are no uninvolved civilians. basically an invitation of war cres. so, this is all genocidal intent. and they have worked backwards from the acts on the ground, saying because israel is bombing indiscriminately and using these massive 2000 pound bombs that this also shows an indifference to palestinian civilian life, which itself is indicative of genocide within 10. -- genocidal intent. nick: israel says many of the statements cited by the south africans are about hamas, not

about gaza. the official policy is to respond to hamas and prevent it from launching another terrorist attack. but they say for every statement the south africans choose there are many other statements by the same israeli officials saying that they are trying to avoid civilian casualties and the official policy is to attack hamas, not all of gaza. kenneth: they say that is the official policy, but when you have the prime minister talking and saying basically kill everybody, when you have the defense minister saying they are all human animals, not talking about hamas, this is policy. these are the top people. if you look at the actions of the israeli soldiers on the ground, whether it is the disproportionate harm to civilians or the seizure, this devastating siege causing such severe deprivation to so many palestinians, spreading

starvation across gaza, it is hard to say that this is not policy. that is what they're saying for public relations purposes. i do not think it will work in court. nick: israel, at the same time, as what you have described, has dropped leaflets from the sky urging palestinians to flee to what the idf call safer areas, uses text messages and calls to warn gazans about strike's to come. it has created humanitarian zones. does any of that suggest israel's intentions are less black-and-white? kenneth: i think those are going to be the more sophisticated defenses israel mounts tomorrow. we have heard spokespeople say they should be charging hamas with genocide, hamas committed atrocities. but as israel should know, conduct by one side does not justify genocide by the other. nothing justifies genocide. with respect to the warnings,

yes, that is the right thing to do in principle, but they are giving warnings in an inhumane way. they are sending people to the south, and as south africa noted today, they continue to drop bombs in the south. they are depriving the people in that area of the most basic necessities. they are just letting in drips and drops of humanitarian aid. the warnings look almost like public relations. they are not really humane efforts. the bigger defense i think will be this mantra of human shields, which we hear all the time. and, yes, hamas uses human shields. yes, hamas fights from civilian areas. but there is a duty on the attacker, even if targeting a military target, to not fire if there will be disproportionate harm regardless of human shields. nick: the text of south africa's case does not acknowledge under the law of armed conflict israel has the right to self-defense, nor as you just mentioned, does it acknowledge how hamas fights, embedded within civilian areas. are those weaknesses in south africa's case? kenneth: south africa made a point of saying they condemn

hamas' atrocities on october 7, as they should, as everybody does. israel has the right to defend itself. but it has to defend itself lawfully within the geneva conventions. targeting hamas, not the civilian population. certainly not committing genocide. this deprivation of the civilian population, 85% displaced, very little food, very little water, the hospitals are shut down. this seems to be designed to impose conditions of hardship, which as south africa says could lead to massive loss of life, even more than the bombing directly. nick: if the court rules south africa has shown the reasonable probability of genocide and imposes what are called provisional measures, how important is that? what is going to be the impact of that? kenneth: that would be extraordinarily important. even though the court has no direct means of enforcement, it has to look to the security counsel and the u.s. to stop a veto. nonetheless, for israel, a state that was founded because of genocide, because of the

holocaust, to be found to probably be committing genocide would be a huge stigma and put real pressure on netanyahu finally to stop the killing. it would put pressure on biden to stop funding and arming. it would make an enormous contribution to saving palestinian lives. nick: kenneth roth, thank you very much. and now we get a different view from yuval shany, the chair of international law at hebrew university in jerusalem. he has written extensively about international courts and tribunals, and was a member of the u.n. human rights committee. thank you very much. welcome. do you think that south africa has shown israel's intent to destroy in whole or in part palestinians? yuval: no. i think south africa did work quite effectively on introducing some circumstantial evidence for its claim.

it did point to a lot of harm and suffering, a lot of damage inflicted on palestinians in the gaza strip. and it allocated significant time also to flesh out a lot of statements that were given by israeli officials. there are still many holes in the narrative they are presenting before the court. nick: let's talk about some of those statements. can roth and the south africans said when prime minister netanyahu cites a biblical story in which the enemies of jews are destroyed, and valves israel should achieve the same aim in gaza, does that not show intent to destroy at least part of palestinians in gaza? yuval: i think these are very ambiguous statements. i would not defend that statement. i wish they wouldn't have been uttered. i think they were played to a political base.

but in the israeli context calling an enemy like iran or the nazis or hamas, that is something done all the time. in the israeli context, this is how you refer to your mortal enemies. you use a biblical reference to beef it up and make it sound a little bit more flashy to your home base. actually, in the first statement netanyahu issued, which is cited in the south african application, he emphasized that the idf, unlike hamas, is observing the laws of war and that it is not harming civilians. so, i think it is quite a stretch to build the entire case and to basically allege that there is a genocidal plan, a plan of action on the basis of an imprudent statement that was made by a politician. in the end, the israeli military is an organized military and operates on the basis of cabinet decisions and specific directives. it does not listen to what a politician says and changes its

plans of actions. this is not how things work. every specific attack has to be cleared by lawyers who work for the idf. this is simply the insinuation that the statement by a minister would lead the chief of staff to change operational plans. it simply has limited bearing to reality. nick: the convention also requires israel to prevent and not incite genocide. has israel punished some of perhaps the lower-level officials when they suggest the goals of the operation are to destroy not just hamas, but all of gaza? yuval: here, i think the south africans do have a point. so far, israel has not been diligent in taking steps against public figures who have made some outrageous statements that seem to violate international

law. i know the attorney general this week has issued a statement that she will actually prosecute -- consider prosecuting individuals who have incited to harm uninvolved civilians. but one could say this is a little bit late in the game. by and large, i would say that israel has not handled this aspect of the war quite well. and there have been too many wild statements out there which have not been adequately responded to, but there is a huge distance between not dealing sufficiently tough, not cracking down on hate speech and on incitement and actually attributing those statements to the actual conduct of the idf on the field, which like you said before, the idf operation is a war which is a very difficult and tough urban warfare with an enemy that is completely embedded within and below the civilian population. and actually trying to -- this is something by the way the south africa team completely left out from its narrative. so, according to the presentations we have heard

today, there was a tragedy, a massacre october 7 and then nothing, that hamas disappears. it is only the israelis dropping bombs. the story is much more complex and the statements are background noise, which is indeed annoying and at some level even dangerous. but it is not really the driving force. nick: and finally, as i asked ken roth, what do you believe the impact would be? how important would it be if the court does impose what are known as provisional measures on israel? whether that is about aid or about the conduct of the war itself. yuval: i think the case as presented by south africa does not have a lot of chance to actually prevail on the merits, but they may cross the threshold of plausibility, which is

sufficient for the court to issue provisional measures. and this is of course something that the government of israel is concerned about, and should be concerned about. and we will have to see what sort of provisional measures the court can issued. in a previous genocide case involving myanmar, the court issued relatively generic remedies, calling on the state not to commit a genocide and to preserve evidence regarding genocide. however, in the russia/ukraine case, the court ordered russia to stop the war. that is something which of course has not happened as of yet. so we have to see what sort of remedies, what sort of measures would be indicated. nick: yuval shany, thank you very much. yuval: thank you very much. ♪ geoff: thousands of pages of court documents tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender jeffrey epstein have been made public as part of a settled lawsuit involving one of his victims.

the records detail epstein's sexual abuse and trafficking of underage girls and include the names of 150 people who were in contact with him. the magnitude of his sex trafficking operation was first brought to light by miami herald investigative reporter julie k. brown, who joins us now. she is author of the book, "perversion of justice: the jeffrey epstein story." thank you for being with us. as we mentioned, hundreds of documents have been released over the last two weeks, which are part of this defamation lawsuit filed by epstein victim virginia dufresne. and there are names of previously associated people, people associated with epstein such as prince andrew, former presidents donald trump, bill clinton. they're mentioned in these court documents. but there's little new information outside of what was already known to the public. what should we make of what's been released? julie: well, remember, this is a

-- has been a long process. we first sued for these records over five years ago, and they have been released on a rolling basis. and i think you have to look at the total picture here of his sex trafficking operation, and that's what we were getting at. in the beginning, when we first started getting the documents, we knew very little other than the fact that he had abused a lot of young girls in palm beach. now, as a result of all these records being released, we know that his operation went far beyond palm beach, in fact, was an international sex trafficking operation. geoff: well to your point, the documents certainly confirm the scale, the magnitude of his sex trafficking ring and his powerful social network. how do the documents add new insights, more dimension to the reporting that you've been doing for years? julie: well, i think it also sheds more light on the criminal justice system. we know that this is an operation that he could not have run all by himself. and as of right now, we only have one person paying the price

for this crime. we know that there were other people. although these documents don't implicate anyone directly, we know that some people have been identified as having sex with some of these girls. it certainly warrants more investigation by the federal authorities. geoff: you spoke recently with two of epstein's victims, who said that anyone who would have visited any of his homes would certainly have been aware of his depravity. tell me more about that, and why that's significant. julie: it's significant because these victims, they want justice. they know that this is a crime that a lot of people were involved in. and for them, just having one person arrested isn't enough. they want the truth. they want the other people brought to justice. i mean, he had pilots, he had assistants, he had business people who were helping him. and so the question for them is, why haven't some of those people

been looked at, or at least been asked to provide more information about his operation. geoff: i want to ask you about something else. a federal judge denied the motion by the miami herald to make public a master list of epstein's so-called j. does. these are people who have been connected to him, the names of those folks, except the victims. what's the value in making those names public when the accusations in the documents are salacious, yet largely unproven? julie: well, we still need to know who some of these people are. the documents that we received still have redactions in them. for example, there is a deposition by one of the victims, where she said she was forced to have sex with two high profile politicians and one of the politicians' name is completely redacted. we don't know why the judges is still redacting that particular doe because we don't know who that doe is. so providing the list would also help us understand why she

considers that person to still have anonymity. geoff: julie brown, investigative reporter for the miami herald. thanks so much. julie: thank you. ♪ amna: joya powell is an award-winning choreographer, activist, and educator whose work focuses on community and the african diaspora. she is the founder of movement of the people dance company, a group that addresses socio-cultural injustices through dance. in collaboration with new york city's lincoln center, she performed a piece called "what's left of spring." tonight, she shares her brief but spectacular take on dance as activism. joya: for me, dance is activism. dance itself is what gets us through the world. it's how we understand the world around us.

and within that, dance itself is the resistance that we need in order to create change. today, my company movement of the people dance company will be performing an excerpt of a work in progress piece called "what's left of spring." "what's left of spring" is an interactive piece that is afro futuristic, that looks at africanist art and dance, that tries to ask questions about where we are today, thinking about our socio-political culture and the issues that we're facing. >> sitting here in the atrium of lincoln center, 61 west 62nd street. or so they think. they congregate here to be entertained. joya: some of the themes that we look at is the covid pandemic >> i said it's covid in the house. lemme hear you say. like you mean it, c'mon.

joya: systemic racism. >> i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. i can't breathe. joya: we also look at what rituals that we need to be in place in order to live in this world together. and we also look at global warming and climate change. >> welcome to mahogany's battle of the natural disaster. give it up. joya: for me, one of the things i think about when i think of dance as activism is the thought of social movements, and thinking about the fact that social movements has the word "movement" of it. so we're looking at the body. where does the body live in creating change? we feel that there's a dialogue between ourselves and our embodied practices and the audience and our communities in order to try to figure out how to be in this world together. >> and so, they continue their journey, and collectively figure out that the way back to the future is through hope and joy. joya: my name is joya powell, and this is my brief but spectacular take on dance as activism.

amna: and you can find more brief but spectacular videos online at pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that is "the newshour" for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. geoff: and i'm geoff bennett. thanks for joining us, and have a good evening. >> major funding for the "pbs newshour" has been provided by. ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the "newshour," including leonard and norma klorfine, and the judy and peter blum kovler foundation. >> card is a proud supporter of public television. on a voyage with cunard, the world awaits. a world of flavor, derse destinations, and immersive experiences. a world of leisure, and british

style. all with cunard's white star service. ♪ >> the ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. and with the ongoing support of these institutions. >> and friends of the "newshour." ♪ >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.] >> this is pbs newshour west

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