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woman: a successful busiss owner sells his company and restores his father's historic jazz club with his son. a raymond james financial advisor get to know you, your passions, and the way you bring people together. life well planned. announcer: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. announcer: and now, "bbc news" ♪ >> hello, i'm helen humphrey. you are watching "the context" on bbc news. >> he is a military veteran, a teacher, of former high-school coach. he is also, by the way, someone who is not been to an ivy league university. he brings this balance of the ticket.

>> tim walz's record is a joke. he's been one of the most far left radicals in the entire united states government at any level. i think what tim walz's selection says is that kamala harris is to the far left of her party can which is what she always does. >> the argument is that perhaps mr. shapiro, like joe biden, a staunch pporter of israel, and that has been losing the democrats votes. helena: the u.s. vice president kamala harris chooses the governor of minnesota, tim walz, to be her running mate for november's presidential election. he is in philadelphia, where kamala harris is going to hold a rally shortly. we will be live in philadelphia. hamas announces that israel's most wanted man has been chosen

as the new head of the group, taking over from ismail haniyeh, who was assassinated in tehran last week. u.k. prime minister holds the second emergency meeting in two days after anoth night of violence and unrest on the streets in parts of the country. and the u.s. southern city of charleston extends her curfew until wednesday as it prepares for tropical storm debby. first we start with some breaking news. hamas has announced that israel's most wanted man has been chosen as the new head of the group. he succeeds is mel haniyeh, who was assassinated in the iranian capital of tehran last week. let's take a look at his background. he has most recently been serving as the leader of sheikh hasi -- of hamas's military wing in gaza.

israel holds him responsible for the attack on october 7 in israel. the 61-year-old was born in the khan yunis refugee camp and his parents were refugees. after his education, he was arrested by israel at age 19 for what they call "islamic activities." it was during this time that he won the coidence of the founder of hamas. two years after the groups formation, sinwar set up the feared internal security organization. in 1988sinwar allegedly plan the abduction and killing of two israeli soldiers and he was arrested later in the year. israel imprisoned him after a murder conviction. joining me from jerusalem is out diplomatic correspondent paul adams. good to have you with us. talk to us more about sinwar and what this means for the group.

paul: well, look, i think this is clearly a gesture of total defiance from hamas. they have effectively said to the world and to israel in particular, you killed our former leader, is mel haniyeh, a man who was your chief interlocutor, the man you are effectively if not directly but indirectly negotiating with. you decided to kill him. this is what you get instead. the man who you accused almost certainly with good reason of being the mastermind behind what happened on october 7 last year. it is hard to see how hamas could have chosen -- or made a more defined move than to appoint yahya sinwar, a kind of legendary figure among his followers, a man who as far as

we know has estate in the gaza strip throughout the entire 10 months of this war, men who was cleansed only briefly in some footage which the israelis released months ago in which he effectively -- you effectively see the back of h as he was moving through one of the famous tunnels in gaza, a man most people believe will never leave the gaza strip, will never abandon his fighters, who will perhaps fight to the very end. that is the man now in charge of hamas. and you know, what happens to negotiations as a result of this? is mel haniyeh is gone. -- ismail haniyeh is gone. the negotiations were difficult enough when he was there because all messages had to go by him and through a kind of complicated route through either the qataris or egyptians, and then very slowly and indirectly into the gaza strip, almost

certainly messages carried by hand until it reached yahya sinwar and it was up to him to decide what the response was, and the response was sometimes to emerge. all of that will remain extremely difficult. i think, as i said that the beginning, the chief messages defiance. helena: if that is the message, defines, what do you expect from the israeli war cabinet, and a key ally, the strongest alley of israel, how do you think the u.s. will be viewing this, too? paul: i suspect that no one will be perhaps that surprised. i think the assassination of ismail haniyehwho everyone across the region is the work of israel, although israel has not officially commented on it, that assassination was so brazen, so

provocative, that this was always likely to be hamas's response. mr. haniyeh may have been high on israel's hit list. yahya sinwar is absolutely at the top of that hit list. that is going to inform the way israel is going to approach him. the chief military spokesman has already issued a statement in which he says sinwar is a terrorist behind the most criminal act of terrorism in history, as he puts it, october 7 and there is only one place for him and that is by the side of all the terrorists responsible for the massacre. this, he says, is the only place we prepare and designate for him. israel has been determined since the start of this war to eliminate anyone and everyone who they believe was involved in one way or another in the attacks of october 7, tax which continue to -- the trauma of those attacks hangs heavy on

this country. and it is very telling that when they had the opportunity to kill ismail haniyeh, the israelis did not calculate, or dismissed the calculation that they were assassinating and interlocutor, intermediary. they thought that killing him was more important than having him alive as some kind of interlocutor. well, that interlocutor is gone. all decisions are now entirely and solely in the hands of mr. sinwar, and that suggests that any kind of dialogue at the moment is an even bleaker prospect than we thought before. helena: indeed. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams. thanks for covering that breaking developing story for us. we turn to the united states now, and the vice president has chosen the person that she would like as her vice president,

minnesota governor tim walz, the mandate democratic hopeful kamala harris wants with her on the ticket for the race for the white house. governor walz, seen here arriving in philadelphia, is a former high-school geography teacher, football coach, and military veteran. he is 60 years old and emerged as a late contender for the rope he was not among the early frontrunners. the likes of mark kelly and josh shapiro tended to represent hotly contested battleground states such as arizona and pennsylvania. instead, democrats will be hoping that tim walz can appeal to rural and working class voters in crucial midwestern states. while he is largely seen as a drama free pick, he did capture the internet's attention when he labeled former president donald trump and his running mate j.d. vance as "weird," an attack line that the harris campaign has picked up and run with. tim walz is appearing with ms. harris at a campaign event in

philadelphia, the first stop in a four-date tour of battleground states. our u.s. correspondent nomia iqbal joins me now. lovely to see you, good to have you with us. i'll be honest, when you and i were in washington talking about all of these vp picks a few weeks ago, i don't think the minnesota governor tim walz was necessarily top of that list, but clearly he has made the cut. why do you think that is? nomia: he has really emerged, hasn't he, in the last few days as the one that kamala harris would pick. i think there's probably a few reasons. he has served in congress, he is in his second term as governor. he has achieved the sort of things i imagine kamala harris would want to achieve should she make it to the white house. he is pro-reproductive rights, begun owner but -- a gun owner but believes in progressive policies with gun safety, he believes in helping parents.

you alluded to what he achieved before politics, he had a whole like before politics, which is always a good thing. an army veteran, high-school teacher, a football coach. when he did enter politics, he flipped in 2006 republican-leaning district, music to the ears of any would be president who to win midwestern states, which you need to, like pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan. also, you mentioned the "weird" thing, and that could have probably clinched it for him. the democratic party has been known to not be brilliant on messaging, sort of getting bogged down in nuance and what have you. he is quite a straight talker, that comment referring to mr. trump and mr. vance as weird really went viral and really cut through. the other reports are that they had chemistry. during the weekend went kamala harris interviewed everyone, they really hit it off. i guess we will get a sense of that when ms. harris and mr.

walz appear on stage behind me in a few hours. helena: i do want to ask you, nomia, whether you think this announcement, now that we know what the ticket looks like the democrats, might move the polls at all. if you look at the latest polls, the likes of cbs, it is a statistical tie between harris and trump. nomia: well, they will certainly want this to move the poll, many ways to balance out thein ticket. you have rural, working-class voters who mr. walz could connect with you might necessarily connect with kamala harris, who has spent most of her career in the deep blue state ofalifornia. ultimately it comes down to the battleground states. we know that there are polls that suggest ms. harris is slightly ahead of donald trump, but we know that polls change all the time in this country. harris and walz aren't leaving

anything to chance. after this rally, they will be heading on a week long whirlwind tour of battleground states. we know battleground states of the whole ballgame. they will be going to wisconsin, michigan, and nevada. here in this arena, which fills up to 10,000 people, it is the party faithful and everyone will love them. they need to convince the rest of america in those states they are winning ticket. helena: absolutely, and as you pointed out, nom, as we always state, polls are a snapshot in time and not always predictive. republican vice presidential candidate j.d. vance has already been campaigning in philadelphia toy. he called walz a far left radical and said the choice of him as a running mate was evidence that harris was "bent the knee to the far left of the party." vance has agreed to debate walz, but mostly focused on

criticizing kamala harris. let's take a listen. sen. vance: kamala harris has been such a disaster as vice president of this country that everywhere she goes, chaos and uncertain follow. we have got a war in europe, we have got a war in the middle east that threatens to spiral out of control, we have chaos in the world financial markets. everything that kamala harris touches has been a disaster, and we have got to kick her out of the united states government, not give her a promotion. helena: joining me is julia manchester, a political reporter at "the hill," joining us from washington, d.c. great to have you with us, julia. i will be frank with you and say that last night when we were debating this and speaking to pundits, a name that came up time time again, josh shapiro, josh shapiro there in philadelphia. i wonder what are you hearing from democrats about what they are making of tim walz as the pick.

julia: most democrats i talk to are very excited about tim walz. they look at josh shapiro and tim walz as two people that would have been great to balance out the ticket for kamala harris. i believe nomia in her package talk to that -- talked about how harris comes from california and getting someone from the blue wall of the united states that midwestern part, going into pennsylvania would have been helpful to her. however, a lot of progressives over the past three to four days, particularly pro-palestine progressives, were really hittg josh shapiro over his stances on israel, which quite frankly aren't terribly different from tim walz's stance on israel, and josh shapiro's response to some of the pro-palestinian protests that took place following october 7 in pennsylvania. there has been chatter among democrats as to whether this is anti-semitism, because we do know that josh shapiro is an observant jew and is very open

about his faith. when i say whether it is anti-semitism, i'm talking about what is coming from the far left of the party, not necessarily the pick of tim walz. we have seen josh shapiro come out very much in support of tim walz, calling him an exceptional add, that ticket has talked about his friendship with tim walz, and josh shapiro will be in philadelphia tonight at the rally with harris and walz. he is the governor of a major swing state, which he is very popular in. he will be a key asset for democrats this election cycle and beyond. helena: it will be interesting to see where he goes from here. nancy pelosi's been speaking about walz and calling him a heartland of america democrat. just talked to me about how you think a little bit more that could help balance the ticket with harris, particularly when as you were mentioning she has been dishing she spent so much of her career in california, something that the try to go after her --trump campaign try

to go after her for, calling her a radical. do you think this will resonate, the idea of walz speaking to the role, working-class voters? julia: it very well could. it was interesting in the trump campaign statement responding to the walz pick, they described him as a wannabe san francisco liberal, so still trying to tie him to california. but i talked to some republicans who said, look, walz -- and democrats -- is such a down to earth, affable person, what we would call midwestern nice in the united states. we know a loof elections come down to policy, but it is also about personality. one republican i was talking with said, look, if this election comes down to policy and the voters see how progressive harris and walz are, that could turn them off. however, if they see how affable tim walz is, if they see the chemistry between these two

candidates, that could in turn persuade them to vote for them. but there is going to be this rush to define tim walz. i think of a recent poll -- i can't remember which outlet he came from -- showed 70, 75% of americans aren't familiar with him. this will be a major introduction. helena: and could that be a good thing, i wonder, julia, the idea that harris is going for someone who is seen as a no-drama pick. you mentioned the idea of midwestern nice, not bogging down a campaign with any potential skeletons in the closet. julia: yeah, i think no drama hits the nail on the head. with governor shapiro, one of the issues he would face is that pushback from the progressive left and the issues they had with his foreign policy stance is, but also some of his other stances as the governor of pennsylvania. tim walz, unlike josh shapiro, is the governor of a pretty solid blue state.

we have seen republicans make some inroads in that state, but he in general has had a very productive tenure as governor. democrats like him -- helena: all right, julie manchester at "the hill," great toave you on. around the world and across the u.k., this is bbc news.

helena: here in the u.k., the prime minister has been holding the second emergency meeting two days after another night of violence and unrest on the streets in parts of the country. the last couple of hours the head of the metropolitan police, the uk's biggest police force, was seen arriving at whitehall for that meeting. he is a force has said that anyone who plans to breed a disorder will face the full force of the law. a former detective

superintendent at the met police, good to have you with us. you like all of us have watched what is going on in the u.k., in england over the past over a week now. i wonder with all of your years of policing experience what you have made of what we have seen. yes, shocking and unprecedented. never experienced anything like this. really difficult for the police to manage. but manage they are, doing the best they possibly can. significant number of arrests, a number of charges going through the court processes, including some convictions. they are trying to work at at very good pace, but it is going to be difficult. 30 protests, as i understand, plan for tomorrow, which will be a huge challenge for police across the u.k. and hopefully -- this sounds awful to say, but as every day passes and police are passing

each of these riots and environment-- and violent situations, they are getting better and better at what they are doing. very difficult, but let's hope they can try and prevent any further violence. but i'm not actually hopeful of that. helena: yeah, and the other point is in all of this, they may be getting in your assessment stronger and stronger in their response, but at the same time this is going on for more and more time, you have more junior offices having to hold the line for the first time, police forces not necessarily having seen something like this since 2011, people coming off the back of their leave and filling in. presumably people will be getting tired. police forces will be more stretched. are you confident they have what they needed to respond to this, particularly in light of what we could see on wednesday? sin shabnam: i think the difficulties is every office ha a different number of officers.

someplace like merseyside has something like 3,700, so they have got to pool all of the resources from their organizations. what they have started to do his working in collaboration and officers are moving across the u.k. they are moving police officers across the country, but the point you make about officers and inexperience is also very relevant. these will be officers who come from front-line policing, neighborhood policing, but they will have the requisite skills to be able to police public order, they will have to be trained especially. some of those may be newly trained, so will be the first ever serious disorder. helena: shabnam, you are just mentioning neighborhood policing. as you know, gathering

intelligence in communities can be so very effective when trying to prevent crime. instead, what we are seeing, so much disinformation, misinformation spreading like wildfire on social media. looking at the scale of the challenge, how big is it for authorities, the police to get on top of went essentially this is spreading so quickly? shabnam: it's spreading incredibly fast, and it is going to be very difficult for them. i wouldn't be surprised if something comes out of the meeting in terms of putting -- holding those tech giants to account, looking at misinformation and arrests for spreading misinformation, but also those in citing violence and rioting. the other thing we have to remember is when you look at these far-right groups, before when people would come to these events, these protests, they do it via whatsapp or blackberry or whatever it was.

now they have the luxury of the internet and they have groups where they can call thousands and thousands of people, which is clearly what is happening. listening to people who come from hard future that have traveled to the west midlands to go to these protests and finding themselves being arrested. the only thing i would say is yesterday when they had it in cornwall, it started off as a purchase but quickly escalated. all i've seen has been sheer, utter violence, writing, trying to -- rioting, trying to burn down hotels, attacking mosques. cemetery was vandalized. cars burned out. significant number of police officers are being assaued, which is a further drain on resources and has a huge impact on business as well. helena: we have about 10 seconds, shabnam. despite the fact that we have the expanded powers, there is

organization going on. do police need further powers? shabnam: i think they've got sufficient powers at the moment, but they will need powers in terms of social media and the tech giants for short. helena: all right, former detective superintendent at the met police force, very good to have you with us on "the context ." we do appreciate it. stay with us on bbc news. plenty more on the way. in the meantime, you can go to our website, bbc.com/news. i wi narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. and by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

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