lee. president joe biden making juneteenth a federal holiday. how did you feel? >> i don't know how to express it. i was awed. i was thankful. >> reporter: in may, she was awarded the presidential medal of freedom. i'm struck by how much history lives on your walls. but also in your stories. what do you ultimately want your legacy to be? >> that there was an old lady who tried to get it over to everybody that we are one people. >> very cool lady. that does it for us today. see you back here tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern. thanks for joining us.

andrea mitchell picks up coverage right now. right now on "andrea mitchell reports," a landmark deal between russia and north korea. what that could mean for vladimir putin's illegal war in ukraine. kim jong-un's illegal nuclear program. the threat they pose to the rest of the world. donald trump doing damage control in wisconsin, insisting he loves milwaukee and never actually called it a horrible city. are voters going to boy that? israel claiming it's punishing offensive in rafah is coming to an end. that doesn't mean an end to the war in gaza. no progress on negotiations to release the remaining hostages. the american parents of one of the young men kidnapped on october 7th will join me today. ♪♪ good day, everyone. happy juneteenth. we start with that historic

partnership between russia and north korea, a bold show of anti-western defiance that's rattling the u.s. and its allies worldwide. this was the scene earlier today. russian president vladimir putin giving the red carpet treatment during his first trip to north korea in more than two decades. he was greeted by kim jong-un. the moment marked with a lavish ceremony in pyongyang's main square. putin and kim getting into a new armored limousine for the north korean leader. a gift from his russian guest. later, the two men signing a comprehensive strategic pact, with each vowing to come to the other's aid in case of a military attack. it paves the way for pyongyang to send over ammunitions for russia's war against ukraine. they are worried moscow will reciprocate by providing north korea with military technology it can use to expand its illegal nuclear program.

janis mackey frayer is in beijing, peter baker, an msnbc political annalyst, victor chaw he is an msnbc contributor. janis, what do we know about the details of the agreement, the summit, why now? and its historic impact. >> reporter: we did see vladimir putin get the red carpet welcome here with kim jong-un waiting for him in the middle of the night. from the moment he arrived, the two didn't leave each other's side. optics very important here as they were walking around past soldiers, past schoolchildren, past horses, giving this show of unity. after two hours of talks, emerging with this agreement, signing a strategic defense treaty, promising each other mutual assistance against

aggression in case each other's country comes under some sort of aggression. what we are seeing here is this sense that they are emerging from this stronger partners, which, of course, will be troubling for the u.s. and the rest of the west. >> peter, this is more than symbolism. does this change the outlook in ukraine? it has actually, because russia would have been on its back heels without all the help from china. but north korea, critical munitions. >> absolutely. thousands of shipping containers. it's a remarkable thing to see a country like russia, one-time global superpower, now trying to reassert itself, depending on north korea of all places. a broken economy, a hermit kingdom as it is often called to

supply it with weapons it needs. it talks about how the global order is changing. the alignment between russia and china, russia and north korea and russia and iran has upended the traditional diplomacy that we saw in past years. it wasn't that long ago -- andrea, you and i covered it -- there were six party talks to get north korea to back off and russia and china were part of that. now putin with his visit today and the document they signed is saying, no more. i'm on north korea's side. i'm not ever signing up with the west again. >> china used to help the u.s. in pressuring north korea to demilitarize. in 2000, then secretary of state madeleine albright, i was in pyongyang with kim's father as the leader, and they were talking about a peace agreement

that bill clinton says regretfully he would have signed if not for the -- actually, peter, if not for the election, the bush/gore dispute, dent want to leave the country with know one knowing who was president. it brings me to victor. you know so well that it was when george w. bush took over that in the spring of 2001, to the surprise of powell, the secretary of state, they decided not to go forward with that peace agreement that had been basically almost initialled in the october previous by the clinton administration. >> yeah. as peter said, during those six party talks that you covered and others, i was in the government at the time, and russia had signed on to not one but 11 u.n. security council resolutions

against north korea, sanctioning them for their proliferation behavior. this new agreement on security that janis mentioned that was just signed between the two sides is really a renewal, i think, of the cold war agreements that were reached between the two that for a period were nullified when south korea normalized relations with the soviet union in 1990. that's gone now. russia is clearly on north korea's side. i think this is for the long-term. >> let me ask you, what technology do you think that north korea is getting from russia? this is a two-way street. the military aid, surplus weapons that are compatible with the soviet-era weapons they are using against ukraine, the artillery, other munitions they need, but they are now getting very important help to expand the nuclear missile program. do you know in what way? what have you learned?

>> i think that's right. the white house has been a bit modest in terms of what they think the russians are providing, maybe surface to air missiles, some other things. i'm worried kim jong-un will drive a hard bargain because he knows putin needs the ammunition. will be asking for things like nuclear submarine technology, advanced telemetry, as well as technology for his intercontinental ballistic missiles. there's a long wish kim has. putin may not have a choice but to give those things to him. >> this summit, peter, looks like an obvious response to the partnership that president biden and zelenskyy signed last week. we just don't know about the concrete commitment of aid. it seems as though north korea and china are bailing putin out on ukraine. >> yeah. you heard the president talk about that during the g7 in italy. he talked about how china has

been helping russia, trying to refuse to go to that peace summit that president zelenskyy of ukraine sponsored in switzerland. absolutely, the alignment here of these four countries really, the united states -- russia, china, north korea, and iran is really creating a whole new dynamic for american western diplomacy. the united states has worked hard to keep china from going all in with russia in the sense they think they have not provided some of the same weaponry they are getting from north korea and iran. we don't know where that will end up. china has made this very clear that in this conflict right now, it sides with russia. of course, that is putting russia into china's pocket to some extent. it's remarkable vladimir putin, who wants to reassert russian power on the world stage, in effect is making himself a vasal state to his neighbor in china. that's another long-term change

in our world dynamics. >> peter, the threat from north korea with the u.s. so focused on events in europe, ukraine obviously, and the war in gaza, is the administration doing enough, paying enough attention to the way kim jong-un is expanding his nuclear and missile program and potentially submarines? >> that's a good question. victor may know better than i would. you are right to say that there's been so much tension on the middle east and europe that you have to wonder whether or not actors like kim jong-un would try to take advantage of that. he time and time again, he and his father would act out in effect when they felt like there were moments to get attention or to provoke. we haven't seen that lately, except for this summit. it pay be their way of doing that. you are right, you always have to keep an eye on north korea. you never know where they are going to come out.

>> victor, what about an october surprise or some expansion of the missile technology from the north? >> i think it's very likely. north korea in general does a lot more missile demonstrations than provocations in u.s. election years. they are on pace to set a new record in terms of the amount of demonstrations they have done. they set the record last year as peter said. the administration has been preoccupied with the two wars. there is -- the u.s. government is big. i used to work in it. but there's limited bandwidth when you are dealing two wars. north korea has been able to fly under the radar. hopefully, this summit will be a wake-up call for the administration, put policy into action to disrupt this russia and north korea tie. >> janis mackey frayer, peter baker, victor cha, thanks to all of you. we will discuss the implications of this visit with the u.s. ambassador to nato.

plus, we are celebrating juneteenth. three years after president biden made this a federal holiday to honor the date that hundreds of thousands of of enslaved people across were told they were free. many did not learn it for quite some time. we will talk about that. we will go live to chicago and a black history museum and education center where a celebration is underway right now. why that museum's ceo says facts and history today are more important than ever. stay close. a lot more coming up in 90 seconds. this is "andrea mitchell reports." we'll be right back. ndrea mitchl reports. we'll be right back. or crohn's disease... put it in check with rinvoq... a once-daily pill. when symptoms tried to take control, i got rapid relief and reduced fatigue with rinvoq. check! when flares kept trying to slow me down i got lasting steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check! and when my doctor saw damage, rinvoq helped visibly reduce damage of the intestinal lining. check! for both uc and crohn's: rapid symptom relief

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if you think about it. a lot more now on the new pact between putin and kim jong-un. the rare visit coming as he is looking for more weapons with his war with ukraine. kim jong-un is getting valuable technology for his illegal missile program. joining us now is ambassador julanne smith. it's good to see you on set. we usually see each other in brussels or nato meetings somewhere else. ambassador smith, this new pact means certainly more ammunition, more artillery at the very least against ukraine. can ukraine hold its own? it's getting the american deliveries. there was the terrible delay because of the congressional

stalemate. it lost ground. all the setbacks, kharkiv under fire and at risk. can they now hold the line and stop the russian advances? >> well, you are right, we did have unfortunately a delay of several months while congress was trying to sort out and finalize the supplemental. fortunately, our friends in europe kept the assistance flowing. they deserve credit for that. now we're at a point where what's been promised is actually arriving on the battlefield. our assessment is that the ukrainians have put to use everything that we have been able to flow into ukraine these last few weeks. they have stabilized the lines around kharkiv, which is good news. at the end of the day, the russians weren't able to move that far into ukraine. we are talking single digits in terms of kilometers. we feel better that they now have the assistance they need. everything we're doing is paired with what over 49 other

countries are doing to provide important security assistance. >> nato is stronger than ever. certainly with sweden and finland joining and more money, more nato countries coming up to the 2% standard. you are also facing sharp criticism from the republican candidate. i know you don't get into politics. the facts here. he is saying europe isn't doing its part, still not pulling its weight. europe contributed $50 billion when our supplemental was still at risk. now there's another 50 billion that the g7 has agreed is going to come from interest on the russian assets that are held largely in belgium, not in the u.s. >> that's right. we had breaking news this week. you will remember ten years ago, all nato allies pledged to spend 2% of their gdp on defense. when we made that pledge ten years ago, we had three countries at the 2% mark. the secretary-general of nato is

in town and sat with president biden and announced now 23 members of the alliance spend 2%. that's a huge leap. it needs to be all 32 allies. we will keep pushing. the fact that we have two-thirds of the alliance now spending 2% is a major, major milestone. you are right to note that burden sharing isn't just about that 2% target. burden sharing is about doing more for ukraine. there we have just had breaking news. the germans are offering another patriot. the czechs have secured another 500,000 rounds of munitions for our friends in ukraine. many other countries are stepping forward. great to have the u.s. supplemental. but let's not forget that the europeans are doing their fair share as well. >> the patriots are in such short supply that part of the job of our pentagon has been to go around to the allies and find out who can deliver a patriot

while we try to produce more. they are in short supply. there's a dispute between us and president zelenskyy, between the u.s. and zelenskyy over the ability to fire back across the border into russia. they have a limited ability around kharkiv now to those russian encampments where they are firing against kharkiv, or had been. zelenskyy wants more. the administration is concerned about escalating the war. isn't the war so escalating, according to putin, that -- is ukraine right that they need the ability to fire back when fired upon? >> look, since this war started, we have been sitting down with ukrainian military commanders and president zelenskyy on a regular basis to understand, what are their immediate needs? every month, secretary austin convenes the udgc where we can

hear from them what equipment do you need, what do you want to talk about in terms of current strategy, do you want to talk through your plans for the coming weeks, the coming months? as we do that, we are listening to them. we heard them in early may when they said, we want to go after the places on the other side of the border from which they are targeting kharkiv. the u.s. responded. the president made the decision to have a shift in our approach. we heard them and responded in real time. as we go forward, we will continue to hear from them and determine what exactly they want to do, what they need from the united states and all the other countries. i think right now, you have heard the president, his position on the long-range atacms. it's pretty clear. we are not in a position where we encourage them to use those to strike into russia. we believe those can be used very effectively in places like

crimea, which is ukrainian territory, of course. but let's see. you have heard secretary blinken say time and time again, we are assessing, we are adapting the policy. ultimately, this is ukraine's war to fight. they will make a determination on the battlefield how to use the assistance they have received. >> what is the hope of getting some of the thousands of children who have been kidnapped, taken across the border, put through, quote, reeducation, put up for adoption and taken from the ukrainian parents? >> there's so much about this war that just is so hard to process. it's such a great tragedy the way in which russia is conducting itself on the battlefield. you are right, the way in which they have abducted thousands of ukrainian children and are now working to put those children in russian homes is obviously a violation of international law. it's a tragedy on a scale that we can hardly comprehend.

we collectively, working with our friends in europe, working with the ukrainians, we have to call out this behavior. we have to make sure that every country that's partnering with russia right now, like north korea, like the prc, like iran, understands what russia is actually doing on the battlefield and work day in and day out to get those kids back into the homes that they belong in as soon as possible. >> our ambassador to nato, julianne smith, as it an honor to have you here. >> great to see you. >> thank you for coming in. >> hope to see you at the summit. >> indeed, at the summit. nato's summit, 75th anniversary being celebrated in washington. all of the leaders gathering here in july. >> that's right. coming in three weeks. former president trump trying to assure milwaukee voters that he loves the city, despite reports he wasn't going to stay there for the upcoming

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san francisco's been through tough times. london breed led us through the pandemic, declaring an emergency before anyone else, saving thousands of lives. from growing up in the western addition housing projects to becoming mayor, london has never given up on the city that raised her. london is getting people off the streets and into care. london never gave up on me.

i found a home, and my life is on the right track. london made it super easy for me to open my small business, by cutting city fees. and she's reinventing downtown to make our city vibrant again. she's building 82,000 new homes and helping first time homebuyers, just like us. and london's hiring hundreds of police officers, and arresting drug dealers. san francisco has been through difficult times, but our hard work is paying off. working together, we're building a better future for the city we all love. ad paid for by re-elect mayor london breed 2024. financial disclosures are available at sfethics.org. donald trump is facing backlash for his criticism to republican lawmakers about milwaukee. milwaukee, the site of the upcoming republican convention next month. calling the city horrible last week. at a rally in wisconsin, of

course, with milwaukee, he said this. >> you know, i love milwaukee. i was the one that picked milwaukee, i have to tell you. i was the one that picked it. these lying people that -- they say, he doesn't like milwaukee. i love milwaukee. >> in another aboutface, trump is backtracking on his reported plans to stay at his hotel in chicago during the rnc. plans that were confirmed two days ago by state and local police who were working on the security for him there. trump disputed those reports telling nbc affiliate wtmj in milwaukee that he planned to stay in milwaukee all along. joining us now is nbc's vaughn hillyard, and david jolly, former republican congressman from florida and an msnbc political analyst. vaughn, sort through this, what the former president said, according to so many reports

from republicans at the rnc headquarters on capitol hill just last week about milwaukee, and now what he is saying as well as whether or not he had planned to stay in chicago during the republican convention in milwaukee. >> reporter: the remarks at the private meeting with house republicans when he said milwaukee was a terrible city, he was referring to crime in milwaukee, milwaukee and the suburbs are critical to his november election success. you will recall that back in 2020, he lost wisconsin by just about 20,000 votes. it's paramount to perform well there. as you heard him on the stage there just outside of milwaukee, he was backtracking on some of the remarks there. we should note, chicago is about an hour drive. it's not out of the realm of possibility he was looking to make that commute every day. of course, sources tell nbc news, law enforcement sources

that he intended to do that. let's be clear here. there's a part of donald trump in which he has ridiculed new york and milwaukee and chicago, where he was looking to stay, and compared it to afghanistan. this is not necessarily new for donald trump. just maybe a difference of public remarks versus private remarks. >> the critics have said there's a racial component to this. milwaukee has a black mayor, black population in chicaes. he has been critical of the crime in those cities. in some cases understandably. not good politics, david. your reaction to his change of direction on milwaukee. >> i think this is a controversy that donald trump created.

it's easy for them to conflate questions of crime with race. to many republicans, crime is a black american problem, not a white american problem. i think that's ultimately my judgement but why you hear donald trump and other republicans speak about urban corridors as they do. i think the remarkable thing here is this is an issue because of the toxicity with which donald trump speaks. it's not unusual for a nominee to be in another city at the start of a convention and create the anticipation of their arrival. some will campaign publicly in another city across the country, but they arrive on day three for a speech then on day four. maybe make a little tease appearance on day three. this would not have been an issue that donald trump was not staying in milwaukee, but for the way he spoke about the host city and the way that republicans speak about cities. to vaughn's point, the suburban areas, not just urban areas around many of the metro areas,

are the voters that donald trump needs and certainly joe biden will be targeting as well. >> david, let me quickly ask you about some key primary races in virginia on the house side where trump whistle-blower eugene vindman won yesterday. what does that tell us about the balance of power as well as the fact that bob good, the house freedom caucus leader, was opposed by donald trump, was opposed by kevin mccarthy on his revenge tour and is now in a tight -- a nail biter. a couple hundred votes separating him from john mcquire, backed by trump and mccarthy. >> the vindman candidacy, important for this race. the threat it draws from donald trump's performance in office, the controversy around him. that's a seat that democrats want to hold and win, but republicans believe they have a shot. the bob good one is more

interesting because that will likely stay red. donald trump targeted congressman good, the incumbent, because good had the audacity to back ron desantis. a weird spot with donald trump being upset with good. bob good, otherwise safe a year ago, may be losing his seat. >> vindman, of course, has not been this politics before. he was in the nsc with his twin brother. they were whistle-blowers on the first trump impeachment. he will run against a former green beret. that's interesting. that's the abigail spanberger seat in virginia. she's running as the democratic candidate for governor. a lot of interest in virginia. vaughn hillyard, former congressman david jolly, thanks to both of you. southern texas now bracing for the first major tropical

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in chicago right now, a brutal heat wave is hitting the city as people are gathering today to celebrate juneteenth. president biden declared june

juneteethth a holiday. nbc's shaquille brewster is live from the black history museum and education center in chicago. shaq, happy juneteenth to you. a great national celebration of a day when according to "the washington post" today, there was a case in texas, not only did galveston, texas, delay the announcement by several months to the people enslaved there, but other people in texas were not freed by their plantation owners who didn't want to pay salaries, and there was a man in 1903 who said, are we still slaves or are we free? communication was deliberately withheld from a lot of people.

>> reporter: that's exactly right. that kind of shows you the push and pull of this holiday. something that i have been hearing in my conversations here where people are saying, yes, we are here to celebrate. you hear the music behind me. you see vendors. there's bounce houses and arts and crafts for the kids. they are saying that they are here to reflect on what has changed and also what people want to change. that's why you have health vendors. there are documentaries being played talking about the history of juneteenth. listen to my conversation with the ceo of the museum here, the host of the event, one of the largest in chicago on juneteenth. listen to what she talked about in terms of how -- the intention behind this holiday and the celebrations here. >> i think when we reflect on freedom day, we know that the work is not done. right? we know we still have much to do to really make the entirety of

that promise come to fruition. particularly these days, when people are trying to cut us off from history, to revise history, to reinvent it for their purposes, it's so much more important now, more important than ever, to know the truth and the facts, which still survive. >> reporter: people who celebrated juneteenth their entire lives say there's some appreciation that the federal holiday has made it now something where more people know about it and can come out and have the day off and come to events like this. i have to say, looming over today's event is also the temperatures. 90 degrees when you factor in humidity, it's going to break into the mid 90s. the museum ceo telling me there's an air conditioned center inside. security is on guard, if you look faint, if you look hot,

come inside. they ordered extra water. there's the tension of trying to celebrate but make sure people are doing it safely. chicago is one of the many cities across the country dealing with this brutal heat wave. >> indeed. stay hydrated, shaquille brewster, thank you so much. texas is already suffering from an early tropical storm. this alberto is the first storm of the season bringing flash flooding, gusting winds, up to 15 inches of rain along the coast. it formed hours ago, triggering flood warnings action dangerous surf threatens southern texas. look at what happened overnight. a storm surge hitting treasure island. quad venegas is joining us from corpus christi, texas. looks like there's a lot of rain, a lot of water rising. how are the conditions there,

quad? >> reporter: andrea, we are getting the first part of heavy rain. it was forecasted to start at noon. this is the marina. you can see boats. they were rocking earlier with the wind. just behind me, there's a roadway there that we can't see because it's under maybe two to three inches of water. earlier, we saw authorities drive up and down. they were going to shut it down. that leads to the other side of the marina. there's a restaurant and other structures. that's all going to get shut down. this part is under a flash flood warning. this water could rise really fast. i'm standing on the steps that make up the seawall that protects this part of corpus christi. a lot of the communities in this part of texas have seawalls that protect them from the surge. this is almost 100 years old. the alert is on because we could see a surge that would bring the water in. of course, there's other areas that are more vulnerable.

we do have the marina. we have an extra barrier. there's a barrier island here that protects these communities. that flash flood warning is in effect. authorities have shut down a lot of the roadways like the one behind me. the alert is for people in their cars to be very careful with roadways under water. they say if it's -- if there's water, you never know how deep it's going to be. if it's flooded, turn around and don't drown. you never know once you are driving through. they opened up shelters for people that are homeless or people that are this areas that could flood. they have high-water vehicles, rescue vehicles ready to go into action if necessary. closed down streets. they have barriers in place. cleared a lot of the storm drains. all preparations are in place. we are just waiting for the rain and the wind to come through as the storm makes its way through. >> stay safe. take care of yourself, guad, you

and yourself, the crew there. thank you. today, baseball fans word wide are remembering willie mays, the electrifying major league ballplayer who combined his tremendous talent with an infectious love of the game. mays died last night. he was 93. he was described as the greatest all around player in baseball history. there's really no argument with that. he hit 660 home runs, stole more than 300 bases. he won 12 golden gloves for his defense in center field, even though that award was not created until after willie mays played for six seasons. statistics only tell part of the hall of famer's story. as a 19-year-old mays was signed out of high school to play in the negro league, going on to the majors a short time later to play for the new york giants. his impact was immediate. he was named rookie of the year in 1951.

his world series in 1954. that was the year of his signature moment happening in game one of the series, making this unbelievable, over the shoulder catch, deep center field. two runners on. the score tied. the giants won that game and swept the series. it was plays like that, known as the catch, that earned mays the nickname, the say hey kid. it wasn't just his talent that endeared him to fans. he was kind, he was genuine. that's the side of him you see in videos like this. he was playing stick ball with the kids in his neighborhood in harlem in the morning before buying them all ice cream and then heading to the grounds for a scheduled game. it was the way he played with the joy and style rarely if ever matched. >> he was 5'11". he brought the basket catch. his cap flew off. he played the game with flare. the old cardinals manager called him the magic man.

that's what he was. >> he once said, i can make a hard play look easy. but for entertainment value, i will make an easy play look hard. he was going to make the catch anyway. he was just one of a kind. >> two greats. all of baseball is mourning his death. it will hit close to home tomorrow night when the giants and the cardinals will play in birmingham, alabama. the field where his career started. in a game that had been scheduled to honor the negro leagues and its players but else willie mays. it will be more poignant focusing on mays, his career and his legacy. a baseball player, a man unlike any other. we turn overseas to the middle east. the israeli hostage families demanding action as a cease-fire deal remains at a standstill. the parents of a young man

kidnapped on october 7th will join me. that's all next. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.

israel says it is close to achieving its goals in rafah. six weeks after an attack, the southern city in gaza, which they called hamas's stronghold.

the u.s. still does not know what israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu meant in a video when he went public in english talking about public criticism of the biden administration, claiming that he's not getting enough support, enough weapons from the u.s. >> i said it's inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunitions to israel. israel, america's closest ally fighting for its life. >> this as cease fire talks that would free the hostages appear to be stalemated with israel refusing to end the war and hamas saying it will not release the remaining hostages until it does. joining me now, so pleased to have rachel goldberg-polin and john polin with us. their son hersh was kidnapped on october 7th. it's good to see you. it's always, you know, terrible to talk about this in this context, but you want to talk

about it. i want to talk about it. i want to keep the attention of the world on what is happening with our hostages, with our americans. talk to me about the latest. what are you hearing? >> well, unfortunately we're not hearing a lot, although maybe that we always hope when we're not hearing a lot that still waters run deep and that there are still conversations and negotiations going on behind closed doors. i actually think a lot happens in that way, especially with the fragility of all of the parties involved, but we don't have any news at the moment. we are always continuing to be optimistic and hopeful, but it is a terrifying, frightening experience as anyone can

imagine. >> you know, it's been eight months. it's been 257 days as you signify, you know, you wear these markers every day, john. how do you maintain the hope, optimism that you and rachel do about hersh and his situation? >> the basic answer is we don't have a choice. being pessimistic doesn't help us be productive. we're sitting here in washington, juneteenth today, went for a run this morning, and this city, it just -- you can't go anywhere in the city without it screaming liberty, emancipation, freedom. that is what this city is about. that is what this country is about, and i see the monuments, and i think there are still 120 hostages and the american eight, eight americans. i know that this country, this

administration, this congress will not sit and allow this to continue without turning over every possible stone and bringing home these citizens, these hostages who have been held for 257 days suffering in tunnel system somewhere. america doesn't like that i know and that america is not going to stop until these hostages are released. >> i know that commitment traveling with secretary blinken, talking to the officials in the state department, the white house, they feel, though, rachel, that they are -- they're not losing hope as you are not, but they are frustrated, and you can hear the frustration in their voices, and i can hear the expressions with prime minister netanyahu and the decision to keep going to wanting to root out, eradicate hamas, whatever that means, getting sinwar, of course would be the prime goal. do you feel now it is more

important to get the hostages out and then deal with hamas? >> well, we certainly feel that way, but what's interesting, andrea, is that all of the surveys now in israel are showing that the majority of israelis, regular israelis on the streets are saying we need to get these hostages back. we have time to figure out what is down the road, and it's not just for the sake of these hostages, the 120 hostages who as you well know hail from 24 different nations and are christians, jews, muslims, buddhists and hindus, but it's also in order to stop the suffering of all the hundreds of thousands of gazan civilians who are caught in the cross hairs. there is a real yearning and thirst for a cessation of the last eight months. it's enough thousand, and what we will have to deal with in the region in terms of the turmoil

that we have witnessed and are in the midst of, we will figure that out. we are -- many different people are working on that already, and that there is time for. what there is not time for are these 120 cherished souls who are still being held there in very dangerous conditions. >> rachel polin goldberg and jon polin, your faith that this is going to work and our faith that hersh is somehow hearing you wherever he is! i want to add that i talked about inspiration that i'm seeing here in washington today just because it's so steeped in this city. you mentioned when you asked the question to rachel something about weakening hamas, whatever that means, right? so that part of this mission is

unclear, but bringing home the hostages is clear. there can be no picture of victory for prime minister netanyahu for israel without bringing home these hostages, and i feel the inspiration here in the united states, in washington. i know that the israelis are now behind bringing home the hostages and will do whatever it takes. something has to happen soon. >> well, praying that that does happen soon. jon, rachel, thank you so much. >> thank you for having us. >> and we'll be right back. >> and we'll be right back these days everyone is staring at screens, and watching their spending. good vision is more important than ever, but so is saving. that's why america's best includes a free eye exam when you buy two pairs of glasses for just $79.95.

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