♪ amna: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. geoff bennett is away. on the "newshour" tonight, gaza reels from devastating overnight airstrikes on refugee camps, as egypt floats a proposal to end the israel-hamas war online safety. allegations that facebook and instagram ignored warnings that the social media platforms were harming young users. and a preview of next year's legislative sessions. as state lawmakers meet, what

bills and priorities are on the horizon in 2024. >> when i talk to legislators, almost no matter what issue we're talking about, the underlying issue is a workforce issue. ♪ >> major funding for the pbs newshour been provided by. ♪ the ongoing support of these individuals and institutions, and friends of the newshour, including kathy and paul anderson and camilla and george smith. >> consumer cellular. this is sam. how may i help you? >> this is a pocket dial. well. thought i would let you know with consumer cellular you get nationwide coverage with no contract. that is kind of our thing. have a nice day. >> actually, you don't need

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thank you. amna: welcome to the newhour. the israeli military says it has expanded its ground offensive in the gaza strip. operations now include the dangerously -- densely populated urban refugee camps in the central part of the territory. that comes as the united nations appoints a new coordinator for humanitarian aid to gaza, where the u.n. says more than 2 million people are in a food crisis, and the risk of famine grows each day. at this camp in central gaza, these families are on the move again, eating is really warnings to evacuate. safety is hard to find. even evacuating is dangerous. >> they through leafless -- leaflets at us and shot bullets and rounds of gunfire around us.

we have been forced out. amna: the continued israeli strikes hit even so-called safe zones. she has lived through decades of conflict. stephanie: 75 years of suffering. our rights taken and our people slaughtered. amna: yesterday egypt and qatar presented a plan to end the war but neither israel or hummus publicly embraced a cease-fire. the conflict boiled over into the region. the popular mobilization forces backed by iran marched through baghdad with the coffin of a fighter killed by an american airstrike. >> it is another crime added to america's black criminal record. amna: president biden ordered the strike after a drone attack injured three american servicemembers in northern iraq. it was claimed by iranian backed militant groups. iranian backed houthi rebels

have launched missiles towards commercial ships on the red sea and sent a barrage towards the israeli city. israel joined the fray, killing a high-ranking iranian official outside damascus. >> our reaction will be smart and strong and have the necessary effectiveness in a way that the regime will not have any possibility of a response. amna: the defense note -- minister defended the actions. >> we are in a multi-front war and anyone who acts against us is a potential target. there is no immunity for anyone. amna: israeli operations in the west bank have expanded. the idf said they confiscated weapons and destroyed an explosives lab near a refugee camp. idf troops moved through gaza.

israeli officials pledged to finish their mission. overhead the iron dome continues to intercept hamas rockets targeting israel and a chance for peace seems far away. late today, the pentagon said a u.s. warship shot down 12 drones, three anti-ship ballistic missiles, and two land-attack cruise missiles that were fired by the yemen-based houthis. meanwhile, the death toll in gaza has crossed 20,000, mostly women and children, according to palestinian officials. the path to a political solution to the end of the war seems far off. to discuss what this means for palestinians trapped in gaza, i spoke earlier today with palestinian political analyst nour odeh. welcome back to the newshour. thanks for joining us. i would love to ask about the proposed peace plan we saw put forth by egypt and qatar that calls for the phased release of

hostages held by hamas and palestinians held by israel, and for a united technocratic palestinian government to oversee gaza and the west bank. when he saw the plan, what did you make of it? >> it wasn't surprising in its attempt to feign a permanent cease-fire. it feels like the parties are far apart. i was puzzled that the egyptians would also include negotiations with israel and the u.s. on the internal palestinian issue of who governs and how. this is a contentious issue and a delicate one. i think it would be easier for egypt to do a little bit of housekeeping with the palestinians first before they put it out there for everybody to weigh in. now we know pretty much everybody has said no to the proposal. amna: we know hamas' opposition

is based on the fact that they don't want anyone else to run gaza. set aside what israel would or wouldn't sign onto. would hummus support of peace plan that doesn't include them in charge? would palestinian support hamas not being in charge? >> i think hamas would be open to a formulation where it remains part of the political scene because that is inevitable. there is no way hamas is going to cease to exist and everybody has to come to terms with that. to have a technocratic government i don't think would be a contentious issue. it is more the other details of how this could have been, how unity would come about, what kind of role would hamas have in the wider political context. these are things palestinians need to agree on and frankly, the world has to come to terms with because if this veto on who

is an acceptable palestinian political player continues, there is more of a chance this war will continue, will persist and we will see more death and destruction until the reality sets in and people understand there is no way you can cancel an ideology or prevent a significant player from taking part in palestinian politics without setting everybody up for civil war. amna: israel has said one of their main goals, their prerequisites is that hamas is eradicated. what is the future like for hamas in gaza? you said there is a difference between the political wing surviving without the military wing. will israel accept that? >> palestinians don't get to say about who the israelis have been government. in israel right now you have a man who have been convicted of a times of terrorism related charges as the minister of

national security. you have a self-avowed fascist in charge of palestinian affairs. the ministry of finance as well. it should not be up to the israelis. hamas is not only present in gaza. degrading its military capability, toppling its de facto government in gaza doesn't mean hamas will cease to exist. that is the reality i'm talking about. we need to understand the palestinian political scene is not exclusive to gaza, and it is wider than that. it is in the west bank, in exile and palestinians need to come up with a formula that they can live with and that can be functional and inclusive and representative in order for things to move forward and dialogue about ending the occupation, the root cause of the minister -- the misery, can happen. amna: there is another conversation in israel, more public now, about the

displacement of palestinians. there was an opinion piece in the jerusalem post by an academic who is a geologist. the title was, why moving to the sinai peninsula is the solution for gaza's palestinians. there have been reports about prime minister netanyahu talking about supporting voluntary migration of palestinians to other countries. what do you make of the conversation becoming more public? >> i think the israelis are more comfortable talking about a potential atrocity crime as experts of international law have warned. in my opinion, this was the plan all along, starving a population, depriving them of food and water, destroying the infrastructure, breaking down the health system, making sure the region occupied now is basically uninhabitable and pushing the majority of the population into a small portion at the egyptian border. it was meant to nudge the

population, if not outright forcibly expel it into the sinai. now they are more comfortable saying that's probably because they haven't had any pushback about the other violations of international law that have committed for over 80 days now. amna: israel will say this has all been about national security, that october 7 changed everything and the steps they are taking her to make sure that horrific day never happens again. what would you say to that? >> it is convenient to put a line in the sand and start counting from october 7. everybody understands around the world that this didn't start on october 7. the palestinians have been enduring a reality of persecution and dispossession and israeli foreign occupation for 75 years. that is at the heart of all of this. the fact that it has been a political dead-end for palestinians, that the israeli prime minister is committed publicly to preventing the

realization of palestinian self-determination, palestinian statehood, that is what got us here. in addition to international complacency. so one would hope that out of all of this, that tragedy come out of this misery and these atrocities now committed come of the world would understand they to change the playbook and they need to answer the root causes, otherwise we will end up with the seeds of future conflict very pleasant -- present and write for the picking. amna: thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. ♪ amna: in the day's other headlines, the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog reports that iran has increased its production of near weapons-grade uranium. the international atomic energy agency said tehran has been

producing more highly-enriched uranium since late november, reversing a monthslong slowdown. u.n. inspectors observed the increase at facilities in natanz and fordow. ukrainian warplanes attacked a russian landing ship in the black sea off russian-occupied crimea. video showed a massive explosion in the night sky. ukrainian officials said the ship, which they believe was carrying ammunition and drones, was destroyed. the 360-foot-long vessel was also capable of carrying 10 tanks and more than 200 sailors. officials in nigeria say attackers, armed with guns and machetes, killed at least 140 people in a weekend rampage. the assailants burned down houses in 17 remote villages in the north-central state of plateau. locals blamed nomadic herders who've clashed for decades with farmers over access to land and water. it's the deadliest violence nigeria has seen since 2018.

a fierce winter storm swept across much of the central u.s. today, making for treacherous holiday travel. parts of the dakotas, kansas, nebraska, and colorado were under blizzard warnings. in nebraska, heavy snow and strong winds created hazardous conditions. meantime, frozen roads in north dakota turned slick neighborhood streets into ice skating rinks. thousands of migrants are trekking through southern mexico en route to the u.s. border. mexican authorities are reportedly making no attempts to stop the caravan as they pass through immigration inspection checkpoints. the group of about 6,000 people walked along highways today, some carrying children, hoping for a better life when they reach the u.s. border. >> we are looking to improve ourselves, to have a better quality of life. because in our country, the situation is getting worse and worse. what we are looking for is to work. we are not criminals, we are not bad people. anya: u.s. secretary of state antony blinken and homeland

security secretary alejandro mayorkas are traveling to mexico city tomorrow to negotiate an agreement on the flow of migrants to the u.s. and on wall street, stocks kicked off this final week of trading on a higher note. the dow jones industrial average gained 159 points to close at 37,545. the nasdaq rose 81 points. the s&p 500 added 20. still to come on the "newshour," a look at the priorities for state governments in 2024. the effect of the israel hamas war on israel's agricultural supply. and as this year comes to the end, a look at the best tv shows of 2023 ♪ >> this is the pbs newshour from w eta studios in washington and in the west, from the walter cronkite school of journalism at arizona state university.

amna: this past year saw a notable change, as both state and federal governments became more aggressive about taking big tech to court. the u.s. department of justice and google are awaiting the verdict of a landmark antitrust trial that alleges google's anticompetitive behaviour led to its dominance. and meta is now the target of state lawsuits, alleging it harmed the mental health of kids and misled the public about online safety. stephanie sy focuses on that part of the story. stephanie: amna, more than 40 states and the district of columbia filed lawsuits against meta, the parent company of facebook, instagram, and whatsapp. state attorneys general argue that facebook and instagram deliberately manipulate their apps in ways that addict kids and teens, and have failed to keep them off despite age limits. colorado attorney general phil weiser helped lead the lawsuit. >> meta, under federal law, cannot and should not be marketing to young people, collecting data without parent'' awareness or consent.

they're doing just that. meta has identified young people, 11, 12-year-olds, as an untapped and valuable audience and engaged in behavior, in violation of federal law. stephanie: there have been multiple stories, as well, focusing on meta's struggles to protect kids from online predators and even promoting pedophile accounts through its algorithms. jeff horwitz's reporting in the wall street journal has led to increased public and legal scrutiny of social media and it's the focus of his new book, "broken code: inside facebook and the fight to expose its harmful secrets." jeff, the states' lawsuit claims , i want to go back to that, it claims that meta has misled the public about the risks to teens and younger children. you published an investigation recently about pedophiles on the platform. talk about some of the disturbing things you found. >> i think all of this goes back

to the platforms being very good at deliberately seeking out communities that are willing to consume content voraciously, and serving it up to them. that can be good, it can connect you with useful hobbies and it can also connect people who desperately want to believe the 2020 election is being stolen. and it can connect people who wish to sexualize children. the system is really good at that. it is extremely good at personalization. the problem is, it frequently is operating well beyond capacity of even the people who run it to understand and intervene to stop harmful outcomes. stephanie: in this research you set up a test account on facebook and it lead you down a pretty dark path. you found a group where hundreds of thousands of people who were interested in incest had joined.

correct? >> i wish we found only one. this is very consistent. the platform and its groups you should join algorithm, basically will, as soon as you start following just a couple slightly suspect entities, will start pushing hard into increasingly dark content. like, really, really just -- awful, awful things involving the kidnapping of children, that was literally the subject of one this is routine. the company has tried to work on cleaning the system up. we spent six months noting to them where they came up short and it is an ongoing problem to this day. stephanie: you have another article out in the last few days about meta's introduction of encrypting -- encrypted messaging on instagram and facebook. talk about the impact that can have on efforts to stop child

exploitation on the platform. >> years, encryption has been something where privacy advocates are in favor, law enforcement and government groups are against because it impedes investigations. i think something that has gone unnoticed, but perhaps will soon be noticed because meta is adopting and tend encryption on facebook and instagram, is how this technology when used, paired with a fully public social network, becomes something potentially really volatile and potentially really useful for predation. having one entity that is attempting to prey on another group, whether that is for human trafficking, child exploitation, recruitment of people for drug cartels, and not having any insight into the system is something that is really going to be a problem for certain

efforts to combat that stuff. if you can't actually investigate the networks using the methods that traditionally these investigations have been done with, you will have sort of groups like those large pedophile groups that are actively connecting people and sending them pretty much straight to the dark web. stephanie: law enforcement, you have given examples, have used messaging in their ability to access that messaging for prosecution. meta believes privacy is the goal here and that is why they want the encryption. meta has issued responses to your reporting, including the recent report on pedophile content, on the platform, in which they say, "we work hard to stay ahead. that's why we hire specialists dedicated to online child safety, develop new technology that roots out predators, and we share what we learn with other companies and law enforcement. we are actively

continuing to implement changes identified by the task force we set up earlier this year." that is a reference to the child task force set up after your reporting in june about content, explicit child content on instagram. has meta addressedll the issues you've uncovered in your reporting? and that is in your book? >> certainly not on any of those fronts. the task force has been shut down. they haven't really paid much attention to that or highlighted it that much. although the problems are ongoing. i think there are some fundamental questions of the platform wanting to not take responsibility for the ways that it has reformulated communication. there is something where, this is just the internet, people do bad things on the internet, who are we to be able to stop that? the issue that arises here is,

none of the communities that exist on these platforms are ones that would form in real life. stephanie: jeff horwitz, author of "broken code," thank you. >> thank you. amna: the addictive nature of social media doesn't just have parents, lawmakers, and advocates worried. last year, more than half of u.s. teens said it would be difficult to give up social media, including tiktok and youtube. the latest episode of our student reporting labs series, "moments of truth," tells the story of one teen, connor, who faced this dilemma head on with instagram. >> when i first saw you over resume i was like -- that guy looks interesting. and i remember standing next to you. due to proximity we became friends. >> i was kind of experiencing this loneliness period in my life. i'm diagnosed bipolar and ocd and i was going through a rough

patch at the time. that friendship was almost like, of holy stature. i started relying on you. we started sharing locations. >> i could kind of see the obsession starting. i remember getting worried about you and i wanted to help you, but i didn't know how. >> i had a lack of self-control. i would repeatedly check. the accessibility of the internet has to enable that really didn't help. i don't think a 15-year-old had that self-control. >> you were dming me every hour about how sucky everything was. it was kind of unwelcome. it was so frequent. i gave one word responses and stuff and i was also going through a lot at that point. it had really just become a lot to handle the problems of two people. ♪

>> i came up to you. i told you that i needed to distance myself from this relationship that we had had. >> when we weren't talking i tried not to open instagram that much. i learned to practice self-control because the thing is, if i allow myself to consistently check the locations and check the little active thing on instagram, i know i will spiral. when i'm in that obsessive state it is hard to get out of it. now that i am less connected, there is more of an open space for us. >> we go on walks, we go to goodwill sometimes. >> when someone's actions and what they are doing is accessible to you at all times, i don't think that is how humanity is meant to be. it is unnatural for you to have access to what someone is doing all the time. it is a sign that maybe you are focusing on that person more than yourself. >> i'm grateful it worked out.

how stable our relationship is. it has been a ride. >> a beautiful ride. [laughter] ♪ amna: repeated gridlock in washington has brought about the rise of another power center in america, state legislatures. lisa desjardins explores what to expect in the coming year. lisa: in 2024, lawmakers and statehouses from california to kentucky are poised to wrestle with major issues in american life. joining us to preview an important year is reid wilson, founder of state-level news and policy company. we have heard a lot about deficits, national debt, on the federal level. states have a bit of a different situation. most of them have to have

balanced budgets. i want to ask you, what is the physical picture like? what did the bank accounts look like for states? >> good news and bad news. states are on track to spend 1.2 $6 trillion, more than they have ever spent before. the bad news, the good times are ending and the ever of pandemic era massive budgets are fading a little as federal money runs out. most states are taking in more revenue than they did pre-pandemic. there are bleak spots, california is in a $68 billion budget hole. lots of states were anticipating a downturn and they saved more money than they did before in the rainy day funds. lots of states are set up to keep operating for half a year, nine months, an entire year without raising any additional revenue with the economy going south. lisa: when i hear about states looking at tighter budgets, i wonder about taxes. >> in some cases legislators are

talking about raising taxes, but in most cases, legislators are talking about cutting taxes especially places like georgia, florida, more tax cuts this year because a lot of states are still taking in much more revenue than they did before the pandemic, and because of things like a booming housing market. property taxes are rising and legislators are trying to lower the property tax burden that is unexpectedly falling to residence. lisa: what is the biggest issue overall that you have seen across states? >> when i talk to legislators, almost no matter what issue we talk about the underlying issue is a workforce issue. the baby boomer generation is retiring. in its place, generation x, the millennials and gen z, there aren't enough of them to fill those jobs. when i started covering the states a decade and a half ago, i heard from governors, we stole this business from another state , recruited this business. now when i talk with

legislators, they talk about stealing workers and attracting workers. that is an incredible change. it speaks to the lack of employees to fill state government jobs, fill teaching jobs. when you walk into a restaurant, have to tables are empty -- half the tables are empty. that same is happening in manufacturing, corrections. governor kristi noem of south dakota said the state that has the workforce is going to win the future and i think she was right. lisa: one other thing about states is that most state legislatures in 2024 are either republican led, both chambers, or democrat lead. there is just one, pennsylvania, that in 2024 will have split chambers. i want to break down different agendas. when you look at the democratic led state, what does the agenda look like for those legislatures? >> i have been talking to

leaders about their priorities over the next year. in the last few weeks, a lot of them tell me they will be focusing on housing and homelessness, which are twin crises working together. there is not enough housing in america. it takes a long time to build all of that new stock so in the short run, states, the blue states will work on things like rent stabilization, keeping people in their homes and avoiding an eviction crisis like we avoided in the early days of the pandemic. the second thing is a lot of measures on gun safety, trying to limit assault style weapons, high-capacity magazines and the key is that all of these states are working under the new guidance of the u.s. supreme court, which struck down a number of blue state gun safety laws in recent years. they are trying to figure out what the justices will allow and how far they can push some of this legislation. in republican states, we can focus a lot on those tax cuts we talked about.

teacher retention, workforce retention and health care retention especially in a state like florida. the initiative this year will be on trying to attract more health care workers to a fast-growing state that is older than the national average. there will be lots of seniors in florida who need care. they are working on licensure reform, if you are a doctor or nurse, your license can follow you to florida under a lot of the reforms they have talked about. lots of red states are working on that. surprising numbers of jobs require a professional license. they want to reduce the barriers to entry and make sure you can take your job with you. lisa: it is all about the economy in 2024. thank you so much. >> thank you. ♪ amna: long-term care is already a huge problem in the united states, one that's growing as the baby boom population ages,

and one with big financial costs. william brangham looks at the impact this is having on middle-class americans, and how they are having to rearrange their lives. >> the numbers alone give a very stark sense of what america is facing. between now and 2030, every single day, about 10,000 baby boomers will turn 65. by 2050 there will be 85 million americans 65 and over. 19 million of them will be 85 or older. already, the total cost of long-term care for the elderly is around half $1 trillion every year. a new series by kfs health news and the new york times called diane broke looks -- dying broke looks at the financial inadequacies of long-term care, which often leaves middle last americans in financial ruin. the series profiles people who have had to spend down their

life savings to qualify for government help and it reveals a largely broken private insurance market. jordan of kfs health news was one of the lead reporters. thank you for being here. the series title dying broke is sobering, as well as the profiles in the stories. can you lay out problem you document here? >> thanks for having me. our series looked at long-term care for the elderly, in particular. these are people who need personal aides because they can't do basic activities of daily life, like making meals, getting up, going to the bathroom. or people with cognitive impairment, like dementia. lots of people think medicare covers this but that is not the case. it doesn't cover any of that. our series looked at this huge gap in support for american families. some people have taken out

long-term care insurance but it is a small amount, and the market is pretty broken and doesn't work. as you said, lots of people wind up being left to their own devices. they spend huge amounts of their own life savings and often they have to rely on friends and family. a lot of the series looked at family members who made sacrifices to help their parents. >> one of the many stories, they are all profound but one of the stories you tell is about a woman and her mother. can you tell us about their story? >> gaye moved from chicago to kansas when her mother had dementia and needed to be in a nursing home. she moved there to help her and sort out her finances. the nursing home cost over $10,000 a month. she had to hire a lawyer, as many people have to do, to figure out how to get her mother to appoint where she could qualify for medicaid.

medicaid is the federal program that covers and provides long-term care for people, but you have to have almost no assets in many states and very little income. you have to be destitute. gaye was working on this at the same time she had to figure out what to do with her mother's house and give up a lot of her own career and personal desires to help her mother. meanwhile, she was living, her mother had a modest rental apartment and gaye was living there. because of medicaid rules she had to be paying rent to her mother. she was struggling with that. the mother spent down and got on medicaid and before she died, the house meant she was off medicaid. it is a complete view of how byzantine the system is for people and how draining it can be. >> byzantine is a good word for it. if a family finds that they do have to pay out-of-pocket for this type of care, what is the

range of costs they could expect to pay? >> it depends on what your care choice is. you can have aides at home, and that is difficult to find these days because there is a shortage. many people want to go into assisted living facilities, which are a step less intense than a skilled nursing facility. those facilities can cost anywhere from $3000, the bare minimum almost everywhere, and if you have dementia or extensive needs, it can be as high as $15,000 per month. that is what people are looking for. the same thing depending on how much care you need. if you thought you could get 24 hour personal care at home, it can be expensive. it can be debilitating for all but the richest americans. >> what are the other experiences? can you tell us about some of the other experiences people had? >> we wrote about people who went into assisted living facilities and the way they were

billed, they were often charged very specific moments for every minute they got care. it was in the original contract but as their needs increased and got worse, often the costs would increase astronomically. we wrote about them and also about the industry, which is a very profitable one owned by some large real estate investment trust, and we looked at whether those places always deliver on the care they promise. people are saying -- paying lavishly four. >> q detailed attempts during the obama administration and the biden administration to address this and the efforts failed to launch or never were passed. you also report how the way the u.s. cares for its elderly population is so different than our other peer nations in europe

and elsewhere. can you explain? >> the united states spends significantly less on long-term care than most other wealthy nations. the most generous are places like the netherlands, where they have a publicly funded insurance program and other programs and you were really taken care of well. other places, other countries have a slew of things we don't have, like in japan, they assign a care manager to help you navigate this byzantine system we talked about. other places have more generous financial aid so you don't have to be totally bankrupt. we looked around at other countries and found the united states there is very poorly in comparison. >> jordan, thank you so much for being here. >> thank you for having me. ♪

amna: when hamas attacked israel on october 7th and israel declared war, most foreign farm workers left the country, and palestinian workers were barred from entering israel. as journalist jon frankel discovered, many israelis were called to reserve duty, leaving the farming industry facing financial losses and in desperate need of workers. >> the people of israel say that they are in a fight for their lives and their land. while at war with hamas, there is another front, right under their feet, a battle to save their crops and a large part of their food supply. some of those killed and kidnapped on october 7th were like these field workers from thailand. they come in 5-year cycles to work on farms across israel. fearing for their safety, many left. >> we used to have 20 workers, thai, that stayed for 5 years.

they knew everything about the land and tractors. everything. and then one day we were left with two workers. they decided to stay, the rest went back home. >> liat maimon mahluf helps run her family farm, 40 minutes north of gaza and within rocket range, alongside her husband gidon. the thai workers they came to rely on dominated the agriculture labor landscape. without them, the industry screeched to a halt. can you quantify how much you lost? how much money you may have lost? >> i still don't know how much, but it's a lot. it's a lot. because it takes 3 months to grow cauliflower, and all that you put into the 3 months, from paying the workers, water, planting, everything, it's gone

because you can't pick it up and it just sits there. >> on another farm nearby, it's no different. mor elgabi says he lost nearly $275,000 in those first couple of weeks. but you cannot stop nature and growth. the vegetables don't see the pain, feel the wounds, or hear the sounds of war. >> can you hear the bombs? >> thought muffled, indeed you can. but despite that, sharon golan beahr, a fashion designer, and her colleagues took a day off to work the fields. desperate to harvest the crops, farmers couldn't be picky. they needed many hands, much less strong backs, and put the word out on social media. what made you come out here today and volunteer on the farm? >> when i'm touching the ground, it feels like it was something we were meant to do. >> the volunteers who are working on this farm have come from near and far. some have come time after time,

day after day. others are newcomers. they have all served their required time in the israeli military and like the reservists from around the country who have been called to duty, these people also feel they have been called to serve their country, in a different way. >> everybody is doing something to feel more significant in this fight. >> which is also why i came to israel for a week. i wanted to lend my hands, and make the land grow. today, planting cauliflower. in a national effort to get the farms back up and running, the military also is now deploying soldiers to farmland. >> this is one of the proudest moments of my army service. >> for real? >> yes. i am a technician. it's hard to see the fruits of your labor when you're a technician. i rig antennas. but this farming, now, is needed now more than ever. >> like many, avishay pont hadn't had time off since the

war began. this is how he spent his first free day. >> it's something i can do. i don't know how to go to hi-tech for example to help them. i don't know how to go to another place, to do what the other guys do. but here it's something. it's simple work that i can do. i'm happy to do it. if i not we -- and i hope i can work. if i do not work, we have no food in the supermarket. >> to the north, in the jordan valley, on moshav yardena, the owners of this farm also lost most of their foreign workers. and so i found myself picking tomatoes, trying to keep up with the next generation. >> this place, this land is very important to me and to all of us. >> roni lev and her friends have been volunteering 4 days a week. >> i did other jobs as well. like i did dates. we pick dates. and bananas. but i really like tomatoes.

>> do you want to be a farmer? a tomato farmer or a farmer at all? >> i don't think so. >> we can do it because we are young and strong and we have the time. >> lial miara is also part of mechina a gap year program before these students join the military. >> it's important. it's fun. you can see we are picking tomatoes. we are laughing, we are dancing. ♪ >> we work with music, we dance. we laugh together. >> gal berkovich is 19 years old. >> if we won't dance, then who will dance? it's kind of symbolic that people lost their lives dancing at the party. here we are dancing for them. it's kind of part of the deal. i'm all for the morale. if we lose our morale, we lose our spirit. so i believe i'm doing something

good. >> back on the cauliflower farms, the size and number of fields that needs planting is daunting for such a small and inexperienced crew. but with each row, there is progress. you can see what is and what it will be. is this what a soldier does? >> usually not. >> yair lehmann works logistics in the idf. how does it feel to be volunteering here when you know that your brothers and sisters in arms are fighting a war right now? >> actually, my best friends are in the commando and the tank units. it's a little disappointing to be honest. but once i see that we planted everything, i can see that i helping the future. while they am are helping the present. we are taking care of the future of the country. to make sure our country grows. >> and what is growing is being harvested on time. helping cut losses and getting the food to market, the volunteers are making a difference. and the farmers are settling

into a new routine. for the pbs newshour, i'm jon frankel from moshav hatsav in the southern part of israel. ♪ amna: in the age of streaming, there's never a lack of something to watch. the choices are nearly overwhelming. jeffrey brown consults some critics as part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> guide us through our years best show. i'm joined by the l.a. times news and culture critic, and a tv critic for new york magazine and vulture. thanks for joining us. why don't we start with new shows? give us two. >> one of the big shows of the year especially early was "the last of us." it was a big hbo series based on

a popular, enduring videogame. also telling the story of a pandemic but a different kind of pandemic that, but certainly shades of the catastrophic situation people have to endure. i thought it was a wonderful series with two terrific lead performances. >> connecting with people because of that sense of out of time. >> that was a terrific show. another great new show that not enough people watch is "mrs. davis" on peacock. it was created by the people who created lost and watchmen and it is hard to explain the show and a brief manner, but it is about a nun who is opposed to the algorithm that everybody is using to guide their lives, and the algorithm challenges her that he -- if she finds the holy grail, the algorithm will delete itself. >> a nun an algorithm and the holy grail. >> we have seen it a 1000 times

but it is good. >> you have two? >> i don't feel a lot of people saw "the horror of dolores rose." it is a dark comedy along the lines of sweeney todd, mixed with horror. it takes place in a gentrified neighborhood in new york. this woman gets out of prison, she is played by an actress who was in one day at a time in 6 feet under. she gets out of prison and returns to her old neighborhood only to find it is totally gentrified. how does she survive? she moves in with the only person she still knows who runs an empanada shop. murders begin to happen and there is this new mystery meat in the empanada that everybody loves. what i love about this, it is gruesome but funny and it looks at gentrification as a form of cannibalism and it turns it on itself.

it is brilliant. >> you got another one? i don't know if you can top that. >> it is a hard one to top, the mystery meat. the other one is "poker face." that is a series, kind of like a detective series starring natosha lyonne. he takes the grid of the old series "colombo" and turns her own character out of that. she is the female columbo. she is in another place in the country solving a crime in every episode. she plays it so wonderfully, with her gravelly voice, chomping on a cigarette in this old late-model car. it is fantastic and there is something charming, taking the old network idea of a detective show and modernizing it. >> how about older series? there were a number of big ones this year including some that came to an end. >> when i had to make my list of

top 10 shows and decide what number one was going to be, i had a long debate internally with myself and then i was like, you are lying to yourself if you don't put "succession" at the top area there is nothing i was more obsessed with. >> i love you, but you are not serious people. >> i thought the end of series perfectly. there was so much tension. the death of logan and roy, the patriarch of the family, that episode where the kids find out their father died was an incredible hour of television. i'm sad it is gone but a perfect way to go out. another one, "the bear." thank god it is still going. this was the second season but it had a strong first season. it is about a man in chicago who loses his brother and has to take over the family restaurant business. in the second season he tries to do something totally different, doing a more elevated,

sophisticated restaurant and it is so much fun to watch. you fall in love with the characters. i miss these characters every day the show is not on. i can't recommend it enough. >> do you have a couple older or perhaps endi series? >> "reservation dogs." this was its third and final season in the series did so much to open up the everyday life on reservations and the characters are indigenous and they are playing kids that are facing, do we leave the reservation? do we stay here? this final season wrapped up an incredibly nuanced and quirky series with tons of heart, but also this magic surrealism. and also, wrapping a lot of history, painful history of native americans and what they have gone through into a modern tail. -- tale. i love the series and the characters will stay with me. my second pick would be "very"

which was the hitman turned actor, bill hader's hbo show. i thought the ending of this would not be easy to wrap up but they really nailed it. they nailed it in a way that this hitman kind of comes off looking like a hero. it speaks to our times of, everything being upside down and not what it should be morally. i thought they brilliantly nailed that. >> in our last couple minutes, i will start with you, i can't talk about this year without thinking about the strike. what have you seen in terms of any impact? what are you looking towards? what will happen? >> my concern going into 2024 is that in the wake of the strike, there was already a little bit of reticence to take risks in hollywood in film and television. my concern is that it will be even more stark, that people will be ip focused and not

necessarily as interested in original stories. i hope i am wrong but i'm getting the sense from people in the business that that is the direction at least for now, and i think we will see constriction. we have so many platforms and tv shows. everybody is saying peak tv is over and we aren't going to have as many shows, which is probably better for my sanity, but it does reduce the number of possibilities for people that aren't represented on tv, to have a place where they can be represented. >> what do you see? >> much the same. i agree with what you say. when i'm looking forward to even what is coming out at the beginning of 2024, it is looking pretty stark. there is not a lot there. which makes me really grateful for what came out in 2023, because we have always complained, at least over the last five or six years, i am never going to have enough time to watch everything. 2024 is going to give you that time because i think there is

going to be, it is going to be kind of like -- scarce and scant pickings for a while. i'm also concerned about the idea that we are not going to get as much creative programming, but that is yet to be seen. just go back, find what you haven't seen which is probably a lot, you will have plenty of time to binge in the year of 2024. >> thank you both very much. amna: today is the first day of kwanzaa, a holiday celebrated by millions of african american families. learn more about the history of the holiday and how it's observed. that's on our youtube channel. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. on behalf of the entire newshour team, thank you for joining us. ♪ >> 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. ♪ >> 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 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. ♪

- hello everyone, and welcome to "amanpour & company". here's what's coming up. [group applauding] a breakthrough, as amazon countries assemble tprotect the lungs of the world, but fall short on specifics to fight deforestation. i ask president biden's former top climate advisor, gina mccarthy, how to turn talk into action. also ahead, longtime labour pa, discusses his new book, "code of conduct". he also reveals shocking allations