Tuesday morning news: December 12, 2023

SOUND: [PROTESTERS]

Israel / Hamas latest » Protesters on Capitol Hill yesterday calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and the terror group Hamas.

Capital Police arrested several of the demonstrators at the Hart Senate Office Building.

Israeli government spokesman Eylon Levy says a cease-fire is not on the horizon.

LEVY: The only way the war in Gaza can end is with the destruction of Hamas. Israel simply cannot accept an end to the fighting that leaves a terrorist army in control of neighboring territory -- even one with an international force nominally mandating its enforcement.

The UN General Assembly is likely to vote today on a draft resolution demanding a cease-fire.

The U.S. vetoed a similar UN security council demand last week.

Meanwhile, the Israeli hostages released by Hamas continue to recover. Psychiatrist Doctor Renana Eitan says the trauma they experienced is unimaginable.

EITAN: I see cruelty that I haven’t seen before. The hostages in Hamas captivity were held in inhumane conditions – inhumane sanitary conditions. They were subject to severe physical, sexual and mental abuse.

Hamas is still holding nearly 140 hostages.

Trump / U.S. Supreme Court » The Justice Department is asking the U-S Supreme Court to permit federal charges against former President Donald Trump. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Special counsel Jack Smith on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decide whether presidential immunity protects former President Donald Trump from federal charges.

Smith alleges that Trump sought to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Trump denies wrongdoing.

Smith asked the Court to rule quickly without waiting for appeals from lower courts. A lower court judge has ruled that the case can move forward, but Trump had signaled that he would ask an appeals court to overturn that ruling.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher.

Foreign Aid talks » The White House says it is still pushing Congress for a compromise on additional funding for Ukraine and Israel.

Senator Chuck Schumer echoing that call, saying funds are especially needed for Ukraine’s war with Russia.

SCHUMER: The war in Ukraine stands at a crossroads with our friends in desperate need of American aid to maintain pressure on Vladimir Putin.

Republicans are demanding stricter border security policies in exchange for giving further support to aid Ukraine and Israel. And they say Democrats are the ones refusing to compromise.

Congresswoman Nancy Mace:

MACE: I don't think the left is serious about border security and that is to their detriment, we have a plan, we want to move forward, we're willing to negotiate, and they don't seem to want to.

Zelenskyy in the U.S. » And lawmakers will hear today from another voice calling for more aid to Ukraine: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy arrived in Washington D-C yesterday. He spoke at the National Defense University:

ZELENSKYY: Putin must lose. Must lose so that everyone else who sees Russia’s war on Ukraine as his personal lecture at the so-called university of aggression gets the message loud and clear.

Zelenskyy is scheduled to visit the White House today and meet with both President Joe Biden and House Speaker Mike Johnson. He’s also slated to address U.S. senators this morning.

Putin critic is missing » Meanwhile in Russia, a high-profile critic of Vladimir Putin...has gone missing.

Lawyers for jailed opposition leader Alexey Navalny say he’s missed two court dates, and they fear he’s been lost in the Russian prison system.

U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby:

KIRBY: We're deeply concerned about these reports that he's now been gone for allegedly a week and neither his representatives or his family know where he is. He should be released immediately. He should have never been jailed in the first place.

In August, a Russian court sentenced Navalny to 19 years in prison for alleged crimes that include—in the words of the court—“creating an extremist community.”

He is known for organizing anti-Kremlin protests.

Vatican Nativity Scenes » More than 120 nativity scenes are on display at the Vatican.

People and groups in nearly two dozen countries submitted depictions of Jesus’ birth made from a variety of materials, including wood and cloth.

The exhibit celebrates the 800th anniversary of St. Francis creating the first recorded representation of the nativity.

CHIRA: [Speaking Italian] We also have, of course, nativity scenes from Ukraine.

Exhibition curator Christian Chira saying there are two nativities from Ukraine, one of which is embedded with bomb fragments.

The Ulma Family Museum in Poland also donated one of the nativities. Nazis executed the Ulma family during World War II for sheltering Jews.

The nativities will be on display through early January.

College anti-Semitism » Fallout continues from the statements made by the presidents of three of the most prestigious U.S. universities about anti-Semitism on campus.

Last week the presidents of Harvard, MIT, and the University of Pennsylvania all refused to tell members of Congress whether calls for the genocide of Jews would violate their schools’ codes of conduct.

Since then, there have been widespread calls for their resignations.

University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill has already resigned.

But Jewish MIT student Talia Khan told The Evening Edit, resignations aren’t enough.

KHAN: We’re not safe. Like, we’ve been saying this. We’ve been asking for disciplinary action. We’ve been asking for transparency of disciplinary processes. So I think that it’s more than just the president. And I think at this point we all agree that there needs to be a lot of institutional change at MIT.

Not everyone agrees. Harvard faculty members and alumni yesterday submitted a petition with more than 700 signatures urging the school to stand behind President Claudine Gay.

I'm Paul Butler.

Straight ahead: What really threatens the health of a mother after a difficult diagnosis. Plus, singing gospel truths to kids.

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