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| These are our top stories today: - Donald Trump appealed the decision by Maine's top election official to remove him from the 2024 primary ballot.
- A senior Hamas official was killed in a drone strike in Beirut.
- Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, resigned after she faced accusations of plagiarism and amid criticism over Harvard's handling of antisemitism.
Thanks for reading, Gregory
p/Gregory_Bridgman | |
| 1 | | Former U.S. President Donald Trump appealed the decision by Maine's top election official to remove him from the 2024 primary ballot. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows ruled that Trump was disqualified after finding that he incited the mobs that stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. More: - Bellows' ruling cited Section 3 of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which bans people who have "engaged in insurrection or rebellion" from holding public office.
- Trump appealed the ruling to a Maine Superior Court on Tuesday, asking that Bellows be required to include him on the ballot.
- Trump's lawyers argued that Bellows' decision was based on "untrustworthy evidence," that she abused her discretion, and that she had "bias" against Trump.
- The lawyers also argued that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment only applies to any "officer of the United States" rather than to the U.S. president, who they contend does not fall in that category.
- Trump previously argued that the U.S. president is an "officer of the United States," in a bid to prevent the Manhattan District Attorney's office from prosecuting him for fraud.
- Bellows, who paused her initial ruling pending an expected appeal by Trump, said "I have confidence in my decision and confidence in the rule of law."
- Trump is the leading GOP primary contender, according to recent polls.
Zoom Out: - The Colorado Supreme Court ruled last month that Trump is ineligible to appear on the state's primary ballot, citing the same constitutional provision as Bellows.
- Efforts to bar Trump under the "insurrection clause" have failed in Minnesota, Michigan, and California.
- Colorado's GOP asked the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision and a ruling from the country's highest court is expected to settle the issue nationwide.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: Israel's "Operation Iron Swords" had lasted for 86 days by Dec. 31, 2023, making it the longest Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip since 2014. "Operation Iron Swords" began after Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages during an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7. Israel has said that it intends to destroy Hamas as a military and political force in Gaza, marking a difference between this conflict and previous flareups since 2008. Before the current conflict, Israel's engagements with Hamas usually focused on degrading the organization's military capabilities rather than destroying it entirely. Israeli experts Efraim Inbar and Eitan Shamir called this strategy "mowing the grass" in a 2014 article for the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies. Gaza's health ministry reports that over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began. 174 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to the country's military. The United Nations estimates that 1.9 million people in the territory have been displaced. | | | |
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| 3 | | Hamas accused Israeli forces on Tuesday of killing the group's deputy leader, Saleh al-Arouri, in Beirut. Arouri was killed in a drone strike in a Beirut suburb alongside two other Hamas commanders and four members of the group. Israel insisted that the strike in Lebanese territory was not an attack on Lebanon as it seeks to prevent the Israel-Hamas war from escalating into a wider conflict. More: - The U.S. was not warned about the strike beforehand and Israeli officials have refused to confirm or deny whether their forces targeted Arouri.
- U.S. and Lebanese officials said Israel carried out the strike.
- Video footage verified by the New York Times showed a car in flames and damaged buildings in a residential area.
- Arouri was one of the founders of Hamas' armed wing and was linked to several attacks on Israeli civilians, including one in which three teenagers were kidnapped and killed in the West Bank in 2014.
- Arouri helped link Hamas' military wing with Iran, which reportedly helped the group develop some of the capabilities it deployed when it killed 1,200 people and abducted 240 others during an attack in Israel on Oct. 7.
- An anonymous U.S. official told the New York Times that no one who helped to plan or raise money for Hamas' Oct. 7 attack "is safe," adding that "this is just the beginning, and it'll go on for years."
Zoom Out: - Arouri is the most senior Hamas leader to be assassinated since the Oct. 7 attack, which prompted Israel to launch an ongoing military offensive in Gaza.
- Over 22,000 Palestinians have been killed since the conflict began, according to the territory's health ministry.
- Arouri deepened Hamas' relationship with Hezbollah and Israel is reportedly preparing for retaliation from the Lebanese militant group.
- Hezbollah has been exchanging fire with Israeli forces since the conflict in Gaza began in October.
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| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Volunteers, donors, and local government worked together to provide electricity to people living in tents in Halifax, Canada. Unhoused people living in tents have faced inclement winter weather in recent weeks, including heavy snow and rain, CTV News reports. More: - People living in tents at Grand Parade in Halifax, Canada recently gained access to electricity for lights, heaters, and phones.
- The city is spending CA$20,000 to bring electricity to the area and will continue paying to keep it operational.
- Community members donated power equipment to volunteers, who then hired a company to install it.
- "I think costs are always a concern, (but) the other piece that goes along with it is the suffering of people who are left outside," said Max Chauvin, director of housing and homelessness at Halifax Regional Municipality.
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| 5 | | Israel's Supreme Court struck down a controversial law that prompted widespread protests last year. The law formed part of the Netanyahu government's planned overhaul of Israel's judiciary, which critics said would weaken the country's democracy. More: - After returning to power in 2022, the right-wing government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed a plan to change how judges are appointed, limit their power, and curb the Supreme Court's ability to review parliamentary decisions.
- The government passed legislation in July last year that removed the court's ability to overturn decisions it considered to be "unreasonable."
- Israeli defense minister Yoav Gallant was fired by Netanyahu in March 2023 after he criticized the plan.
- Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Monday that the court can strike down "basic laws," and that removing this power harmed Israel's democratic foundations.
- The Netanyahu government claimed that Israel's legislature, rather than the court, had the highest authority over the legality of legislation.
- Netanyahu's Likud party said the Supreme Court ruling opposes "the will of the people for unity, especially during wartime."
- Israel's former prime minister and opposition chair, Yair Lapid, said the decision "seals a tough year of dispute that tore us apart from the inside and led to the most terrible disaster in our history."
Zoom Out: - Some Israeli officials believe that the divisions caused by the proposed judicial overhaul may have factored into Hamas' decision to attack Israel on Oct. 7, which triggered the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
- The Supreme Court ruling will test the unity of the emergency government formed after the conflict erupted.
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| 6 | | Claudine Gay, the president of Harvard University, resigned on Tuesday. Gay, Harvard's first Black president, stepped down after questions were raised about plagiarism in her published work and amid criticism over Harvard's handling of antisemitism. More: - Gay faced strong criticism along with the presidents of MIT and the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) after being questioned during a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism on Dec. 5.
- The three university leaders reportedly failed to unequivocally say yes to a question about whether calling for the genocide of Jewish people violated school policies.
- Gay, who received support from Harvard's governing council after the hearing, was also accused of plagiarism by conservative-leaning media outlets.
- The governing council, Harvard Corp, said on Dec. 12 that Gay's political science publications did not violate Harvard's research standards despite "a few instances of inadequate citation," and then announced on Dec. 20 that it found two more examples of "duplicative language without appropriate attribution."
- A House of Representatives committee, which announced an antisemitism probe at Harvard, widened its investigation to include how the university handled plagiarism allegations against Gay and asked for a response from the university by Dec. 29.
- Harvard was later given more time to reply.
- Gay announced on Tuesday that she plans to resign so that Harvard can "navigate this moment of extraordinary challenge with a focus on the institution rather than any individual."
- Gay said she made "missteps" and noted that she received "repugnant and in some cases racist vitriol," via email and phone calls.
- Gay will be replaced by Harvard's provost and chief academic officer Alan Garber who will serve as interim president as Harvard Corp. searches for a new leader.
Zoom Out: - Penn President Liz Magill and board Chair Scott Bok stepped down days after the congressional hearing in December.
- MIT president Sally Kornbluth still holds her position and continues to be supported by the university's board.
- The congressional hearing came after hundreds of protests and counterprotests erupted on U.S. college campuses following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.
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| 7 | | QUICK HITS - More than 100 people were killed and over 200 injured when two bombs exploded in Iran during an event to commemorate the death of a prominent Iranian general.
- A gunman fired shots at Colorado's Supreme Court building on Tuesday, entered the building, and then discharged more rounds. The man was arrested and the incident is reportedly unrelated to the court's decision to bar Donald Trump from the state's primary ballot.
- Some Chicago suburbs are seeking to restrict buses from offloading migrants unannounced. The communities met on Tuesday to discuss policies that would require bus operators to gain approval before dropping people off.
- South Korea's U.S. exports surpassed its exports to China last month for the first time in 20 years. The shift comes as the U.S. works to decrease its dependence on China's supply chains and tries to limit Beijing's access to advanced semiconductors and chip-making equipment.
- Australian journalist and filmmaker John Pilger died on Saturday at 84 years of age. Pilger worked as a foreign correspondent during the Vietnam War and was known as a vocal critic of Western foreign policy.
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 | Writer / Editor | | Gregory Bridgman is a politics and e-commerce researcher with a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He also holds a Master of Science from University College London and a Bachelor's degree from the University of Cape Town. Feel free to follow him on Twitter or drop him an email at gregory@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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