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New Clashes Erupt Along Lebanon-Israel Border; Recordings, Emails Shed Light on Trump Campaign's Efforts to Reverse 2020 Loss; Zelenskyy Faces Uphill Battle as 2023 Draws to a Close; Anastasia; 'Almost Naked' Party in Moscow Triggers Jail Time, Fines; Wrongfully Detained American Calls for Biden to Secure Release; Haley Tries to Clarify Civil War Comments Amid Backlash; France to Ban Single-Use Plastics; Palestinian and Israeli Restaurateurs Serve up Middle Eastern Food and Peace. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired December 29, 2023 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:25]
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello, and welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Michael Holmes. Appreciate your company.
Another deadly day in Gaza, as Israel strikes what it claims were Hamas targets in civilian areas.
A second U.S. state has ruled Donald Trump will not be on its presidential primary ballot.
And France will soon ban plastic packaging on most fruits and vegetables. We'll talk to an expert about how effective such moves actually are at cleaning up the environment.
ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Michael Holmes.
HOLMES: And we begin with difficult scenes in Gaza, where dozens of Palestinians were reported killed on Thursday. The Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, says Israeli airstrikes left 50 people dead in various parts of the enclave.
A hospital director says more than 20 of them were killed when an apparent Israeli airstrike hit a residential building in Rafah. Among the dead, 12 children and four women, according to a medical source. An Israeli medical spokesperson told CNN Rafah is supposed to be a designated humanitarian area but claims Hamas is using that to its advantage.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. DORON SPIELMAN, ISRAEL DEFENSE FORCES SPOKESMAN: The issue is, is that Hamas are firing constant rockets from that area towards Israel. We have numerous rockets that have been fired. We have thousands of rockets that have been fired since October 7th. And many of them, especially today, come directly from that area. And I think, like any army in the world, if there is rocket fire
coming from a location, before those rockets hit your people, you try to disable them and eliminate them.
The problem is Hamas are firing them from civilian areas. That is constantly the problem, again, and again, and again in Gaza.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll there now exceeds 21,300 since October 7th. CNN cannot independently verify that figure.
It is very clear, as you see there, the shortages and suffering are severe. CNN footage showing thousands of desperate civilians overwhelming and relief aid envoy in Northern Gaza.
Earlier this week, the U.N. said 2.2 million people in the territory are dealing with acute hunger.
Meanwhile, Lebanese and European officials are scrambling to calm the growing conflict between Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel. The militant group claimed to have carried out attacks on multiple barracks in Northern Israel on Thursday.
CNN's Nada Bashir with the details on the clash.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Smoke billowing from the mountains of Southern Lebanon, a troubling, and now increasingly frequent, signal of escalating hostilities.
Iran-backed Hezbollah, claiming to have targeted an Israeli border city on Wednesday with 30 rockets. This, in response to Israeli airstrikes on the Lebanese village of Bint Jbeil just hours earlier.
There is nothing residents here can do to shield from the growing tensions gripping the embattled border region, each airstrike bringing with it more fear and more grief.
This latest attack killing at least three, according to state media, but only one said to have been a member of Hezbollah.
AFIF BAZZI, BINT JBEIL, LEBANON MAYOR (through translator): This neighborhood, which is in the heart of the city, is supposed to be a safe area. Civilians were sleeping in their homes when suddenly, we heard the sound of aircrafts above, and then these Houses were destroyed.
BASHIR (through translator): The situation on the border has long been tenuous, underpinned by a U.N. resolution adopted following the 2006 Lebanon war, calling for a cessation of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.
But Israeli officials are now warning of an escalation which could open up a new front in the Gaza war.
BENNY GANTZ, ISRAELI WAR CABINET MEMBER (through translator): The stopwatch for a diplomatic solution is running out. If the world and the Lebanese government don't act in order to prevent the firing on Israel's Northern residents, and to distance Hezbollah from the border, the IDF will do it.
BASHIR (through translator): Israel's unrelenting military operation in Gaza and the devastating civilian toll has sparked anger across the region.
And while the U.S. continues to call on Israel to move towards what's being described as a low-intensity phase of the war, Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have warned of a long fight ahead, with plans to expand their military operation Southwards, already underway.
[00:05:09]
Overnight Thursday, the foreboding red glow of fire illuminated the dark winter sky of Rafah. This, the very place civilians have been told to take shelter, a so-called safe zone and a crucial gateway for aid, once again, targeted by Israeli airstrikes.
In nearby Khan Younis, emergency teams work day and night to tend to the wounded and to recover the dead. Israel says it has targeted Hamas and has issued renewed calls for civilians to evacuate, but there is nowhere left to turn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): People sheltering in schools do not know where to go. First, we were displaced in Montserrat (ph), then to Rafah. We keep on getting told to move from one place to another.
BASHIR (through translator): For the 2.3 million Palestinians trapped in Gaza, the vast majority now displaced in the South, there are no guarantees of safety.
Surrounded by a war which has shown them no mercy, and engulfed by a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable scale, leaving little hope for an end to their suffering.
Nada Bashir, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Khaled Elgindy is a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, and the author of "Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump."
It's good to see you, sir. Israel still says that its aim is to destroy Hamas. Months now into its war, senior leadership is still alive, Hamas rockets are being fired, fighters are still fighting, 100 hostages are still being held.
How successful, then, has Israel been in its core aims? KHALED ELGINDY, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Well, as far as
the stated aims of destroying Hamas, it's been not successful. We still see almost three months here. Hamas still has the ability to launch many rockets. Its command and control is still intact.
There's nothing that the Israeli military, or political leadership, can point to as a victory.
But I think we also need to consider that there are some unstated aims in this war, as well. We know, for example, that Israel is using starvation as a tool, as a weapon of war, we know that it is repeatedly bombing civilian areas.
We know that they systematically also attacked hospitals and healthcare facilities. So I think we have to consider the possibility that Israel isn't merely targeting Hamas, but also, targeting the entire population of Gaza as a whole. Perhaps with the aim of pushing the population outside of the Gaza Strip.
HOLMES: I guess after all the bombs, and bullets and shelling, the Israeli military said this week it had killed about 8,000 Hamas fighters out of a force estimated at 25 to 40,000. Was resolving to destroy such a deeply entrenched organization ever realistic?
ELGINDY: I think it wasn't realistic. I think I, and many other analysts, and I'm sure the intelligence community in Washington, is -- is sending the same message. That Hamas is simply not going to be destroyed militarily. It's delusional, and I think quite dangerous to -- to try to maintain that fantasy. And I think it's actually been quite deadly.
The Biden administration made that mistake very early on, to indulge this idea Hamas could be eliminated, a political organizations are not going to be eliminated with sheer military force. You have to address the political issues that underlie these issues.
HOLMES: Yes. And to that point, I was just going to ask you about that. I mean, it all speaks, does it not, to the need for the -- for the removal of the reason for Hamas is staying.
And that is the occupation and the lack of a political direction for Palestinians. If that was there, would Hamas even be in existence?
ELGINDY: Of course, I mean, Hamas styles itself as a resistance organization. They advocate armed struggle against a violent occupation. I mean, we can't forget that military occupation can only be sustained through structural violence and coercion.
And so, of course, it's inevitable that you will get armed groups to resist that occupation and the blockade on Gaza. So, unless those are addressed, then -- then even without Hamas, there would be something like Hamas that would -- that would continue to oppose Israeli repression.
[00:10:09]
HOLMES: Part of Israel's aim is to -- and Benjamin Netanyahu said this himself -- deradicalize Gaza.
Twenty-two thousand deaths, tens of thousands wounded, 80 percent of the population displaced. I think we're well over 60 percent of housing destroyed or damaged.
Given the style of death, injury, destruction, how likely is that aim, radicalization, as opposed to increasing radicalization? Anger among Palestinians from what's being done?
ELGINDY: Well, certainly, the collective trauma and suffering that Palestinians are undergoing in Gaza, you don't have to be an intelligence expert to understand that that severe suffering that Palestinians are going through is likely to create more instability and more radicalization going forward.
But also, I think the whole notion that Israel, of all countries, is going to deradicalize Gaza is something that cannot be taken seriously. Because we are -- we're talking about the most extreme government in Israel's history. That includes literal terrorists and Jewish supremacists in the cabinet.
But also bearing in mind that Israel is the occupying power. And so of course, as a colonial power, Israel is trying to re-engineer Palestinian politics to eliminate any form of opposition or resistance to its continued rule.
So I think that the notion that Israel insists on deradicalization needs to be dismissed out of hand.
HOLMES: Certainly, staggering suffering going on in Gaza. The West Bank, as well.
Khaled Elgindy, I've got to leave it there, unfortunately. Thanks so much for your time.
ELGINDY: Thank you.
HOLMES: Speaking of the West Bank, at least 25 Palestinians there were arrested by Israeli forces, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said on Thursday.
Although Israel says it arrested 21 people in raids on alleged Hamas funding network in the West Bank.
Clashes broke out in several locations in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah says one man was killed in the city following an Israeli incursion there. Four people were wounded, including a journalist.
The IDF says it responded with live fire after, quote, "assailants opened fire" and threw explosive devices and Molotov cocktails.
Meanwhile, UNICEF released a report on Thursday that found 2023 was the deadliest year for children in the West Bank amid the escalating violence. The U.N. agency says 124 Palestinian children and six Israeli children were killed since the beginning of the year. More than 80 of them in the past 12 weeks alone.
A U.S. Navy destroyer in the Red Sea shot down a drone, and a ballistic missile launched from Yemen on Thursday. The U.S. Central Command says the launches were carried out by the Houthis, an Iranian proxy in Yemen.
It's the latest incident in a spate of attacks in recent weeks in the Red Sea, one of the most important maritime shipping routes in the world.
On Tuesday, the U.S. military shot down a barrage of drones and missiles over a ten-hour period. It comes as the U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday imposed sanctions on one individual, and three businesses, for facilitating the flow of Iranian money to Houthi forces.
Western nations are jointly condemning Iran for increasing production of highly-enriched uranium. The U.S. and the E3 -- that is Germany, France, and the U.K. -- issued the statement after the release of the report from the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
It found that Iran is now producing more uranium enriched up to 60 percent at the Netanz and Fordow facilities. Iran insists its program is for nuclear power, but that only requires uranium to be enriched to 3 to 5 percent.
The E3 nations remain party to the 2015 deal that kept Iran's enrichment activities at less than 4 percent. But the U.S., of course, withdrew under the presidency of Donald Trump in 2018, claiming Iran wasn't living up to its end, something that its partners in the deal rejected.
Maine is now the second state in the United States to remove former President Trump from the ballot from next year's Republican primary based on the 14th Amendment's insurrectionist ban.
Maine's secretary of state issued the decision on Thursday after hearing a challenge from a bipartisan group of former state lawmakers against Trump. Colorado made a similar move weeks ago.
Bellows spoke with CNN about her decision.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: We reviewed the evidence. We reviewed the facts. And certainly, the question of whether Mr. Trump engaged in the insurrection is a closer one than whether January 6th, 2021, was an insurrection, which I also ruled.
But the question of whether Mr. Trump had -- was found guilty, the applicability of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment does not turn on whether an office seeker has been convicted of a crime.
We looked at precedent in the Civil War. We looked at the law. We looked at the facts. We looked at what was brought forward in this hearing that is specific to Maine law. (END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Trump's campaign vowed to file a legal objection and released a statement that read, in part, quote, "We know both the Constitution and the American people are on our side in this fight. President Trump's dominating campaign has a commanding lead in the polls that has dramatically expanded as," again, quoting, "Crooked Joe Biden's presidency continues to fail," unquote.
Meantime, exclusive reporting from CNN sheds new light on the Trump campaign's actions after his 2020 election loss. CNN has examined recordings and emails that provide a behind-the-scenes look at efforts to keep Trump in office and plans to use fake electors to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory.
CNN reporter Marshall Cohen with that story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARSHALL COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've known bits and pieces of this story. But now we're getting the full picture. It comes from Ken Chesebro, who, in many ways, was the architect of the fake electors plot.
CNN has obtained recordings of his recent interview with Michigan investigators and hundreds of emails that he turned over. They reveal the last-minute scramble on the eve of January 6th to get those fake certificates to Washington D.C.
Take a listen to Chesebro describing what happened when Trump campaign officials realized that the ballots from Michigan and Wisconsin were stuck in the mail.
KENNETH CHESEBRO, PRO-TRUMP ATTORNEY: The general counsel of the Trump campaign is freaked out that Roman reported that the Michigan votes are still in the service of Michigan, which doesn't look like they're going to get to Pence in time.
So, the general counsel of the campaign was alarmed, and -- and was chartering -- they didn't have to charter a jet, but they did commercial.
This is like, yes, so this is a high-level decision to get the Michigan and Wisconsin votes there. And they -- they had to enlist a -- you know, a U.S. senator to -- to try to expedite it, to get it to Pence in time.
COHEN (voice-over): Now, remember, they needed to get those ballots to the House floor, because they wanted to have Mike Pence throw out Joe Biden's real electors, and replace them with Donald Trump's fake electors.
In the end, the campaign didn't charter a jet. Staffers booked last- minute tickets on commercial flights. And they ferried the ballots to D.C. on January 5th. Once they got to D.C., it was a series of handoffs and careers that
even included some help from Senator Ron Johnson's office. The ballots eventually reached the capital in time, but Pence's team said they didn't want them. He refused to go along with the plan.
COHEN: And by the way, this episode is vaguely referenced in Special Counsel Jack Smith's indictment against Trump.
Sources tell CNN that some of the people involved, including the staffers who were on those flights, have even spoken to Smith's team.
But it's not clear how many of these details from the last-minute scramble are going to factor into Donald Trump's criminal trial, which is scheduled to begin in March.
Marshall Cohen, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: From high hopes on the battlefield to an uphill battle on all fronts. Still to come here on the program, how military and political realities put Ukraine's president to the test, time and time again this year.
And a party with scantily-clad celebrities sparks outrage in Russia. We'll tell you up ahead why it all went wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:26]
HOLMES: Now, to the war in Ukraine, where explosions are reported in multiple cities in recent hours. Officials said the second largest city, Kharkiv, has been under a large rocket attack.
There were also blasts in Lviv and Northwestern Sumy region.
Residents of Kyiv are being urged to take shelter, because drones have been detected in that area, as well. So far, no firm reports of casualties.
In the South, a Panamanian flagged cargo ship was damaged after hitting a Russian mine on Thursday on its way to pick up Ukrainian grain. That's according to Ukrainian military officials, who say two of the ship's crew members were wounded.
The captain ran the vessel aground to prevent it from sinking before tugboats eventually pulled it to port.
Meanwhile, 2023 is ending on a down note for the Ukrainian president. Volodymyr Zelenskyy. His much-anticipated counteroffensive has largely stalled, and so has the flow of Western military aid for Ukraine, at least for now.
As Melissa Bell reports, Mr. Zelenskyy is finding the hard way how quickly the political winds can change. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It was an 11th hour invitation that led President Zelenskyy to Washington in December, it's time with the question of further funding to Ukraine, stalled on Capitol Hill.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't want you giving up hope.
BELL (voice-over): A far cry from the hero's welcome the Ukrainian president had received in 2022, with progress on the ground in Ukraine apparently stalled, as well.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The counteroffensive is difficult. It's happening, probably, slower than how some people may want or can see it.
BELL (voice-over): A foothold on the East bank of the Dnipro River, one of the rare Ukrainian gains, despite months of fighting, with questions of how much more money allies can invest.
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): What the Biden administration seems to be asking for is billions of additional dollars with no appropriate oversight, no clear strategy to win.
BELL (voice-over): Allegations of corruption haven't helped, despite President Zelenskyy's determination to act, with the firing of top officials and the arrest of a leading oligarch who is also a backer of his presidential bid.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): Any internal issue that hinders the state is being cleaned up, and will be cleaned up further. We need a strong state. And Ukraine will be just that.
BELL (voice-over): But it is on the battlefield that the Ukrainian president's ability to lead is being engaged most closely. As is his relationship to the troops and to the man who leads them, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, with hints of a strange relationship alluded to at Zelenskyy's end-of-year press conference.
ZELENSKYY (through translator): He has to answer for results on the battlefield as commander-in-chief, together with the general staff. There are many questions.
BELL (voice-over): Questions also for European and American allies looking to Zelenskyy to deliver a victory against Russia in return for air defense systems, tanks, missile systems and now fighter jets, all too little too late, say Ukrainians, as support for even that aid dries up.
Zelenskyy is now in uncharted territory, with tens of billions in dollars and euros for Ukraine held up by politicians on both sides of the Atlantic. The European Union now wrestling with Hungary's opposition as Republicans slow U.S. aid.
[00:25:04]
ZELENSKYY (through translator): I'm confident that the United States of America will not betray us.
BELL (voice-over): But there has been some relief for Ukraine this Christmas, with news breaking of the first long-promised F-16 fighters headed for the country.
ZELENSKYY: Like our victory in the Black Sea, we aim to win the air battle, crushing Russian air dominance.
BELL (voice-over): A note of optimism from a leader desperate to believe that his war can still be won.
Melissa Bell, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: In Moscow, some Russian celebrities are facing intense backlash for showing up barely clothed at an almost-naked-themed party. It comes as the country implements an increasingly conservative social agenda.
CNN's Bianca Nobilo with the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIANCA NOBILO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dress code optional, quite literally. An almost-naked-themed party hosted by a popular blogger in the lead-up to the holidays in Moscow has gone viral in Russia.
Blogger Anastasia Ivleeva organized the party in the heart of Moscow's nightclub district on December 21st. Party goers showed up half- clothed or with barely anything on, with outfits made of mesh, lingerie, and other creative materials to strategically cover limited parts of their body.
But photos of the almost naked party goers have sparked outrage across some parts of Russian society.
Internal criticism has mounted about how a party of this nature could go ahead as Russians continue fighting on the frontlines in Ukraine. Orthodox church officials, pro-war activists, and pro-Kremlin lawmakers have all denounced the scantily-clad party goers.
Attendees are now facing legal action. A court verdict against the party said the event was aimed at propagating nontraditional sexual relationships.
Rapper Vacio, who showed up wearing a sock covering his intimate areas and not much else, has been found guilty of "petty hooliganism" by the Russian courts. He has been sentenced to 15 days in jail and fined 200,000 rubles or roughly $2,200.
Planned new year's parties organized by celebrities who attended the party have been replaced with other stars.
Ivleeva apologized via her Instagram page, posting a 21-minute video asking for forgiveness and a second chance. Other celebrity party goers have followed suit.
In a previous video, Ivleeva claimed the event was an opportunity to showcase photos created during her tenure as the chief editor of the now-defunct Russian edition of "Playboy."
Ivleeva also faces legal action and hefty fines.
A collective lawsuit filed against Ivleeva on Tuesday by 22 people and initiated by a Russian actor, six compensations of one billion rubles -- That's $11 million -- for moral damages.
Backlash against the party comes as authorities in the country are pushing an increasingly conservative and homophobic agenda. Just last month, Russia's LGBTQ community movement was deemed an extremist organization by the country's supreme court.
Bianca Nobilo, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Wrongfully detained American Paul Whelan marked the fifth anniversary of his captivity in Russia with a message to the U.S. president calling on Joe Biden to take decisive action to get him released. The ex-Marine was arrested five years ago while visiting Moscow for a friend's wedding.
CNN national security reporter Natasha Bertrand with this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAUL WHELAN, DETAINED IN RUSSIA (via phone): Five years have passed since I was abducted from a Moscow hotel by the Russian secret police.
NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: American Paul Whelan, marking a grim milestone in a call with CNN on
Thursday.
WHELAN (via phone): I'm counting on the U.S. government to come for me and soon. The time is now to take decisive action and bring this debacle to a close.
BERTRAND (voice-over): Arrested in 2018 during a trip to Moscow, Whelan was sentenced to serve 16 years in a Russian prison camp on espionage charges that he denies. The State Department has since labeled Whelan as, quote, "wrongfully detained."
WHELAN: The important part today is human rights violation. No crime ever occurred. Isolation continued in order to force a confession.
BERTRAND (voice-over): In multiple exclusive phone calls to CNN from this Russian penal colony, where he spends his days doing manual labor at a clothing factory, Whelan says he now fears for his safety and demands that the U.S. do more to broker his release.
WHELAN (via phone): I am wondering what they're going to do next. If there's no diplomatic solution, what comes next?
BERTRAND (voice-over): When he spoke to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in October, Whelan said the U.S. had put him in danger by leaving him behind in several prisoner swaps.
[00:30:03]
The Russians had refused to include Whelan in those deals, U.S. officials have said.
WHELAN (via phone): I told him point blank that leaving me here the first time painted a target on my back. And leaving me here a second time basically signed a death warrant.
BERTRAND (voice-over): And the most recent American proposal to secure Whelan's release, along with jailed "Wall Street Journal" reporter Evan Gershkovich? It was also flatly rejected by the Russians, according to U.S. officials.
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I hope that we will find a solution. But I repeat that the American side must hear us and make a certain decision, one that suits the Russian side, as well.
BERTRAND (voice-over): Whelan's sister, Elizabeth, says her brother's day-to-day struggles have been overshadowed by the international efforts to get him back and says she'll be fighting for him until he's freed.
ELIZABETH WHELAN, PAUL WHELAN'S SISTER: People tend to think that an American who's wrongfully detained overseas is just sort of sitting on the shelf, waiting to be exchanged, when they're actually dealing with horrible criminals, terrible prison situations every single day. There must be some way to get Paul home.
BERTRAND (voice-over): The desperation clear in Whelan's voice on Thursday, as he pleads with the White House to do everything possible to bring him home.
WHELAN (via phone): President Biden, please use every resource available to secure my release as you would do if your own son had been taken hostage.
BERTRAND: In recent weeks, Whelan has increasingly expressed fear for his safety, telling my colleague Jennifer Hansler that he's been targeted by an official at that prison camp.
But for now, negotiations between the U.S. and Russia seem to be at an impasse. The U.S. recently offered to swap a number of suspected and convicted Russian spies in U.S. and European custody, in exchange for the release of Gershkovich and Whelan.
Officials told CNN that Russia had rejected the offer. So U.S. officials insist now that Whelan's case is still a priority. The U.S.'s special presidential envoy for hostage affairs told CNN, quote, "We are working," quote, "daily on this."
Lots of people are throwing themselves into this. It's a day-to-day fight.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well have more on the Israel-Hamas war just ahead, including details on a meeting between the Israeli prime minister and the families of hostages. What Benjamin Netanyahu is saying. That's when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A kibbutz in Israel is confirming the death of a 70-year-old Israeli woman who was thought to be held hostage by Hamas.
Judith Weinstein also held American and Canadian citizenship. She was a mother of four who taught children with special needs.
The kibbutz says she was killed during the Hamas terror attack on October 7th. Her husband's death was confirmed last week, and both of their bodies are still being held by Hamas, according to their kibbutz.
[00:35:09]
Weinstein was the last American woman held in Gaza. Six American men are believed to still be in Hamas captivity.
Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says talks to free the remaining hostages in Gaza are ongoing. He met with hostage families in Tel Aviv on Thursday.
Ronen Neutra's son was serving as a tank commander near Gaza, and he's been missing in action since October 7th.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RONEN NEUTRA, FATHER OF HOSTAGE: Our message to Prime Minister Netanyahu was loud and clear. It's his responsibility and his administration to bring the hostages back home.
He needs to pull every lever to bring them back. According to Prime Minister Netanyahu, unfortunately, the problem continues to be Hamas. Hamas is refusing to come back to the negotiating table and to take up any offers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Israel's chief of staff -- the general staff, meanwhile, says the country's military failed in its mission, as he put it, to rescue three hostages who were mistakenly killed by troops earlier this month. The military has published the findings of its investigation into the
December 15th incident. The report says the Israeli command had information about the presence of hostages in the area.
But forces in the field described what -- what they described as insufficient awareness of the possibility that hostages might approach them, or that they would encounter hostages other than as part of a special operation to free them.
An Egyptian official says more than 700 foreign nationals entered the country from Gaza on Thursday, and more than 100 trucks carrying humanitarian aid, cooking gas and commercial goods passed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
The United Nations, though, says before the war more than 450 trucks a day brought commercial goods into Gaza.
And a leaked draft document suggests Israel's supreme court may overturn a controversial law passed by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu's, government earlier this year.
The Reasonableness Law, as it's known, strips the Israeli supreme court of the power to declare government decisions unreasonable.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHANTING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The judicial overhaul law sparked massive months-long protests across the country. The leak drew heated backlash, with coalition members saying it undermines Israel's national unity during ongoing war against Hamas.
CNN has not seen the documents, which have been widely reported, though, in the Israeli media.
Here in the U.S., Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley is in damage control mode, trying to contain the fallout from a controversial exchange about the Civil War and slavery.
CNN's Eva McKend has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIKKI HALEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Of course the Civil War was about slavery. We know that. That's unquestioned, always the case.
EVA MCKEND, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nikki Haley playing cleanup today after this exchange with a voter during a New Hampshire town hall Wednesday night.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the cause of the United States Civil War?
HALEY: Well, don't come with an easy question, really. I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run; the freedoms in what people could and couldn't do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the year 2023, it's astonishing to me that you answered that question without mentioning the word "slavery."
MCKEND (voice-over): After not mentioning slavery in her initial response, Haley acknowledging in interviews, and campaign appearances the Civil War was about slavery.
HALEY: You grew up in the South, it's a given that it's about slavery. To me, it was about the freedom. It's bigger than slavery. That was such a stain on our history. But, what do you take from it going forward?
MCKEND (voice-over): The former South Carolina governor also claiming, without evidence, the questioner was a Democratic plant. The audience member who asked the question declined to share his full name or party affiliation when asked by reporters.
HALEY (via phone): It was definitely a Democrat plant. That's why I said what does it mean to you? And if you noticed, he didn't answer anything.
MCKEND (voice-over): The episode sparking swift blowback from Haley's primary rivals.
GOV. GON DESANTIS (R-FL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I just think that this shows this is not a candidate that's ready for primetime.
MCKEND (voice-over): And Vivek Ramaswamy saying, "When you try to be everything to everyone, you're nothing to anyone."
President Joe Biden also weighing in, saying, "Clearly, it was about slavery. Haley's handling of the question also drawing fresh attention to her complicated public posture toward the confederacy."
[00:40:07]
HALEY: I say that as a Southern governor who removed the Confederate flag off the state house grounds, and I say that as a proud American of how far we have come.
MCKEND (voice-over): CNN's KFILE found in 2010, Haley said this about the Confederate flag.
HALEY: This is not something that is racist. This is something that was a tradition that people feel proud of.
MCKEND (voice-over): But, in 2015, a shooting at a historically black church in Charleston spurred then-Governor Haley to call for the flag's removal from state House grounds.
HALEY: We heard about the true honor of heritage and tradition. We heard about the true pain that many had felt. The Confederate flag is coming off the grounds of the South Carolina state House.
MCKEND (voice-over): The stumble by Haley comes as she has steadily gained momentum in the GOP primary, with a recent New Hampshire poll show her securely in second place, behind the former President Donald Trump, but well ahead of DeSantis and Chris Christie.
MCKEND: Some of Haley's supporters that we spoke to remain unswayed by all this and really are continuing to be very enthusiastic about the campaign.
But she did get a pointed question from a voter who suggested she needed to redeem herself from this entire debacle by categorically rejecting that she would ever be Trump's running mate if asked.
She didn't categorically reject it. She, instead, leaned on a familiar refrain that she often used, in which she says, she's not in this contest to play for second place.
Eva McKend, CNN, Lebanon, New Hampshire.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Starting Monday, France is taking some controversial steps in banning some plastic packaging. After the break, we'll have a conversation about fighting plastic pollution.
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HOLMES: A somber New Year's message from the U.N. secretary-general. Antonio Guterres highlighting current global conflicts weighing heavy on humanity this holiday season, and the need for the world to come together to find solutions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONIO GUTERRES, U.N. SECRETARY-GENERAL: 2023 has been a year of enormous suffering, violence, and climate chaos. Humanity is in pain. Our planet is in peril.
2023 is the hottest year on record. People are getting crushed by growing poverty and hunger. Wars are growing in number, and philosophy and trust is in short supply.
But pointing fingers and pointing guns lead nowhere. Humanity is strongest when we stand together. 2024 must be a year for rebuilding trust and restoring hope.
We must come together across divides for shared solutions, for protection, for economic opportunity in the global financial system that delivers for all.
Together, we must stand up against the discrimination and hatred without poisoning relations between countries and communities. And we must make sure that new technologies, such as artificial intelligence, are a force for good.
[00:45;15]
The United Nations will keep rallying the world for peace, sustainable development, and human rights. Let us resolve to make 2024 a year of building trust and hope in all that we can accomplish together. I wish you a happy and peaceful new year.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Now, the tradition of popping a bottle of champagne for a New Year's Eve toast could be at risk going forward because of human- caused climate change.
New data shared with CNN from Climate A.I. shows the three grapes used in all champagne, as well as hundreds of other grapes, are at risk of dying off because of warming and changing weather patterns in some of the world's best known wine growing regions.
According to an annual wine production report, global wine production in 2023 was the lowest in 60 years.
Now, France is targeting food manufacturers, retailers, and other industries to help curb plastic pollution. Its anti-waste law calls for 100 percent recycling of plastic by 2025. That's not far off.
And it aims to phase out all single-use plastic packaging by 2040. To that end, starting on January the 1st, plastic packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables will be banned. Restaurants will have to provide reusable food service where retailers will have to supply reusable containers, and public institutions must install water fountains.
Joining me now, Richard Steiner, a marine biologist and conservation scientist, to talk plastic. I want to start with a quote from "The Washington Post" last month.
And I'll quote right here. Between 1950 and 2021, humanity produced about 11 billion metric tons of virgin plastic. That's the weight of 110,000 U.S. aircraft carriers. Only about two billion tons of this is still in use. The rest, 8.7 billion tons, is waste.
Just how damaging is plastic to our environment?
RICHARD STEINER, MARINE BIOLOGIST: Well, it's quite extraordinary, Michael. And this has been going on, unfortunately, for about the last 70 or 80 years.
These plastics are long-lived. They don't break down very quickly. Some of them last for over 500 years, which is a projection because most of this has not been around for more than 100 years.
But it's projected to be in the environment for hundreds and hundreds of years. Most of it ends up in the oceans, the river discharge and such.
And there we know it kills -- plastic debris kills one hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, seabirds, fish, and it's even found in the tiniest plankton. One of the base components of the food chain for the entire ocean ecosystem.
The other thing is that plastics absorb toxic substances like persistent and organic pollutants and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, and PCBs, and things like that.
So not only is the plastic itself toxic, but they absorbs toxics from the water, and then that is eaten by fish and marine mammals and things like that. So it's a serious problem.
HOLMES: It is. It's terrifying. Last year, more than 175 countries agreed to develop a legally binding international treaty to end plastic pollution by 2040. That seems pretty optimistic. Is that achievable at all?
STEINER: It is not only achievable, it is absolutely essential in our view, from a marine scientist standpoint. From an ocean conservation standpoint, from an environmental standpoint.
Governments have to do their job, and they can. They just have to get industry either out of the way or on board on this -- on this task.
The United Nations environment program is -- this is quintessential UNEP. This is what they are built for.
They have achieved this before with the Montreal Protocol in 1987, with the chlorofluorocarbons that were depleting the ozone layer.
They achieved it in the Stockholm Convention, which eliminated the production and use of persistent organic pollutants.
So it can be done. It has been done, and that's exactly what has to be done with plastics now. There's a lot of nations that want this done. They got hung up last month in Nairobi with procedural issues. Apparently, the negotiations dealt with whether it had to be by consensus or whether a majority vote could move the treaty forward.
[00:50:03]
HOLMES: Yes.
STEINER: There's also a dispute between, you know, just dealing with recycling, which is what the plastics and oil industry want rather than reducing production.
But there's this insidious push, just like in the climate negotiations, by industry that is benefiting financially by the current status quo to resist progress on this. And that is a problem that we need to solve. And we can.
HOLMES: Here we are talking about fossil fuel lobbyists, again, because a lot of plastics come from -- from oil. And so that lobby, again, ruining things for everyone.
I did want to ask about recycling because -- you know, is the technology good enough for it to be effective? And is enough being done to increase recycling? I know we talk a lot about wish cycling, and I try to recycle everything, but is it working?
STEINER: No. Not -- not to the extent that it needs to be. But the three R's, which we talked about back in the 1970s, Michael -- I don't know how old you are -- but we talked about this in the 1970s. Reduce, reuse, recycle.
The first two components of that, reduce and reuse, are really the solution here. Recycling has not been a very large component of reducing plastic debris into the environment.
But we need to reduce the production and use of plastics. We know how to do this. There are many, many different plant-based, sustainable, biodegradable alternatives for all sorts of the materials that we're now using plastics for.
So if we can reduce the production and use of plastics. And also, we can design components to where they can be re-used in a circular economy, rather than just a linear, produce them and use them once, throw them in the landfill or the river, out to the ocean.
So we know how to do this. We've known about it for decades. We just need government to get on board and help us make it happen.
HOLMES: Yes, yes. I think -- I think my personal bug there is packaging. There's so much ridiculous packaging.
And we've got to leave it there, but I'm so old, Richard, that I reported on plastics in the late '70s. Not only was it not around --
STEINER: You're reporting on it.
HOLMES: I'm an old dude. You keep up the good work.
STEINER: 2024, if people -- if people can get in touch with their environmental officials and their governments and tell them that 2024 is the year that we have to achieve this U.N. plastics treaty.
They have a meeting in April in Canada. That's the date and the time that we need to get this done. So everybody needs to pressure their government environmental officials to make this happen.
HOLMES: I urge them to do it. It's a massive problem. Richard Steiner, I wish we had more time. Thanks so much.
STEINER: It's all right. Thank you very much. Happy new year.
HOLMES: And to you.
Well, make hummus, not war. That's the message from a Middle Eastern restaurant that's serving up unity and friendship, one meal at a time. You've got to start somewhere.
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HOLMES: Far from the front lines in Gaza, in the German capital, two restaurant owners, one Palestinian, one Israeli, are making Middle Eastern food with a message of peace.
CNN's Lynda Kinkade with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LYNDA KINKADE, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR (voice-over): This may look like an ordinary Middle Eastern restaurant.
[00:55:03]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rice and lentils (ph).
KINKADE (voice-over): Except one of the owners is Israeli, and the other is Palestinian.
Israeli entrepreneur Oz Ben David, and Jalil Dabit, who is Palestinian, run Kanaan, a vegetarian restaurant located in Berlin, where they're serving up unity and friendship one meal at a time.
The pair opened their business in 2015, with a mission to offer cuisine inspired by their heritage. But when Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, they shut the restaurant down for days out of concern for their staff's safety.
But they say they've reopened with a message of peace.
OZ BEN DAVID, CO-OWNER, KANAAN: Everybody can get almost everything, as long as we agree that both of us can sit on the table and create a shared plate together.
KINKADE (voice-over): A large sign hanging in the dining room reads "Make hummus, not war."
JALIL DABIT, CO-OWNER, KANAAN: Our vision is to show the people that Palestinian and Israeli, or people from different backgrounds, can work together and be really good friends.
KINKADE (voice-over): Kanaan offers a variety of dishes, from za'atar and feteer rolls, to shouk shouka (Ph) lasagna, but it's their hummus that represents a melding of cultures.
DAVID: I think it was the hummus recipe that became like our map, our formula, for how to communicate with each other.
Each one has its own way to make hummus and we can learn from the hummus and from the experience of sharing, instead of fighting on something.
KINKADE (voice-over): The owners also say they're proud of the fact that their employees are of many different nationalities.
DAVID: It's something that we kind of hear from the workers all the time. If you ask them, what is so surprising for you to work in first time with Israelis, they will tell you, We are shocked how much we are similar.
KINKADE (voice-over): They believe that, despite being from one of the most contentious regions in the world, a love of food and an eating culture can create friendships and help overcome differences.
Lynda Kinkade, CNN. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A successful launch for a SpaceX rocket on a secret mission for the U.S. military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Full power. And lift off.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The Falcon heavy rocket lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center a few hours ago, carrying the X37-B space plane. It operates with no crew, and its destination and purpose are a closely guarded mystery.
The military says only that the plane will carry out cutting edge research. They won't say what.
I'm Michael Holmes. Thanks for spending part of your day with me. I will be back with more CNN NEWSROOM after the break.
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