Trump says US has no immediate plan to strike Iran, but ‘locked and loaded’ if needed
First polls in the US midterms close, with most voting still underway * Rebuffing coalition, Israeli election czar says official vote result must be published today
Trump says US has no immediate plan to strike Iran, but ‘locked and loaded’ if needed
The United States has no immediate plans to strike Iran, US President Donald Trump tells the Financial Times.
In an interview with the FT today, Trump suggests he is content with the state of the stand-off with Iran.
“We seem to be getting everything we want,” Trump says in the six-minute telephone interview.
The US president adds that negotiations are ongoing, noting: “We’re having discussions, and we’ll see how that all works out.”
Asked about hints by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that an attack might be incoming, Trump says: “I’m ready, we’re ready. We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it.”
For many Jewish Michigan voters, El-Sayed’s ‘justification’ for synagogue attack ‘unforgivable’
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan — Jordan Acker is an elected official with the Democratic Party in Michigan, but as of last week he was undecided on who he would vote for in today’s Senate election between fellow party member Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers.
The Jewish member of the University of Michigan’s Board of Regents did end up reaching a decision, but he declines to share how he cast his ballot, citing the election’s extreme divisiveness.
“This election has been enormously painful for Michigan’s Jewish community. We’ve been divided in lots of different pieces by lots of different candidates,” says Acker in an interview from his law office outside of Detroit, noting that a majority of the state’s Jews are Democrats and that those voters largely did not back El-Sayed in the primary.
The most decisive factor in their decision-making was El-Sayed’s response to a terror attack on a nearby synagogue earlier this year.
El-Sayed issued a statement in which he said that there could be no justification for the targeting of Temple Israel, but went on to explain that “hurt people hurt people.”
The progressive Democrat eventually apologized for the remark, but largely for its timing, as opposed to its substance.
So while the Jewish community in Michigan overwhelmingly came out in support of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris two years ago, Acker expected a much more even split in today’s Senate race.
“For a lot of Jewish Michiganders, ‘Hurt people hurt people’ was an unforgivable way to talk about us,” he says.
AP survey shows voter unhappiness with US military action in Iran
US voters are unhappy with Trump’s war with Iran.
About 6 in 10 voters in an Associated Press election day poll say the US made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran. The cost of the unpopular war has risen to more than $47.1 billion, according to a recent estimate from the Pentagon.
Roughly one-third of voters say the Iran war was a “crucial” factor in their vote for Congress, which is lower than the share of those who expressed concern over the cost of living and government corruption.
Trump has asserted that higher gas and energy prices resulting from conflict will drop.
First polls in the US midterms close, with most voting still underway
The first polls close after millions of Americans voted in midterm elections that could strip US President Donald Trump’s Republicans of control of Congress, with Democrats favored in opinion polls to capture the House and a handful of Senate races set to determine whether they can seize both chambers.
The battle for the Senate is unfolding across nearly 10 closely contested statewide races, most in Republican strongholds.
Polling stations began to close in Indiana and Kentucky at 6 p.m. ET and will close in another half-dozen states at 7 p.m., but remain open for hours yet in most states.
Yemen’s top diplomat says Houthis not willing to make a peace deal
Yemen’s top diplomat says the Houthi rebels are not willing to strike a peace deal with the internationally recognized government to end the country’s yearslong civil war.
Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba speaks to The Associated Press in Paris, where she met with French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot.
“The problem is that the Houthis aren’t willing, and they will not be ready for peace,” al-Zouba tells AP.
She accuses Iran of employing the Houthis to serve their agenda. “They’re making this problem,” she says of Tehran.
Al-Zouba says that any settlement should include enabling the Yemeni government to regain control of the entire country.
Presumed incoming US Congress member: Ending aid to Israel is not enough
Darializa Avila Chevalier, who is expected to win a US House seat in New York today, says that ending military aid to Israel is insufficient after US President Donald Trump said he plans to do so.
Chevalier, after casting her vote in New York City, says in a statement: “Ending military aid is not enough.”
“We need to end US taxpayer funding for Israel’s war crimes, a full arms embargo, and the Palestinian right of return,” she says.
The “right of return” is the call to open Israel to the millions of Palestinians claiming refugee status due to their ancestors’ displacement during Israel’s 1948 War of Independence. Allowing in those millions would end Israel’s existence as a Jewish-majority state.
Chevalier is a member of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America and the Democratic nominee for New York’s 13th Congressional District in upper Manhattan and part of the Bronx.
There is no credible challenger for the seat, meaning Chevalier is all but assured to win today’s election.
She is an anti-Zionist activist who attended a celebratory rally the day after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led onslaught.
Motley crew of Jews establishes makeshift election-day war room out of Michigan law firm to help Mike Rogers
SOUTHFIELD, Michigan — As divisive as they’ve become in recent years, previous US elections have unfolded without impacting Shimon Levy’s relationships.
Today’s Senate race in Michigan between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers will be different for the 38-year-old Israeli-American, who says he won’t be able to look at some of his friends the same way.
El-Sayed has come under fire from some members of the local Jewish community for his intense criticism of Israel, but also for his response to a terror attack targeting a suburban Detroit synagogue in which he said: “Hurt people hurt people.” El-Sayed later apologized for the remark.
“I do not think I can look at a Jewish American Abdul voters the same way after these elections — win or lose — as I did before,” Levy says.
Levy sits in the small conference room of a boutique law firm in Southfield, Michigan, which he has repurposed as an election war room, together with half a dozen other friends who are campaigning for Rogers.
“I’ve had tremendous hardship in communicating with people who are part of my life that have been blatantly supporting Abdul online. I have a hard time talking to them. What am I going to talk to them about? The weather? My kids?” Levy asks.
He subsequently softens his tone and stresses that “there has to be a tomorrow to look toward as one unified community.”
The small group assembled in the conference room does not fit the typical mold of campaign volunteers. They’re in their 30s and 40s with established careers — not retirees or college students. They also all supported Haley Stevens in the Democratic primary to defeat Rogers.
Levy argues that they’re now paying a steep price for their involvement.
“Do you think everybody becomes your friend once you put your opinion out there and start advocating?” he laments.
“I’m also losing time, business and money, but this is truly one of those cases where if you’re not going to do it, nobody else will,” Levy says.
No suspicious findings on Israeli-run cruise ship after bomb scare; passengers return onboard
A comprehensive search of an Israeli-operated cruise ship docked at the Greek island port of Syros found no suspicious findings after it earlier received a bomb threat, Hebrew media reports.
An unknown person claimed an explosive device had been attached to its hull, according to Greek authorities, prompting the 940 passengers and 597 crew members to disembark while the search was conducted.
The Panama-flagged Crown Iris — operated by Israeli company Mano Maritime — had been due to sail back to Haifa.
The passengers and crew have been allowed back onboard, and the vessel is due to resume its voyage.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Again rebuffing coalition, election czar says that by law, official vote results must be published tomorrow
Central Elections Committee (CEC) chief Noam Sohlberg says the official results of last week’s Knesset election will be published tomorrow, rebuffing another attempt by the outgoing coalition to postpone the move.
Representatives of parties in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc wrote to Sohlberg earlier today, asking to discuss suspected vote-buying by several Arab suspects at the CEC plenum, where the coalition has a majority, Hebrew media has reported.
Sohlberg, who is also the Supreme Court deputy president, writes back that tomorrow’s meeting will start at 9 a.m., earlier than scheduled, to allow for a more comprehensive discussion.
However, he adds, neither the plenum nor anyone else has the legal power to delay the publication of the official election results — which, according to Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws, must be published eight days after the election — or to demand evidence regarding alleged wrongdoing. He says any such claims will be heard by the courts in the future.