The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they unfold.
GOP Jews happy as Capitol rioter accused of antisemitism defeated in WV primary
The Republican Jewish Coalition is celebrating after a candidate it endorsed in West Virginia’s congressional primary beat out a challenger accused of antisemitism.
Carol Miller, who has represented West Virginia’s first district since 2019, managed to stave off a challenge from Derrick Evans, who served a three-month jail sentence after livestreaming himself participating in the storming of the US Capitol.
“Republican voters in West Virginia and Nebraska soundly rejected extremist candidates,” the RJC says in a statement.
While the statement does not mention Evans by name, it appears to allude to past comments he has made questioning if Jews were behind the January 6 insurrection.
In February, Evans appeared on the show of far-right streamer Stew Peters and appeared to endorse the idea that Israel may have “been behind January 6.” He added that “whether the Jews stole the election” was a good question to ask.
“Let there be no doubt: if you don’t stand with the Jewish community if you don’t stand with Israel, the RJC will work to defeat you,” the group says.
IDF says two drones shot down after Iraqi group claims attack
The Israel Defense Forces says it shot down two drones headed to Israeli territory.
The statement comes shortly after the Iran-backed Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed to have launched two drones at Eilat.
The IDF says fighter jets shot down the two drones, which had been headed for Israel from the east. No other details are given.
مشاهد من اطلاق #المقاومة_الإسلامية_في_العراق لطيران مسير باتجاه هدفاً #عسكرياً في #ايلات ام الرشراش باراضينا #المحتلة بتاريخ 14-5-2024 pic.twitter.com/vIU3RV5nHh
— نـ ـورس. مـ ـهاجـ ـر (@bas_irra) May 14, 2024
Neither drone entered Israeli airspace, the army adds.
The Iraqi group claimed it had launched the drone in defense of Gaza. A video published by the group showed two drones being launched, though the timing seemed to indicate they had not been the pair shot toward Israel.
Hezbollah names slain operative after Israel said to hit car in Tyre
Hezbollah says one of its operatives was killed in fighting with Israel, hours after Lebanese security sources told Reuters one of the terror group’s field commanders had been targeted in an alleged Israeli airstrike on a car in southern Lebanon’s Tyre.
The operative is named as Hussein Ibrahim Makki from the southern Lebanese town of Beit Yahoun. He was in his mid-50s.
المقــ ـاومـ ـة الإسـ ـلامـ ـية تزف الشــ ـهيد حسين ابراهيم مكّي "السيد مكّي" من بلدة بيت ياحون في جنوب لبنان#ملحق pic.twitter.com/AxvpU3obdW
— Mulhak – ملحق (@Mulhak) May 14, 2024
Emergency responders said two others were wounded in the strike.
The Hezbollah statement does not list a rank or role for Makki.
Biden seeking congressional okay to send Israel $1 billion in arms — report
US President Joe Biden’s administration has informed Congress that it is moving ahead with sales of munitions to Israel potentially worth over $1 billion, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The transfer includes up to $700 million in tank rounds, another $500 million worth of tactical vehicles and $60 million-worth of mortar shells, the report says. The munitions are intended to replenish stocks used during the war against Hamas, though it could take years for everything included in the deal to reach Israel.
The report comes as Biden has faced pressure over his decision to freeze the transfer of large bombs to Israel over fears it could be used in the Gazan city of Rafah.
Biden would veto bill seeking to unfreeze arms transfers to Israel — White House
The White House says US President Joe Biden would veto a bill seeking to shield Israel from attempts by the administration to withhold arms sales or weapons transfers, maintaining that Israel is already getting “what it needs to defend itself.”
“We strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” the White House’s budget office says in a statement.
It calls the bill “a misguided reaction to a deliberate distortion of the Administration’s approach to Israel,” asserting that Biden’s commitment to Israel remains ironclad.
“The President has been clear: we will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself,” the statement reads.
The GOP-led bill would freeze the budgets of the secretary of state, the defense secretary and the National Security Council until arms Israel is expecting from the US are released.
It is largely aimed at forcing Biden to release a shipment of high-payload bombs for Israel that he withheld earlier this month amid concerns that they would be used by the IDF in a major Rafah offensive that Washington opposes.
While it will likely pass the Republican-controlled House, it is similarly certain to die in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Gantz discusses hostage talks, Saudi normalization with top Biden aide Sullivan
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz says he spoke earlier in the night with US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, who is slated to travel to Saudi Arabia and Israel at the end of this week and early next week.
On the call, Gantz emphasized “the imperative of increasing the international pressure on Hamas in addition to continuing the military pressure to secure an arrangement to return the hostages and remove the threat of Hamas,” he tweets.
He says the pair also discussed the US effort to broker a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia, expanding “the regional alliance of moderates” and the post-war management of Gaza.
UN blames Israeli tank for deadly strike on ‘clearly marked’ vehicle
The United Nations claims an Israeli tank attacked a clearly marked UN vehicle on Monday, killing a UN security officer from India and wounding another security officer from Jordan.
The United Nations has no doubt that shots from an Israeli tank hit the back of a white UN vehicle en route to the European hospital in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah, UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq says.
He tells reporters that the UN Department of Safety and Security, which employed the two staffers, has set up a fact-finding panel to discover the circumstances of the incident; the United Nations is in discussion with Israeli authorities, he adds.
The IDF said earlier that the pair had been driving through an area where fighting was ongoing and indicated issues with deconfliction.
“An initial inquiry conducted indicates that the vehicle was hit in an area declared an active combat zone,” the military said, maintaining that it had “not been made aware of the route of the vehicle.”
Haq identifies the UN staff member killed as Waibhav Anil Kale. He is the first international employee of the United Nations to be killed in the current war in Gaza.
On his LinkedIn page, Kale said he left the Indian army as a deputy sector commander in July 2022 and then worked for Amazon as a program manager until June 2023. He joined the UN in April as a security coordination officer. Indian media said he was 46 and a retired army colonel.
Jordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs identifies the injured UN staffer as Yara Dababneh and says a Jordanian military aircraft was slated to fly her from Jerusalem — where she was being transferred — to Amman for treatment at Al-Hussein Medical City, a military medical complex.
“She’s receiving medical attention,” Haq says. “We believe that she will make it through.”
ToI staff contributed to this post.
Hezbollah commander said among those killed in strike on car in Tyre
Two Lebanese security sources tells Reuters that a field commander from Lebanon’s Hezbollah was one of those killed in an alleged Israeli strike targeting a car in Tyre.