The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
US military says it shot down Houthi drones that posed ‘imminent threat’ to ships in Red Sea
CAIRO — The US Central Command says US aircraft and a coalition warship shot down five one-way attack drones in the Red Sea that originated from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen.
The drones “presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and to the US Navy and coalition ships in the region,” CENTCOM says in a statement on Wednesday.
With nearly all votes tallied, Netanya mayor appears set to avoid run-off
Near-final results show incumbent Netanya Mayor Miriam Feirberg has appeared to avoid a run-off, fending off a close challenge from Avi Slama.
With 98.5% of votes counted, Feirberg has 43.5% of the vote, versus 40% for Slama. The results do not include “double-envelope” ballots cast by residents not able to vote at their assigned polling stations, such as soldiers.
The leading candidate must secure at least 40% of the vote to avoid a run off.
Head of settler umbrella group loses reelection bid for Gush Etzion mayor
With all ballots there tallied, results from Gush Etzion show regional council chairman Shlomo Ne’eman — who heads the Yesha Council settlement umbrella group — has lost his reelection bid to Yaron Rosenthal.
Online election results published by the Interior Ministry show that Ne’eman received 44.2% of the total vote, while Rosenthal picked up 55.8%.
Biden and Trump win Michigan, as Democrats closely watch results of ‘uncommitted’ vote
DEARBORN, Michigan — US President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump win the Michigan primaries, further solidifying the all-but-certain rematch between the two men.
Biden defeats Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, his one significant opponent left in the Democratic primary. But Democrats are also closely watching the results of the “uncommitted” vote, as Michigan has become the epicenter for dissatisfied members of Biden’s coalition that propelled him to victory in the state — and nationally — in 2020. The number of “uncommitted” votes has already surpassed the 10,000-vote margin by which Trump won Michigan in 2016, surpassing a goal set by organizers of this year’s protest effort.
As for Trump, he has now swept the first five states on the Republican primary calendar. His victory in Michigan over his last major primary challenger, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, comes after the former president defeated her by 20 percentage points in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday. The Trump campaign is looking to lock up the 1,215 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination sometime in mid-March.
Both campaigns are watching Tuesday’s results for more than just whether they won as expected. For Biden, a large number of voters choosing “uncommitted” could mean he’s in significant trouble with parts of the Democratic base in a state he can hardly afford to lose in November. Trump, meanwhile, has underperformed with suburban voters and people with a college degree, and faces a faction within his own party that believes he broke the law in one or more of the criminal cases against him.
Both the White House and Biden campaign officials have made trips to Michigan in recent weeks to talk with community leaders about the Israel-Hamas war and how Biden has approached the conflict, but those leaders, along with organizers of the “uncommitted” effort, have been undeterred.
The robust grassroots effort, which has been encouraging voters to select “uncommitted” as a way to register objections to his handling of Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, has been Biden’s most significant political challenge in the early contests. That push, which began in earnest just a few weeks ago, has been backed by officials such as Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman in Congress, and former representative Andy Levin.
As ballots counted, results show numerous incumbent mayors headed toward defeat
Results coming in from the municipal elections show a number of incumbent mayors are headed toward defeat or find themselves in highly competitive races.
In Elad, a predominantly ultra-Orthodox city, Mayor Israel Porush is slated to lose to Yehuda Botbol of Shas, who has 55.9% received of votes to the former’s 44.1% with close to 85% of the vote counted. Porush is a member of Agudath Israel, an Ashkenazi Hasidic faction, while Botbol serves in Shas, which represents ultra-Orthodox Sephardic Jews.
The two parties also squared off in Bnei Brak, where Health Minister Uriel Buso of Shas loses to former mayor Hanoch Zeibert of Agudath Israel.
In the Tel Aviv suburb of Holon, nearly three quarters of ballots have been tallied and Mayor Motti Sasson — who has been in the post since 1993 — is trailing two other candidates and has only 17.6% of votes.
Beit Shemesh Mayor Jacky Levy, elected to the post in 2018, congratules social activist Noam Juma after losing to the challenger.
Other incumbents slated to lose include the mayors of Rehovot, Safed and Arad.
Current results indicate numerous incumbent mayors are also on track to keep their positions, among them the heads of Rishon Lezion, Petah Tikva, Givatayim, Ashdod and Lod.
Incoming rocket alerts activated in pair of kibbutzim targeted on Oct. 7
Incoming rocket sirens sound overnight in Nahal Oz and Alumim, kibbutzim near the Gaza border that were evacuated after being targeted in the Hamas-led October 7 attack.
US envoy: Iranian and Hezbollah operatives in Yemen are aiding Houthi attacks on ships
WASHINGTON — Operatives from Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah are working inside Yemen to support Houthi insurgents’ attacks on international shipping, a US official says.
Tim Lenderking, the US special envoy for Yemen, tells a Senate subcommittee that Iran’s clerical state is “equipping and facilitating” the Houthi attacks, which have triggered retaliatory US and British strikes on Yemen.
“Credible public reports suggest a significant number of Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah operatives are supporting Houthi attacks from inside Yemen,” Lenderking says.
“I can’t imagine the Yemeni people want these Iranians in their country. This must stop,” he says.
The White House says in December that Iran was “deeply involved” in planning the attacks, which the Houthis say are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians in the Israel-Hamas war.
Lenderking, who has dealt with the Houthis since the start of US President Joe Biden’s administration as he helped diplomacy to freeze a brutal civil war, acknowledges that the rebels have not been deterred.
“The fact that they continue this, and have said publicly that they will not stop until there’s a ceasefire in Gaza, is an indication that we’re not yet at the point, unfortunately, where they do intend to dial back,” Lenderking says.
IDF says fighter jets struck Hezbollah cell, other targets in southern Lebanon
The IDF says it carried out strikes on Hezbollah targets on southern Lebanon, including a cell of operatives in Ayta ash-Shab.
Sites hit by fighter jets a short while ago included buildings and other infrastructure used by Hezbollah in Taybeh, Beit Lif, Seddiqine, and Khirbet Selm, according to the IDF.
Earlier, the IDF says fighter jets and other aircraft struck a Hezbollah cell and other infrastructure in Ayta ash-Shab.
The strikes come after Hezbollah fired two major barrages of rockets today at northern Israel, and launched missiles at a sensitive air traffic control base.
מטוסי קרב תקפו לפני זמן קצר מבנים צבאיים ותשתיות טרור של ארגון הטרור חיזבאללה במרחבים א-טייבה, בית ליף, צדיקין וח'רבת סלם.
מוקדם יותר, מטוסי קרב תקפו תשתית צבאית וכלי טיס תקף חוליית מחבלים שזוהתה במרחב עייתא א-שעב. במהלך היום הותקפו מספר תשתיות טרור נוספות במרחב pic.twitter.com/xNjdIzMXcK
— צבא ההגנה לישראל (@idfonline) February 27, 2024
Local election exit polls indicate Jerusalem’s Moshe Lion, Tel Aviv’s Ron Huldai set to retain power
Voter turnout remained low on Tuesday, with only 49.5 percent of eligible voters — 3,511,758 out of 7,100,390 — casting ballots in the municipal elections, down from 56% during the previous vote in 2018.
The votes are now being counted and results from smaller communities are expected to be released in the coming hours, while larger towns and cities are expected to have clearer picture of the results in the early morning.
The final results will not be immediately clear, however, due to the high number of IDF soldiers and reservists voting at military polling stations around the country.
In the predominantly ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak, 66.2% of voters cast ballots, 45.6% in the coastal city of Ashdod, 40.5% in Tel Aviv-Jaffa, 39.1% in Haifa and 31.4% in Jerusalem.
Exit polling conducted by Direct Polls and published by Channel 14 indicates that both Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion and Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai are likely to remain in office, beating out their respective challengers Yossi Havilio and Orna Barbivai by significant margins.
Lion gave a victory speech after midnight in which he spoke first about the imperative to bring Israel’s hostages back from Gaza, and sent a message of support for IDF soldiers fighting against Hamas.
According to the poll, former Mayor Yona Yahav leads in Haifa with 33% of the vote, likely requiring a second round of voting. In Beit Shemesh, incumbent Aliza Bloch garnered 38% against challengers Moshe Abutbul and Shmuel Greenberg, who were respectively at 33% and 29%,meaning that the Jerusalem suburb also appears set for a run-off.