The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
Nikki Haley says ‘race far from over’ after second place finish in New Hampshire
Nikki Haley has finished second in New Hampshire to Trump, a setback in her effort to reset the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
“I want to congratulate Donald Trump,” Haley tells supporters after TV networks quickly projected the result. Haley then vows she will fight on, saying “this race is far from over.”
She also seeks to warn Republican voters away from Trump, saying that nominating the controversial former US president will spell victory for Joe Biden in November.
“The worst kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump,” she says. “A Trump nomination is a Biden win,” she adds.
The former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor, who invested significant time and financial resources in the state, ramped up her criticism of Trump after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the race and she became the sole GOP alternative to him. But the appeal ultimately failed to resonate with enough voters, and she’s in a weakened position heading into a primary in her home state.
Biden wins New Hampshire’s Democratic race as a write-in candidate
Joe Biden wins New Hampshire’s largely symbolic Democratic primary, prevailing in an unusual write-in effort after he refused to campaign or appear on the ballot in the state.
Biden easily bests two longshot challengers, Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson, who were on the ballot along with a host of little-known names. His victory in a race he was not formally contesting essentially cements Biden’s grasp on the Democratic nomination for a second term.
AP declares Trump as winner of New Hampshire’s GOP presidential primary
Donald Trump has won New Hampshire’s GOP primary, delivering a setback to rival Nikki Haley, who is running out of time to establish herself as a viable alternative to him.
It’s his second straight victory in his quest for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. He won Iowa’s leadoff caucuses by 30 percentage points.
US President Joe’s Biden allies, meanwhile, are hoping their write-in campaign on the Democratic side is successful. Polls closed statewide at 8 p.m local time.
Ahead of Israel visit, UK’s Cameron calls for ‘immediate pause’ in Gaza fighting
LONDON — British Foreign Secretary David Cameron will travel to Israel on Wednesday where he is expected to raise concerns over the high number of Palestinians killed and push for a “sustainable” ceasefire in the Gaza war.
Cameron’s trip, which will include visits to the West Bank, where the Western-backed Palestinian Authority is based, and to Qatar and Turkey, is his third to the Middle East in just over two months.
He will advocate for a pathway out of the war involving the release of all Israeli hostages held by Gaza’s ruling Islamist Hamas terror group, with the Palestinian Authority taking over the running of the enclave, and an end to rocket attacks on Israel.
In Israel, Cameron will tell Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu more should be “done, more quickly to significantly increase the flow of life-saving aid into Gaza” and he will raise “concerns over the high number of civilian casualties,” according to a foreign office statement.
“No one wants to see this conflict go on a moment longer than necessary,” Cameron says. “An immediate pause is now necessary to get aid in and hostages out. The situation is desperate.”
Cameron will urge Israel to open more crossing points to allow aid deliveries into Gaza, including the Israeli port at Ashdod and the Kerem Shalom crossing, and that water, fuel and electricity must be restored to the Palestinian enclave.
During a visit to the West Bank, where the PA exercises limited self-rule, Cameron will meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and highlight Britain’s long-term support for a peace deal establishing a Palestinian state co-existing alongside Israel.
Cameron will then travel on to Qatar and Turkey later in the week for further diplomatic talks.
UK says 24 nations launched further strikes on Yemen’s Houthis
LONDON — Britain says in a joint statement on Tuesday that 24 countries, including the United States, Germany and Australia, conducted additional strikes on Monday against eight targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
“In response to continued illegal and reckless Houthi attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea and surrounding waterways, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted additional strikes against eight targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” a joint statement issued by the British prime minister’s office says.
“These strikes were designed to disrupt and degrade the capability of the Houthis to continue their attacks on global trade and innocent mariners from around the world, while avoiding escalation.”
‘Genocide Joe’: Protesters against Israeli op in Gaza repeatedly interrupt Biden at campaign event
Protesters chanting slogans against Israel’s offensive against the Gaza-ruling Hamas terror group repeatedly interrupt US President Joe Biden on Tuesday during an election campaign event to promote abortion rights.
Demonstrators hold up a Palestinian flag and shout numerous times during the speech in Manassas, Virginia, but are drowned out each time by audience members chanting “Four more years” and “Let’s go Joe.”
Video from the event shows security removing the protesters, one of whom calls the US president “genocide Joe” due to his support for Israel.
“This is going to go on for a while; they got this planned,” Biden says as the protestors are escorted out one by one.
“Gaza is a reproductive issue,” seventh protester tells out.
“Shut up,” someone in the audience yells back.
The eighth protester says keeping baby formula from babies is genocide. “I voted for you,” she says. “How can you be Genocide Joe?” pic.twitter.com/s1mfpfbYRM
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) January 23, 2024
Pentagon says US strikes in Iraq hit 3 sites linked to Iran-backed militias
WASHINGTON — The United States has carried out strikes in Iraq against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militia, the Pentagon says, after a weekend attack on an Iraqi air base that wounded US forces.
US troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked about 150 times by Iran-aligned militants since the Israel-Hamas war started in October.
On Saturday, four US personnel suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iraq’s Ain al-Asad air base was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants from inside Iraq.
“US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says in a statement.
“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin adds.