Vance says GOP lost midterms due to Iran war, and that voters want ...

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Vance says GOP lost midterms due to Iran war, and that voters want to ‘change our relationship to Israel’

US Vice President JD Vance, citing voters, says two lessons from Republicans’ heavy losses in yesterday’s midterm elections are that the Iran war must end and that the US must change its relationship with Israel.

He writes in a post on X that Democrats made historic gains thanks to voters for President Donald Trump crossing the aisle.

“The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026,” Vance writes on X.

The vice president goes on to cite who he says are highly respected pollsters, including one who predicted the sweeping Democratic gains.

The pollster “asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses, were:

“1) End the war.

2) Focus on cost of living/inflation.

3) Put America First.

4) Change our relationship to Israel.”

To that end, Vance touts someone who urged the administration to resolve the Iran conflict diplomatically.

“It turns out her political advice was sound,” he writes, in a knock of those — reportedly including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — pushing for another round of conflict.

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance says.

While Trump did acknowledge that the spiking gas prices caused by the war contributed to the Republican losses, he also defended the decision to launch the conflict, which Vance does not do in his lengthy post.

Vance was widely reported to have opposed the war before the US and Israel launched it on February 28. Israel has largely not participated in strikes on Iran since April.

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” Vance continues.

Vance’s post is retweeted by Trump’s son Donald Jr., who writes, “Every word of this is 100% 100% 100%.”

Red Cross delivers essential medical supplies to Yemen’s besieged Taiz city

The Red Cross says it delivered four truckloads of essential medical supplies to the besieged Yemeni city of Taiz after renewed fighting cut off access for weeks.

Taiz has been largely isolated for a month, with fighting preventing humanitarian supplies from entering the city and restricting the movement of civilians, after an escalation in clashes between the Saudi-backed government and the Iran-backed Houthis.

Key supply routes, including the Taiz-Aden corridor, have been blocked by Houthi forces, exacerbating shortages of water, food and fuel, while hospitals say they are under significant pressure and face scarce medical supplies. The city hosts about half of the 300,000 people displaced across Yemen by the latest fighting, according to the UN.

The Red Cross says the delivery to Taiz of surgical kits to help hospitals treat patients wounded in the renewed fighting is a vital step in providing support to health facilities under extreme pressure since fresh hostilities began in September.

“For patients with severe injuries or critical medical conditions, regardless of where they live or which side of the front line they find themselves on, timely access to medical care can be a matter of life or death,” says Christine Cipolla, the Red Cross head of delegation in Yemen. She urges parties to the conflict to continue facilitating the safe and sustained access of humanitarian aid.

Hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in war casualties, while intensified fighting along multiple front lines has cut off vital aid to around 800,000 people, humanitarian agencies say.

Zamir: IDF won’t let Hezbollah ‘entrench itself’ and threaten north

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, during a visit to the northern border today, says the military “will not allow Hezbollah to establish terror infrastructure” in southern Lebanon.

“Any attempt by the enemy to entrench itself, build up its capabilities, or threaten northern communities will be met immediately and forcefully,” he says, according to remarks provided by the army.

Zamir says the IDF “remains alert to developments in near and distant arenas and is prepared to strike any enemy that attempts to harm us, as we have done in the past.”

The remarks come following an IDF strike in south Lebanon, the first in weeks.

Marking anniversary of Rabin assassination, Eisenkot warns Netanyahu, allies dragging Israel to ‘dark abyss’

On the anniversary of the 1995 assassination of slain prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Yashar chairman Gadi Eisenkot invokes his memory, warning that Israel’s democracy is under threat and vowing to stand against attempts to “drag Israel into a dark abyss.”

“Rabin’s murder is a grave national reminder to us all: Violence does not appear one morning out of nowhere,” Eisenkot says in a statement. “It is the result of ongoing, organized campaigns of incitement, agitation and division.”

Eisenkot accuses Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party of seeking to “sabotage Israeli democracy” and “inflame violence” in the streets.

He also refers to far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, recalling that a month before Rabin’s assassination, Ben Gvir, then a teenager, infamously tore the emblem off Rabin’s car and said, “If we got to this emblem, we can get to Rabin.”

“That same man, who is responsible for the Israel Police and internal security, called this morning for the leaders of political parties in Israel to be interrogated in Shin Bet basement cells – in violation of proper governance and the law,” Eisenkot says, referring to Ben Gvir’s calls for Arab politicians to be interrogated.

“We will not allow Israel to be dragged into a dark abyss far beyond the boundaries of democratic rules,” Eisenkot says. “I intend to stand against these attempts. Without flinching. Because the future of Israel and Israeli democracy is at stake.”

Eisenkot’s remarks are the second time in 24 hours that the former IDF chief of staff has invoked Rabin’s memory. Rabin was also IDF chief of staff.

Last night, after laying out immediate legislative plans in a video statement, Eisenkot warned that the coming days would be “filled with spins and false, ugly briefings.” He said Israel must remember the lessons of violence and incitement surrounding Rabin’s assassination and “stand firm without fear.”

Settlers establish outpost inside Palestinian city of Jericho, on border of PA-run area

Several dozen settler activists take up residence in eight homes in the Palestinian city of Jericho, which they say they purchased with the cooperation of the Benyamin Regional Council, a state-funded settlement municipal authority.

The Nachala settlement organization and the Benyamin regional council say they jointly coordinated the project to buy the properties in secret, while IDF forces escorted the families to their new homes today.

The new outpost is located in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has full control, but is just meters from parts of Jericho which are in Area A of the West Bank, where the Palestinian Authority is meant to have full military and civilian control.

The Benyamin Regional Council says the buildings are on state land, which is not privately owned.

Regional Council head Israel Ganz says in announcing the development that the step was part of efforts to “dismantle the Oslo Accords,” the 1990s Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement that established the PA.

“In the Oslo Accords, Israel abandoned [Jericho], and to this day, we are paying the price for that flight. Today, we are beginning to reverse course. We are dismantling the Oslo Accords through our actions — house by house, family by family,” says Ganz.

Two Jericho residents who live in the area tell The Times of Israel that the settlers blocked off the area when they entered their new homes, and that the IDF has not allowed Palestinian residents to return to dozens of homes in the area or to the surrounding agricultural land.

According to the Palestinians, the settlers also opened fire as they entered. Footage shows an Israeli activist assisting a Palestinian with a head injury sustained during the incident.

Police and IDF forces arrived at the scene after the settlers entered the area.

Peace Now, which opposes the expansion of settlements, describes the development as “a security danger and diplomatic catastrophe” and says it will create “apartheid” inside Jericho.

“Establishing a settlement in Jericho could create a reality similar to that which exists in Hebron, placing an immense burden on the IDF to protect an Israeli population in the heart of a Palestinian neighborhood,” says the organization.

It called on the IDF to remove the settlers from the homes immediately.

Herzog begins consultation with Shas party

President Isaac Herzog has wrapped up his consultation with the far-right Religious Zionism party and begun meeting with the Sephardi Haredi Shas party.

In the consultations at the President’s residence, parties say who they recommend for prime minister. Both Religious Zionism and Shas support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

IDF says Lebanon strike, said to kill 1, targeted suspects observing Israeli troops

The Israeli military says its strike in southern Lebanon this afternoon targeted two suspects who were “observing IDF troops.”

The pair were in the town of Qabrikha, outside of the IDF’s south Lebanon buffer zone.

The military says the strike was carried out to “remove a threat” to the forces.

Lebanon’s health ministry said the strike killed one and wounded another.

Top Hamas commander who held hostage is killed in Gaza City — IDF

A top Hamas commander who held Israeli hostage Omer Shem Tov in captivity was killed in a strike in Gaza City earlier this week, the military and Shin Bet announce.

The strike on Sunday killed Jamal Abu Saeed, who the IDF says served as chief of operations in Hamas’s military intelligence.

“During the war, Abu Saeed held Omer Shem Tov captive on behalf of Hamas,” the joint statement says.

Abu Saeed held other senior roles in Hamas over the years, including overseeing the training of Hamas operatives outside the Gaza Strip, serving as an anti-tank battalion commander, and being “responsible for military specialization in Hamas’ Central Brigade,” the military says.

Abu Saeed was also “responsible for Hamas’s relations with various countries” and he “served as a significant source of knowledge for the terror organization,” the IDF says.

The IDF says that recently, Abu Saeed had been advancing attacks on troops and Israeli civilians and acted to restore Hamas’s capabilities, “in systematic violation of the ceasefire.”

????ELIMINATED: Jamal Abu Saeed, Head of Operations in Hamas’ military intelligence apparatus who held Omer Shem Tov in Hamas Captivity.

The terrorist oversaw the training of Hamas operatives outside Gaza, was an anti-tank battalion commander & was responsible for military… pic.twitter.com/yVrRFP930N

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 4, 2026

Bereaved father who shouted at protest that Eisenkot ‘murdered’ his own son apologizes

The man who shouted at a protest that Gadi Eisenkot “murdered” his own son met with the opposition politician today to apologize for the smear.

Yossi Cohen, identified by Channel 12 as a bereaved father, shouted the false accusation through a megaphone at a protest on Sunday night outside Eisenkot’s home. Eisenkot’s son, Gal, fell while fighting in Gaza in December 2023. Eisenkot also lost two nephews in the war.

Meeting with Eisenkot today on camera, Cohen apologizes for the statement.

“A few days ago, I went outside MK Gadi Eisenkot’s home, and directed difficult and terrible words at Gadi and his family member. I would like to apologize, first of all, to Gal, to [his mother] Chana and to Gadi.”

‘Really bothers me’: Herzog suggests far-right minister’s opposition to Arab parties is racist

President Isaac Herzog pushes back against members of the far-right Religious Zionism party during consultations on forming the next government, challenging Settlements Minister Orit Strock over her blanket rejection of Arab parties and rebuking another representative for alleging a hostile takeover of the state from within.

“We believe the Arab parties are not legitimate participants in this process, not because they are Arab, but because they are nationalist” against Israel, Strock says, arguing that they view Israel’s establishment as a catastrophe and that their electoral victories benefit Israel’s enemies.

“How do you distinguish between racism and what you’re saying?” Herzog asks, later noting that the Jewish No. 2 candidate on Ra’am’s list, Yoav Segalovitz, was a police commander. “This generalization really bothers me,” he says.

Herzog also rebukes Religious Zionism representative Tzvika Mor, who claims forces are carrying out a “takeover” of the state “under the guise of democracy.” The statement echoes unsubstantiated allegations made by the pro-Benjamin Netanyahu bloc, which lost its parliamentary majority in last week’s election, that the election was “stolen” by Arab parties.

“That is a very dangerous remark,” Herzog responds. “To claim that another side is carrying out a takeover from within is extremely dangerous.”

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