Florida state Sen. Randy Fine. Photo: Reuters

Florida state Sen. Randy Fine, a Republican, prevailed in Tuesday’s special election for Florida’s 6th Congressional District, cruising past Democratic challenger Josh Weil by a commanding 54.7 percent to 42.7 percent margin. 

Fine will assume the seat previously held by former Rep. Mike Waltz in the US House of Representatives, which was vacated after Waltz departed to serve as President Donald Trump’s national security adviser. Weil, a public-school employee and first-time candidate, raised almost 10 times the amount of funds as Fine, and ran on a stridently progressive platform. 

Though Fine easily won Tuesday night’s race, critics pointed out that Trump carried the district by a staggering 30 points in last November’s presidential race, raising questions regarding the Republican’s popularity amid national frustration over stubborn inflation and potential tariffs. Prior to the special election, Republicans expressed concern that Weil could notch a stunning upset over Fine, pointing to polls that showed the schoolteacher with a slim lead in the competition. 

Fine’s ascent to the halls of Congress will help bolster the slim Republican lead in the House of Representatives, helping the party advance more of Trump’s legislative agenda. Moreover, Fine is also likely to become one of the most vocal supporters of Israel in the federal government. 

Fine, who is Jewish, has established himself as a stalwart ally of Israel. Following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border invasion of and massacre across southern Israel, Fine has spearheaded efforts to uproot antisemitism within the state of Florida. 

In August 2024, he chided Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for taking a trip to Ireland, repudiating the country as “antisemitic.”

“I was certainly disappointed to see not only folks go to what is clearly an antisemitic country that supports Muslim terror, but I was also disappointed that the game wasn’t cancelled, which it should have been,” Fine said. 

Ireland has been a fierce critic of Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities, even joining a legal case brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice accusing the Jewish state of perpetrating a genocide in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The move, which came after the Irish government in May officially recognized a Palestinian state, led Israel to shutter its embassy in Dublin.

In August, Fine launched an investigation into alleged antisemitic and pro-terrorist ideology within instructional materials at Florida public universities, claiming that the state’s higher education institutions use “openly antisemitic” textbooks. Fine suggested that activist professors were using textbooks that were indoctrinating students with anti-Israel sentiment. 

Fine also has an extensive history of criticizing Islam.

Following the New Year’s Day ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans, Fine raised eyebrows by repudiating Islam as a “fundamentally broken and dangerous culture.”

During a March 2025 public hearing, he told a constituent wearing a keffiyeh to “enjoy your terrorist rag,” sparking boos from the audience. 

He also chided his special election opponent, Weil, who is Muslim, as “Jihad Josh” and accused the schoolteacher of being a supporter of “Muslim terror.”

Fine has also swiped at his future colleagues, US Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), two of the most vocal critics of Israel in federal government, tweeting “#BombsAway” at the progressive lawmakers.

Fine’s victory also denies Weil, a strident critic of Israel, a seat in Congress. 

Weil has publicly condemned Israel and vowed to oppose efforts to provide the Jewish state with US aid if elected to Congress. In 2021, during a failed run for US Senate, Weil slammed “Israel’s state sanctioned violence against Palestinians.” He also called for then-US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “immediately intervene to stop Jerusalem expulsions” and to “end US military aid to Israel.”

That same year, Weil accused Israel of committing a “war crime” for forcing “Palestinians from their homes to make room for Israeli settlers” in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. 

“There is no justification for this abhorrent assault on human rights,” he wrote.

At the time, the Sheikh Jarrah area of Jerusalem was embroiled in a battle between landlords, squatters, and delinquent renters from a number of houses with tenants whose leases had expired. The landlords engaged in a drawn-out legal battle to successfully evict the squatters and delinquent renters. Critics argued that the evictions were an example of anti-Arab discrimination and that Israel should force the landlords to keep the squatters and delinquent renters in place.

In 2022, Weil posted on X/Twitter that Israelis “murder children in their homes.”

In February, Weil appeared on a YouTube show hosted by Jen Perelman, a staunch anti-Zionist who has accused Israel of “genocide.”

The post Jewish Republican Randy Fine Wins Florida Special Election, Defeats Anti-Israel Democratic Challenger first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

Israel former hostage Eliya Cohen recounting his experience in Hamas captivity in Gaza. Photo: Screenshot

Israeli former hostage Eliya Cohen, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival on Oct. 7, 2023, said in an interview this week that his 505 days in captivity in Gaza were marked by near-starvation and physical and psychological torment.

Among the most traumatic moments for Cohen was witnessing the execution of a fellow captive and being stripped naked on a weekly basis only to be told he “wasn’t thin enough.”

Cohen’s account, relayed to Israel’s Channel 12 news on Tuesday, was one of the most chilling testimonies to date. 

Cohen and his fiancée, Ziv, had fled the Nova festival in southern Israel and taken refuge in a roadside bomb shelter. The shelter, which would later be referred to as the “bunker of death,” was attacked by terrorists who threw grenades inside. Another person hiding in the bunker, Aner Shapira, hurled grenade after grenade back outside. But the eighth exploded, killing Shapira and the others. 

“I jumped on Ziv … and the first thing that came out of my mouth was: ‘Ziv, I love you,’” Cohen recalled. 

Cohen and Ziv survived the blast, but they were soon captured. On the way to Gaza, one of the captives in the truck announced his intention to escape. Cohen said he and the others tried to convince him to change his mind. “We told him not to. But he jumped off the truck, and they stopped driving and shot him dead,” he said.

When they arrived in Gaza, Cohen was taken to a house where a man claiming to be a medic approached him. “He said he’d remove the bullet from my leg,” Cohen recalled. He denied Cohen’s request for painkillers, instead, shoving a cloth into the hostage’s mouth and warning him not to scream, fearing that the noise might attract attention from civilians outside. The medic then used tweezers to extract the bullet. “It was completely agonizing,” Cohen recalled.

Cohen, who returned home severely malnourished, left behind another captive, Alon Ohel. Ohel’s fate became clear when Cohen, after being told of his own release, was informed that Ohel would not be joining him. “Alon panicked and started crying,” Cohen recalled in an interview. Cohen offered to switch places, but his captors refused. “I truly thought the second stage would come in a matter of days,” Cohen said about the Gaza ceasefire and hostage-release deal. “He’s blind in one eye.”

Cohen’s departure was bittersweet. He recalled their last moment together, saying, “I told him, ‘Don’t forget your family. They’re the most important thing in the world.’” Cohen made a promise to Ohel: “I wouldn’t forget him. Until I see him back home, this isn’t over.” Even after his release, Cohen said he is haunted by Ohel’s absence. 

“Until I see him back home, this isn’t over,” Cohen said.

The conditions in captivity were deplorable, and starvation was a daily reality for Cohen and the others. For most of their imprisonment, food was scarce, rationed to barely enough to survive. Cohen described a daily struggle for sustenance: “We fought for survival. We got one pita a day with two spoonfuls of fava beans, peas, or something similar.” Many times, they were given less food than promised, and the captors showed little remorse, telling the hostages to “share it among yourselves.”

“We fought for survival,” Cohen said. “You’d think twice before going to the bathroom because just standing up made you dizzy.” 

Twice a week, they were ordered to take off all their clothes. Their captors would taunt, “You’re not thin enough, time to cut your food rations.”

Hunger was a constant struggle, he said, and the captors seemed to take pleasure in their suffering. “We’d beg for extra food, and sometimes it worked,” Cohen said. “There’s no way to describe the feeling when we managed to touch their hearts, and they’d give us a small chocolate bar to share between the four of us.”

Cohen and the others were kept in chains for two months at a time, often so tightly that the restraints cut into their skin. “They bound them so tightly they cut into my legs,” Cohen explained. “I felt like a caged animal in some dark, remote place.” At the end of the two months, he was allowed to shower, after which he preferred to rechain himself rather than face the increased discomfort from their captors tightening the chains even further.

Nevertheless, Cohen said that the food deprivation was the worst of it. 

“You can handle being humiliated, you can handle being cursed at, you can handle your legs being in chains,” he said. “But hunger is a daily struggle because, beyond being hungry, you are also fighting for your life. Every night, you go to sleep thinking, ‘What am I going to do tomorrow to get that piece of pita bread?’”

Among those Cohen and Ohel were held with were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino. Cohen later learned that they were executed by Hamas after a failed rescue attempt by the Israel Defense Forces.

The post In Harrowing Account, Israeli Ex-Hostage Describes Abuse, Starvation, Witnessing Execution of Fellow Captive first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) speaks during the House Financial Services Committee hearing in Washington, DC, Sept. 30, 2021. Photo: Al Drago/Pool via REUTERS

Anti-Israel protesters flooded outside the office of US Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) earlier this week, condemning the congressman for his support of the Jewish state, demanding that he resign from office, and making apparent threats against his life. 

“Anti-Israel extremists held a protest outside my office, demanding that I resign from office for the thought crime of supporting both the Jewish People and the Jewish State,” Torres posted on X/Twitter. 

In a video accompanying his social media post, the activists could be seen waving Palestinian flags and angrily chanting the slogan “It is right to rebel, Ritchie Torres go to hell!” Another participant in the demonstration was recorded beating an effigy of Torres with a pole. 

“My enemies clearly want me dead,” Torres wrote.

Anti-Israel extremists held a protest outside my office, demanding that I resign from office for the thought crime of supporting both the Jewish People and the Jewish State. After careful consideration, their request has been denied.

These extremists are seen using a pole to… pic.twitter.com/wuO6QnlYLg

— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) March 31, 2025

An activist, standing in front of Torres’ office, shouted through a megaphone that the demonstrators had assembled to “demand that [Torres] resign for his collaboration with the Gaza genocide and the deportations that he invited to the Bronx.”

On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists invaded southern Israel, where they murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped 251 hostages. The Jewish state responded with a defensive military operation aimed at decimating Hamas’s military capabilities and rescuing the hostages. 

Anti-Israel activists have largely condemned the Jewish state’s actions as being “genocidal” and a form of “ethnic cleansing.” Pro-Palestinian advocates have also urged US lawmakers to vote in favor of enacting an “arms embargo” against the Jewish state, arguing that the federal government has been complicit in the wanton “murder” of thousands of Palestinian civilians. 

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has ordered sweeping arrests and detainments of non-citizen anti-Israel activists for participating in destructive demonstrations while allegedly supporting Hamas, the US-designated terrorist organization that has ruled Gaza since 2007.  Some of these arrests, particularly of former Columbia University student and permanent resident Mahmoud Khalil, have sparked significant backlash, with critics accusing the White House of undermining free speech rights. 

Some critics of Torres allege that the lawmaker’s repeated and consistent condemnation of universities’ handlings of campus antisemitism helped to embolden conservative efforts to crack down on pro-Palestinian demonstrators. 

Last year, Torres commended New York University (NYU) for expanding its anti-harassment and non-discrimination policies to protect students who support the existence of Israel. NYU’s revised hate speech policies state that deploying “code words like ‘Zionist’” do not necessarily shield students from violating the university conduct code. The congressman also urged the State University of New York System, Cornell University, the City University of New York, and Columbia University to do the same. 

One of the protesters outside Torres’ office denounced the lawmaker as “Zionist scum” and described Israel as “terrorists who kill children.” He stated that Torres has “slandered” activist groups including Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) as being “pro-Hamas” organizations and accused him of spreading a “baseless accusation” that the group had “advanced knowledge of the events of Oct. 7.”

Shortly before the Oct. 7, 2023, atrocities, after months of silence, an Instagram account belonging to the Columbia University chapter of SJP posted “we’re back!” and instructed followers to “stay tuned.” Many observers have suggested without further evidence that the post indicated that the organization possessed prior knowledge of the planned Oct. 7 terrorist attacks.

Torres, a progressive lawmaker from a heavily liberal and Democratic district, has emerged as a stalwart ally of Israel.  Since his arrival in the US Congress, Torres has been highly outspoken against antisemitism, oftentimes criticizing fellow liberals over their alleged unwillingness to combat bigotry against the Jewish community. Torres has criticized efforts to withhold arms from Israel and has repeatedly called for the immediate release of hostages from Gaza.

The post Anti-Israel Agitators Mass Outside Ritchie Torres’ Office, Demand He Resign for ‘Collaboration’ in ‘Gaza Genocide’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.