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Jewish Republican Randy Fine Wins Florida Special Election, Defeats Anti-Israel Democratic Challenger
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.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.