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Trump triumphs in Iowa, vowing to end Israel conflict ‘very fast’ and dimming hopes for pro-Israel favorite Nikki Haley

(JTA) — Former President Donald Trump won a historic margin of the caucus vote in Iowa, the first presidential nominating state, advancing his campaign for a third White House bid and narrowing the path for Nikki Haley, a favorite among pro-Israel Republicans who do not want to see Trump returned to office.

Trump won 51% of the vote in the caucuses on Monday, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis coming in a distant second at 21% and Haley, the former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, coming in third at 19%. Trump’s win was expected, but his 30% margin was the largest ever in an Iowa race that had more than two candidates.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the entrepreneur who stood out for embracing extreme right ideas and for calling for cutting defense assistance to Israel, got less than 8% of the vote and announced he was dropping out, effectively narrowing the race to three.

In his victory speech at his Des Moines headquarters, Trump lamented “the Israeli situation,” referring to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza, and said he would “get it solved very fast.” He also repeated claims he made in the past that Hamas would not have attacked Israel were he president right now.

And he sounded a rare gracious note in victory after lacerating his opponents — DeSantis especially — for months.

“I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good a good time together. We’re all having a good time together. And I think they both actually did very well. I really do. I think they both did very well,” Trump said. “I also want to congratulate Vivek because he did a hell of a job.  … They are very smart, very smart people, very capable people.”

Trump’s magnanimity comes amid the growing likelihood that he will ultimately be the Republican presidential candidate to take on Joe Biden in November. DeSantis and Haley both vowed to take the fight to New Hampshire, but with each trailing Trump, their chances to prevail appeared to narrow.

Monday’s result is bound to be a disappointment for the establishment Jewish donors who were seeking an alternative to Trump and who in recent weeks flocked to Haley as her polling numbers rose and DeSantis’s dropped.

These Jewish donors appreciate Trump for his shifts during his presidency toward right-wing Israel positions but are wary now of the legal proceedings and political residue attached to his embrace of false claims that he won the 2020 election.

Haley in her concession speech said she remained the best choice for Republicans who believe Trump has lost the plot.

“I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” she said, noting that her polling far outpaces DeSantis in the next two primary states, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

DeSantis, while he came in second, appears to have an even narrower path than Haley. He had invested significantly in the Iowa contest.

Democrats suggested that they relished the prospect of a 2020 rematch between Trump and  Biden. Biden has made Trump’s associations with extremists and antisemites front and center in his campaigning.

“Donald Trump is the leader of an extreme MAGA movement that has fully taken over the Republican Party – yet notably in a clear sign of weakness, even as the leader of the GOP and a former president, nearly half of Iowa Republicans voted for someone else,” the Democratic National Committee said in a statement.


The post Trump triumphs in Iowa, vowing to end Israel conflict ‘very fast’ and dimming hopes for pro-Israel favorite Nikki Haley appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.

The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.

The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.

Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.

Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.

The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”

“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.

Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”

The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.

The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot

i24 NewsPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.

The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

i24 NewsThe Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of ​​operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”

The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.

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