BEN GURION AIRPORT, Israel — A day after the polls closed in Israel, Ben Gurion Airport was packed. The long lines for security were populated in part by Israeli expats who had returned to the Jewish state to vote, and were returning to their homes abroad. 

Some 67,000 Israelis were estimated to have flown in for the vote, making up more than a seat in the Knesset if they were to vote for the same party. 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Democratic primary rival-turned surrogate to Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, made the case for El-Sayed to Jewish voters on Tuesday evening, downplaying the influence he’d have on Israel policy in the Senate while arguing that Republican Mike Rogers’ camp contains antisemitic individuals and that flipping the Senate is critical.

She also said she trusts, from her own conversations with him, that El-Sayed will be an ally in working for the protection of the Jewish community.

BIRMINGHAM, Mich. — Jason Turkish, the fiancé of Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) and a prominent Jewish Democrat in Michigan, said he plans to vote for Republican Mike Rogers over Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the state’s closely watched and bitterly fought Senate race. 

Hours later, Stevens herself affirmed on CNN that she still supports El-Sayed. But she also emphasized that in order to win over undecided voters, El-Sayed should openly denounce an ad from his own campaign featuring Tucker Carlson and an outside ad blaming aid to Israel for high prices in the United States.

Daniel Lubetzky, the founder of KIND Snacks, accused the global news publication Semafor of compromising its journalistic independence through its financial ties to Qatar, alleging that the outlet was receiving outsized resources from the Qatari government for programs that did not require that level of funding.

In a post on X Wednesday, Lubetzky alleged that Semafor’s CEO and co-founder Justin Smith told him about the program funding after the outlet was founded in 2022 as he was ostensibly seeking Lubetzky’s investment. He said Semafor’s continued sponsorships and events with Qatar, alongside what he described as favorable coverage of the country, raise ethical concerns and called for an investigation into Qatar’s financial influence on American media and educational institutions. 

Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA) warned on Wednesday that a victory by Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed would place the U.S. on the same trajectory as France, where violent anti-government riots have recently swept cities across the country. 

McCormick made the comments while appearing at Sen. Jim Banks’ (R-IN) Northeast Indiana Defense Summit during a conversation with Roger Zakheim, the director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a new 19-member panel of Jewish nonprofit leaders and Holocaust remembrance organizations to facilitate the creation of a planned memorial in Albany to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime.

Hochul signed legislation last December to establish the monument on the plaza near the Statehouse in Albany. In a release disclosing the community and historical groups who will provide input on its design and message, the Democrat highlighted the spike in hate crimes targeting Jews since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel.

Rabbis with the Nonnegotiable campaign said Tuesday that Abdul El-Sayed hasn’t done enough to disavow an antisemitic ad by an outside group supporting him. And they expressed broader fears about political alienation amid the party’s embrace of El-Sayed.

The Michigan Democratic Senate nominee’s campaign issued a statement on Monday noting that the ad was not produced by his campaign and that the group responsible, Rebellion PAC, doesn’t speak for him or his team.

Florida Democrats are confident that former Rep. David Jolly, the state’s Democratic nominee for governor, will handily win the Jewish vote over Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), his Republican opponent — and believe Jolly is running a competitive race that could deliver a surprise victory.

But Jolly’s campaign has been complicated by the presence of Angie Nixon, the Democratic candidate for Senate, on the same ticket — a dynamic that Donalds has been quick to elevate — as well as the Sunshine State’s conservative trend.