Kichol Lavan leader Benny Gantz, the main challenger to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, conceded defeat Wednesday in the country’s election as results showed the premier was on track for victory.
“We respect the decision of the people,” Gantz told journalists, acknowledging his Kichol Lavan alliance had failed to unseat Netanyahu in Tuesday’s poll.
Gantz’s party won 35 Knesset seats in yesterday’s election, the same as the ruling Likud party. Both parties received over one million votes. However, the right-wing bloc received significantly more votes than the left-wing bloc and is currently projected to win 65 Knesset seats, giving Netanyahu the victory.
Read more at Arutz Sheva.

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Attorney General William Barr said that he’s starting his own inquiry into counterintelligence decisions that may have amounted to political “spying,” including actions taken during the probe of the Trump campaign in 2016.
“I think spying did occur,” Barr told a Senate Appropriations panel on Wednesday. “But the question is whether it was predicated, adequately predicated.” He added: “I need to explore that.”
The comments, confirming a report by Bloomberg News, indicate that Barr is looking into allegations that Republican lawmakers have been pursuing for more than a year — that the investigation into President Donald Trump and possible collusion with Russia was tainted at the start by anti-Trump bias in the FBI and Justice Department.

Several world leaders congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday for his election to a fifth term, including President Donald Trump.
Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said of Netanyahu, “It may be a little early but I’m hearing he’s won it and won it in good fashion,” Politico reported.
“He has been a great ally. He is a friend. I would like to congratulate him,” Trump added.
The president also said that Netanyahu’s victory would increase the chances for success of the administration’s upcoming peace plan, which is expected to be unveiled soon.

German police on Wednesday raided offices belonging to Islamic organizations suspected of financing the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which is on the European Union’s terrorism blacklist, the interior ministry said.
The ministry said the main targets of the raids were WorldWide Resistance-Help and Ansaar International which are believed to have collected funds for Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, under the guise of humanitarian aid.
The organizations say on their websites that they collect donations for people in Gaza, Somalia, Syria and other countries.

Despite calling the results of Tuesday’s national elections, which gave the Labor Party an unprecedented low number of six seats, a “huge disappointment,” Labor Party chairman Avi Gabbay is not resigning.
“All our warnings in the past few days—that Prime Minister Netanyahu could stay in power—came to pass,” said Gabbay.
“Nevertheless, good things for the party have happened these past few months. It made it clearer who and what we are. All day [Tuesday], I went around and met with countless voters, many of whom told me plainly that they had opted to vote Blue and White,” he said.
Given Labor’s dismal performance, a number of party officials have called on Gabbay to step down as leader immediately.

President Trump on Wednesday said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s reelection victory increases the chances for a Mideast peace deal.
“Everybody said you can’t have peace in the Middle East with Israel and the Palestinians,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “I think we have a chance and I think we have now a better chance with Bibi having won.”
Later Wednesday, Netanyahu said he received a congratulatory call from Trump while the president flew aboard Air Force One to Texas.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., released a new version of his “Medicare-for-all” plan on Wednesday, putting a spotlight on the debate among 2020 Democratic presidential contenders over the future of America’s health-care system.
At an event on Capitol Hill, Sanders unveiled his latest version of a single-payer plan, which would replace the current patchwork of public and private insurers with a government-run system that Sanders argues would ultimately save consumers money.
Sanders said he is seeking to replace “a dysfunctional system which allows the top five health insurance companies to make over $20 billion in profits last year.”

The number of ballots cast for parties that will not pass the electoral threshold necessary to win any seats in Israel’s 21st Knesset could be the highest in Israeli history—approximately 325,000—the equivalent of 10 parliamentary seats.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party appears to have edged out former Israel Defense Forces’ Chief of Staff Benny Gantz’s Blue and White Party, and is expected to have sufficient support from center and right-wing parties to form a coalition government.
Far down the list, former head of the Jewish Home Party Naftali Bennett and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked’s New Right Party was reported to have garnered 127,000 votes—just 4,300 shy of 4 Knesset seats by midday on Wednesday.