THE STRUGGLE ISRAEL

International outcry over the Israeli attack that killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers continued on Wednesday—including a sharp rebuke from the group’s founder, chef José Andrés.

• In an emotional interview with Reuters, Andrés said that the Israeli attack that killed his workers in Gaza targeted them “systematically, car by car.” He continued: “This was not just a bad luck situation where ‘oops’ we dropped the bomb in the wrong place…This was over a 1.5, 1.8 kilometers, with a very defined humanitarian convoy that had signs in the top, in the roof, a very colorful logo.” Andrés called for investigations of the incident by the U.S. government and the governments of every home country of the seven aid workers. He also published an op-ed in the New York Times on Wednesday detailing his group’s work and memorializing the seven WCK staff who perished on Monday night. He called on Israel to “open more land routes for food and medicine today,” and “stop killing civilians and aid workers today.”

• IDF Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi released a rare statement on Tuesday saying “the strike was not carried out with the intention of harming WCK aid workers. It was a mistake that followed a misidentification—at night during a war in very complex conditions.” But Andrés and many others noted that WCK had been coordinating its movements with Israeli military officials for months, and had clearance to drive that route. United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in a briefing on Tuesday that more than 180 humanitarian aid workers have been killed in Gaza since the war began on October 7.

• Videos of the attack and its aftermath obtained by the Washington Post showed the bodies of the deceased, some that were damaged beyond recognition, and others that were identified by the passport photos open on their vests. Seif Issam Abu Taha, the Palestinian man who drove the vehicle, was still wearing his WCK t-shirt. Chris Cobb-Smith, a security consultant and former weapons officer in the British army, said that the “small, confined detonation” suggests that the vehicles were struck with a drone-fired missile that is “very accurate with significant penetrating power.”

The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years occurred on Wednesday, killing 9 people and injuring 900 more. Another 50 people are missing.

A new Wall Street Journal poll shows disgraced former president Donald Trump leading President Biden in six out of seven swing states.

On a related note, almost 50,000 Democratic primary voters in Wisconsin voted for an “uninstructed” delegation on Tuesday, the latest protest vote effort over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. President Biden won Wisconsin in 2020 by just over 20,000 votes.

Speaking of Wisconsin, voters approved a Republican-led effort on Tuesday to add language to the State Constitution that will forbid officials from accepting donations of money or staff to help run elections. This stems from unfounded accusations that local election offices in left-leaning districts receive more aid than those in right-leaning areas.

Nebraska and Maine are the only two states to allocate their presidential electors by proportional representation. Republicans in conservative Nebraska want the state to move to a winner-take-all model ahead of November.

Prosecutors in Michigan recommended at least ten years in prison for James and Jennifer Crumbley, the first parents in American history to be held criminally responsible for a school shooting committed by their son. Prosecutors said they failed to lock up a gun at home and ignored his mental health, and the two were separately convicted of involuntary manslaughter earlier this year. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9th.

Brothers Gerald and Michael Shvartsman, early investors in the company that took Trump’s social media group public, pleaded guilty to insider trading on Wednesday in federal court in Manhattan. It turns out that Trump’s personal Law of Attraction is securities fraud.

Disney shareholders on Wednesday rallied behind longtime CEO Bob Iger, voting to dismiss an effort from investor Nelson Peltz and his ally, former Disney CFO Jay Rasulo, who sought seats on the company’s board of directors.

With aid to Ukraine stalled in a divided U.S. Congress, NATO officials are looking to take more control of directing military support to Kyiv.