Haifa

The valley, the Jezreel Valley.

It starts from like northwestern Israel near Haifa.

It goes all the way down into...

Further down across the southeast.

By 8 p.m. local time, election officials reported the turnout was more than 74 percent, the highest since hourly tracking began in 1973.

Find our report on the results and what they could mean for the coalition building that comes next at csmonitor.com. Ilan Ben-Zion reports from Haifa for The Monitor.

Competitive Republican candidates, many of whom are running in the Northeast, are focusing intensely on local issues and signaling independence from President Donald Trump and the MAGA brand.

Simon Motlake reports from Salem, New Hampshire, and Caribou, Maine, for The Monitor.

Last week, we spoke to Bar Luzon, an Israeli citizen who was traveling back to the country from the U.S. to cast her ballot.

We reached her again earlier today in Haifa.

Bar, how have you been watching the results come in tonight? I'm here in

Haifa, my hometown, with a bunch of friends.

We've been scrolling all night and then been watching the polls and then we're watching the updates of the polls and, you know.

And how are you feeling?

coming back on the show.

Thank you for inviting me again.

And he imagines the distant science fiction future of 1926.

And he imagines the Jewish state and the port in Haifa, arriving at the port in Haifa.

And there's like a light rail set above the streets.

And everything is amazingly well organized and beautiful.

No, I know they're not a monolith, because I've seen different... different responses from different Palestinians that I follow and respect around this.

One of them, Sharif Safadi, who we had on the show recently, I don't know if you know Sharif, excellent content creator from Haifa, posted something today where he said, look, I'm Palestinian.

I have absolutely no illusions that this election is going to change anything.

But I am voting.

In the end, nobody was hurt.

In Haifa, that's in the middle of the country, toward the north, actually, Channel 14 reporter Gal Tobey was verbally harassed while covering voting at a polling station.

She says a man got too close, touched her equipment, and interrupted her broadcast, claiming she was filming people who were in the background.

She says that he then told his friends, we don't want Channel 14 here.

Okay.

So you're located in Haifa.

That's where we're sitting here right now.

And I remember telling you before about how I had studied here in Haifa and there was a large wildfire in Mount Carmel about 15 years ago or so.

And it caused a lot of damage.

And unfortunately, many lives were lost.

And that was probably one of the biggest fire disasters here in Israel, right here in, you know, where I'm sure people that were here in Haifa also suffered and noticed the fire from close.

So does that have anything to do with your company and where it's located?

We see it.

They're listening in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, in Haifa, in Netanya, all over the place, okay? So maybe we can change a couple of minds or at least make these people feel like they voted the right way.

And look, President Trump has not only endorsed Bibi, he's endorsed him twice.

He endorsed Bibi twice this week.