Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, said he was “upset” that Vice President Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, is skipping out on the Al Smith charity dinner on Thursday. 

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on an episode of his podcast Tuesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.” 

Trump is expected to attend the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner on Thursday, while Harris is campaigning in Wisconsin as the Democratic presidential nominee turns her focus to the “blue wall” states, which Hillary Clinton neglected in the final weeks of her failed 2016 campaign. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

Dolan argued the dinner is “worth keeping, worth doing,” given it could raise $9 million for charity. 

“We’re upset that she didn’t come because we’ve missed an evening to access something sorely needed now that even she articulates rather eloquently: that we’ve got to turn the page on bitterness,” Dolan said of Harris on the podcast. “And the Al Smith, you know, traditionally tries to do that.” 

“It’s not a roast. There’s teasing, big time teasing,” the archbishop said of the dinner. “A lot of laughs. But, but it’s – it’s a grand evening. … A lot of people think it’s a Catholic campaign stop. Not really, no. I would say the evening is reflective of New York demographics.” 

“It’s not a Republican crowd. It’s not a Democratic crowd,” he said. “It’s kind of evenly split.” 

TRUMP APPLAUDS CATHOLIC GROUP’S MULTI-MILLION ANTI-HARRIS CAMPAIGN APPEALING TO CHURCH FAITHFUL

Dolan said there’s a possibility of Harris appearing virtually. 

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election,” the Harris campaign told Fox News, explaining her absence. “Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as president. This would make her one of the first sitting presidents to attend.” 

Hosted annually since 1946, the charity dinner has raised millions of dollars for New York’s women and children, according to the foundation’s website, and “has featured renowned cultural, business, and political figures, including most major party presidential nominees during election years since 1960.” 

Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) PAC sent out an email Thursday noting that Harris would be the first presidential candidate to skip the annual Al Smith charity dinner since 1984. 

“Her radical policies are fundamentally at odds with Catholic teachings, and her history of anti-Catholic rhetoric has further alienated this crucial voting bloc,” the pro-Trump PAC wrote. 

The Supreme Court is allowing the Biden administration’s climate standards on power plant emissions to remain in place, declining an emergency request to temporarily block the rule while it moves through a lower court.

The Environmental Protection Agency released a final rule in April for pollution standards under the Clean Air Act to require that all coal-fired plants running in the long term reduce 90% of their carbon emissions by 2032.  

West Virginia, along with several other Republican-led states, filed an application for a stay to put a hold on the EPA emissions standard while they challenge the rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit – but the request was denied by the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

Justice Clarence Thomas would have blocked the EPA rule, while Justice Samuel Alito did not participate in the decision, according to the denial of stay order reviewed by Fox News Digital. 

HARRIS TOUTS OIL PRODUCTION DURING 2024 RUN AFTER SAYING COMPANIES NEED TO ‘PAY THE PRICE’ FOR CLIMATE CHANGE

Justice Brett Kavanaugh released a statement regarding why the standards will remain in place, for now.

VOTERS TO FACE CLIMATE-RELATED BALLOT INITIATIVS, SUCH AS REPEALING LAW TO REDUCE EMISSIONS BY 95% BY 2050

“In my view, the applicants have shown a strong likelihood of success on the merits as to at least some of their challenges to the Environmental Protection Agency’s rule. But because the applicants need not start compliance work until June 2025, they are unlikely to suffer irreparable harm before the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit decides the merits. So, this Court understandably denies the stay applications for now,” Kavanaugh said.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, who is leading the challenge against the EPA rule in his state, said, “This is not the end of this case.”

“We will continue to fight through the merits phase and prove this rule strips the states of important discretion while forcing plants to use technologies that don’t work in the real world,” Morrisey said in a statement. “Here, the EPA again is trying to transform the nation’s entire grid, forcing power plants to shutter.”

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), however, praised the court’s ruling.

“Today, the Supreme Court rejected that end run around our country’s bedrock legal processes,” Vickie Patton, general counsel of EDF, wrote in a press release Wednesday after the ruling. “EPA’s protections will help address dangerous pollution, save people money, and create high quality jobs.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson is embarking on a swing-state tour in the closing weeks of the election as Republicans fight to keep hold of their razor-thin majority in the House.

Johnson’s “American Revival Tour” is making stops in Michigan this weekend, and additional events are being planned in Ohio and Pennsylvania, among other states.

Its purpose is “highlighting House Republicans’ agenda for the next Congress,” Johnson’s political team told Fox News Digital.

The Louisiana Republican has been crisscrossing the country in 24 states in a bid to keep and possibly expand the GOP’s control over the House.

CLUB FOR GROWTH POURS $5M INTO TIGHT HOUSE RACES AS GOP BRACES FOR TOUGH ELECTION

All three states are also being viewed as critical keys to victory for former President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign. It is no surprise they line up considering Johnson’s efforts to unite the GOP behind the former president.

A video rolling out the tour, previewed by Fox News Digital, features Johnson pledging, “We are going to win the White House, the Senate, and take back the House.”

“We’re going to secure the border, unleash our energy sector, protect our rights, support working families, pursue peace through strength,” Johnson says in the video. “Everything is on the line. We will be able to restore those foundations, and we really truly can bring about an ‘American Revival.’”

Johnson has been appearing with Republican incumbents and candidates across the country while also diving into the fundraising circuit – a baptism by fire for a previously little-known policy wonk who was rocketed to the national stage after the ouster of ex-Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., roughly a year ago.

SPEAKER JOHNSON RIPS ‘LACK OF LEADERSHIP’ IN BIDEN ADMIN’S HELENE RESPONSE: ‘ALARMED AND DISAPPOINTED’

The work he has put in appears to be paying off. Earlier this week, it was announced that Johnson raised $27.5 million from July through September, “the highest amount raised by a Republican Speaker of the House in the third quarter of a presidential election year,” according to his team.

Of that, just over $8 million went to individual GOP candidates.

That cash will likely be much needed as groups aligned with the House GOP continue to trail their Democratic counterparts.

House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), outraised the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in August, according to numbers released late last month.

FORMER REPUBLICAN US SENATOR ENDORSES KAMALA HARRIS, SAYS ELECTION OFFERS ‘STARK CHOICE’

The DCCC raised $22.3 million in August, compared to $9.7 million by the NRCC. House Democrats ended that time period with more cash than the GOP as well – $87 million compared to $70.7 million.

Meanwhile, Republicans in tight races like Reps. Marianette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, and Ken Calvert, R-Calif., have been trailing their Democratic challengers in terms of funding as of the latest fundraising quarter.

Johnson is pivoting his “American Revival” tour to swing states after kicking off a pro-Trump event in Texas earlier this month.

Vice President Kamala Harris will virtually attend the historic Al Smith dinner on Thursday evening, the Archdiocese of New York confirmed to Fox News Digital. 

“VP Harris will appear via a pre-recorded message,” the communications director for the Archdiocese of New York, Joseph Zwilling, told Fox News Digital on Thursday. 

Harris will be the first presidential candidate in 40 years to not physically attend the Catholic charity event – since 1984 when failed presidential Democratic candidate Walter Mondale skipped. Former President Trump will attend and address the sold-out audience during the event Thursday. 

Harris’ snub of the historic Catholic charity event irked New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan on his podcast this week. 

KAMALA HARRIS PLANS TO SKIP HISTORIC AL SMITH DINNER DESPITE LONG-STANDING TRADITION

“This year will be imbalanced because, sadly, Kamala Harris isn’t coming,” Dolan said on his podcast Wednesday. “It’s a shame because the nature of the evening is to bring people together. The nature of the evening is civility, patriotism, humor. It’s not a campaign speech. It’s not a campaign stop.”

He did add during the podcast that Harris was slated to appear via “Zoom.” 

“She’s sending a Zoom,” Dolan said during the podcast. Adding: “We have it already… I haven’t looked at it. There’s an embargo on it.” 

MORNING GLORY: WHY IS KAMALA HARRIS SKIPPING THE AL SMITH DINNER IN NEW YORK CITY?

The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner was launched in 1946, and has raised millions of dollars for charities supporting women and children, and has since grown to become a political and cultural hallmark of election seasons. The dinner is named after the first Catholic presidential candidate, Al Smith, who served as the 42nd governor of New York and ran for president as a Democrat in 1928. 

This year’s dinner will be emceed by comedian Jim Gaffigan, who has portrayed Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in sketches on “Saturday Night Live” this fall.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment and confirmation that Harris will virtually attend the event, but did not receive a reply. 

The campaign previously told Fox News that the vice president would not physically attend the event, focusing her time on campaigning in the battleground state of Wisconsin instead. 

TRUMP CAMPAIGN PREVIEWS AL SMITH DINNER REMARKS AMID HARRIS’ ABSENCE: ‘WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED’

“The Vice President is going to be campaigning in a battleground state that day, and the campaign wants to maximize her time in the battlegrounds this close to the election. Her team also told the organizers that she would very much like to attend their event as President. This would make her one of the first sitting Presidents to attend,” the campaign said. 

Trump attended the dinner in-person in 2016, as did then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and attended 2020’s virtual dinner due to the pandemic. 

CLINTON AND TRUMP TRADE JABS AT AL SMITH DINNER

“It will be an honor to attend the SOLD OUT 79th ANNUAL AL SMITH DINNER on October 17th in New York. It will be great to see so many wonderful people there, including Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan. We know the Spirit of Al Smith, the first Catholic Nominee of a Major Party, and John F. Kennedy, the FIRST Catholic President, will be in the room with us that night,” Trump posted on Truth Social last month. 

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“It was a virtual event in 2020, and I was delighted to speak to our Catholic friends that day and, of course, it was a HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL evening in 2016 when we were there in person with Crooked Hillary Clinton. The reviews of my remarks were TREMENDOUS. It’s sad, but not surprising, that Kamala has decided not to attend. I don’t know what she has against our Catholic friends, but it must be a lot, because she certainly hasn’t been very nice to them, in fact, Catholics are literally being persecuted by this Administration. Any Catholic that votes for Comrade Kamala Harris should have their head examined,” he added. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Just weeks before a presidential election in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., endorsed former President Donald Trump, excerpts from a new book about the longtime Republican leader reveal a fiery McConnell’s thoughts on the now-GOP presidential nominee, including that he was “not very smart, irascible, [and] nasty.”

Despite the quotes from him over the last several years outlined in the biography, McConnell told Fox News Digital in a statement, “Whatever I may have said about President Trump pales in comparison to what JD Vance, Lindsey Graham, and others have said about him, but we are all on the same team now.”  

In “The Price of Power,” the leader is quoted saying, “I can’t think of anybody I’d rather be criticized by than this sleazeball,” in 2022, as Trump continued to attack his wife, former Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, calling her “Coco Chow.” 

McConnell provided a series of oral histories for the forthcoming book by Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of the Associated Press. 

HARRIS BARNSTORMS WISCONSIN IN 1-DAY SWING STATE TOUR TARGETING YOUNG VOTERS

In the minority leader’s quotes revealed in the book, he doesn’t hold back, reportedly slamming Trump as “stupid,” “erratic,” a “despicable human being,” and a “narcissist.” 

Despite their publicly strained relationship during and after Trump’s time in office, McConnell announced in March his endorsement of the former president, noting that he “earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee.” 

STRIKING BOEING WORKERS BOO AFTER DEMOCRATIC SEN. MARIA CANTWELL CRITICIZES TRUMP

Further, when Trump met with Senate Republicans in Washington, D.C., over the summer, he and McConnell shook hands. 

In the weeks after the 2020 presidential election and before the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot, McConnell said, “It’s not just the Democrats who are counting the days” until Trump is no longer president. 

LAKEN RILEY ACT SPONSOR BLASTS BILL CLINTON’S CLAIM ABOUT GEORGIA STUDENT’S DEATH

He further praised the “good judgment of the American people” for voting Trump out in 2020.

“They’ve had just enough of the misrepresentations, the outright lies almost on a daily basis, and they fired him,” he said, according to the excerpt. 

SENATE DEMS TARGET BLACK VOTERS WITH NEW AD AS HARRIS’ SUPPORT FALLS SHORT

McConnell additionally blamed Trump for the House Republicans losing the majority in the lower chamber in the 2018 midterm elections. He “has every characteristic you would not want a president to have,” he said.

In 2022, the Kentucky Republican reflected on Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, which continued to repeat. McConnell lamented, “Unfortunately, about half the Republicans in the country believe whatever he says.” 

The Trump campaign did not provide comment to Fox News Digital in time for publication. 

The Senate minority leader announced in February that he would not seek the position again in the next Congress. Reigning since 2007 as Republican leader, McConnell is the longest-serving party leader in the chamber’s history. 

After the presidential election next month, the Republican senators and likely GOP senator-elects will vote in a secret ballot to decide on the next leader. The announced candidates are Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) may have just taken out their target No. 1: Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind behind the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. 

Sinwar rose to the top position after the killing of previous leader Ismail Haniyeh in the explosion of a guesthouse in Tehran on July 30. 

Referred to by Israel as “The Butcher of Khan Younis” for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 61, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.

The IDF has long targeted Sinwar, referring to him as a “dead man walking.” 

“We will get to him, however long it takes… and this war could be long,” said IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht last year.

Sinwar was believed to be hiding in tunnels under Gaza.  

Sinwar was born into the ​​Khan Yunis refugee camp in Gaza in 1962 after his family had been displaced from Ashkelon during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War – an upbringing that heavily influenced his ideological commitment to resisting Israeli occupation. 

Sinwar co-founded Majd, Hamas’s security apparatus, in the late 1980s, which focused on finding and killing Palestinians who were suspected of collaborating with Israel. 

He was arrested and jailed in Israel in 1988 and charged with killing two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinians he suspected of collaborating with them.

KIRBY SLAMS HAMAS CHIEF SINWAR AS ‘THE MAJOR OBSTACLE’ TO CEASE-FIRE, HOSTAGE RELEASE DEAL WITH ISRAEL

Sinwar was sentenced to four life terms but was released in 2011 in a prisoner exchange deal for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. 

While imprisoned, Sinwar spent two decades learning Hebrew and devouring texts to understand Israeli society. He translated tens of thousands of pages of autobiographies written by the former heads of Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, from Hebrew to Arabic. 

Sinwar once told an Italian journalist, “Prison builds you,” allowing you the time to think about what you believe in “and the price you are willing to pay” for it. 

He reportedly tried to escape prison several times, once digging a hole in the prison floor in the hopes of tunneling under the facility and escaping through the visitor center. 

“They wanted prison to be a grave for us, a mill to grind our will, determination and bodies,” Sinwar once told supporters. “But, thank God, with our belief in our cause, we turned the prison into sanctuaries of worship and academies for study.”

Sinwar wrote a novel while in prison, “The Thorn and the Carnation,” a coming-of-age story that mirrored his own life. It followed a young Gazan boy who emerged from hiding after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war to a life of Israeli occupation that made “chests of youth to boil like a cauldron.” The boy’s family and friends attacked the occupiers and those who collaborated with them. 

After he was freed by the Israelis in 2011, he married and had children. 

In 2017, Sinwar was chosen as the political leader of Hamas in Gaza, shifting the region to a more militant stance and strengthening alliances with Iran and Hezbollah. 

He was believed to use Israeli hostages as human shields to evade IDF attacks. The IDF said in a statement there were “no signs of the presence of hostages” in the area surrounding him. 

IDF INVESTIGATING WHETHER HAMAS CHIEF YAHYA SINWAR WAS KILLED IN GAZA OPERATIONS

But as Israeli Policy Forum head David Halperin noted, Hamas could retaliate by harming the hostages. 

“The risk to hostages in these moments is enormous. An urgent initiative for their return is essential,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 

The Hostages Family Forum said in a statement it “commends the security forces for eliminating Sinwar, who masterminded the greatest massacre our country has ever faced, responsible for the murder of thousands and the abduction of hundreds.”

“However, we express deep concern for the fate of the 101 men, women, elderly and children still held captive by Hamas in Gaza. We call on the Israeli government, world leaders, and mediating countries to leverage the military achievement into a diplomatic one by pursuing an immediate agreement for the release of all 101 hostages: the living for rehabilitation and the murdered for proper burial.”

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The death of Sinwar could represent a turn in the tides of war – and could prompt Hamas to agree to some of Israel’s demands, or could satisfy Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to “eliminate” Hamas enough that he softens his own negotiating stance. 

President Biden’s administration warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. will be “watching” as Israel conducts an emergency meeting on Gaza aid Thursday.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield issued a stark warning to Netanyahu’s regime during a U.N. Security Council briefing on Wednesday. The U.S. highlighted images from an Israeli airstrike that killed displaced Palestinians.

“Colleagues, this weekend, like so many of you – like so many people around the world – I watched in horror as images from Central Gaza poured across my screen. Images of what appeared to be displaced civilians burning alive following an Israeli air strike,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

“Israel has a responsibility to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, even if Hamas was operating near the hospital in an attempt to use civilians as human shields. We have made this clear to Israel,” she continued.

HAMAS NAMES YAHYA SINWAR, MASTERMIND OF OCT. 7 ATTACKS, AS ITS NEW LEADER

“A quote-unquote ‘policy of starvation’ in northern Gaza would be horrific and unacceptable and would have implications under international law and U.S. law,” she said of Israel’s ongoing deliberations.

ISRAEL’S HUNT FOR HAMAS TERROR LEADER YAHYA SINWAR: ‘DEAD MAN WALKING’

“The Government of Israel has said that this is not their policy, that food and other essential supplies will not be cut off, and we will be watching to see that Israel’s actions on the ground match this statement,” she continued.

The statement from the U.S. comes after the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, a measure of food scarcity used by the U.N., said that nine in 10 Gazans will face “acute food scarcity” in the coming months.

The group further stated that roughly 41% of Gazans will face “catastrophic” levels of hunger.

Netanyahu’s administration held an emergency meeting on the issue this week. Israeli officials have been tight-lipped about what was discussed in the meeting, however.

The meeting comes amid a potential major victory for Israel, however, with officials investigating whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in the Gaza Strip on Thursday.

Graphic images circulating on social media appear to show Israeli soldiers standing over Sinwar’s corpse. Israel has not officially confirmed his death, however.

Referred to by Israel as the Butcher of Khan Younis for his violent and cruel torture methods against his enemies, both Israeli and Palestinian, Sinwar, 60, is widely seen as being behind the massacre of Israeli civilians carried out by thousands of Hamas militants on Oct. 7.

Fox News’ Greg Norman and Ruth Marks-Eglash contributed to this report

The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the state attorney general does not have the authority to strip residents with felony criminal records of their right to vote, a major decision that could allow thousands of new voters to participate in the November elections – and have a possibly decisive sway in its outcome.

The court’s unanimous decision restores the right to vote for Nebraska residents with felony criminal records upon completion of their sentence, doing away with a two-year waiting period that had been in place for the last two decades.

The decision comes months after the Nebraska high court heard arguments in the case, which sought to restore voting rights for residents with felony criminal records in the state. 

Lawmakers had included the new voting rights provision in a state law, LB 20, earlier this year. However, that right was invalidated by Nebraska Secretary of State Bob Evnen and Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, who ruled in July that the law violated the Nebraska constitution and its separation of powers, under which they said only the state Board of Pardons has the authority to restore such rights. 

The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska immediately sued to overturn the decision, noting that if upheld, it could have restricted up to 7,000 residents in the state from voting in the November election.

FLURRY OF PRE-ELECTION LEGAL CASES IS NOW ‘STANDARDIZED’ STRATEGY, EXPERTS SAY

The court declined to weigh in on the merits of the case on Wednesday. 

Rather, the judges simply stated that Hilgers and Evnen had failed to meet the burden of proof required for defining the law as “unconstitutional,” and ordered Evnen to “remove any disqualification on registration he has imposed that is not contained within L.B. 20.”

Evnen agreed to comply, saying in a statement that his office is “following the requirements of the decision.” 

“With our counties across the state, we are working to ensure that those who were made eligible to register to vote under LB 20 may now do so,” he added.

 The American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska praised the court’s decision Wednesday and urged all voters to check their registration status to ensure eligibility.

The court’s ruling comes at a crucial time for Nebraska, whose voter registration deadline ends in just one week.

 CHECK OUT THE LATEST FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS IN THE 2024 ELECTION

It could also have a major impact on the results of the election, including the neck-and-neck presidential race and tight down-ballot races in Congress.

Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional district is something of an anomaly. That is partly due to its unique system of assigning Electoral College votes. Though Nebraska is a Republican-led state, it is one of just two U.S. states whose electoral votes are assigned at the district level, with the remaining two votes assigned to the candidate who wins the majority.

Besides Nebraska and Maine, other states rely on the “winner take all” system to assign their electoral votes.

Additionally, its voter base is a solid-purple demographic that has voted for both former President Donald Trump and President Biden, respectively, in the last two presidential elections. Before then, Sen. Mitt Romney won the district during his 2012 bid for president, and former President Barack Obama captured the vote in 2008.

Down-ballot races are also expected to be tight.

Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer, a Republican, is facing a tough reelection bid this year, while Republican Rep. Don Bacon is fighting off state Sen. Tony Vargas, a Democrat, to keep his House seat.

Now, with both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a dead heat, it is possible that the district could have more sway than ever in deciding the next president.

In such a tight election, Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District “could decide who the eventual winner will be,” Jimmy Keady, president of JLK Political Strategies, a national Republican consulting firm, told Fox News Digital last month. 

EXCLUSIVE: The world is watching for Israel’s response to Iran’s missile attacks on Oct. 1, and the nation’s U.N. ambassador, Danny Danon, promised it would be “very painful” in order to deter Iran from attacking again in the future. 

Danon emphasized Israel’s authority over the decision on how they strike back at Iran – they won’t be paying much heed to President Biden’s insistence on “proportionality.” 

“We will decide about the timing, the location,” he said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital. 

“The regime is vulnerable, and it’s up to us to decide which message we want to send to them,” Danon went on. “It will be very painful for the Iranian regime, and they will think twice in the future whether to attack Israel or not.”

Iran rained down some 200 missiles on Tel Aviv on Oct. 1. A looming counterattack has awaited Iran in the two weeks since – and Biden has urged Israel to avoid striking nuclear or oil facilities and limit the counter-strike to military sites. 

Danon said the world needs to do more to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power. 

“God forbid, if they will have a nuclear bomb,” said Danon. “We all can imagine what they will do with that. So, I don’t think we should wait for that day. I expect the U.S., Europe and other strong democracies to take action against Iran today.”

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Iran has been fighting Israel through its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Its missile attack earlier this month represented the first direct attack from Iran on Israel since April.

Over the past week, Iran’s foreign minister has traversed the Middle East to shore up backing from other nations, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Qatar and Jordan. Soon, he’ll travel to Egypt and Turkey. 

In the U.S., Biden has come under pressure from progressives to use leverage and condition aid to Israel to avoid further civilian casualties. 

Once a vocal antagonist of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the right, Danon insists the Netanyahu government of today is united – even as condemnation for Israel’s actions pours in from other parts of the globe. 

ISRAEL DECIDES ON POSSIBLE IRAN TARGETS: ‘PRECISE AND DEADLY’

“We have no place to go. That’s why we stand united, committed to fight back and to protect our people and our nation.” 

Some have called for a day-after plan once Israel determines its enemies defeated in Gaza and Lebanon. “We can speak about reconstruction only after we defeat Hamas,” Danon said. 

“All of those who care about the future of the Palestinians in Gaza should support Israel,” he went on. “If we allow Hamas to stay there, there will be no future for Gaza.”

In Gaza, eradicating Hamas, which have controlled the strip since 2006, leaves open the question of who will maintain the authority. 

And as Israel furthers its incursion into Lebanon to push back Hezbollah, Danon called on the local population to starve Hezbollah of its power and reclaim their sovereignty from Tehran’s influence. 

“I approached the Lebanese people, I even spoke to them in Arabic, I urged them to take responsibility over the future, not to allow Iran to use Lebanon as a launch pad against Israel,” he said, referring to a United Nations Security Council session earlier this month. 

“Lebanon is for the Lebanese people, not for the interest of Iran.”

NETANYAHU HITS BIDEN ADMIN, SAYS ISRAEL – NOT US – WILL DECIDE HOW TO HANDLE IRAN

Different from its goal of eradication of Hamas in Gaza, Danon said Israel is looking to push Hezbollah back in Lebanon and away from its own northern border.

“We want to go back to the situation where Hezbollah is not on the border with Israel according to U.N. Resolution 1701. Hopefully, this time, it will be better implemented,” said Danon. “We are pushing them back, and I hope it will be completed soon.” 

Resolution 1701, adopted in 2006, established a buffer zone between Israel and Hezbollah, where the terror group is not sitting along Israel’s border. 

United Nations peacekeeping forces, UNIFIL, were tasked with enforcing that resolution, but Hezbollah quickly moved back into the area. 

For the past two weeks, Israel has been telling U.N. peacekeepers to move 5 km (3 miles) back from the so-called Blue Line – a U.N.-mapped line separating Lebanon from Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights – for their own safety.

FROM CEASE-FIRE PUSH TO BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN ISRAEL: US SEEMINGLY ACCEPTS INVOLVEMENT IN ESCALATING WAR

They’ve so far refused to do so, but Danon said he is still in conversations imploring the UNIFIL troops to relocate for their safety. 

“We think it’s a mistake [to stay put], but we will continue to do our best to make sure that the U.N. forces are not targeted by accident. But you know, when you are in the crossfire between Hezbollah and the IDF, it’s not safe.”

Danon has often found himself on the front line of tense relations between Israel and the United Nations as the organization has continuously demanded the IDF cease hostilities. 

“We have seen that the U.N. forgot about the moral issues that they have to advocate for,” said Danon. 

Asked if he still believed in the U.N. as a force for peace and security, he said: “Well, the idea was good… Unfortunately, today, it’s being used by hostile forces to attack the victims and not to condemn those who attack other countries and civilians.”

Republican operatives in Michigan have signaled optimism about the party’s prospects in the state despite reports the GOP’s ground game has fallen behind its Democratic rivals just weeks before the election.

“I am very optimistic about Michigan… in terms of the ground game, I’ve never seen this type of ground game in Michigan for a long time,” Michigan GOP Chair Pete Hoekstra told Fox News Digital.

The comment comes as the election enters the critical homestretch, with the state of Michigan being at the center of not only the presidential race but also control of both the House and Senate.

Polls show a razor tight race on the presidential side, with former President Trump leading Vice President Kamala Harris by just one point as of Wednesday, according to the Real Clear Politics polling average. According to the Fox News Power Rankings, the race remains a tossup.

FOX NEWS POWER RANKINGS: HARRIS LOSES HER LEAD AND A NEW ELECTORATE EMERGES

The Senate race in the state between former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., has also tightened significantly in recent weeks, the Real Clear Politics polling average shows, with Slotkin’s lead of 5.1 points on Sept. 23 falling to just 2.7 points as of Wednesday. According to the Fox News Power rankings, the seat currently is in the “Lean Democrat” category.

Meanwhile, Michigan features two House races that are rated as “toss ups” by the Cook Political Report; the 7th Congressional District battle between former Democratic state Sen. Curtis Hertel and former Republican state Sen. Tom Barrett, and the 8th District race between Democratic state Sen. Kristen McDonald Rivet and Republican businessman Paul Junge.

But some have begun to question the Republican ground game in the state despite its importance to the ultimate outcome of the election, including a Politico report at the end of September that declared some within the GOP were starting to “raise alarms” about the Trump campaign’s operation.

“They are out-matching us in money, in enthusiasm and in the ground game,” one Michigan-based GOP strategist, who was granted anonymity, told the outlet.

GOP opponents in the state have made similar observations, with Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Aiden Johnson noting that Republicans have outsourced much of their campaign ground work.

“Republicans’ decision to outsource their field operation to a billionaire sycophant has left them with an unmitigated disaster,” Johnson told Fox News Digital. “Michigan Democrats have had dedicated organizers on the ground for over a year, actively persuading voters and mobilizing record turnout. It’s not hyperbole to say organizing wins elections.”

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Hoekstra, however, disagreed, telling Fox News Digital he sees the outside organization help as just one pillar in an overall winning strategy.

“You’ve got Trump Force 47, they’re going after a specific targeted bloc of voters. You’ve got the Musk PAC, they’re going after a different set. You’ve got county parties and the state party going after a different set of folks. And when you put it all together, I think multiple individuals are going to be contacted by multiple different groups… I think it’s a strength,” Hoekstra said.

Republican operatives working in the field echoed Hoekstra’s sentiment, telling Fox News Digital that the party’s operation in the state is better than it’s ever been, pointing to Republican efforts to turn out low-propensity voters and the robust base of volunteers behind that effort.

“They can’t see the forest through the trees,” one GOP operative, who was granted anonymity to speak freely, told Fox News Digital of some within the party who have expressed worry about the GOP operation in Michigan.

“Your typical hardline Republican is not seeing these field efforts, they’re not having people go to their door, simply because we are chasing these lower-propensity Republican voters and these swing voters that we can win over,” the source added, noting that this effort is similar for down ballot races in the state as well.

Jason Roe, a GOP strategist working with the Barrett campaign, told Fox News Digital that the cooperation between the Trump campaign, down ballot campaigns, RNC and outside organizations has been robust, something that he believes is helping drive results in the state.

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“When you look at the totality of all the organizations, we’ve got a lot more bodies out there working than we have had in a long time,” Roe said.

Roe said much of the GOP effort at this point has been “chasing absentee ballots,” arguing that doing so has allowed operatives on the ground the ability to target lower-propensity voters to get out and vote for Republican candidates.

“I think there is a more qualitative approach to how campaigns are doing it than in the past, which was more quantitative, when Election Day voting was way more important than absentee voting,” he said, adding that in the past “it was about knocking on the most doors, and now it’s very targeted on the most important doors where we can bank votes now.”

Another GOP source on the ground in Michigan, speaking to Fox News Digital anonymously, echoed a similar sentiment, noting the cooperation between the Rogers and Trump campaigns.

“The Rogers campaign and Trump campaign have teamed up and are crushing doors, including 40,000 on this past Saturday alone,” the source said. “It’s a massive, professional and volunteer effort and I’m not concerned about the ground at all. Democrats? Haven’t really seen them aside from press releases.”

Another GOP operative who spoke to Fox News Digital anonymously also touted the way all facets of the Republican effort have worked together, noting that Michigan “is a battleground at all levels.”

“It’s a must-win state on the presidential race, has its highly competitive Senate race, and is ground zero for House Republicans to grow their majority in Congress,” the operative said. “Republicans up and down the ballot have deployed a very robust grassroots program to get out the vote in all corners of the battleground, and we’re seeing voter enthusiasm like never before.”

Added all up, Hoekstra believes Republicans have the ground game in Michigan to win.

“People are all energized, they know what we are fighting for, and what we need to do to win,” Hoekstra said. “It is one massive effort, chasing votes.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.