The US Coast Guard loses a private plane from Bermuda to Boston, the resignation of the head of Tennessee prisons after a failed execution, and the impact of support for Israel on the US elections.

The US Coast Guard said on Saturday that a private plane went missing during its flight from Bermuda to Boston with six people on board.

A Coast Guard spokesman said via email that the Federal Aviation Administration informed the Coast Guard early today that it had lost contact with the Gulfstream plane, which is used to transport patients.

The Coast Guard reported that it sent air and sea crews to search for the plane near Nantucket, an island located south of the mainland of Massachusetts.

Data from the AccuWeather website showed that weather conditions in Nantucket were normal this morning.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee announced on Saturday the resignation of the head of the state's corrections department, in the wake of the failed execution of prisoner Christa Pike, who survived two lethal injections.

Lee said in a statement received by the media: “The head of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, Frank Strada, has submitted his resignation and will leave his position this month,” without making any clear reference to the failed execution that was carried out on Wednesday night against Christa Pike.

Lee, who announced Thursday the suspension of executions in the state and the launch of an independent investigation into the failure of the execution, added: “I am grateful to Strada for putting the interests of the people of Tennessee first during this difficult time.”

The statement also quoted him as saying: “I still believe that the prison administration has fulfilled its obligations under the approved protocol.”

He added: “However, the resignation is in the interest of the people of the state of Tennessee until the independent investigation is completed,” stressing that the investigation is “necessary.”

The Prisons Administration confirmed late Wednesday night that it had fully adhered to the protocol adopted since the resumption of execution of death sentences in the state in May 2025, after a three-year hiatus. The state governor had issued a decision to suspend the execution at the time due to a failure to verify the lethal solution used to execute one of the convicts.

According to documents submitted by her lawyers to a court in Tennessee on Friday, Christa Pike (50 years old) has been unconscious and connected to life support since the failed execution.

Her lawyers called on the governor to “immediately commute her sentence.”

Randy Spivey, one of the lawyers, said: “After spending more than 20 years in solitary confinement and being subjected to a failed execution attempt by injection, Christa is the person who has been subjected to the harshest punishment in the history of the death penalty in the United States.”

Bill Lee, who refused to commute her sentence on Monday, had previously confirmed that he would not back down from executing the death sentence against her.

The unconditional American support for Israel put significant pressure on Republicans in the midterm congressional elections on November 3, despite the huge amounts of money pumped by the Israeli lobby to enhance the chances of some of them against Democratic candidates classified as progressive, or even socialists.

The main pressure on the Republicans is due to the significant rise in the prices of petroleum derivatives and agricultural fertilizers, and consequently the prices of consumer goods, due to the war with Iran, and the accompanying closure of the Strait of Hormuz. However, there are also significant effects of the Israeli war in Gaza and Lebanon, which raised an important part of American public opinion against the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This prompted the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to engage more and more publicly in the battles currently taking place, in preparation for next month's elections. It has already become one of the most funded entities in the midterm elections, which raises a lot of controversy among voters, and between the Republican and Democratic parties.

AIPAC raised $233 million to support Israel's allies and attack its opponents, despite the shifts in American public opinion.

According to the New York Times, AIPAC's decision to become heavily involved in election campaigns "alienated some of its former allies and prompted others to evade its support," noting that "some candidates have taken opposition to AIPAC as a badge of honor. Some of them not only reject its money, but also refuse to accept any funding from its donors."

At a time when AIPAC is facing its biggest crisis in years, and skepticism even from some of its allies, its leaders are steadfast in their position, according to interviews with more than thirty donors, former board members, and political strategists working with the group. They described their mission as a long-term strategy: electing a Congress that would help confront what they see as existential threats to Israel from Iran and other hostile countries.

AIPAC is currently conducting a strategic review of its political operations and studying how to adapt to the changing political landscape, something it confirms it does regularly. But its leaders have made clear that its political action committee — and the huge spending on political campaigns that accompany it — will remain a key component of their strategy.

Changing opinions

AIPAC Political Action Committee spokesman Patrick Dorton admitted that “there are events that have greatly contributed to accelerating the change in opinions about Israel.”

Although AIPAC achieved some successes, it also suffered defeats, most notably during the primary elections when it spent about $33 million in a failed attempt to defeat the Democratic candidate for a Michigan Senate seat, Abdel Rahman Al-Sayyed.

According to a recent poll conducted by Fox News, 55 percent of voters in Michigan do not want the United States to continue providing aid to Israel. Although it is now spending huge sums of money to prevent his election, Abdul Rahman Al-Sayed is ahead of his Republican rival, Mike Rogers, in the polls.

This comes after it has been rumored for decades that US support for Israel is one of the constants upon which Republicans and Democrats agree. However, this consensus began to fade during the era of former President Barack Obama, especially after the nuclear agreement he signed with Iran in 2015, despite the opposition of Israel and AIPAC.

In polls conducted six months ago, 73 percent of Republicans approved of Trump's handling of the conflict with Iran, but that percentage has now fallen to 60 percent. 53 percent of Republicans under the age of 45 do not approve of the Trump administration's policy toward Iran. This percentage is higher among young Republicans.

Republicans running for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and state governors in next November's elections are busy with their own problems. Polls indicate that Democrats may achieve a majority in the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives.

The noticeable decline in Republican voters' support for Trump, who dragged the United States into a war with Iran out of protecting Israel, is worrying politicians running for the Senate. Many candidates call on Trump to end the war with Iran. Even Mike Rogers, a pro-Israel hawk and candidate in Michigan, said in a propaganda video he posted: “The war with Iran must end, and quickly.”

Stay away from AIPAC

Rogers also avoided receiving direct support from AIPAC. Trump had won Michigan, one of the swing states that includes the largest Arab-American community in the United States, in the 2024 elections, because of his promise to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon.

As for Democrats, most of them are already avoiding association with AIPAC, which shows that pro-Israel lobby groups are suffering a significant decline in their American standing.

Senator Thom Tillis, who noted that support for the Iran war among Republican voters has declined significantly, warns that this development has become a major political problem for Republican candidates and the Republican Party.

The resort of even Trump's staunchest supporters to maneuvers to distance themselves from Israel in the hope of winning the elections reflects the negative change in American public opinion despite the massive financial injection from pro-Israel lobbies in the United States.