Week of July 10, 2026
Week of July 10, 2026
(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Thursday urged people to "never forget" the victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack, as the Jewish state marked 1,000 days since the Hamas-led massacre. "1000 days ago, Hamas monsters stormed out of Gaza & into Israel & massacred 1200 men, women & children-butchering them viciously taking 251 people hostage," Huckabee tweeted. "We should never forget the victims & should keep asking 'how did such a thing happen?'" the envoy added. Some 6,000...
Iran denies direct talks with US in Doha, says will meet only with Qatari mediators By JNS Staff (JNS) — Iran said on Monday that its delegation will travel to Doha, Qatar but will not hold direct talks with U.S. officials, contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertion that negotiations would take place there Tuesday, The New York Times reported. Trump said on Monday that Iran has requested a meeting with the United States, with talks set to take place on Tuesday. According to the report, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem...
(JNS) — Israel was scheduled to send a joint Foreign Ministry-Israel Defense Forces delegation to Venezuela on Tuesday to assist recovery efforts after powerful earthquakes there killed more than 1,700 people and left thousands homeless. The mission, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, was approved following a National Security Council review to coordinate the Israeli agencies involved and address the diplomatic and logistical challenges of operating in a country that has had no formal...
Dean McKay, a psychology professor at Fordham University, and Miri Bar-Halpern, a psychology lecturer at Harvard Medical School, plan to create a program to fight Jew-hatred in their field. McKay told JNS that the initiative, which the Academic Engagement Network is supporting with a $75,000 grant over three years, will “address issues in professional training that may have antisemitic components to it, which is growing increasingly common in the profession.” Anti-Zionism is embedded in the “decolonial psychology movement,” which...
The Maine Democratic Party called on Graham Platner, a Democratic candidate for Senate in the state, to withdraw from the race after he was accused of raping a woman in 2021. The party in the state “stands with women and survivors, and that principle does not bend based on party affiliation,” the state party’s chair, vice chair and executive director stated. “We respect the women who made the hard decision to come forward.” “The Senate race comes at a pivotal moment in the struggle against a government, supported by Sen. Collins,...
(JNS) — New York City politicians denounced a Nazi swastika that was carved into a parked car on the Upper East Side of Manhattan—reportedly a vehicle in which an Israeli flag was visible. Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York City who has been accused of Jew-hatred frequently and whose wife has apologized for past social media activity, including apparently lauding the Oct. 7 attacks, stated that the “swastika carved into a car on the Upper East Side is a despicable act of antisemitism.” “It is a hateful attack of intimidation on our...
In an Oval Office ceremony Monday morning, July 6, President Donald Trump marked the launch of the Trump Accounts program by ringing the opening bells for both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq from the White House. Lead guests included Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan Lieberman Dell, co-founder and board chair of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, along with the presidents of both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Michael Dell was born in...
(JNS) - For the first time in 2,000 years, Jewish authorities are conducting conservation work at the Tomb of the Patriarchs, where, according to the Bible, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, and Jacob and Leah are buried. The site, revered as the burial place of the patriarchs and matriarchs of the Jewish people, is Judaism's second-holiest site. The maintenance and safety upgrades include electrical renovations, air conditioning, improved drainage, new lighting and a fire protection...
(JNS) — The Israel Antiquities Authority announced that it is joining an international, European Union-funded research project that will use artificial intelligence, chemical analysis and other advanced technologies to investigate one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Dead Sea Scrolls: where they were produced and copied. The five-year project, titled “Tracing Scribes and Scrolls,” has received a €2.5 million ($2.9 million) Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. It is led by Professor Mladen Popović of the...
A diplomatic source familiar with the U.S.-led Board of Peace dismissed on Monday Hamas’ announcement that it intends to dissolve its governing role in Gaza after 19 years, saying the move “means nothing.” “It shows that Hamas is under pressure; they’re cornered,” the source told JNS. “So what they’re trying to say is, ‘Look, we’re not the problem, we’re not the one saying no. The technocratic committee can come in, take over our bankrupt economy, our broken services, our mountains of debt and all of our problems, and...
(JNS) — The Gush Etzion Regional Council in Judea has signed an agreement with Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry that aims to provide assistance to local authorities that are at the center of international delegitimization and boycott campaigns, the ministry said on Thursday. Ministry director-general Avi Cohen-Scali, together with the ministry’s senior leadership, paid a visit to the Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem on the previous day to hear about the many challenges facing area residents. The signing...
(JNS) — Mass funeral ceremonies for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are set to begin on Saturday, July 4, more than four months after he was eliminated in the opening Israeli Air Force strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury,” regime outlets said. The multi-day funeral, which state media claimed is expected to draw up to 20 million mourners, will begin when Khamenei’s body will lie in state at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla Mosque. The ceremonies will continue through Monday with a funeral procession along a six-mile...
One hundred and twenty-eight new immigrants from France landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Monday evening aboard a special flight marking the start of the 2026 summer “aliyah” season—the Hebrew term for Jewish immigration to Israel. “Immigration to Israel is the beating heart of the Jewish story,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency. “At a time when Israeli society is facing heavy challenges and carrying a difficult burden on its shoulders, aliyah takes on an even deeper meaning. Every...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah is hosting Hadassah Game Day on Tuesday, Aug. 11 in Altamonte Springs at noon. The address is provided upon registration. The games include Mah jong, Rummikub or Scrabble. All are invited to come. Registration is required by Aug. 4. Entry is limited to guests who have registered. Register online at https://events.hadassah.org/OrlandoGameDay26 General admission is $25 and includes lunch. Checks can be made out to Hadassah and mailed to 645 Stafford Terrace., Apt. 153, Altamonte Springs, FL...
(JNS) - Delegations of Jewish athletes from a record 43 countries entered a packed Teddy Stadium the evening of July 1 to cheers from family members, fellow countrymen, Israelis from across society, government officials and a lineup of Israeli performers, officially opening the 22nd Maccabiah Games. Some 3,000 athletes from five continents traveled to Israel for "Maccabiah 2026: More Than Ever!", which was postponed from 2025 because of the war. They are joined by about 2,000 Israeli athletes...
(JNS) - For Asaf Goren, the theme of the 22nd Maccabiah - "More Than Ever" - is more than a slogan highlighting the power of Jewish unity and the bond between Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. It has become the driving force behind a Maccabiah-wide initiative honoring 18 athletes with ties to the Maccabi movement who lost their lives in Israel's wars. Through sporting events and educational programming across the country, organizers hope participants will return home as ambassadors...
Congregation Shalom Aleichem welcomed a new Torah, one that Frank Gutworth had worked on obtaining over several months/years. On June 5, 2026, members of the congregation, (l-r) Larry Shapiro, Asher Tomberg, Lorie Pierce (behind the Torah), Frank Gutworth holding the Torah, Theresa Mixon and Mitch Minkowsky, carried it into the...
(JNS) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) endorsed Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary on Thursday, adding her support to a growing list of anti-Israel progressive backers that includes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). El-Sayed, who has called the Israeli government “evil” and accused Israel of committing “genocide,” has campaigned with Hasan Piker, a far-left streamer who has called the Israel Defense Forces a “Nazi army” and Orthodox...
MORNING MINYANS Chabad of Altamonte Springs — Sunday morning minyan, 8 a.m. Weekday morning minyan 6:30 a.m., 407-720-8111. Chabad of South Orlando — Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. and 10 minutes before sunset; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m., 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael — Monday - Friday, 7:30 a.m.; Saturday, 9:30 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona — Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom — Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community...
(JNS) — Leaders of the Washington State Democratic Party added anti-Israel statements, including blaming the Jewish state for rising antisemitism, in the party’s newly adopted platform without consulting with the Jewish Caucus of the Washington state legislative, Democratic state senator Jesse Salomon, co-chair of the caucus, told JNS. The platform states that “there has been a dramatic resurgence in antisemitism in recent years on all sides of the political spectrum, due in part to actions taken by the Israeli government.” “As...
(JNS) — U.S. President Trump signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Iran and the Trump administration is in talks with the Palestinian Authority to “boost their strained bilateral relationship,” as Washington seeks Ramallah’s cooperation to advance its landmark policy initiatives in the region. No Palestinian Authority leader has ever condemned the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and the ensuing slaughter of 1,200 people and kidnapping of 1,200 others into the Gaza Strip. Polls show overwhelming...
(JNS) — One week ago, a slate of democratic socialists swept three competitive Democratic House primaries in New York. In districts this blue, the primary is the election. Among the winners are candidates who rose through the movement that treats hostility to Israel as a credential, including one who helped organize the Columbia University encampments. They are now bound for Congress. Now, it may be Colorado’s turn. In Denver, 29-year-old barista and self-described Democratic Socialist Melat Kirosa defeated a 15-term congressional...
(JNS) — The current onslaught against the Jewish people is causing many Diaspora Jews to ask themselves profound and unsettling questions. Israel is being used by its enemies to divide them. The condition of their acceptance as Americans or Brits, they are being told, is to renounce the Jewish state. Some are doing that. Others are staying solidly in support. Others still, badly gaslighted, are unsure what to think. All are now asking themselves the hitherto unthinkable question: whether there’s now a future for Jews in the United States...
In Steven Spielberg’s new film “Disclosure Day,” the Pentagon is exposed as hiding the proof of extraterrestrial life. My reaction was to ask: What can we learn from the fact that we are not alone? It would be hubristic to imagine the Creator of an infinite universe fashioned only one outpost of conscious life. However, the existence of aliens proves what was disclosed by our sages millennia ago: Everything—humans, aliens, stars and quarks—is a manifestation of the single infinite consciousness of the Divine. We are not biological...
(JNS) — It is a beautiful time to be Jewish. While crowds around the world chant slogans stripped of any rational meaning; while the phrase, “From the river to the sea,” is repeated without regard for geography, history or consequence; while “genocide” is used to describe a conflict in which the Palestinian population has grown from roughly 150,000 in 1948 to around two million today; while the language of human rights is turned on its head to defend movements that oppress women and execute homosexuals; while newspapers amplify...
(JNS) — At first glance, “Unconditional” looks like another international crime thriller. By the end of the second episode, it’s clear the series is aiming for something much more ambitious. The new Israeli drama, now streaming on Apple TV, follows Orna Levi, an ordinary Israeli mother whose vacation with her 23-year-old daughter, Gali, turns into every parent’s nightmare when Gali is arrested in Moscow on drug-smuggling charges. As Orna struggles to prove her daughter’s innocence,...
KRAKOW, Poland—The minibus carrying a group of ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from New York pulled up to the site of the demolished Jewish cemetery turned Nazi labor and concentration camp in the southern Polish city of Krakow in June, seeking out a blonde Polish tour guide. Janina Naskalska-Babok, 42, who was dressed for summer and had not expected such a religious group, quickly put on a jacket from her bag out of respect. “In other circumstances, we would likely have never spoken to each other,” Naskalska-Babok told JNS, noting the...
Across cultures and religions, the doorway is more than wood, hinges, and locks. It marks the boundary between the outside world and the values carried within. That is exactly where the Torah places one of Judaism's most familiar commandments. The Hebrew word mezuzah means "doorpost," referring to the actual frame of the entryway, not to the decorative case. The words inside the mezuzah come from two passages in Deuteronomy: 6:4–9 and 11:13–21. The first begins with the Shema, the central...
The men and women who come to my clinic arrive carrying a particular species of fear, and rightly so. A diagnosis of oropharyngeal cancer, a malignancy of the tonsils and the base of the tongue, threatens the very region that renders us most human. It is here that we form words, taste, swallow, and smile. When a patient learns that a tumor has taken root in this small and sacred territory, the questions beneath their questions are rarely statistical, but these: Will I still sound like myself? Will I share a meal with my children? Will I...
Dear Readers, maybe you could offer some advice for my cousin. She wants to move down from New Jersey. This is your chance to share your wisdom or to vent about your own experiences. I’ve paraphrased and combined her last six emails. Please write to me and I’ll share your ideas. Thank you in advance. Dear Rebbele, don’t get me wrong. I truly appreciate all the suggestions you have given me but I’m more upset and confused now. I still don’t know for sure whether to move to South...
