Week of February 6, 2026
Week of February 6, 2026
(JNS) — International leaders gathered in Davos, Switzerland, for an annual forum intended to focus on economic development. Yet several wars are raging throughout the world right now, including in Europe itself. Earlier this month, the United States carried out a military operation to depose of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Máduro. This was coupled with American musings over a similar action in Cuba and debate over the status of Greenland. All this meant that the forum was never expected to live up to its original purpose. Rather,...
(JNS) - A Jewish morning prayer took place on Thursday at Joseph's Tomb in Samaria, for the first time in 25 years. The shrine, which is venerated by Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims, has a decades-long history of violence. Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, entry to the complex on the southeastern outskirts of Nablus was permitted only at nighttime, under heavy security. Hundreds of worshippers, including Religious Zionism lawmaker Zvi Sukkot and Samaria Regional Council head...
Washington, D.C. — The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law welcomes news that Guinness World Records Limited will once again accept submissions from Israel, starting with GWR reversing its decision to deny Matnat Chaim recognition for its kidney donation record. Since November 2023, one month after the atrocities committed by Hamas in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, GWR rejected submissions from Israel for more than two years. When the Brandeis Center was made aware of this violation of U.S. law in December 2025, the organization...
(JNS) — Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that the terrorist organization never agreed to disarmament as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip. “Not for a single moment did we talk about surrender the weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering or disarmament,” Abu Marzouk claimed in an interview with the Qatari state broadcaster. According to him, Hamas gunmen have already moved to “restore order” across parts of the Strip from which the Israeli military has...
On Jan. 30, 2026, President Donald J. Trump announced his nomination of Kevin Maxwell Warsh to serve as the next chair of the Federal Reserve, succeeding Jerome Powell when Powell’s term concludes in May. Warsh was born in Albany, New York,[13] to a Jewish family, the youngest of three children of Judith and Robert Warsh. Warsh, 55, brings to the nomination a rare depth of experience in both public service and financial markets. A former Federal Reserve governor (2006–2011), he was the youngest member — confirmed at age 35 — ever...
(JNS) — Jerusalem is readying for talks with the White House on a new foreign military financing deal that would focus more on joint projects than cash handouts, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing the Financial Times. “The partnership is more important than just the net financial issue in this context … there are a lot of things that are equal to money,” Gil Pinchas told the Financial Times, prior to stepping down as chief financial adviser to Israel’s Defense Ministry. He was referring to military- and defense-development...
The Ormond Beach Police Department arrested Robert Tuck, 57, in relation to a bomb threat directed at Temple Beth-El in Ormond Beach. In a statement from the school, Gayle Belin, co-president of Temple Beth El stated, “on Wednesday morning, Jan. 28, Temple Beth-El received a call from a man who said he had thoughts about bringing a bomb to the Temple and wanted to speak to the rabbi (Rabbi Stanton Zamek). He furnished his name and because of caller I.D., we were able to provide that information to Law Enforcement.” Local law enforcement...
(JNS) — A Norwegian parliamentarian has nominated Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center for the Nobel Peace Prize. The Jerusalem memorial center is “one of the world’s most significant institutions in the fight against antisemitism, hate ideologies and historical distortion,” Joel Ystebø of Norway’s Christian Democratic Party wrote in a letter addressed to the Norwegian Nobel Committee on Tuesday. “I believe that the Nobel committee should take a stand on antisemitism by issuing this award to Yad Vashem even though I...
(JNS) - In today's global discourse, few words have done more damage to Israel's legitimacy than "occupation." What is often presented as a neutral legal term has instead become a political weapon-one that reframes terrorism as resistance and casts Israel as a state whose very existence requires justification. That warning comes from American Judge Alan Clemmons, who argues that modern antisemitism is sustained not only by hatred, but by language that is repeated until it becomes accepted as...
(JNS) - Israeli model and actress Tal Berkovich was killed in a traffic accident Thursday on Route 40 outside Telalim, a small community in the Negev. Relatives said they had been on their way to celebrate their mother's birthday at the time of the crash. She was 41 years old. Berkovich, who was visiting family in Israel, was traveling with her brother, Gil, 40, when their vehicle collided with a truck, police said. He was listed in critical condition at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva. The...
(JNS) — The city council of Burlington, Vt., rejected a resolution that would have put a nonbinding advisory question on the March ballot asking voters whether the mayor and city council should declare Burlington an “apartheid-free community.” The question would have also asked voters to urge the city to “join others in working to end all support to Israel’s apartheid regime, settler colonialism and military occupation.” The vote failed 57, marking the third consecutive year the council has blocked the measure. Opponents of the...
(Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs via JNS) — Senior security officials in Jerusalem argue that an unprecedented opportunity exists to replace Iran’s ayatollah regime, and urge United States President Donald Trump to act decisively to seize the moment. According to them, Israel missed a rare chance to eliminate the Iranian leadership, headed by Ali Khamenei and his son Mojtaba, who is designated to succeed him, during the 12-day “Rising Lion” operation against Iran in June 2025. Israel had the intelligence and...
(JNS) — A large stone storage vessel used by Jews in the Galilee during the Roman period nearly 1,800 years ago is on display as part of an exhibition marking the Knesset building’s 60th anniversary. The vessel, standing about 80-centimeters (31.5-inches) high and 50-centimeters (19.5-inches) in diameter, was recently unearthed at the Pundaka de Lavi (“Lavi Inn”) site, located in the Lavi Forest near the Golani Junction in the Lower Galilee, by the Israel Antiquities Authority and KKL-JNF. Stone vessels were important in ancient...
(JNS) — New York City Police Department officers arrested a man who repeatedly rammed a car into an entrance to Chabad world headquarters in Brooklyn on Wednesday night. No injuries reported. The NYPD told JNs that officers responded at around 8:45 p.m. to 770 Eastern Parkway, where they saw a gray Honda sedan which “collided into entrance doors at the bottom of a sloped driveway in front of 770 Eastern Parkway.” “The operator of the vehicle was taken into custody and the investigation remains ongoing,” NYPD said. The department...
(JNS) - Israel has agreed to reopen Gaza's Rafah Crossing with Egypt for the passage of people after the IDF concludes "Operation Brave Heart," which seeks to return the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Strip. The Israel Defense Forces "is currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return the fallen hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili of blessed memory," the Prime...
(JNS) — Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned that any military strike on Iran would also be considered an attack on his Lebanese Shiite terror army, and cautioned that a new war against Tehran would set the Middle East ablaze, AFP reported on Monday. According to the report, in a televised address to supporters at a solidarity rally for the Islamic Republic, Qassem said Hezbollah and its main backer were facing “aggression that does not distinguish between us. … [W]e are targeted by any potential aggression and determined to defend...
(JNS) — The Palestinian Authority’s attempt to throw off Western scrutiny by claiming it has ended pay-for-slay suffered another setback after beneficiaries celebrated receiving the payments. Families living abroad received their full payments from the “Martyr’s Fund,” the program which provides monthly stipends for attacks against Israelis, according to Palestinian Media Watch, an Israeli watchdog group. Payments typically go to the families of the terrorists. “Jordan salaries have officially entered the bank—for released...
Terror merch sparks city funding freeze for Muslim nonprofit in New York (JNS) — The New York chapter of the Muslim American Society, which has received $265,000 in City Council discretionary funding, is facing a fiscal freeze after an event in Brooklyn, N.Y., allegedly featuring merchandise praising U.S.-designated terrorist groups. MAS hosted a “Thrift4Sudan” on Jan. 18 at its youth center in Brooklyn. The New York Post reported that the vendors sold key chains, stickers, pins and other items that referenced Hamas, Hezbollah and the...
(JNS) — International Holocaust Memorial Day has become a spur to write the Jews out of their own history. The United Nations chose Jan. 27—the date of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration/death camp—to commemorate the Holocaust, the term that developed specifically to describe the Nazi genocide of the Jews. Yet the message the United Nations posted on X omitted any mention of the Jews. It said: “The genocide started with apathy & silence in the face of injustice, and with the corrosive dehumanization of the other. Today and...
(JNS) — The Western liberal mind has convinced itself that to be decent and humane, society must engage in diversity. True, diversity of opinions is creative and constructive. There is, however, another form of diversity that has been disastrous for native European societies. Perhaps the best example of which is the case of Sweden. In the 1950s, Sweden was largely a homogeneous society. It was known for its low crime rates, characterized by a cohesive society with high trust, where people left homes unlocked and bicycle theft was minimal....
(JNS) — One by one, Israelis removed the yellow ribbon from their jackets on Monday. From streets and squares across the country, the portrait of the last hostage was taken down. Ran Gvili was no longer in the hands of Hamas. Gvili was a 24-year-old police officer who, at dawn on Oct. 7, 2023, did what Israelis have done too often to count: he ran toward danger. As young people fled the Nova festival, he grabbed his weapon and charged forward. Wounded in the arm, he fought on near Kibbutz Alumim, neutralizing terrorists until his final...
(JNS) — Medical organizations that were previously shouting allegations about Israel denying Palestinians basic medical care have become oddly silent regarding attacks by the Iranian government on hospitals. This selective mutism reveals that these organizations are not really concerned about the safe delivery of medicine, as they are in trying to score points against the State of Israel. Just last year, the head of the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Sue Kressley, wrote on behalf of her organization to U.S. Secretary of State Antony...
(JNS) — “And the Children of Israel were going out (of Egypt) triumphantly with an outstretched arm.” Rashi interprets with an “outstretched hand” to mean “with proud and prominent valor.” Triumphantly, indeed. The Israelites left Egypt openly and proudly, with their heads held high. I sometimes wonder: Whatever happened to that pride and strength that were characteristic of our people back then? Over the centuries of Jewish life in the Diasporas of the world, we seem to have lost that sense of pride. We keep punishing ourselves...
There are epochs in which moral conviction becomes indistinguishable from choreography. Ours is such an age: a time in which public virtue is measured not by the suffering one alleviates, but by performative symbolism. The global landscape of outrage today resembles less a conscience than a stage—carefully lit, meticulously curated and strictly selective in the tragedies it chooses to acknowledge. The revealing contrast is that, in Congo, children starve in what experts unanimously describe as one of the worst humanitarian collapses of the...
(JNS) — Right now is one of those moments in history that will pass quickly, but is so significant. The body of Ran Gvili, 24, has finally been recovered, and for the first time since 2014, there are no hostages in the Gaza Strip. Before this moment passes, I don’t want to miss the chance to pause for a minute and reflect. My friend Naomi Gal, who has dedicated the last two years of her life to advocating for the hostages, always says, “The period of time between Oct. 7 until the return of all the hostages will be a blip in history. How...
(JNS) — When Masha Merkulova talks about antisemitism, she does so without euphemism or panic. “We know our kids are going to face Jew-hatred,” Merkulova said in an interview at the JNS Jerusalem studio. “The question is not if. It’s when. So why are we not preparing them?” Merkulova is the founder and executive director of Club Z, a North American Zionist youth movement she launched in 2011 to strengthen Jewish identity, peoplehood and connection to Israel among teens—long before they reach college campuses. She flew to Israel...
(JNS) - Ashdod resident Tzipora Mark remembers the horrors of the Auschwitz extermination camp with striking clarity. She says she can still physically feel the beatings and abuse she endured there. Her back bears scars, and the vision in her left eye is impaired. "I vividly remember the beatings, the moment the number was tattooed on my arm, and the nights I went to sleep hungry, unsure whether I would wake up in the morning," she told JNS. Amid enduring memories of the persecution of her...
Rudolph Ball is the forgotten Jewish athlete from the 1936 Winter Olympics. Ball, better known as Rudi, was the star player, a right-winger, on Germany’s ice hockey team that competed in the Winter Games held in the twin cities of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Alps. He was the only Jewish athlete among 80 men and women who skated and skied for Nazi Germany in the competition that was designed to display the country’s Aryan athletic supremacy. As part of its effort to keep Jews out of many parts of national life, such as the arts and...
The Bridge Theatre Company recently gave a performance that left the audience silent in the way only truth can silence a room — and then rose to its feet as one. “Anne & Emmett,” performed at the Pargh Event Center at the Rosen JCC, was gripping, flawless, and unrelenting. The audience in the packed auditorium gave a standing ovation at the end, but what mattered just as much was what did not happen that afternoon: no one left. Every seat remained filled as the house lights came up and the cast, director, and board stayed for an...
(JNS) - "The pride is so much stronger than the sadness," Talik Gvili said on Monday, speaking with reporters outside the family home in Meitar, southern Israel, hours after her son's body was retrieved from Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces announced on Monday that the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, who was killed and kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, was found in Gaza. With the return of Gvili, a 24-year-old Police Special Patrol Unit (Yasam)...
Jewish Pavilion Senior Services and the Orlando Senior Help Desk are always exploring innovative, evidence-based approaches that may enhance quality of life for older adults. One emerging wellness modality gaining attention is Red Light Therapy, a non-invasive treatment that supports skin health, pain relief, muscle recovery, hair growth, and potentially even mood and sleep. Red Light Therapy uses low-level red and near-infrared light to stimulate cellular activity, helping the body heal and function more efficiently without discomfort or...
The University Club of Winter Park has on display several paintings by local resident Sandi Solomon. In addition to the enjoyment of painting, which she has been doing for much of her life, Solomon is a former Casselberry City commissioner and was an avid tennis player. Solomon’s artwork will be on display through the end of the month. The University Club is located at 841 N. Park Ave. in Winter Park. Open hours are 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Because there are several activities going on throughout the day, it is preferred that you call to arrange...
