Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Thursday that disarming Hamas is "absolutely going to happen" and that he expects to see other countries in the region join the Abraham Accords next year. He spoke as U.S. President's Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan is expected to move to its second stage next month following the president's anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida after Christmas. "The challenge of getting Hamas disarmed is not a goal...
(JNS) - Many American Jews assume that it's easy to be Jewish in Israel given the ubiquity of Hebrew and history in the Jewish state, where one needn't pay tens of thousands of dollars annually for day school or thousands for synagogue membership to raise children who are knowledgeable about Judaism. But senior Israeli educators told JNS that is not the case. Several Israeli education officials, who spent a week visiting New York schools and synagogues, told JNS that Israeli students aren't...
(JNS) — As the Trump administration intensifies pressure to transition to “Phase 2” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, potentially as early as January, observers in Israel see no sign of Hamas disarming as the terror organization reestablishes its fundamentalist, murderous regime over the 47 percent of Gaza that it controls. Despite multiple reports of international stabilization force preparations and Palestinian technocratic governments, the reality inside the Gaza Strip could not be more starkly different. Hamas is actively rebuilding its r...
(JNS) - Researchers at Israel's Hebrew University have identified the world's earliest systematic botanical art, dating back more than 8,000 years, that demonstrates sophisticated mathematical reasoning. Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich analyzed pottery from the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (circa 6200-5500 BCE) across 29 archaeological sites. Their study, published in the Journal of World Prehistory, found that flowers, shrubs and trees painted on vessels displayed precise numerical patterns-particularly petal counts...
(JNS) — Puka Nacua, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, apologized on Thursday for performing an antisemitic touchdown dance online earlier in the week. Nacua appeared on a Dec. 16 livestream with Adin Ross, who is Jewish and has a history of controversial actions criticized for enabling antisemitism and racism, and a streamer who goes by the name “N3on.” Toward the end of the stream, Ross told Nacua that for his touchdown celebration dance, he should mirror Ross’s “iconic Jewish dance,” involving throwing the football down and spinnin...
(JNS) — An Israeli official on Friday participated in a meeting in Naqoura, Lebanon, aimed at ensuring the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem confirmed. “During the meeting, ways to promote economic projects were discussed in order to underscore the mutual interest in removing the Hezbollah threat and ensuring sustainable security for residents on both sides of the border,” according to the statement. “The meeting is a continuation of the security dialogue aimed at ensuring...
(JNS) — Israel arrested a Russian citizen working in the country who allegedly photographed infrastructure and ships at ports under the direction of Iranian intelligence, security officials said on Friday Vitaly Zvyagnitsev, 30, was detained in early December after allegedly carrying out surveillance tasks for an Iranian handler who identified himself as “Roman,” said the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Erez Unit of the Defense Ministry’s security directorate, known by its Hebrew acronym MALMAB. The suspect continued the mission...
(JNS) — Police opened an investigation on Friday after security camera footage showed a woman in Muslim religious garb blowing out Chanukah menorah candles at a Tel Aviv shopping mall. If the woman is identified, police are expected to charge her under Article 170 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes the desecration or damage of places of worship or sacred objects with the intent or awareness. The offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. In video taken at the Weizmann City Mall, an indoor mall located next to Tel Aviv S...
(JNS) — How many wake-up calls does anyone need? The cliché that the Bondi Beach Chanukah massacre was just that is singularly inappropriate. Australia and the West have had one wake-up call after another. Since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Australian synagogues have been firebombed; as elsewhere, anti-Israel marches have regularly chanted for the mass murder of Jews; and on campus, Jewish students and academics have been harassed and intimidated. The significance of all this has been ignored by Western governments, wh...
Scroll through X long enough, and you’ll see it: Muslim preachers denouncing America as corrupt, portraying liberal democracy as a fraud, and — most alarming — arguing that Sharia law should replace the U.S. Constitution. Some clips are foreign. Some are domestic. Some are deceptively edited. But enough are real, and enough are applauded, that dismissing the phenomenon as “rage bait” is no longer responsible. Let’s begin with a principle that should unite Americans across party and faith: Religious freedom is not the same thing as permission...
(JNS) — Jews worldwide and their supporters on the last day of the Chanukah holiday are still reeling with pain and horror from the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach during the first night of Chanukah. In Australia on Dec. 14, two Muslim father-and-son terrorists shouting Allahu Akbar! shot dead 15 people, including two rabbis, a couple soon to celebrate their 35th anniversary, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and a 10-year-old girl. The Muslim terrorists wounded another 42 innocent Jews, many seriously, including human-rights attorney Arsen O...
Guest speaker Judy Mann, Hadassah Medical Organization National Chair, will talk about “Healing the World, One Innovation at a Time” at the first Orlando Chapter luncheon of the year on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, 11:30 a.m. Mann will share groundbreaking updates about Hadassah’s medical institutions which have just been recognized in Newsweek’s 2026 list of “World’s Best Specialized and Smart Hospitals.” General admission is $25 and includes lunch. Reserve your place at orlandohadassah.org....
(JNS) — In the mid-1800s, a rabbi was in the midst of making Kiddush on a bitterly cold winter Friday night in Poland, and stopped. Suddenly, he could not continue. His disciples around the table exchanged looks of concern. What was happening to their rabbi? What could make him so upset that he forgot the familiar words of Kiddush and could not go on? The rabbi then blurted out, “Is there no fairness in this world? Is there no judge?!” He threw down his Kiddush cup—wine spilling everywhere—and stormed up to the attic in his home, remaining...
(JNS) — There were many positive takeaways from the American Zionist Movement biennial meeting earlier this month in New York. Opportunities for face-to-face meetings with fellow slate members, allies, and perhaps, most importantly, those with whom one disagrees on political and religious issues, proved to be invaluable moments of getting to know one another without the pressure of WZO elections in the backdrop. The ability to build personal connections helps the AZM function with a wide consensus on most issues in non-election years. And g...
(JNS) — The signing of the massive natural gas deal with Egypt goes far beyond its $34 billion price tag. One of the main reasons for the agreement’s delay was Egypt’s problematic approach to Israel on political and security issues. According to information gathered in recent years, Egypt has deployed forces in Sinai far beyond what is permitted under the security annex of the 1979 peace treaty. It has also built tunnels deep in the peninsula for storing weapons and has suspiciously extended runways at airfields. The understandings betwe...
(JNS) - Former U.S. senator Ben Sasse, who was president of University of Florida and of Midland University in Fremont, Neb., said on Tuesday that he has stage-four pancreatic cancer and is going to die. "Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff. It's a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too-we all do," he said in a lengthy statement. "I'm blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, 'Sure, you're on the...
(JNS) - An Israeli was found dead with signs of hypothermia, and two children sustained minor injuries from a falling tree, on Thursday, the second day of winter storm Byron. Emergency teams were also called to flooding incidents in the Judean Foothills (the Shfela), the Magen David Adom medical response group said. MDA says its first responders were deployed to several sites where cars became trapped in rising waters and were working alongside rescue teams, with medics on standby amid fears of...
(JNS) — I looked at then-Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.) like he had a screw loose. We were on a congressional delegation in Israel in 2011, and he kept asking to see Israel’s Iron Dome missile-defense system. At the time, Iron Dome was new, highly classified and very much not on our itinerary. Each time he raised the question, I wondered how on earth I could possibly make that happen. But Lamborn, bless him, did not let it go. A few days later, our delegation met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. During his briefing, the prime min...
(JNS) - Surgeons in Israel successfully removed a 2.3-inch tumor protruding from the upper jaw of a baby girl immediately after her birth, a Rabin Medical Center spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. The tumor was the largest of its kind and location ever described in the medical literature, nearly matching the size of the newborn's head. "It is a miracle. We told our baby she has used up all her drama for a lifetime," her family was quoted as saying by the hospital in Petach Tikvah. The...
(JNS) — House lawmakers responded to the attack on a Chanukah celebration in Sydney with new proposals to combat antisemitism in the United States and a measure condemning the shooting. On Wednesday, the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the Australian government to protect its Jewish community and affirming the support of the House to combat antisemitism domestically. “As a Christian, I stand in solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community and the families of those...
At the Orlando Senior Help Desk, we’re always seeking out ideas and organizations that inspire seniors to live with greater vitality, meaning, and connection. One such organization is Sage-ing International, a nonprofit that invites us to reimagine the aging process – not as a time of decline, but as a powerful and fulfilling stage of life. Sage-ing International supports older adults in living their later years with intention, wisdom, and heart. Whether you’re just learning about this approach, or have already taken part in their progr...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Sydney Chanukah attack was exceptional in its scope, weaponry and planning, but it represents the peak of an antisemitic terror wave that has struck Australia, some with proven foreign involvement. Initial findings point to an ISIS connection, not Iran, which has been proven responsible for torching synagogues and Jewish businesses in the country. The distinction between streams of radical Islam does not diminish the threat: The Iranian model is sometimes replicated in other influence networks, both state and n...
(JNS) — In October 2003, Oran Almog lost his eyesight at age 10 in a terror attack at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa. His father, brother, grandparents and cousin were among the 21 people killed in the attack, which wounded 60, including his mother, sister and aunt. Sami Jaradat, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member who dispatched the bomber, was released as part of a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in January. Almog, 32, told JNS on Sunday that it was hard for him to come to terms with Jaradat being free, but he understands “the big...
Israel to open embassy in Fiji in 2026 By JNS Staff (JNS) — Israel will open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji next year, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Thursday, saying he informed Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of the move during a phone call. “Fiji is one of Israel’s most consistent supporters, also in the UN arena. In our call today, the PM again said: ‘We will always be with you,’” Sa’ar wrote on X following the call. Sa’ar said that opening the embassy will deepen relations be...
