Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu embarked Sunday on a Washington visit centered around a pivotal meeting on Tuesday with President Donald Trump. While the Prime Minister’s Office announced a Friday return to Israel, concurrent preparations suggest a possible extension until the following Sunday. The leadership summit will address all major regional and international issues and their interconnections: the status of the Gaza ceasefire, efforts to liberate the remaining hostages in the Strip, and subsequent phases of the...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — As Donald Trump reclaimed the White House, an extensive portfolio of international and domestic challenges awaits—with Israel’s security concerns commanding significant attention. Unlike his first term, Trump enters office on Jan. 20 following methodical preparation and with a clear grasp of both priorities and implementation strategies. The Iranian nuclear threat stands as the foremost security concern. Having withdrawn from the nuclear agreement in 2018 during his previous term, Trump demonstrates acute aware...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Beginning on Jan. 20, 2025, "it will be possible to take additional actions in Gaza," senior Israeli officials say. The prevailing impression in Israel is that President-elect Donald Trump does not particularly care what measures Israel employs in the Gaza Strip. He has two clear objectives: the release of the hostages, and an Israeli victory to conclude the war. The methods to achieve these aims appear irrelevant to him. In Jerusalem, as well as in the Kirya military...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is scheduled to pay a solidarity visit to Israel next week. Haley, who served as ambassador during Trump’s presidency, plans to tour communities near the Gaza border as well as in the north of the country during her visit, which is set to begin on Monday, according to former Israeli U.N. envoy Danny Danon, who is to accompany her. She is also scheduled to meet with Israeli leaders and senior security off...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — As the United States and other countries pressure Israel to increase food aid to Gaza, Israeli officials familiar with the situation say Gaza has been overwhelmed by food aid. Israeli officials harshly criticize American representatives, led by Ambassador David Satterfield, accusing them of echoing the lie about “starvation in Gaza.” Every evening at 8 p.m., a quadrilateral forum takes place with representatives from Israel, the United States, the United Nations and Egypt, where a daily report on the humanitarian situa...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — I stood next to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he said what he said about the protesters against him “joining forces” with Iran. He was simply trying to be cooperative and answer the journalists’ questions, which does not always happen. The questions they shouted at him were as expected: “You do not have a meeting at the White House.” “The emperor wears no clothes.” These statements were fired at Netanyahu and, apparently, rattled him. At that moment, his interest should have been in controlling the agenda. That...
(JNS) — Things cannot go on like this. Well, they can, but it would be beyond the pale. We must not tolerate a situation in which Jews are killed all over the country as if this was some incurable disease or natural phenomenon that cannot be prevented. It’s not that the settlers can’t stand it anymore—they have shown resilience in the past, and during tougher times. They know full well why they are not giving up their hold on the areas of the Land of Israel: They’re doing it for the sake of the entire nation. Nor are Israelis in general going t...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — An Israeli nonprofit that studies Palestinian society has found a troubling possible linkage between U.S. aid to the Palestinian Authority and the scope of terrorist attacks against Israelis. Palestinian Media Watch released a study this week that analyzed statistics taken from periodic reports published by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, from 2011 (the year the nonprofit exposed the P.A.’s terror-rewarding pay-for-slay policy) through 2022. It found that when aid to the P.A. dropped, such as during the Trump a...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Donald Trump went too far. From the outset of his political career, he has been accused of supporting the racist right and some of his statements in this regard have come under harsh criticism from his Democratic rivals. Despite this, Trump has long avoided any soundbite that might sound antisemitic. He has even boasted of the fact that his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism and his two grandchildren are Jewish. But then came Trump’s meeting with antisemitic rapper Kanye West—now known as Ye—and Holocaust denier...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas has implemented measures that could turn the P.A. into a dictatorship, according to a new report, published just two weeks before the 29th anniversary of the signing of the Oslo Accords. The report was authored by Israeli NGO Palestinian Media Watch, which has followed developments in the P.A. virtually since its inception in 1994. Over the past four years, the report states, “Abbas has made decisions and implemented fundamental changes to the Palestinian political system, the...
(JNS) - International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said on Monday that Iran was "very close" to crossing the nuclear threshold, and that it "cannot be avoided" at this point. Speaking at the IAEA's Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, which runs until June 10, Grossi said, "Having a significant quantity [crossing the uranium enrichment threshold] does not mean having a bomb, but ... this idea of crossing the line, it's going to happen." According to an unnamed Israeli off...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid has ordered Israeli embassy staff in Kyiv to move to consular offices in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, as war looms between Russia and Ukraine. “The consular office in Lviv has been working to provide travel documents to Israeli citizens since Thursday and will assist citizens interested in leaving the country, primarily through land border crossings to neighboring countries,” the ministry said in a statement. Officials said that the ministry was “prepared for any develop...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister on Monday called for a diplomatic dialogue with the Palestinians, citing concerns that otherwise international organizations may designate Israel and apartheid state. In a press briefing, Lapid said the Diplomatic-Security Cabinet would soon convene to discuss a scenario in which the Palestinian Authority announced it was willing to start talks with Israel. Citing an “intelligence-based assessment,” he said that Israel should expect to see a significant increase in allegations from the Pales...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Ecuador’s largest supermarket chain, owned by El Rosado Group, has announced that it will no longer sell ice-cream manufactured by Unilever, which owns Ben & Jerry’s. The company has more than 180 stores across Ecuador and is joining other supermarket stores worldwide that are protesting the decision by Ben & Jerry’s not to sell ice-cream beyond Israel’s pre-1967 Green Line. “For us, [the] decision is worrying and scandalous,” El Rosado Group CEO Johnny Czarninski wrote in a letter to Unilever. He also contacted Isr...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Israel's Religious Zionist Party leader Bezalel Smotrich announced on Tuesday that he plans to recommend that Israel's President Reuven Rivlin task Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with forming the next government. "Based on the prime minister's commitment that he will form a right-wing government that will safeguard Israel's Jewish identity, bolster the Judea and Samaria settlement enterprise, and pursue the necessary reforms in the judiciary, the Religious Zionist...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - One winter morning in 2017, a young man arrived at the Kesher Israel synagogue in the heart of Washington. He prayed fervently, as if his heart was filled with a special request. His tallit bag bore the name "Friedman," and it was the only time he had come to the famous synagogue. That same day, his father, David M. Friedman, was undergoing Senate confirmation for his appointment as U.S. ambassador to Israel. In the best tradition of Jewish divisiveness, powerful forces...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Following years of diplomatic strife, Turkey over the weekend signaled to Israel yet again its desire for rapprochement. On Monday, former admiral Cihat Yayci, a close confidant of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is expected to publish a first-of-its-kind proposal for an agreement on the countries’ shared exclusive economic zones in the Mediterranean Sea. The article will appear in the Israeli academic journal Turkeyscope — published by the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv Un...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu voiced his optimism on Monday that the country's coronavirus crisis could soon be over after drug-maker Moderna announced that testing had shown its SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to be highly effective. "This is great news for Israel," said Netanyahu shortly after the announcement. "Already in June I, along with Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, instructed that an agreement be signed with Moderna for the supply of vaccines. Today, Moderna...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Former U.S. Special Representative for Middle East Affairs Jason Greenblatt on Wednesday called on those who oppose the suspension of Israel’s sovereignty initiative in favor of peace with the United Arab Emirates to “reconsider their approach.” Greenblatt, one of the architects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, said he hopes Israeli sovereignty “isn’t a matter of if, but when.” Q: Why was the sovereignty bid essentially taken off the table? After all, President Trump declared that “Israel can app...
Russian veterans and survivors of infamous Nazi concentration camp will attend a historic event at U.N. headquarters in New York (Israel Hayom via JNS)—In recent months, Israel and Russia have been forging a unique partnership at the United Nations. Amid the backdrop of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon and his Russian counterpart, Vasily Nebenzya, decided to join forces and convene a historic event to mark the liberation of the notorious Nazi death camp, to be held next we... Full story
(Israel Hayom via JNS)-Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz has ordered his office to draw up plans to stop the Turkish government's efforts to undermine Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem and protect Jordan's special status as guardian of Muslim holy sites in the city. Katz intends to present the plan to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon. Due to the sensitivity of the plan, the implementation of which will almost certainly lead to a direct confrontation with Ankara, it is also... Full story
(Israel Hayom via JNS)-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Wednesday with leaders of parties from the right-wing bloc to discuss the future of negotiations to form a unity government after talks with Blue and White went south, with the center-left list pulling out of the most recent scheduled meeting to, in its officials' own words, "weaken" Netanyahu. During the meeting, the possibility of Netanyahu giving up his mandate from President Reuven Rivlin to form the next government was... Full story
(Israel Hayom via JNS)—Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared his commitment on Wednesday to the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria. Netanyahu was speaking at an event marking the 4oth anniversary of the Samaria Regional Council, held in the town of Revava. “Accept my commitment,” said Netanyahu. “It doesn’t come with a time limit: We won’t let any community in the land of Israel be uprooted in the name of a diplomatic plan. We don’t uproot people; we’re done with that nonsense. Israel under my leadership hasn’t and won... Full story
(Israel Hayom via JNS)—Israel will act to counter the Palestinian Authority’s planned payments to the family of a terrorist who murdered an Israeli citizen last Sunday by cutting the same amount from the tax dividends Israel transfers to Ramallah. Israeli Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon made the decision after the P.A. announced it would pay a stipend to killer Youssef Ali Jabarin, 17, mere hours after he stabbed Ari Fuld, 45, to death near the Gush Etzion Junction, south of Jerusalem. Fuld managed to shoot his assailant and wound him before col... Full story
(JNS)—A bipartisan bill that would cement U.S. military aid to Israel into law has passed a major hurdle on Wednesday night. The U.S. House of Representative approved the measure, known as the Ileana Ros-Lehtinen U.S.-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018, several weeks after it passed the Senate. It will now head for the president’s desk. Under the proposed legislation, the $38 billion in military aid over 10 years spelled out under the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding would be funded through a special mechanism that would be... Full story
