Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 151 - 175 of 366
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog thanked Mike Waltz, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, on Wednesday for his role in advancing the recent U.N. Security Council resolution that codified U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point Gaza peace plan. “I want to thank you for supporting Israel at the United Nations with clear moral clarity,” Herzog told Waltz during their meeting in Jerusalem, according to a statement from the president’s office. Herzog emphasized the need to secure the release of the last hostage, Staff Sgt. Ran Gvili. “F...
(JNS) - The dozens of posters of hostages that once greeted arrivals and departures at Ben-Gurion International Airport have disappeared except for one of the last hostages whose body remains in Gaza, Israel Police officer Ran Gvili. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum on Tuesday shared a photo of Gvili's younger sister Shira, who stopped by the lone picture of the fallen hostage at the airport. "Until about two months ago, there were dozens of pictures of hostages there, and today a single...
(JNS) - The National Library of Israel is displaying a rare 14th-century manuscript of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah for the first time as part of its permanent exhibition. The illuminated volume, copied in Provence between 1300 and 1350 C.E., represents one of Judaism's most significant legal texts. Italian artist Matteo di Ser Cambio later enhanced the manuscript in Spain with vivid illustrations, gold ornamentation and decorative motifs featuring figures, animals and plants. The manuscript shows...
(JNS) — Israel placed third in The Economist’s ranking of the world’s strongest economies in 2025. The London-based magazine has conducted its search for the “economy of the year” for five years now. “Israel has continued its strong recovery from the chaos of 2023, and Ireland only just misses out on top spot,” The Economist reported. “Although Czech and South Korean firms have done well this year, nowhere has done better (in local-currency terms) than Israel. In the past year the share price of the country’s most valuable listed company, B...
(JNS) — The Israel’s Cabinet is set to approve next week a $31.8 million budget to strengthen the eastern Negev cities of Arad, Dimona, Yeruham and Mitzpe Ramon, the Prime Minister’s Office and Finance Ministry announced in a joint statement on Thursday. The decision is to be green-lit in a special session in Dimona on Dec. 14, as part of a national plan to encourage demographic growth and sustainable economic development in Israel’s south, the statement read. The budget planned for 2026 involves investment in infrastructure, personal security,...
(JNS) - An ancient archaeological site containing Hasmonean-era palace ruins will open to Israeli visitors this weekend, after vandals defaced the location and destroyed artifacts, local officials announced. Graffiti was sprayed on a 2,000-year-old ritual bath at the Hasmonean Palaces site, and looters crushed a skull believed to belong to a noble from the Hasmonean dynasty, according to the Binyamin Regional Council, which manages the area. The Hasmonean kings ruled Judea from roughly 140...
(JNS)— A gunman opened fire during a final exam review for the economics class of a Brown University professor, who also teaches Jewish studies courses, in Providence, R.I., on Saturday afternoon, killing two and wounding nine, according to law enforcement, officials and media reports. On Monday morning, law enforcement said a person of interest was in custody. Rachel Friedberg, teaching professor of economics and faculty associate of the Judaic studies program and of the population studies and training center at Brown, reportedly said that the...
(JNS) — The Redlands, Calif., Police Department, located some 60 miles east of Los Angeles in San Bernardino Valley, said that it is investigating both what it called an incident targeting a Jewish family and a “potential hate crime.” A Jewish family in Redlands had just returned home on Friday evening when “a vehicle drove past the victims’ residence, yelled an antisemitic slur and fired several shots,” the department stated at about 10:30 a.m. local time on Sunday. The department said that there were no injuries nor damage, and officers di...
(JNS) — A small group of Israeli civilians entered the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday evening, calling on the government to establish a permanent Israeli presence there. The group, according to Channel 12 News numbering between seven and nine people, was “under constant monitoring” and was returned to Israeli territory shortly after crossing the border, according to the Israel Defense Forces. “The IDF emphasizes that any entrance to a combat zone is forbidden, endangers the civilians and disturbs IDF operations in the area. The civilia...
(JNS) - A traditional eight-branched candelabrum was installed at the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday ahead of the Chanukah festival, which begins on the evening of Dec. 14, the Western Wall Heritage Foundation said. The bronze menorah, or chanukiyah, which measures some 6.5 by 6.5 feet, will be lit every evening during the eight-day holiday, which runs until Dec. 22, the foundation said in a statement. This year, the Chanukah festivities at Judaism's second-holiest site will be...
(JNS) — Construction work on Israel’s eastern security barrier along the border with Jordan has begun, the Israeli Ministry of Defense announced on Monday. The initial stage will focus on the Beit She’an, Jezreel and Jordan Valleys, constructing the first two sections of the new barrier that will span roughly 50 miles, the ministry said. Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement, “The new barrier will strengthen the communities along the border, significantly reduce weapons smuggling to terrorists in Judea and Samaria, and deal a heavy...
(JNS) — A section of Jerusalem’s city wall dating from the Hasmonean period more than two thousand years ago has been unearthed in the city’s Tower of David Museum, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The wall was discovered during an excavation on the grounds of the museum, located just inside the Jaffa Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem, adjacent to the citadel, within the historic complex known as the Kishle, the state-run archaeological body said. The newly uncovered section of the wall known in ancient historical sourc...
(JNS) — Robert Kraft, the Jewish owner of the New England Patriots, has been named a contributor finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2026, the Hall announced on Wednesday. Kraft, who has owned the Patriots since 1994, led the franchise to six Super Bowl victories and 10 Super Bowl appearances, in both cases more than any other owner in NFL history. He purchased the team for a then-record $172 million to prevent its relocation to St. Louis and privately financed construction of Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The 2026 c...
(JNS) — Doctors at Rabin Medical Center in Petach Tikva have successfully performed a rare and complex small-intestine transplant on Daniel Haim Biton, a 36-year-old man who had lived for 17 years without a functioning digestive system, the hospital said in a press release on Thursday. The seven-hour surgery gave Biton, who has depended on intravenous total parenteral nutrition since age 19, the chance to live without medical devices or dietary restrictions for the first time in nearly two decades. He is currently hospitalized in stable c...
(JNS) — Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Leo Terrell, chair of the U.S. Justice Department task force to combat Jew-hatred, were among the honorees awarded for speaking out on behalf of Israel and the Jewish people at a ceremony in Washington on Wednesday. Speaking at the Endowment for Middle East Truth’s annual “Rays of Light in the Darkness” gala, Fetterman said that the more people “back away from Israel,” the more he would “lean in stronger.” “What Hamas has started was a full-on war against civilization and trying to destroy Israel,...
(JNS) - Israeli authorities have rearrested a Palestinian terrorist released from prison a few months ago as part of a hostage deal with Hamas, the Israel Police Spokesperson's Unit said on Thursday. He was taken into custody on suspicion of bomb-making. Detectives from the Judea District Crime Fighting Unit and National Counterterrorism Unit officers from the Shai (Judea and Samaria) District raided his Bethlehem home on Wednesday night and detained him for questioning. The terrorist was...
(JNS) — Israeli forces overnight Wednesday carried out a sweeping counterterrorism operation across Judea and Samaria, seizing weapons and arresting suspected terrorists linked to recent attacks, the IDF and Shin Bet said in a joint statement. Guided by Shin Bet intelligence, IDF troops searched more than 70 locations, finding weapons concealed inside residences, including a “Carlo” submachine gun hidden in a microwave and a hunting rifle stashed behind a curtain, according to the military. At the same time, soldiers launched a major opera...
(JNS) - The body returned to Israel on Tuesday from Gaza has been identified as that of Dror Or, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office said. The identification was completed in coordination with the National Center for Forensic Medicine, the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate. "The Government of Israel shares in the deep sorrow of the Or family and all the families of the abducted fallen," said the PMO. "The IDF expresses deep condolences to the families, continues to make every effort to...
(JNS) — Hamas had closely followed 100,000 Israeli troops on social media and other networks for years before executing the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, meticulously collecting information about Israel Defense Forces posts along the border, including how to operate Israeli tanks, Israel’s Army Radio correspondent Doron Kadosh reported on Sunday. The terrorist organization established an array of some 2,500 members who took part in gathering data online, piece by piece, for five years before the attacks on the northwestern Negev, according to Kad...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters in the Oval Office alongside Zohran Mamdani, mayor-elect of New York City, that the two had “a great meeting.” “A really good, a very productive meeting,” Trump said. “We have one thing in common. We want this city of ours, which we love, to do really well.” Trump said of Mamdani, a socialist who has said that he would have Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrested in New York City, that “I met with a man who’s a very rational person.” “I met with a man who really wants to see N...
(JNS) — Some 250,000 Israelis living in communities along the Samaria security barrier are facing an escalating environmental and health emergency from Palestinian waste fires, Channel 12 News reported on Thursday. Tens of thousands in Emek Hefer, Menashe and Shoham and nearby towns have reported sleepless nights, strong odors and respiratory issues, a Knesset Interior Committee hearing revealed on Wednesday. At the meeting, residents shared testimony of nights when “you simply cannot breathe,” while government representatives blamed the lack...
(JNS) — Iranian state television on Monday for the first time ever aired a program with Hebrew subtitles, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting outlet. “Toward the Horizon of Palestine,” which began airing on IRIB‘s Ofogh channel in the days after the Hamas massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, included Hebrew subtitles for the first time on Monday evening. After Tehran “realized that ‘Toward the Horizon of Palestine’ is being monitored in the occupied territories, starting last night, we began broadcasting the news in H...
(JNS) — Assault rifles and other equipment belonging to Hamas terrorists were discovered on Wednesday during reconstruction work at Kibbutz Be’eri, more than two years after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the community. “Arms and communication devices belonging to Hamas terrorists were found in a kindergarten in Kibbutz Be’eri. Police bomb squad officers neutralized the weapons safely and without incident,” the Israel Police stated. An investigation found the weapons included “loaded and ready-to-fire Kalashnikov rifles, along with communicati...
(JNS) - A 100-year-old great-grandmother of 15 became the oldest person to immigrate to Israel this year, the quasi-governmental Jewish Agency for Israel said on Thursday. Sara Unterberg moved to Israel from Uruguay last week to be closer to her extended family. "I realized I may not have much time left, and I want to spend it with my many grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Israel," the Lithuanian-born centenarian said. "I believe all Jews should live in Israel. The world is becoming less...
(JNS) — A new survey by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs (JCFA) finds overwhelming Israeli opposition to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The poll, conducted Nov. 16–17 by Dr. Menachem Lazar among 698 Jewish and Arab Israelis (±3.7 percent), finds 70 percent of Israelis oppose creating a Palestinian state along the 1967 lines—the highest level recorded by the Center since the war began. Among Jewish Israelis, opposition stands at 79 percent. Only 8 percent of respondents support a Palestinian state uncond...
