Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 219
(JNS) — Kibbutz Be’eri has decided to keep as is one of the homes burned in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel as a testimony to the horrors of the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The move by the community, located five miles from the Gaza Strip, to move on and demolish the rest of the homes destroyed in the attack is opposed by some bereaved families, but is seen as an attempt to move on and rebuild. The house selected is on the edge of the community and belongs to a family that was abr...
(JNS) — Israeli authorities on Tuesday began demolishing UNRWA’s headquarters in Jerusalem, after a new law banning the organization’s operations in Israel took effect. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hailed the move as a “historic day, a holiday, a very important day for governance,” saying the government was finally expelling “terror supporters … with everything they built here” and vowing that “this is what will be done to every terror supporter.” Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky, who played a leading role in introducing the...
(JNS) — A landmark natural gas deal with Israel is a “strictly commercial” arrangement with no political dimensions, Egypt said on Thursday. The Egyptian government reaction, which came the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the $34 billion, 15-year agreement—the biggest gas sale in Israel’s history—is seen as Cairo’s attempt to shield itself from Arab criticism over the mammoth agreement with the Jewish state. “The deal is a purely commercial transaction concluded exclusively on the basis of economic and investment...
(JNS) — David Cunio, one of the Israelis abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, gives a harrowing account of his nearly two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, describing starvation, psychological torment, underground imprisonment and the struggle to survive for the sake of his family. In an interview aired on Channel 12, Cunio detailed his abduction alongside his wife, Sharon, their twin daughters Yuli and Emma, and other family members, as well as the brutal conditions he endured during 738 days in Hamas captivity. The ordeal began in t...
(JNS) — Canadian authorities detained Israeli comedian Guy Hochman for six hours at Toronto’s main airport after an anti-Israel organization filed war crimes charges against him in connection with his service in the Israel Defense Forces, Hochman said on Tuesday. “They tried to stop me from entering Canada, but after 6 hours of being detained, I got in. They tried to prevent me from performing in front of the Israeli community, I performed. And while they kept shouting ‘free Palestine’ to themselves in minus 10 degrees, we warmed up with laught...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that anti-regime protests in Iran could be approaching a critical moment, with the Iranian people poised to “take their fate into their own hands.” “We in Israel identify with the struggle of the Iranian people and their aspiration to liberty and justice,” Netanyahu said, speaking at a 40-signature debate, which the opposition can call once a month and which the prime minister is obliged to attend. “We may be at a critical moment,” he said. The premier stressed in his remarks t...
(JNS) — Madrid is prepared to send peacekeeping troops to the Gaza Strip “once the opportunity presents itself, “Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said on Thursday. “Of course, we have not forgotten Palestine and the Gaza Strip,” Sánchez told a gathering of Spanish ambassadors in Madrid, El País reported. “Spain must actively participate in rebuilding hope in Palestine,” he added. “I will propose to parliament, when the opportunity presents itself, that we send peacekeeping troops to Palestine, once we can see how to advance this task...
(JNS) — Representatives from the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Turkey met Friday in Miami to review implementation of the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire and to advance preparations for the next stage, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff confirmed on Saturday. Witkoff said the initial phase of the Trump administration-brokered deal had produced progress, including the return of all but one hostage, partial IDF troop withdrawals, a reduction in hostilities and expanded humanitarian assistance to Gaza. “In our discussions reg...
(JNS) — Israeli National Security Committee chairman Knesset member Zvika Fogel and Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, both of the Otzma Yehudit Party, are advancing a Knesset bill aimed at tightening enforcement against noise from public address systems used in mosques. Under the proposed legislation, the construction or operation of a public address system for calls to prayer would require a permit. Permit applications would be reviewed based on noise intensity, efforts at noise-reduction, the mosque’s location and the imp...
(JNS) — Most foreign governments have allowed an unrestrained surge of overt antisemitism to fester in the public sphere, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said on Sunday. He called on world Jewry to move to Israel. “Jews have a right to live safely everywhere. But we see and fully understand what is happening and we have a certain historical experience,” Sa’ar said during a Chanukah candle-lighting event in the Tel Aviv suburb of Rishon Letzion. “Today, Jews are being hunted across the world.” He specifically called out the Jews of Engla...
(JNS) — More than 4,100 immigrants from North America made aliyah to Israel in 2025 with the support of Nefesh B’Nefesh, marking the highest annual figure in the past four years, the organization announced in a press release on Monday. According to the data, 4,150 North American Jews immigrated to Israel this year in cooperation with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund–USA. The figure represents an increase of more than 12 percent compared to 2024, when 3,...
(JNS) — Israel’s Security Cabinet on Sunday approved the establishment and legalization of 19 Jewish communities across Judea and Samaria, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich noted on X. Among the 19 towns are Ganim and Kadim in northern Samaria. They were evacuated and destroyed by the Israeli government during the 2005 disengagement. In total, 11 new towns will be established, and eight existing neighborhoods will be officially recognized by the state. “We continue to make history in settling [the land] and in the State of Israel,” Smotric...
(JNS) — Ariel, Hebrew for “lion of God”, retained its title as the most popular name given to Jewish boys in Israel in 2025, the country’s Population and Immigration Authority announced on Tuesday. It was followed by Lavie, meaning “lion” in Hebrew, with the biblical figure David rounding out the top three. Muhammad, Yosef and Adam were the three most popular boys’ names among the general population. Arabs comprise about 20 percent of Israel’s population of roughly 10 million. Among girls, Avigail, who according to the Bible married the fut...
(JNS) - A Jewish ritual bath, or mikveh, dating back to the final days of the Second Temple period has been unearthed near the Western Wall, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Monday. The bath, which still bears ash remains that testify to the destruction of the Temple, was discovered recently beneath the Western Wall Plaza, the state-run archaeological body said. Hewn into the bedrock, the mikveh, which is rectangular in shape, measuring 3.05 meters in length, 1.35 meters in width...
(JNS) — Former Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker and his girlfriend, former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, have become engaged. Zangauker’s mother, Einav Zangauker, who was one of the most vocal voices among the families of the hostages held in Gaza, posted a photo on Sunday night of Matan, 26, and Ilana, 32, drinking champagne in front of a “Will you marry me” sign inside a flower-bedecked wreath in the form of a heart. “My picture of victory,” Einav wrote. “Ilana & Matan.” A large guitar-shaped building in the background placed the photo at the Se...
(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) — 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) - 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) - 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) — A 1,300-year-old lead pendant decorated with a menorah was uncovered during an archaeological excavation beneath the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, north of the City of David, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Monday. Only one other ancient lead pendant bearing the menorah symbol is known in the world, the government agency added. The personal necklace dates to the 6th to early 7th centuries in the Late Byzantine period and was recently discovered in a large-scale archaeological excavation in the D...
(JNS) — If Hamas does not follow through with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan that involves the terrorist group laying down arms, Israel “will have to deal with the problem,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in an interview with the Saudi state-owned channel Al Arabiya English on Wednesday. Israel’s top diplomat said he hopes the Islamist organization adheres to the plan, which both Israel and Hamas’s leadership agreed to, but that “unfortunately,” senior Hamas officials have issued public declarations saying that they have n...
(JNS) — New South Wales Police identified 50-year-old Adam Smyth as the 14th victim of the Dec. 14 terror attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that killed 15 people during a Chanukah celebration. Smyth and his wife, Katrina, were walking near the beach when two gunmen opened fire on more than a thousand people gathered for the event, according to family statements released by police. He was not Jewish and was not attending the celebration. We mourn the loss of Adam Smyth who was walking with his wife Katrina along the Bondi Beach, a passerby to the C...
(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...
