Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 367
(JNS) — Nefesh B’Nefesh celebrated on Sunday the arrival of its 100,000th immigrant to Israel from the U.S. and Canada in a special occasion marked at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem, attended by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Aliyah and Integration Minister Ofir Sofer and Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founders Rabbi Yehoshua Fass and Tony Gelbart. The milestone was marked by the immigration of Jeffrey and Atara Douglas, who arrived from New York to Jerusalem with their three children: Nathaniel, 10, Hallie, 9, and Emilia, 6, Nefesh B’Nefes...
(JNS) — Israel will not pull back from its current positions in the Gaza Strip until the Hamas terrorist organization is completely disarmed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday. “I am standing firm on our security interests—we will not withdraw from our current lines until Hamas is completely disarmed,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page. He added that Israel Defense Forces soldiers had been instructed “to do everything necessary to defend themselves, to defend our territory...
(JNS) — U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Sunday that while the Iranian regime is weaker in the wake of the war, its ballistic missiles can now reach Europe. “The Iranian regime is weaker than it has been in 47 years. The infliction of harm to them and the pain to them, is not something that is imagined. Their ability to produce a nuclear weapon has been greatly set back,” Huckabee told the panel of “Fox & Friends” on Fox News. But Tehran’s missile capacity, “unfortunately, has grown”, he said. “In one year they went from being a...
(JNS) - The remains of Theodor Herzl's paternal grandparents are in the process of being brought to Israel from Serbia, and are due for burial on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Aug. 5 in an official state ceremony, the World Zionist Organization announced on Wednesday. Israel's senior leadership and leading public officials are expected to attend, including President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and members of the Executive of the WZO. Herzl is the visionary founder of modern Zio...
(JNS) — Israelis are marking the Hebrew anniversary of the 1929 Hebron Massacre this weekend, commemorating one of the deadliest pogroms of the British Mandate period and the destruction of Hebron’s centuries-old Jewish community. The massacre took place on the 18th of Av, 5689—corresponding to Aug. 24, 1929—and this year the Hebrew date falls from Friday night through Saturday. In a post on X marking the anniversary, Israel’s Foreign Ministry recalled that “67 Jews were murdered by their Arab neighbors in the Hebron Massacre, temporarily...
British pop singer Boy George released the song "We Will Dance Again" on July 26, voicing support for Israel and Jewish communities in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led massacre. The Culture Club frontman shared the track on social media, where it quickly drew millions of views. The song references the Hamas-led Palestinian assault on southern Israel and criticizes what he portrays as selective criticism of Israel, while expressing solidarity with victims. In the lyrics, Boy George...
(JNS) — The Board of Peace announced early Friday that Hamas has agreed to a detailed 15-point plan for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire. In a post on X, the board called the agreement the conclusion of “months of intensive, good faith negotiations” to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision for new governance, security, humanitarian relief, reconstruction and economic recovery in Gaza. The Board of Peace described the roadmap as “a historic breakthrough,” saying that Hamas has, for the first time, committed to “an acti...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he expects Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz to lose its strategic weight after the war ends, predicting that oil pipelines will be rerouted around the vital waterway. Speaking to “ABC News Live Prime” anchor Linsey Davis, Netanyahu said he had anticipated Iran might attempt to block the strait, a route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, but said the consequences were impossible to forecast precisely. “I thought they could do it, but I thought they’d also h...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu touched on a wide range of topics in Wednesday’s sit-down interview in Washington, D.C., with “ABC News Live Prime” anchor Linsey Davis, including the Iran war and Jerusalem’s relations with Washington, and how the American people view the Jewish state. Netanyahu denied that Jerusalem is running an influence campaign to sway U.S. public opinion against a diplomatic resolution with Iran. He addressed comments Vice President JD Vance made on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” in an episode filmed on Jul...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday he would be discussing "all pending issues," including the Iran war, during his visit to Washington this week. "Tomorrow I will fly to Washington to meet, at his invitation, with President Trump," Netanyahu said in opening remarks ahead of a government meeting in Jerusalem on Sunday. The premier said he would also attend a memorial service for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, whom he described as "one of Israel's greatest friends...
(JNS) — Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said on Saturday that threats by New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani to possibly order the arrest of Israel’s prime minister will not dissuade Benjamin Netanyahu from speaking “proudly” at the U.N. General Assembly’s annual General Debate in the Big Apple in September. “Zohran Mamdani has failed at managing New York, and instead of fulfilling his role as mayor and fighting the rising wave of antisemitism in his city, he chooses to engage in incitement and generate headlines thr...
(JNS) — Hamas’s newly appointed leader Khalil al-Hayya delivered a television address in the Arabic language on Wednesday in which he vowed to continue in the path established by his predecessors, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel’s south. Al-Hayya said he is assuming the role with a “heavy burden” in a “delicate and sensitive stage in the history of our national cause,” according to Al Jazeera. “The first thing we affirm is that we will walk the same path, carrying the banner high...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday identified 12 Palestinian soccer players, coaches and a FIFA referee whom it said served in the “military” wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, explaining why it eliminated them and rejecting what it described as a false campaign accusing Israel of deliberately targeting athletes during the war in Gaza. The military said that the men were targeted because of their involvement in terrorist activity, not because of their roles in soccer. According to the IDF, after they were killed, many...
(JNS) — Several dozen Hezbollah terrorists remain trapped inside a tunnel complex in the area of Southern Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Ridge, with supplies expected to run out within days, Channel 12 News reported on Monday. Israel Defense Forces soldiers are positioned at the tunnel exits, preventing the estimated 40 Hezbollah operatives from leaving, the report said. With supplies dwindling, however, the military is preparing for the possibility that the terrorists could attempt to carry out a surprise attack. The Ali al-Taher Ridge reportedly con...
(JNS) - The Israeli military's deployment to earthquake-stricken Venezuela has become the longest humanitarian assistance mission ever conducted by the Home Front Command, as teams continue operating into a third week following widespread coastal destruction. Some 32 Israeli experts remain on the ground in La Guaira, near Caracas, according to Monday's Israel Defense Forces statement, assisting Venezuelan authorities in shifting from emergency response to long-term rehabilitation. IDF Brig....
(JNS) — Israel’s parliament on Monday night gave final approval to a new Basic Law declaring Torah study a foundational value of the Jewish state. The 120-member Knesset passed the Basic Law: Torah Study in its second and third readings by a vote of 63-52. While Israel does not have a formal written constitution, the set of Basic Laws passed since the country’s founding in 1948 have quasi-constitutional status. The legislation, sponsored by lawmakers Yaakov Asher and Moshe Gafni of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, states that...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz renewed his call to establish Nahal outposts in northern Gaza, telling Israel’s Channel 14 television station that the move would help protect communities along the border. “I intend to establish three Nahal outposts, which is also a military entity, in those places that were in northern Gaza,” Katz told the broadcaster during a tour of the Gaza Strip. Nahal is a program within the Israel Defense Forces that combines military service with educational and social welfare projects, often involvi...
(JNS) - Israel's Consumer Price Index has seen a 1.2 percent increase since the beginning of the year, marking the lowest inflation rate in the country in five years, according to data published by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday. The data, running up to June, showed no change in the CPI rate compared to May. Consumer prices have increased by 1.6 percent over the past 12 months, since June 2025. Notable price declines were recorded in the categories of fresh vegetables and...
(JNS) - Jerusalem was ranked as the world's seventh-best city in the World's Best Awards 2026 list in a survey published on Tuesday by the highly esteemed U.S. travel magazine Travel + Leisure. Israel's capital also topped the rankings as the best city in the Middle East and North Africa. Running for 31 consecutive years, this year's survey registered more than 661,000 votes by roughly 207,000 readers, across more than 10,088 total properties that include cities, hotels, cruise lines and more,...
(JNS) — Israeli Settlements and National Missions Minister Orit Strook called on Monday for building Jewish communities throughout all of Judea and Samaria, including in Palestinian Authority-administered areas. Strook, a member of Israel’s Security Cabinet, told Arutz Sheva that the government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reversed what she described as much of the damage caused by the Oslo Accords signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization in the 1990s, as well as the 2005 disengagement from northern Samaria. However, St...
(JNS) — Israel recently shared intelligence with the United States indicating that Iran was considering a new plot to assassinate President Donald Trump, according to a report published Thursday in The Wall Street Journal. The report, citing people familiar with the matter, said the intelligence represented a potential escalation in the confrontation between Washington and Tehran. According to the newspaper, U.S. officials had not previously been aware of the specific intelligence provided by Israel. The Israeli embassy in Washington d...
(JNS) - Israeli pianist and former Hamas hostage Alon Ohel performed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on Saturday as part of the United States' 250th Independence Day celebrations. Ohel was invited by American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik, known professionally as Five for Fighting, to join him in performing the song "Superman" on the carrier's flight deck during the central holiday events tied to the International Naval Review 250 in New York City. The USS Nimitz, which has been in...
(JNS) — The American military struck dozens of targets across Iran overnight in the fourth round of attacks on the Islamic Republic within a week, U.S. Central Command said early on Monday. Precision munitions were deployed against “dozens of targets at multiple locations” to degrade Tehran’s ability to disrupt international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said. The targets included Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats, according to the statement. U.S. fighter aircraf...
(JNS) — Israel was scheduled to send a joint Foreign Ministry-Israel Defense Forces delegation to Venezuela on Tuesday to assist recovery efforts after powerful earthquakes there killed more than 1,700 people and left thousands homeless. The mission, ordered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, was approved following a National Security Council review to coordinate the Israeli agencies involved and address the diplomatic and logistical challenges of operating in a country that has had no formal rel...
(JNS) — The Gush Etzion Regional Council in Judea has signed an agreement with Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry that aims to provide assistance to local authorities that are at the center of international delegitimization and boycott campaigns, the ministry said on Thursday. Ministry director-general Avi Cohen-Scali, together with the ministry’s senior leadership, paid a visit to the Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem on the previous day to hear about the many challenges facing area residents. The signing with...
