Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida has raised over $1m in philanthropic commitments of $150K or more in 2025, marking unprecedented organizational momentum and setting the stage for transformative years ahead. These crucial gifts, to fund annual operations and innovations, reflect confidence in the Center's strategic direction and long-term impact. Founded in 1980 as a lecture series on the Holocaust, the Holocaust Center was established in 1982 and opened its museum...
(JNS) — An Assyrian inscription on a pottery sherd over a possible tax revolt from the First Temple period about 2,700 years ago has been uncovered near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday. The tiny fragment, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) in size, was uncovered six months ago during an excavation in the archaeological garden adjacent to the Western Wall, the state-run archaeological body said. It is the first such inscription in the Akkadian language eve...
Israeli singer Yair Levi’s melodies, in Hebrew and English, have touched the hearts of Jewish, Christian and secular men and women worldwide. Take his song, “The Blessing”: At a performance in The Netherlands, the overflowing crowd of Jews and Christians sang with him the Aaronic Blessing — “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” — in Hebrew and Dutch and English. Cent...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — After the initial euphoria over the return by Hamas of 20 living Israeli hostages and the outrage at the terrorist organization for handing over only a fraction of the deceased hostages, talks on the next steps to end the war in Gaza are advancing. Before moving to the next stage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, ending the first stage is required, namely the return of all deceased hostages, 24 in total. Hamas already said last week that it would have difficulty locating all the deceased, since some wer...
(JNS) — In an interview with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl that aired on Oct. 19, White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff recounted the chronology of events that led to the hostage-for-ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas signed in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 9. Kushner said their approach was rooted in “pragmatic realism,” which he defined as preventing wars through strength and making deals instead of lecturing the world. The focus, he said, was on shared interests over shared values, working with other nations where goa...
(JNS) — Likud Cabinet and deputy ministers have signed a letter calling on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in connection to his ongoing criminal trial. The letter, dated Oct. 19, was initiated by Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, who posted it on X. “Unfortunately, today it is already clear to everyone that as long as his trial is underway, which is like a bleeding wound in the body of Israeli society, there will be no unity in Israel,” the letter states. The move comes in the w...
(JNS) — Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) led 44 Democratic colleagues and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who caucuses with the Democrats, in a letter urging U.S. President Donald Trump to tell Israel that he is opposed to Israel annexing territory in Judea and Samaria. All of the Democrats in the Senate signed the letter except Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), one of Israel’s staunchest supporters in Congress. “Since your plan for Gaza does not address the West Bank, it is imperative that your administration reinforce your comments and emphasize its oppositi...
(JNS) — A prominent American evangelical leader said Thursday that the faith-based Christian community needs to take a more verbal stand against antisemitism, and “shut down” people like the right-wing political commentators Candace Owens and Tucker Carlson who feed hatred of Jews and Israel. The unequivocal remarks come at a time when polls show a drop in support for Israel among young evangelicals due to the fallout from the two-year war in Gaza and follow last month’s assassination of the American conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was...
(JNS) — A poll in the New York City mayoral race released on Monday shows state representative Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, with a double-digit lead in a three-way race against independent, former Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo and the Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. The AARP/Gotham poll of 1,040 likely voters shows Mamdani leading with 43.2% of the vote against Cuomo’s 28.9 percent and Sliwa’s 19.4 percent. But those margins would tighten considerably if either of the trailing candidates were to drop out of the race. “In a head-...
(JNS) - The Gaza ceasefire agreement faced its most deadly challenge yet on Sunday following an unprovoked attack by Hamas in southern Gaza that killed two IDF personnel-a company commander and a soldier from the Nahal Infantry Brigade-and severely wounded a third soldier. Hamas conducted at least two other attacks on Sunday as well. A military official, speaking to reporters on Sunday, stated that some of the IDF personnel targeted in the attacks were working on dismantling tunnel...
(JNS) - A decision by Britain's Safety Advisory Group to bar visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an upcoming Europa League match at Aston Villa's Villa Park has sparked outrage, with British-Israeli released hostage and soccer enthusiast Emily Damari calling it "shocking" and "disgusting." "I was released from Hamas captivity in January and I am a die-hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv," said Damari, who also supports Tottenham Hotspur. "I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision...
(JNS) — Documents obtained by the Israel Defense Forces in the Gaza strip show substantial cooperation between Hamas and Al Jazeera, according to a report published on Monday. That coordination extended to the existence of a secure phone line between the terrorist group’s military emergency operations room and the Qatari news agency. “Qatar’s Al Jazeera gives Hamas a propaganda and psychological warfare platform. Hamas operatives, from rocket launchers to hostage takers, work for Al Jazeera. Terror propaganda is not journalism,” Israel’s...
(JNS) — Four in 10 Jewish Americans say they try to hide their religious identity, according to a new Washington Post poll that also reported almost one in three respondents saying they don’t feel safe as a Jew in the United States. In the survey, 42 percent of respondents said they do not wear, carry or display anything in public that could identify them as Jewish, with 58 percent saying they do. In an American Jewish Committee poll taken in November 2023, a month after Oct. 7, just 26 percent said they hid their Jewish identity, while 73 perc...
Israeli FM congratulates new Japanese premier on ‘historic election’ Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday congratulated Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on her “historic election.” “We look forward to further deepening the partnership between Japan and Israel across various fields and building a prosperous and secure future for both our nations,” tweeted Sa’ar. Takaichi, who leads Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was voted in as premier by a clear majority of the nation’s parliament on Monday. While the 6...
(JNS) — Jewish families have been banned from living in Saudi Arabia for dec-ades. Is this the model that Democratic House leaders now support for Judea and Samaria? When 178 House Democrats signed a letter on Sept. 25 to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposing any Israeli move to annex territory in the West Bank, they weren’t just making a policy statement but endorsing a future where no Jews would live in Judea and Samaria. Do they believe that Jews should be barred from living in their ancestral homeland—the biblical heart...
(JNS) — The Hamas terrorist organization, through the International Committee of the Red Cross, returned the remains of two more slain Israeli hostages it had been holding in the Gaza Strip. After being handed over to Israeli forces by a Red Cross team inside the Strip, the bodies were transferred to the Jewish state and received in a military ceremony, the Prime Minister’s Office said. Following an identification process at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv, the PMO confirmed the hostages’ identities as Ar...
(JNS) - Rom Braslavski, one of the 20 hostages freed by Hamas as part of a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, was held alone for two years, and was offered better treatment if he agreed to convert to Islam. His testimony was shared with the media via his mother, Tami Braslavski, at Ramat Gan's Sheba Hospital, where he is being treated. During some of those two years, his only company was the bodies of murdered hostages, she said. She added that upon his return to Israel, he had reported the location of...
(JNS) — Israeli lawmakers on Wednesday passed in preliminary reading two opposition bills to extend legal sovereignty to Judea and Samaria. One bill, by Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Liberman, seeks to annex Ma’ale Adumim, a large city in the Judean Desert, while a second, by Noam Party head Avi Maoz, concerns all of Judea and Samaria. The legislation will now be forwarded to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee for consideration ahead of three additional votes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sought to thwart the...
(JNS) — Freed hostage Avinatan Or was discharged Tuesday from Rabin Medical Center’s Beilinson Hospital and returned to his parent’s home in Shiloh, Samaria, eight days after he was released from Hamas captivity in Gaza. The Petach Tikvah hospital said that Or, who was freed on Oct. 13 as part of the U.S.-brokered deal with Hamas, had passed all medical examinations and would continue his rehabilitation through its unit for ex-captives. “Beilinson will continue to accompany Avinatan and his family, who will receive all the support they need,...
(JNS) — Freed Hamas hostages Eitan Horn and Nimrod Cohen were discharged on Thursday from Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center’s Ichilov Hospital, three days after returning to Israel under the truce deal that secured their release after more than 700 days in captivity in the Gaza Strip. Sourasky Medical Center said the ex-captives completed all the required medical evaluations before their release and that medical teams would continue to accompany them and their families during their recovery. Horn, 38, was released to his family’s home in the c...
(JNS) - Forty-eight Israeli children who lost a parent serving in the Israel Defense Forces celebrated their b'nei mitzvah on Monday in Jerusalem, in a day-long program that blended joy, remembrance, and unity. The event, organized by the IDF Widows and Orphans Organization (IDFWO), began with a moving reception at the President's Residence, where President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal, warmly welcomed the children and their families. "It's OK to be sad," Michal Herzog told them. "You...
A new teaching and religious organization was recently incorporated in DeLand, Fla. The nonprofit is called The Center for Jewish Discovery of Central Florida, and was developed by Rabbi Michael Asher, who was ordained in June 2025 by the Jewish Spiritual Leadership Institute. A kickoff Shabbat dinner was held in early September with nearly 30 people attending. "We offer meaningful classes, open conversation, and spiritual exploration for Jews of all backgrounds," Asher told Heritage. "Through...
(JNS) — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman took to the stage on Saturday in Jerusalem to perform a rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s hit rock song, “Sweet Home Alabama.” American comedian and actor Elon Gold led the ensemble, singing “Sweet Home Yerushalayim” (“Jerusalem” in Hebrew) over the catchy chorus. Huckabee expertly pulled off the song’s funky bass line on electric bass, with Friedman accompanying the group on electric guitar. The performance was shared on X by Eli Beer, president a...
(JNS) — Hamas terrorists must give up their weapons, or “all hell breaks loose,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview with CBS on Tuesday. Netanyahu spoke in response to a question on whether Israel’s two-year war against Hamas in Gaza was over. He replied that Israel was giving a chance to the ceasefire agreement forged by U.S. President Donald Trump, which includes “both demilitarization and disarmament,” which are “not the same thing,” the prime minister said. “Well, we agreed to give peace a chance,” Netanyah...
“If we have to, we’ll disarm [Hamas],” U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News’ correspondent Maria Bartimoro in an interview aired on Sunday night, in light of the terrorist group’s recent claims that it has not committed to disarmament. Trump said that during negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect on Oct. 10, Hamas promised it would disarm but added that “these are very violent people; this is a very violent part of the world.” When asked who would disarm Hamas, Trump replied, “Whether it’s me, the U.S., or a proxy,...
