Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 11638
Former Likud Knesset member and Temple Mount activist Rabbi Yehudah Glick believes his life's mission is to transform Jerusalem's Temple Mount - what he prefers to call "Zion" - into "a house of prayer for all nations." Interviewed in the JNS Jerusalem Studio on July 6, the American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi reflected on four decades of activism, surviving an assassination attempt in 2014 and his belief that greater Jewish and international access to the site can advance religious freedom and...
(JNS) — Prof. Adam Ferziger, a historian in Bar-Ilan University’s Israel and Golda Koschitzky Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, has been named co-winner of the 2026 Shapiro Award for Best Book in Israel Studies for his book “Agents of Change: American Jews and the Transformation of Israeli Judaism” (New York University Press, 2025). Presented annually by the Association for Israel Studies, the award recognizes the best book in the field published during the previous calendar year. While much public discussion has focused...
(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,...
As part of the Hope & Humanity Speaker Series, Van Jones will be performing on Saturday, Sept. 5 in the Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center. Anthony Kapel “Van” Jones is an American political analyst, media personality, lawyer, author, serial entrepreneur and civil rights advocate.[1] He is a three-time New York Times bestselling author, a CNN host and contributor, and an Emmy Award winner. Make the evening even more memorable with a VIP ticket for this inaugural speaker series event. The VIP experience includes: • Exclusive pre-s...
(JNS) — Graham Platner, an oyster farmer and Marine Corps veteran who has been accused of rape, among other sexual improprieties, and who has said that Israel is guilty of “genocide,” dropped out of the Maine Senate race on Wednesday night. “We are suspending campaign operations,” he said about seven-and-a-half minutes into a more than 11-minute video he posted to social media. “This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think that it’s an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not,” he said. “We’re not doing it becaus...
(JNS) — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, will reportedly honor Mary, mother of Jesus, as a “Palestinian woman giving birth under occupation” while co-hosting a women-only Muslim retreat in Corsica, France, that began on Thursday. Duwaji, 29, departed the United States for Spain before the July 4 holiday to attend the sold-out, five-night “spiritual” retreat organized by The Women Sanctuary. The retreat is being held at a 15th-century monastery in Corsica, France. According to the group’s website, participants will explore...
(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) — A federal judge declined on Monday to block Florida’s planned designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations as a domestic terrorist organization. CAIR and its Florida chapter sued last week after Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans to designate the organization under the statute, arguing the law violates the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiffs also sought a temporary restraining order to prevent enforcement pending the outcome of the case. U.S. District Judge Mark E. Wal...
(JNS) — A New York City “neighborhood passport,” which the city’s official marketing group created and which is on hand at libraries in the Big Apple for tourists coming for the World Cup, includes a “cultural map” of the city detailing “thriving international communities and cultures.” The map identifies 30 neighborhoods associated with immigrant populations, including “Little Palestine” (Bay Ridge, Brooklyn), “Little Egypt” (Astoria, Queens), “Little Pakistan” (Newkirk Plaza, Brooklyn) and multiple Chinatowns. The map, which is sourced from t...
(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) - Israeli-American baseball player Zev Moore signed a professional contract this week with the Trenton Thunder of Major League Baseball's Draft League. According to Moore's publicist, he became the second practicing Orthodox Jew to play professional baseball, while also becoming the second player raised in Israel to sign a contract allowing him to compete at that level. The 25-year-old outfielder will join the Thunder from July through early September, adding another chapter to a baseball...
(JNS) - In a break from longstanding tradition, the rabbi, cantor and ritual director at Congregation Shaarey Zedek, a large Conservative synagogue in Southfield, Mich., penned a letter to the congregation's 1,000-member households urging everyone, Democrat and Republican alike, to vote in the Aug. 4 Democratic Senate primary. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.), whom AIPAC has endorsed, is running against Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former Detroit public health official who has accused Israel of...
(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Thursday that it is now clear to President Donald Trump that Iran is not serious about making peace. The remarks by the American envoy came a day after Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was effectively over following repeated attacks by the Islamic regime in the Gulf. "The one thing that he became very clear about in the last 48 hours is that the Iranians are not serious people when it comes to making peace," Huckabee told reporters after...
(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) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that his administration would resume negotiations with Iran after the United States carried out another round of military strikes against the Islamic Republic earlier in the week. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks,’” Trump wrote. “We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the ceasefire is over.” The United States attacked some 90 military targets in Iran on Wednesday in response to Iranian strikes on commercial sh...
California lawmaker ‘heartbroken’ as Jews targeted in nearly three-quarters of state’s religion-based hate crimes By Aaron Bandler (JNS) — Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, told JNS that he is “heartbroken” over a newly released state report showing that nearly three-quarters of the state’s religion-based hate crimes in 2025 targeted Jews. The California Department of Justice’s 2025 “Hate Crime in California” report, released Wednesday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, found that Jews were the...
(JNS) - Delegations of Jewish athletes from a record 43 countries entered a packed Teddy Stadium the evening of July 1 to cheers from family members, fellow countrymen, Israelis from across society, government officials and a lineup of Israeli performers, officially opening the 22nd Maccabiah Games. Some 3,000 athletes from five continents traveled to Israel for "Maccabiah 2026: More Than Ever!", which was postponed from 2025 because of the war. They are joined by about 2,000 Israeli athletes co...
In an Oval Office ceremony Monday morning, July 6, President Donald Trump marked the launch of the Trump Accounts program by ringing the opening bells for both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq from the White House. Lead guests included Michael Dell, founder and CEO of Dell Technologies, and his wife, Susan Lieberman Dell, co-founder and board chair of the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, along with the presidents of both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Michael Dell was born in...
(JNS) - For Asaf Goren, the theme of the 22nd Maccabiah - "More Than Ever" - is more than a slogan highlighting the power of Jewish unity and the bond between Israel and Jewish communities worldwide. It has become the driving force behind a Maccabiah-wide initiative honoring 18 athletes with ties to the Maccabi movement who lost their lives in Israel's wars. Through sporting events and educational programming across the country, organizers hope participants will return home as ambassadors...
The Orlando Chapter of Hadassah is hosting Hadassah Game Day on Tuesday, Aug. 11 in Altamonte Springs at noon. The address is provided upon registration. The games include Mah jong, Rummikub or Scrabble. All are invited to come. Registration is required by Aug. 4. Entry is limited to guests who have registered. Register online at https://events.hadassah.org/OrlandoGameDay26 General admission is $25 and includes lunch. Checks can be made out to Hadassah and mailed to 645 Stafford Terrace., Apt. 153, Altamonte Springs, FL 3271...
Congregation Shalom Aleichem welcomed a new Torah, one that Frank Gutworth had worked on obtaining over several months/years. On June 5, 2026, members of the congregation, (l-r) Larry Shapiro, Asher Tomberg, Lorie Pierce (behind the Torah), Frank Gutworth holding the Torah, Theresa Mixon and Mitch Minkowsky, carried it into the synagogue....
(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...
(JNS) — Mass funeral ceremonies for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are set to begin on Saturday, July 4, more than four months after he was eliminated in the opening Israeli Air Force strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury,” regime outlets said. The multi-day funeral, which state media claimed is expected to draw up to 20 million mourners, will begin when Khamenei’s body will lie in state at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla Mosque. The ceremonies will continue through Monday with a funeral procession along a six-mile route, fo...
