Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Heritage Florida Jewish News has had a second change of ownership in its 48-year history. Laura Ossin purchased the paper on Nov. 30, 2024, from its publisher, Jeff Gaeser. Ossin grew up in the Dr. Phillips area. After graduating from Florida State University with a degree in communications and public relations she moved to Winter Park for work. She later met her husband, Lee Ossin, and moved to Maitland where they now reside. If the name Ossin sounds familiar to some that's because Lee is the s...
(New York Jewish Week) — Omer Neutra was killed more than one year ago, more than 5,000 miles away. But at his memorial service Tuesday morning on Long Island, the sanctuary overflowed with relatives, friends, Jewish leaders and at least one other hostage family. Coursing through the crowd was the pain of learning — after nearly 14 months of unending hope and activism — that Neutra had been killed in battle alongside his fellow Israeli soldiers on Oct. 7, 2023, the day Hamas terrorists abducted his body to Gaza. It is still being held there...
Staff Sergeant Yona Betzalel Brief, 23, died on Nov. 26, 2024, as a result of wounds he sustained on Oct. 7, 2023, near the Gaza border. Brief was the nephew of Lake Mary residents Dr. Bruce and Debra Hoffen and cousin of Sara and Frances Hoffen. Brief was 23 and the youngest son (of six children) of Hazel and David Brief, who have lived in Modi'in, Israel for 30 years. David is the brother of Debra Hoffen. Yona, a combat medic in the elite Duvdevan unit, died at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer w...
(JTA) — Israel’s security cabinet approved a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal with Hezbollah, which ends more than a year of conflict with the terror group on Israel’s border with Lebanon. President Biden said in an address to the nation after the agreement that Lebanon’s government agreed to the agreement, and that the withdrawal of forces starting then would take up to 60 days. The ceasefire took effect early Wednesday morning in the region. “I’m pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States proposal to end the...
(JNS) — The University of Michigan Central Student Government voted 30-7 on Tuesday to impeach Alifa Chowdhury and Elias Atkinson, its president and vice president respectively, on five combined charges, the Michigan Daily, a student paper, reported. Chowdhury was impeached for incitement of violence against the student government, cybertheft of student government property and dereliction of duty, while Atkinson was impeached for inciting violence and dereliction of duty, per the paper. The Central Student Government voted that Chowdhury’s Oct...
(JNS) — Britain would follow due process and arrest Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he were to visit the United Kingdom, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday in response to a question from reporters at a G7 meeting near Rome. Last week, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued arrest warrants for the Israeli premier and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged “war crimes” committed in Gaza since the start of the Iron Swords War. “We are signatories to the Rome Statute, we have always been committed...
(JNS) — Hamas welcomed the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon that went into effect early Wednesday, with the Gaza-based terrorist group saying that it, too, wants a pause to hostilities. “We have informed mediators in Egypt, Qatar and Turkey that Hamas is ready for a ceasefire agreement and a serious deal to exchange prisoners,” a Hamas official told the AFP news agency. The Hamas official accused Jerusalem of obstructing an agreement. The terrorist group welcomed the agreement despite its Iranian-backed ally reneg...
(JNS) — Testimonials and photo and video footage on social media showing men donning tefillin and women wearing Stars of David or lighting Shabbat candles have emerged amid a Jewish great awakening after the Oct. 7 terror attacks. Add Shai Davidai, the Columbia Business School professor who has been one of the most prominent defenders of Israel on campuses and beyond, to that trend. Davidai, 41, who is Israeli-American and a self-described atheist, told JNS that he has largely stopped using his phone on Shabbat since the Oct. 7 attacks, and i...
(JNS) — Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, both Democratic Georgia senators, are facing a backlash from the Atlanta-area Jewish community over their votes to halt certain arms sales to Israel. AIPAC, the Atlanta JCRC and the local Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee chapters joined 46 other Jewish organizations, including more than 20 Atlanta synagogues, in a letter to the senators on Thursday condemning their votes. “Your vote demonstrates that your commitment to Israel’s security is not ironclad,” the organizations wrote....
(JNS) - More than two decades on from suffering horrific injuries in a Hamas terror attack, a New Jersey resident says she and other victims have been "retraumatized" by ongoing support for Hamas on American streets and university campuses. Sarri Singer, a Lakewood native, was volunteering in Israel when she was seriously wounded in the Davidka Square suicide bombing on a Jerusalem 14A bus on June 11, 2003. The Palestinian terrorist, dressed as an Orthodox Jew, had boarded the bus at the Mahane...
(JNS) - We collectors are an odd but determined group. We latch on to a story and spend countless hours finding tangible items that tell it. We are determined that the story will never be forgotten. Nothing will stop us from telling that story, not even a Hezbollah rocket. My friend Hadi Orr is a collector of Israeliana. (Yes, there is such a word). He has amassed a collection of tens of thousands of items. His collection ranges from El Al and Naomi Shemer paraphernalia to key chains, New...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had decided to end the use of administrative detention orders against Israeli citizens, in a move that bears significant change for law enforcement in Judea and Samaria. “Given that the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are subject to Palestinian terror threats and unjust international sanctions are slapped against the settlers, it is improper that the State of Israel would apply such a severe measure against the people of the settlements,” Katz said in a statement. Katz infor...
(JNS) - Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump's pick as his senior director for counter-terrorism, has made several statements in favor of Israel recently, including that "Palestine" doesn't exist and that IDF generals should forget about diplomacy and focus on defeating terrorists militarily. Gorka, who had served as deputy assistant to the president-elect from January to August 2017, during his first term in office, broached the issue of Palestine in an interview on Nov. 16 with a host for RT, a Russian state-controlled international news television...
(JTA) — A number of progressive Jewish groups are backing an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel. The effort, a collection of several resolutions, is unlikely to pass in the closely divided Senate but could split Democratic lawmakers. The push is driving a wedge among Jewish organizations in the lead-up to Wednesday’s vote: A group of centrist and right-wing pro-Israel groups oppose the bills. But large liberal Jewish organizations have offered support, signaling those groups’ growing criticism of how Israel is opera...
(JNS) — Donald Trump announced Saturday that attorney Will Scharf will join his White House team. “I am pleased to announce that William Owen Scharf will serve as assistant to the president and White House staff secretary,” the president-elect said in a statement published by his transition team. According to Trump, “Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team. He has played a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decisio...
(JNS) — The National on Wednesday published what the Emirati state-owned newspaper said is the full text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that halted hostilities with the Hezbollah terrorist entity. According to the Abu Dhabi-based broadsheet, the text was obtained from a senior official after it was discussed in a government meeting in Beirut on Wednesday. Here is the text: Announcement of a Cessation of Hostilities and Related Commitments on Enhanced Security Arrangements and Towards the Implementation of UNSCR 1701 A...
“Neri is turning 6, she wants to help hungry babies in Israel!” This isn’t the typical line included in the notes section of a donation to American Friends of Yad Eliezer/B’ezri’s Feed-a-Baby donation form. So, when an office manager saw it, she decided she wanted to hear more about Neri and how a 6-year-old from Ormond Beach, Florida was helping feed a baby across continents. Florida and Israel may be separated by over 6,000 miles, but the distance is no match for one local family committed to helping Israeli families in need. Dr. Maurice K...
(JNS) —The Netherlands’ House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a motion that calls for shuttering extremist mosques whose leaders preach the destruction of Israel. The motion submitted by the leader of the coalition’s Farmer–Citizen Movement, titled “The closure of Salafist mosques and institutions that preach the destruction of the Jewish people and Israel,” passed 91-58. “Noting that antisemitism and incitement to antisemitism are increasing, and this has led to a Jew-hunt, calls on the government to close Salafist mosques and instituti...
(JNS) — President-elect Donald Trump and his new administration are “uniquely positioned” to stabilize the Middle East, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said. “President Trump has strategically surrounded himself with a team of seasoned leaders who possess a deep understanding of the Middle East’s complex dynamics and the grave threats Israel faces from its enemies,” Haskel told JNS. “Supported by this powerhouse team, President Trump is uniquely positioned to stabilize the region and secure a better, more prosperous future—one th...
White House denounces murder of Chabad rabbi in UAE ‘in strongest terms’ (JNS) — The White House National Security Council condemns the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates “in the strongest terms,” Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council, stated on Sunday evening. “Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” Savett said. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence. It was an assault as well...
(JNS) — Israel’s government unanimously approved the appointment of Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the United States. Leiter will replace Michael Herzog—the outgoing ambassador and older brother of the Israeli president—on Jan. 24, four days after the Trump administration takes office. Before that, Herzog and Leiter will work together to ensure a smooth transition. The Cabinet OK’d the nomination after an appointments committee headed by the Civil Service commissioner recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s selection be approved....
(JNS) — President-elect Donald Trump named Howard Lutnick, the Jewish billionaire and chair and CEO of the global finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as his nominee for U.S. commerce secretary on Tuesday. Trump stated that Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition team, “will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.” “Another outstanding addition to President Donald Trump’s America first team,” wrote Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s pick for U.S. envoy to...
(JNS) - The Emirati interior ministry announced that it has arrested "the three perpetrators involved in the murder of Zvi Kogan, a Moldovan national according to his identification documents at the time of entry into the UAE, where he lived as a resident." The Emirati Ministry of Interior then confirmed on Monday, Nov. 25, that the three suspects arrested for the murder of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan are Uzbek nationals. Security authorities identified the suspects as Olimpi...
(JNS) — The Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee will convene on Monday to discuss a request made by airline companies to amend the Aviation Services Law so they can resume their flights to and from Israel. In the wake of Israel’s more than year-long war on its southern and northern borders, a host of foreign airlines suspended flights to the Jewish state, sharply cutting options for travelers and leading to higher prices for seats on local carriers. Airline companies complained that the law is causing them great losses, through no fault of th...
Recently, I graduated with my master’s degree. The experience, while rewarding, came with a hefty price tag — about $25,000. At the time, I thought, “Whew, education is an expensive investment.” But I quickly realized that for many of us, the true value of education is not just in the cost, but in the curriculum itself. After graduation, I, like many new college graduates, found myself entering the job market. After six years of college and 12 years of grade school, I thought I’d finally escaped the classroom. But, as life often does, it...
