Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JTA) — The German government has agreed to allocate $1.5 billion in Holocaust reparations this year, setting a new record for how much the country is spending to support survivors. The increase from a total of $1.4 billion last year is due to a rise in the amount the government is paying to reimburse survivors’ medical expenses. But the sum paid directly to survivors has once again declined, reflecting the accelerating deaths of survivors. And the growth in the total package is expected to end soon as the number of living survivors plu...
(JNS) — Israel Ganz, chairman of the Yesha Council and head of the Binyamin Regional Council, is in Washington this week to advocate against a Palestinian state. Ganz met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in an effort counter the push by the White House to establish a Palestinian state in the wake of the Hamas-led massacre of Oct. 7. “There is no room for a two-state solution. [President Joe] Biden cannot appoint conditions for Israel, whether with regard to the Palestinian state or to stopping the war with Hamas. We in the United Sta...
(JNS) — Otzma Yehudit Party leader Itamar Ben-Gvir on Wednesday said he would suspend his role in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition until the premier revealed the details of the ceasefire proposal announced by U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday. “As long as the prime minister continues to hide the details of the deal, Otzma Yehudit will disrupt his coalition,” tweeted the right-wing leader, who also serves as Israel’s national security minister. The proposal was announced publicly by Biden in a televised address o...
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress on July 24, his fourth time appearing before the legislative body. The Netanyahu speech, coming against the backdrop of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, is meant to demonstrate American support for Israel at a time when Israel has come under widespread criticism for its military campaign and Netanyahu faces a possible arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. “We look forward to hearing the Israeli government’s vision for defending democ...
(JNS) — United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan called the leadership of the Palestinian Authority “Ali Baba and the forty thieves,” speaking during a meeting of Arab countries that was attended by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Axios, citing five sources, reported that a shouting match erupted during the April 29 meeting in Riyadh that also included the top diplomats of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, as well as top P.A. official Hussein al-Sheikh. The meeti...
On the evening of June 5, Oakmonte Village hosted the much-anticipated Jewish Pavilion Senior Services Cocktail Cabaret party. More than150 attendees gathered to support elders in long-term care, a mission that lies at the heart of the Jewish Pavilion Senior Services. One of the highlights of the evening was the live music, as well as the numerous raffle prizes. There were so many prizes that every single participant walked away a winner. The Jewish Pavilion Senior Services organization is...
(JNS) - "It's a miracle," Liat Ariel told JNS on Monday. Ariel's cousin Shlomi Ziv, along with Noa Argamani, Almog Meir and Andrey Kozlov, was rescued by Israeli forces in a daring daylight raid on Saturday after spending 246 days in Hamas captivity in Gaza. "We are still digesting the news. We don't really quite understand what happened to us. Suddenly, Shlomi is back," Ariel said. "We are so happy and a bit nervous. We want to make sure that he is fine. He looks alright physically but...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on Saturday on the Israeli military operation that freed four hostages. All three stressed their belief that a ceasefire deal is the appropriate way to secure the release of the other estimated 120 hostages. Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the freed people during a press conference at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Saturday. “In Gaza, we want to obtain the immediate liberation of hosta...
(JNS) - Yossi Jan, 57, died on Saturday just hours before his son Almog Meir Jan was rescued from captivity in Gaza along with three other Israeli hostages. Officials arrived at Yossi's home in the central Israeli city of Kfar Saba around noon to inform him of his son's rescue, only to find him unconscious. Magen David Adom paramedics called to the scene determined his death. The cause of death remains under investigation. "My brother died of grief and didn't get to see his son return. The...
(JNS) - BBC news anchor Helena Humphrey was ridiculed after asking former IDF International Spokesman Lt. Col. (res.) Jonathan Conricus on Sunday whether Israel should have warned Gaza's civilians before launching Saturday's rescue operation. Referring to the high Arab casualty count reported by Hamas sources, Humphrey asked, "Would there have been a warning to those civilians for them to get out on time?" Conricus, now a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a...
(JNS) — A journalist and a doctor were among the family members holding Israeli hostages in their home in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip, the Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Sunday night. “Following checks by the IDF and the Shin Bet, it can be confirmed that [journalist] Abdullah al-Jamal was an operative of the Hamas terrorist organization, who kept the hostages Almog Meir, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv in his family home in Nuseirat,” the military said in a statement posted to X. “Abdullah’s family home held hostages alongside family m...
(JNS) — Speaking at a Michigan Democratic Party fundraiser, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris said on Saturday that she mourns the Palestinians killed during Israel’s raid that freed four hostages. “Before I begin, I just say a few words about the morning which I know weighs heavily on all of our hearts,” Harris said, per Fox News. “On Oct. 7, Hamas committed a brutal massacre of 1,200 innocent people and abducted 250 hostages,” she said. “Thankfully, four of those hostages were reunited with their families tonight. And we mourn all of the in...
(JNS) — The four hostages rescued on Saturday after eight months in Gaza captivity are in a “state of severe malnutrition,” according to a doctor who treated them upon their return to Israel. “They have been physically and mentally abused for a long time. They are all in a state of severe malnutrition, although it does not appear that way to them,” Dr. Itay Pessach, director of the Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, told Channel 12 on Monday. During “Operation Arnon,” Israeli forces rescued the four...
(JNS) — The Biden administration has talked about negotiating a unilateral deal for the release of five Americans held hostage by Hamas in Gaza, NBC News reported on Monday. The talks wouldn’t include Israel and would take place via Qatari mediators, two current senior U.S. officials and two former ones told NBC. One of the current officials called it a “very real option.” The five American hostages were abducted on Oct. 7 when the terror group invaded Israel. They are Edan Alexander, Sagui Dekel-Chen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Omer Neutra and Kei...
(JNS) — Five days after U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled a multi-stage outline for a hostage release deal and ceasefire, debate within Israel has intensified over the costs and merits of the plan, as well as the extent to which Biden’s claim that this is an Israeli proposal reflects reality. Biden’s three-staged proposal envisages a temporary truce lasting six weeks to enable the release of tens of Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners, and a return of Gaza civilians to the north of the Strip. This would...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — One day before their university’s president was due to appear before Congress, hundreds of Jewish Rutgers University staff and students decried what they described as an intimidating campus environment for Jews. “The entire university community has suffered through the disruption of normal university operations and an often chaotic and intimidating environment on our campuses,” said one letter released Wednesday by Rutgers Jewish Faculty, Administrators, and Staff, with 208 signatures. A separate letter from close to 160 Jew...
Herzog hosts families of IDF spotters kidnapped by Hamas (JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog and his wife Michal on Tuesday hosted the families of five female Israel Defense Forces soldiers who were kidnapped from the IDF Field Observers base in Nahal Oz by Hamas on Oct. 7. Karina Ariev, Liri Albag, Daniela Gilboa, Naama Levy and Agam Berger have been held captive in Gaza ever since. Last month, The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released video footage of their abduction filmed by the terrorists themselves. During the meeting, the H...
(JTA) — Columbia University has settled a lawsuit brought against it by a Jewish student alleging a hostile environment as a result of the pro-Palestinian encampment movement. The settlement is a major development in Jewish groups’ efforts to hold universities accountable in light of a reported increase in campus antisemitism since Oct. 7. As part of the settlement, Columbia has promised to provide walking escorts and safe campus entrances at all hours of the day, as well as accommodations for students who were unable to complete exams owi...
(JNS) — U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday that Israel has accepted the ceasefire proposal President Joe Biden revealed on Friday, and that “the ball is in Hamas’s court.” “We are waiting for a response from Hamas,” said Sullivan. He acknowledged that the terror group in Gaza might well choose to continue the conflict instead. “That wouldn’t be terribly out of character for a vicious and brutal terror group, but what we hope they do in the end is see that the best pathway to an end to this war, the return of all t...
(JNS) - Around 100 students participated in an anti-Israel protest at the Hebrew University's Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem on Tuesday, waving PLO flags and chanting inflammatory slogans, according to Hebrew media reports. Kan News shared video of the demonstration to its X account, quoting some of the slogans being chanted, such as "there is no solution but to expel the occupier" and "Al Aqsa has been redeemed in spirit and blood." The students were protesting against "the ongoing genocide...
(JTA) - Claudia Sheinbaum swept to victory in Mexico's presidential election Sunday, giving the country of more than 120 million a woman leader and a Jewish leader for the first time. Sheinbaum's election makes Mexico by far the biggest country to have a Jewish head of state. Only Israel (9.5 million) and Ukraine (38 million) currently have Jewish leaders. Sheinbaum's Jewish ties are centered mostly on her family story - her grandparents came to Mexico after fleeing persecution in Europe - and l...
Jewish Pavilion Senior Services cherishes the opportunity to celebrate our rich heritage and foster a sense of community among our beloved seniors. Recently, residents have experienced a series of meaningful and joyous events, reflecting the vibrancy and resilience of our culture and history. Israel Remembrance Day and Israel Independence Day Commemorations began with Israel Remembrance Day (Yom Ha Zikaron), a solemn occasion where we honored the memory of the brave soldiers and victims of...
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that there are “gaps” between the ceasefire terms that President Joe Biden laid out on Friday and what he is prepared to accept. “The proposal that Biden presented is incomplete,” Netanyahu said during a closed-door government meeting in which he called reporting about his position on a potential deal “fake news,” according to Israeli media reports. Netanyahu’s comments, as well as growing tension within the government over a potential ceasefire, are muting hopes that Biden’s an...
(JNS) — Beijing will provide $69 million in aid to the Palestinians and an additional $3 million to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, Xi Jinping, the president of China, said on Thursday. “Since last October, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has escalated drastically, throwing people into tremendous suffering,” Xi said at the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing, the Associated Press reported. “War should not continue indefinitely,” he said. Xi also said there should be an international conference to press for the end of the war....
(JTA) — The Republican Jewish Coalition leapt to the defense of Donald Trump after he was found guilty on 34 charges related to falsifying records to conceal that he paid an adult film star to cover up a sexual liaison just before the 2016 presidential election. The verdict makes Trump, who is seeking to return to office this fall, the only U.S. president ever to have been convicted of a felony. “Without question this is a political prosecution of a political opponent,” Matt Brooks, the group’s CEO, said after jurors in Manhattan deliver...
