Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1801 - 1825 of 11021
(JNS) — More than 260,000 Israelis have applied for gun permits in the past six weeks, according to Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Speaking on Monday at a faction meeting of his Otzma Yehudit Party, Ben-Gvir said the applicants were normal people who simply wanted to protect themselves and their families. “My policy within the office is to allow as many people as possible to receive weapons, and as [to bring in] many people as possible to handle their applications,” he said. “In a very short period, the Firearms Licensi...
(JNS) — Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday accused Israel of the “systematic and deliberate” killing of Palestinian civilians. At the same time, he claimed to be working to restore the collapsed hostages-for-ceasefire deal between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza. “It is shameful for the international community to allow this heinous crime to continue for nearly two months, during which the systematic and deliberate killing of innocent civilians continues, including women and children,” Qatar’s ruler told Gu...
(JNS) — Chabad’s CTeen International conducted a conference in Barcelona, Spain, that brought together Jewish youth from across Europe. Some 300 Jewish teenagers gathered from Nov. 24-26 for “Shabbat Across Europe,” which Chabad described as “a weekend of togetherness, belonging and Jewish pride.” Rabbi Moshe Kotlarsky, chairman of CTeen International and vice chairman of Merkos L’Inyonei Chinuch—the educational arm of the Chabad-Lubatich movement—said the event “gave teens a space where it’s safe to express your Judaism fully.” And he remind...
(JTA) — Police estimated that 50,000 people showed up for a march against antisemitism on Sunday in what reports are calling the largest such gathering in London since before World War II. Organizers estimated that 60,000 attended the march, which was planned in reaction to the spike in antisemitism around the world that has accompanied the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7. Speaking at the march, British Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said Jews “will not be intimidated.” “We must teach our children that the superheroes of our society are tho...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday called Argentinian President-elect Javier Milei "a true friend of Israel" and invited him to visit Jerusalem. The Israeli leader congratulated Milei on his election victory in a "friendly" telephone call and thanked him for supporting Israel in its war against Hamas as well as for his pledge to move Argentina's embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, according to the Prime Minister's Office. In a major foreign policy shift, Milei has said...
Yariv Hagbi, a farmer whose family has been growing produce in the area of southern Israel near Gaza for generations, spent part of Oct. 7 fighting terrorists who broke into his family home in the town of Yakhini. That Saturday, his brother, Yizhar Hagbi, and several other relatives were killed. Since then, the entire community of Yakhini has been displaced, but Hagbi stayed behind because he's determined to save the family farm - despite all the grief, shock and devastation. "At a certain...
(JNS) — The number of violent incidents committed by Israeli Jews against Arab residents of Judea and Samaria continues to drop, according to a leaked Israel Defense Forces memo published on Monday, two weeks after Israel Police data suggested a similar trend. The confidential document was prepared by IDF Central Command, which is responsible for Judea and Samaria, and was first reported by Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Monday. In the first week of October, the military recorded 32 incidents of nationalist crime, including four gra...
Herzog honors Kibbutz Be’eri heroes by inscribing Torah scroll (JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog paid tribute on Sunday to the more than 100 residents of Kibbutz Be’eri who were murdered by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, as he inscribed a letter in a Torah scroll that will be used in the community’s rebuilt synagogue. Herzog dedicated the scroll “to all those slaughtered in Your holy name, the defenders of the land who stood up as heroes to fight against the evil terrorists who came to destroy us on the day of the joy of our Torah.” ...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Candidates sparred over whether to send U.S. troops to Gaza and Vivek Ramaswamy endorsed a conspiracy theory that has inspired antisemitic violence at the Republican primary debate last night. The debate was held at the University of Alabama less than six weeks before the Iowa caucuses kick off the nominating contest. Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador who is rising in the polls and has received an infusion of donor money, was the prime target of the other three candidates on stage: former New Jersey Gov. C...
(OFAKIM, Israel, JNS) — A reverential silence fell on the room as the four American-Muslim women bowed their heads in prayer on Friday for the victims of the Hamas attack on Israel. Moments earlier, the interfaith crowd in the apartment in this western Negev city, which included Muslims, Jews, a white-turbaned Sikh, a mixed Israeli family and Mayor Yitzhak Danino, stood mesmerized as the Arabic words of supplication for the Israelis murdered in the massacre were intoned. “The Muslim world was...
(JTA) - Javier Milei, a colorful right-wing "anarcho-capitalist" who has said he would like to convert to Judaism, was elected president of Argentina. Milei's passionate love of Judaism and Israel has been one of the several unexpected qualities that Argentines and political analysts have become accustomed to during his rapid rise over the past year. Milei, 53, throughout his campaign blamed the outgoing government for soaring inflation and poverty rates. That government included Cristina...
In the midst of the pervasive “Merry Christmas” greetings that echo through Central Florida during the holiday season, the Jewish Pavilion stands as a beacon of inclusivity, ensuring that the spirit of Chanukah is celebrated and cherished among the elderly in assisted living and nursing homes. While the ubiquitous holiday wish is generally well-intentioned, the Jewish Pavilion’s educational efforts have empowered caregivers to go beyond the commonplace and embrace the cultural diversity of their residents. The Jewish Pavilion has played a cru...
Rabbi Isaac Barzak passed away on Nov. 26, 2023. He was 84. According to the city of Ormond Beach and the Ormond Beach Police Department, the altercation that occurred at the gate of the Tymber Creek community where Rabbi Barzak lived, was not motivated by hate or bias. Jarleene Almenas, the managing editor of The Ormond Beach Observer newspaper, sent Heritage the police report which stated that the incident occurred due to a malfunction at the community gate on Nov. 15. The Homeowners’ Association member who is responsible for managing the g...
(JNS) — Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of Hamas’s original founders, on Tuesday called on Israel to set a time limit for the terror group to release all Israeli hostages, and to assassinate his father, Sheikh Hassan Yousef, and other Hamas leaders if they don’t. “Hamas must have a timeframe—a month or two or six months—to return the hostages, and if they don’t return the hostages within the time frame, Israel must execute top Hamas leaders in prison, especially the mass murderers,” said Yousef in a video message posted online. “When I...
(JNS) — Israeli lawmakers on Monday voted in favor of a 1.15 billion shekel ($308 million) proposal to fund the recently created Tekuma Authority, which will be responsible for rebuilding, developing and strengthening the Gaza border communities devastated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 cross-border massacre. The Tekuma funds, redirected from the 2023 state budget, are to be used for “emergency assistance to communities near the Gaza Strip, assistance to the cities of Ofakim and Ashkelon, and local authorities absorbing evacuated populations,” the Knesset...
(JTA) — Jewish groups are criticizing Pope Francis for appearing to accuse both Israel and Hamas of “terrorism” in their ongoing war that started Oct. 7. “This is what wars do,” the pope said at his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday. “But here we have gone beyond wars. This is not war. This is terrorism.” Francis’ comments followed separate meetings with Jewish relatives of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians with family in Gaza on Wednesday. His remarks come a month after he called on Hamas to free the hostages being he...
(JNS) - Chinese naval vessels ignored repeated distress calls from an Israeli-owned commercial tanker that was under attack by suspected Somali pirates on Sunday, according to the Pentagon. The USS Mason destroyer and allied ships-reportedly belonging to Japan- recovered the Israel-linked Central Park tanker, which an "unknown entity" hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Yemen, U.S. Central Command confirmed on Monday. Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder confirmed that at...
(JTA) — Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is reportedly selling a majority stake in his NBA franchise to casino magnate and Jewish philanthropist Miriam Adelson. Cuban, the Jewish billionaire known for entrepreneurial endeavors including his starring role on ABC’s reality show “Shark Tank,” is selling a stake valued at $3.5 billion to Adelson, the widow of longtime Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson. The deal was first reported by NBA reporter Marc Stein. The deal represents something of a partnership for Cuban and Adelson, whose daughter is on t...
TAIPEI (JTA) - For a few years eight decades ago, Shanghai was home to an outpost of what would become BBYO, the global Jewish youth movement. At the time, the Chinese city was a refuge for Jews fleeing Europe. Fifteen German Jewish teens created an Aleph Zadik Aleph chapter in June 1941, but when they left Asia after the war, the youth movement ended, too. Now, the network of small but significant Jewish communities scattered across Asia has resurrected BBYO's presence on the continent. About...
(JNS) - The Israel Defense Forces is investigating claims that three members of the Bibas family in Gaza, including 10-month-old Kfir, died in Hamas captivity, the military said on Wednesday. The "military" wing of Hamas announced the deaths Kfir, his brother Ariel, 4, and his mother, Shiri, 32, the Hamas- and Palestinian Islamic Jihad-affiliated Quds News Network reported earlier on Nov. 28. Without presenting evidence, the Al-Qassam Brigades attributed their deaths to "a previous Israeli...
(JTA) — Israel is investigating Hamas’ claim that its youngest hostages, brothers Kfir and Ariel Bibas, are dead, along with their mother Shiri. The Bibas family became an early face of the hostage crisis after Hamas released a video showing Shiri holding her sons while being taken captive. Kfir, who is 10 months old, has become a symbol of the campaign for the hostages’ release. His brother Ariel is 4. Although most of the child hostages have been freed under the agreement with Israel, the Bibas family was not among those who have been retur...
(JTA) — Over the course of a week, three synagogues across the United States were tagged with anti-Israel and antisemitic graffiti. The vandalism follows weeks of similar defacement at a variety of American Jewish sites, including cemeteries, Chabad Jewish centers, and Jewish buildings on university campuses. The incidents occurred more than a month into the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which has come alongside a reported spike in antisemitism nationwide. The recent vandalism targeted synagogues affiliated with three different r...
(JNS) - The evacuees are slowly returning to Ofakim, 17 miles from the Gaza border. Shops are reopening and quiet has returned to the streets. But a short visit makes it clear that the town, which lost 52 of its residents in the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught on southwestern Israel. will never be the same again. The unemployed people, who had worked in the now-ruined factories of southwestern Israel, are strapped for cash. People who have seen the harsh sights of war have lost the sparkle in their...
(JNS) - For Sderot resident Danny Eisenman, the story of Oct. 7 began with helping some tourists change a flat tire. The tourists were passing through Sderot on their way to the Dead Sea and Eisenman was out walking his dog that morning. Once the tire was changed, the tourists fussed over the dog, pleasantries were exchanged, selfies were taken and everyone was on his way. A mere five minutes later, he was home when the air raid sirens sounded. "I remember when the sirens started and they didn't...
(New York Jewish Week) — At least two protesters brandished signs with swastikas at an anti-Israel protest targeting the annual Rockefeller Christmas tree lighting in midtown Manhattan on Wednesday night. One demonstrator held a sign with the Nazi symbol and the words “Israeli military.” The protester was forcibly ejected from the event by other participants who shouted at him and trampled his sign, prompting police to separate the two sides. Another protester carried a sign that compared Jews to Nazis via a blood-spattered swastika inter...
