Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA) — Americans for Peace Now, a left-wing pro-Israel organization, is calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war, the first American Zionist group to do so after more than three months of fighting. “Continuing this devastating war poses unacceptable risks for Israel, Gazan civilians and the entire region,” James Klutznick, the group’s chairman, said Monday in a statement. “For the sake of the security and wellbeing of civilians in Israel and in Gaza, the Biden administration must push Israel to bring about an immediate cessation...
(JTA) — One woman was killed and 17 injured in a terror attack in the Tel Aviv suburb of Raanana on Monday, a rare fatal incident in central Israel amid the country’s war in Gaza. Two Palestinian men carried out the attack on Monday afternoon, stabbing people and ramming others with cars in Raanana, a suburb of about 75,000 north of Tel Aviv with a large population of English-speaking immigrants. The woman who was killed was identified as Edna Bluestein, 79, and two additional victims were seriously injured, including a 16-year-old boy. The...
(JTA) — On March 29, 2011, the body of a decapitated woman was discovered in a vineyard in Arvin, a town just over the Los Angeles county line. Earlier this month, nearly 13 years later, the victim was identified as Ada Beth Kaplan, a Jewish woman who was 64 at the time of her death. The tortuous journey to cracking the mystery of Kaplan’s name involved a “long and hard” multiyear effort by a DNA-focused nonprofit, eight generations of family records and the work of two Jewish genealogists who understood just how thorny it can be, sometim...
Yonkers Public Schools fires coach, kicks player off team over Jew-hatred (JNS) — The fourth-largest school district in New York, Yonkers Public Schools, announced on Monday that it has fired a high school basketball coach and kicked a student-athlete off the team at Roosevelt High School following an antisemitic incident at a Jan. 4 game. During that game, a student at the public school told a player from the Leffell School, a private Jewish day school in Hartsdale, N.Y., “I support Hamas, you f**king Jew.” “The Yonkers Public Schools along w...
(JNS) — American and British forces shot down 21 Houthi drones and missiles over the southern Red Sea on Tuesday night, according to U.S. Central Command. Two U.S. security officials told CNN that the number of Houthi drones and missiles intercepted by naval forces was actually 24 and that it was “one of the largest Houthi attacks that occurred in the Red Sea in recent months.” CENTCOM tweeted early on Wednesday that a “complex attack of Iranian designed one-way attack UAVs (OWA UAVs), anti-ship cruise missiles, and an anti-ship ballist...
(JNS) — The families of 132 Israeli hostages being held by Hamas on Tuesday held a protest march in an attempt to disrupt the transfer of aid to Gaza, calling on Israel to halt the flow of aid until their loved ones are freed. “What do we get in return? We think that if we’re talking humanitarian [matters], this aid should be in exchange for our hostages,” said Carmit Itzhaki, whose niece Eden Yerushalmi, 24, was abducted from the Supernova music festival on Oct. 7. “Hamas was under pressure to bring in supplies and therefore went along wit...
(New York Jewish Week) — Commuters faced major delays Monday morning as several pro-Palestinian protests shut down traffic on the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges on the East River as well as the Holland Tunnel under the Hudson River linking New Jersey to Manhattan. Organizers said that the goal of the coordinated protests was to escalate disruption and send a message to the city about Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza. “Particularly with blocking main arteries of transit, the idea is to confront New Yorkers — just for a brief h...
(JNS) - The Startup Nation meets the Bible. Israeli technology that measures the Earth's magnetic field has verified an ancient narrative, researchers said on Thursday. A new study scientifically corroborates the conquest of the Philistine city of Gath by Hazael, king of Aram-Damasus, as described in 2 Kings 12:17. The breakthrough technology, which was achieved by researchers at four Israeli universities, enables archaeologists to identify burnt materials discovered in excavations and estimate...
Students Supporting Israel at the University of Central Florida has arranged a walkout/protest on Thursday, Jan. 18, starting at 10:07 a.m. to support the Hostages in Israel. The marchers will meet in front of the library, at 9:30 a.m., hold a moment of silence at 10:07 a.m. and march around the library, through the student union, and along the Memory Mall to the Addition Financial Arena. As of Jan. 18, the hostages will have been held captive for 104 days. Jan. 18 is also the first birthday of...
(JNS) - Israeli forces have completed the destruction of Hamas's military capabilities in the northern Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a press briefing on Saturday night, three months into Israel's war with the terrorist group. "We have completed the dismantling of Hamas' frameworks in the north of the Gaza Strip, and we will continue to deepen the achievement and strengthen the barrier and the defense elements at the border," Hagari said. He added...
“A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” Documentary Screening On Jan. 21, 2024, at 2 p.m. at Shalom Orlando, 851 N Maitland Ave, Maitland, the Holocaust Memorial Resource and Education Center will present its Continuing Discussion Series: Crucial Conversations for a Unified Florida. The film “A Tree of Life: The Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting” delves deep into the lives of survivors, victims, and their families, offering poignant firsthand accounts of a shattered community’s resilience. This documentary sheds light on societal...
Palestinians captured by the IDF in the Gaza Strip are angry about the way Hamas used civilians to protect themselves and would prefer Israeli rule as the soldiers have treated them better, according to recordings of interrogations released by the IDF. “I felt that we are human shields,” said Muhammad Darwish Amara, a terrorist from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad organization. “Why would we protect them? We also want to be saved.” The man, who looked to be in his 20s, said that Hamas forces had forced him and others to go with them instead...
Hearing the inspiring story of Saul Dreier, a Holocaust survivor who worked in Schindler’s Factory and survived three concentration camps, on Jan. 24, 7 p.m., at Chabad Lubavitch of North Orlando, 1701 Markham Woods Rd., Longwood. Also enjoy the melodies of the Holocaust Survivor Band, which Dreier founded. The cost is $25, early bird is $20 by Jan. 16. Space is limited For more information and to RSVP, call 407-636-5994 or visit www.jewishnorthorlando.com/band....
(JTA) – A federal judge in Iowa has blocked much of a state law forbidding school libraries from stocking books depicting “sex acts,” in part because he said it was keeping a classic Holocaust memoir off shelves. U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher granted a preliminary injunction against the law, Iowa Senate File 496, on Friday, just before a Jan. 1 deadline for schools to begin enforcing it. The “staggeringly broad” law, he wrote in his opinion, would prevent public schools from stocking “non-fiction history books about the Holocaust....
(JNS) — Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday blocked the government’s “recusal law“—an amendment to Israel’s Basic Law: The Government—from taking effect until after new elections are held. In its 6-5 ruling, the Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, argued the law was “clearly a personal amendment” meant to shield Netanyahu from the consequences of violating a 2020 conflict of interest agreement, and therefore constituted an illegitimate abuse of the Knesset’s power to pass Basic Laws. The delay was supported by former c...
(JNS) — U.S. spy agencies verified Israeli claims that Hamas and another Palestinian terrorist group used Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as a command center and to hold hostages, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. In late November, the Israel Defense Forces released extensive video evidence of terror tunnels under Shifa Hospital—the Gaza Strip’s largest medical facility—saying it “unequivocally” proves the modus operandi of Hamas, “which systematically operates from hospitals.” The terrorist group held at least three of the estimated 240 h...
(JNS) — At least 100 Iranians were killed and scores of others were wounded on Wednesday in two reported explosions at a commemoration ceremony for slain Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in the city of Kerman, some 600 miles southeast of Tehran, emergency services said. Local media cited officials as claiming the blasts were the result of “terrorist attacks.” Several gas canisters exploded at the entrance to the cemetery, according to Nournews, a news outlet with close ties to the regime. The explosions took place 10 minutes apart, accor...
(JNS) - Hamas terrorists murdered about 100 members of Kibbutz Be'eri and visitors on Oct. 7. Of the 30 who were kidnapped from their homes, 19 have been released and the body of Judith Weiss was recovered. As of this moment, 10 kibbutz members are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip. Members of Be'eri who returned from Hamas captivity, returned to the devastated kibbutz this week to pay their respects to their neighbors and friends who were murdered or are still being held hostage. Oren...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration condemned calls by two Israeli government ministers for Palestinians to be removed from the Gaza Strip. Rabbi Rick Jacobs, the president of the Union for Reform Judaism, also condemned the call. The criticism comes as gaps remain between President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over who will govern Gaza on the day after Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas, the terror group that controlled the territory prior to its Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. While Biden has pushed for the Wes...
(JNS) — Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday reiterated his support for the voluntary resettlement of Gazans, a day after being condemned by the U.S. for taking this stance. “More than 70 percent of the Israeli public today supports a humanitarian solution of encouraging the voluntary immigration of Gaza Arabs and their absorption in other countries, understanding that a small country like ours cannot afford a reality where four minutes away from our communities there is a hotbed of hatred and terrorism where two milli...
Soldiers serving in Gaza are experiencing unusual infections, including severe foot fungus, Yedioth Ahronoth has reported. Long campaigns with soldiers standing sometimes for hours at a time, and the compromised hygiene in Gaza have increased the risk of serious foot and leg conditions. Medical staff report many reservists are suffering from painful lesions on the feet and legs. Soldiers may not take off their shoes or change their socks for many days which also raises the risks of infections. In addition, many soldiers in Gaza complain of...
(JTA) – Harvard University President Claudine Gay has resigned in the wake of plagiarism allegations and months-long criticism of her response to allegations of antisemitism at the school. Gay is the second Ivy League university president to step down following congressional testimony on campus antisemitism last month that drew intense criticism. University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned her post on Dec. 9. Gay had also faced criticism over the school's initial statement on Hamas'...
(JNS) — Israel accused the United Nations on Wednesday of not doing enough to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Defense Ministry agency responsible for civilian affairs in the territories, responded to a tweet by United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees commissioner-general Philippe Lazzarini blaming Jerusalem for subjecting Gazans to “collective punishment with too little humanitarian aid allowed in.” The agency tweeted...
(JNS) - The Israel Defense Forces are investigating a possible terrorist tunnel that soldiers discovered near Jewish communities in the Hebron Hills in Judea. In a viral video shared to social media earlier this week, an IDF reservist claims that "after a long period in which residents of Telem and Adora in the West Hebron Hills heard digging noises," troops were sent to inspect Palestinian structures in the area of Khirbet Tayibe. "To our surprise, in addition to illegal construction, we found...
Rock star Alanis Morissette uncovers her family’s Holocaust history on PBS’ ‘Finding Your Roots’ By Jacob Gurvis (JTA) — Seven-time Grammy Award winner Alanis Morissette explores her family’s Jewish past, which she said was kept a secret from her for most of her life, on Tuesday night’s season premiere of the PBS celebrity genealogy series “Finding Your Roots.” “I think I found out that I was Jewish in my late 20s. I didn’t know,” Morissette tells host and Harvard University history professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in the episode, a snippet...
