Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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By Alex Traiman (JNS) - In August, barely a month ago, U.S. President Donald Trump referred to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a "war hero" over the near-perfect 12-day war in June that thoroughly neutralized Iran's illicit nuclear program. Now in September, Netanyahu received less than a hero's welcome at the United Nations. While the entire world obsesses over nearly every Israeli military and diplomatic action, nations of the world collectively walked out as Israel's prime...
Jewish Family Services’ annual Hope Challenge kicked off Sept. 15 and will be open until Oct. 15. The community’s need for help with food, mental health counseling, transportation and family stabilization has soared by over 30 percent since 2023. Right now, every dollar donated will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Pearlman, Minkow and Bolton families up to a total of $25,000. A donation of $55 will feed a family of four for a week through the Pearlman Food Pantry; a gift of $200 sponsors a family in the Family Stabilization Program; $15...
(JTA) — French President Emmanuel Macron formally announced his country’s recognition of Palestinian statehood on Monday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York City. “True to the historic commitment of my country to the Middle East, to peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians, this is why I declare that today, France recognizes the state of Palestine,” Macron said, receiving a loud applause from the more than 140 leaders in attendance. During his announcement, Macron also outlined his vision for a “renewed Palestini...
On too many college campuses today, Jewish students aren’t asking for special treatment — they’re asking to be able to study in peace. Recently, that basic expectation has been shattered. Into that breach stepped Mothers Against College Antisemitism — a parent-led network that rocketed from a Facebook group to a national force almost overnight, now with more than 63,000 members. Their premise is simple: If universities won’t protect Jewish students from harassment and open calls for their eradication, parents will. Elizabeth Rand, attorney...
Shalom Orlando will host an Author Meet & Greet, sponsored by Writer’s Block Bookstore, at the Roth Family JCC on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 2 p.m. Leland Vittert will discuss his newly released book, “Born Lucky,” about how he stood firm and refused to be defined by an autism diagnosis. Register at Eventbrite.com...
(JNS) — Most House Democrats signed a letter on Thursday warning the Israeli government against trying to annex territory in Judea, Samaria or Gaza. Led by Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and joined by the entire Democratic House leadership, the 178 congressmen told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar that Israeli annexation of any territory would “plunge the region” into “further chaos and violence.” “We are convinced that unilateral steps by eith...
(JNS) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday emphasized that there is no Palestinian state, despite recognition by several Western countries this week, and said the diplomatic initiative led by France and Saudi Arabia had actually derailed efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war. “There is no Palestinian state, no matter how many papers they put out, and the only time there’ll ever be one is if there is a negotiation with Israel — which right now is impossible because they have a war going on with Hamas,” Rubio told CBS News in an interv...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump unveiled a peace plan for Gaza and the Middle East to leaders of several Muslim-majority countries during a meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. “We had a very productive session. We presented what we call the Trump 21-point plan for peace in the Mideast and Gaza. I think it addresses Israeli concerns and, as well, the concerns of all the neighbors in the region,” Reuters quoted U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff as saying at the 15th annual Concordia globa...
(JNS) — The U.S. Justice Department announced on Monday that it filed a civil complaint against those who “engaged in a coordinated effort to intimidate and disrupt Jewish worshipers” on Nov. 13, 2024. The department filed the suit under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which former President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994 to protect those seeking abortions and attending religious services and abortion clinics and houses of worship. The federal complaint alleges that the defendants—including Party for Sociali...
(JNS)— More than one million scans of the QR code worn by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his speech at the U.N. General Assembly annual general debate in New York have been recorded in the last 24 hours—with about 30 percent of them from Iran and Gaza, the prime minister’s spokesperson said on Saturday. The QR code leads to a website documenting the Hamas-led atrocities of Oct. 7, 2023, in Israel’s northwestern Negev. In addition, the Prime Minister’s Office released Netanyahu’s U.N. address with Arabic overdubbing...
(JNS) — Israeli Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana on Sunday expressed his gratitude to New York Mayor Eric Adams, after the latter announced he was bowing out of the city’s mayoral race. “Eric Adams chose NYC over his ego, trying to save it from the crazy communist,” Ohana said on X, referring to front runner and anti-Zionist Zohran Mamdani. Adams was polling fourth after Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa, according to the New York Post. Thus his exit from the race improves the chances of Cuomo and Sliwa, conside...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that he was working with U.S. officials on a 21-point Gaza peace plan put forth by Washington and hopes to finalize it in coordination with U.S. President Donald Trump. In an interview on Fox News ahead of his White House meeting on Monday, Netanyahu said the proposal is not yet complete, expressing “hope we can make it a go, because we want to free the hostages, we want to get rid of Hamas rule and have them disarmed, Gaza demilitarized and a new future set up for Gazans and Isr...
(JNS) — Oziel Vatik, the mayor of the Samaria village of Kedumim, was subjected to harassment and threats in New York while visiting the city as part of an official Yesha Council delegation on Sunday, he told JNS. Vatik told JNS he was holding security consultations by phone following the deadly terrorist attack near Kedumim on Sunday when a woman came up to him and started shouting. “She shouted at me: ‘You’re Israeli, you piece of…’ and other curses in English,” he said, adding: “Out of respect for you, I won’t repeat them.” “Just as i...
25 has come to a close. In Israel, this time of year is evident by the changing landscape, notably the fruits on the trees, the grapes in the vineyards. If there was no calendar to tell us the date, we would still know it was the High Holydays. We feel a need to focus on our recent announcement about the establishment of an ambulance fleet dedicated in memory of Charlie Kirk, z"l. In response to that announcement, we received thoughtful feedback, and we realized we may have unintentionally...
(JNS) - The first trailer for "Red Alert," a four-part series depicting the harrowing events during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, was released on Thursday. The mini-series, in Hebrew Or Rishon ("First Light"), will premiere globally on Oct. 7, 2025, on the second anniversary of the atrocities that led to Israel's almost two-year war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. It will air in the United States on Paramount+ and in Israel on Channel 12. Another...
(JNS) — More than 50,000 new immigrants have arrived in Israel since the Hamas-led terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, according to figures released by the Jewish Agency for Israel ahead of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. In addition, through Masa Israel Journey, a Jewish Agency program in partnership with the Israeli government, roughly 20,000 young people from Jewish communities abroad have come to Israel to volunteer and support the country. Tens of thousands of Jews have participated in aliyah fairs held worldwide since Oct. 7, and m...
(JTA) — Around 1,200 Hollywood names, including stars like Liev Schrieber, Mayim Bialik and Jennifer Jason Leigh, have signed onto an open letter opposing a growing celebrity boycott of the Israeli film industry. Led by Creative Community for Peace, a pro-Israel entertainment group, the letter argues that the stated boycott against Israeli film institutions will harm Israeli work that pushes for peace and criticizes the government and further encourage antisemitism. It comes after similar criticism of the boycott from Paramount, whose former c...
Netanyahu: There will be no Palestinian state By JNS Staff (JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that there will not be Palestinian state, and said that an Israeli response to the international recognition by various Western countries will come upon his return from a visit to the United States. “I have a clear message to those leaders who have recognized a Palestinian state after the terrible massacre of October 7: You are granting a huge prize to terrorism,” Netanyahu said. “And I have another message: It will...
Adams is out — but who will get his votes? Mayor Eric Adams quit his reelection bid on Sunday, ending an unpopular, scandal-ridden administration and a longshot campaign to hold onto Grace Mansion. Adams was consistently polling fourth, behind Democratic nominee and frontrunner Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa. But Jews made up an important part of his base. According to a Quinnipiac poll released earlier this month, of the 12 percent of voters who favored Adams, 42 percent said they were Jewish. A...
A pizzeria in the German city of Fürth, Bavaria, is banning Israelis in protest against the ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in the second such antisemitic incident in the country in as many weeks. The move sparked outrage, with the local Jewish community in the southeastern state denouncing the move as a rerun of the antisemitism of Nazi Germany, while the Israeli embassy in Berlin also stated that it seemed like a return to the 1930s. “We believe that children should not be harmed under any circumstances,” a sign posted at the...
(JNS) — The Hamas terror group published a propaganda video of Israeli hostage Alon Ohel, just hours before the Jewish people marked Rosh Hashanah. Ohel’s family has requested that no photos or excerpts from the video be published. “Our family is shaken and in pain following the release of Alon’s video by Hamas. It’s evident that Alon is losing vision in his right eye, and he appears thin and distressed,” said the captive’s parents, Idit and Kobi, in a statement issued by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. “We demand that as a preconditi...
Elon Musk has intensified his long-running feud with the Anti-Defamation League, calling the Jewish civil rights group a “hate group” in a post on X, the platform he owns and renamed from Twitter. “The ADL hates Christians, therefore it is is [sic] a hate group,” Musk wrote Sunday, responding to a pseudonymous account that had claimed the ADL views Christianity as extremist. The exchange drew quick amplification from right-wing figures. U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican, accused the ADL of “intentionally creating a targeted hate...
This past Sunday, Sept. 14, marked a historic and heartfelt milestone, as Chabad of Altamonte Springs celebrated the completion and welcoming of its very first Torah scroll. The Siyum Sefer Torah, a celebration that drew families and friends from across the community, was filled with joy, music, and pride as participants danced with the new scroll in the streets before bringing it into the synagogue. The idea for commissioning a Torah began about a year ago. Until now, Chabad of Altamonte...
(JNS) — The U.S. Postal Service dedicated a new, two-ounce stamp honoring Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, during a first-day-of-issue ceremony on Tuesday at the 92nd Street Y on New York City’s Upper East Side. The 18th which the Postal Service has issued in its distinguished Americans series, the stamp features a black-and-white portrait of Wiesel. It will serve as a permanent rate stamp for two-ounce mail. The half-hour ceremony drew about 100 people, inc...
(JNS) - Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sept. 15 reopened the Pilgrimage Road in Jerusalem, a first-century route linking the City of David to the Temple Mount. The Pilgrimage Road, a broad stone route used during the Second Temple period, connected the Pool of Siloam, where pilgrims purified themselves in ritual baths, to Judaism's holiest site, the Temple Mount. Jerusalem "is forever our city," Netanyahu declared at the ceremony in the City of Da...
