Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1684 - 1708 of 10919
(JNS) — A member of the Turkish parliament, Hasan Bitmez, died on Thursday, two days after collapsing while delivering an anti-Israel rant on the plenum floor. Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced his death. The lawmaker, who apparently suffered a heart attack while speaking to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, was saved by his colleagues, who also had him rushed to the hospital. Turkish lawmaker gets heart attack right after saying Israel will ‘not be able to escape the wra...
(JNS) - More than 130 gatherings on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 through BBYO's "Global Shabbat" initiative drew more than 16,000 teens from 30 countries. "This historic teen-led movement-wide initiative has been anchored in BBYO culture since it first launched in 1928," per the nonprofit, which was formerly called the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization and which split from B'nai B'rith International more than 20 years ago. The recent event had two themes-"forever young" to mark BBYO's centennial year and "re...
BERLIN (JTA) — Recognizing Israel’s right to exist is now mandatory for those who want to become German citizens in the former East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Applicants living in the state will have to confirm in writing “that they recognize Israel’s right to exist and condemn any efforts directed against the existence of the State of Israel.” Saxony-Anhalt’s interior minister, Tamara Zieschang, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, said Tuesday that the rule went into effect at the end of November. The new sta...
(JNS) — The U.S. Senate passed H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 which outlines how Pentagon’s budget for next year, by a vote of 87 to 13 on Wednesday evening. Six Democrats and six Republicans—including Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio)—voted against the bill, as did Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “It’s nothing to celebrate,” Hawley wrote of the bill. “Defense contractors get paid billions, while Missourians poisoned by their government get nothing. It...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces struck several terror sites in Lebanon on Tuesday in response to ongoing rocket-fire at the Jewish state. The military said that two launches were detected, to which it responded by shelling the source of the fire. The rockets landed in open fields, causing no injuries or damage. Later on Tuesday, IDF air defenses intercepted a “suspicious aerial target” that had crossed from Lebanon into Israeli territory, causing sirens to blare in the Western Galilee. The military said it also shot down several more projecti...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that there is no way the Palestinian Authority would be allowed to rule the Gaza Strip in a post-Hamas world during a stormy discussion on Monday in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee. “Oslo was the mother of all sins. The difference between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority is only that Hamas wants to destroy us here and now, and the P.A. wants to do it in stages,” the prime minister said. “We cooperate with them against Hamas when it serves their interest and ours up...
(JNS) — Israel’s parliament on Thursday approved a 25.9 billion shekel ($7 billion) supplementary wartime budget for 2023. The amendment to the 484 billion shekel ($132 billion) 2023 state budget approved last May passed its final vote in the Knesset plenum with 58 lawmakers in favor and 44 opposed. Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel of the ruling Likud Party was absent from the vote and Likud Knesset member Yuli Edelstein abstained after initially voting yes. National Unity Party members led by War Cabinet minister Benny Gantz did not vot...
Maccabi World Union unveils memorial to victims of Oct. 7 By Rolene Marks (JNS) — Maccabi World Union unveiled a memorial to the 1,200 victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre at the Kfar Maccabiah hotel and sports club complex in Ramat Gan on Wednesday. Since the onset of Israel’s war against Hamas, MWU has been active in helping tens of thousands of residents from the south who evacuated their towns and kibbutzim on the border with Gaza. MWU turned Kfar Maccabiah into a small village to accommodate evacuees from Sderot, a city on the Gaza bor...
(JNS) — Leaders of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria on Monday expressed outrage over the lack of funding for their security, claiming the Israeli government has failed to allocate “a single shekel” to protect the 500,000-plus citizens living in the area since Hamas launched its war against the Jewish state on Oct. 7. During a heated debate in the Knesset Finance Committee, the heads of the Binyamin Regional Council, Gush Etzion Regional Council, Samaria Regional Council, Mount Hebron Regional Council and Beit El Council lashed out at op...
Last Thursday, Dec. 7, Dr. Daniel Layish and Keith Dvorchik hosted a meeting with a group from CityServe Israel. The discussion was about how the Christian and Jewish communities can help the moshavs and kibbutzim in the southern Negev region that was attacked by Hamas. A spokesman from Moshav Ein Habesor, Dr. Yftach Gepner, who has lived in Orlando and now lives in Ein Habesor, shared his experience on Oct. 7. Ein Habesor is about 4 miles east of Gaza. On that fateful Simchat Torah, he woke to...
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following last month’s historic March for Israel that brought nearly 300,000 people to the National Mall, the nation’s most prominent American Jewish organizations have today joined forces to launch The 10/7 Project — a new centralized communications operation. The 10/7 Project is designed to promote continued U.S. bipartisan support for Israel by working to ensure more complete and accurate information about the Israel-Hamas war in real time for policymakers and the American public. The 10/7 Project is led by the America...
By Ben Sales (JTA) — The president of the University of Pennsylvania announced her resignation on Saturday, Dec. 9, after facing growing backlash for declining to say outright that calling for the genocide of Jews violated the school’s code of conduct. “I write to share that President Liz Magill has voluntarily tendered her resignation as President of the University of Pennsylvania,” Scott Bok, the chair of the school’s board of trustees, said in a statement. Bok subsequently said he would als...
On Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, at 8:30 a.m., the Jewish Pavilion and the Maitland Chamber of Commerce will come together for a celebration of Tu B’Shevat. This special event will take place at New Hope for Kids in Maitland, 544 Mayo Ave., Maitland. Tu B’Shevat holds significance in the Jewish calendar as a celebration of nature, trees, and the environment. Volunteers and dedicated Jewish Pavilion staff are gearing up to prepare homemade dishes, drawing inspiration from Jewish culture and the essence of Tu B’Shevat. To be a part of this $10 celeb...
Shalom Orlando, in collaboration with the Kabbalah Centre, is excited to announce the launch of its newest spiritual offering, the Kabbalah One Class, designed to provide a profound exploration of the mystical teachings of Kabbalah. This insightful course will take place at Shalom Orlando’s Maitland campus. Kabbalah is a proven system of spirituality that is grounded in ancient wisdom. With practical, everyday strategies, along with answers to humanity’s biggest questions, this system helps you design your best life and create meaningful cha...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — If there’s a trait that unites the 100 members of the U.S. Senate, it is volubility: These folks, who invented the filibuster, know how to talk. It was remarkable to see them then exiting a screening room on Tuesday in the bowels of the Capitol building, barely able to shape their mouths into a single word. The unusual silence came after two senators, Jacky Rosen, a Jewish Nevada Democrat, and Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, screened for their fellow senators 43 minutes of harrowing footage of the carnage Hamas ter...
(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...
