Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1817 - 1841 of 11373
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the leadership of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, released the following statements in reaction to reports that President Joe Biden held a tense phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during which the President demanded an immediate cease-fire to the war in Gaza. “President Biden is playing directly into the enemy’s hands by undermining Israel’s effort to defeat Hamas. If the President wishes to help Israelis and Palestinians, he should do...
(JNS) — Pierre Poilievre, a member of the Canadian parliament and the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, recently spoke to members of the Orthodox Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec. His address on March 26 received robust applause and several standing ovations. Poilievre proclaimed the permanence of the Jewish people, saying that “a thousand years from now, whatever is going on, on Fridays, as the sun goes down, there will be a Shabbat in Israel.” He said, “Those songs will be sung. The Jewish people will go...
(JTA) — Rep. Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has said he would not approve a U.S. sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel without “assurances” on what the jets would be used for. “I’m waiting for assurances,” Meeks, who represents a district in New York City, told CNN on Tuesday. “It is enough of the indiscriminate bombing. I don’t want the kinds of weapons that Israel has to be utilized to have more death.” Meeks is one of four lawmakers on Capitol Hill with the power to hold up weapons sales. He has pre...
(JNS) - Orthodox Union leaders delivered 100,000 letters to the White House on Wednesday, urging U.S. President Joe Biden to continue supporting Israel, demanding the release of hostages whom Hamas holds in Gaza and combating antisemitism domestically. The letters were the first batch of more than 180,000 that the OU has collected from synagogues across the country since Thursday, marking 180 days that the hostages have been in captivity. Rabbi Moshe Hauer, executive vice president of the OU,...
(JNS) - The Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition composed of Hamas and other terrorist groups, recently announced price drops for food in the Gaza Strip. Gazan merchants said, "An average family can now buy products for a hearty meal with 100 shekels [$27.15], compared to 200 shekels required for such a meal just a few days ago," Ynet reported. The news is in line with a report issued last week by the Israeli Defense Ministry's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories...
(JNS) — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Wednesday accused President Joe Biden of turning against Israel to appease the far-left flank of the Democratic Party. “Democrats are weak on Israel as well, and it’s their support for Israel. It’s rather stunning to us that there’s this dramatic shift. Hamas is holding more than 130 hostages, as you know, including Americans,” the 52-year-old Republican said at a press conference in Washington. “These people are languishing at the hands of barbaric terrorists, and Joe Biden is meanwhile giv...
(JNS) — Newly emerged video shot by Hamas terrorists showing the capture of female Israeli soldiers on the Gaza border has been described as “hard to watch” by Israeli media. In the video, parts of which have not been shared with the public, Hamas terrorists are initially seen with five female spotters, with two more later being added. “We will exchange you for our people,” the terrorists say. Another terrorist forces one of the soldiers to show him how to dial a Gaza number from her cell phone. The terrorists later put the soldiers into stol...
(JNS) - The father of an Israeli Defense Forces soldier killed in action in the Gaza Strip has denounced renewed anti-government protests, accusing demonstrators of using the plight of bereaved families and the relatives of hostages to further their political aims. "Nobody should burn the country down," Hagay Lober, whose son Staff Sgt. (res.) Elisha Yehonatan Lober, 24, was killed in the southern Gaza Strip in December, wrote in a viral Facebook post on Sunday. "You cannot dismantle the...
(JTA) — Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the right to abortion is no longer protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. But that seismic constitutional change has triggered a new legal debate: In the absence of federal constitutional protection, does state law provide Jews with a religious liberty right to abortion? Last week an Indiana state appellate court answered yes to the question — invoking variations on the word “Jew” more than 70 times in the process. As the first state appellate c...
(JNS) — Family members of U.S. citizens whom Hamas terrorists kidnapped and took to Gaza on Oct. 7 held a “very productive meeting” at the White House on Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, Rachel Goldberg-Polin said, per the pool report. “We are thinking of all 133 souls who are being held” in Gaza, added Goldberg-Polin, whose son is the American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. (Hersh’s father Jonathan Polin also attended the meeting.) “We want results,” Goldberg-Polin said. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of American Israeli hostage...
By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) — Hamas’s leadership in Rafah continues to cling to fanatical visions of eventual victory, six months into the war it launched with Israel, according to Israeli observers. “As long as they are not decisively defeated, they have a chance to stay alive in Gaza. Therefore, they positively view the outcomes of the war, or at least they have some kind of optimism,” said Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the Research and Assessment Division of Israel’s Military Intelligence and currently director of the Proje...
Some iPhone keyboards suggest Palestinian flag for ‘Jerusalem’ (JNS) — Typing “Jerusalem” on the current iPhone iOS 17.4.1 software in an emoji search returns a Palestinian flag icon if the phone is set to English (UK) but not when set to English (U.S.), JNS found on Wednesday. The same thing happens on some Google’s Android devices The Jewish Chronicle reported, citing a social media post by Rachel Riley, a British television presenter. “I’ve just upgraded my software to version iOS 17.4.1, and now, when I type the capital of Israel, Jerusal...
(JNS) — Esther Panitch was inspired when Renee Evans, of the World Jewish Congress, bought trees in Israel recently for Peach State legislators who voted in favor of a bill to codify into law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Evans put Jewish National Fund tree certificates on the lawmakers’ desks. “I saw the certificate, and I was like, ‘Huh. This would be great if I could just name it in honor of a troll,’” Panitch, a Democrat who is the only Jewish state representative in Georgia, told...
(JTA) - The celebrity chef behind the nonprofit whose aid workers were killed in an IDF strike on Tuesday is appealing to Israel, and the Jewish people, to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In an op-ed published simultaneously Wednesday in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, and The New York Times, World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres laments the killings and names the seven workers who died. He also calls on Israel to open land routes to deliver aid to hungry Gazans and says his...
(JNS) - Israel will open a new land crossing to the Gaza Strip designed primarily to facilitate the entry of foreign aid, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday. Gallant told reporters that the new crossing point would be established in the northern part of the coastal enclave, between the Israeli village of Zikim and the Palestinian village of As-Siafa. According to the minister, the new crossing will reduce travel time for trucks to enter Gaza after picking up shipments at...
(JNS) — Washington has no evidence that Israel is committing “genocide” in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin testified during a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee about the 2025 defense budget. About a dozen and a half anti-Israel protesters, who disrupted the beginning of the nearly three-hour hearing, were removed from the room. “I want to address what the protesters raised earlier: Is Israel committing genocide in Gaza?” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) asked Austin. “We don’t have any evidence of genocide,” Au...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Joe Biden said the United States would continue to "impose costs" on Russia for its imprisonment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested one year ago. The Journal marked the March 29 anniversary by leaving most of its front page empty below a headline reading, "HIS STORY SHOULD BE HERE." Every other article and headline on the front page involved Gershkovich. "Today we mark a painful anniversary: one year of American journalist Evan...
The White Rose Tribute event, to be held April 11 at the Orlando Museum of Art from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m., will honor Jonathan and Nancy Wolf with the Tess Wise White Rose Award. The evening will feature a commemorative program, culinary treats, local wines and an exclusive update on the new Holocaust Museum for Hope and Humanity. Jonathan and Nancy Wolf's dedication to diverse causes includes support for the Orlando Museum of Art, Planned Parenthood of Greater Orlando, and the University of C...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Howard Kohr, the CEO who has led the powerhouse American Israel Public Affairs Committee since 1996, is set to retire by the end of this year. Under Kohr's leadership, AIPAC has traversed five presidencies and more than 10 Israeli elections. In that time, its budget and staff have enjoyed significant growth as it has become one of the best known and most powerful lobbies in Washington. During his tenure, the United States' military aid to Israel increased to $3.8 billion per...
The Rosen JCC offers events for the entire family. April 18th the Rosen JCC will host community bingo. This is open to the entire community. The doors open at 5:30 p.m. and the games start 6:30 p.m. Bring $20 to play for the night. There will be cash prizes and raffles. April 27th will be the monthly Saturday Night Out. Parents can plan a night out and children will have their own night of fun. Drop off is 6 p.m. and pick up is 11 p.m. This month’s theme is “An Evening of Magic.” Space is limited to register at www.rosenjcc.org/sno. April...
(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security via JNS) — President Joe Biden’s Middle East strategy has been problematic since the Oct. 7 attack. The Hamas onslaught proved that Israel cannot contain its enemies Hamas, Hezbollah and above all, Iran, and can only fight to reduce their capabilities, while Biden has reiterated his policy of containment regarding Iran and its proxies. Iran was to be rewarded with the release of bank deposits the United States has frozen since the fall of the shah. Biden also sent his special negotiator to try to...
(JTA) — In the largest antigovernment demonstration since Oct. 7, thousands of protesters gathered in Jerusalem to call on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to step down and for Israel to reach a deal to free the hostages held in Gaza. And in a dramatic turn in Tel Aviv, the main organization lobbying on behalf of the families of Israeli hostages in Gaza said it would cease its Saturday night rallies in what has come to be known as Hostages Square and instead join in anti-government protests that have taken place in a dif...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — There has been no shortage of hints when it comes to the White House’s efforts to convey the message that Israel should refrain from taking action in Rafah, find a path to a ceasefire, and increase aid to Gaza. Vice President Kamala Harris turned this subtlety into explicit policy when she threatened Israel that there could be consequences to an operation in the city. On Monday, the rhetoric turned into action at the U.N. Israelis by and large will likely brush off the Security Council resolution as yet “another examp...
(JNS) — Israel’s National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has accused U.S. President Joe Biden of siding with the enemies of the Jewish state. During an interview with The New York Times published on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir said, “Presently, Biden prefers the line of [Palestinian-American Democratic Representative from Michigan] Rashida Tlaib and [Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar to the line of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir.” “I would have expected the president of the United States not to take their line, but rather to take o...
(JNS) — Hamas will not release any of the 134 hostages it holds until Israel ends the war, withdraws its troops, allows all Gazans to return to their homes and lifts the blockade on the coastal enclave, the terrorist group’s leader Khaled Mashaal said on Wednesday. Speaking at a women’s event in Jordan, Mashaal declared that the organization’s leadership is “waging a negotiating battle no less fierce” than the military conflict with the Israel Defense Forces, according to a readout of his remarks posted to Telegram by Hamas. “Inshallah...
