Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1828 - 1852 of 10941
(JNS) — Israel Defense Forces’ ground forces made significant gains in northern Gaza on Oct. 31, as Israeli Air Force fighter jets, acting on Shin Bet intelligence, launched a large-scale strike on Hamas’s Jabaliya Battalion and killed its commander, along with a large number of other terrorists, the military stated. IDF troops commanded by the Givati Brigade operated in a Hamas military stronghold in the northern Gaza Strip and killed approximately 50 terrorists, while in parallel, ground troops in Gaza are continuing counterterrorism activ...
(JNS) — The Jewish state is fighting a war against “the forces of barbarism” for itself and for all decent countries, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told foreign reporters on Monday. “It is a time for everyone to decide where they stand,” he said. Netanyahu hopes that the world will back Israel, because “Israel’s fight is your fight,” and should “Hamas and Iran’s axis of evil win, you will be their next target,” he said. The “horrors of Hamas” show that the 21st century has not moved “beyond the barbaric horrors of the past” toward...
Bolivia severs ties with Israel over war in Gaza By Gabe Friedman (JTA) — Bolivia’s foreign ministry announced Tuesday that it is severing diplomatic ties with Israel over what it called Israel’s crimes against humanity in its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Bolivia had previously cut ties with Israel in 2009 under President Evo Morales over another violent conflict in Gaza, but President Jeanine Anez restored relations in 2020. Bolivia’s current president, Luis Arce, is a member of the country’s left-wing socialist party and was formerly...
(JNS) — Eden Zechariah had told her family she was coming home when terrorists started shooting at the outdoor music festival she attended Oct. 7. Her boyfriend, Ofek Kimchi, was killed trying to protect her and she was dragged off to Gaza alive. Her mother, Orin Ganz Zecharia, talks about her on video: “If there’s something you can’t miss about Eden, it’s her smile. She used to write down thanks every day for everything she has: thanks for her job, for her parents, for her friends. She really wanted things to be good. The world can’t stand to...
(JTA) — The White House denounced “antisemitic messages being conveyed on college campuses” in a statement Thursday, condemning students groups that have praised Hamas’ attack on Israel or “call for the annihilation of the state of Israel.” The statement is the most direct critique President Joe Biden’s office has yet made about inflammatory rhetoric surrounding Israel on college campuses, which has spiked following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s war in Gaza against the group, which the United States has designated as a terrorist o...
(JNS) — Following a series of anti-Israel protests on campus—some which have turned violent—and a lack of adequate responses by university administrations, Jewish students are now turning to the U.S. legal system. “There has been an explosion of antisemitism on college campuses around the country and we had been looking at this issue prior to the massacre on Oct. 7,” said Mark Ressler, the Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP lawyer leading the effort. “We’re going to show that the universities had notice of acts of hatred and bigotry towards Jewis...
(JNS) - The Gaza Strip is a complex piece of land that has been at the center of disputes in the Land of Israel dating back thousands of years. The roughly 40-kilometer-long (24.9 miles) coastal enclave lies at the core of the current war between Israel and Hamas. The roots of the conflict can be traced back to the foundation of the State of Israel; now at a boiling point, it is causing myriad deaths. The population of Gaza has risen from around 185,000 in 1948 to more than 2 million today - a...
Throughout history, whenever the Jewish people faced danger, in addition to protecting themselves physically, they turned their eyes to their father in heaven and prayed for salvation. Nate’s Shul and Chabad of North Orlando has gotten together to help assist those who take upon themselves Mitzvos for the merit of victory and peace in the Holy Land. TEFILLIN: Jewish men or boys over Bar Mitzvah who commit to putting on Tefillin every weekday will be given their own pair of Tefilin if they don’t already have their own. MEZUZAH: Any Jewish hou...
(New York Jewish Week) - In front of a long U-shaped table in Times Square, set for 224 people, a crowd began to sing "Happy Birthday" for a 12-year-old boy named Erez. Thursday was Erez's birthday, but the gathering was no celebration. Erez, along with his sister, Sahar, and father, Ofer Calderon, are three of the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in the terror group's Oct. 7 invasion of Israel. Erez's grandmother and cousin were killed. The song was led by Omer Lubaton-Granot, an Israeli...
“Why I Love Israel” is a new course for teens and it includes a cash reward for attending. “Did Israel steal its land? Why does it seem that Israel has so many enemies? How important is Israel to me, anyway?” These are some of the questions that will be discussed in “Why I Love Israel” a six-lesson course from JLI Teens. The students will take a journey where they will virtually travel through the Holy Land, learn of the history, meaning and holiness of this ancient country. They will see how this faraway place is their home, and how their Jewi...
Chabad of South Orlando is offering a course on Kabbalah which began Oct. 31 and continues for six Tuesdays. The instructor is Rabbi Yosef Konikov and is from 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. Course Overview Join the new course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute for a comprehensive overview of the core mystical and spiritual teachings of kabbalah. Plus, see how these teachings offer powerful insights into everyday life, self-understanding, and personal growth. Gain literacy in Judaism’s mystical tradition. Get to know Kabbalah’s core ideas and termi...
Local residents, Neal and Genie Blaher’s son, Noah, is in northern Israel in a combat support position. The following is a request concerning needed equipment in Israel. Greetings friends, Noah has been called up to the reserves in the IDF, specifically on the Northern front facing Lebanon and Hezbollah. He remains in a combat support position. This means that although he will not be engaged directly in combat, he will be providing “support.” This can include approaching the front lines to replenish artillery and other needs of his fellow soldi...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The Biden administration convened a meeting with Jewish leaders on Monday on what it says is an “alarming” rise in reports of antisemitism on college campuses in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war. Doug Emhoff, the Jewish Second Gentleman who launched a task force on antisemitism last year along with the Biden administration’s plan to counter anti-Jewish bigotry, will convene the meeting, which will take place at the Department of Education. “The Biden-Harris Administration is taking multiple actions to address the alarming...
(JNS) — Israel must “immediately and significantly” increase the amount of humanitarian aid entering the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, U.S. President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a phone call on Sunday. “The President reiterated that Israel has every right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism and underscored the need to do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law that prioritizes the protection of civilians,” according to a White House readout of the call. Biden and...
Florida’s state university system, in consultation with Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, directed colleges to “deactivate” chapters of the national group Students for Justice in Palestine for defending Hamas following the Palestinian terrorist group’s invasion of Israel and massacre of civilians earlier this month. Ray Rodrigues, chancellor of the State University System of Florida, issued the order on Tuesday in a written memo to school presidents within the system. About 1,400 people were killed in Hamas’ terror onslaught against Israel on...
The government of Qatar is pressuring the Hamas terrorist organization to release additional captives being held in the Gaza Strip, Reuters reported Wednesday. According to the report Qatar, a key patron of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, is demanding the terror organization speed up the release of captives, even without concessions from Israel, ahead of Israel’s planned ground operation into the coastal enclave. Following the Oct. 7 invasion, Qatar has brokered talks between the Biden administration and Hamas for the release of captives held in G...
(JNS) — Hundreds of Hollywood celebrities have called on President Joe Biden to “not rest” until all the Israeli hostages held by the Hamas terrorist organization are free. The signatories include Madonna, Chris Rock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gal Gadot, Jack Black, Isla Fisher, Jerry Seinfeld, Bradley Cooper, Tyler Perry, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry, Courtney Cox, Jessica Biel, Orlando Bloom, Tiffany Haddish, Will Ferrell, Brooke Shields and Chelsea Handler. In an open letter, the stars praised Biden for his “unshakable moral conviction, leaders...
(JNS, KIBBUTZ BE'ERI) - Israel and a significant portion of the international community have been deeply affected by the events of Saturday, Oct. 7, when Hamas carried out a coordinated land, air and sea attack on multiple communities on the Israeli side of the Gaza border. This heinous act resulted in the loss of more than 1,400 lives, with thousands sustaining injuries and at least 222 persons, including women, children, the elderly and soldiers, being taken captive. Disturbing footage of the...
(JTA) — Police at Cornell University were called to the school’s kosher dining hall, and the campus Hillel warned students to stay away from it, after anonymous antisemitic posts on a Greek life website that included threats to “shoot up” the building and kill and rape Jewish students. The posts, whose text has circulated widely on social media, were published Saturday and Sunday under pseudonyms including “hamas,” “jew evil,” “jew jenocide,” “hamas warrior” and “kill jews.” The posts have titles such as “jewish people need to be killed,” “e...
LAS VEGAS (JTA) - Mike Pence chose a Jewish gathering to announce his exit from the presidential race, with a veiled warning that his onetime boss, Donald Trump, posed a threat to a robust American foreign policy that he said was vital to Israel's interests. Pence, the former vice president, elicited gasps and cries of "We love you!" when he addressed a presidential forum at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas. "I came here to say it's become clear to me this is not...
(JNS) - The United States is preparing for possible mass evacuations of its citizens from Israel and Lebanon should the war against Hamas terrorists in Gaza spark a regional conflagration. Four U.S. officials familiar with the government's contingency planning told The Washington Post that Americans living in the two neighboring countries were of particular concern. According to State Department estimates, around 600,000 U.S. citizens resided in Israel and another 86,000 were believed to be in...
(JNS) — A resolution “calling for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Israel and occupied Palestine” has drawn 18 House Democrats signatories, led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.). Bush’s fellow “Squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) were among the original co-signers of H.Res. 786. Reps. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) and Greg Casar (D-Texas) were also signatories. Bowman and Lee signed on at the beginning, on Oct. 16, and Casar a...
(JTA) -After the deadly attack by Hamas, the Jewish world has joined to share in the grief of the mourners and lament the lives cut brutally short. Below are just a fraction of the men and women who were killed on and since Oct. 7 - some are soldiers, most are civilians, and all helped make up the rich tapestry of the Jewish state. Omer Balva, 22, graduate of a Jewish day school in Maryland Omer Balva was on vacation in Maryland, where he was born and lived until graduating from high school, on...
(JNS) — For U.S. Republican Senators Steve Daines and Rick Scott, the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre feels personal. At this weekend’s Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, Scott detailed to JNS a series of meetings he’s held with Israeli families affected by the tragedy. “We put a big poster of all the hostages’ pictures in my office … two of the families’ kids went over to fight with the IDF and they were captured,” said Scott. He showed JNS a dog tag on a chain given to him by one of those families. In Hebrew, it read “Our he...
(JNS) — Israel is preparing the world for the moment it needs to enter Hamas’s main headquarters, located inside and underneath Al Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, and is focusing media efforts on exposing the terror group’s activities there. According to Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Daniel Hagari, Israel has “concrete evidence” that “hundreds” of terrorists flooded into the hospital to hide from Israeli retaliation following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre. Israel released video footage on Friday in which a captured Hamas terrorist, a member of the ...
