Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1913 - 1937 of 11021
(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 ...
(JNS) — After showing foreign journalists footage of the atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 assault on southern Israel, the IDF on Monday published two segments from the interrogation of Hamas terrorists who participated in the massacre. “The plan was to go from house to house, throw grenades and kill everyone there, including women and children,” the terrorist said. He also told interrogators that Hamas had instructed them to behead their victims. “The purpose of entering Israeli territory… was to kidnap civilians...
(JNS) — A little more than a week before Hamas terrorists attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, the White House hosted a roundtable with Islamic groups that have since expressed sympathy for Hamas and blamed Israel for the murderous assault, according to an article in Focus at Western Islamism. “These red flags have been waiving right out in the open for years, and yet these groups were able to get a seat at the table—in the White House no less,” wrote Dexter Van Zile, managing editor of the publication, which is part of the Middle East Forum....
Bank of Israel leaves benchmark rate unchanged (JNS) — The Monetary Committee of the Bank of Israel decided on Monday to leave its key interest rate unchanged at 4.75 percent. The war against terrorists in Gaza and Lebanon that began on Oct. 7 is having various economic effects, both on real activity and on the financial markets, the central bank noted. The bank has taken a number of policy measures to deal with the situation. The financial markets are functioning and a large part of economic activity is continuing as usual, it said. In view of...
DEAD SEA, Israel (JTA) — Nearly three weeks after Kibbutz Be’eri was massacred, its surviving members still gather for their community’s traditional evening meeting. The kibbutz, ransacked and empty, is now a closed military zone. To those familiar with the litany of atrocities committed on Oct. 7, its name has become synonymous with some of the day’s worst horrors. Many of Be’eri’s residents refer to that day as a “Shoah,” or Holocaust. Now, the nightly meetings instead take place at the David Dead Sea Resort, where most of Be’eri’s member...
(New York Jewish Week) — Hundreds of protesters were arrested as they crowded Grand Central Station in New York City on Friday afternoon for a rally sponsored by a Jewish group calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The rally came a day ahead of a series of other pro-Palestinian rallies worldwide. It was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, an anti-Zionist group that has accused Israel of genocide and blamed its policies for Hamas’ massacre of Israel on Oct. 7, which killed and wounded thousands. While the protest on Friday inconvenienced rus...
