Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — The U.S. Department of Justice is pursuing the death penalty and hate crime charges against Elias Rodriguez, who it accuses of shooting and killing two Israeli embassy staffers as they left an event at a Jewish museum in Washington in May, CNN reported. “The charges, if approved by a grand jury, would position the case as a centerpiece of the Trump Justice Department’s fervent approaches toward both violent crime and targeted hate against the Jewish community,” per CNN. The news organization said it sought comment from the Justice...
(JNS) — In video footage screened for the first time at a rally in Tel Aviv on Sunday night, Hamas hostage Matan Zangauker appealed to family and friends to increase their efforts to secure his release. “To all my acquaintances, all my friends, go out and make noise as only you know how, and with God’s help we will see each other soon,” he said. Zangauker, who was taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023, said that he missed his mother, sister and girlfriend, adding that “God willing” they would be re...
(JNS) — In a quiet room at Israel’s soon-to-be inaugurated October 7 Museum, Mosab Hassan Yousef—the son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef who is known as “The Green Prince”—looked at the evidence of Hamas’s atrocities and spoke the truth that too many still refuse to hear: “Hamas is not just at war with Israel. It is at war with Jews, Christians and the very foundations of civilization itself.” Yousef knows this from the inside. Raised in a home steeped in Hamas ideology, he was taught from childhood that Jews must be killed, Christians...
(JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered Israeli assistance with Iran’s water woes once its people shake off the tyrannical regime in Tehran. “The thirst for water in Iran is only matched by the thirst for freedom,” the premier said in a nearly 5-minute video address to the Iranian people published on Tuesday. Speaking from Jerusalem, he detailed what the Jewish state could bring the “moment” that the regime is toppled and freedom is achieved: “Israel’s top water experts will flood into every Iranian city bringing cutting-edge te...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Millions of Israelis were expected to participate in a nationwide strike on Sunday for the return of the remaining 50 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip, who have endured 681 days in appalling conditions. Major corporations, institutions, businesses and government authorities have confirmed they will permit employees to participate. During a 7:10 a.m. press conference, hostages' families issued urgent appeals for public participation in street demonstrations and work...
Israel’s security cabinet has endorsed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to expand fighting in Gaza, despite warnings from military leaders and others that doing so would put soldiers and hostages at risk. The plan approved early Friday morning does not specify that Israel will “occupy” Gaza, as Netanyahu said shortly before entering the marathon meeting that he intended to do. Instead, it focuses on Gaza City, the largest area within Gaza where the Israeli army does not already operate on the ground. The IDF says it has conquer...
(JNS) — The University of Wisconsin-Madison has suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine chapter after the group was “found in violation of multiple rules” after an April protest. The SJP chapter announced its suspension on social media on Sunday. In its statement, the group wrote that the decision was made in response to the chapter›s protest of a speaking appearance by Linda Thomas-Greenfield, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, in April. John Lucas, officer of strategic communication for the university, told JNS that “f...
(JNS) — Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Wednesday announced the approval of 3,401 new housing units in the so-called E1 area near Ma’ale Adumim in Judea and Samaria. The E1 project has been delayed for decades due to international opposition, led by previous United States administrations. “Approval of construction plans in E1 buries the idea of a Palestinian state and continues the many steps we are taking on the ground as part of the de facto sovereignty plan that we began implementing with the establishment of the gover...
The UJA-Federation of New York will send $1 million to an Israeli humanitarian group providing aid to civilians in Gaza, the federation’s CEO announced on Friday. The funds will go to IsraAID, Israel’s largest nongovernmental aid organization, to supply food, medicine and water filtration systems for displaced Gazans. IsraAID has traditionally operated in disaster zones abroad, from earthquake relief in Turkey to aid for Ukrainian refugees, but since Oct. 7 has expanded its work to Israel and now into Gaza. In a letter to the community, UJA...
(JNS) — A federal court ruled that a Chabad couple, which alleges that a Florida homeowners association is guilty of Jew-hatred for blocking it from using its property as a synagogue, can go forward with its lawsuit. Rabbi Naftaly and Henya Hertzel also accuse the association of vandalism and discrimination based on their faith. Aileen Cannon, a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida and an appointee of U.S. President Donald Trump, rejected last month the effort of the Loggers Run Homeowners Association in Boca Ra...
(JNS) — Israel is preparing the delivery of humanitarian supplies to vulnerable populations in South Sudan, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. The move is led by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who instructed the foreign ministry agency MASHAV, Israel’s Agency for International Development Cooperation, to deliver urgent assistance to the crisis-hit country. The African nation is currently struggling with a cholera outbreak while also facing a severe shortage of resources, the ministry explained. The aid will include essen...
(JNS) — Unidentified individuals spray-painted “NYT Lies, Gaza Dies” on The New York Times building in Manhattan on Wednesday, with sections of the structure’s doors and windows also daubed with red paint. The incident follows heightened criticism of the newspaper’s coverage of the Gaza conflict. The perpetrators remain unknown. The graffiti appeared hours after The New York Times issued an editor’s note amending its July 24 article, “Gazans are dying of starvation.” Five days after publication, the Times acknowledged that its story reference...
‘A two-state solution means our end,’ says Israel’s FM (JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a visiting delegation of American journalists on Wednesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would pose an existential threat to Israel. The delegation, led by Newsmax founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy, is visiting Israel as part of the Foreign Ministry’s public diplomacy initiative. “A two-state solution? A Palestinian state in the heart of Israel would indeed be a solution—for those who seek to eliminate us. We will not let...
(JNS) — Dramatic evidence was produced this week to illustrate the hijacking of the Western media by Hamas in its attempt to turn Israel into the pariah of the world and accelerate the destruction of the Jewish state. The German publications Bild and Süddeutsche Zeitung revealed that Western media outlets had been publishing images purporting to be of starving Gazans but which were in fact staged and manipulated by Hamas as part of its propaganda offensive to blacken Israel’s name. Bild show...
Teens entering grades 9-12 are encouraged to join their local Orlando chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, conducted by Eric Levine, for a rewarding combination of music, culture, leadership and friendship. Rehearsals for the 2025-2026 season begin in late August, culminating in a gala performance at the new David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC next spring with hundreds of HaZamir singers from across the U.S. and Israel. For more information contact...
Heritage Florida Jewish News writers Stan Roberts, Ed Borowsky and Marilyn Shapiro were winners this year in the Florida Press Association’s annual Weekly Newspaper Contest. Marilyn Shapiro took the First-Place award in the Humorous column category for her delightful story “The saga of the Looney Tunes glasses,” July 5, 2024. With her lighthearted wit, Shapiro shared about her “dowry” — you know, “those assets of the wife which she of her own free will entrusts to her husband’s responsibility,...
Eric M. Robbins is Shalom Orlando's new temporary CEO. Robbins has more than 30 years of executive leadership experience and more than $200 million of proven fundraising success for JCCs, Federations, and other Jewish agencies. Robbins took his position on Aug. 11. Robbins comes to Orlando from Atlanta, where he served as president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. He was named a Most Admired CEO by the Atlanta Business Chronicle multiple times and was the 2019 Georgia State...
During the last school year, the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center reached thousands of students and educators. Thousands of students visited the museum on field trips, with many calling the experience “moving,” eye-opening,” and “essential.” The Upstanders program reached over 3,200 middle schoolers, inspiring them to stand up against bullying and injustice in their daily lives. Nearly 250 students participated in the White Rose Essay Contest, digging deep into the stories of women during the Holocaust and sharing their reflectio...
On Sunday, Sept. 14, Temple Israel will present Osteostrong, an interactive in-person program designed to help improve bone strength, balance and overall health in a safe and simple way. Guest speaker Cheree Burgess, a small business owner, will introduce attendees to Osteostrong, a membership-based wellness center that focuses on musculoskeletal strengthening through a program called osteogenic loading. Attendees will learn about the special machines that use gentle, controlled movements to naturally trigger your body to build stronger bones...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Sunday that Israel does not seek to stay in Gaza, but to replace the Hamas regime with an expanded mialitary operation, and insisted that was the best way to bring the war to a speedy conclusion. “Our goal is not to occupy Gaza but to free Gaza,” Netanyahu said at a press conference for foreign media. “But no one is going to go in there unless we finish the job and finish Hamas.” He noted that Hamas still has thousands of armed terrorists after nearly two years of war in about a q...
(JNS) — Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) urged Israel to achieve decisive victory over Hamas, saying the Jewish state should “annihilate” the terrorist group and rebuild Gaza like the United States did in the aftermath of World War II with Germany and Japan. “I can’t believe we’re having a discussion about how to fight a war against people who want to destroy you as a people, the Israeli people,” Graham told CBS News’ “Meet the Press” when asked who should run the Gaza Strip if Israel gains complete military control there. “So [Israel] will t...
(JNS) — In a world first, Israeli researchers have grown human kidney organoids — a synthetic 3D organ culture — from tissue stem cells in the laboratory mirroring human fetal kidney development, Tel Aviv University announced on Wednesday. The breakthrough allowing researchers to see the development of the organ in real time, isolate genes that lead to birth defects, develop new treatments in the field of regenerative medicine, and test the toxicity of drugs during pregnancy on fetal kidneys. The synthetic kidney grew and developed over six m...
(JNS) — Jewish sages in Late Antiquity were actively involved in the robust wine culture of the Roman-Byzantine world, according to an Israeli study released on Wednesday. The University of Haifa research reveals rabbinic familiarity with vine cultivation, and the integration of Jewish law into the broader agricultural traditions of the time. “The sages’ rulings were not detached from the realities in which they lived,” said Haifa University’s Shulamit Miller, a co-author of the study. “On the contrary, they reflect an intimate familiarity...
(JNS) — Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, stated on Aug. 1 that the Jewish state is guilty of the “mass starvation of innocent civilians” and of inflicting “heartbreaking and inexcusable” trauma on children and families. The word “Hamas” appeared nowhere in her LinkedIn post, titled “Thoughts and updates: standing in solidarity with Palestine.” “As you all know, Teach for Palestine, our network partner operating in the West Bank, is continuing its vital work despite escalating violence, severe restrictions on fundamental freedom...
(JNS) - A night of speeches ended in dance. By design, nearly 2,000 teenage Jewish athletes at the JCC Maccabi Campus Games fulfilled the promise of former hostage Mia Schem, who, upon release from Hamas captivity, declared: "We will dance again." Those words, which Schem inked on her arm with the date Oct. 7, 2023, were referenced by social-media influencer Montana Tucker during her address to attendees of the Opening Ceremonies of the JCC Maccabi Campus Games. "From the Maccabees who fought...
