Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Former Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker and his girlfriend, former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky, have become engaged. Zangauker’s mother, Einav Zangauker, who was one of the most vocal voices among the families of the hostages held in Gaza, posted a photo on Sunday night of Matan, 26, and Ilana, 32, drinking champagne in front of a “Will you marry me” sign inside a flower-bedecked wreath in the form of a heart. “My picture of victory,” Einav wrote. “Ilana & Matan.” A large guitar-shaped building in the background placed the photo at the Se...
(JNS) - During his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., U.S. President Donald Trump was told that he is to be awarded the Israel Prize. Created in 1953, the award is the "most important and prestigious prize awarded by the State of Israel," and has "been awarded annually at the close of Independence Day, in an official state ceremony held in Jerusalem in the presence of the president of the state, the prime minister, the speaker of the...
Ken Paxton, attorney general for the state of Texas, has filed a legal response defending the state’s designation of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, or FTOs, after local CAIR chapters sued to block the move, according to a press release from Paxton’s office. The dispute stems from a Nov. 18 proclamation by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, declaring the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to be “foreign terrorist organizations” and “transnational criminal organizations” under Texas law. The...
The United States remains open to nuclear pact talks with Iran, which again rejected Washington’s advances during a United Nations Security Council meeting on Tuesday. The session focused on implementing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, of 2015 which outlined Iran’s commitments to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. The permanent Security Council members—United States, United Kingdom, France, China and Russia—signed the agreement, as did Germany and the European Union. Tuesday marked the first council...
Maduro capture ‘act of war,’ says Mamdani, who calls for Netanyahu’s arrest By JNS Staff (JNS) — Zohran Mamdani, the New York City mayor who has said that he would have Benjamin Netanyahu arrested if the Israeli prime minister visits the Big Apple, said on Saturday that he had been briefed on the U.S. military action in Venezuela, in which forces captured dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, and on “their planned imprisonment in federal custody here in New York City.” “Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violatio...
(JNS) — 18.4 million passengers travelled through Israel’s Ben-Gurion International Airport this year, an increase of 33 percent compared to the previous year, the Israel Airports Authority announced on Tuesday. The figures highlight both the resurgence of the Israeli aviation sector and the postwar re-emergence of Tel Aviv as an international travel hub. Some 60 foreign carriers are now flying to Tel Aviv compared to 80 two years ago, before the war, with the Hungarian budget carrier Wizz Air expected to open a hub in Israel in the spring. The...
(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said Thursday that disarming Hamas is "absolutely going to happen" and that he expects to see other countries in the region join the Abraham Accords next year. He spoke as U.S. President's Donald Trump's Gaza ceasefire plan is expected to move to its second stage next month following the president's anticipated meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Florida after Christmas. "The challenge of getting Hamas disarmed is not a goal...
(JNS) - Many American Jews assume that it's easy to be Jewish in Israel given the ubiquity of Hebrew and history in the Jewish state, where one needn't pay tens of thousands of dollars annually for day school or thousands for synagogue membership to raise children who are knowledgeable about Judaism. But senior Israeli educators told JNS that is not the case. Several Israeli education officials, who spent a week visiting New York schools and synagogues, told JNS that Israeli students aren't...
(JNS) — As the Trump administration intensifies pressure to transition to “Phase 2” of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, potentially as early as January, observers in Israel see no sign of Hamas disarming as the terror organization reestablishes its fundamentalist, murderous regime over the 47 percent of Gaza that it controls. Despite multiple reports of international stabilization force preparations and Palestinian technocratic governments, the reality inside the Gaza Strip could not be more starkly different. Hamas is actively rebuilding its r...
(JNS) - Researchers at Israel's Hebrew University have identified the world's earliest systematic botanical art, dating back more than 8,000 years, that demonstrates sophisticated mathematical reasoning. Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich analyzed pottery from the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (circa 6200-5500 BCE) across 29 archaeological sites. Their study, published in the Journal of World Prehistory, found that flowers, shrubs and trees painted on vessels displayed precise numerical patterns-particularly petal counts...
(JNS) — Puka Nacua, a wide receiver for the Los Angeles Rams, apologized on Thursday for performing an antisemitic touchdown dance online earlier in the week. Nacua appeared on a Dec. 16 livestream with Adin Ross, who is Jewish and has a history of controversial actions criticized for enabling antisemitism and racism, and a streamer who goes by the name “N3on.” Toward the end of the stream, Ross told Nacua that for his touchdown celebration dance, he should mirror Ross’s “iconic Jewish dance,” involving throwing the football down and spinnin...
(JNS) — An Israeli official on Friday participated in a meeting in Naqoura, Lebanon, aimed at ensuring the disarmament of the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terror group, the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem confirmed. “During the meeting, ways to promote economic projects were discussed in order to underscore the mutual interest in removing the Hezbollah threat and ensuring sustainable security for residents on both sides of the border,” according to the statement. “The meeting is a continuation of the security dialogue aimed at ensuring...
(JNS) — Israel arrested a Russian citizen working in the country who allegedly photographed infrastructure and ships at ports under the direction of Iranian intelligence, security officials said on Friday Vitaly Zvyagnitsev, 30, was detained in early December after allegedly carrying out surveillance tasks for an Iranian handler who identified himself as “Roman,” said the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Erez Unit of the Defense Ministry’s security directorate, known by its Hebrew acronym MALMAB. The suspect continued the mission...
(JNS) — Police opened an investigation on Friday after security camera footage showed a woman in Muslim religious garb blowing out Chanukah menorah candles at a Tel Aviv shopping mall. If the woman is identified, police are expected to charge her under Article 170 of the Penal Code, which criminalizes the desecration or damage of places of worship or sacred objects with the intent or awareness. The offense carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison. In video taken at the Weizmann City Mall, an indoor mall located next to Tel Aviv S...
(JNS) — The signing of the massive natural gas deal with Egypt goes far beyond its $34 billion price tag. One of the main reasons for the agreement’s delay was Egypt’s problematic approach to Israel on political and security issues. According to information gathered in recent years, Egypt has deployed forces in Sinai far beyond what is permitted under the security annex of the 1979 peace treaty. It has also built tunnels deep in the peninsula for storing weapons and has suspiciously extended runways at airfields. The understandings betwe...
(JNS) - Former U.S. senator Ben Sasse, who was president of University of Florida and of Midland University in Fremont, Neb., said on Tuesday that he has stage-four pancreatic cancer and is going to die. "Advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff. It's a death sentence. But I already had a death sentence before last week too-we all do," he said in a lengthy statement. "I'm blessed with amazing siblings and half-a-dozen buddies that are genuinely brothers. As one of them put it, 'Sure, you're on the...
(JNS) - An Israeli was found dead with signs of hypothermia, and two children sustained minor injuries from a falling tree, on Thursday, the second day of winter storm Byron. Emergency teams were also called to flooding incidents in the Judean Foothills (the Shfela), the Magen David Adom medical response group said. MDA says its first responders were deployed to several sites where cars became trapped in rising waters and were working alongside rescue teams, with medics on standby amid fears of...
(JNS) - Surgeons in Israel successfully removed a 2.3-inch tumor protruding from the upper jaw of a baby girl immediately after her birth, a Rabin Medical Center spokesperson said in a statement on Tuesday. The tumor was the largest of its kind and location ever described in the medical literature, nearly matching the size of the newborn's head. "It is a miracle. We told our baby she has used up all her drama for a lifetime," her family was quoted as saying by the hospital in Petach Tikvah. The...
(JNS) — House lawmakers responded to the attack on a Chanukah celebration in Sydney with new proposals to combat antisemitism in the United States and a measure condemning the shooting. On Wednesday, the chair and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee introduced a bipartisan resolution calling on the Australian government to protect its Jewish community and affirming the support of the House to combat antisemitism domestically. “As a Christian, I stand in solidarity with Australia’s Jewish community and the families of those...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Sydney Chanukah attack was exceptional in its scope, weaponry and planning, but it represents the peak of an antisemitic terror wave that has struck Australia, some with proven foreign involvement. Initial findings point to an ISIS connection, not Iran, which has been proven responsible for torching synagogues and Jewish businesses in the country. The distinction between streams of radical Islam does not diminish the threat: The Iranian model is sometimes replicated in other influence networks, both state and n...
Israel to open embassy in Fiji in 2026 By JNS Staff (JNS) — Israel will open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Fiji next year, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar announced on Thursday, saying he informed Fiji’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sitiveni Rabuka of the move during a phone call. “Fiji is one of Israel’s most consistent supporters, also in the UN arena. In our call today, the PM again said: ‘We will always be with you,’” Sa’ar wrote on X following the call. Sa’ar said that opening the embassy will deepen relations be...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Twelve days have passed since a father and son carried out a murderous terrorist attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, and murdered 15 Jews during the lighting of the first Chanukah candle. These are the stories and legacies of the victims. Sofia and Boris Gurman Russian immigrants Boris Gurman, 69, and his wife, Sofia Gurman, 61, shared 34 years of marriage before terrorists killed them. Their relatives described the couple as honest and industrious individuals who extended kindness to everyone they e...
(JNS) - The surviving gunman in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack has been charged with 59 offenses, including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act, Australian authorities announced on Wednesday. Naveed Akram, 24, awoke from a medically induced coma on Tuesday and faced court via video conference from his hospital bed, where he remains under police guard after sustaining injuries during an exchange of gunfire with officers. Akram's father, Sajid, 50, the second gunman,...
(JNS) — A 1,300-year-old lead pendant decorated with a menorah was uncovered during an archaeological excavation beneath the southwestern corner of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, north of the City of David, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Monday. Only one other ancient lead pendant bearing the menorah symbol is known in the world, the government agency added. The personal necklace dates to the 6th to early 7th centuries in the Late Byzantine period and was recently discovered in a large-scale archaeological excavation in the D...
(JNS) — If Hamas does not follow through with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan that involves the terrorist group laying down arms, Israel “will have to deal with the problem,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said in an interview with the Saudi state-owned channel Al Arabiya English on Wednesday. Israel’s top diplomat said he hopes the Islamist organization adheres to the plan, which both Israel and Hamas’s leadership agreed to, but that “unfortunately,” senior Hamas officials have issued public declarations saying that they have n...
