Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 11065
MAITLAND, Fla. -Speaking to a packed audience at a Jewish National Fund event in Maitland on Oct. 29, 2025, Glenn Cohen, former Mossad chief psychologist, drew from decades of elite service to teach lessons on survival, resilience, and emotional strength. The message he shared was as harrowing as it was uplifting: the human spirit can endure the unimaginable. Cohen, who joined the Israel Defense Forces in 1982 and graduated from the Israel Air Force Academy as a rescue pilot, went on to spend...
Renee Friedman, FASTSIGNS of Orlando Central franchisee, wins the honor of 2025 Women in Wide Format (ORLANDO, FL) - Big Picture Magazine, one of the leading publications in the wide-picture format printing industry, has awarded Renee Friedman the 2025 Women in Wide Format Award. For a decade, this award has highlighted significant women in the industry for their innovation, leadership, mastery of the craft and social responsibility. In order to receive the award, recipients must be nominated...
(JNS) — Speaking at “The Future of Judea and Samaria” conference at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Rawan Osman, who has described herself as an Arab Zionist, said that despite breaking away from her antisemitic upbringing, there was one question she “avoided like the plague.” And that was what she thought about “West Bank” settlements. “I used to say: ‘I am not a journalist, not a politician, not Israeli—don’t ask me,’” Osman said. “Until I was invited for a tour in Judea and Samaria. I sat down near a water spring and a pomegran...
(JNS) — According to Michael Fertik, a pioneer in digital reputation management, the Israeli tech scene has matured into one of the world’s most dynamic and, despite regional challenges, now is the right time to invest in the Jewish state. “The internet is a wonderful tool, but it also has a long memory,” Fertik told JNS during his recent visit to Israel, his eighth since Oct. 7, 2023, in a studio interview on Oct 30. “People deserve second chances—and so do countries. Israel’s reputation as a tech powerhouse remains strong, but I believe its n...
Hurricane Melissa has dealt significant damage to the Chabad House in Montego Bay, Jamaica, though Rabbi Yaakov and Mushkee Raskin, who created the Chabad of Jamaica in 2014, and their children are reportedly safe and sheltered in a windowless room. In a post on Instagram on Tuesday, the couple said that they had secured their Torah scroll and were holed up in the room with the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, which is “fully sealed.” He added that water was coming into the synagogue and asked followers to pray for the family. The hurricane touch...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday night that he has directed the U.S. Department of War, his rebrand of the U.S. Department of Defense, to begin testing nuclear weapons “immediately,” after Russia and China have conducted recent tests. “The United States has more nuclear weapons than any other country. This was accomplished, including a complete update and renovation of existing weapons, during my first term in office,” Trump stated. “Because of the tremendous destructive power, I hated to do it but had no choice.” Tr...
A municipal ballot proposal to divest from Israel went before a popular vote for the first time on Tuesday — and pulled off a decisive victory. Question 3 won more than 55 percent of the vote in unofficial election results in the Boston suburb of Somerville, Massachusetts, as the Israel-divestment movement saw the elevation of its most well-known proponent in politics — Zohran Mamdani — to mayor of New York City. Local pro-Palestinian activists claimed victory, with Somerville for Palestine — the group that gathered the signatures required to p...
(JNS) — The Anti-Defamation League and the law firm Gibson Dunn announced a partnership earlier this week to launch a nationwide legal network providing free legal services to victims of antisemitism. The new Legal Action Network, which the ADL said comes in response to “a sustained surge of violence and hate toward Jews and Jewish institutions across the United States,” brings together 39,000 lawyers across 35 states, with 40 law firms agreeing to take client referrals or serve as co-counsel. “For decades, victims of antisemitism have come to...
(JNS) — The Israeli military said that the National Institute of Forensic Medicine had identified the remains of Amiram Cooper and Sahar Baruch and notified relatives that the bodies were returned for burial. Cooper, whom Hamas terrorists kidnapped alive from Kibbutz Nir Oz, where he lived, on Oct. 7, was killed in captivity at age 84. He leaves behind a wife, four children and 11 grandchildren, the Israel Defense Forces said. Baruch was abducted alive from his Kibbutz Be’eri home on Oct. 7, and Hamas terrorists killed him in captivity on Dec...
(JNS) — Speaking on “The Future of Judea and Samaria” at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem on Wednesday, Mindy McAlindon, a Republican state representative of Arkansas, emphasized the spiritual and moral bonds linking the United States and Israel. The conference was sponsored by American Friends of Judea & Samaria and the Jewish News Syndicate. She described the U.S.-Israel relationship as founded not only on policy but on “faith, on trust and on friendship.” McAlindon said both nations share a belief that “light can overcome darkness and faith c...
(JNS) - Zaziwe and Zamaswazi (Swazi) Dlamini-Manaway, the granddaughters of South Africa's legendary leader, Nelson Mandela, have told JNS that while their visit to Israel and Gaza in September had been strictly humanitarian, it was also "life-changing." The two sisters, whose mother, Zenani MandelaDlamini, was the second daughter of Mandela's second wife, Winnie, met Israeli President Isaac Herzog, toured Yad Vashem and Jerusalem's Old City, and visited areas in southern Israel devastated by...
(JNS) - In its first international pickleball tournament, the Israel Open Team has already made a splash on the global stage, winning one gold and two silver medals at the recent Pickleball World Cup in Fort Lauderdale. There were some nerves before the event, as Israel's fledgling national team wondered if it belonged among the world's best. But those doubts were quickly dispelled as the Israeli players proved their mettle in several divisions. Team captain Adam Bachmann earned Israel's first...
(JNS) - Ditza Or, mother of Avinatan Or, who survived 738 days in Hamas captivity, said on Wednesday that the Jewish people stand at a historic crossroads. "Now is the time to advance the national dream of the people of Israel, the fulfillment of divine prophecy and the ultimate redemption of all humanity," Or said in an address to "The Future of Judea and Samaria" conference in Jerusalem. She described her son's return as part of the current ceasefire with Hamas as "a wondrous miracle."...
(JNS) — A new joint command center established by the United States military’s Central Command in the Israeli city of Kiryat Gat in recent days to help manage the future of the Gaza Strip is described by former Israeli military officers as an “unprecedented” development in external involvement in the affairs of the Strip. The Civil-Military Coordination Center houses hundreds of personnel. The three-story structure includes a first floor designated as for Israeli security personnel only (a secure area for officials from the IDF, Foreign...
(JNS) — The Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, can be traced back to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005, Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, stated on Wednesday evening. “There is a direct line between the withdrawal from Gaza to the disaster of Oct. 7,” Chikli said in remarks at The Future of Judea and Samaria conference at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem, sponsored by the American Friends of Judea & Samaria and the Jewish News Syndica...
(JNS) — Military Advocate General Maj. Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi submitted her letter of resignation to IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir at a meeting on Friday. Her resignation came after Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he intended to fire her. “In light of the severity of the suspicions and the sensitivity of the role of the [Military Advocate General] in charge of enforcing the law and setting legal norms throughout the IDF, the Minister of Defense intends to begin the process of appointing a new Military Adv...
He was elected to represent Astoria, Queens, in New York’s state Assembly and is running to helm New York City. But Zohran Mamdani has called the Palestinian cause “central to my identity,” both in and out of politics. Mamdani consistently and proudly associates with the pro-Palestinian movement in high-profile settings across New York City. Shortly after delivering a stunning upset in the mayoral primary, for instance, he took the stage with Mahmoud Khalil, the pro-Palestinian protest leader who was detained by the Trump administration, at co...
(JNS) MELBOURNE, Australia — Over one hundred Australian doctors were gathering this week in both Melbourne and Sydney as part of a major immigration fair for medical professionals planning on moving to Israel following the war against Hamas in Gaza. The event comes amid a sharp rise in antisemitism around the world following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. In Australia, currently ruled by a strongly anti-Israel government, a synagogue and a Jewish daycare center were firebombed and Jewish-owned properties and cars h...
(JNS) — Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who used an appearance before the Heritage Foundation last month to attack Tucker Carlson over the former Fox News host’s anti-Israel rhetoric, blasted him again Thursday after the head of the conservative think tank refused to disavow the right-wing firebrand. Cruz didn’t mention Carlson by name as he kicked off the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual legislative conference in Las Vegas with a call to action to stop the spread of anti-Israel talk among young Christians. But he left no doubt to whom he was ref...
The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida has raised over $1m in philanthropic commitments of $150K or more in 2025, marking unprecedented organizational momentum and setting the stage for transformative years ahead. These crucial gifts, to fund annual operations and innovations, reflect confidence in the Center's strategic direction and long-term impact. Founded in 1980 as a lecture series on the Holocaust, the Holocaust Center was established in 1982 and opened its museum...
(JNS) — An Assyrian inscription on a pottery sherd over a possible tax revolt from the First Temple period about 2,700 years ago has been uncovered near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday. The tiny fragment, about 2.5 cm (1 inch) in size, was uncovered six months ago during an excavation in the archaeological garden adjacent to the Western Wall, the state-run archaeological body said. It is the first such inscription in the Akkadian language eve...
Israeli singer Yair Levi’s melodies, in Hebrew and English, have touched the hearts of Jewish, Christian and secular men and women worldwide. Take his song, “The Blessing”: At a performance in The Netherlands, the overflowing crowd of Jews and Christians sang with him the Aaronic Blessing — “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” — in Hebrew and Dutch and English. Cent...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — After the initial euphoria over the return by Hamas of 20 living Israeli hostages and the outrage at the terrorist organization for handing over only a fraction of the deceased hostages, talks on the next steps to end the war in Gaza are advancing. Before moving to the next stage of U.S. President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan, ending the first stage is required, namely the return of all deceased hostages, 24 in total. Hamas already said last week that it would have difficulty locating all the deceased, since some wer...
(JNS) — In an interview with “60 Minutes” host Lesley Stahl that aired on Oct. 19, White House envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff recounted the chronology of events that led to the hostage-for-ceasefire deal that Israel and Hamas signed in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on Oct. 9. Kushner said their approach was rooted in “pragmatic realism,” which he defined as preventing wars through strength and making deals instead of lecturing the world. The focus, he said, was on shared interests over shared values, working with other nations where goa...
(JNS) — Likud Cabinet and deputy ministers have signed a letter calling on Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in connection to his ongoing criminal trial. The letter, dated Oct. 19, was initiated by Environmental Protection Minister Idit Silman, who posted it on X. “Unfortunately, today it is already clear to everyone that as long as his trial is underway, which is like a bleeding wound in the body of Israeli society, there will be no unity in Israel,” the letter states. The move comes in the w...
