Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had decided to end the use of administrative detention orders against Israeli citizens, in a move that bears significant change for law enforcement in Judea and Samaria. “Given that the Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria are subject to Palestinian terror threats and unjust international sanctions are slapped against the settlers, it is improper that the State of Israel would apply such a severe measure against the people of the settlements,” Katz said in a statement. Katz infor...
(JNS) - Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump's pick as his senior director for counter-terrorism, has made several statements in favor of Israel recently, including that "Palestine" doesn't exist and that IDF generals should forget about diplomacy and focus on defeating terrorists militarily. Gorka, who had served as deputy assistant to the president-elect from January to August 2017, during his first term in office, broached the issue of Palestine in an interview on Nov. 16 with a host for RT, a Russian state-controlled international news television...
(JTA) — A number of progressive Jewish groups are backing an effort by Sen. Bernie Sanders to block arms sales to Israel. The effort, a collection of several resolutions, is unlikely to pass in the closely divided Senate but could split Democratic lawmakers. The push is driving a wedge among Jewish organizations in the lead-up to Wednesday’s vote: A group of centrist and right-wing pro-Israel groups oppose the bills. But large liberal Jewish organizations have offered support, signaling those groups’ growing criticism of how Israel is opera...
(JNS) — Donald Trump announced Saturday that attorney Will Scharf will join his White House team. “I am pleased to announce that William Owen Scharf will serve as assistant to the president and White House staff secretary,” the president-elect said in a statement published by his transition team. According to Trump, “Will is a highly skilled attorney who will be a crucial part of my White House team. He has played a key role in defeating the Election Interference and Lawfare waged against me, including by winning the Historic Immunity Decisio...
(JNS) — The National on Wednesday published what the Emirati state-owned newspaper said is the full text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that halted hostilities with the Hezbollah terrorist entity. According to the Abu Dhabi-based broadsheet, the text was obtained from a senior official after it was discussed in a government meeting in Beirut on Wednesday. Here is the text: Announcement of a Cessation of Hostilities and Related Commitments on Enhanced Security Arrangements and Towards the Implementation of UNSCR 1701 A...
“Neri is turning 6, she wants to help hungry babies in Israel!” This isn’t the typical line included in the notes section of a donation to American Friends of Yad Eliezer/B’ezri’s Feed-a-Baby donation form. So, when an office manager saw it, she decided she wanted to hear more about Neri and how a 6-year-old from Ormond Beach, Florida was helping feed a baby across continents. Florida and Israel may be separated by over 6,000 miles, but the distance is no match for one local family committed to helping Israeli families in need. Dr. Maurice K...
(JNS) —The Netherlands’ House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a motion that calls for shuttering extremist mosques whose leaders preach the destruction of Israel. The motion submitted by the leader of the coalition’s Farmer–Citizen Movement, titled “The closure of Salafist mosques and institutions that preach the destruction of the Jewish people and Israel,” passed 91-58. “Noting that antisemitism and incitement to antisemitism are increasing, and this has led to a Jew-hunt, calls on the government to close Salafist mosques and instituti...
(JNS) — President-elect Donald Trump and his new administration are “uniquely positioned” to stabilize the Middle East, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said. “President Trump has strategically surrounded himself with a team of seasoned leaders who possess a deep understanding of the Middle East’s complex dynamics and the grave threats Israel faces from its enemies,” Haskel told JNS. “Supported by this powerhouse team, President Trump is uniquely positioned to stabilize the region and secure a better, more prosperous future—one th...
White House denounces murder of Chabad rabbi in UAE ‘in strongest terms’ (JNS) — The White House National Security Council condemns the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates “in the strongest terms,” Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council, stated on Sunday evening. “Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” Savett said. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence. It was an assault as well...
(JNS) — Israel’s government unanimously approved the appointment of Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the United States. Leiter will replace Michael Herzog—the outgoing ambassador and older brother of the Israeli president—on Jan. 24, four days after the Trump administration takes office. Before that, Herzog and Leiter will work together to ensure a smooth transition. The Cabinet OK’d the nomination after an appointments committee headed by the Civil Service commissioner recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s selection be approved....
(JNS) — President-elect Donald Trump named Howard Lutnick, the Jewish billionaire and chair and CEO of the global finance firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as his nominee for U.S. commerce secretary on Tuesday. Trump stated that Lutnick, the co-chair of his transition team, “will lead our tariff and trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.” “Another outstanding addition to President Donald Trump’s America first team,” wrote Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s pick for U.S. envoy to...
(JNS) - The Emirati interior ministry announced that it has arrested "the three perpetrators involved in the murder of Zvi Kogan, a Moldovan national according to his identification documents at the time of entry into the UAE, where he lived as a resident." The Emirati Ministry of Interior then confirmed on Monday, Nov. 25, that the three suspects arrested for the murder of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan are Uzbek nationals. Security authorities identified the suspects as Olimpi...
(JNS) — The Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee will convene on Monday to discuss a request made by airline companies to amend the Aviation Services Law so they can resume their flights to and from Israel. In the wake of Israel’s more than year-long war on its southern and northern borders, a host of foreign airlines suspended flights to the Jewish state, sharply cutting options for travelers and leading to higher prices for seats on local carriers. Airline companies complained that the law is causing them great losses, through no fault of th...
Recently, I graduated with my master’s degree. The experience, while rewarding, came with a hefty price tag — about $25,000. At the time, I thought, “Whew, education is an expensive investment.” But I quickly realized that for many of us, the true value of education is not just in the cost, but in the curriculum itself. After graduation, I, like many new college graduates, found myself entering the job market. After six years of college and 12 years of grade school, I thought I’d finally escaped the classroom. But, as life often does, it...
(JNS) — Jewish teens involved in Jewish camps, schools and other programming are more likely to hold positive views of Israel and less likely to harbor negative sentiments about the conflict, according to a new study. The global survey of teens aged 14-18 was conducted by Mosaic United, an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Of the 1,600 responses collected, half were disqualified for various reasons. The final sample consisted of 80 percent American Jew...
(JNS) — Jewish patients coming to the University of California, San Francisco for medical care are hiding their identity, a senior faculty member at the school told the Washington Free Beacon. The professor added that the public school has “contributed to an erosion of professionalism” and a “loss of the centering of the patient-physician relationship” with its activist teaching, per the Free Beacon. The publication reported that a required, six-week medical “justice and advocacy” workshop taught that an anti-Israel protest on Nov. 16, 2023...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told lawmakers at the Knesset in Jerusalem that outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden’s advice on how to handle the wars with Iran and its terrorist proxies across the region was often incorrect, and that Jerusalem had opted to “follow our own view.” Following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border massacre from the Gaza Strip, Washington “suggested that we not go in on the ground,” he said during a 40-signature debate, which opposition lawmakers can call once a month and in which the premier is le...
(JNS) — A poll of Jewish voters in the 2024 election suggests that President-elect Donald Trump made modest gains among Jews over his Democratic opponent Vice President Kamala Harris. The non-partisan Jewish Electorate Institute published the responses from a national survey of 1,000 Jewish respondents taken between Oct. 30 and Nov. 8. It found that 71 percent of Jewish voters went for Harris and 26 percent voted for Trump. “Jewish voters continue to support Democratic candidates by a substantial margin, while Republicans have made modest gai...
(JTA) - Pam Bondi, who President-elect Donald Trump has tapped to be his attorney general, said last year that campus protesters who express support for Hamas should face FBI questioning. Trump named Bondi, who served as Florida attorney general from 2011 to 2019, on Nov. 21. The nomination came after his first pick, former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, withdrew following meetings with Republican senators, who apparently made clear that allegations of sexual predation and drug use, which he has...
(JNS) — The decision to extend Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria is one “for Israel to make,” according to Mike Huckabee, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump last week for the post of U.S. ambassador to Israel. Speaking to Israel National News on Nov. 15, the former Arkansas governor said that the decision is not one the United States will impose. “I don’t think Donald Trump is the kind of president that wants to tell other countries what to do and how to do it. He wants to accommodate, help, encourage peaceful endeavors...
(JNS) — The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday morning, citing its failure to condition a halt in hostilities directly to the release of the hostages. “We could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the council. Wood accused Hamas—and not Israel—of blocking a negotiated ceasefire and cited Israel’s reference for a temporary ceasefire and a phased release of hosta...
(JNS) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Saturday threatened to sanction America’s allies if they sought to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “To any ally—Canada, Britain, Germany, France—if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News. The U.S. “should crush [their] economy, because we’re next,” he continued. The ICC on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and...
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant based on allegations that they starved Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas. The court on Thursday also issued an arrest warrant against Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief whose death has been reported but is not confirmed. The Hague-based court’s pre-trial chamber decided to issue the warrants based on a recommendation in May by its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. The cou...
(JNS) — Several Democratic senators told JNS on Wednesday night that the significant number of their colleagues who voted for an Israeli arms embargo weren’t representative of the party. Republicans in the upper chamber said the figure—up to 19 on one measure—represented the Democrats’ abandonment of a key ally. Asked how decisive an issue the votes on the three resolutions of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), which would have banned the transfer of certain categories of weapons to Israel, were for his party, Cory Booker (D-N. J.) said, “When you...
Greece, Israel in talks to develop $2 billion ‘Iron Dome’ By JNS Staff (JNS) — Greece is negotiating with Israel to develop a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) anti-aircraft and missile defense similar to Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome, according to Israeli and Greek officials. The talks, which were first reported by Reuters last week, come as multiple countries around the world have voiced interest in purchasing the Israeli missile defense system, which has won international accolades for its performance during Israel’s war against H...
