Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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IDF targets Hamas terror financing in Ramallah The Israel Defense Forces conducted a large-scale counter-terror operation in the Samaria city of Ramallah on Tuesday targeting a money exchange business that transferred funds to Hamas terrorists. Five wanted terror suspects were arrested and hundreds of thousands of shekels identified as terror funds were seized during the morning raid, according to the military. The purpose of the cash laundered through this currency exchange establishment was “to advance terrorist activity against the State o...
(JNS) — A German government spokesperson declared on Friday that Berlin has no immediate plans to recognize a Palestinian state, calling such a move at this stage “counterproductive” to the pursuit of a negotiated two-state solution with Israel. “A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today,” the spokesperson told a press briefing. “Recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process. Right now, it would undermine efforts toward peace.” Berlin’s statement stands in sharp...
(JNS) — Israel is set to carry out the world’s first ever implant of a lab-grown spinal cord using a patient’s own cells, in a medical breakthrough offering a potential cure for paralysis, Tel Aviv University announced on Wednesday. The groundbreaking surgery, which is expected to be carried out in the coming months, marks a milestone in regenerative science, with the goal of enabling the patient to walk again within a year. The university said that the Israeli Ministry of Health has given...
(JNS) — Revital Gorodeski Baskin and her husband, Joseph Baskin, both doctors from Cleveland, landed in Israel on a Nefesh B’Nefesh group aliyah charter flight on Aug. 20. They are moving to Zichron Ya’akov, in the Haifa district in northern Israel, with three teenage children (their fourth is studying at a college in the United States) and their dog. “Making aliyah has been our lifelong dream, and the war [against Hamas in Gaza] was an encouraging factor as we want to contribute our expertise in this time of need,” Revital told JNS. “We’ve al...
The United States Postal Service announced a new series of stamps honoring Nobel Peace Prize winner and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. Wiesel, who died in 2016 at the age of 87, is the 18th person to be honored in the USPS' Distinguished Americans stamp series. "The 18th stamp in the Distinguished Americans series honors humanitarian Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), a survivor of Nazi concentration camps whose dozens of works bore witness to the Holocaust and whose resilience and compassion continue...
(JNS) - A gold coin dating back about 2,200 years has been uncovered just outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem, shedding new light on the development of the city after the destruction of the first ancient Jewish Temple, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday. The small denomination quarter-drachma, made of pure gold (99.3 percent), and dated to 246–241 BCE, was minted for Queen Berenice II during the reign of her husband, Ptolemy III, the state-run archaeological body s...
(JNS) — White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Aug. 19 that the Trump administration was continuing to discuss a ceasefire proposal for Gaza, and confirmed that Hamas had accepted it. “I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Hamas accepted this proposal after the president of the United States posted a very strong statement about this conflict on Truth Social,” Leavitt said at a press briefing at the White House. The talks coincide with IDF preparations for the seizure of Gaza City, seemingly with the support of U.S. Presi...
The Reform movement’s Washington-based advocacy arm is urging Attorney General Pam Bondi not to seek the death penalty for the man accused of killing two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., in May. Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, called on Bondi to forgo the death penalty in the trial of Elias Rodriguez in a letter sent Wednesday. “Despite the pain of Sarah and Yaron’s murders and despite the hateful motivation behind their deaths, we believe that the death penalty is a stain...
(JNS) — A German government spokesperson declared on Friday that Berlin has no immediate plans to recognize a Palestinian state, calling such a move at this stage “counterproductive” to the pursuit of a negotiated two-state solution with Israel. “A negotiated two-state solution remains our goal, even if it seems a long way off today,” the spokesperson told a press briefing. “Recognition of Palestine is more likely to come at the end of such a process. Right now, it would undermine efforts toward peace.” Berlin’s statement stands in sharp...
President Donald Trump said Monday morning that the remaining hostages in Gaza will only be returned when Hamas is “confronted and destroyed.” “We will only see the return of the remaining hostages when Hamas is confronted and destroyed!!! The sooner this takes place, the better the chances of success will be,” wrote Trump in a post on Truth Social. Trump’s latest comments appeared to support a recent plan approved by Israel’s security cabinet to take over Gaza City, a move reportedly opposed by the IDF over concerns it could endanger the remai...
Israel has approved a long-delayed settlement project that would build 3,400 housing units for Jews in Judea and Samaria, in a move that both its backers and its many critics say would undercut Palestinian ambitions to control the region. The E1 project would expand Jewish settlements on a stretch of land east of Jerusalem, effectively bisecting Judea and Samaria and limiting Palestinian neighborhoods of Jerusalem from growing, Proposed decades ago, but never finalized, the plan was abruptly moved forward this month by Israel’s far-right f...
(JNS) — Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas on Monday evening issuing a presidential decree establishing a committee to draft an interim constitution, the Ramallah-run Wafa news agency reported. The move comes against the backdrop of France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia declaring their intentions to recognize a Palestinian state at the United Nations meeting next month. “President Abbas took this step in the context of preparations for holding general elections following the cessation of Israeli genocidal aggression on the...
(JNS) - Ilan Gordon seemed calm, cool and collected the day before he changed his life. Or, at least, his location. The 22-year-old, who graduated from the University of Pittsburgh this spring with a degree in exercise science, headed to Israel on the Nefesh B'Nefesh group aliyah charter flight that left New York's John F. Kennedy Airport on Tuesday, Aug. 19, afternoon, along with 225 other North Americans. He is scheduled to be in Tel Aviv until Sept. 4, when he will officially join the Garin...
(JNS) — The Pentagon is seeking more than $3.5 billion to restock weapons and cover related costs following U.S. military operations tied to Israel’s defense, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. According to budget documents prepared through mid-May, the requested funds would be used to replace munitions expended during recent operations—including at least $1 billion for Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptors produced by Arlington, Virginia-based RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies)—and to finance routine tasks such as radar mainten...
(JNS) — A Jewish family was allegedly kicked off a taxi in Austria last week and called “murderers” by the driver, who reportedly assaulted one of the passengers. In France, “Free Palestine” graffiti was sprayed on Jewish-owned cars on Wednesday. In the Netherlands, Israelis were filmed at a vacation park and threatened online last week. And in Italy, a hotel employee demanded that an Israeli guest cancel her booking if she supported her government’s actions. The incidents, all reported in local media, were part of a wave of violence an...
(JNS) — Former Hamas hostages Keith and Aviva Siegel led a group of protesters in Pretoria, South Africa on Monday to confront the International Committee of the Red Cross over its inaction regarding captives held by Palestinian terrorist groups in Gaza. They were joined on the “Bring the Hostages Home” Solidarity Bus Ride to the South African capital by the South African Zionist Federation, members of civil society, faith leaders and political representatives. “We are here at the Red Cross o...
(JNS) — Israelis who were uprooted from the community of Sa-Nur in northern Samaria during the 2005 Gaza disengagement returned on Thursday morning to prepare the area for resettlement, Channel 14 reported. The group of evacuees cleaned up trash and repaired damage caused following the Arab takeover of the village, which is one of the two in Samaria that the Israeli government decided in May to reconstruct. The visit was led by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — who initiated the Cabinet decision three months ago and whose brother use...
Jewish Maryland congressman latest Dem to sponsor arms restrictions against Israel (JNS) — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) joined far-left House Democrats in pushing for restrictive arms sales to Israel. The “Block the Bombs Act,” to which Raskin signed on as a co-sponsor, would require Congress to authorize each sale or transfer of a variety of weapons systems and to identify how those weapons would be used. The conditions imposed by the law would be unprecedented in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Raskin, who is Jewish, represents a suburban Maryl...
Cairo intends to train 5,000 Palestinian police officers to help restore order in Gaza after the current Hamas-Israel war ends, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said on Wednesday. In an interview with Egyptian media, Abdelatty noted that the training has already begun and that, at this stage, hundreds of officers are participating. According to the minister, Cairo has received vetted lists of names of those currently training at military camps in Egypt, in coordination with Jordan. The aim, he said, is to ensure the officers have no...
(JNS) — A significant drop in the level of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) was recorded on Sunday following an extreme heatwave that swept through Israel last week, bringing it closer to the lower red line, Hebrew media reported. “The Sea of Galilee has lost several centimeters since the start of the severe heatwave last week,” Kinneret Department Manager at the Water Authority Firas Telhami said, according to Ynet. “The evaporation rate, especially in the last two days of the peak of the heatwav...
(JNS) — Students from 24 U.S. universities toured Israel last week as part of a program which according to its organizers would use firsthand testimonies to help counter misinformation about Israel. The students attend universities including UCLA, Duke, UC Berkeley, and the University of Michigan. On their 10-day visit, the participants of the Hasbara Fellowships and IsraelAmbassadors.com delegation met politicians, visited the grounds of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, met with a former h...
The S’firot Foundation proudly announces the appointment of Wayne Green as its inaugural executive director, signaling the launch of its mission and the beginning of its leadership and vision for the future. With a career spanning Melbourne, New York, London, and Israel, Green brings a rare blend of global philanthropic expertise, strategic acumen, and a track record of driving transformative social impact. Green is a seasoned senior executive whose career has traversed the nonprofit, g...
(JNS) — One morning in July, on a pathway atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, eight barefoot men lay spread-eagled, faces pressed to the ground, as four police officers stood by and watched. Just two years ago, this act — part of a mitzvah, a religious commandment known as Hishtachavaya — would have led to immediate ejection. For decades, authorities restricted Jewish prayer at the site, which houses the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the remains of the last Jewish Temple, making it one of the most sensitive and contested religious spaces on earth. Often d...
Winter Garden, FL – The WOW Chavurah is growing and thriving! Serving the Orlando southwest area, including Winter Garden, Ocoee, and Windermere. WOW was founded in 2023 by Adam Cohn and Randa Marder. The Chavurah is dedicated to building a welcoming and inclusive Jewish community through informal, lay-led Shabbat and holiday gatherings that feature music, dance, and activities for all ages. WOW offers a variety of groups to engage all members of the community: Keshet – for children aged 4–8...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized nationwide anti-government demonstrations on Sunday, saying at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting that the results are the opposite of what they claim to want. “Those who today call for ending the war without defeating Hamas are not only hardening Hamas’s position and distancing the release of our hostages, they are also ensuring that the horrors of Oct. 7 will repeat themselves, and that we will be forced to fight a never-ending war,” Netanyahu said. “Therefore, to advance the r...
