Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Israel’s government and military remain fully committed to eliminating Hamas terrorist rule in the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office clarified on Wednesday evening. The statement came after Israel Defense Forces Spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Channel 13 News that the government’s war goal of ending Hamas rule in Gaza can only truly be accomplished by putting in place a viable alternative. “The Security Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has defined the destruction of Hamas’s m...
(JNS) — Intelligence documents compiled by the Israel Defense Forces’ Gaza Division only three weeks before Oct. 7 warned that Hamas was preparing for a massive cross-border attack during which at least 200 hostages would be taken, according to Israeli media reports. The memo, which was internally circulated on Sept. 19, was brought to the attention of at least some top intelligence officials in the military’s Southern Command, Israel’s Kan News reported on Monday night. The document detailed drills by the Gaza terrorist group’s Nukhba fo...
(JTA) - Nicole Tolkacheva, 52, has endured nearly two and a half years of war as her native Odesa gets pounded by Russian missiles. "Every morning, the city checks who and what survived the night," she said of Ukraine's storied Black Sea port city. "In this life, you don't know what's safer: running to the shelter and risking your life on the way or staying at home and risking being buried under the rubble." But one recent weekend, Tolkacheva got a reprieve from the war. She and 200 fellow Ukrai...
By (JTA) — Ten Israeli soldiers were killed in Gaza on Saturday in one of the bloodiest days for the Israeli military since the beginning of its war with Hamas. An additional soldier died of wounds sustained in battle earlier in the week. The casualties came as Israel is negotiating with Hamas over a potential ceasefire that would see the release of hostages held by the terror group. Israel reportedly expects Hamas to reject the ceasefire offer, made with U.S. support. The incidents also came on the first day of a pause Israel announced that w...
(JNS) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed members of his government of his intent to dissolve the War Cabinet set up after Hamas's Oct. 7 attack. The premier told ministers on Sunday that the powerful forum, which was established when National Unity Party leader Benny Gantz joined the wartime government in October, had become obsolete following the latter's June 9 decision to return to the opposition. Discussions on the war will continue to take place in a small forum with...
(JNS) — Jerusalem will not commit to ending the war in Gaza until Hamas releases all of the hostages held by the terrorist group, according to a senior Israeli official. The official told the Ynet website that the captives must be freed in the first and second phases of the proposed ceasefire agreement approved by the United Nations Security Council on June 10. The U.S.-drafted resolution is aimed at reaching a three-phase ceasefire deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Noting that Israel has accepted the ceasefire proposal, t...
(JNS) — Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., recently announced plans to eliminate 60 employees due to financial difficulties. “These decisions have not been made lightly,” the academic institution’s senior leaders wrote in an email to staff. “We have examined spending across the university to find savings. Unfortunately, it was not possible to identify sufficient savings without needing to reduce positions.” The cuts may hit non-tenured faculty the hardest. “The need for contract faculty will be reviewed as contracts come up for renewal,...
(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) — Alpha Epsilon Pi International, the world’s largest and leading Jewish college fraternity, has launched an innovative new virtual fraternity chapter – AEPi’s “Chapter Without Walls” – for men looking for the specific brand of Jewish leadership development and advocacy training that AEPi provides but attend colleges at which there is not an active AEPi chapter. The AEPi Chapter Without Walls currently has members from schools such as Clemson University, The New School, Savanah College of Art and Design, Furman University an...
(JNS) — Israeli Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar said on Tuesday that should military operations on the country’s northern front be expanded, the IAF will “enable a change in the security reality in the north.” Speaking at a ceremony for the re-establishment of Battalion 139 of the Air Defense Array, Bar said: “Alongside the iron defense, we are acting offensively and denying Hezbollah’s capabilities, shoulder to shoulder with the Northern Command. Together, we will also know how to expand and intensify the attack if required....
David Isaac (JNS) - While Israeli security officials have requested that the four hostages rescued by the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday keep their experiences secret, some details have nevertheless emerged. The four - Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40 - appeared to be in good health when first seen on camera on June 8, the day of the raid. But two days later, Dr. Itay Pessach of the Sheba Medical Center revealed they were in a "state of severe...
(JTA) - BERLIN - The success of German extremists in Sunday's European Parliament election has mainstream Jewish leaders and politicians worried. Some say they fear the country is veering into political territory that resembles the era just before the rise of the Nazis here nearly a century ago. The strong showing for far-right parties reflects worries about increasing numbers of Muslim refugees since 2015 in Germany. The Alternative for Germany Party stresses isolationism, takes an anti-EU and...
(JNS) — In his first meeting with the new Palestinian Authority prime minister on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the PA’s plans to pass a series of administrative reforms. Blinken stressed “the need for full and consistent implementation of those reforms to achieve the aspirations of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza” in his meeting in Sweimeh, Jordan, with Mohammad Mustafa, the P.A. prime minister, per a U.S. readout of the meeting. The U.S. secretary also reaffirmed the Biden administration’s “support...
(JNS) — Hamas has rejected the Israeli hostage-ceasefire deal, claiming that it is fundamentally different than the one presented by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 31, the Saudi daily Asharq al-Awsat reported on Thursday. The Gaza-based terror group sent a clarification memorandum to the Palestinian terror factions on Wednesday, the text of which was seen by the news outlet. It claims that the current proposal “does not promise a permanent ceasefire, the occupation’s forces will remain in Gaza, and when they receive the hostages, they will...
(JNS) — Messages sent to mediators by Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar show that as far as he’s concerned, the more civilians die in Gaza the better. He sees such deaths as working “to his advantage,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The Journal reviewed “dozens of messages” Sinwar sent to ceasefire negotiators and others in which “he’s shown a cold disregard for human life and made clear he believes Israel has more to lose from the war than Hamas.” “We have the Israelis right where we want them,” said Sinwar in a message sent rec...
IDF has downed more than 150 drones since Oct. 7 (JNS) — Since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the Israel Defense Forces has intercepted over 150 drones using ground-based systems such as the Iron Dome, the military announced Monday night. Additional UAVs have been downed by fighter jets, according to the IDF. On Tuesday morning, the IDF announced the interception of a “suspicious aerial target” heading towards Israel “from the east.” No warning sirens were activated as the target did not cross into Israeli territory. Hours ear...
(JNS) — The U.S. House of Representatives voted 247 to 155 on Tuesday to pass H.R. 8282, the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act. Two Republicans voted “present” and 42 Democrats voted with Republicans for the bill. AIPAC stated that the bill responds to the “morally bankrupt and legally baseless attack against Israel” leveled by Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, a United Nations agency located in The Hague. Khan announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu...
(JNS) — Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Tuesday slammed a reported decision to release 30 Palestinian terrorists who were captured by Israel Defense Forces troops in the Gaza Strip. “The decision by the IDF and the National Security Council to release terrorists back into the Gaza Strip without conditions is unfathomably delusional,” the Otzma Yehudit Party leader told Channel 14 News. “The IDF is expected to withstand the shortage of prison space during a war when there are tens of thousands of detained terrori...
(JNS) — The Jewish state should task a committee with probing the state’s defense budget amid a war that appears poised to cost $67 billion between 2023 and 2025, Amir Yaron, the governor of the Bank of Israel, said on Thursday. Speaking at the College of Management Academic Studies in Rishon Letzion, Yaron said that “a prosperous economy requires security, and security requires a prosperous economy,” Reuters reported. “The war should not bring with it a blank check for permanent defense expenditures, and proper balances have to be found,” h...
(JNS) — “I am very cheerful and full of joy. For the first time since October 7, I feel that I can breathe again,” Aviram Meir, the uncle of Almog Meir Jan, told JNS on Thursday. Meir Jan was rescued during “Operation Arnon” last Saturday along with Noa Argamani, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv from two separate locations in Nuseirat Camp in the central Gaza Strip. Hamas terrorists abducted all four from the Supernova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im during the Oct. 7 Hamas massacre. “We thank all the decision-makers, the planners and the soldi...
(JNS) - Thousands of Israelis converged on "Hostage Square" in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, many euphoric over the daring operation to rescue four captives from Gaza even while demanding a deal with Hamas to secure the freedom of the remaining 120 Israelis held by the terrorists. During a complex daytime operation in the heart of a crowded residential neighborhood, Israeli forces recovered from Hamas captivity Noa Argamani, 26, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40. "I was so...
(JNS) - Israel will rename Saturday's hostage rescue operation after Chief Inspector Arnon Zamora, a member of the Israel Border Police's "Yamam" National Counter-Terrorism Unit who was mortally wounded during the mission. Zamora, 36, from Sde David, a moshav in southern Israel, leaves behind a wife, Michal, and two children. His wife eulogized him in a Facebook post. "Everything is now filled with the image of the hero Arnon Zamora. Long before he was a warrior and hero, he was a sweet and...
(JNS) - Israeli forces on Saturday rescued four hostages from two separate locations in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. During a complex IDF/Border Police/Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) daytime operation in the heart of a crowded residential neighborhood, the forces recovered from Hamas captivity Noa Argamani, 26; Almog Meir Jan, 21; Andrey Kozlov, 27; and Shlomi Ziv, 40. A fighter from the Border Police's Yamam National Counter-Terrorism Unit was mortally wounded during the rescue missio...
(JNS) — Western officials have expressed relief at the rescue by Israeli forces of four hostages Saturday, though some have also echoed Arab countries in condemning the operation in Gaza’s Nuseirat camp as a “massacre.” “Noa Argamani, Almog Meir Jan, Andrey Kozlov and Shlomi Ziv are free and safe today. We share the relief of their families and call for the release of all the remaining hostages,” tweeted E.U. High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell. He went on to call for the implementat...
(JNS) - Israeli jujitsu fighter Yarin Shriki won a gold medal at the European Championship in Germany over the weekend, seven months after surviving the Hamas massacre at the Supernova music festival near Gaza. "I dedicate the victory to my good friend Yohai Ben Zecharia, may God avenge his blood, who was murdered on October 7, as well as to the speedy return of all the hostages," Shriki told Israel's Channel 14 News. Shriki entered the final against Belgian Florian Bayili, ranked No. 1 in the...
(JTA) — The next leader of AIPAC will be Elliot Brandt, who has served as a senior official of the pro-Israel lobby for decades and will take the helm shortly after the November elections — a move toward continuity as Israel faces volatile conflicts on multiple fronts. Brandt, currently the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s vice CEO, will succeed longtime CEO Howard Kohr, who is stepping down at year’s end after nearly 20 years leading the group. Under his leadership, the organization burgeoned and, in recent years, shifted to launchi...
