Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Alfred Dreyfus, the French Jewish military officer who was falsely accused of treason in 1894 in France, has been posthumously promoted to the rank of brigadier general, AFP reported on Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron and French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu signed the promotion into law on Monday, and it was published in the Journal Officiel de La République Française, the government gazette of the French Republic, the next day. The law is seen as an act of reparation for the notorious case that highlighted the ramp...
(JNS) — A high-level delegation of South African Christian leaders visited Israel in mid-November with a clear mission: to witness the reality on the ground, strengthen long-standing ties with the Jewish state and return home as “ambassadors for truth” at a time when diplomatic ties between Jerusalem and Pretoria are under intense strain. Three members of the delegation—Shaun Zagnoev, chairman of the South African Friends of Israel (SAFI); Pastor Bert Pretorius, founder and president of the South African Coalition for Families and Faith (...
Last year, Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall held its 10th anniversary of a Hanukkah concert series that was rebooted 70 years after it was halted by the Nazis, in what some Dutch Jews saw as a repudiation of antisemitism that had swelled during the war in Gaza. This year, the concert has been called off — and the prestigious concert hall citing the chosen singer’s ties to the Israeli army. The Chanukah Concert Foundation, which organizes the event, had booked Shai Abramson to sing. Abramson is a retired lieutenant colonel for the IDF who serve...
(JTA) - When Michael Smuss died last month at 99, an era of Jewish history came to a close. Smuss was the last known resistance fighter during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, when Jews rose up against their Nazi persecutors in one of the most dramatic episodes of the Holocaust. Smuss was not the only prominent survivor to die in recent weeks. A number of survivors, several centenarians, have died in a wave that underscores the rapid disappearance of anyone alive with robust memories of the...
(JNS) - A painting, which depicts a Jewish woman and which the Nazis stole after annexing Austria, sold for $236.36 million-reportedly a record for Viennese decorative artist Gustav Klimt-at a Sotheby's auction on Tuesday. Dated between 1914 and 1916, the oil painting is titled "Portrait of Elisabeth Lederer" and portrays the daughter of Klimt's "most important patrons," Serena and August Lederer, and captures "the social prominence and beauty of the sitter," according to Sotheby's. The auction...
(JNS) — A 5.1-magnitude earthquake centered in Cyprus’s Paphos region was felt in northern Israel on Wednesday, the Geological Survey of Israel reported. Israelis in Haifa, Tiberias, Nazareth and other northern towns reported feeling the tremor, but no injuries or damage were reported, Ynet reported. In September 2023, following a tremor that killed more than 2,000 people in Morocco, Israeli State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said the country had failed to prepare for a major earthquake. Englman’s warning came after a report found that 93 pe...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces confirmed to JNS on Wednesday that it is building a barrier at the Israel-Lebanon border and that the security wall is entirely on the Israel side, countering Arab media reports that the work is being carried out beyond the Blue Line. “Contrary to Lebanese reports, the barrier in question is located within Israeli territory and does not cross into Lebanese territory,” the IDF said. The Hezbollah-affiliated Al Manar network had earlier reported that the IDF was building a new fence opposite the village of Yarou...
Last year, Amsterdam’s Royal Concert Hall held its 10th anniversary of a Chanukah concert series that was rebooted 70 years after it was halted by the Nazis, in what some Dutch Jews saw as a repudiation of antisemitism that had swelled during the war in Gaza. This year, the concert has been called off — and the prestigious concert hall citing the chosen singer’s ties to the Israeli army. The Chanukah Concert Foundation, which organizes the event, had booked Shai Abramson to sing. Abramson is a retired lieutenant colonel for the IDF who serve...
(JNS) — An Israeli medical delegation is heading to Jamaica to provide humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean island nation in the aftermath of last week’s Hurricane Melissa, Jerusalem’s health and foreign ministries announced on Wednesday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is directing the team to help the local population recover from the devastating Atlantic Ocean storm, which according to Reuters took the lives of 32 people in Jamaica and 43 in Haiti as of Wednesday, with billions in economic damage. The team, led by Health Minis...
(JNS) — Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, said on Monday that it has “recovered the names of 5 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust.” “Behind each name is a life that mattered,” stated Dani Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem. “A child who never grew up, a parent who never came home, a voice that was silenced forever.” The memorial stated that many of the remaining names of Jewish victims, estimated to be about a million, will likely remain unknown forever. It added that researchers are analyzing “hundreds of...
New York gets $14.3 million more to protect nonprofits New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday that she secured $14.3 million in supplemental Nonprofit Security Grant Program funding for the state on top of the $44.8 million that it received last year out of $274.5 million in funds for the program nationally. “Keeping New Yorkers safe is my top priority,” the Democrat stated. She added that the federal program provides “essential funding to help thwart domestic terrorism.” “This grant program will enable nonprofit organizations in high-risk...
(JNS) — The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany on Wednesday settled with Germany’s Finance Ministry a $1.08 billion increase in home-care funding for Holocaust survivors for 2026, the largest budget for survivor home care in the organization’s history. The supplemental payments will go to more than 127,000 Holocaust survivors around the world, according to the Claims Conference. With the average age of survivors increasing from 86 in 2018 to 88.5 in 2024, the health needs of the survivors have become greater, with increased co...
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...
(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) - A decision by Britain's Safety Advisory Group to bar visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv fans from attending an upcoming Europa League match at Aston Villa's Villa Park has sparked outrage, with British-Israeli released hostage and soccer enthusiast Emily Damari calling it "shocking" and "disgusting." "I was released from Hamas captivity in January and I am a die-hard fan of Maccabi Tel Aviv," said Damari, who also supports Tottenham Hotspur. "I am shocked to my core with this outrageous decision...
Israeli FM congratulates new Japanese premier on ‘historic election’ Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar on Tuesday congratulated Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, on her “historic election.” “We look forward to further deepening the partnership between Japan and Israel across various fields and building a prosperous and secure future for both our nations,” tweeted Sa’ar. Takaichi, who leads Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was voted in as premier by a clear majority of the nation’s parliament on Monday. While the 6...
“If we have to, we’ll disarm [Hamas],” U.S. President Donald Trump told Fox News’ correspondent Maria Bartimoro in an interview aired on Sunday night, in light of the terrorist group’s recent claims that it has not committed to disarmament. Trump said that during negotiations for the Gaza ceasefire that went into effect on Oct. 10, Hamas promised it would disarm but added that “these are very violent people; this is a very violent part of the world.” When asked who would disarm Hamas, Trump replied, “Whether it’s me, the U.S., or a proxy,...
(JNS) — Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) are urging the Trump administration to investigate the Council on American-Islamic Relations for possible links to Hamas and other terrorist groups. The Congress members wrote to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, asking him to look into whether CAIR, a decades-old organization that says it advocates for Muslim civil rights, is providing material support for terrorism, based on its history and its conduct following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. The Tre...
President Donald Trump appeared to threaten violence against Hamas in Gaza on Thursday as he responded to reports that Hamas was executing Gazans following the ceasefire with Israel that Trump brokered last week. “If Hamas continues to kill people in Gaza, which was not the Deal, we will have no choice but to go in and kill them,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, concluding with a trademark flourish: “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Soon after, he clarified that he did not mean the United States would enter Gaza. “Somebo...
(JNS) - The Blue Sky Warden aircraft, the result of a collaboration between Israel Aerospace Industries and the U.S. company L3Harris Technologies, embodies an innovative concept in light strike and reconnaissance aircraft. It is an enhanced iteration of the Air Tractor aircraft, which is originally a farming workhorse and an aerial firefighter, and also serves in Israel in the Elad Squadron, the aerial firefighting squadron. The new version of the aircraft will be adapted in Israel for...
(JNS) — The Trump administration is pushing ahead with the second phase of its Gaza peace plan, aiming to rebuild the southern city of Rafah, Israeli media reported on Thursday, citing senior U.S. officials. According to Israeli journalist Barak Ravid, the aim is to create a “day-after” model for life in the Gaza Strip. Despite incomplete progress in returning Israeli hostages—only nine of the 28 bodies held by Hamas have been recovered—advisers to U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly said that the United States plans to begin reconstruction...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Last Sunday, Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson said in an interview with Sky News that Britain played a “key role behind the scenes” in shaping the Gaza ceasefire agreement, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s presence in Sharm el-Sheikh would be evidence of this “central role.” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee shared the video and wrote, “I assure you, she’s delusional.” The less-than-diplomatic statement subsequently led to a post by U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. “I want to recognize Britai...
Palestinian committee picked for Gaza reconstruction By JNS Staff (JNS) — A 15-member Palestinian committee has been chosen to oversee the rebuilding and administration of Gaza after the war, the Associated Press on Tuesday cited Egypt’s foreign minister as saying. “We need to deploy them to take care of the daily life of the people in Gaza, and the Board of Peace should support and supervise the flow of finance and money, which will come for the reconstruction of Gaza,” Badr Abdelatty told the news agency ahead of Monday’s regional summit he...
(JNS) — Families of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza have sent an urgent letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee, calling on the body to award the Nobel Peace Prize to U.S. President Donald Trump for his efforts to end the Israel-Hamas war. “After almost two years of suffering, we have reached a critical turning point,” the families wrote, according to a statement from the Hostage and Missing Families Forum Headquarters. “President Trump’s determination to bring peace made possible what many said was impossible. We strongly urge you to award Pres...
