Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Israeli American Council unveiled its “Hostage Square” exhibit on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, drawing attention to Israeli captives held by Hamas. The political event has been marked by large pro-Palestinian demonstrations. An IAC spokesperson confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the exhibit is situated on private property near the United Center, where the convention is taking place until Aug. 22. By choosing a private lot,...
Dr. Kenneth Hanson has just released a powerful documentary about the Oct. 7 massacre of 1200 innocent Jewish men, women and children in the northwestern Negev. The video, titled "October Shadows: Denying the Day of Despair," brings attention to what exactly happened on that fateful day and covers the almost immediate denial of the evil acts committed by Hamas and Gazan citizens. "... while Oct. 7 is a different kind of Holocaust than what transpired during the dark years of World War II, the...
(JNS) — In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis conducted on Aug. 19 regarding their view of the presidential race that pits Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump, Harris enjoys the support of 28 percent of Israelis to Trump’s 64 percent, with 9 percent of Israelis professing to have no opinion. In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis carried out on July 9, 34 percent of respondents supported Biden to 55 percent for Donald Trump and 11 percent had no opinion. In this week’s poll, Harris has virtually no support am...
(JNS) — The Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who has eluded Israeli crosshairs since Oct. 7, is making it a precondition to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that Israel spare his life, according to reporting in Asharq al-Awsat, an Arabic publication in London. Israel media reported, citing Egyptian officials who spoke anonymously with Asharq al-Awsat and other Arabic media, that Cario presented a stipulation to U.S. counterparts on behalf of the Oct. 7 terror attack mastermind. “Should a deal be struck alongside the return of hostages, ‘Si...
(JNS) — Former Hamas hostage Noa Argamani met with top global diplomats on Wednesday to raise the plight of the 109 captives still being held by the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. “Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life,” the 26-year-old told senior diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo. “And until the moment I was [rescued] … I just did not believe that I’m still surviving,” she added. “And in this moment that I’m … sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here,” she said. Argamani, Shlomi Zi...
(JNS) — As tensions between Israel and Iran escalate, a group of American military veterans is preparing to evacuate U.S. citizens from the region for the second time since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught on southwestern Israel. “Our ambition is for every American who travels to know that Project DYNAMO is there to help them if the need were to arise,” Mario Duarte, president and CEO of the Florida-based organization, told JNS on Sunday. Project DYNAMO was created in 2021, as the United States pulled forces out of Afghanistan. After the withdrawal, th...
(JNS) — Iranian officials are signaling this week that an attack on Israel may not be imminent, nearly a month after the targeted killing in Tehran of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh. Despite Jerusalem not claiming responsibility, the Islamic Republic vowed to avenge the assassination on its soil with a strong response against Israel. However, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Tehran is tamping down its urgent rhetoric. Examples of this potentially different approach cited by the newspaper include a Wednesday statement by t...
(JNS) — Gilad Erdan, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, has called out the United Nations for a new display that fails to include Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. In an 85-second video posted Tuesday to his X account, Erdan identified himself as standing inside at the visitor’s entrance to the United Nations. “Tomorrow the U.N. will mark the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism with high-level discussions taking place,” he said in Hebrew with an English transla...
RJC to plant 1,800 trees per DNC speaker who publicly praises Israel (JNS) — The Republican Jewish Coalition has announced a new initiative during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to monitor speakers and see who, if any, advocate for the Jewish state. “Last week, the RJC officially challenged every speaker at the Democratic Convention in Chicago to ‘Praise Israel,’” the group wrote on X on Sunday. “If any speaker from the main stage asks the crowd to cheer if they support Israel, the RJC will donate to plant 1,800 trees in Is...
(JNS) — Tehran is advancing its secret nuclear program, bringing the Islamic Republic closer to building atomic bombs, Iran International reported on Wednesday. Three independent sources in Iran told the London-based opposition media outlet that the regime is moving forward with its nuclear weapons program “by restructuring the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), retaining Mohammad Eslami as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and resuming tests to produce nuclear bomb detonators.” The Biden admin...
(JTA) — A group of 99 Jewish clergy from across the United States signed a statement calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The signatories of the clergy statement include well-known rabbis spanning the country and the Jewish denominational spectrum. The list includes Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Secular Humanistic leaders. The statement comes as a new round of negotiations is set to begin Thursday in Qatar u...
US, UK again attack Houthi targets in Yemen (JNS) — American and British forces carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets on Yemen’s Kamaran Island on Monday, Iranian state media reported. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that there was no immediate information on casualties or damage following the coalition strike. U.S. Central Command—the geographic command responsible for the Middle East—and the British Ministry of Defense did not immediately confirm the airstrikes. Kamaran, Yemen’s largest island in the Red Sea, is located off the p...
(JNS) — The Kremlin regards the creation of a Palestinian state as a top priority, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas during their first in-person encounter since Gaza terrorists carried out the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The two men last met in October 2022, on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in Kazakhstan. “We believe that in order to secure lasting and stable peace in the region, it is imperative to implement all...
(JTA) — “What are these for?” the security guard at the Dubai airport asked as three others inspected my bris kit — the bag of supplies I carry when I perform circumcisions on Jewish baby boys. Whenever I travel for work and I’m away from Israel for only a short time, I never check a bag, so this can make for interesting encounters at the X-ray machines. There are times I’ve lied and said I make jewelry, but since circumcision is a cultural norm in the United Arab Emirates and other Muslim countries, I decided to come clean. “I perform circu...
(JTA) - The 2024 Paris Olympics conclude on Sunday, and at least 21 Jewish athletes from the United States, Australia and Israel will return home with some new hardware: The tally includes six golds (with one athlete winning two), seven silvers and five bronzes. The medal total of 18 is more than all but 15 countries. Israel in particular has racked up a historic medal collection, with seven total medals, its most ever in a single Olympics. Israel won three medals on Aug. 3 alone, its most...
(JNS) — The United Nations announced Aug. 5 that nine staff members of the scandal-plagued UNRWA organization “may have been involved” in the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks in southern Israel, as its internal investigation into Israeli allegations came to a close. The U.N. Internal Oversight Services handled the months-long fact-finding investigation in the wake of Jerusalem’s stunning allegations that a number of UNRWA employees had taken part in the atrocities of Oct. 7. The contention had led to 16 countries suspending assistance to UNRWA,...
Israeli company installs water-generation machine in Vatican City (JNS) — Watergen, an Israeli company specializing in water-generation technology, has installed one of its machines at the Office of Papal Charities in Vatican City. The machine, which produces clean drinking water from the air, will provide Cardinal Konrad Krajewski and his team with a sustainable water source on-site. The installation reflects a shared commitment to addressing global water scarcity. Krajewski, who leads the office with a focus on humanitarian aid, will b...
(JNS) — A squadron of United States Air Force F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets arrived in the Middle East on Thursday to “mitigate the possibility of regional escalation by Iran or its proxies,” the U.S. military confirmed. In an earlier statement, U.S. Central Command, the geographic command responsible for the Middle East, Central Asia and parts of South Asia, said that the planes were dispatched to “address” Tehran’s anticipated attack. The statement, which was shared on X, was modified to read “mitigate” some 30 minutes after it was fi...
(JNS) — U.S. border agents have arrested three Palestinian Arab illegals at the southern border on suspicion of terror ties. One of the men had “salacious photos” on his phone, including one picture of a masked man holding a rifle, federal law enforcement sources said, according to The New York Post. Federal authorities also caught one illegal immigrant from Turkey who is suspected of ties to terror groups. “The migrants were among groups of dozens of migrants who turned themselves in to border agents at the San Diego sector,” sources t...
(JTA) — Evan Gerhskovich, the American Jewish Wall Street Journal reporter who has been held in Russian prison for more than a year, is now free, the White House announced Thursday. Gershkovich, 32, was freed as part of a massive, 26-person prisoner exchange that included several prominent people jailed by Russia. The list of those released includes Russian-British activist and journalist Kara-Murza, who is also Jewish, as well as former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan. The secretive swap occurred in Ankara, Turkey, between Russia and the United S...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A Lufthansa flight from Munich to Israel made an unscheduled landing in Larnaca, Cyprus on Thursday morning due to heightened tensions in the region. The airline gave passengers the option of disembarking in Larnaca but did not offer them any assistance in completing their journey to Israel and informed them that their luggage would be returning to Munich with the plane, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Some 20 Israelis disembarked without their luggage, with the rest returning to Munich, according to the rep...
(JNS) — Judea and Samaria saw more than 500 Palestinian terrorist attacks each month on average in the first half of 2024, according to figures Rescuers Without Borders (Hatzalah Judea and Samaria) published on Thursday. In the first six months of this year, first responders recorded 3,272 acts of terrorism in the region, including 1,868 cases of rock-throwing, 456 attacks with Molotov cocktails, 299 explosive charges and 109 shootings. Palestinian terrorists have killed 14 people and wounded 155 others in Judea and Samaria since the start o...
(JTA) - A Russian court has sentenced the decorated Russian-Jewish writer Masha Gessen to eight years in prison in absentia over comments made about the country's conduct in the Ukraine war in 2022. The sentence makes Gessen at least the fifth prominent Jewish writer to be targeted by Russia for dissenting comments since the outbreak of war. Gessen, a New York Times columnist and former New Yorker writer who fled the Soviet Union as a teenager and has written and commented extensively on...
(JTA) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan openly threatened to invade Israel in support of the Palestinians as fears of a war with Hezbollah escalate — a shocking comment from a member of NATO, the international alliance of Western nations. “We must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine,” Erdogan said on Sunday during a party meeting that was televised, according to media reports. “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them.” He added, “There is no reason wh...
(JTA) - Hours after the Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran, a building-sized poster went up in the city's Palestine Square that featured the national language of Iran's sworn enemy Israel. "Wait for harsh punishment," the billboard said in Hebrew, atop a massive portrait of Haniyeh, whose funeral took place Thursday. Haniyeh is shown in front of the Dome of the Rock, a Muslim holy place on Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The poster offered a powerful symbol of what unnamed Iranian...
