Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The UJA-Federation of New York will send $1 million to an Israeli humanitarian group providing aid to civilians in Gaza, the federation’s CEO announced on Friday. The funds will go to IsraAID, Israel’s largest nongovernmental aid organization, to supply food, medicine and water filtration systems for displaced Gazans. IsraAID has traditionally operated in disaster zones abroad, from earthquake relief in Turkey to aid for Ukrainian refugees, but since Oct. 7 has expanded its work to Israel and now into Gaza. In a letter to the community, UJA...
‘A two-state solution means our end,’ says Israel’s FM (JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar told a visiting delegation of American journalists on Wednesday that the establishment of a Palestinian state would pose an existential threat to Israel. The delegation, led by Newsmax founder and CEO Christopher Ruddy, is visiting Israel as part of the Foreign Ministry’s public diplomacy initiative. “A two-state solution? A Palestinian state in the heart of Israel would indeed be a solution—for those who seek to eliminate us. We will not let...
Teens entering grades 9-12 are encouraged to join their local Orlando chapter of HaZamir: The International Jewish Teen Choir, conducted by Eric Levine, for a rewarding combination of music, culture, leadership and friendship. Rehearsals for the 2025-2026 season begin in late August, culminating in a gala performance at the new David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center in NYC next spring with hundreds of HaZamir singers from across the U.S. and Israel. For more information contact...
Teacher showed video promoting ‘bias toward Jewish students,’ Bay Area district probe finds (JNS) — The Santa Clara Unified School District determined that one of its teachers violated district policy by showing a video to her class in March 2024 that compared Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza to the Holocaust, according to a document that JNS viewed. The district, which educates about 15,300 students in the San Francisco area, wrote in a July 25 letter to the Bay Area Jewish Coalition Education and Advocacy that the video featured a Holocau...
\(JTA) — Canada, too, will recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September as long as certain conditions are met, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced on Wednesday. “The deepening suffering of civilians leaves no room for delaying coordinated international action to support peace, security and the dignity of human life,” Carney, a liberal elected in April, said at a press conference, referring to a hunger crisis in Gaza that has grown acute. The move adds Canada to the United Kingdom and France as major world power...
(JNS) — A group of 60 French Jewish immigrants arrived in Israel on Tuesday on a flight sponsored by a Jerusalem-based evangelical Christian organization. The move, which comes amid a rise in global antisemitism triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel, highlights the burgeoning ties between the evangelical Christian community around the world and the Jewish state. “This is more than just a flight, it’s prophecy in motion,” said Peter Fast, International CEO of Bridges for Peace. “When Christians from around th...
(JNS) — Former Washington Wizards basketball player Gilbert Arenas, suspected Israeli organized crime figure Yevgeni Gershman and four others were arrested on Wednesday for allegedly operating illegal high-stakes poker games at a mansion that Arenas owns in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Encino, the U.S. Justice Department said. Arenas, 43, was charged with three counts: conspiracy to operate an illegal gambling business, operating an illegal gambling business and making false statements to federal investigators. The five others—Yevgeni Ger...
Harvard announces Ben-Gurion University study abroad program Harvard University announced two new partnerships on Monday that it says “promise to bolster the university’s academic engagement with Israeli institutions and create greater opportunities for students and researchers.” The Ivy League university plans to start offering credit for study abroad at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in the spring 2026 semester, and Harvard Medical School will award two- or three-year Kalaniyot postdoctoral fellowships in biomedical research to Israelis....
(JNS) — U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee on Friday mocked Paris’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state, suggesting that this new entity be located in southern France and named after a fictional monster. “[French President Emmanuel] Macron’s unilateral ‘declaration’ of a ‘Palestinian’ state didn’t say WHERE it would be. I can now exclusively disclose that France will offer the French Riviera and the new nation will be called ‘Franc-en-Stine,’ tweeted Huckabee, in an apparent reference to Mary Shelley’s classic novel “Frankens...
(JNS) — French President Emmanuel Macron stated on Thursday that “consistent with its historic commitment to a just and lasting peace in the Middle East,” Paris intends to recognize a Palestinian state. “I will make this solemn announcement before the United Nations General Assembly this coming September,” Macron stated. “The urgent priority today is to end the war in Gaza and to bring relief to the civilian population.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly” condemned Macron’s decision “to recognize a Palestinian state nex...
Anti-Israel vandals deface AOC’s office Anti-Israel vandals defaced the Bronx, N.Y., office of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Sunday after the far-left member of “The Squad” in the U.S. House of Representatives voted against cutting aid to the Jewish state, the New York Post reported. The vandals wrote in red paint that the congresswoman “funds genocide in Gaza.” The Boogie Down Liberation Front, which claimed responsibility, stated that “the Bronx is sick and tired of people like AOC and Ritchie Torres using us as a stepping-st...
(JNS) — An Israeli musician says he and two colleagues were kicked out of a restaurant in Vienna for speaking Hebrew, while elsewhere in Austria, a couple from Israel reported being denied service at a trailer park because of their nationality. The musicians — Hagai Shaham, Julia Gurvitch and Amit Peled — were waiting for the server at an eatery called “Pizzeria Ristorante Ramazzotti” on Meiselstrasse, a quiet street in Vienna’s 2nd district, or Leopoldstadt, which is the city’s most heavily Jewish quarter. The server heard them speaking Hebr...
(JNS) - History was made overnight at the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas, as Israeli-American Michael Mizrachi, 44, clinched the world championship title and walked away with a $10 million prize. Mizrachi, a Florida native and son of an Israeli father, proudly displayed a tattoo of the Israeli flag on his arm. In a recent major tournament victory, he requested that Israel's national anthem be played instead of the U.S. anthem. This time, he competed wearing a tag around his neck symbolizing...
(JNS) — Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, has accused the United Nations of being “transparently antisemitic.” The claim, made in an internal employee forum, was first reported by The Washington Post and followed a published report by a controversial U.N. official accusing a selection of businesses, including technology firms, of profiting from the “genocide carried out by Israel” in Gaza. Google and its parent company, Alphabet, were among those listed in the U.N. report as a result of their provision of cloud and AI tech for the Israeli g...
SpaceX launches ‘Dror-1’ Israeli communications satellite By JNS Staff (JNS) — Israel’s new national communications satellite, “Dror-1,” was launched into space on Sunday morning, Israel Aerospace Industries announced. Designed to meet Israel’s national communication needs, the Israeli-made satellite lifted off at 8 a.m. local time from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Weighing 4.5 tons and with an 18-meter wingspan, Dror-1 separated from its launcher approximately 40 minutes after liftoff and began independently...
(JNS) — The strong support that Israel received from the United States in its short-lived war against Iran caused “a great change in our region” and could lead to peace, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Tuesday. “The coordination between our two countries — the coordination between an American president and an Israeli prime minister — has been unmatched,” he told reporters following a private meeting with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). “It offers great promise for Israel, for America, for our region and for the wor...
(European Jewish Press via JNS) — “British Jews should leave the U.K. unless the government changes, and the Labour Party is responsible for fueling antisemitism across the country,” Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism told the Daily Mail on Tuesday. “Without a dramatic change of course by Britain’s political leadership, I see no future for Jewish life in England,” he said. “My recommendation to Jews in the U.K. is to consider leaving and make aliyah to the Land of Israel,” Chikli added. He recently gave the same a...
El Al announces expanded flights into four American markets By Mike Wagenheim (JNS) — Israel’s national airline El Al announced an expansion of its service to the United States, starting this winter. Deeming it a “response to growing demand” from “the business sector, Jewish and Israeli communities,” El Al said it will begin offering 42 direct flights per week reaching four key American destinations. The enhanced service is slated to begin in late October and will include 27 weekly flights to and from New York, six weekly flights to and from...
Jordan boycotts Israel at U19 World Cup, takes technical loss By JNS Staff (JNS) — Jordan handed Israel its second-straight victory during its first-ever participation in the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup when the Arab nation decided to boycott Sunday’s match in in Lausanne, Switzerland. Amman’s refusal to compete against Israel over its war against the Hamas terrorist group in Gaza gave the Blue and White an automatic 20:0 technical victory, a day after Israel crushed the host country 102-77. Jordan lost 69-79 to the Dominican Republic, the o...
(JNS /Israel Hayom)- In a landmark moment for Israeli sports, Ben Saraf and Danny Wolf were selected back-to-back by the Brooklyn Nets in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, making history as the first two Israeli players ever to join the same NBA team. Saraf, a 19-year-old, 6 ft. 6 in. point and shooting guard who is still playing for German club Ratiopharm Ulm, was picked 26th overall by new head coach Jordi Fernandez's rebuilding squad. Immediately thereafter, with the 27th pick, Brooklyn...
As one of the largest Jewish camp operators in the United States, NJY Camps was expecting to host over 100 Israeli counselors this summer. Now, over half of them are stranded in Israel after the surprise onset of a war with Iran has ground air travel to a total halt. “Some of them were supposed to be here today. They will not be here today, and who knows when they will be here,” said Michael Schlank, CEO of the network of day and overnight camps in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. At Jewish camps in the United States, hosting Israelis as cou...
NEW YORK — Following a U.S. operation targeting Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, Ambassador Ronald S. Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, issued the following statement: “A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat to Western civilization and global security. It is my hope that today’s historic operation by the United States has brought an end to the Islamic Republic’s nuclear ambitions once and for all. “I applaud President Trump and his administration for having the courage to act decisively, and for lending critical Am...
Iran fires 15 missiles at Israel in latest barrage By JNS Staff Some 15 ballistic missiles were launched at Israel’s north in Iran’s latest attack on Thursday afternoon, with no reports of direct hits or casualties. Air-raid sirens sounded across Israel’s north, including in Haifa, sending the city’s almost 300,000 residents running for bomb shelters. The IDF Home Front Command gave the all-clear some 20 minutes after the military detected launches from Iran. “At this stage, no calls have been received by the Magen David Adom 101 hotline r...
(JNS) — Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday endorsed Israel’s airstrikes on Iran, saying it was doing essential work for Germany and others. “This is the dirty work that Israel is doing for all of us,” Merz told the ZDF broadcaster during an interview on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Alberta, Canada. The phrasing came in response to a question from an interviewer who had used the term. “We are also affected by this regime. This mullah regime has brought death and destruction to the world,” Merz added. Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron...
(JTA) — President Donald Trump is pressing forward in seeking a nuclear deal with Iran following a massive wave of Israeli attacks on the country’s nuclear program. Trump, who has built his public persona around a verve for making deals, addressed his now-weakened negotiating partner in a post on Truth Social on Friday morning, several hours after the Israelis began carrying out a daring and apparently successful mission in Iran that took aim at the places and personnel involved in the country’s effort to develop a nuclear weapon. Trump said...
