Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Israeli pianist and former Hamas hostage Alon Ohel performed aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz on Saturday as part of the United States' 250th Independence Day celebrations. Ohel was invited by American singer-songwriter John Ondrasik, known professionally as Five for Fighting, to join him in performing the song "Superman" on the carrier's flight deck during the central holiday events tied to the International Naval Review 250 in New York City. The USS Nimitz, which has been in...
(JNS) — The American military struck dozens of targets across Iran overnight in the fourth round of attacks on the Islamic Republic within a week, U.S. Central Command said early on Monday. Precision munitions were deployed against “dozens of targets at multiple locations” to degrade Tehran’s ability to disrupt international shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, CENTCOM said. The targets included Iranian air-defense systems, coastal radar sites, missile and drone capabilities, and small boats, according to the statement. U.S. fighter aircraf...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that his administration would resume negotiations with Iran after the United States carried out another round of military strikes against the Islamic Republic earlier in the week. “The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue ‘talks,’” Trump wrote. “We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them, in no uncertain terms, that the ceasefire is over.” The United States attacked some 90 military targets in Iran on Wednesday in response to Iranian strikes on commercial sh...
California lawmaker ‘heartbroken’ as Jews targeted in nearly three-quarters of state’s religion-based hate crimes By Aaron Bandler (JNS) — Rick Chavez Zbur, a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, told JNS that he is “heartbroken” over a newly released state report showing that nearly three-quarters of the state’s religion-based hate crimes in 2025 targeted Jews. The California Department of Justice’s 2025 “Hate Crime in California” report, released Wednesday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, found that Jews were the...
One hundred and twenty-eight new immigrants from France landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport on Monday evening aboard a special flight marking the start of the 2026 summer “aliyah” season—the Hebrew term for Jewish immigration to Israel. “Immigration to Israel is the beating heart of the Jewish story,” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Doron Almog, chairman of the Jewish Agency. “At a time when Israeli society is facing heavy challenges and carrying a difficult burden on its shoulders, aliyah takes on an even deeper meaning. Every immigrant who comes her...
Iran denies direct talks with US in Doha, says will meet only with Qatari mediators By JNS Staff (JNS) — Iran said on Monday that its delegation will travel to Doha, Qatar but will not hold direct talks with U.S. officials, contradicting President Donald Trump’s assertion that negotiations would take place there Tuesday, The New York Times reported. Trump said on Monday that Iran has requested a meeting with the United States, with talks set to take place on Tuesday. According to the report, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Ghari...
(JNS) — Twin earthquakes in Venezuela on Wednesday killed at least 32 people and injured more than 700, prompting a nationwide state of emergency. Acting President Delcy Rodríguez said the back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude quakes struck shortly after 6 p.m. on Wednesday, June 24, collapsing buildings and damaging communities across several states. She warned that the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers comb rubble in the hardest-hit coastal state of La Guaira, north of Caracas. Authorities reported extensive damage in the capital, wh...
(JNS) - With antisemitism rising around the world, Israel's Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli called for arming Jewish community guards with firearms during a discussion at the 2026 JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem on Tuesday. The minister stressed the importance of allowing the security forces of Jewish communities in the Diaspora to carry real weapons. "What is the meaning of armed security if they can't prevent horrific incidents?" Chikli...
(JNS) — Five Jewish American soldiers killed in World War I received new headstones bearing Stars of David at France’s Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery on June 2, replacing Latin crosses that had marked their graves for more than a century. The American Battle Monuments Commission made the changes in coordination with Operation Benjamin, a nonprofit that works to identify Jewish U.S. service members buried under incorrect religious markers. The marker replacements of the soldiers—Pvt. Samue...
(JNS) — The nation of France honored historian Marc Bloch on Tuesday with interment in the Panthéon in Paris in a ceremony led by French President Emmanuel Macron. A French Jewish academic, who helped found the Annales school of historiography, Bloch is perhaps best remembered today for his wartime heroism as a member of the French Resistance whom the Nazis captured, tortured and executed in 1944. Caskets for Bloch and his wife containing the historian’s medals and photographs of the couple were buried with military honors in the presence of h...
Senate passes Iran war powers resolution By Andrew Bernard (JNS) — The Senate voted on Tuesday to pass a war powers resolution directing U.S. President Donald Trump to remove American military forces from the conflict with Iran. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) voted with every Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) to approve the rare rebuke of a president’s warmaking authority 50-48. The concurrent resolution, which originated in the House and passed 215-208 earlier in J...
(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee urged Americans to recognize Israel's biblical heritage as a foundation of the United States, speaking at the opening of an international archaeology conference at the Herodium site in Judea and Samaria. He said it is his job "to represent the importance of Israel to the United States," adding that "without Israel, without the Jewish foundation, there would not be an America. We owe our very existence to what happened in this land." The remarks wer...
(JNS) — The Islamic Republic of Iran must rein in its terrorist proxies in Lebanon, U.S. President Donald Trump insisted on Sunday, without naming Hezbollah. “Iran must immediately stop their highly paid PROXIES in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don’t, we’ll hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder,” U.S. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on Sunday. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization is a “malignant cancer,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said earlier on Sunday, notin...
(JNS) — Jeb Bush, chairman of United Against Nuclear Iran, and the group’s CEO Mark D. Wallace stated on Thursday that the organization cannot endorse the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding “in its current form.” In a statement released after the Wednesday night signing of the agreement at the Palace of Versailles in France, Bush and Wallace praised U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran, noting that the Islamic Republic is “no longer on the cusp of a nuclear weapon.” “The American and Israeli militaries have neutralized the Irani...
(JNS) — The Islamic Republic won the “2026 Iran War,” according to the Wikipedia page for the conflict. But when the crowd-sourced encyclopedia, which has a documented history of anti-Israel and antisemitic entries, cites news reports in a footnote ostensibly to support the claim that Iran won, it draws reader attention to sources that state that Iran wasn’t decimated or emerged in a better position in some ways. Not that it won. “So, who actually won?” states an Indian Express article, which is the first reference in the Wikipedia footnote. “T...
(JNS) — Keir Starmer on Monday resigned as Britain’s prime minister and leader of the U.K. Labour Party, seven weeks after suffering a defeat in the May 7 local elections. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, Starmer says he spoke to King Charles III and informed him of his decision to resign, the BBC reported. Starmer said the Labour Party asked him whether he was best placed to lead it into the next general election. He said he “heard the answer” to that question and “accepts that answer with good grace”. The outgoing premier...
Canada's Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg is embroiled in controversy over plans to open a major exhibit titled "Palestine Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present" on June 27. The controversy exists on multiple fronts including that the exhibit is not actually historically accurate, does not meet Canada's own standards and yet it is federally funded, that it is one-sided and risks inciting antisemitism, and undermines the museum's own mandate. Rev. Don James is the CEO of Bridges for Peace Canada....
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the United States would resume military strikes against Iran if Tehran violates a memorandum of understanding intended to prevent the Islamic Republic from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Speaking on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, Trump said the agreement must permanently block Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon but warned of military consequences if it fails. “When I say permanently, it should be permanently. But if...
London appeals court rules Palestine Action ban legal By JNS Staff (JNS) — The British government’s decision to ban the Palestine Action group under counter-terrorism legislation was lawful, the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in London ruled on Monday. The Court of Appeal overturned a High Court ruling issued in February that found the ban unlawfully interfered with freedom of expression. Palestine Action remained proscribed pending the government’s appeal. Lady Chief Justice Sue Carr said the organization’s behavior was not that of a...
Connecticut man arrested for allegedly yelling slurs at visibly identified Jews, slapping kippah off man’s head By Jessica Russak-Hoffman (JNS) — Community members helped the New Haven Police Department identify Paul Smith, 36, of East Haven, Conn., who was arrested and accused of shouting antisemitic slurs at three visibly Jewish people and of slapping a kippah off a victim’s head. Victims said that the alleged attacker smelled of alcohol and that he approached the three Jews on Crown Street on June 2 and yelled, “get out of my city,” “baby ki...
10 evacuees from ‘Operation Roaring Lion’ still living in hotels By JNS Staff (JNS) — Sixty-four Israelis whose homes were damaged by Iranian missiles during “Operation Roaring Lion” against Tehran are still living in hotels, Knesset lawmakers heard on Wednesday. The evacuees are temporarily being housed in 11 hotels across the Jewish state, a representative of the Israel Tax Authority’s Compensation Fund told members of the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs. “According to our projections, by mid-June ther...
(JNS) - The House Judiciary Committee said that it has uncovered new funding links between the Biden administration and left-wing groups that oppose the Israeli government, as well as groups with ties to terrorist organizations A May 29 committee memorandum, which JNS obtained exclusively, and which was addressed to committee members from the Republican-led committee staff, addresses "new information about the Biden-Harris administration helping to fund protests against the Netanyahu...
IDF strikes 100-plus Hezbollah sites in Southern Lebanon By JNS Staff (JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces overnight on Monday struck more than 100 Hezbollah sites and terrorist operatives in Lebanon’s Beqaa Valley and across the country’s south. In several strikes in the Beqaa Valley, the IDF targeted Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure sites, including a weapons storage facility, the military stated on Tuesday. One operation in the Beqaa Valley town of Machghara consisted of several strikes carried out within seconds. The aerial assault was s...
(JNS) - Six men assaulted an Israeli man in London on early on Monday morning after hearing him speak Hebrew on the phone, he told police and the media. The Israeli, Shalev Ben Yakar, 22, also complained to police about the beating that he said the six men gave him outside the Solomon Hotel in Golders Green, The Jewish Chronicle of London reported on Monday. "[They caught me] completely off guard. I was not ready. I saw [them] coming [toward] me, and I had a suspicious feeling [about them], but...
(JNS) — Canadian border authorities interrogated and refused to let into the country the director of the Muslim Association of Britain, who had denied the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacres in Israel. Immigration officials in Montreal had questioned Anas Altikriti, a dual citizen of the U.K. and Iraq, at Montreal’s main airport for 11 hours before escorting him to a London-bound airplane, Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported on Wednesday. Altikriti had planned to speak at a Muslim Association of Canada convention in Toronto on May 16-18, the r...
