Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists burst from Gaza, slaughtering all they encountered. Ofakim was one of the communities attacked. Forty-seven innocent, unsuspecting civilians were murdered. Using only a few small arms, Ofakim citizens fought back like lions, holding off the bloodthirsty, heavily armed terrorists until help arrived hours later. Ofakim's heroic resistance helped prevent Hamas from reaching other communities. The Lion of Ofakim is the largest in the Middle East. It is the first...
(JNS) — U.S.-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander’s mother Yael revealed new details of his ordeals as a captive of Hamas in Gaza. “Our hearts broke as Edan began to share the unimaginable hardship, the daily fear—just to survive the night. The hunger, the lack of water, the horrific sanitary conditions,” his mother said from Ichilov Hospital, where her son is recovering after his release on May 12. He is expected to stay at the hospital for four days. Edan, 21, was freed by Hamas after 584 days in captivity. He was 19 when he was captured while ser...
(JNS) — Israeli civilian communities in Judea and Samaria serve as the Jewish state’s “defensive wall in every sense of the word,” President Isaac Herzog said in remarks to the Makor Rishon Settlement Conference, held in the southern Samaria town of Ofra. “During my many visits across the country—and certainly in Judea and Samaria—and especially when I fly over the land by helicopter, I become increasingly convinced of how vital, impressive, and thriving the settlement enterprise is,” Herzog said in a pre-recorded statement. He described Judea...
(JNS) — “It’s not like Elkana to break down,” said Ruhama Bohbot, the mother of Hamas captive Elkana Bohbot, who appeared in a Hamas propaganda video released on Saturday alongside fellow hostage Yosef Haim Ohana. In the video, Ohana claims that Elkana attempted to harm himself. Since the video aired, Ruhama told JNS that the family has been overwhelmed with anxiety and fear, unable to eat or sleep. They don’t know if what’s shown in the video is real and are desperately awaiting updates fro...
(JNS) — Israelis are increasingly concerned about the possibility of a large-scale terrorist invasion led by Palestinian terrorist organizations from Judea and Samaria, according to a new survey made public on Thursday. The poll, published by the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs and conducted by the Lazar Research Institute, surveyed a representative sample of approximately 700 Jewish and Arab Israelis. Eighty-one percent of the Jewish Israeli respondents have concerns about a large-scale terror attack emanating from Judea a...
(JNS) — Families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza issued an urgent demand for clarification from Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on May 7, following a statement by U.S. President Donald Trump that only 21 captives remain alive—contradicting Jerusalem’s official figure of 24. In a statement issued by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, relatives called on the government to disclose any updated intelligence. “Following the U.S. president’s statement last night regarding the number of living hostages st...
(JNS)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone conversation on Tuesday with Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old Israel Defense Forces soldier and dual U.S-Israeli citizen released from captivity in Gaza the previous day. Alexander, who had been held by the Hamas terrorist organization for over 580 days, is currently receiving medical care in an Israeli hospital, as confirmed by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. According to Israeli media reports, Alexander's medical condition has rul...
(JNS) — As Israel geared up to celebrate its 77th Independence Day, data released by the country’s Central Bureau of Statistics on Monday revealed that the country’s population has reached 10.094 million. This marks a growth of 135,000 people (1.4 percent) since last year’s holiday. Of the total population, 7.73 million (77.6 percent) are Jews or classified as “others,” including non-Arab Christians and individuals without religious classification. Arab citizens account for 2.11 million (20.9 percent), while foreign workers make up 248,000 (2....
(JNS) — “Territory.” It’s a magical word in the lexicon of anti-Israeli sentiment, always tied to terms like “occupation” and “colonialism.” Yet the international public lashing out about “territory” fails to understand what is truly unfolding in the Gaza Strip. On Sunday, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved an expanded military plan in Gaza. The guiding principle? Wherever the Israel Defense Forces capture territory, they will stay. This marks a return to a classic strategic doctrine: Territory must be held if a war is to be won. It also...
(JNS) - Since Gadi Moses's release at the end of January 2025, after 482 days in captivity in Gaza at the hands of Islamic Jihad, his daughter Moran has been struggling to keep up with him. The 81-year-old hostage returned with an energy that defies both his age and his ordeal, driven by a renewed determination to help rebuild his beloved Kibbutz Nir Oz. "He has no brakes," Moran said wryly, told interviewer Racheli Avidov and an intimate audience at the Valley Train Heritage Site in Kfar...
(JNS) - At exactly 8 p.m. on April 29, a siren pierced the air across Israel. But this time, it was not a warning of incoming missiles. It marked the beginning of Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day for the Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror. In cities and towns nationwide, the country and its people paused - hearts heavy with grief and pride - to remember those who gave their lives in defense of the State of Israel. The moment was most poignantly felt at Jerusalem's historic Ammunition...
(JNS) - Massive wildfires erupted on Wednesday morning in the Judean Hills region of central Israel, prompting evacuations and widespread emergency responses amid soaring temperatures and high winds. The most serious blaze began in the Eshtaol Forest near the communities of Mesilat Zion and Neve Shalom, both of which were evacuated as flames rapidly spread through the area. Fire and Rescue Services mobilized dozens of firefighting teams, aircraft and helicopters to contain the inferno, which...
The installation of the sculpture honoring the women of the Israel Defense Forces is now underway. The sculpture - depicting two female soldiers, one from 1948 and one from 2024 - is expected to be completed and delivered by late May, with a dedication ceremony to follow. Standing approximately 12 feet tall atop a hill, the tribute will occupy a prominent site in Petach Tikva, a city known as the "Mother of Settlements." Founded in the late 19th century as the first modern Jewish agricultural co...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that “there will be blows” in response to the Iranian-sponsored Houthi missile assault targeting Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv on Sunday. “We are acting against them,” Netanyahu said of previous IDF military operations against the Houthis in Yemen. “We have acted in the past and we will act in the future. I cannot detail everything. A ballistic missile fired from Yemen struck near the Jewish state’s main international airport on Sunday morning, lightly to moderately wo...
(JNS) — There will be no retreat from territory recaptured from Hamas in Gaza—not even as part of a hostage agreement, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday. “This is a dramatic decision: Once the operation begins, there will be no withdrawal from land we conquer—not for any deal,” Smotrich said at the B’Sheva Jerusalem Conference. “The only way to free the hostages is to defeat Hamas. Any retreat would only invite the next Oct. 7.” The minister spoke after a decision overnight by Israel’s Security Cabinet to significantly exp...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Tel Aviv District Court sentenced Moti Maman, 73, to 10 years in prison after convicting him of contact with a foreign agent and unlawful entry into an enemy state. Maman admitted that he had twice entered Iran, where he met with Iranian intelligence agents to discuss conducting terrorist activity in Israel. He also spoke with them about the prospect of carrying out assassinations of senior Israeli officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, then-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel Security A...
(JTA) — Israel’s government approved a plan on Sunday to conquer and occupy the Gaza Strip, a major expansion of its military campaign there and a sign that the war is far from ending. The plan passed unanimously in Israel’s cabinet despite warnings by the country’s military chief that it will endanger the lives of the hostages still held by Hamas. It will also trigger an extensive call-up of military reservists, many of whom have already served for extended periods during the war. The plan was approved alongside a new structure for deliver...
(JNS) — Israeli enforcement authorities tore down additional illegal Palestinian Authority structures in a protected nature reserve in the eastern Gush Etzion region of Judea, the Israel Hayom daily reported on Thursday. Two buildings were razed on Thursday morning as part of a third wave of demolitions, according to the Hebrew-language newspaper, which noted that an Israeli demolition ban had been in place until a year ago. At the orders of Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also serves as a minister in the Defense Ministry with re...
(JNS) — The war against Hamas “will not end with hostages in Gaza, period,” Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told the inaugural JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem on April 27. “We haven’t finished the job,” declared Danon, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling Likud Party. The Israeli diplomat addressed the JNS summit just hours after touring the sites of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre with a group of approximately 30 fellow U.N. ambassadors, he revealed. “Once people ar...
(JNS) — Israeli authorities were working on Sunday afternoon (April 27) to rescue around 100 teenagers who were trapped in the Ein Prat Nature Reserve in the Judean Desert after a fire broke out on a popular hiking trail. “Firefighters from the Binyamin Regional Station are currently working on a fire in Nahal Prat,” the Israel Fire and Rescue Services said in a statement. “According to reports, many hikers remain in the stream, and it is difficult to rescue them. In addition, there is a topographical challenge, making it difficult to reach the...
(JNS) — Politicians, intellectuals and activists agreed on Sunday that applying Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria is the only viable path to securing Jewish rights and safety in Israel. At the inaugural JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, panelists said the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023 signaled the dangers of allowing a Palestinian state to be established in Israel’s biblical heartland. Such a development, they warned, would expose Jewish communities to even greater threats. Knesset Member Ohad Tal (Religious Zionism Par...
(JNS) — Renowned filmmaker Quentin Tarantino and his spouse, Israeli singer Daniella Pick, recently bought property in Tel Aviv for an estimated 50 million shekels (~$13.8 million), Hebrew media reported on April 27. The nearly half an acre of land currently has two old buildings on it, according to Israeli business daily Globes. The couple plans to demolish the two adjacent houses and erect one large home instead, according to the report. The property is situated in the northern Tel Aviv neighborhood of Tel Baruch, at the corner of Yaakov a...
(JNS) — A clay jug estimated to be 1,200 years old, bearing distinctive camel decorations, has been unearthed at the archaeological site of Horvat ‘Anim in the Yatir Forest, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday. The discovery was made during excavations carried out in cooperation with Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael–Jewish National Fund as part of a broader initiative to improve public access to the site. Yatir Forest is located on the southern slopes of the Hebron Hills, near the edge...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog believes the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip was a strategic error, he told Israel Hayom in an interview, an excerpt from which was published on April 28. “It is clear to me now that the disengagement was a mistake. Not the desire to separate from two million Palestinians — that was logical — but the act itself, which, due to the Palestinian Authority’s weakness, led to a Hamas takeover in Gaza,” said the president. Ahead of Israel’s 77th Independence Day, Herzog finds himself...
(JTA) — As Donald Trump took office in January, many who have kept a close eye on Israel’s efforts to blunt Iran’s nuclear ambitions believed the timing was ripe for a decisive strike. Iran had been deeply weakened by Israel’s direct attacks and wars with its proxies, and Trump was seen as open to being convinced to provide the crucial U.S. support that would be needed to pull off an attack on Iran’s fortified nuclear sites. But ultimately Trump batted away a specific Israeli plan for a strike in May, the New York Times reported on Thursday....
