Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that he had agreed to support legislation that would delay the collapse of the government by putting off the deadline for passing the state budget. The bill, proposed by the Derech Eretz faction comprising Knesset members Yoaz Hendel and Zvi Hauser, seeks to extend the Aug. 25 deadline for passing a state budget, buying more time for Netanyahu and Blue and White leader Benny Gantz to work out their differences over it. The bill will be brought to the Knesset for a vote on W...
REHOVOT, Israel - Despite their reputation, most bacteria are harmless. Many are vital to human life. Others, however, cause infections that lead to fatal diseases ranging from tuberculosis to bubonic plague. Add cancer to that list, at least indirectly. According to new research led by Dr. Ravid Straussman of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, bacteria living inside cancer cells are likely to have a profound effect on how different types of tumors behave. "Most bacteria you find in...
(JNS) - In excavations in Jerusalem near the U.S. embassy conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority, more than 120 of some of the largest and most important collections of seal impressions stamped on jars were discovered, revealing information into tax collection in the period of the Judean monarchs some 2,700 years ago. The impressions were stamped with the letters "LMLK" - meaning "to the King" - and were written in ancient Hebrew script, along with the name of the ancient city in the King...
(JNS) - According to the U.N. Trade and Development Commission, some 95 percent of Gaza's groundwater supply is found to be unfit for consumption. The Gaza Strip suffers from a water shortage in general and a drinking water shortage in particular. Israeli-Palestinian cooperation, including the Watergen Company, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and Palestinian partners, delivered its first generator, which produces clean drinking water from the atmosphere, to the Municipality of...
TEL AVIV (JTA) - Noam Ofer might have been an unlikely candidate to join Israel's burgeoning protest movement. At 76, he is older than most of the people who have taken to the streets in recent weeks to protest the government's handling of the coronavirus crisis. He also doesn't share the political views of many of the protesters. But Ofer was there anyway on Tuesday evening marching outside the Tel Aviv home of Israel's internal security minister in charge of law enforcement, Amir Ohana, who wa...
(ISRAEL21c) - Remember when pollution was our worst respiratory worry? Now, scientists say airborne virus particles may be the main cause of Covid-19 infections. In the face of new evidence, the World Health Organization has changed its tune about the virus not being transmitted through air. "WHO, together with the scientific community, has been actively discussing and evaluating whether SARS-CoV-2 may also spread through aerosols ... particularly in indoor settings with poor ventilation," the...
(JNS) - In somewhat of a role reversal, Israel has emerged during the global coronavirus crisis as the main supporter of Jewish communities worldwide. In a Wednesday briefing with Jewish Agency for Israel chairman Isaac Herzog and other leaders, including those from Italy, France, Argentina and South Africa, Herzog maintained that "there is a common table between the government of Israel and the Diaspora... the coronavirus affects the stability and well-being of community institutions all...
(ISRAEL21c) - Could a well-known cholesterol-lowering drug help treat Covid-19? A research team led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem Prof. Yaakov Nahmias says that early research looks promising. Over the last three-months, Nahmias and Dr. Benjamin tenOever at New York's Mount Sinai Medical Center have focused on the ways in which the SARS-CoV-2 (the coronavirus that's causing our current pandemic) changes patients' lungs in order to reproduce itself. Their major finding is that this virus...
(JNS) — The “Ofek 16” spy satellite launched from central Israel at 4 a.m. on Monday (July 6) morning is due to significantly upgrade Israel’s ability to monitor the dangerous activities of its adversaries throughout the Middle East, foremost among them Iran. The satellite was launched successfully by the Defense Ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries following years of research and development, and a working schedule that in recent months had to be adapted to restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic. IAI officials said they viewed...
This summer, like the past nine summers, I am the Susya pool lifeguard. Everyday my day starts at 6:30 a.m. Our summers here in Har Hevron are slow and easy. Not much goes on. That is a blessing. In the summer of 2017, right on the first day of summer vacation, there was a terrible tragedy in nearby Kiryat Arba. Some of you may remember, a beautiful 8th grade girl was stabbed to death in her bed. The day before this horror, the 8th grade class of girls was at the pool for their class...
(JTA) - Since April, all eyes following the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were glued to July 1. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had negotiated the date into his government coalition deal with his rival Benny Gantz. On July 1, as stipulated in the agreement, Netanyahu could put the topic of annexing the West Bank - a move that would have enormous political repercussions well beyond the Middle East - up for a vote in his Cabinet or in the Knesset, Israel's parliament. But on Tuesday,...
(JNS) - A double stamp impression on a bulla and a seal made of used pottery shreds discovered in the City of David may indicate that despite the plight of Jerusalem after the destruction of the First Temple, efforts were made to restore the stature of the administrative authorities. The archaeological evidence revealed in excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority and Tel Aviv University in the Givati Parking Lot Excavation of the City of David may provide evidence of the restoration of...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — With the date set by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to begin annexing West Bank territory days away, the Palestinians appear ready to restart peace negotiations with Israel. A four-page letter from the Palestinian Authority sent to the so-called Quartet — the diplomatic grouping of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia — said it was “ready to resume direct bilateral negotiations where they stopped,” according to AFP. The French news agency reported that it saw the text on Monday bu...
(JNS) — As the debate over whether or not Israel should apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria intensifies as the proposed July timeline for instituting the decision approaches, a new report by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) says that the extension of Israeli sovereignty in the Jordan Valley would actually “advance” U.S. national security interests. “Our conclusion is that the Jordan Valley is of immense strategic importance to Israel’s security, Jordan’s security and to the stability of the Middle East...
(JNS) — Tel Aviv University’s free online cybersecurity course has been ranked the top online cybersecurity course in the world by Class Central, a website which compares reviews of online university training platforms around the world. The “Unlocking Information Security” course, which covers topics such as cryptography, security of identification systems, attacks and defenses on the internet, as well as viruses and other malware, is already in use by students in 150 countries. It was launched by professor Avishai Wool and Dan Gittik in coop...
TEL AVIV (JTA) - For years Shlo Shalfy, a kindergarten teacher here, thought about the day she would send her 18-year-old son off to the army. She would drive him to Bakum, the enormous military induction base in central Israel, and like all mothers of combat fighters, pray that it wouldn't be their last car ride. In late March, as Israel was under near total lockdown, Shalfy received a letter instructing her son Ely to report to a smaller, alternative military base. He would need to pack a mont...
(JTA) - While the world has had its attention fixed on the George Floyd protests and the ongoing threat of COVID-19, a political development with monumental implications has been brewing in the Middle East: Israel's potential annexation ofa parts of the West Bank. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised his supporters during multiple election campaigns last year that he would make areas outside of the country's borders part of the state. Now his chance is fast approaching. The terms...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — If Israel annexes parts of the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority will declare a state on the 1967 borders with a capital in eastern Jerusalem, the P.A. prime minister said Tuesday. Mohammad Shtayyeh made the remarks in Ramallah to members of the Foreign Press Association, i24 News reported. Shtayyeh called annexation as “existential threat” to Palestinians, and said such a move also would mean the end of the Palestinians’ recognition of the State of Israel, which was given in an exchange of letters in 1993 between Prime Min...
By Maytal Yasur Beit-Or (JNS) — According to a new study by Tel Aviv University in conjunction with Magen David Adom and the Israeli Health Ministry’s Center for Disease Control, some 2.5 percent of Israel’s population, or some 200,000 people, have had COVID-19, most of whom may not have developed symptoms. As of Tuesday morning, the official number of Israeli COVID-19 cases was 17,219. The numbers are based on tests for coronavirus antibodies conducted among 1,700 people throughout Israel. The tests examined data from samples of blood donat...
(JNS) — Israeli media and their left-wing anti-Netanyahu allies have been anticipating for years the moment Benjamin Netanyahu would be dragged into a courtroom. Unable to beat Israel’s longest-serving prime minister at the polls, many have looked to a politically left-leaning legal system to get him out of office. Many pundits eagerly anticipated pictures of a guilt-ridden former prime minister, defeated at the ballot box, sitting depressed on the wooden benches of the Jerusalem District Cou...
(ISRAEL21c) — Research groups across the world are using a variety of approaches to formulating vaccines that could protect people from COVID-19. Big money and urgent demand are accelerating the normally lengthy process of vaccine development. Vaccine candidates from the U.S., U.K., China, Japan and Germany are on the fast track, and Israel has at least six projects on the go. This international effort may lead to multiple products. “We expect more than one could make it to market,” says Ronald Ellis, an Israel-based consultant to the indus...
This week, life is feeling normal. There are an average of 15 new cases of coronavirus daily. The numbers are decreasing on all fronts Corona-wise and we are suffering from a massive heat wave. It's always something! Stores opened up and we went to Beer Sheva. Boy, what an adventure! The outdoor shopping center was quite full. People were lined up on the sidewalks, waiting in groups due to the limited number of customers permitted inside stores at one time. These are the new rules. Security...
JERUSALEM (JTA) - Election rallies for the Arab parties in Israel rarely garner much attention or excitement. But recent policy proposals engineered thousands of miles away may have re-energized a once stagnant and unreliable voting bloc. The peaceful Arab village of Bartaa, home to about 4,500 residents, is located in the northern Triangle region, not far from the city of Umm al-Fahm. The inhabitants are all Muslim; most of them are members of the Kabha family. Despite its relatively remote...
JERUSALEM (JTA) — When Natan Sharansky learned in December that he would become the eighth Genesis Prize honoree, he decided he would use his $1 million prize money to promote issues to which he has devoted his life: human rights and Zionism. That was before the coronavirus crisis. Now, Sharansky, the former Soviet dissident who has become a prominent leader in Israel, and the Genesis Prize Foundation are announcing that his winnings will instead go to organizations fighting the pandemic and supporting individuals most affected by it in Israel,...
(Israel21c via JNS) — An immune system run amok may be responsible for some COVID-19 patients faring worse than others, suggests a new international study led by immunology researchers at Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. In the study, published in the journal Cell on May 7 under the title, “Host-viral infection maps reveal signatures of severe COVID-19 patients,” researchers in the lab of professor Ido Amit introduce Viral-Track, a computational method they have validated to systematically detect viruses from multiple models of infecti...
