Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1036 - 1060 of 1222
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Israel’s Energy Ministry announced on Monday that the country plans to reduce carbon emissions by 7.5 percent within the next 10 years. The ministry also recommended an interim goal of an 11 percent improvement in energy efficiency by 2025, compared to 2015 (which would work out to an average 1.2 percent improvement per year) and an 18 percent improvement by 2030. “The new goal links energy consumption to the amount of products and services in the country,” the ministry said in a statement. “It is appropriate for Israe...
(JTA) — Israel’s government has signed an agreement with the Pfizer pharmaceutical company to acquire 8 million doses of its vaccine. “This is a great day for the State of Israel and a great day on the way to our victory over the coronavirus,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement Friday, adding that he is working “to ensure that we will receive the vaccine together with the leading countries around the world and that we will not get pushed back in line.” The announcement came days after Netanyahu said in a video address tha...
(JNS) - Hebron's Jewish residential section may finally witness new construction underway for more housing units. Pending a decision by the Jerusalem District Court, two areas of Hebron - the Hizkiyahu neighborhood on the site of the old central bus station and the site of the marketplace - are slated to undergo a facelift to make room for young couples. Predictably, there are those who don't want to see a growing Jewish presence in Hebron and have made an effort to prevent the project from prog...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - "Valley of Tears," a 10-part Israeli TV series on the Yom Kippur War has generated renewed interest in the 1973 national trauma. HBO Max acquired world rights for the series, which focuses on the stories of four soldiers, was created by the Israel network Kan, and began airing on Oct. 19. Despite the buzz, some viewers have lamented that the show, titled "Sha'at Ne'ila" in Hebrew, all but ignores the role of women during the war. One such woman was Niva Shaul, who was am...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - A small pottery jar containing four pure gold coins dating back to the Early Islamic period, more than 1,000 years ago, was unearthed during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said on Monday. The work was performed as part of the Jewish Quarter Development Corporation's plan to build an elevator designed and make the Western Wall Plaza more accessible to visitors. The juglet was found by IAA inspector Yevgenia Kapil during...
(JNS) - Khartoum, Sudan, was the setting for the infamous Arab League summit in 1967 that produced the Khartoum Resolution known as "The Three Nos": no negotiations with Israel, no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel. Now, 53 years later, Sudan has agreed to change these negatives into positives, meaning three yeses. According to Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, the Sudan-Israel agreement "is a significant development because it provides added momentum...
(JNS) - A 1,700-year-old boundary stone bearing the Greek inscription "Kfar Nafah" (Nafah village) was discovered during an archaeological excavation in the Golan Heights last month, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. When the inscription was deciphered, by Danny Syon of the IAA and Professor Haim Ben-David of the Kinneret Academic College, it aroused great excitement, as the location bears the same name today, despite a lack of settlement continuity at the site. Nafah was...
(JNS) - The first Israeli SARS-CoV-2 vaccine was administered at Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan on Sunday to the first volunteer in a clinical trial. The vaccine, called "BriLife," was developed by the Israel Institute of Biological Research, which has prepared 25,000 doses ahead of the 80-person trial. Half of the volunteers will be given the vaccine (or a placebo) at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem and half at Sheba Medical Center. In the first stage of the...
(JNS) - Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs Omer Yankelevitch announced on Thursday that she is introducing a Knesset bill that would require government ministries to consult with world Jewry on matters directly related to the Jewish people, such as Jewish informal and formal education, engagement and anti-Semitism. "Creating an official forum that ensures mutual dialogue between Israel and world Jewry is the first step towards ensuring the relationship between Israel and the greater Jewish...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - Sudan will become the third Arab country in the past two months to normalize ties with Israel, continuing the trend of Arab states' willingness to advance ties with the Jewish state even without a peace agreement with the Palestinians. President Donald Trump announced the agreement on Friday. According to a joint statement released by Israel, Sudan and the U.S., the two countries will "end the state of belligerence between their nations." The statement also noted that the...
(JNS) — The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) regarding the creation of a regional support office for UNOOSA’s UN-SPIDER program, the United Nations announced in a statement on Monday. The program, the full name of which is “United Nations Platform for Space-Based Information for Disaster Management and Emergency Response,” is, as its name suggests, geared towards leveraging space for disaster management and risk reduction. Regional support...
(JNS) - An ancient two-shekel weight has been unearthed beneath Wilson's Arch, adjacent to the Western Wall in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. The limestone weight, dating back to the Iron Age/First Temple period, was discovered during an archaeological dig conducted by the IAA in conjunction with the Western Wall Heritage Foundation. It was revealed during the sifting of earthen fills at the site, which is soon to be included in the tour of the Western Wall...
(JNS) — The percentage of Israelis testing positive for COVID-19 has decreased for the third day in a row, according to Israeli Health Ministry figures released on Sunday. In an interview with Channel 12 on Sunday morning, Weizmann Institute scientist Eran Segal expressed “cautious optimism” regarding the trend, saying “it’s possible that the spike in morbidity in the general population has been halted [or is] on the decline.” He added that morbidity is also declining in the Arab sector, at the same rate as during the first lockdown, b...
I'm sitting in my sukkah, fighting off the heat. This week we all have an extra room outside. We eat all our meals in the sukkah, despite the heat of the day. We are obligated by the Torah to do this, to remember our exodus from Egypt, and we take it seriously. It's simply the way of life here. To NOT have a sukkah would be strange, an embarrassment. We would stand out and people would talk. All around Israel this is happening. Our medics, always standing by, have sukkahs, too. Growing up in...
Doron Almog, a former head of the Israeli Defense Forces' Southern Command, was one of the heroes of Israel's 1976 hostage rescue operation in Entebbe, Uganda, and winner of the 2016 Israel Prize for lifetime achievement. But the thing he says he's most proud of is ALEH Negev-Nahalat Eran, a rehabilitation village he founded in southern Israel for 160 physically and mentally disabled children and young adults. It's named after Almog's son, Eran, who was born with severe autism and died in 2007,...
(JNS) - As the Israeli cabinet weighs increasingly stringent steps to deal with the growing numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases, the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command is playing an increasingly essential part in the state's fight against the pandemic. The Home Front Command is the military's main interface with the civilian population, and it is tasked with helping the civilian domain prepare and respond to a range of emergencies. Currently, its headquarters south of Tel Aviv is...
(JNS) — In the wake of a reported U.S.-UAE deal in the works for the sale of F-35 fighter jets, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz departed for the United States on a brief 24-hour visit on Monday night, where he is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and other senior members of the Trump administration. According to a Reuters report, the United States and the UAE “hope to have an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf state in place by December, as the Trump administration studi...
A government-ordered nationwide lockdown was set to go into effect Friday as Health Ministry statistics showed that Israel’s coronavirus numbers had reached record levels. The education system and most non-essential businesses will be closed for at least two weeks with Israelis restricted to remaining within one kilometer (0.6 miles) of their homes except to get food and medical care. Health Ministry statistics released Friday showed 7,755 Israelis tested positive for coronavirus in the past day, bringing the total number of confirmed active in...
(Israel Hayom and JNS staff via JNS) — Hamas deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri said on Monday that due to recent events in the region, the terrorist organization and its political rival, Fatah, had agreed to join forces. In an interview with Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen TV, Arouri said the Palestinian people had been stabbed in the back three times in recent months. The first betrayal, he said, was the Trump administration’s “Peace to Prosperity” plan, the second was the Israeli sovereignty initiative and the third was the normali...
Jenna Lewinsky is panicked, rightly so. She's facing eviction. But it's not a bank that is forcing her to give up her home. She's not done anything wrong. In fact, she's done everything right. Many people have helped her to get where she is. Lewinsky's problem is unique. Lewinsky is panicked because all her years of devotion to bring home and preserve a biblical species of sheep to the Judean mountains south of Jerusalem risks being pulled out from under her. It's not just about her physical eff...
(JNS) - The first commercial flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates touched down in Abu Dhabi on Monday, carrying a delegation of U.S. and Israeli officials. El Al Flight 971 - numbered to represent the UAE's international dialing code - made the trip in just three hours, having been granted permission to traverse Saudi Arabia's airspace, usually off-limits to Israeli air traffic. Leading the delegation are Jared Kushner, presidential son-in-law and senior adviser to U.S. President...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The families of three Israeli teenage boys who were abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists in Judea and Samaria in June 2014 - sparking "Operation Protective Edge" later that summer - filed a lawsuit against the terrorist group on Sunday morning, seeking NIS 520 million ($155 million) in damages. According to the families of Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaar and Eyal Yifrach, who are represented by attorneys Nitsana Darshan-Leitner, Avi Segal and Avi Gaz from the Shurat...
(JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said on Thursday that his government has moved away from plans to extend sovereignty to the Jordan Valley, and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, in the wake of the recent U.S.-brokered agreement with the United Arab Emirates. “I think it’s very clear and it’s very tangible that the Israeli government’s policy moved from annexation to normalization,” Ashkenazi said at a press conference in Berlin during his first official trip abroad. Speaking with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas at his s...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Former U.S. Special Representative for Middle East Affairs Jason Greenblatt on Wednesday called on those who oppose the suspension of Israel’s sovereignty initiative in favor of peace with the United Arab Emirates to “reconsider their approach.” Greenblatt, one of the architects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace plan, said he hopes Israeli sovereignty “isn’t a matter of if, but when.” Q: Why was the sovereignty bid essentially taken off the table? After all, President Trump declared that “Israel can app...
(JNS) - Israel's national coronavirus project coordinator Ronni Gamzu apologized on Thursday for bypassing the country's political echelon and directly contacting Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to ask that he bar Chassidic pilgrims from visiting the city of Uman in September. Many thousands of Jews visit the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov every year around Rosh Hashanah. In his letter to the Ukrainian leader, Gamzu warned of the massive spread of the virus that could be caused by...
