Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — The Saudi Arabian educational curriculum is now entirely free of antisemitic content, and promotes peace and coexistence, while openly presenting Islamic extremism as a threat, a study released on Monday found. The continued educational reform and unequivocal signs of moderation in the kingdom come amid a push to reach a peace deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel during the remaining years of the Trump administration and reflect the shifting alliances in the Middle East. They stand in sharp contrast with the ongoing antisemitic i...
(JNS) — “Withdrawal must move in lockstep with decommissioning,” Board of Peace High Representative Nikolay Mladenov stated on July 31, referring to the release of the body’s 15-point roadmap for Gaza and, specifically, its proposed timetable for an Israeli pullback from the Strip alongside Hamas’s disarmament. With those words, Mladenov underscored the widening gap between Jerusalem and the international community over how to proceed with ending the war sparked by the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023,...
(JNS) — Israel will not pull back from its current positions in the Gaza Strip until the Hamas terrorist organization is completely disarmed, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Tuesday. “I am standing firm on our security interests—we will not withdraw from our current lines until Hamas is completely disarmed,” Netanyahu said in a Hebrew-language video posted to his Facebook page. He added that Israel Defense Forces soldiers had been instructed “to do everything necessary to defend themselves, to defend our territory...
(JNS) — U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Sunday that while the Iranian regime is weaker in the wake of the war, its ballistic missiles can now reach Europe. “The Iranian regime is weaker than it has been in 47 years. The infliction of harm to them and the pain to them, is not something that is imagined. Their ability to produce a nuclear weapon has been greatly set back,” Huckabee told the panel of “Fox & Friends” on Fox News. But Tehran’s missile capacity, “unfortunately, has grown”, he said. “In one year they went from being a...
(JNS) — The Board of Peace announced early Friday that Hamas has agreed to a detailed 15-point plan for implementing the next phases of the Gaza ceasefire. In a post on X, the board called the agreement the conclusion of “months of intensive, good faith negotiations” to advance U.S. President Donald Trump’s vision for new governance, security, humanitarian relief, reconstruction and economic recovery in Gaza. The Board of Peace described the roadmap as “a historic breakthrough,” saying that Hamas has, for the first time, committed to “an acti...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday he expects Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz to lose its strategic weight after the war ends, predicting that oil pipelines will be rerouted around the vital waterway. Speaking to “ABC News Live Prime” anchor Linsey Davis, Netanyahu said he had anticipated Iran might attempt to block the strait, a route for roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply, but said the consequences were impossible to forecast precisely. “I thought they could do it, but I thought they’d also h...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the Board of Peace, which he chairs, reached an agreement with Hamas for the complete disarmament of the terrorist groups that rule and control the Gaza Strip. Trump said that it was a “major milestone in the implementation” of his 20-point plan to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war and begin the recovery process in the enclave. The pact will be implemented in phases, as the Israel Defense Forces withdraws as disarmament progresses, according to Trump. An International Stabili...
(JNS) — Hamas’s newly appointed leader Khalil al-Hayya delivered a television address in the Arabic language on Wednesday in which he vowed to continue in the path established by his predecessors, including Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in Israel’s south. Al-Hayya said he is assuming the role with a “heavy burden” in a “delicate and sensitive stage in the history of our national cause,” according to Al Jazeera. “The first thing we affirm is that we will walk the same path, carrying the banner high...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday identified 12 Palestinian soccer players, coaches and a FIFA referee whom it said served in the “military” wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, explaining why it eliminated them and rejecting what it described as a false campaign accusing Israel of deliberately targeting athletes during the war in Gaza. The military said that the men were targeted because of their involvement in terrorist activity, not because of their roles in soccer. According to the IDF, after they were killed, many...
(JNS) — Several dozen Hezbollah terrorists remain trapped inside a tunnel complex in the area of Southern Lebanon’s Ali al-Taher Ridge, with supplies expected to run out within days, Channel 12 News reported on Monday. Israel Defense Forces soldiers are positioned at the tunnel exits, preventing the estimated 40 Hezbollah operatives from leaving, the report said. With supplies dwindling, however, the military is preparing for the possibility that the terrorists could attempt to carry out a surprise attack. The Ali al-Taher Ridge reportedly con...
By Jonathan D. Salant (JNS) — Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) criticized what he said was a “publicity stunt” from his Democratic House colleague Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), after the latter said that he was detained by armed “settlers” during a recent trip to Judea and Samaria. Gottheimer, who is Jewish, has not been shy about calling out members of his own party on issues like antisemitism and Zionism. He did it again going after Khanna, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, who has said that Israel is guilty of “genocide...
(JNS) - U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said on Thursday that it is now clear to President Donald Trump that Iran is not serious about making peace. The remarks by the American envoy came a day after Trump said the ceasefire with Iran was effectively over following repeated attacks by the Islamic regime in the Gulf. "The one thing that he became very clear about in the last 48 hours is that the Iranians are not serious people when it comes to making peace," Huckabee told reporters after...
(JNS) — The Gush Etzion Regional Council in Judea has signed an agreement with Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Ministry that aims to provide assistance to local authorities that are at the center of international delegitimization and boycott campaigns, the ministry said on Thursday. Ministry director-general Avi Cohen-Scali, together with the ministry’s senior leadership, paid a visit to the Gush Etzion area south of Jerusalem on the previous day to hear about the many challenges facing area residents. The signing with...
(JNS) — Mass funeral ceremonies for Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are set to begin on Saturday, July 4, more than four months after he was eliminated in the opening Israeli Air Force strikes of “Operation Roaring Lion/Epic Fury,” regime outlets said. The multi-day funeral, which state media claimed is expected to draw up to 20 million mourners, will begin when Khamenei’s body will lie in state at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Grand Mosalla Mosque. The ceremonies will continue through Monday with a funeral procession along a six-mile route, fo...
A diplomatic source familiar with the U.S.-led Board of Peace dismissed on Monday Hamas’ announcement that it intends to dissolve its governing role in Gaza after 19 years, saying the move “means nothing.” “It shows that Hamas is under pressure; they’re cornered,” the source told JNS. “So what they’re trying to say is, ‘Look, we’re not the problem, we’re not the one saying no. The technocratic committee can come in, take over our bankrupt economy, our broken services, our mountains of debt and all of our problems, and we’ll just keep our w...
(JNS) - Israel, Lebanon and the United States signed a framework agreement and security annex on Friday aimed at removing the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group from southern Lebanon and laying the groundwork for broader political cooperation between the neighboring countries. "It's the beginning of the beginning. There's a lot of work ahead," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said after the signing ceremony. In a later statement, he called it "a bold decision" of Israel and Lebanon to...
(JNS) - Mosab Hassan Yousef, a former Hamas member known as "the Green Prince" leveled on Tuesday scathing criticism at President Donald Trump's decision to pause the joint Israel-U.S. operation against Iran. "We could have finished the job. You stopped. You don't know what the hell you are doing. Total arrogance. Then when you came to the picture, you dragged us into this rabbit hole. And now you're throwing us under the bus," Yousef, son of Hamas co-founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, said during a...
(JNS) — Iran has no plans to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit nuclear sites targeted during the recent war, a spokesman for its foreign ministry said on Tuesday, a day after U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Tehran had agreed to do so. “We neither had a meeting with the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, nor do we have any plans for the agency to inspect Iran’s nuclear facilities that were damaged as a result of the military aggression by the United States and the Zionist regime,” spokesp...
(JNS) - More than 50 student leaders from over 30 universities across the United States and Canada have spent some of the summer in Judea and Samaria, visiting some of the most significant sites in Jewish history as part of the Hasbara Fellowships Student Leadership Mission to Israel. Organized by Hasbara Fellowships in partnership with IsraelAmbassadors.com, the program takes participants beyond the country's major urban centers and into the biblical heartland, where they explore locations central to Jewish history, faith and identity. The...
(JNS) — The Israel Football Association said on Tuesday it would welcome a proposed symbolic match against a Palestinian team, following reports that FIFA is considering the fixture as the opening game of a new under-15 tournament in the United States in September. “The initiative is known to us and is welcomed,” the association said in a statement to JNS, adding that chairman Shino Zoaretz has consistently supported using soccer to promote “reconciliation, normalization and peace.” The association said it would agree to a meeting “at any p...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the peace deal with the Iranian regime had been completed. “I hereby fully authorize the toll-free opening of the Strait of Hormuz and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the U.S. Naval blockade,” the president stated just before 5:30 p.m. in Washington. “Ships of the world, start your engines. Let the oil flow.” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whose government has served as a key mediator, wrote on X that the United States and Iran had reached a peace d...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday that an agreement with Iran would allow it to enrich uranium at low levels that “could never be used for military purposes.” “They can never go beyond a certain amount,” he said in a phone call with The New York Times. The report suggested that the deal could include a 15–20-year period of “suspension,” but it was unclear whether this would involve a total ban on enrichment. When asked whether the limit would match the 3.67 percent cap set under the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,...
The Unites States military on Wednesday completed another round of airstrikes against a series of Iranian regime targets, CENTCOM announced. “The strikes are in response to Iran’s unwarranted and continued aggression,” United States Central Command said. “U.S. forces remain vigilant, lethal and ready.” The latest attacks targeted military surveillance capabilities, communication systems and air defense sites across the Islamic Republic, according to the statement. “U.S. Marine Corps, Air Force and Navy assets fired precision munitions o...
With Iran's rulers threatening to close the Strait of Hormuz, the modern world is reminded of an ancient truth: geography is power. The Strait is just a narrow channel between Iran and Oman, yet a huge share of the world's oil flows through it. Control that passage and you can rattle global markets, spike prices, and make nations nervous. Why the land of Canaan was so important When God told Abraham to go to the land He would show him, Abraham was being sent to Canaan, one of the great...
A senior Iranian cleric called on Muslims worldwide to attack U.S. interests, saying that waging jihad against the “infidel enemy” was a religious obligation “for anyone capable of carrying it out.” “It is incumbent upon the free people of the region not to remain silent in the face of the aggression of the Zionist-American enemy,” said Ayatollah Mohsen Araki, a top member of Iran’s Assembly of Experts, in a statement carried by the semi-official Mehr News outlet. “America is a hostile infidel enemy, and jihad against it with all one’s stren...
