Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday ordered all civilians in Southern Lebanon to evacuate and move north of the Litani River. “The activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization are forcing the Israel Defense Forces to act against it with force. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” said Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, in a notice posted to X. Adraee emphasized that any Lebanese civilians “near Hezbollah members, facilities or combat equipment are putting their lives at risk.” “A...
(JNS) — Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah of Iran and a leader of the opposition against the Islamic Republic, on Tuesday called on ethnic minorities to unite against the regime, saying it was nearing collapse. “You are an inseparable part of Iran’s historical and cultural fabric—communities that have always stood as guardians of our territorial integrity and the dignity and honor of our nation,” the exiled crown prince said in a statement addressed to the nation’s minorities. However, “from the very first days of the Islamic Repub...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces on Wednesday ordered all civilians in Southern Lebanon to evacuate and move north of the Litani River. “The activities of the Hezbollah terrorist organization are forcing the Israel Defense Forces to act against it with force. The IDF does not intend to harm you,” said Avichay Adraee, head of the Arab Media Branch in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, in a notice posted to X. Adraee emphasized that any Lebanese civilians “near Hezbollah members, facilities or combat equipment are putting their lives at risk.” “A...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Wednesday, “Any leader appointed by the Iranian terror regime to continue the plan for Israel’s destruction, to threaten the U.S. and the free world and the countries of the region, and to oppress the Iranian nation, will be an unequivocal target for elimination.” “It doesn’t matter what his name is or the place where he hides,” Katz added in a post on X. “The Prime Minister and I instructed the IDF to prepare and act using all means to carry out the mission as an integral part of the objecti...
(JNS) - Nine people were killed and over two dozen wounded by an Iranian missile impact in Beit Shemesh on Sunday, according to Israel's Magen David Adom emergency medical service. According to Channel 12 News, a direct hit on a residential building caused the structure to collapse. Israel Police Jerusalem District Cmdr. Avshalom Peled told local media that the casualties were believed to have been inside a shelter when it took a direct hit from a ballistic missile. "We know from past incidents...
(JNS) — The U.S. embassy in Israel on Friday opened consular services for Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria for the first time. The one-day consular pop-up operation took place in Efrat, in the Gush Etzion region of Judea. An additional one is expected to open soon in Beitar Illit, in the Binyamin region of Samaria, according to the Yesha Council, an umbrella organization of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria. Israel Ganz, head of the Binyamin Regional Council and chairman of the Yesha Council, described the move as “historic jus...
(JNS) — The Supreme Planning Council of the Israeli Defense Ministry’s Civil Administration on Thursday approved the construction of more than 1,300 housing units in the western Samaria community of Kedumim. The 1,338 homes in the planned Nahalat Esther neighborhood will more than double the size of Kedumim, which currently has some 4,850 residents living in around 1,050 households, Israel National News reported. The roughly 60-acre neighborhood will feature a green valley at its center. In total, the Kedumim Local Council is planning 3,000 hom...
(JNS) — Israeli Air Force jets have flown hundreds of sorties since achieving air superiority over Tehran, the Israel Defense Forces said on Monday morning. “The air force continues to strike across Iran and neutralize [missile] launchers,” the Israel Defense Forces stated on X, sharing footage of fighter jets returning after attacking targets in the Islamic Republic. On Sunday night, the IDF announced that it carried out more than 700 sorties after the IAF “cleared the way to Tehran” within 24 hours of the start of “Operation Roaring Lio...
(JNS) - For nearly 2,200 years, it lay hidden in a cave above the Dead Sea. Now, for the first time since 1968, the Great Isaiah Scroll has been unrolled to its full 24-foot length and placed on public display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, a rare exhibition museum officials are calling a once-in-a-generation opportunity. "A Voice from the Desert: The Great Isaiah Scroll" is a highlight of exhibitions marking the museum's 60th anniversary. The manuscript will be presented in its entirety...
(JNS) — A new webinar program, “Beyond the Headlines: Judea and Samaria,” designed to chip away at disinformation spread by anti-Israel academics and opinion-makers, launched the first installment in a 10-part series on Feb. 22. “Our central challenge in the battle for international public opinion is the absolute lack of knowledge regarding the facts on the ground,” said Yigal Dilmoni, CEO and founder of American Friends of Judea and Samaria, which co-founded the project with Ariel University. “We want to reach out to students and people who...
(JNS) — The joint Israeli-American military campaign against Iran, now in its third day, has systematically decapitated the Iranian regime’s leadership from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei down, while causing extensive damage to its ballistic missile program. A military official speaking on Sunday provided a detailed assessment of the severe damage inflicted upon the Iranian weapons industry and missile program during the ongoing operation. According to the official, hundreds of Iranian terror regime missiles were successfully destroyed, and the...
(JNS) — Emergency medical services responded to a direct Iranian missile impact in Beersheva on Monday, as the Jewish state absorbed a third day of strikes in Tehran’s war against Israel and the United States. Magen David Adom crews treated and evacuated a 35 year old man to the city’s Soroka Medical Center who was moderately wounded and 18 others who were lightly hurt, all by flying glass. United Hatzalah said its medical teams were treating several lightly injured, conscious victims after a building was hit in the capital of the Negev. Iran...
(JNS) — The population of Israeli villages along the southern border has grown by 3,000 residents since Oct. 7, 2023, even as five communities are still waiting to return home, a Knesset committee was told on Monday. Aviad Friedman, head of the Tekuma Authority that is responsible for rebuilding the Gaza border towns destroyed in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, described the population growth as “an exciting Zionist event” during a hearing at the Knesset State Control Committee. “The number of residents in the region has grown from some 62,000...
(JNS) — Senior diplomatic and defense officials from the Small Group of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS/Daesh met in Riyadh on Feb. 8 to discuss counterterrorism coordination in Syria and Iraq. In a joint statement, the United States and Saudi Arabia said participants welcomed what they described as a comprehensive agreement between the Syrian government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, citing provisions for a permanent ceasefire and the civil and military integration of northeast Syria. Participants noted Syria’s “stated intention to as...
(JNS) — The Hostages and Missing Families Forum announced Feb. 9 that it was officially terminating its operations in light of the return from Gaza of the last deceased hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili. The body of the 24-year-old volunteer in the elite Israel Police Yasam Special Patrol Unit was held in the Strip for 843 days before it was brought back for burial in Israel, closing the chapter on the 251 individuals abducted into Gaza during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and four others taken before the war. The Israeli NGO said it had ...
(JNS) — Israel is allocating tens of millions of shekels to a newly-created “Hills Administration” that will seek to combat anti-Arab violence in Judea and Samaria by some 300 Jewish rioters, Ynet reported on Sunday. The initiative, which is being promoted by Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz and was first reported in November, calls for the creation of a new unit within the Israeli Defense Ministry to coordinate a response for at-risk youth. Under the plan, the Defense Ministry would receive two million shekels (about $500,000) annua...
(JNS) — The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday approved a series of measures aimed at deepening Jerusalem’s hold on Judea and Samaria and expanding Jewish communities in the region, according to Hebrew-language media. The decisions promoted by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich are reportedly expected to bring about far-reaching changes to land acquisition rules in Judea and Samaria. The approved measures include lifting confidentiality from land registry records; canceling historic restrictions on land sales to non...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) apprehended more than 20 Palestinian terrorists and wanted individuals overnight Sunday in counter-terrorism operations across Judea and Samaria. The IDF Samaria Brigade arrested a terrorist involved in the purchase and possession of weapons, as well as in planning to harm Israeli soldiers and civilians, the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit said. Four more suspects were detained during the operation in the area. In a separate operation, IDF troops and Border Police fighters app...
(JNS) — Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged his nation to unify as the United States has been boosting its military presence in the Gulf region. “The enemy must be driven to despair. The enemy’s despair comes through [our] unity, strength of thought and determination, and steadfastness in confronting the enemy’s temptations. These are what build national power,” Khamenei tweeted. AFP cited the Iranian leader as calling on his citizens to show resolve ahead of the 47th anniversary this week of the Islamic Revolution that brough...
(JNS) - Before Oct. 7, 2023, Israel knew that digging was taking place in Gaza, and on a massive scale. But for a long time, warning signs were ignored, and there was a refusal to believe that one day we would discover a dark, brutal world beneath the ground. Today, after more than two years of fighting, tunnel experts are warning against falling asleep on watch again. "Before the war, we said, 'It's there, we're here, we'll make sure no tunnels are crossing the fence,'" says Lt. Col. R., 37, co...
(JNS) — Lebanon’s prime minister vowed on Tuesday to keep his country out of war after Hezbollah’s leader last week warned that a strike on Iran would be an attack on its Lebanese terror proxy. “We will never allow anyone to drag the country into another adventure,” AFP quoted Nawaf Salam as saying during the World Governments Summit in Dubai, in response to a question about comments made by Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem. Hassan Nasrallah’s replacement said on Jan. 26 that his Lebanese Shi’ite terror army and its main backer in Teh...
(JNS) — Israel’s Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Minister Amichai Chikli lashed out on Sunday at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, calling him a “dictator,” “Hamas sympathizer” and “promoter of Sharia-based authoritarianism.” Chikli referenced a short video clip posted on social media in which Erdoğan apparently spoke recently in Turkish about the need of the region’s peoples to unite on the “common ground of Islamic brotherhood.” It is unclear whether the Turkish leader was referring to the Muslim Brotherhood group, whos...
(JNS) - A Jewish morning prayer took place on Thursday at Joseph's Tomb in Samaria, for the first time in 25 years. The shrine, which is venerated by Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims, has a decades-long history of violence. Since the outbreak of the Second Intifada, entry to the complex on the southeastern outskirts of Nablus was permitted only at nighttime, under heavy security. Hundreds of worshippers, including Religious Zionism lawmaker Zvi Sukkot and Samaria Regional Council head Yo...
(JNS) — Senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk told Al Jazeera that the terrorist organization never agreed to disarmament as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s ceasefire deal for the Gaza Strip. “Not for a single moment did we talk about surrender the weapons, or any formula about destroying, surrendering or disarmament,” Abu Marzouk claimed in an interview with the Qatari state broadcaster. According to him, Hamas gunmen have already moved to “restore order” across parts of the Strip from which the Israeli military has withdrawn. The Unite...
(JNS) - Israel has agreed to reopen Gaza's Rafah Crossing with Egypt for the passage of people after the IDF concludes "Operation Brave Heart," which seeks to return the remains of Israel Police Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage held in the Strip. The Israel Defense Forces "is currently conducting a focused operation to exhaust all of the intelligence that has been gathered in the effort to locate and return the fallen hostage, Master Sgt. Ran Gvili of blessed memory," the Prime...
