Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)— Israel is in “full coordination” with Washington on Iran and is preparing for all possible scenarios, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday as he convened his Security Cabinet. “We are maintaining continuous contact with our friends in the United States,” said Netanyahu according to his office, adding that he spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump “almost on a daily basis. My people and his people are in daily contact as well, including today. And I will also speak with President Trump later tonight.” There were “no...
JNS) — Prospects for peace and reconciliation between Israel and the Palestinians hinge on the Palestinian Authority ending its “pay-for-slay” program, which provides monthly stipends for life to convicted terrorists and the families of attackers, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. “If you want reconciliation, peace, partnership, pay-for-slay must stop,” a ministry spokesperson said in a video posted to X, arguing that the payments “reward terror and incentivize future terror. “It’s the opposite of educating for peace,” the spokesman...
(JNS) — U.S. Central Command said on Sunday that more than 20 American warships are enforcing a naval blockade against Iran, with forces having redirected 61 commercial vessels and disabled four others to ensure compliance. Washington launched the maritime operation on April 13, targeting all vessels entering or leaving Iranian ports in the Arabian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, disrupting the regime’s oil exports. It is part of the Trump administration’s “Operation Economic Fury” — a sweeping pressure campaign targeting Tehran’s economy throu...
(JNS) — U.S. Central Command said early on Monday that it would begin supporting “Project Freedom” to ensure the free flow of commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital global trade route. The operation, directed by U.S. President Donald Trump, aims to safeguard merchant vessels transiting the strait, through which U.S. Central Command noted that roughly a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and significant volumes of fuel and fertilizer pass. CENTCOM said the mission will include guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraf...
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on Monday that the United States must moderate its demands on the Islamic Republic, warning that Washington “cannot use the language of threats and force.” He said “our priority is to end the war,” urged the “other side” to abandon “excessive demands” and reiterated Tehran’s claim that it is the “guardian and protector” of the Strait of Hormuz. “The international community must hold the United States and the Zionist regime accountable for imposing insecurity on this waterway and for creati...
(JNS) — The U.N. Security Council returned its focus to Gaza on Tuesday during an open debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, after months in which other global crises had drawn attention away. The council had concentrated heavily on Gaza following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, before a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in late 2025 shifted priorities. “A pivotal juncture has been reached” in U.S. President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace plan, said Tony Blair, the former British prime minister and a founding executive board m...
(JNS) — Gaza’s human development has been set back 77 years, with recovery and reconstruction needs totaling $71.4 billion over the next decade, according to an assessment released this week by the European Union, the United Nations and World Bank. The final report, the Gaza Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment, notes an “unprecedented loss of life and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis” brought on by the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, carried out by unnamed “militant groups,” leading to the Israel-Hamas war. The report...
(JNS) — Israel and Lebanon agreed to a 10-day ceasefire on Thursday following calls between U.S. president Donald Trump and the leaders of each country. After Trump announced the truce on social media, the State Department released a statement with details of the agreement between the two sides. “Israel and Lebanon will implement a cessation of hostilities” that will start at 5 p.m. Eastern on April 16 for “an initial period of 10 days, as a gesture of goodwill by the government of Israel, intended to enable good-faith negotiations toward...
(JNS) — American military forces, ships and aircraft will remain deployed “in, and around, Iran” until a “real agreement” is fully implemented, U.S. President Donald Trump said on April 8. The U.S. military is “loading up and resting,” and its next action would be “bigger, better and stronger than anyone has ever seen before” if the deal is not complied with, Trump wrote on his Truth Social social media platform. He added that the agreement prohibits Iranian nuclear weapons and ensures the Strait of Hormuz “will be open and safe.” A two-week c...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces has killed more than 1,000 Hezbollah operatives since the Iranian-backed terrorist group joined the war on March 2, “and that number will continue to rise,” IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said on Sunday. The military is striking Hezbollah “with determination, extensively and across multiple fronts,” Zamir said during a visit to Ras el-Bayada, a strategic coastal headland located near Tyre that is the northernmost point in Southern Lebanon where Israeli soldiers are currently operating on the ground. T...
(JNS) — Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister said on Thursday that his country reserves the right to act militarily after Iran launched an attack against a Saudi oil installation. Speaking after a meeting in Riyadh which brought together the foreign ministers of 12 Arab and Muslim countries, Saudi Prince Faisal bin Farhan said Iran “doesn’t believe in talking to its neighbors. It tries to pressure its neighbors.” Iran’s tactics won’t work, he said. “The kingdom is not going to succumb to pressure. On the contrary, this pressure will backfire.” The...
On March 19, 2026, Iran’s regime publicly hanged 19-year-old Saleh Mohammadi, a rising wrestler on Iran’s national team and a bronze medalist at the 2024 Saitiev Cup in Russia. He was accused by Iranian authorities of killing two police officers during the January anti-government protests in Qom. Mohammadi was charged with moharebeh (waging war against God), and executed with two other young men, Mehdi Ghasemi and Saeed Davoudi. Human rights groups say the proceedings were grossly unfair, mar...
(JNS) — The majority of the targets struck so far in Iran during “Operation Roaring Lion” were developed after the June 2025 war with the Islamic Republic, which was dubbed “Operation Rising Lion,” military sources revealed on Tuesday. Since the launch of the current operation on Saturday, the IDF has struck more than 600 targets in Iran. Overnight on Tuesday, the Israeli Air Force said it acted on precise intelligence to strike and dismantle facilities within the leadership compound of the Iranian terrorist regime in the heart of Tehran. Regar...
(JNS) - Iran on Wednesday threatened a "war of attrition" that would destroy the global economy as it targeted oil tankers and neighboring energy infrastructure. Rear Adm. Ali Fadavi, adviser to the IRGC commander-in-chief, a member of the military's "war command room" and former deputy commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Iranian state television on Wednesday that the U.S. and Israel "must consider the possibility that they will be engaged in a long-term war of attrition...
(JNS) - Hamas wages war on Israel through a coordinated strategy of terrorism and propaganda. They fight illegally behind human shields to frustrate enemy targeting. And whenever a human shield gets killed, they blame Israel. The terror group's propagandists specialize in crafting statistics, anecdotes and images of wartime suffering among Palestinian Arab children to evoke sympathy while slandering Israel. To the extent that outside parties such as moviemakers recycle the child-focused...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces has ramped up operations in Judea and Samaria since the start of Operation Roaring Lion on Feb. 28, to ensure that would-be terrorists living under the Palestinian Authority don’t take advantage of the situation to launch a new front. As part of the effort, the IDF is closely coordinating with individual communities and their security personnel to prevent terrorist attacks. During an exclusive briefing with JNS, an official IDF spokesperson said that since Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, the military has...
(JNS) — Israel’s elimination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was made possible by using Tehran’s traffic cameras to spy on the movements of those close to the cleric. Israeli intelligence “hacked” nearly all traffic cameras in Tehran over a period of years, encrypting the footage and transmitting it to servers in Tel Aviv and southern Israel, according to The Financial Times, which first reported the story, citing two sources familiar with the operation. One camera in particular provided a strategic vantage point, enabling analysts...
(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...
