Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated at about 4:30 a.m. local time that he was dispatching two rescue planes to Amsterdam following a "very violent incident against Israeli citizens." "The harsh pictures of the assault on our citizens in Amsterdam will not be overlooked," Netanyahu's office stated, adding that he "views the horrifying incident with utmost gravity and demands that the Dutch government and security forces take vigorous and swift action against the rioters, and...
(JNS) — A newly developed antibody-based treatment for the most aggressive type of breast cancer could also be used to treat many other cancers, the Weizmann Institute of Science announced on Sunday. The researchers at the university in the central Israeli city of Rehovot, which offers postgraduate-only degrees in the natural and exact sciences, discovered that aggressive breast cancer prompts nearby immune cells to build “molecular bridges” between themselves, which causes these cells to refrain from attacking the cancer and leads to suppr...
(JNS) — American Airlines has announced that it is suspending service to and from Tel Aviv through the end of next summer. The move, which was reported by Israeli travel agencies on Sunday, means AA’s daily non-stop service from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to Tel Aviv will not resume until September 2025 at the earliest. “To provide customers with certainty when planning travel to Tel Aviv, we are expanding our travel alert to allow customers whose travel plans are impacted to rebook their itinerary for travel involvi...
(JNS) - A rare and unique First Temple-era stone inscribed with a name in paleo-Hebrew script has been uncovered near Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday. The ancient black stone seal was unearthed in an excavation by the Temple Mount's southern wall. It is believed to date back 2,700 years and was used by a senior official in the Kingdom of Judah's administration, the state-run archaeological body said. "The seal, made of black stone, is one of the...
(JNS) - Israel won 10 medals, including four gold, at the 2024 Paris Paralympics which concluded on Sunday, in its best showing at the Games in two decades. The competition followed the record-breaking six Olympic medals won by Israeli athletes in Paris this summer. Israel's medal total at the Paralympics topped its performance at the Tokyo Games three years ago, when the delegation brought home nine medals, and marks Israel's best showing since 2004, when it won 13 medals at the Athens...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and senior advisers met in the White House Situation Room on Sept. 2, a U.S. federal holiday, to discuss “next steps in the ongoing effort to secure the release of hostages, including continuing consultations with co-mediators Qatar and Egypt,” per a White House readout. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA director Bill Burns, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Brett McGurk, National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, also took part...
(JNS) — An international organization of Islamic scholars and faith leaders has issued a blistering condemnation of the murder by Hamas of six Israeli hostages last week in Gaza. The Iraqi-based Global Imams Council called the executions, carried out in a tunnel under Rafah in southern Israel, “barbaric” and “a violation all principles of humanity, religious teachings, and international law.” In a statement on its website, the organization said, “The targeting and brutalization of civilians, especially those who are defenseless and held agains...
(JNS) — Analysts are still poring over the data from Wesley Bell’s victory over anti-Israel ‘Squad’ member Cori Bush in the Missouri Democratic primary on Tuesday night, but Rabbi A.D. Motzen is sure that the Jewish vote made a difference in Bell’s nearly 7,000-vote margin of victory. “I can’t say with certainty that Jews made up the entire 7,000-vote margin, as we only worked on the Orthodox community,” the national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel of America told JNS. “We also don’t know how many took a Republican ballot—n...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — A Lufthansa flight from Munich to Israel made an unscheduled landing in Larnaca, Cyprus on Thursday morning due to heightened tensions in the region. The airline gave passengers the option of disembarking in Larnaca but did not offer them any assistance in completing their journey to Israel and informed them that their luggage would be returning to Munich with the plane, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. Some 20 Israelis disembarked without their luggage, with the rest returning to Munich, according to the rep...
(JNS) — Former President Donald Trump on Sunday called for unity while paying tribute to the rallygoer who was killed in the attempt on his life. “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening,” Trump wrote on his Truth social media platform. “We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” he continued. “Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is scheduled to pay a solidarity visit to Israel next week. Haley, who served as ambassador during Trump’s presidency, plans to tour communities near the Gaza border as well as in the north of the country during her visit, which is set to begin on Monday, according to former Israeli U.N. envoy Danny Danon, who is to accompany her. She is also scheduled to meet with Israeli leaders and senior security off...
The U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package late Tuesday that includes $26 billion in wartime assistance for Israel and $9 billion in humanitarian aid, some of which will be allotted for the Gaza Strip. The bill passed the Senate on an overwhelming 79-18 vote after the House had approved the package Saturday, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays. U.S. officials told AP that about $1 billion of the aid could be on its way shortly, with the bulk following in the coming weeks. “Tonight, a bip...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — In the wake of the global rise of antisemitism, a new campaign against Jew-hatred launched Tuesday with the participation of influential Jewish and non-Jewish celebrities, athletes and opinion makers. The project, named “New Year, New Voices,” which has already launched several videos on social media, includes model Cindy Crawford, actresses Connie Britton, Ginnifer Goodwin, Debra Messing, Jennifer Morrison, Jaimie Alexander, Rebecca Gayheart and Emmanuelle Chriqui, singers Lance Bass and Montana Tucker, actors David...
(JNS) - Iris Haim on Wednesday told the Israeli soldiers who accidentally killed her son in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 15 that she doesn't blame them for the tragedy. "I wanted to tell you that I love you very much and I know that what happened is not your fault, it is the fault of no one except Hamas, may their names and memory be erased from the earth," she said in an audio message which has been distributed on social media. Her 28-year-old son, Yotam, along with Alon Shamriz and Samer Fouad...
(JNS) — The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor released the 2022 edition of its annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices on Monday. The reports “cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political and worker rights, as set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international agreements,” stated Foggy Bottom. “The report embodies the importance of human rights for American diplomacy and for our vision of an open, free, prosperous and secure world,” Antony Blinken, U....
(JNS) - The White House hosted more than 70 community leaders on March 9, marking the Purim holiday with its first-ever Jewish Women's Forum. Attendees hailed the event-part-mixer, part-holiday celebration and part-Jewish affairs state of the state-for its diversity. The event included both practicing and non-practicing Jewish women who came from across the country, and those present were communal leaders, college students and employees of a range of organizations, attendees told JNS. "It...
(JNS) British Foreign Secretary of State and Parliament member Liz Truss promised to consider moving the British embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem if she is elected Tory leader and becomes prime minister in September. The Conservative Party leadership candidate-one of two; she is vying against fellow Parliament member Rishi Sunak-made the promise in a letter written to members of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). She also participated in a CFI event on Monday night in which she...
The Israel Defense Forces on Saturday was preparing for a "week of fighting" against Palestinian Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip, as terrorists in the enclave fired over 1000 rockets at the Jewish state within 48 hours. The IDF said that the Iron Dome missile defense system had successfully intercepted 95 percent of the projectiles fired by PIJ that were headed for populated regions. One projectile struck a family home in Sderot, whose inhabitants had secured themselves in a shelter and were...
Terrorists in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night fired heavy barrages of rockets at southern and central Israel, including at Tel Aviv, ahead of an Egypt-mediated ceasefire between the sides that was slated to come into effect at 11:30 p.m. local time. Just eight minutes after the ceasefire took effect, Islamic Jihad terrorists fired more rockets at southern Israeli communities. Since then, the ceasefire seems to be holding as Israelis are experiencing much needed quiet. According to several media reports, the Israeli government had agreed to an...
(JNS) - International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Rafael Grossi said on Monday that Iran was "very close" to crossing the nuclear threshold, and that it "cannot be avoided" at this point. Speaking at the IAEA's Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, which runs until June 10, Grossi said, "Having a significant quantity [crossing the uranium enrichment threshold] does not mean having a bomb, but ... this idea of crossing the line, it's going to happen." According to an unnamed Israeli off...
Palestinian human-rights activist Bassem Eid filed a complaint in New York state recently against Ben & Jerry’s over the ice-cream maker’s decision to boycott Israeli territories. Eid filed the complaint last month with New York State’s Division of Human Rights against Conopco Inc., the U.S. division of Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever, reported the New York Post. Eid alleged in his complaint that Ben & Jerry’s announcement in July to stop selling its products in the West Bank [Judea and Samaria] and parts of Jerusalem is “counterp...
(JNS) Arizona moved to divest from Unilever, the parent company of Ben & Jerry’s, over the ice-cream maker’s decision to stop selling its products in the West Bank and parts of Jerusalem, becoming the first state to take such action. Arizona State Treasurer Kimberly Yee announced last Tuesday that the state will pull some $143 million of investments from the multinational firm by Sept. 21. “As Arizona Treasurer, I’ve divested all state funds from Ben & Jerry’s for boycotting Israel,” Yee announced on Twitter. “Israel is and will continue to b...
(JNS) - Dozens of college students from the United States, the United Kingdom, Israel and elsewhere gathered online for the annual CAMERA on Campus conference aimed at empowering young adults to be advocates for Israel in an increasingly hostile environment. As speaker, professor and author Gil Troy told the students, "When you stand up on campus and increasingly in the public square these days, and when you stand up with CAMERA, it takes a huge amount of courage ... All of you have tremendous...
(JNS) - Israel's President Reuven Rivlin has announced that Yair Lapid will now receive the mandate to form the country's next government. Rivlin made the announcement in a televised statement from his official residence, saying that his "main consideration" was who was the best choice to form the next government. "From the number of recommendations, it is clear that MK Yair Lapid could form a government that has the confidence of the Knesset, despite there being many difficulties," Rivlin...
The fourth attempt in two years to unseat embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to have failed once again, with Netanyahu securing his largest-ever electoral victory over his rivals. Exit polls show Netanyahu's Likud receiving a strong 30 to 31 mandates. The tally is at least 12 seats higher than the next largest party: the left-wing Yesh Atid led by Yair Lapid. While official vote totals will only be completed in the coming days-with the potential to alter Knesset...
