Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 57
(JNS) — The three latest returnees from Hamas captivity in Gaza reunited on Saturday with their families in heartfelt scenes of elation and relief. American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, met with his wife, Avital, and his parents at the IDF’s Re’im camp just outside the Strip before being flown by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan. During the reunion, Avital informed him of their third daughter’s name. She was seven-months’ pregnant when Dekel-Chen was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. “Do you remembe...
(JNS) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Thursday that he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare a plan to facilitate the voluntary departure of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. The statement comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal this week that Gaza’s population be relocated to Egypt, Jordan and additional countries. “The plan will include exit options at land crossings as well as special arrangements for exit by sea and air,” said Katz. “I welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s bold plan. The res...
(JNS) — Below is the full text of the statement delivered by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu alongside U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Feb. 4, 2025: Thank you, Mr. President. I’m honored that you invited me to be the first foreign leader to visit the White House in your second term. This is a testament to your friendship and support for the Jewish state and the Jewish people. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: You are the greatest friend Israel has ever had in the White House. That’s why the people of...
(JNS) — About 65 percent of the structures in the Gaza Strip were destroyed during the year-long Israel-Hamas war, littering the enclave with hundreds of millions of tons of scattered debris, Hebrew media reported on Tuesday. Experts estimate reconstruction would take at least 10 years and cost tens if not hundreds of billions of dollars, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News. The outlet commissioned Adi Ben-Nun, a Geographic Information System specialist and technical manager of the GIS center at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, to ana...
(JNS) - Idit Ohel, mother of Hamas hostage Alon Ohel, 24, gave an emotional interview to Israel's Channel 12 News on Sunday after learning details of her son's captivity, including that he is practically starved and in chains. The family recently discovered the state of Alon's captivity at the hands of Hamas from hostages released on Feb. 8. Eli Sharabi, 52, and Or Levy, 34 were held with him. Their medical condition was described as "poor" by Israeli doctors. Ohad Ben Ami, 56, was also...
(JNS) — Saudi Arabia’s government on Tuesday contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that Ryadh may normalize ties with Israel even without the creation of a Palestinian state. Sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump addressed Saudi-Israeli ties while answering questions from journalists on the subject. “Well, we’re going to see, and we’re dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know. And maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don’t. We’re dealing...
(JNS) — The Trump White House has asked congressional leaders to approve about $1 billion in weapons sales to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing U.S. officials. The sales would include more than $700 million in 1,000-pound bombs (4,700 in total), along with armored bulldozers worth more than $300 million, the officials said. The 1,000-pound bombs, referred to as “general purpose bombs,” consist of 4,500 BLU-110s and 200 Mk-83s. Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers also are part of the sale. Although they are used to defen...
(JNS) — Israel’s cabinet minister in charge of Jerusalem affairs on Sunday asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to increase security in the city ahead of the release of hundreds of Palestinian hostages in exchange for Israeli hostages in Gaza. Minister of Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish Heritage Meir Porush made the appeal in a letter he sent to Netanyahu and other members of the cabinet, Israel National News reported. “The regular deployment is insufficient,” Porush wrote, according to the report. “We must ensure that there is an ade...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump revoked a host of what he called “harmful” executive orders and actions under former President Joe Biden, including Executive Order 14115 of Feb. 1, 2024, which sanctioned Jews living in Judea and Samaria accused of “undermining peace, security and stability in the West Bank.” “The previous administration has embedded deeply unpopular, inflationary, illegal and radical practices within every agency and office of the federal government,” Trump stated on Monday. “The injection of ‘diversity, equity and inclus...
(JNS) — The Israeli passport is the 19th strongest worldwide, according to a global ranking released last week. Israeli passport holders can now enter 170 countries without a visa, according to The Henley Passport Index, which measures the number of visa-free destinations available to holders of a given passport. The Israeli passport increased in strength from last year, when it was ranked 21st. Singapore tops the ranking of nearly 200 passports included in the index, followed by Japan, Finland, France, Germany, South Korea and Spain. The U...
(JNS) — The three Israeli hostages who returned from captivity in Gaza Sunday recalled in testimonies how they helped each other survive for 471 days amid uncertainty and lacking medical care, Israel’s Channel 12 reported. In statements vetted by the military censor and approved by the hostages for publication, they recalled living in underground facilities with little medical attention, tremendous uncertainty and, at times, despair. Emily Damari, who has a leg injury and lost two fingers on her left hand during Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attac...
(JNS) — A unique structure unearthed in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David was used for ritual practices during the time of the First Temple, according to a report published Tuesday. The site was uncovered 15 years ago on the eastern slopes of the City of David compound, just outside the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It includes eight rock-hewn rooms containing an altar, a standing stone, an oil press and a winepress, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority. Excavation director Eli Shukron wrote in an article published in the sci...
(JNS) — President Isaac Herzog awarded the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor to eight global leaders for their outstanding contributions to Israel and the Jewish people. The medal recipients include Ronald S. Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress; Maurice Lévy, French executive; Malcolm Hoenlein, former executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of American Jewish Organizations; Julie Platt, chair of the Jewish Federations of North America; Sir Frank Lowy, Australian philanthropist and Holocaust survivor; Sir Trevor Ch...
(JNS) — Israel’s Security Cabinet met on Friday morning to approve the Gaza ceasefire deal with Hamas. The accord, whose first phase is to see the phased release of 33 hostage—alive or dead—over a six-week period starting on Sunday, in return for the release of 1,000 terrorists from Israeli prisons, will then be brought to the full Cabinet for a vote on Saturday night. The ceasefire was expected to go in effect at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday, with the first three hostages, women, to be freed around 4 p.m. However, this may be delayed until Monday....
(JNS) — Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called for an emergency meeting to prepare for an expected spike in immigration as antisemitism rises globally in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. In a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday evening, Sa’ar said that a wave of worldwide antisemitism has eroded Jews’ sense of security in the Diaspora and has already generated a greater demand for immigration to Israel. “A broad national plan is required that will also include optimal absorption of the expected immigrati...
(JNS) - A 1,700-year-old ceramic oil lamp, decorated with depictions of the Temple of Jerusalem's menorah, has been uncovered in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Thursday. The lamp, which was used for lighting and has been dated to the Late Roman Period, was uncovered completely intact during an archaeological excavation on the Mount of Olives earlier this year, the state-run archaeological body said. The announcement of the discovery was timed for the eight-day Chanukah...
(JNS) — Preliminary numbers for the first half of 2024 show a 15 percent increase in foreign investment in Israel, according to the annual report of the Chief Economist’s Office of Israel’s Finance Ministry, published on Tuesday. With the exception of a major investment by Intel, 2023 saw a 24 percent decline in foreign investment in Israeli hi-tech compared to the previous year, the report states, according to Israel’s Globes business daily. Only 1,563 deals were concluded in 2023, compared to 2,502 in 2022—a drop of 62 percent. Key investmen...
(JNS) — U.S. President Joe Biden on Dec. 16 reiterated his commitment to bring the remaining 100 hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza home, as he enters the final month of his presidency. “I will not stop until I get every single one of them out,” said Biden at his final White House Chanukah party. The remarks come amid reports of an imminent deal with Hamas for the release of hostages before President-elect Donald J. Trump takes office on Jan. 20. President Biden added that he was inspired by the power of the Jewish people’s hope and optimis...
(JNS) - The earliest known Chinese inscription in Israel from about 500 years ago has been uncovered in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Tuesday. (Spoiler alert: It didn't say "Made in China.") The rare 16th century CE Chinese inscription, unearthed in a dig on Mount Zion and discovered on a porcelain bowl fragment, reads: "Forever we will guard the eternal spring," the state-archaeological body said. Ancient Chinese porcelain vessels were previously found in Israel, but...
(JNS)— Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) introduced legislation on Thursday that would ban the federal government from using the term “West Bank” and instead use Judea and Samaria, the terminology preferred by Israel. Formally titled the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-use of Judea and Samaria (RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria) Act,” the bill would prohibit government funds from being used to describe “the land annexed by Israel from Jordan during the 1967 Six-Day War...
(JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told representatives of hostages’ families groups on Sunday that the fall of the Assad regime, weakened by Israel’s determined stand against Hezbollah and Hamas, could help advance a deal for the return of the hostages. Netanyahu held two separate meetings in Jerusalem, one with the Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum and the other with the Tikva Forum. The two groups differ on the best way to free the hostages, with the right-leaning Tikva Forum opposing the former’s call for a deal at any cos...
(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...
