Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 93
(JNS) — Israel’s security forces worked in an intensive, integrated manner to disrupt the wave of terrorist violence that had afflicted Israel beginning in March and lasting through the first week of April. A number of factors have now led to the current relative calm, a security source stated, listing those factors as firm enforcement in the form of hundreds of arrests, tens of administrative detention decrees, tens of investigations, hundreds of people questioned and many conversations with persons of concern. Looking ahead, the Israeli def...
(JNS) - Despite Israeli requests for an American-led preparation of a "Plan B" in case of failure of talks to lead to a new Iran nuclear agreement, Washington has yet to formulate such an alternative in a detailed manner, a leading Israeli expert on U.S.-Israeli relations has cautioned. Professor Eytan Gilboa of Bar-Ilan University, who is also a senior fellow at the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, also said, however, that good ties between the Israeli and American defense...
(JNS) - In its annual strategic survey released in recent days, the Tel Aviv-based Institute for National Security Studies pointed to a central understanding that has rippled through the region. The United States is focusing its attention and resources on dealing with China (and, more recently, Russia), and is unwilling to be significantly involved in further conflicts in the Middle East. Washington's enthusiasm for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran is one such signal of this intention...
(JNS) - A new autonomous unmanned ground vehicle introduced by Israeli companies Elbit Systems and Roboteam, called "Rook," can carry out a remarkable number of roles on the battlefield. Elad Levy, CEO of Roboteam, told JNS that the ground robot is tailor-made to client needs through its ability to be assembled in a system of "boxes," with each box allowing for clients to choose a different kind of capability - much like assembling Legos. While one box can act as an electrical engine, others...
(JNS) - Lebanon, the least stable country in Israel's environment at this time, is home to Iran's strongest proxy, Hezbollah, which continues to get stronger despite the many crises plaguing its host country. Lebanon's multi-faceted dysfunction at the political, economic and social levels has seen its citizens plunged into misery with many of them staring into the abyss of a humanitarian crisis (the country has recently declined Israeli offers for humanitarian assistance). At the same time,...
(JNS) The dramatic escape of six Palestinian terrorists from Gilboa Prison in northern Israel last Monday carries the potential of a broader security escalation, a former defense official has cautioned. Col. (res.) David Hacham, a former Arab-affairs adviser to seven Israeli defense ministers and a senior research associate at the Miryam Institute, told JNS that the breakout could lead to a chain of incidents and an escalation dynamic, although this is not a certainty. He recalled a highly relevant precedent from the 1980s. In May 1987, six...
(JNS) — The shockwaves from the Taliban’s lightning-quick takeover of Afghanistan are continuing to reverberate throughout the Middle East, and Islamist forces are feeling energized by the U.S. withdrawal. But according to Prof. Eyal Zisser, a lecturer in the Middle East History Department at Tel Aviv University, that boost in morale isn’t translating into rash attacks and warfare. “I think that while the extremist forces are seeking to build on the American withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban’s victory for morale purposes, they are...
(JNS) — Representatives from the U.S. and Israeli Air Forces met last month to discuss a remarkable development: what the Israel Defense Forces described as “updated orders for the cooperation between the two nations’ air-defense systems during emergency situations.” The Israeli delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Gilad Biran, commander of the IAF’s Air Defense System, and the American delegation was led by Brig. Gen. Greg Brady, commander of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, which is based in Germany. “The purpose of the meeting was...
(JNS) — A recent mass arrest of Hamas members in the West Bank offers a glimpse into the deceptive nature of the ongoing quiet in the area and how hard the terror organization based in the Gaza Strip is working to puncture the relative calm. At any given time, Hamas is trying to set up terror cells, and only the determined efforts by the Israeli defense establishment prevents these efforts from maturing into waves of shootings and bombings against Israelis. Earlier this month, the Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet intelligence agency a...
(JNS) - A rescue delegation from the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command is using visual intelligence techniques and information received from families of the victims to precisely map out the wreckage of a condo that crashed in a Miami suburb last week. This mapping-out method is enabling rescue teams to more quickly reach the remains of victims and identify them accurately, military representatives said on Wednesday. In recent days, additional members of the Home Front Command joined the...
(JNS) - As the truce in Gaza takes hold, Israel and the international community must employ multiple approaches to prevent Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from once again using a quiet period to rearm themselves, a former Israeli defense official has said. Col. (res.) Shaul Shay, who served as the deputy head of the National Security Council and is today a senior research fellow at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism, told JNS on Monday that setting this goal would be a good...
(JNS) - A heavy rocket barrage fired by Gazan terror factions at central Israel killed an Israeli woman in Rishon Letzion and injured more than 20 civilians in multiple locations. In Holon, eight people were injured and taken to hospital, two in serious condition, said Israeli paramedics. Five civilians sustained light injures in Givatayim, east of Tel Aviv. "United Hatzalah volunteers treated a bus driver who was seriously injured by a rocket that exploded near his bus in Holon, as well as six...
(JNS) - Threats by Iran to retaliate against what it said was an Israeli sabotage attack on its Natanz nuclear site on April 11 and the reported attack on an Iranian command ship in the Red Sea on April 6 should be taken seriously, observers in Israel say, but they also indicate the distress that the Iranian regime is feeling as it absorbs one blow after another. Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, an expert on strategic issues with a focus on Iran, terrorism and the Middle East, and a senior...
(JNS) - When assessing the comments made earlier this week by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi, who warned against the return to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, it is useful to envisage two red countdown clocks. The first is counting down the time left until Iran is able to break through to nuclear-weapons production capability. Iran does not have to build an atomic bomb to reach the status of a breakout state. It merely needs to come within "striking distance" -...
(JNS) - Media reports carried news of intensive airstrikes against Iranian-linked targets in eastern Syria early on Wednesday, attributed to the Israeli Air Force. The alleged strikes in the Deir al-Zour and Albu Kamal areas were the latest in a long series of reported Israeli attacks that are designed to thwart the Islamic Republic's attempts at building a war machine in Syria. The airstrikes nevertheless stood out in light of the extraordinary comments made by a senior American intelligence...
(JNS) — As the Middle East remains on edge due to sky-high tensions between the United States and Iran, and with the U.S. Air Force holding a joint drill with Saudi Arabia’s Royal Air Force, the Pentagon and the Israeli defense establishment remain in close touch as they monitor developments. Yet a report released by the Jewish Institute for National Security of America — a pro-Israel think tank based in Washington D.C., that includes senior former American military commanders — has called for that cooperation to be tightened further by relocat...
(JNS) — Cyber attackers around the world—ranging from criminals to state actors—are taking advantage of the massive global shift to working from home in the age of the coronavirus pandemic and escalating cyber attacks, senior former American and Israeli defense officials have warned. The comments were made the online Cyber Tech USA conference, held on Oct. 27. Nadav Zafrir, former commander of the Israel Defense Forces 8200 signals intelligence unit and managing partner of the Team8 company, which builds and invests in companies, spoke with...
(JNS) - As the Israeli cabinet weighs increasingly stringent steps to deal with the growing numbers of confirmed coronavirus cases, the Israel Defense Forces' Home Front Command is playing an increasingly essential part in the state's fight against the pandemic. The Home Front Command is the military's main interface with the civilian population, and it is tasked with helping the civilian domain prepare and respond to a range of emergencies. Currently, its headquarters south of Tel Aviv is...
(JNS) — In the wake of a reported U.S.-UAE deal in the works for the sale of F-35 fighter jets, Israel’s Defense Minister Benny Gantz departed for the United States on a brief 24-hour visit on Monday night, where he is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and other senior members of the Trump administration. According to a Reuters report, the United States and the UAE “hope to have an initial agreement on the sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf state in place by December, as the Trump administration studi...
(JNS) - As it conducts its mission to defend southern Israeli communities and vital strategic sites, the Israel Navy is also engaged in a quiet arms race with Israel's adversaries in the Gaza Strip - namely, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. A senior IDF source told JNS about the ongoing activities of the Ashdod Naval Base, which is responsible for a substantial part of Israel's coastal waters, stretching from central Israel to southern Gaza. This area of jurisdiction, known as the Ashdod...
(JNS) - A day after two blasts - one of them an enormous - ripped through Beirut, causing untold destruction, it's still not possible to grasp the true scope of the calamity, a former Israeli Military Intelligence chief has said. Speaking by video conference to journalists, Maj. Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin, who served as former deputy commander of the Israeli Air Force and is now executive director of the Institute for National Security Studies, noted that Israel has offered medical assistance to...
(JNS) - Despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and increasing tensions between the United States and China, Israeli companies continue to view China as a major market for growth and development. Executives from two such companies have told JNS in recent weeks about their ongoing operations in China. The PTL Group is an Israeli-owned Chinese company that provides support to multiple international companies taking their first steps in the Chinese market. Its chairman, Zvi Shalgo, said in a...
(JNS) — The “Ofek 16” spy satellite launched from central Israel at 4 a.m. on Monday (July 6) morning is due to significantly upgrade Israel’s ability to monitor the dangerous activities of its adversaries throughout the Middle East, foremost among them Iran. The satellite was launched successfully by the Defense Ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries following years of research and development, and a working schedule that in recent months had to be adapted to restrictions created by the coronavirus pandemic. IAI officials said they viewed...
(JNS)-In ordinary times, Israel Aerospace Industries Systems Missiles Space group churns out advanced missiles, including interceptors used by the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 defense systems. During these extraordinary times, the group has added a new production line-one that produces hospital ventilators. As Israel, like many countries, grapples with a shortage of ventilators in the face of a potential tidal wave of vulnerable coronavirus patients, IAI teamed up with Ra'anana-based Inovytec, which...
(JNS)—Israel must take a series of immediate steps that would enable it to end its nationwide closure and enter a new “corona routine” that would revive the economy and that could begin immediately after Passover, Interim Defense Minister Naftali Bennett stated on Sunday. In a new national response plan that he published, Bennett wrote that “the State of Israel saw the danger early and took a series of correct decisions that revolved around ‘closing Israel.’ On one hand, this bought us precious time, but on the other, it had a terrible ec...
