Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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The Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida opened Hope & Humanity, a redesigned core exhibition that reimagines how the Holocaust is presented, experienced, and remembered. The exhibition also serves as the first public demonstration of the storytelling methodology under development for the future Holocaust Museum for Hope & Humanity in downtown Orlando. Hope & Humanity centers the lived experiences of 10 local Holocaust survivors - Suzanne Szmajuk Schneider, Henri Landwirth,...
(JNS) - Tu B'Shevat, the "Jewish New Year for Trees," gained a new meaning in the early 20th century. The tree-planting tradition that was renewed and adopted by the Zionist movement became a symbol of connection to the Land of Israel. Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) played a central role in embedding this late-winter celebration as a tradition in Israel through mass tree plantings, environmental education and the promotion of nature conservation values. The holiday became...
(JNS) - The Israel Defense Forces on Monday confirmed its soldiers recovered the body of Master Sgt. Ran Gvili, the last remaining hostage, from the Gaza Strip. "Following the completion of the identification process by the National Center of Forensic Medicine in collaboration with the Israel Police and the Military Rabbinate, IDF representatives informed the family of the hostage Ran Gvili, of blessed memory, that their loved one has been identified and will be laid to rest," the IDF...
(JNS) — The advancing of bills in U.S. states seeking to require the use of “Judea and Samaria” on official documents instead of the “West Bank” represents a strategic step in defending not only Israel, but the western world, according to Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan. Dagan attended events in both Florida and Georgia last week as part of his “Friends of Samaria in the U.S.” initiative, as legislators pledged to advance bills on the issue in both of those states respectively. “Especially after Oct. 7, we all understand that...
(JNS) — In a survey of 1,000 people in Ireland published on Wednesday, half of all adults surveyed and 54 percent of those aged 18-29 did not know that six million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. The survey, conducted between Oct. 15 and Nov. 6 last year for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, exposed widespread ignorance about the Holocaust, at a time when many Irish Jews believe expressions of antisemitism are rising in their country and elsewhere in Europe. Almost 10 percent of the younger groups of adults surveyed...
(JNS) — American businessman and investor Jared Kushner unveiled an ambitious economic development plan for a “new Gaza” at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, as part of the launch of President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. “We’ve developed ways to redevelop Gaza. Gaza, as President Trump has been saying, has amazing potential, and this is for the people of Gaza. We’ve developed it into zones,” said Trump’s son-in-law and adviser in his first administration. “In the beginning, we were toying with the idea of saying,...
(JNS) — Eight Muslim countries agreed on Wednesday to join the Board of Peace, which will “play an essential role” in realizing President Donald Trump’s 20-point plan to end the Gaza conflict, according to a Jan. 16 White House statement. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates announced in a joint statement that they “welcome the invitation extended to their leaders by the President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump, to join the Board of Peace.” They s...
(JNS) — An Israeli-owned restaurant chain closed its final branch in Belgium and declared bankruptcy last week following a campaign of harassment and boycotts, local media reported. Owners Tom Sas and Lori Dardikman declined to provide details on the closure of the Bokertov chain’s final branch in Antwerp, the Made-Innews site reported. The couple did not respond to a request for comment from JNS before publication. However, the couple recently said their business, which marketed itself as an Israeli restaurant, had been financially imp...
(JNS) — A Czech cyclist on Sunday night completed a 620-mile journey in honor of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which will be marked on Jan. 27. Identified as Lukáš Klement by Israel’s Government Press Office, the Czech national said that he began his route from the “Gate of Death” at the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, where the Nazis in World War II exterminated about 1.1 million inmates, the majority of whom were Jews. Klement’s route spelled out “Never Again” when depicted on a map. With ice on his beard, Klement related...
(JNS) — Israel received its 11th university on Tuesday following the Higher Education Council’s decision to upgrade Tel Hai College near Kiryat Shmona in the Upper Galilee, and award it university status thanks to a $181 million grant to meet the relevant requirements. The unanimous decision by the Council for Higher Education in Israel—a supervisory board headed by Education Minister Yoav Kisch—means that beginning with the 5786–87 (2026-27) academic year, the University of Kiryat Shmona in the Galilee will have the title for a five-year...
(JNS) - The Trump administration issued an urgent warning for U.S. citizens to leave Iran immediately, as protests in the country continue to intensify. The virtual U.S. Embassy for Iran instructed Americans to "leave Iran now" and develop exit plans that do not depend on government assistance. Officials warned demonstrations are escalating and could turn violent, leading to arrests and injuries, and said that "U.S. nationals are at significant risk of questioning, arrest and detention."...
Jewish Pavilion Senior Services hosted a highly successful Sponsors Breakfast on Thursday morning, Jan. 15, at 8:30 a.m. at Legacy Pointe. The event brought together 30 board members, sponsors, and community leaders for an inspiring gathering focused on collaboration and shared dedication to supporting seniors throughout the Orlando area. The breakfast created a warm and welcoming atmosphere where attendees enjoyed meaningful conversation, relationship-building, and productive networking....
On Jan. 12, Dick & Dottie's Place, in partnership with Sage Catering, reopened with free coffee for everyone. The little coffee shop in the lobby of the Roth JCC offers a full kosher menu of slow-drip coffee, cappuccinos, lattes, delicious pastries and much more....
(JNS) — Kibbutz Be’eri has decided to keep as is one of the homes burned in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led assault on southern Israel as a testimony to the horrors of the worst single-day attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. The move by the community, located five miles from the Gaza Strip, to move on and demolish the rest of the homes destroyed in the attack is opposed by some bereaved families, but is seen as an attempt to move on and rebuild. The house selected is on the edge of the community and belongs to a family that was abr...
(JNS) — Israeli authorities on Tuesday began demolishing UNRWA’s headquarters in Jerusalem, after a new law banning the organization’s operations in Israel took effect. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir hailed the move as a “historic day, a holiday, a very important day for governance,” saying the government was finally expelling “terror supporters … with everything they built here” and vowing that “this is what will be done to every terror supporter.” Yisrael Beiteinu MK Yulia Malinovsky, who played a leading role in introducing the...
(JNS) — Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the Negev, Galilee and National Resilience, said Sunday that security agencies had identified attempts by Hezbollah to gain a foothold in Upper Galilee city of Kiryat Shmona through apartment purchases by Arab citizens of the Jewish state. “Hezbollah used Israeli Arabs to purchase apartments in Kiryat Shmona during the war in order to try to take control of the city from within,” the minister said behind closed doors at the weekly Cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, according to Hebrew media reports....
(JNS) — A landmark natural gas deal with Israel is a “strictly commercial” arrangement with no political dimensions, Egypt said on Thursday. The Egyptian government reaction, which came the day after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced the $34 billion, 15-year agreement—the biggest gas sale in Israel’s history—is seen as Cairo’s attempt to shield itself from Arab criticism over the mammoth agreement with the Jewish state. “The deal is a purely commercial transaction concluded exclusively on the basis of economic and investment...
(JNS) — It feels necessary, due to political pressure, to accuse the Jewish state publicly of committing “genocide” in Gaza even though that charge is untrue, a New England legislator told JNS on background. “I don’t think that ‘genocide’ is a term that can be used in the moment, in the fog of war,” the legislator told JNS. But there has been “so much mounting pressure” after lawmakers in the legislator’s state began accusing Israel of “genocide,” the lawmaker said. “Nobody was going to engage with me, or even talk to me, or not just throw me i...
(JNS) — David Cunio, one of the Israelis abducted by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, gives a harrowing account of his nearly two years in Hamas captivity in Gaza, describing starvation, psychological torment, underground imprisonment and the struggle to survive for the sake of his family. In an interview aired on Channel 12, Cunio detailed his abduction alongside his wife, Sharon, their twin daughters Yuli and Emma, and other family members, as well as the brutal conditions he endured during 738 days in Hamas captivity. The ordeal began in t...
(JNS) — Former hostage Moran Stella Yanai called out U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, claiming he was not interested in hearing her claims of sexual violence while in Hamas captivity. Yanai was selling jewelry at the Nova Music Festival when she was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the group’s invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She was held for 54 days before her release as part of a ceasefire. Yanai told Israel’s Channel 12 that she and fellow hostage Nili Margalit, a nurse taken from her home in Kibbutz Nir Oz and re...
(JNS) — Canadian authorities detained Israeli comedian Guy Hochman for six hours at Toronto’s main airport after an anti-Israel organization filed war crimes charges against him in connection with his service in the Israel Defense Forces, Hochman said on Tuesday. “They tried to stop me from entering Canada, but after 6 hours of being detained, I got in. They tried to prevent me from performing in front of the Israeli community, I performed. And while they kept shouting ‘free Palestine’ to themselves in minus 10 degrees, we warmed up with laught...
7% tariff on all countries doing business with Iran, Trump says (JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday evening that effective immediately, any country that does business with the Iranian regime will be subject to a 25% tariff “on any and all business being done with the United States of America.” “This order is final and conclusive,” Trump said. Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, wrote that it was a “strong move by President Trump.” Jewish charter school pursues Oklah...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that there would be no Turkish or Qatari troops deployed to Gaza as part of Phase 2 of the Trump administration’s Mideast peace plan. Speaking at a Knesset debate on “violence and crime in the Arab sector” within Israel, Netanyahu acknowledged the dispute between his government and the Trump administration over the post-war management of Gaza. “We have a certain argument with our friends in the United States over the composition of the executive board that will oversee the proce...
(JNS) - As of Jan. 13, 2,000 protesters have been confirmed killed, according to Iranian authorities, however, other reports claim different figures. Time of Israel reported that The Norway-based organization Iran Human Rights said it had confirmed 648 people killed during the protests, including nine minors, but warned the death toll was likely much higher - "according to some estimates, more than 6,000." Also, Times of Israel reported that the Iran International news site, which is based in...
(JNS) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that anti-regime protests in Iran could be approaching a critical moment, with the Iranian people poised to “take their fate into their own hands.” “We in Israel identify with the struggle of the Iranian people and their aspiration to liberty and justice,” Netanyahu said, speaking at a 40-signature debate, which the opposition can call once a month and which the prime minister is obliged to attend. “We may be at a critical moment,” he said. The premier stressed in his remarks t...
