Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Sunday, Feb. 16 — Film Screening of “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,” 2 p.m. at the Winter Park Library, 1052 West Morse Blvd. The film is a dramatization of the last six days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German WWII anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose. RSVP at hmrec.org. Thursday, Feb. 20 — Orlando Shakes! presents “Cabaret” at 6:30 p.m. The performance is an exclusive fundraising performance benefiting the Holocaust Memorial Resource & Education Center of Florida. Tickets include a pre-show reception w...
Five women, Debby Gendzier, Laurie Shader Smith, Danielle Krise, Michele Fischer and Aliza Nabatian, will be honored at Shalom Orlando’s Choices 2025. This year, Barbara Weinreich will be presented with a special Lifetime of Service Award in recognized of her extraordinary contributions and unwavering dedication to the Jewish community. The annual event will be held at Congregation Ohev Shalom, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by dinner, catered by Crafted Gourmet, and the program at 7 p.m. Register by Feb...
(JTA) — Reactions from partisan American Jewish groups to President Donald Trump’s proposals for Gaza — that “all” Palestinians leave and the United States “take over” the territory — began flowing in just as soon as their leaders picked their jaws up off the floor on Tuesday night. The proposals — the latter of which was reportedly secret to even many in the Trump administration before the president aired it at a White House press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — elicited sharp revulsion from liberal Jewish grou...
(JNS) — U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff backed U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians from Gaza, arguing that a better life is not necessarily tied to a given piece of land. In an interview with Fox News, Witkoff emphasized that peace means improving financial conditions and opportunities. “Peace in the region means a better life for the Palestinians. A better life is not necessarily tied to the physical space that you are in today,” he said. “A better life is about better opportunity, better financial condition...
(JNS) — Over the past month, Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) agents, working alongside the Israel Defense Forces, have thwarted 90 major terrorist attacks, including 75 in Samaria, as security sources warn that Iran is fueling violence in Judea and Samaria. A security official identified Tehran as a central force escalating tensions by supplying weapons and financial aid to terrorist networks, significantly increasing the security threat, Channel 12 News reported on Wednesday. The IDF and Shin Bet have expanded “Operation Iron Wall,” now i...
(JNS) — Several American Jewish groups congratulated U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance on his inauguration on Monday and stated that they look forward to working with him on a variety of issues, including fighting Jew-hatred. B’nai B’rith International cited collaborating on “combating antisemitism, safeguarding Jewish communities, ensuring Israel’s security, strengthening the vital U.S.-Israel alliance and other key policy priorities.” The American Jewish Committee mentioned working together “to strengthen Is...
(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...
(JTA) - JERUSALEM - In the haredi Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Geula, a newly renamed pizzeria advertised a special just for Monday: Customers who bought two slices would get a free order of fries. The timing wasn't random. The shop's new name is Pizza Trump, and the special was pegged to the inauguration of its namesake, who returned to the U.S. presidency on the day the deal was offered. The restaurant's slogan: "Make pizza great again." Did the shtick bring in more customers? "Maybe," s...
(JNS) — “I refuse to think about the Palestinian terrorist prisoner release,” said O. as she lifted weights at the Karnei Shomron gym. “It’s more stress than I can handle. I don’t carry a gun, my husband does. But I refuse to let these terrorists change my routine in any way. They don’t get to win!” While it was business as usual for O., other area residents are more concerned. Some are even distraught. According to the Israeli Justice Ministry, Jerusalem will release 1,904 Palestinian terrorists in the first stage of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire...
(JNS) — It will take at least a decade to rebuild Gaza, Mike Waltz, the U.S. national security adviser, told reporters on Feb. 4, per the White House pool report. Asked about U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for Jordan and Egypt to accept Palestinian to “clean out” Gaza—a move that both countries have rejected—Waltz told reporters that “President Trump is looking at this from a humanitarian standpoint.” “You have these people that are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordinance and piles of rubble,” he said. “At some point, we...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — American students volunteering in Israel launched an initiative to show appreciation to wives of IDF reservists serving in Gaza and Lebanon. The project is a collaboration between the IS-Resilient organization and the OU-JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus) student association. The volunteers, mostly university students, visited the homes of soldiers from reserve units stationed on the Gaza and Lebanon fronts. With the wives managing their households alone, the students provided them with much-needed support b...
(JNS)- The way Dani Dayan figures it, many people will walk along 67th Street in Manhattan, between Second and Third Avenues, and notice the new sign for "Yad Vashem Way" and have no idea what the first two words mean. "Some of them, not all of them, but some of them will Google 'Yad Vashem' and learn about the Shoah," Dayan, chairman of Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, told JNS at the street naming on Thursday. "Yad Vashem is the vehicle, not the purpose," he sai...
(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) — Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, stated several times during the press briefing on Wednesday that U.S. President Donald Trump has not committed to deploying American soldiers to Gaza. Trump announced on Feb. 6 that the United States would “take over,” “own” and “be responsible for” the reconstruction of Gaza. During the explosive press conference alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that the United States would redevelop Gaza’s waterfront as “the riviera of the Middle East.” He also said that...
(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...
Thai hostages reunite with families in Israel By JNS Staff (JNS) — Five Thai nationals recently freed from Hamas captivity in Gaza were reunited with their families on Tuesday at Shamir Medical Center in Be’er Ya’akov, Israel. Relatives of four of the former captives traveled from Thailand to meet their loved ones and will accompany them home. Their visit was coordinated by Israel’s Foreign Ministry, the National Insurance Institute, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Israel Defense Forces and the Thai Embassy. The freed hostages...
(JNS) — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday described Hamas as an “evil” and “monstrous” organization that must be wiped out. During an interview on conservative talk radio channel SiriusXM Patriot, the top American diplomat condemned the terrorist group for its treatment of hostages. “This is an evil organization. Hamas is evil. It’s pure evil. These are monsters. These are savages. That’s a group that needs to be eradicated,” he said. He warned that its continued dominance in Gaza would prevent regional stability in the Middle Eas...
(JTA) — A performer unfurled a banner showing the Sudanese and Palestinian flags and the words “Sudan” and “Gaza” during Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans on Sunday. The performer, who was not immediately identified, was detained on the field and will be barred from all NFL stadiums for the rest of his life, the NFL said in a statement. The football organization and Roc Nation, which produced the halftime show, said the flag had not been part of any plan or rehearsal. “The individual hid the item on his possessio...
(JNS) - "We didn't know which Ofer we would get back," Eyal Kalderon, the cousin of ex-Hamas hostage Ofer Kalderon, told JNS on Monday. "The Ofer that we know is the happy, playful Ofer who jokes a lot and puts a smile on everyone's face the second he enters a room. We didn't know if we'd get that Ofer back," he said. Yarden Bibas, Kalderon and Keith Siegel were freed on Feb. 1 after 484 days in Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip. Bibas and Kalderon were handed over to the Red Cross in Khan...
(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)- U.S. President Donald Trump said that the United States will "take over" and rebuild the Gaza Strip during a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday. "The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too," Trump said. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous, unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. " Trump said in the explosive press...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump called for “permanently” resettling Palestinians outside Gaza on Tuesday, as he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took questions from reporters at the White House. Trump did not say whether he thought Palestinians would have a “right” to return to Gaza but asked why they would want to return given the level of destruction. “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” Trump said. “I think that Gaza has been very unlucky for them. They’ve lived like hell. They live like you’re living in he...
Congregation Ohev Shalom is honoring Nina and Ron Oppenheim at "The Eras Gala" on Feb. 22, 2025. The Oppenheims' connection to Congregation Ohev Shalom spans decades, and their contributions have left a lasting impact on the congregation and the Orlando Jewish community. Synagogue President Debby Gendzier reflected warmly on their involvement, sharing, "Nina and Ron Oppenheim are family to Congregation Ohev Shalom. Like family, they have been incredibly supportive in every possible way to our...
By Canaan Lidor (JNS)- Laws that ban UNRWA in Israel went into effect on Thursday, barring the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians from maintaining a presence or activities in that country, and prohibiting Israeli officials from engaging in contact with it. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel welcomed the development. "UNRWA lies at the heart of the Arab-Jewish conflict. It has always been a non-neutral political organization, and it actually paved the way for October 7th. Any...
Temple Israel Sisterhood started 2025 off on the right foot with a healthy and fun approach to the New Year! To ring in January, they offered both a high-energy Zumba class and a relaxing yoga session. These fitness opportunities brought members together for both movement and mindfulness, setting the tone for an exciting year ahead. The Zumba class was a hit, getting everyone moving and grooving to upbeat music while also providing a fantastic workout. The calming yoga session offered an...
