Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Hind Rajab Foundation filed two legal complaints in Argentina in the past week against Israelis who the organization claims committed war crimes while serving in the Israel Defense Forces. One of the complaints, filed on Jan. 7, targeted a former soldier who fled to Argentina from Brazil following a Brazilian court’s investigation order regarding suspected crimes against humanity. The complaint that triggered the Brazilian legal proceeding was also filed by HRF. Another war crimes complaint, including charges of...
By (New York Jewish Week) - The first sign that things were changing at Schechter Queens came when the school began receiving requests from parents to let students hold an Orthodox prayer service. As the first Jewish day school named for Solomon Schechter, an influential rabbi in Conservative Judaism, Schechter Queens only offered egalitarian prayer, where boys and girls prayed together. But families at the school pressed for students to have the option to choose a non-egalitarian option. That w...
Jews were targeted by the majority of hate crimes in NYC last year By Ben Sales (New York Jewish Week) — Jews were the target of the majority of hate crimes in New York City last year, according to statistics reported Monday by the NYPD. Data compiled by the department showed that there were 345 anti-Jewish hate crimes across the city in 2024, nearly 54% of the 641 total hate crimes tallied. The next-largest category of hate crimes were those related to sexual orientation, at 78. The number of antisemitic hate crimes in 2024 was slightly larger...
(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....
It’s been 458 days since the Oct. 7, 2023, inhuman massacre of 1200 people in Israel by Hamas terrorists, and kidnapping of 251 people, 100 of whom are still being held in captivity in Gaza. 458 days of unimaginable terror, pain, abuse, loss, grief, and suffering, especially for those most directly impacted. But all of Israel has been experiencing trauma since, something that I describe as Present Traumatic Stress Disorder. For most of us, Post Trauma is still far off. Today a step toward that may have been taken. A list of 34 hostages to be r...
The list, obtained by the BBC from a Saudi outlet, includes 10 women, 11 men over the age of 50, 11 young men that Hamas designated as sick and the two Bibas children, Kfir and Ariel – whom Hamas claimed were killed in an IDF airstrike more than a year ago. The names of the hostages on the list are: Romi Gonen, Emily Demari, Arbel Yehud, Doron Steinbrecher, Shiri Bibas, Liri Elbag, Karina Ariev, Agam Berger, Daniela Gilboa and Naama Levy; 11 men over the age of 50: Ohad Ben-Ami, Gadi Moses, Keith Siegel, Ofer Calderon, Eli Sharabi, Yitzhak E...
The Jewish Chamber of Commerce in Orlando, led by Board President Harrison Shames of the Jewish National Fund, continues its mission of fostering community connections and providing networking opportunities to individuals from all backgrounds. Each month, the Chamber hosts a free networking breakfast at One Senior Place in Altamonte Springs, welcoming both members and non-members, regardless of faith or affiliation. Held every first Thursday morning at 8:30 am, the networking breakfast offers a...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Birthright Israel commemorates its quarter-century milestone, with approximately 6,500 young participants scheduled to arrive this winter to support the recovery of Israel’s tourism sector. More than 300 international groups will engage in volunteer programs and diverse internships across Israel. Since November 2023, all tours have incorporated war-related elements, including visits to “Hostage Square,” tours of Gaza border communities, volunteering initiatives, and encounters with Oct. 7 survivors. In addition to the...
(JTA) - Jewish groups are mourning Jimmy Carter, the former president and broker of Israel's peace deal with Egypt who died Sunday at 100. In statements issued following his death, many of the groups are citing the peace deal and other landmark moments in Carter's presidency, which stretched from 1977 to 1981, as examples of Carter's legacy. Several of them are also acknowledging that in his post-presidency, the longest in American history, Carter aggrieved some American Jews by aggressively...
(JNS) - A rare prehistoric ritual complex has been uncovered in the depths of the Manot Cave in the Western Galilee, Israel. The study of this complex, published in the journal PNAS, was led by Dr. Omry Barzilai from the University of Haifa and Israel Antiquities Authority, Prof. Ofer Marder from Ben-Gurion University and Prof. Israel Hershkovitz from Tel Aviv University. "The rare discovery provides a glimpse into the spiritual world of Paleolithic hunter-gatherer groups who lived in our...
(JNS) — The Israel Defense Forces is carrying out engineering operations aimed at setting conditions for the safe return of the some 60,000 Israeli civilians displaced from their homes in the country’s north, the army said on Monday. “As part of efforts to create the conditions for the return of the northern residents to their homes, the IDF is conducting a wide-ranging operation to restore and clear up communities in northern Israel,” the IDF stated. IDF engineering squads and other units are operating in more than 40 communities to clear o...
(JTA) — Two Israelis were among those injured in Jan. 1’s truck ramming attack in New Orleans, which authorities are investigating as the work of a terror cell tied to the Islamic State. The attack, perpetrated in the first hours of the new year, killed 15 people at a crowded celebration in the city’s French Quarter, and wounded dozens. The attacker, Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar, was killed in a firefight with police. Jabbar, 42, had an ISIS flag in the car with him, and authorities are investigatin...
(JNS) — Former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant announced his resignation from parliament in a national address on Wednesday evening, almost two months after being fired by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “This is a stop on a longer journey that has not yet been completed. As on the battlefield, so is the public service: there are moments when you have to stop to assess the situation and choose the direction of action,” the Knesset lawmaker began. Although he was leaving the Knesset, Gallant stressed that he was staying within Netan...
(JTA) — TEL AVIV — Ilana Decker, who moved from Israel to New York three years ago, says she doesn’t agree often with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Arguing, as he does, that the government should not make health mandates, she said, makes her “sound like an anti-vaxxer, which I’m not.” But there is one issue, she said, where she and Kennedy do line up: The man whom Donald Trump has picked as the next secretary of health and human services has publicly floated ending the decades-long policy of encouraging cities to inject fluoride into the American wa...
(JTA) — Israel is closing its embassy in Dublin in response to the Irish government’s criticism, Israel’s foreign minister announced on Sunday. The move does not end diplomatic relations between the two countries. Still, it offers a dramatic illustration of how Gideon Saar, who became foreign minister last month after a rapprochement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is approaching ties with countries that are critical of Israel. In a statement on social media, Saar cited Ireland’s recognition of a Palestinian state, its support for cas...
Stop ‘incendiary’ remarks about Israel, Conference of Presidents tells pope (JNS) — The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations appreciates and shares the pope’s “concern for the suffering of innocent civilians and desire to spread peace and compassion around the world.” But Pope Francis has gone beyond that and said troubling things about the Jewish state, Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, chair and CEO respectively of the umbrella Jewish group, wrote to the pontiff on New Year’s Eve. “We write in the spirit of this...
(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) — In a New Year’s Eve statement, U.S. President Joe Biden proclaimed January to be National Stalking Awareness Month. Earlier in the day, the U.S. Justice Department charged Forrest Kendall Pemberton of Alachua, Fla., with a count of stalking for allegedly planning to attack an AIPAC office in Florida. Family members told the FBI that Pemberton, who went missing from his Gainesville, Fla., home apparently with multiple firearms, appeared to have left a note stating that he would “close the loop,” “stoke the flames” and say “goodbye” t...
(World Israel News) — Hundreds of anti-Israel protesters descended onto Times Square to mark New Year’s by calling for an intifada against Jews. They carried signs with slogans like “End Zionism,” “No War on Iran,” and “End All Aid to Israel.” The Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, and the People’s Forum organized the protest. Members of the crowd, many wearing keffiyehs and face masks, chanted, “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution,” “We will honor all our martyrs,” and “Gaza, you make us proud....
(JNS) — Some 5,000 people attended the annual Chabad lighting of the National Menorah on the Ellipse, south of the White House, on Wednesday night, the first night of Chanukah, according to organizers, who had to set up extra chairs for the overflow crowd. Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, emceed the event, which he and his father, Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, have organized for decades. He told JNS that the turnout and energy at the event show that Jews ha...
(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...
At Cascade Heights, a longstanding partner of the Jewish Pavilion Senior Services, the warmth of community and tradition radiated through the halls, as residents and volunteers came together for a joyful Shabbat service and Chanukah party. For many years, Cascade Heights has been a proud Platinum Sponsor of the Jewish Pavilion, and their collaboration has turned these celebrations into much-anticipated events on the holiday calendar. This year, Cascade Heights transformed their activities room...
Exhibition — “Escape Denied: The Frank Family’s Struggle for Freedom,” exhibition will open on Jan. 16 and run through May 2, 2025. The opening reception will be on Jan. 16 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. The exhibit reveals the Frank family’s struggle to emigrate from Nazi-occupied Europe, highlighting their failed attempts to find refuge in the U.S. and Cuba, and the broader impact of immigration policies during that time. Register at holocaustedu.org. International Holocaust Remembrance Day — The Holocaust Center will observe the 80th annivers...
(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) — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that the military will continue to maintain security control over the Gaza Strip after the war with Hamas concludes. “In response to various reports, my position regarding Gaza is clear. After we defeat Hamas’s military and governing power in Gaza, Israel will maintain security control in Gaza with full freedom of action, just as in Judea and Samaria,” the minister wrote in a post to X. “We will not allow any terrorist group to organize against Israeli communities and citizens...
