Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Joe Biden said the United States would continue to "impose costs" on Russia for its imprisonment of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was arrested one year ago. The Journal marked the March 29 anniversary by leaving most of its front page empty below a headline reading, "HIS STORY SHOULD BE HERE." Every other article and headline on the front page involved Gershkovich. "Today we mark a painful anniversary: one year of American journalist Evan...
(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security via JNS) — President Joe Biden’s Middle East strategy has been problematic since the Oct. 7 attack. The Hamas onslaught proved that Israel cannot contain its enemies Hamas, Hezbollah and above all, Iran, and can only fight to reduce their capabilities, while Biden has reiterated his policy of containment regarding Iran and its proxies. Iran was to be rewarded with the release of bank deposits the United States has frozen since the fall of the shah. Biden also sent his special negotiator to try to...
(JNS) — Israel’s National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has accused U.S. President Joe Biden of siding with the enemies of the Jewish state. During an interview with The New York Times published on Tuesday, Ben-Gvir said, “Presently, Biden prefers the line of [Palestinian-American Democratic Representative from Michigan] Rashida Tlaib and [Hamas leader in Gaza Yahya] Sinwar to the line of [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and Ben-Gvir.” “I would have expected the president of the United States not to take their line, but rather to take o...
(JNS) — Incoming Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa vowed on Tuesday to appoint a cabinet that can “gain both the trust of our people and the support of the international community.” In a vision statement seen by the Associated Press, Mustafa promises to reunify Gaza with Judea and Samaria and establish an “internationally managed trust fund” to rebuild the Strip after the Israel Defense Forces operation against the Hamas terrorist organization there ends. Mustafa claims Ramallah aims to enact wide-ranging administr...
By Etgar Lefkovits (JNS) — Most evangelical Christians around the world are being intimidated into silence by a vociferous “social justice” camp that is fanning a false narrative on Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and being presented by the global media, the head of a Jerusalem-based evangelical organization said this week ahead of Easter Sunday. Rev. Peter Fast’s remarks during the Christian Holy Week come as public opinion polls have shown a drop in support for Israel, including among you...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — A range of Jewish and pro-Israel figures, including Israel’s antisemitism envoy, accused Sen. Jeff Merkley of advancing a “blood libel” for linking Easter to what he called Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” of Gaza. Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, had already marked Easter Sunday on X with a generic wish for a “blessed holiday.” He followed up with a post citing the holiday in his call to cut arms shipments to Israel and to pressure the country to facilitate the entry of more humanitarian assistance into Gaza. “On this Easter,...
(JNS) — Addressing video footage on social media purporting to show Palestinians being killed by Israeli bombs, Joe Rogan told the millions who listen to his podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” on Tuesday that Israel was committing genocide. “If you can’t talk about that, if you can’t say that’s real, then you’re saying that genocide is okay as long as we’re doing it,” he said. Then he brought the Holocaust into the discussion. “You’re saying that from the perspective of someone who literally went through the Holocaust or your people, your tr...
Ra’am Party head pushing US to recognize Palestinian state (JNS) — Mansour Abbas, chairman of Israel’s Ra’am Party, said in a recent interview that he has been advocating for the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state in meetings with U.S. government officials and others. “Every week I have two or three meetings with international officials, delegations, ambassadors and the like. And I say to them in a clear manner…It’s on you to take an immediate decision to recognize a Palestinian state,” Abbas said in an undated Arabic-language...
By Andrew Lapin (JTA) – For years, Candance Owens and Ben Shapiro traveled parallel paths. Both are millennial right-wing culture warriors with social media followings in the millions. And both depart from broader communities that have historically voted Democratic — Owens is Black, Shapiro Jewish. Occasionally, they would defend each other online. Meeting Shapiro in 2018 at the Trump White House, Owens wrote on Twitter, now X, “the future of America is bright.” In 2020, Owens joined Shapiro’s media company, the Daily Wire. But like so many o...
(JTA) - Tens of thousands of Jews around the world joined in a collective recitation of the Shema prayer on Thursday that was broadcast from Jerusalem's Western Wall to support the more than 130 hostages still held by Hamas. The event was organized by the Hostage and Missing Families Forum along with Aish HaTorah, a haredi Orthodox yeshiva and outreach movement. They timed it to the Fast of Esther, which commemorates the threat the Jews of Persia faced from their persecutor, Haman, during the...
(JTA) — In Jerusalem, a service omitted the loud noise-making associated with the holiday in order to accommodate soldiers traumatized by months of war. In Tel Aviv, bakeries peddled a triangular treat renamed for a contemporary villain, the leader of Hamas. And in Jewish communities around the world, costumes and holiday gifts paid homage to the more than 130 Israeli captives who remain in Gaza. Those adjustments marked some of the many ways that Purim, a generally whimsical Jewish holiday that celebrates an ancient victory over a t...
(JNS) — Hamas terrorists are regrouping at Gaza hospitals, forcing the Israeli military to conduct operations to eliminate these insurgencies, Channel 12 reported on Monday. An operation at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City has been going on for over a week and is expected to last another two days. According to the Israel Defense Forces, 170 Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists have been killed in firefights in and around the compound and another 500 have been apprehended so far. A large amount of weapons have also been confiscated, many of which were...
(JTA) — Israel has killed Hamas’ third-in-command in the Gaza Strip, the United States confirmed on Monday. The killing earlier this month of Marwan Issa, alleged to be a mastermind of Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel, is a significant achievement for Israel in its war on the terror group in Gaza, which is approaching the six-month mark. Issa served under Hamas militant leader Mohammed Deif and Yahya Sinwar, the terror group’s chief in Gaza. Israeli officials had said for more than a week that they were working to confirm that Issa had been ki...
(JNS) - The Hamas terrorist organization is disseminating fictitious figures for casualties in the current war in Gaza. That's the conclusion of a deep dive into the data published in Tablet magazine in a March 7 report titled "How the Gaza Ministry of Health Fakes Casualty Numbers." "The numbers are not real. That much is obvious to anyone who understands how naturally occurring numbers work. The casualties are not overwhelmingly women and children, and the majority may be Hamas fighters,"...
(JNS) — The White House will present alternative plans designed to dissuade Jerusalem from carrying out a full-scale military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah when an Israeli delegation visits Washington early next week, Axios reported on Tuesday. According to U.S. and Israeli officials, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was surprised when President Joe Biden proposed the visit. “The fear was that the negotiations over the hostage deal could collapse and then the Israelis will just go ahead with a Rafah invasion, which...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — An overwhelming majority of U.S. Jews say Israel’s reasons for launching a war against Hamas are justified, and a substantial majority approve of how Israel is conducting the war. The Pew Research Center study published Thursday is billed as the rare survey of sentiment about the war to include enough Jewish and Muslim respondents to garner an accurate reflection of their views. It shows that Jewish views on the conflict are in many ways starkly different from those held by the rest of Americans. Far fewer U.S. res...
‘US taps Hamas ally Qatar to build port in Gaza’ By David Isaac (JNS) — At America’s request, Hamas ally Qatar has agreed to take charge of operating and financing the temporary pier on its way from the United States to the Gaza coast, Israel’s Channel 14 reported on Tuesday. Qatar consented to run the port on condition that the construction work go to the Al-Hisi firm, “a company controlled and sponsored by Hamas,” according to Channel 14 correspondent Baruch Yedid, citing Arab media reports following a meeting in Cyprus between diplomatic of...
(JNS) — The Biden administration is expected to impose new sanctions as early as Thursday on two Jewish outposts located beyond the Green Line that were allegedly used to launch attacks against Palestinians, according to an Axios report. The prospective sanctions to counter “settler violence” will also target three Israelis, said the report, citing three U.S. officials. The penalties would freeze the U.S.-based assets of the individuals and communities, ban those targeted from obtaining a visa to enter the United States and block their acces...
By Christine DeSouza In February Ethiopian National Project staff members Roni Akale and Grace Rodnitzki visited Central Florida for the BBYO convention. While here, Keith Dvorchik, in partnership with JNF and ZOA, arranged for them to speak to members of the community about the organization. Because the meeting was spur of the moment, only a handful of people were able to attend the discussion. The following is an interview with Akale and Rodnitzki about ENP. Led by hope and a donkey For 2,000...
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett chastised Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer Thursday, after Schumer called for new elections in Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ouster. “Regardless of our political opinion,” tweeted Bennett, who split from a coalition of right-wing parties led by Netanyahu in 2021 to form his own government, “we strongly oppose external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs.” Bennett blasted Schumer’s interference in Israeli democ...
(JNS) - Thousands of Jewish teens and adults from 46 countries gathered at a Rosen Shingle Creek hotel in Orlando, Fla., for BBYO's annual international convention. Held from Feb. 15-19, the convention, themed "Forever Young," celebrated BBYO's centennial anniversary. Founded as the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization, BBYO includes the leadership programs Aleph Zadik Aleph, a fraternity, and the B'nai B'rith Girls, a sorority. Throughout the five-day event in Orlando, young people mingled; heard...
(JTA) — Vice President Kamala Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza and placed most of the onus on Israel for a shortfall in humanitarian aid entering the enclave. The call for a cessation of fighting was not actually a change in the U.S. position on the war. In her speech, at a civil rights-focused event on Sunday in Birmingham, Alabama, Harris made clear that she was not referring to a permanent ceasefire, which progressive activists have advocated for months. Rather, she was voicing support for the current Israeli-backed propo...
(JNS) — The United States on Feb.21 called on the International Court of Justice not to issue an advisory opinion that Israel must immediately withdraw from Judea, Samaria and eastern Jerusalem. Instead, Richard Visek, acting legal adviser at the U.S. State Department, argued on day three of public hearings at The Hague on Israel’s “ongoing occupation” that the conflict with the Palestinians should be resolved within “the established framework,” citing United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. He also emphasized Israel’s “v...
(JNS) — The Biden administration is privately pressing several United Nations agencies to take over the responsibilities of the beleaguered UNRWA but is being rebuffed by U.N. chief António Guterres, according to a report by Devex. Anticipating that the U.S. Congress will pull funding for UNRWA, the Palestinian-only refugee and social services agency with extensive ties to Hamas, Washington has approached the heads of the World Food Programme, UNICEF and other U.N. relief agencies, requesting they begin assuming the work traditionally ca...
WASHINGTON, D.C. (JTA) — For months, President Joe Biden has asked for — and Congress has debated — sending wartime foreign aid to Israel as it battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The bill currently on the table, passed in a bipartisan vote by the Senate last week, would see some $14 billion go to Israel as part of a $95 billion foreign aid bill. Biden is now pushing the Republican-led House to take up the bill. The majority of the bill’s funds would aid Ukraine in its war against Russia, and a smaller portion is earmarked to help Taiwan deter C...
