Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — It is for Israel to decide whether to resume the war in Gaza or continue into the second round of talks with Hamas to free more hostages, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Feb. 21. Asked by Brian Kilmeade on Fox News whether he was “okay either way,” Trump answered, “I am.” Hamas is “so violent and vicious,” the president continued, “it’s a decision that has to be made; it’s a rough decision. One group [of hostages] came in so bad, it looked like [they came out of] a concentration camp in Germany,” Trump said in reference to Eli Shar...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — French fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent has ignited a firestorm of controversy by selecting Palestinian rapper Marwan Abdelhamid, notorious for his antisemitic statements, as the face of its latest restaurant campaign. This has prompted calls for a boycott from Jewish organizations and customers worldwide. Abdelhamid is known by his stage name Saint Levant. YSL’s new campaign, which debuted Monday evening, promotes “Saint Laurent Sushi Park,” the brand’s new Japanese dining venture in Paris, developed in partnersh...
(JNS) — The American comedian Jerry Seinfeld swiftly shot down an anti-Israel activist telling him he doesn’t “care about Palestine” when the online personality attempted to ambush him this weekend with a video, according to a clip posted on social media on Sunday. Instagram provocateur “Subway DJ” requested a selfie with Seinfeld outside an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of “Saturday Night Live.” “Free Palestine,” the activist then said as he flashed a peace sign in the selfie with Seinfeld in the backdrop as the video rolled. “Mayb...
(JNS) — Many terrorists released by Israel are millionaires, flush with cash from years of receiving monthly Palestinian Authority “pay for slay” stipends, an analysis by a Jerusalem-based watchdog group revealed on Wednesday. Palestinian Media Watch posted a list of all 734 terrorists scheduled for release from Israeli prisons in the first phase of the hostages-for-ceasefire agreement with Hamas, together with their “salaries”—the dollar amounts each terrorist had received from the Palestinian Authority’s “pay-for-slay” program, official...
Fear forces Berlin Jews to hide their identity in community paper By Nissan Shtrauchler (Israel Hayom via JNS) — Growing security concerns have prompted the Berlin Jewish community to implement a protective measure: publishing only the first letter of community members’ surnames, rather than their full family names, in birthday announcements in the community newspaper, Bild reported on Friday. The community’s monthly journal, “Jewish Berlin,” traditionally includes a section for “Mazel tov” wishes to members over 65 and announcements...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - Despite rising antisemitism and diminishing tolerance, Iran's Jewish community maintains a strong sense of cultural pride and national identity, according to David Nissan, an Iran expert and former Israeli intelligence officer who was born and raised in Tehran. "Jews in Iran face increased suspicion, yet they remain deeply proud of their heritage. It's crucial to understand that Iranian Jews' national identity is tied to Iran, not to any other country, including...
(JNS) — In a column titled “Qatar is Hamas, and Hamas is Qatar,” Israeli Arab journalist Khaled Abu Toameh quoted Yigal Carmon, president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI: “Any Arab who hears American officials say that Qatar is America’s ally would burst into laughter. … Ask Egypt, not just the rulers, but the people and journalists. Ask the Emirates, the government, and people. Ask Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan. They all know that for decades Qatar has been promoting Islamist and terrorist organizations.” Toameh add...
(JNS) - Some 3,500 Jewish teens from 50 countries gathered in Denver on Thursday night for the opening ceremony of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization International Convention, kicking off the youth movement's annual weekend-long retreat. Organizers told JNS that it is the largest annual gathering of Jewish teen leaders worldwide. The event includes leadership training, cultural programs and guest speakers, bringing together thousands of teens to connect, learn and celebrate their Jewish...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump held a telephone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday in which the two leaders agreed to hold talks to end the war in Ukraine. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump described the call as “lengthy and highly productive.” “First, as we both agreed, we want to stop the millions of deaths taking place in the war with Russia/Ukraine,” Trump wrote. “We agreed to work together, very closely, including visiting each other’s nations. We h...
(JNS) — U.S. President Donald Trump might be surprised to learn that long before he proposed moving Arabs from Gaza to Jordan, Yitzhak Rabin recommended the exact same thing. It happened in 1973. Rabin, a former chief of staff of the Israeli army, was serving as Israel’s ambassador in Washington. In an interview with the Israeli daily Ma’ariv, on Feb. 16, Rabin discussed the question of what should be done about the large number of Palestinian Arab refugees residing in the Gaza Strip. Much of Gaza’s population consisted of Arabs who had set...
(JTA) — The Palestinian Authority will no longer pay stipends to the families of convicted terrorists and other prisoners, in a gesture to President Donald Trump. The longstanding program determined the size of the stipend based on the length of a prisoner’s sentence, meaning that those who were convicted of the worst offenses often received the largest stipends. While Palestinians often view the thousands of prisoners with admiration as the front line of resistance against Israel, the payment program had been maligned for years by Israeli and...
(JNS) — A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), introduced a resolution affirming that Hamas should no longer be allowed to exercise political or military control of the Gaza Strip. “One of the defining moments for the future of the Middle East and the world at large is to state directly and with moral clarity that Hamas—a terrorist organization—will no longer have political or military control of Gaza at the end of this conflict,” Graham stated in a press release announcing the measure. Besides launching the terro...
(JNS) — The three latest returnees from Hamas captivity in Gaza reunited on Saturday with their families in heartfelt scenes of elation and relief. American-Israeli Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36, met with his wife, Avital, and his parents at the IDF’s Re’im camp just outside the Strip before being flown by helicopter to Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer in Ramat Gan. During the reunion, Avital informed him of their third daughter’s name. She was seven-months’ pregnant when Dekel-Chen was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023. “Do you remembe...
Take 5% of Gaza for every hostage injured in captivity By JNS Staff (JNS) — Israeli Finance Minister and Security Cabinet member Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday urged the government to issue an ultimatum to Hamas, warning of severe consequences if the terrorist group delays hostage releases. Speaking at the Haredi Strategy and Policy Institute conference, the Religious Zionism Party leader called on the government to cut off electricity, water and humanitarian aid to the Strip, and “to open the gates of hell” with intensifying military actio...
(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) — 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...
(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...
(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...
(JNS) — Saudi Arabia’s government on Tuesday contradicted U.S. President Donald Trump’s statement that Ryadh may normalize ties with Israel even without the creation of a Palestinian state. Sitting alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump addressed Saudi-Israeli ties while answering questions from journalists on the subject. “Well, we’re going to see, and we’re dealing with a lot of people, and we have steps to go yet, as you know. And maybe those steps go forward, and maybe they don’t. We’re dealing...
