Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(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...
By (New York Jewish Week) — The philanthropic organization Broadway Cares said it would allocate funds to Israeli civilians in need after complaints from a rabbi and pro-Israel group about the theater charity’s contributions to Gaza relief efforts. In a statement to the New York Jewish Week, the nonprofit also acknowledged that it had “created confusion among our valued supporters.” The group vowed to provide more information about where it was allocating the money it raised. “Transparency is of the utmost importance to us,” read the stateme...
Israeli researchers take step toward cure for Huntington’s disease (JNS) — A new study carried out by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot has identified two molecules capable of penetrating the blood-brain barrier and reducing the levels of a defective protein that causes Huntington’s disease, an incurable neurodegenerative disorder. The research not only slowed the progress of the disease in mouse models but even reversed some symptoms, the Institute said. The signs and symptoms of Huntington’s disease—slight involuntary movements...
(JNS) - A group of more than 20 parliamentarians from around the world will gather in Jerusalem this weekend, in the largest political solidarity mission to Israel since the Oct. 7 massacre. The Christian lawmakers will add their voices to calls to dismantle UNRWA over its ties to Hamas terrorism and speak out against Iran as the chief origin of regional terrorism, and are expected to voice opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state. The three-day Israel Allies Foundation Chairman's...
(JNS) — While a senior U.N. aid official said on Tuesday that a quarter of the Gazan population is one step away from famine, Israel and the United States laid blame at the feet of the United Nations and Hamas, respectively. The U.N. Security Council met on Tuesday afternoon to discuss food insecurity in Gaza. Much of the enclave’s agricultural and food production infrastructure has been severely impacted by the war between Israel and Hamas. But Robert Wood, the U.S. deputy ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters that ultimately, Ham...
(JNS) - The head of a prominent group of American Christian media broadcasters urged members in the association to cease using the term "West Bank" when reporting about Israel's biblical heartland. The announcement by the National Religious Broadcasters during their annual Christian Media Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, comes amid an intense media war of narratives in reporting about Israel as the war against Hamas in Gaza rages for a fifth month. "NRB opposes the use of the erroneous term...
(Ettinger Report via JNS) - FBI Director Christopher A. Wray visited Israel on Feb. 14, 2024, meeting with leaders of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency and Israel Police. The goal of the visit was to benefit from Israel's unique urban and tunnel warfare experience against Islamic terrorists, who are advancing the vision of Iran's ayatollahs and the Muslim Brotherhood. Director Wray considers Israel's to be the most effective battle-tested laboratory for the U.S. armed forces, law enforcement...
