Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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Israel opening its universities to besieged US Jewish students (JNS) — Israel has launched a program to facilitate the educational transfer of Jewish students from American universities under siege by pro-Hamas agitators. The Israeli Diaspora Affairs Ministry has issued the call to Israeli universities to absorb as many Jewish-American college students as possible, with the assistance of a data-driven program developed by Inbal Ratz-Gilmore and professor Yuval Sinai of the Kohelet Policy Forum, a Jerusalem-based think tank that promotes free-ma...
(JNS) — Jerusalem believes that the International Criminal Court in The Hague will issue arrest warrants against senior officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Diplomatic efforts to thwart ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan’s move have failed, Israel’s Channel 12 News reported. International arrest warrants are expected to be filed against Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, according the the report. The broadcaster said the warrants would likely be issued against the backg...
The U.S. Senate passed a $95 billion foreign aid package late Tuesday that includes $26 billion in wartime assistance for Israel and $9 billion in humanitarian aid, some of which will be allotted for the Gaza Strip. The bill passed the Senate on an overwhelming 79-18 vote after the House had approved the package Saturday, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden’s desk after months of delays. U.S. officials told AP that about $1 billion of the aid could be on its way shortly, with the bulk following in the coming weeks. “Tonight, a bip...
(JNS) — There can be no negotiations with Israel as the Jewish people are “slayers of prophets,” a top Qatari official told representatives at a recent Arab League summit, according to a translation of the speech the Middle East Media Research Institute published on Wednesday. Essa bin Ahmad al-Nassr, who serves on Doha’s Shura Council legislature and holds the rank of brigadier-general in the Qatari Armed Forces’ elite Emiri Guard protection unit, threatened the annihilation of the Jewish state. Qatar, which hosts Hamas leaders and has provi...
Hottest April day in the Tel Aviv area since 1907 (JNS) — The greater Tel Aviv area along Israel’s central Mediterranean coastline, known as Gush Dan, suffered its hottest day in April since 1907, the country’s meteorological service reported on Thursday. Records were broken in Yavne, where temps skyrocketed to 42.4 degrees Celsius (107.96 degrees Fahrenheit) and in Nitzan, near Ashkelon, where the thermometer rose to 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 degrees Fahrenheit). In the city of Tel Aviv, the high was 40.7 degrees Celsius (105.26 degrees Fahren...
(JNS) — The U.N. Security Council’s committee on new members reported on Tuesday that it could not reach a consensus on the revived application for full Palestinian U.N. membership. Algeria, the Arab world’s de facto representative on the council, has drafted its own resolution and plans to put the application up for a decisive vote on Thursday afternoon. Washington has suggested that it would veto such an application. The Committee on the Admission of New Members, which includes representatives of all the members of the Security Counc...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — An Iranian athlete who posted criticism online of Iran’s April 14 attack on Israel has reportedly been arrested, and her whereabouts have been unknown since Wednesday, according to media reports. Iranian national volleyball team player Mobina Rostami posted on her Instagram account: “As an Iranian, I am truly ashamed of the authorities’ attack on Israel, but you need to know that the people in Iran love Israel and hate the Islamic Republic.” She was reportedly arrested shortly afterwards. One of the comments on her po...
(JNS) - Some 50 animators and producers responsible for the character of Batman in various productions over the years signed a petition this week calling on Qatar and Egypt, two mediators in hostage talks between Israel and Hamas, to push for the release of the Bibas family. The Bibas family has been held in the Gaza Strip for 193 days. The father, Yarden, 34, his wife Shiri, 32, and their two children, Kfir, who spent his first birthday in captivity, and Ariel, 4, were kidnapped from Kibbutz...
Iranian citizens are praising the Israeli army and calling on the Jewish State to assassinate key ruling figures such as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, as Iran girds for a potential Israeli retaliation following an unprecedented missile and drone attack. Residents of Iran are expressing those sentiments via social media posts and subversive street graffiti, with many asking Israel to bring down the government, which rules according to a strict interpretation of Islamic law. “Israel, strike back. They don’t have the guts to take rev...
(JNS) — Christian and Jewish leaders gathered in Washington on Monday evening to call for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria and to oppose proposals for the creation of a Palestinian state in the wake of Oct. 7. David Friedman, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel and one of the leaders of the Keep God’s Land movement that organized the event, told JNS that the group proposes to extend Israeli sovereignty over all of Judea and Samaria. “Some of the most important parts of biblical Israel—whether it’s the Old City of Jerusalem, the city of...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — As the United States and other countries pressure Israel to increase food aid to Gaza, Israeli officials familiar with the situation say Gaza has been overwhelmed by food aid. Israeli officials harshly criticize American representatives, led by Ambassador David Satterfield, accusing them of echoing the lie about “starvation in Gaza.” Every evening at 8 p.m., a quadrilateral forum takes place with representatives from Israel, the United States, the United Nations and Egypt, where a daily report on the humanitarian situa...
(JNS) — Forty-eight countries condemned Iran and its proxies for the Apr. 14 missile and drone attack on Israel in a joint statement issued on Wednesday evening. “We unequivocally condemn” the attacks, read the statement, specifically naming Iran and its “militant partners” and noting that “this large-scale attack could have caused significant damage and loss of life.” While garnering broad support, the statement was only signed by Western nations. The effort was led by the United States and included five other members of the U.N. Security...
(JNS) — The negotiations to forge a deal wherein Hamas would free hostages held in Gaza in return for a ceasefire and the release of terrorists held in Israeli prisons are at a delicate stage, Qatar’s prime minister said on Wednesday. “We are going through a sensitive stage with some stalling, and we are trying as much as possible to address this,” said Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. The Gulf nation is mediating the talks, along with Egypt and the U.S. While Israel has shown flexibility in the hopes of arriving at a hostage deal, Hamas h...
(JNS) — The U.S. House of Representatives passed a dozen pro-Israel and anti-Iran bills and resolutions this week, in the wake of the Islamic Republic’s missile attack against the Jewish state on Saturday. Lawmakers passed two bills on Monday that target Iran’s finances and a third that would deny tax-exempt status to U.S. charities that fund foreign terrorist organizations. The House passed nine bills and resolutions on Tuesday designed to support the Jewish state and combat Iran. Most of the bills passed overwhelmingly, facing oppos...
(JTA) — The mother of 23-year-old Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin, who was taken hostage by Hamas on Oct. 7, is one of nearly a dozen Jews on Time Magazine’s 100 “Most Influential” list, couched among comedians, writers, music producers, athletes, business executives, and politicians. Since Oct. 7, Rachel Goldberg-Polin has become one of the most prominent and indefatigable voices advocating for the release of Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza. She has attended an audience with Pope Francis, Zoomed with President Joe Biden and spo...
IAF strike in Lebanon kills senior Hezbollah terrorist (JNS) — An Israeli Air Force strike in Southern Lebanon on Tuesday killed a senior Hezbollah terrorist responsible for firing rockets and missiles at the Jewish state, the Israel Defense Forces said. Since the Iranian terrorist proxy joined the war against Israel in support of Hamas on Oct. 8, Ismail Baz, who commanded Hezbollah’s coastal sector, “organized and planned various terrorist plots,” the IDF said. The military added, “Ismail served in several positions as a senior and veteran off...
(JNS) — Israeli President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday urged the international community to confront Iran, as Jerusalem prepares a response to the Islamic Republic’s massive drone and missile attack over the weekend. “The whole world must work decisively and defiantly against the threat posed by the Iranian regime, which is seeking to undermine the stability of the entire region,” Herzog said after meeting the foreign ministers of Britain and Germany in Jerusalem. Herzog reiterated the Jewish state’s “unequivocal” commitment to defending its...
WASHINGTON — On Thursday, the leadership of Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the nation’s largest pro-Israel organization, released the following statements in reaction to reports that President Joe Biden held a tense phone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during which the President demanded an immediate cease-fire to the war in Gaza. “President Biden is playing directly into the enemy’s hands by undermining Israel’s effort to defeat Hamas. If the President wishes to help Israelis and Palestinians, he should do...
(JNS) — Pierre Poilievre, a member of the Canadian parliament and the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, recently spoke to members of the Orthodox Beth Israel Beth Aaron Congregation in Côte Saint-Luc, Quebec. His address on March 26 received robust applause and several standing ovations. Poilievre proclaimed the permanence of the Jewish people, saying that “a thousand years from now, whatever is going on, on Fridays, as the sun goes down, there will be a Shabbat in Israel.” He said, “Those songs will be sung. The Jewish people will go...
(JNS) - The Popular Resistance Committees, a coalition composed of Hamas and other terrorist groups, recently announced price drops for food in the Gaza Strip. Gazan merchants said, "An average family can now buy products for a hearty meal with 100 shekels [$27.15], compared to 200 shekels required for such a meal just a few days ago," Ynet reported. The news is in line with a report issued last week by the Israeli Defense Ministry's Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories...
(JNS) — Family members of U.S. citizens whom Hamas terrorists kidnapped and took to Gaza on Oct. 7 held a “very productive meeting” at the White House on Tuesday with Vice President Kamala Harris, Rachel Goldberg-Polin said, per the pool report. “We are thinking of all 133 souls who are being held” in Gaza, added Goldberg-Polin, whose son is the American Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin. (Hersh’s father Jonathan Polin also attended the meeting.) “We want results,” Goldberg-Polin said. Jonathan Dekel-Chen, father of American Israeli hostage...
By Yaakov Lappin (JNS) — Hamas’s leadership in Rafah continues to cling to fanatical visions of eventual victory, six months into the war it launched with Israel, according to Israeli observers. “As long as they are not decisively defeated, they have a chance to stay alive in Gaza. Therefore, they positively view the outcomes of the war, or at least they have some kind of optimism,” said Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, former head of the Research and Assessment Division of Israel’s Military Intelligence and currently director of the Proje...
Some iPhone keyboards suggest Palestinian flag for ‘Jerusalem’ (JNS) — Typing “Jerusalem” on the current iPhone iOS 17.4.1 software in an emoji search returns a Palestinian flag icon if the phone is set to English (UK) but not when set to English (U.S.), JNS found on Wednesday. The same thing happens on some Google’s Android devices The Jewish Chronicle reported, citing a social media post by Rachel Riley, a British television presenter. “I’ve just upgraded my software to version iOS 17.4.1, and now, when I type the capital of Israel, Jerusal...
(JNS) — Esther Panitch was inspired when Renee Evans, of the World Jewish Congress, bought trees in Israel recently for Peach State legislators who voted in favor of a bill to codify into law the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Evans put Jewish National Fund tree certificates on the lawmakers’ desks. “I saw the certificate, and I was like, ‘Huh. This would be great if I could just name it in honor of a troll,’” Panitch, a Democrat who is the only Jewish state representative in Georgia, told...
(JTA) - The celebrity chef behind the nonprofit whose aid workers were killed in an IDF strike on Tuesday is appealing to Israel, and the Jewish people, to address the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In an op-ed published simultaneously Wednesday in Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli newspaper, and The New York Times, World Central Kitchen founder Jose Andres laments the killings and names the seven workers who died. He also calls on Israel to open land routes to deliver aid to hungry Gazans and says his...
