Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) - Sebastian Gorka, Donald Trump's pick as his senior director for counter-terrorism, has made several statements in favor of Israel recently, including that "Palestine" doesn't exist and that IDF generals should forget about diplomacy and focus on defeating terrorists militarily. Gorka, who had served as deputy assistant to the president-elect from January to August 2017, during his first term in office, broached the issue of Palestine in an interview on Nov. 16 with a host for RT, a Russian state-controlled international news television...
(JNS) — The National on Wednesday published what the Emirati state-owned newspaper said is the full text of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Lebanon that halted hostilities with the Hezbollah terrorist entity. According to the Abu Dhabi-based broadsheet, the text was obtained from a senior official after it was discussed in a government meeting in Beirut on Wednesday. Here is the text: Announcement of a Cessation of Hostilities and Related Commitments on Enhanced Security Arrangements and Towards the Implementation of UNSCR 1701 A...
“Neri is turning 6, she wants to help hungry babies in Israel!” This isn’t the typical line included in the notes section of a donation to American Friends of Yad Eliezer/B’ezri’s Feed-a-Baby donation form. So, when an office manager saw it, she decided she wanted to hear more about Neri and how a 6-year-old from Ormond Beach, Florida was helping feed a baby across continents. Florida and Israel may be separated by over 6,000 miles, but the distance is no match for one local family committed to helping Israeli families in need. Dr. Maurice K...
(JNS) —The Netherlands’ House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a motion that calls for shuttering extremist mosques whose leaders preach the destruction of Israel. The motion submitted by the leader of the coalition’s Farmer–Citizen Movement, titled “The closure of Salafist mosques and institutions that preach the destruction of the Jewish people and Israel,” passed 91-58. “Noting that antisemitism and incitement to antisemitism are increasing, and this has led to a Jew-hunt, calls on the government to close Salafist mosques and instituti...
White House denounces murder of Chabad rabbi in UAE ‘in strongest terms’ (JNS) — The White House National Security Council condemns the murder of Rabbi Zvi Kogan in the United Arab Emirates “in the strongest terms,” Sean Savett, a spokesman for the council, stated on Sunday evening. “Our prayers are with his family, the Chabad-Lubavitch community, the broader Jewish community and all who are mourning his loss,” Savett said. “This was a horrific crime against all those who stand for peace, tolerance and coexistence. It was an assault as well...
(JNS) — Israel’s government unanimously approved the appointment of Yechiel Leiter as ambassador to the United States. Leiter will replace Michael Herzog—the outgoing ambassador and older brother of the Israeli president—on Jan. 24, four days after the Trump administration takes office. Before that, Herzog and Leiter will work together to ensure a smooth transition. The Cabinet OK’d the nomination after an appointments committee headed by the Civil Service commissioner recommended that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s selection be approved....
(JNS) - The Emirati interior ministry announced that it has arrested "the three perpetrators involved in the murder of Zvi Kogan, a Moldovan national according to his identification documents at the time of entry into the UAE, where he lived as a resident." The Emirati Ministry of Interior then confirmed on Monday, Nov. 25, that the three suspects arrested for the murder of Chabad-Lubavitch emissary Rabbi Zvi Kogan are Uzbek nationals. Security authorities identified the suspects as Olimpi...
(JNS) — Jewish teens involved in Jewish camps, schools and other programming are more likely to hold positive views of Israel and less likely to harbor negative sentiments about the conflict, according to a new study. The global survey of teens aged 14-18 was conducted by Mosaic United, an initiative of Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack. Of the 1,600 responses collected, half were disqualified for various reasons. The final sample consisted of 80 percent American Jew...
(JNS) — The decision to extend Israeli sovereignty to Judea and Samaria is one “for Israel to make,” according to Mike Huckabee, who was tapped by President-elect Donald Trump last week for the post of U.S. ambassador to Israel. Speaking to Israel National News on Nov. 15, the former Arkansas governor said that the decision is not one the United States will impose. “I don’t think Donald Trump is the kind of president that wants to tell other countries what to do and how to do it. He wants to accommodate, help, encourage peaceful endeavors...
(JNS) — The United States vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire on Wednesday morning, citing its failure to condition a halt in hostilities directly to the release of the hostages. “We could not support an unconditional ceasefire that failed to release the hostages,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told the council. Wood accused Hamas—and not Israel—of blocking a negotiated ceasefire and cited Israel’s reference for a temporary ceasefire and a phased release of hosta...
(JNS) — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Saturday threatened to sanction America’s allies if they sought to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. “To any ally—Canada, Britain, Germany, France—if you try to help the ICC, we’re going to sanction you,” Graham said in an interview with Fox News. The U.S. “should crush [their] economy, because we’re next,” he continued. The ICC on Thursday issued arrest warrants against Netanyahu and...
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant based on allegations that they starved Palestinian civilians in Gaza during Israel’s war against Hamas. The court on Thursday also issued an arrest warrant against Mohammed Deif, the Hamas military chief whose death has been reported but is not confirmed. The Hague-based court’s pre-trial chamber decided to issue the warrants based on a recommendation in May by its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. The cou...
Greece, Israel in talks to develop $2 billion ‘Iron Dome’ By JNS Staff (JNS) — Greece is negotiating with Israel to develop a 2 billion euro ($2.11 billion) anti-aircraft and missile defense similar to Israel’s highly successful Iron Dome, according to Israeli and Greek officials. The talks, which were first reported by Reuters last week, come as multiple countries around the world have voiced interest in purchasing the Israeli missile defense system, which has won international accolades for its performance during Israel’s war against H...
(JNS) — The final two months of the Biden administration may see diplomatic actions taken against Israel, although the White House has neither confirmed nor denied assessments on the issue. One scenario could see the administration consider approving a United Nations Security Council resolution that would target Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria, reminiscent of Resolution 2334 passed in 2016 during the Obama administration’s transition period. A report by Israel Hayom on Tuesday cited an American source close to the Biden admin...
(JNS) - An Orthodox rabbi from the Netherlands has called on the country's Jews to immigrate to Israel following mass antisemitic assaults in Amsterdam, accusing Dutch authorities of failure to address the root causes of the incident. Two rabbis from the country's large Progressive community disagreed with the remarks by Rabbi Meir Villegas Henriquez, an Orthodox rabbi and mohel from Rotterdam's Ohel Abraham beit midrash (Jewish study center). The debate reflects a growing sense of insecurity...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — Anti-Israel activist organization CodePink has collected 15,000 signatures on a petition urging Trader Joe’s to remove Israeli products from its stores, while Jewish community groups have launched a counter-campaign encouraging supporters to purchase these same items. “As the Israeli genocide continues to devastate Gaza and the broader Middle East, companies like Trader Joe’s must take a stand,” CodePink states in their petition. “By stocking Israeli products, Trader Joe’s supports a system that perpetuates s...
(JNS) — A group of about a dozen masked individuals protested outside a theater performance of “The Diary of Anne Frank” at American Legion Devereaux Post 141 in the Detroit metropolitan area, yelling vulgar insults and waving a swastika flag. For approximately 30 minutes on the night of Nov. 9, men described as in their 20s chanted, among other things, that “Anne Frank was a whore,” according to The Detroit News. Frank was a German-born Jewish girl living in Amsterdam who kept a diary of her life in hiding there with her family until the...
(JNS) — Jewish groups mourned the execution of Arvin Netanel Ghahremani, 20, in Iran on Monday and condemned the Islamic Republic for its decision to kill the young Jew, who allegedly killed a man in self-defense. “His life ended under a system that allowed discrimination and cruelty to guide his fate. Shame on the Islamic Republic of Iran,” stated the World Jewish Congress. “Our condolences are with his family through this tragedy and utter lack of justice.” Ghahremani “was attacked with a knife by a non-Jewish man to whom he had loaned mone...
(JNS) - Majed El Shafie, founder and president of the Canadian nonprofit One Free World International, didn't mince words when he spoke about Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, at a "Rally for Humanity" at the Toronto-area synagogue Sephardic Kehila Centre on Sunday evening. "Let me not sugar coat it. We have an idiot of a prime minister. The only prime minister who didn't go to Israel of the G7," said Shafie, whose nonprofit supports persecuted religious minorities. "The only one who...
(JNS) — Leaders of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement hosted a special reception honoring the president of the Berlin state parliament on Monday night at the Jewish Learning Institute headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y. About 50 guests gathered to honor Cornelia Seibeld, president of the Berlin State Assembly, and other German representatives to express gratitude for the government’s support of Israel and commitment to combating rising Jew-hatred throughout Europe. Yehuda Teichtal, chief Chabad rabbi in Berlin, presented Seibeld with an award in rec...
(JNS) — More than 60 members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine were arrested during a recent counter-terror operation in Judea and Samaria, the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and Israel Defense Forces announced in a joint statement on Tuesday. Local district heads and ground-level operatives were detained, along with university students active in PFLP cells, according to the statement. Among those detained were leaders of the PFLP-affiliated Union of Women’s Committees, including Abla Sa’adat, wife of the organ...
(JNS) - President-elect Donald Trump announced that the "great public servant, governor, and leader in faith for many years" and "highly respected" Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, will be the U.S. ambassador to Israel during the next administration. Huckabee "loves Israel and the people of Israel and likewise, the people of Israel love him," Trump stated. "Mike will work tirelessly to bring about peace in the Middle East." A Southern Baptist pastor and governor for more than a decad...
(JNS) — The State Department waived terrorism sanctions on the Palestinian Authority just before the American election on Nov. 5, even as it admitted that the P.A. continues to fund terrorism in violation of U.S. law. The waiver enables the P.A. to skirt American sanctions for another 180 days, until it comes up for renewal under a Trump White House, The Washington Free Beacon reported. The State Department, in a non-public notice to Congress, said that the P.A. and the PLO, the dominant force in the P.A., are not complying with agreements t...
Kushner returns to advise Trump on administration By Ariel Kahana (Israel Hayom via JNS) — New details emerged Sunday morning about Donald Trump’s developing administration. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has returned to closely assist the president-elect in preparations for building the new administration. Kushner, 43, was among the key figures in Trump’s first administration and led many of its successes. Since the 2020 election, he and his wife, Ivanka, Trump’s daughter, have avoided public and political activity, partly to provide t...
(JNS) — The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis told JNS exclusively that it has released a new “teacher-friendly curriculum,” which addresses “the history of the Jewish people in the land of Israel from ancient to modern times.” “This state social-studies-aligned curriculum situates Jewish history in the larger context of Middle Eastern and world history,” the media watchdog told JNS. “Students learn how geography and the development of religious, cultural and political movements from ancient to modern times have crea...
