Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — U.S. defense guarantees under an Israeli-Saudi normalization agreement would make Gulf states’ nuclear ambitions “unnecessary,” according to Jerusalem’s top diplomat. The Americans would be able to provide protection against Iranian aggression in the region, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen argued in an opinion piece published in The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday. “[A] defense pledge could reassure Middle Eastern nations, primarily Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states,” he wrote. “This approach would make individual nuclear ambitio...
(JNS) - The Philippine government is expanding its partnership with Israel to strengthen the archipelagic country's agricultural sector. The move follows a meeting between Philippine Senior Undersecretary for Agriculture Domingo Panganiban and Israeli Ambassador to Manila Ilan Fluss on July 31, during which they discussed collaborative projects to enhance bilateral training, internships and other professional exchanges. The meeting also focused on enhancing market access of Philippine fresh...
(JNS) — Iran is working to seize control of an extensive network of Syrian military industry facilities, collectively known by their French acronym of CERS, or the Scientific Studies and Research Center in English, according to a report released on Wednesday by the Alma Research and Education Center. The Alma Center is a defense research group that specializes in security challenges faced by Israel in Lebanon and Syria. The report also warned of the possibility of Hezbollah taking possession of chemical substances present as CERS, which are b...
(JNS) — The Israeli ambassador to the United Nations implored its Security Council to help clamp down on Hezbollah’s repeated provocations along the Israeli-Lebanese border. “The Middle East is a powder keg on the cusp of being ignited” due to “Hezbollah’s violent escalations, blatant violations of Security Council resolutions and dangerous military advancements,” Gilad Erdan wrote late last week to the U.N. council. The Iran-backed, Lebanese terror group Hezbollah controls Southern Lebanon. Security Council resolutions and pronouncement...
Israeli teen demand for plastic surgery up (JNS) — The Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons in Israel reported on Tuesday a 37 percent increase in the demand for plastic surgery among teenagers during the summer holiday season. The main demands are for ear-pinning, nose reshaping and breast augmentation procedures. “Social networks influence the changes in the beauty model among teenagers all year round, but during the holidays we see a dramatic increase,” said Dr. Meir Cohen, chairman of the Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons in Is...
(JTA) – An association for American anthropologists has voted to formally boycott Israeli academic institutions, seven years after shutting down a similar vote, in a sign of the shifting tides of the Israel debate on American college campuses. The American Anthropological Association, which represents thousands of anthropologists in academia and the professional space, announced that its members had voted to endorse a resolution that forbids the association from collaborating with Israeli academic institutions. More than 70 percent of the a...
Israel rebukes Amman over harassment of religious Jews By Etgar Lefkovits (JNS) — Israel has lodged an official complaint with Jordan over the repeated harassment of religious Jewish tourists at border crossings, the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said Tuesday. The protest expressed in a letter from Foreign Minister Eli Cohen came two weeks after a group of ultra-Orthodox Jews said they were asked to cut off their sidelocks after being detained for two days at the Jordanian side of the Yitzhak Rabin/Wadi Araba border crossing north of Eilat. It...
(JNS) - Just as Israel's president was settling in following a busy day in Washington, a gift came his way from the Capitol, courtesy of the Jewish state's opponents. Less than 24 hours before he was to address a joint session of Congress, the House passed a Republican-sponsored resolution stating that Israel is not a racist or apartheid state. The resolution's filing was inspired by a flippant insult hurled at Israel by the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, who, under heavy...
(JNS) - U.K. Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was officially honored as Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire during a "moving" ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, his office announced. King Charles III bestowed Britain's highest honor upon Rabbi Mirvis in the 2023 New Years Honours, which were publicly announced earlier this year, recognizing his "significant services to the Jewish community, to interfaith relations and to education." The 2023 honors list was the first approved by...
TEL AVIV (JTA) — President Joe Biden has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to meet in the United States soon, after months of holding off on inviting him to the White House. The invitation was extended and accepted during a phone call between the two leaders on July 17. Israeli prime ministers typically receive an invitation to Washington shortly after taking office, but Biden, who has known Netanyahu for decades, has so far held off on inviting him to the capital. This invitation may not exactly end the wait: According to r...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Joe Biden’s concerns about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned overhaul of Israel’s courts system should be taken into account by the Israeli parties seeking a compromise, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said after meeting Biden. Herzog’s advice, effectively aimed at Netanyahu and appearing only in his comments in Hebrew to Israeli media after his White House meeting on Tuesday, was unusual in a foreign leader insisting that the United States had a role to play in a matter of internal debate. “It’s not...
(JNS) - Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday after visiting President Joe Biden at the White House. In statements issued before the meeting, the two leaders expressed mutual appreciation for the "unique relations" between the countries and discussed the shared goal of countering the Iranian threat. "I want to thank you Mr. Secretary for pursuing such important goals as containing and limiting, and stopping the Iranian nuclear program, as...
(JNS) - Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, took to the stage on Monday evening at the annual Christians United for Israel Summit in Washington. The former governor of South Carolina played to an adoring, pro-Israel crowd as a darling of its movement. Haley, who trails well behind former President Donald Trump in polls very early in the presidential primary cycle, spoke with reporters before assuming the stage. She seemed prepped for a foreign-policy debate, covering an ar...
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — In what both organizations are touting as a milestone moment for South American religious groups, leaders from the World Jewish Congress’ Latin American chapter met with leaders from the Muslim World League. Over 40 members of the groups from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Peru and Venezuela, along with three representatives of the Muslim World League based in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, met in Buenos Aires for two days last week. They discussed ways to collaborate and published a “de...
Israel antiquities among items found at Mar-a-Lago By Ron Kampeas (JTA) — The Israel Antiquities Authority believes that a set of ancient ceramic oil lamps missing for more than three years are at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump, according to Haaretz. Haaretz reported that the Antiquities Authority loaned the White House the lamps in 2019 ahead of a Chanukah party where a major donor to the Antiquities Authority, Saul Fox, would be in attendance. The lamps ultimately did not make an appearance at the event. The r...
(JNS) - During his visit to Israel two months ago, Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, spoke from the Knesset plenum. It was only the second time that a U.S. speaker addressed the full Knesset. McCarthy's speech was dedicated to the strong ties between Israel and the U.S. and the threats faced by both nations. He also sent a message to the Israeli government and the assembled MKs. "While the Chinese Communist Party may disguise itself as promoters of innovation, in...
Israel’s men’s soccer team is headed to the Olympics for the first time since 1976 By Gabe Friedman (JTA) — Israel’s national men’s soccer team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in nearly 50 years by making a surprising run at a major under-21 European tournament. Israel lost to England on Wednesday in the semifinals of the UEFA European U-21 Championship, a biennial contest among the continent’s best under-21 teams. But three days earlier, after a win in the playoff round against Georgia, Israel earned a place at the 2024 Paris...
BERLIN (JTA) - Alongside Munich's river, construction workers made a sensational discovery last week: Stone tablets carved with the Ten Commandments from the city's former main synagogue, which was torn down in the summer of 1938 on Adolf Hitler's orders. The find was announced almost exactly 85 years after the building was destroyed. The object - along with 150 tons of rubble from the synagogue, including parts of columns - had likely lain on the banks of the Isar River since the 1950s, when...
WASHINGTON (JTA) - President Joe Biden blamed increasing tension in Judea and Samaria on the "lost credibility" of the Palestinian Authority as well as on "extreme" ministers in Israel's government. In a televised interview on foreign policy with CNN host Fareed Zakaria on Sunday, Biden also again declined to say when he would invite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House. Biden has pushed off scheduling that meeting due to friction between the two men regarding...
(JTA) — The BBC has apologized for an on-air interview in which one of its anchors told former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett that “Israeli forces are happy to kill children.” The journalist, Anjana Gadgil, was interviewing Bennett on Tuesday about the Israel Defense Forces’ incursion this week into the Palestinian city of Jenin. Twelve Palestinians, including a number of children, and one Israeli were killed in the operation, which lasted two days. Israel conducted the operation to root out terror cells in the city and maintai...
(JNS) — A spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, which advises U.S. President Joe Biden, released a statement on Monday in support of the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing counterterrorism operation in Jenin. “We support Israel’s security and right to defend its people against Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups,” it states. The council added that it is monitoring the situation closely. Sources said on Tuesday afternoon that the operation was getting close to winding down. But Israeli officials said it would pro...
(JNS) - It has been nearly ten years since General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi came to power as president of Egypt following a military coup. July 3, 2013, began as a regular day in Cairo, with demonstrations held against then-President Mohamed Morsi, but ended in his dramatic ouster. The Egyptians had taken to the streets for seven long months. Some due to Morsi's attempt to reinstate an Islamist-led parliament, others due to the energy crisis. Following the coup, there were suspicions that the...
Deborah Project files another lawsuit against a California school district (JNS) — It was déjà vu for the public-interest law firm the Deborah Project, which has sued two California public-school districts in as many months. In both instances, the districts refused to turn over record requests, despite state law requiring that they do so. Earlier this month, the firm, which focuses in particular on the civil rights of Jews in education, asked a court in Santa Clara County, Calif., to ensure that the Mountain View-Los Altos Union School Dis...
(JNS) — While the Biden administration is denying it, the fact is that in recent weeks the United States and Iran have been holding indirect talks regarding Tehran’s nuclear program. According to U.S. officials and Western diplomats, in the weeks and months after the unofficial death of attempts to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear agreement, the Biden administration conducted several “what’s next” meetings. What emerged from these meetings was the idea of a new kind...
WASHINGTON (JTA) — Some 65 U.S. senators from both parties have urged the Biden administration to finalize Israel’s entry into the Visa Waiver Program by Sept. 30. Israel has sought to join the program, which enables citizens to travel to the United States without a visa, for decades. Currently, Israelis who do not hold citizenship in any of the 40 countries in the waiver program must apply for permission to travel to the United States, a process that typically results in a visa but can be extensive. The letter, sent to Secretary of State Ant...