Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
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(JNS) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, in her first solo interview, said she had wholly backed the Biden administration’s decision to pause the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Speaking to the National Association of Black Journalists in Philadelphia on Tuesday, the Democratic presidential nominee said that “one of the things that we’ve done that I’m entirely supportive of is the pause that we put on the 2000-pound bombs.” She offered this as an example of a concrete action the White House had taken to pressure Israel to agree to a...
(European Jewish Press via JNS) — A pro-Israel advocacy group has called for a new global coalition to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization, after six Israeli hostages were killed in cold blood last month hours before being rescued by the Israel Defense Forces. In the European Coalition for Israel’s monthly talk show, “The European Report,” ECI founding director Tomas Sandell on Tuesday expressed his grave concern regarding the many concessions made to Hamas in the wake of the terror group’s Oct. 7 massacre. “This is not the time to rew...
(JTA) - WASHINGTON - For decades, President Joe Biden has called himself a "Zionist." But in the waning days of his reelection campaign, he wondered aloud if anyone knew what the term means anymore. Speedy Morman, a podcaster, had asked Biden in a July 12 whether he was a Zionist. Biden answered that yes, he was. "Now, you'll be able to make a lot out of that because people don't know what a Zionist is," Biden said. Nine days later, Biden dropped out of the presidential race - and he may have...
(JNS) — Hamas and the Houthis have recently established offices in Iraq. The offices, which opened in June, testify to Iraq’s shift towards the Iranian camp in Tehran’s conflict with Israel and the United States. Since the U.S. military invasion to remove Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein 21 years ago, the country has maintained an “uneasy balance” between its Iranian neighbor and America, The New York Times reported on Sunday. That balance has increasingly turned in Iran’s favor as Tehran has funded sympathetic forces inside Iraq as part of its...
Israeli family marks son’s decade of Hamas captivity in Gaza By Adi Nirman (Israel Hayom via JNS) — Sunday marked a decade since Avera Mengistu, an Israeli from Ashkelon then 28 years old, was captured by Hamas in Gaza. To commemorate this grim milestone, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum organized a rally at the “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv. Ten years ago, in the aftermath of the 2014 Gaza war (“Operation Protective Edge”), Mengistu breached the border fence near Zikim Beach and was subsequently captured by Hamas. He had struggled with m...
(JNS) — The U.S. Justice Department announced terrorism charges against senior leaders of Hamas for carrying out the Oct. 7 massacre. Merrick Garland, the U.S. attorney general, announced the charges on Sept. 3 in a recorded message. He said that Yahya Sinwar and other Hamas leaders oversaw “a decades-long campaign to murder American citizens and endanger the national security of the United States.” “On Oct. 7, Hamas terrorists, led by these defendants, murdered nearly 1,200 people, including over 40 Americans, and kidnapped hundreds of civi...
(JNS) — The Palestinian Authority is circulating a draft resolution asking the United Nations General Assembly to urge Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria and remove some 500,000 Israeli citizens living in the territory within six months. According to a report by Israel’s Channel 12 on Sunday, the resolution, which cites a July 19 advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, is expected to be brought to a vote next week. The 79th Session of the U.N. General Assembly was scheduled to open on Sept. 10. In add...
UNSC to convene for first talks on Gaza hostages since Oct. 7 (JNS) — The United Nations Security Council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to discuss the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, following an “urgent request” by Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon. According to the envoy, it will mark the first time since the Oct. 7 attack that the Security Council has convened for an official deliberation on the issue. Hamas currently holds 101 hostages, including 97 of the 251 captured on Oct. 7. “It is a disgrace that it has taken the...
(JNS) — The U.S. State Department stated on Tuesday that it “strongly opposes” Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s call for construction of a synagogue on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. The proposed Jewish house of worship “on the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount” would “would demonstrate blatant disregard for the historic status quo with respect to the holy sites in Jerusalem,” Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, said. “The ongoing reckless statements and actions of this minister only sow chaos and exacerbate tensions at a...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) - The vibrant Redhead Days Festival in Tilburg, Netherlands, known for celebrating auburn-haired individuals worldwide, struck a poignant note this year. Amid the sea of orange locks, participants were urged to remember the Bibas family-Shiri, Yarden and their young sons Ariel and Kfir-who were taken captive from Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The event, which ran from Aug. 24-25, drew over 10,000 attendees, was transformed into a platform for raising awareness about the family's plight, with a spotlight on the two redheaded...
(JNS) — According to Hashomer Yosh, an Israeli nonprofit organization that assists farmers and protects agricultural state land in Judea and Samaria, the sanctions the United States imposed against it on Wednesday are based on false information provided by left-wing groups. “We ask, why? And we have an answer,” Meir Bertler, the group’s foreign relations chief, told Israel’s Kan public broadcaster. “The answer isn’t about the activities of Hashomer, which are legal and legitimate and coordinated with the government. It is about false and dis...
Drone downed over southern Kinneret likely came from Syria (JNS) — Israeli air defenses on Monday morning intercepted a drone just south of the Sea of Galilee that appears to have penetrated the border from Syria to the east. The drone set off sirens in several towns in the southern Golan Heights area. The incident occurred well south of the areas usually targeted by Hezbollah in Lebanon. According to Israeli Army Radio, military officials believe the object was launched from Syria, a fairly rare occurrence. Hezbollah has rained thousands of p...
(Israel Hayom via JNS) — The Israeli American Council unveiled its “Hostage Square” exhibit on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, drawing attention to Israeli captives held by Hamas. The political event has been marked by large pro-Palestinian demonstrations. An IAC spokesperson confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the exhibit is situated on private property near the United Center, where the convention is taking place until Aug. 22. By choosing a private lot,...
Dr. Kenneth Hanson has just released a powerful documentary about the Oct. 7 massacre of 1200 innocent Jewish men, women and children in the northwestern Negev. The video, titled "October Shadows: Denying the Day of Despair," brings attention to what exactly happened on that fateful day and covers the almost immediate denial of the evil acts committed by Hamas and Gazan citizens. "... while Oct. 7 is a different kind of Holocaust than what transpired during the dark years of World War II, the...
(JNS) — In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis conducted on Aug. 19 regarding their view of the presidential race that pits Vice President Kamala Harris against former President Donald Trump, Harris enjoys the support of 28 percent of Israelis to Trump’s 64 percent, with 9 percent of Israelis professing to have no opinion. In a JNS/Direct Polls survey of Israelis carried out on July 9, 34 percent of respondents supported Biden to 55 percent for Donald Trump and 11 percent had no opinion. In this week’s poll, Harris has virtually no support am...
(JNS) — The Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who has eluded Israeli crosshairs since Oct. 7, is making it a precondition to a ceasefire and hostage release deal that Israel spare his life, according to reporting in Asharq al-Awsat, an Arabic publication in London. Israel media reported, citing Egyptian officials who spoke anonymously with Asharq al-Awsat and other Arabic media, that Cario presented a stipulation to U.S. counterparts on behalf of the Oct. 7 terror attack mastermind. “Should a deal be struck alongside the return of hostages, ‘Si...
(JNS) — Former Hamas hostage Noa Argamani met with top global diplomats on Wednesday to raise the plight of the 109 captives still being held by the terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. “Every night I was falling asleep and thinking, this may be the last night of my life,” the 26-year-old told senior diplomats from G7 countries in Tokyo. “And until the moment I was [rescued] … I just did not believe that I’m still surviving,” she added. “And in this moment that I’m … sitting with you, it’s a miracle that I’m here,” she said. Argamani, Shlomi Zi...
(JNS) — As tensions between Israel and Iran escalate, a group of American military veterans is preparing to evacuate U.S. citizens from the region for the second time since Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught on southwestern Israel. “Our ambition is for every American who travels to know that Project DYNAMO is there to help them if the need were to arise,” Mario Duarte, president and CEO of the Florida-based organization, told JNS on Sunday. Project DYNAMO was created in 2021, as the United States pulled forces out of Afghanistan. After the withdrawal, th...
(JNS) — Iranian officials are signaling this week that an attack on Israel may not be imminent, nearly a month after the targeted killing in Tehran of Hamas politburo chief Ismail Haniyeh. Despite Jerusalem not claiming responsibility, the Islamic Republic vowed to avenge the assassination on its soil with a strong response against Israel. However, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that Tehran is tamping down its urgent rhetoric. Examples of this potentially different approach cited by the newspaper include a Wednesday statement by t...
(JNS) — Gilad Erdan, the outgoing Israeli ambassador to the United Nations, has called out the United Nations for a new display that fails to include Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. In an 85-second video posted Tuesday to his X account, Erdan identified himself as standing inside at the visitor’s entrance to the United Nations. “Tomorrow the U.N. will mark the International Day of Remembrance and Tribute to Victims of Terrorism with high-level discussions taking place,” he said in Hebrew with an English transla...
RJC to plant 1,800 trees per DNC speaker who publicly praises Israel (JNS) — The Republican Jewish Coalition has announced a new initiative during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago to monitor speakers and see who, if any, advocate for the Jewish state. “Last week, the RJC officially challenged every speaker at the Democratic Convention in Chicago to ‘Praise Israel,’” the group wrote on X on Sunday. “If any speaker from the main stage asks the crowd to cheer if they support Israel, the RJC will donate to plant 1,800 trees in Is...
(JNS) — Tehran is advancing its secret nuclear program, bringing the Islamic Republic closer to building atomic bombs, Iran International reported on Wednesday. Three independent sources in Iran told the London-based opposition media outlet that the regime is moving forward with its nuclear weapons program “by restructuring the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research (SPND), retaining Mohammad Eslami as the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, and resuming tests to produce nuclear bomb detonators.” The Biden admin...
(JTA) — A group of 99 Jewish clergy from across the United States signed a statement calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a ceasefire deal that would free the remaining hostages held by Hamas. The signatories of the clergy statement include well-known rabbis spanning the country and the Jewish denominational spectrum. The list includes Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Renewal and Secular Humanistic leaders. The statement comes as a new round of negotiations is set to begin Thursday in Qatar u...
US, UK again attack Houthi targets in Yemen (JNS) — American and British forces carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets on Yemen’s Kamaran Island on Monday, Iranian state media reported. Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported that there was no immediate information on casualties or damage following the coalition strike. U.S. Central Command—the geographic command responsible for the Middle East—and the British Ministry of Defense did not immediately confirm the airstrikes. Kamaran, Yemen’s largest island in the Red Sea, is located off the p...
(JNS) — The Kremlin regards the creation of a Palestinian state as a top priority, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas during their first in-person encounter since Gaza terrorists carried out the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The two men last met in October 2022, on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in Kazakhstan. “We believe that in order to secure lasting and stable peace in the region, it is imperative to implement all...
